TERRA AUSTRALIS. 
19 
Port Curtis .] 
to quit it on the following morning. This part of the East Coast 
had been passed in the night by captain Cook ; so that both the 
openings escaped his notice, and the discovery of the port fell to our 
lot. In honour of admiral Sir Roger Curtis, who had commanded 
at the Cape of Good Hope and been so attentive to our wants, I 
gave to it the name of Port Curtis ; and the island which protects 
it from the sea, and in fact forms the port, was called Facing Island. 
It is a slip of rather low land, eight miles in length, and from two 
to half a mile in breadth, having Gatcombe Head for its southern 
extremity. 
The northern entrance to Port Curtis is accessible only to 
boats ; but ships of any size may enter the port by the southern 
opening. Mr. Murray did not find any passage on the south side of 
the shoal near Gatcombe Head, but could not say that none existed; 
he thought the deep channel to be not more than a mile wide ; but 
at half a mile from the head there was from 6 to 10 fathoms, and 
the channel from thence leads fair up the port to beyond South-tiees 
Point; I suspected, however, from the account given by Mr. Murray, 
that there might be a second shoal, lying not so much as a mile 
from the head, and one is marked in the plan accordingly, that ships 
may be induced to greater caution. There is good anchorage just 
within Gatcombe Head ; and at a small beach there, behind a rock, 
is a rill of fresh water, and wood is easily to be procured. 
I cannot venture to give any other sailing directions for going 
up this port, than to run cautiously, with a boat a-head and the plan 
upon the binnacle. Both the bottom and shoals are usually a mix- 
ture of sand, with mud or clay ; but in the northern entrance, and 
off some of the upper points and islands where the tides run strong, 
the ground is in general rocky. 
The country round Port Curtis is overspread with grass, and 
produces the eucalyptus and other trees common to this coast ; yet 
the soil is either sandy or covered with loose stones, and generally 
incapable of cultivation. Much of the shores and the low islands 
1802. 
August. 
Sunday 8. 
