22 
SIR JOSEPH BANKS. 
6th. Went to sea this morning with a fair Ijreeze of wind. The land we sailed 
past during the whole forenoon appeared broken and likely for harbours.* * * § 
And having procured a sufficient suppl}’ of wood and water, on Sunday, the 
6th of August, in the morning, we sailed from the bay. which we named Sting-ray 
Bay, from the great quantity of those fish which it contained. t 
17th May. About ten we were abreast of a large bay (Moreton Bay). Banks 
then goes oti to remark : “ The sea here suddenly changed from its usual trans- 
parency to a dirty clay colour, appearing much as if charged with freshes ; from 
wliich I was leil to conclude that the bottom of the bay might open into a large 
river.” (This surmise was quite correct — the Brisbane River.) 
On the northern side there were some remarkable conical hills (the Glasshouse 
Mountains). 
22nd. We plainly saw with our glasses that the land was covered with ))alm-nut 
trees, Pandnnm tcctorius. which we had not seen since we left the islands within 
the tropics. 
23rd. We landed near the mouth of a large lagoon (Bustard Bay).J Here we 
found a great variety of plants, several, however, the same as those we ourselves 
had before seen in the islands between the tro)iies and others known to be natives 
of the East Indies. . . . In these, (swamps), and upon the sides of the lagoon •, 
grew many mangrove trees Upon the sides of the hills were many 
of the trees yielding a gum like Sanguis draconis (Eucalyptus). 
At sea they found in the fruit of a Fig {Ficus) they had found at 
Bustard Bay a Cyni/ps, “ very like, if not exactly the same species as 
Cynips sycomori, Linn.” 
Banks was a student of natural history in its broadest sense, and 
when at sea he made observations concerning birds, marine animals 
of various kinds belonging to lower or higher orders, while on land 
he discusses in a most interesting manner insects and animals, the 
appliances and habits of the natives, and so forth. 
In another species of tree. Xanthoxyloides mite, a small sort of black ant had 
boreil all the twigs, and liv^ed in quantities in the hollow part where the pith should 
be ; the tree, nevertheless flourishing and bearing leaves and flowers upon those 
very branches as freely ami well as upon others that were sound 
29th May. We went ashore and found several plants which we had not before 
seen; among them, however, were still more East Indian plants than in the last 
harbour; one kind of grass which we had also seen there was very troublesome 
to us.§ Its sharp seeils were bearded backwards, and whenever they stuck into 
our clothes were by these beards pushed forward till they got into the tlesh. This 
grass was so plentiful that it was scarcely possible to avoid it, and, with the 
mosquitoes that were likewise innumerable, made walking almost intolerable. 
10th Juneil (apparently should be 11th). The “ Endeavour” struck on a rock 
(Cape Tribulation). A most anxious time ensued, the ship being in the most 
imminent danger of foundering. 
• In this connection Cook's jirivate iog, written wliile .at Botany Bay. should be referred to. 
See Hist. Rec.. N.S.W.. i (I), 19. See also PickersgiU's Journal, ih.. p. 214; Wilkinson's Journal, 
ib., p. 238. Cook on landing buried Forby Sutherland, a sailor who had died of consumption, 
probably the first wliite man buried in .tusfralia. See a poem " Sutherland's Grave.” by Henry 
Kendall, in his collected works. 
t See Becket's '' Voyage," p. 116. Xow called Botany Bay. 
t See note on Bustard Bay, Hist. Rec.. -V..S. It'., i, (I), 164. 
§ The grass that so punished tliem was, I take it, Heteropogon contortus. '' The gum-tree, 
were like those in the last ba.v." This seems to me the first occasion in which the “ gum-tree ” 
was applied to Eucalypts. and the name given by Banks lias been universaliy adopted in Australia. 
)| 10th June, off Trinity Bay. See Hist. Rec.. .V .S. If., i (I|, 54. 168. 
