COASTS OF AUSTRALIA. 
349 
to run to the southward until the afternoon, when, isso. 
supposing we had passed that port, we bore June 22 . 
away to the 8 .W. At midnight the gale fell, 
and the wind changed to the westward. At day- 22 . 
light land was seen to windward, which, from 
the distance we had ran, was supposed to be 
about Port Stevens ; but we found ourselves at 
noon, by a meridional observation, off Jervis’ 
Bay ; so that the current, during the gale, had 
set us one hundred and fifty miles to the south- 
ward, and for the last twenty-four hours at the 
rate of nearly three knots per hour. Owing to 
this we did not arrive at Port Jackson until the 
following day at noon ; and it was sunset before 24. 
the cutter anchored in the cove. 
It appeared, on our arrival, that the weather 
had been even worse on the land than we had 
experienced it at sea. The Nepean and Hawkes- 
bury Rivers had been flooded, by which the 
growing crops had been considerably injured, but 
happily, the colony has long ceased to suffer from 
these once much-dreaded inundations: a great 
portion of upland country, out of the reach of 
the waters, is now cultivated, from which the 
government stores are principally supplied 
with grain. Individuals who, from obstinacy, 
persist in the cultivation of the low banks of 
the Hawkesbury, alone suffer from these de- 
