Plenty of Botanical Plants. 59 
the youth had been ftationed in the tree, to difcharge the lance 
at him, upon a iignal as he fhould come by ; but however 
this be, there could be no doubt but that he was the perfori 
who threw the lance. 
In the afternoon, I went myfelf with a party over to the 
north fhore, and while feme of our people were hauling the 
feine, we made an excurfion a few miles into the country, 
proceeding afterwards in the direction of the coaft. We 
found this place without wood, and fomewhat refembling 
our moors in England; the furface of the ground, however, 
was covered with a thin brufh of plants, about as high as 
the knees; the hills near the ' coaft are low, but others rife 
behind them, increafing by a gradual afeent, to a confiderable 
diftance, with marfhes and moraffes between. When we re- 
turned to the boat, we found that our people had caught with 
the feine a great number of fmall filh, which are well known 
in the Weft-Indies, and which our failors call Leather jackets, 
becaufc their {kin is remarkably thick. I hadfent the Second 
Lieutenant out in the yawl a ftriking, and when we got back 
to the {hip, we found that he had alfo been very fuccefsful. 
He had obferved that the large fting-rays, of which there is 
great plenty in the bay, followed the flowing tide into very 
fhallow water ; he therefore took the opportunity of flood, 
and ftruck feveral in not more than two or three feet water : 
one of them weighed no lefs than two hundred and forty 
pounds after his entrails were taken out. 
The next morning, as the wind {till continued northerly, 
I fent out the yawl again, and the people {truck one {till larger, 
for when his entrails were taken out, he weighed three hundred 
ana thirty-fix pounds. 
The great quantity of plants which Mr. Banks and Dr. So- 
lander collefted in this place induced me to give it the name 
of Botany Bay. It is fituated in thelatitude of 34. 0 S. lon- 
gitude 208 : 37 W, It is capacious, fafe, and convenient, 
and may be known by the land on the fea-coaft, which is near- 
ly level, and of a moderate height ; in general higher than it 
is farther inland, with lleep rocky cliffs next the fea, which 
have the appearance of a long ifland, lying clofe under the 
fhore. The harbour lies about the middle of this land, and in 
approaching it from the foutlnvard, is discovered before the 
ihip comes abreaft of it ; but from the northward it is not dif- 
covered fo foon ; the entrance is a little more than a quarter 
of a mile broad, and lies in W. N. W. To fail into it the 
fouthern fhore fhould be kept on board, till the {hip is within 
a fmall bare ifland, which lies clofe under the north fhore ; 
within this ifland the deepefl water on that fide is feven fa- 
thom, {hallowing to five a good way up. At a confiderable 
diftance from the foyth fliore there i* a ihoal, reaching from 
