me of our stay here we had
very fair weather, only sometimes in the afternoon we had a shower of
rain, which lasted not above an hour at most; also some thunder and
lightning, with very little wind; we had sea and land breezes, the former
between the south-south-east, and the latter from north-east to north-
west.

This place I named Port Montague in honour of my noble patron: it lies in
the latitude of 6 degrees 10 minutes south, and meridian distance from
Cape St. George 151 miles west. The country hereabouts is mountainous
and woody, full of rich valleys and pleasant fresh-water brooks. The
mould in the valleys is deep and yellowish, that on the sides of the hill
of a very brown colour, and not very deep, but rocky underneath, yet
excellent planting land. The trees in general are neither very straight,
thick, nor tall, yet appear green and pleasant enough; some of them bore
flowers, some berries, and others big fruits, but all unknown to any of
us; cocoa-nut trees thrive very well here, as well on the bays by the sea-
side, as more remote among the plantations; the nuts are of an
indifferent size, the milk and kernel very thick and pleasant. Here is
ginger, yams, and other very good roots for the pot, that our men saw and
tasted; what other fruits or roots the country affords I know not. Here
are hogs and dogs; other land animals we saw none. The fowls we saw and
knew were pigeons, parrots, cockatoos, and crows like those in England; a
sort of birds about the bigness of a blackbird, and smaller birds many.
The sea and rivers have plenty of fish; we saw abundance, though we
caught but few, and these were cavallies, yellow-tails, and whip-rays.

We departed from hence on the 22nd of March, and on the 24th, in the
evening, we saw some high land bearing north-west half-west, to the west
of which we could see no land, though there appeared something like land
bearing west a little southerly, but not being sure of it, I steered west-
north-west all night, and kept going on with an easy sail, intending to
coast along the shore at a distance. At ten o'clock I saw a great fire
bearing north-west-by-west, blazing up in a pillar, sometimes very high
for three or four minutes, then falling quite down for an equal space of
time, sometimes hardly visible, till it blazed up again. I had laid me
down, having been indisposed these three days; but upon a sight of this,
my chief mate called me; I got up and viewed it for about