inders missed the Clarence, though he actually anchored off its
entrance. Nor did he find the Brisbane, though, ascending the Glasshouse
Mountains, he saw indications of a river, which he could not enter with
the Norfolk on account of the intricacy of the channel and the shortness
of the time available.

Uneasiness of mind respecting the condition of the sloop must have had
much to do with the missing of the rivers. She sprung a leak two days out
of Port Jackson, and this was "a serious cause of alarm," the more so as
grains of maize, with which the Norfolk had been previously loaded, were
constantly choking up the pump. Weather conditions, also, did not favour
taking the vessel close inshore on her northward course, and it would
have been almost impossible to detect the mouths of the New South Wales
rivers without a close scrutiny of the coastline. Those considerations
are quite sufficient, when duly weighed, to account for the omissions. It
certainly was a rash statement, after so imperfect an examination, that
"however mortifying the conviction might be, it was then an ascertained
fact that no river of importance intersected the east coast between the
24th and 39th degrees of south latitude." But it is equally certain that
he could not have found these rivers with the means at his disposal. They
could not well have been observed from the deck of a vessel off the
coast.* (* See Coote, History of Queensland, 1 7, and Lang, Cooksland,
page 17.) A closer inspection of the shore-line was required. In fact,
the rivers were not found by seaward exploration; they were discovered by
inland travellers.

The most interesting features of the voyage lay in the meeting with
aboriginals in Moreton Bay. Some of the incidents were amusing, though at
one time there seemed to be danger of a serious encounter. Flinders went
ashore to meet a party of the natives, and endeavoured to establish
friendly relations with them. But as he was leaving, one of them threw a
spear. Flinders snatched up his gun and aimed at the offender, but the
flint being wet missed fire. A second snap of the trigger also failed,
but on a third trial the gun went off, though nobody was hurt. Flinders
thought that it might obviate future mischief if he gave the blacks an
idea of his power, so he fired at a man who was hiding behind a tree; but
without doing him any harm. The sound of the gun caused the greatest
consternation among the natives, and the small party of