small bower; but the cable parted, and obliged
him to drop the best bower, being then in 3 fathoms water with the wind
blowing strong into the sound. By means of a warp to the brig, the best
bower was shifted into 4 fathoms; and when I got on board, the stream and
small bower anchors had just been recovered. The weather tide made at
nine in the evening, and we ran into 7 fathoms in the channel; and at
daylight stood out of the sound, with the brig in company, having then a
moderate breeze at south-east.

Of Thirsty Sound as a harbour, very little can be said in praise; the
north-east and east winds throw in a good deal of sea, and there is not
room for more than three or four ships, without running up into the
narrow part; and what the depth may be there I did not examine, but saw
that there were shoals. The entrance of the sound may be known by two
round hills, one on each side, lying nearly north and south, one mile and
a half from each other: the northernmost is Pier Head. The surrounding
country is clothed with grass and wood; but on the Long-Island side the
grass is coarse, the trees are thinly scattered, and the soil is every
where too stony for the cultivation of grain.

There were many traces of natives, though none recent. Judging from what
was seen round the fire places, turtle would seem to be their principal
food; and indeed several turtle were seen in the water, but we had not
dexterity enough to take any of them. In fishing with the seine, at a
small beach two miles up the sound, we always had tolerably good success;
but no fresh water accessible to boats could be found in the
neighbourhood.

The _latitude_ of Pier Head, from an observation made at the top in an
artificial horizon, is 22 deg. 6' 53" S.

_Longitude_ from thirteen sets of distances of the sun west of the moon,
observed by lieutenant Flinders, 149 deg. 47' 50"; but by the survey and the
fixed position in Broad Sound, with which the time-keepers agreed, it
will be more correctly 150 deg. 0' 10" E.

Captain Cook specifies the situation of Thirsty Sound to be in latitude
22 deg. 10', longitude 149 deg. 42' (Hawkesworth, III, 128); but in the chart
published by Mr. Dalrymple, it is 22 deg. 7' and 149 deg. 36', which agrees
nearer with the deductions of Mr. Wales (_Astron. Obs._ p. 135). In
either case it appears, that my longitude was getting more eastward from
captain Cook as we advanced further along the coast.

WEDNESDAY 8 SEPTEMBER 18