first ledge that I went over; concluding, therefore,
that I could not anchor here without risk, I determined to seek some
port in the Streight, where I might get on board such wood and water as
we wanted.

Mr Banks and Dr Solander, however, being very desirous to go on shore, I
sent a boat with them and their people, while I kept plying as near as
possible with the ship.

Having been on shore four hours, they returned about nine in the
evening, with above an hundred different plants and flowers, all of them
wholly unknown to the botanists of Europe. They found the country about
the bay to be in general flat, the bottom of it in particular was a
plain, covered with grass, which might easily have been made into a
large quantity of hay; they found also abundance of good wood and water,
and fowls in great plenty. Among other things, of which nature has been
liberal in this place, is Winter's bark, _Winteranea aromatica_; which
may easily be known by its broad leaf, shaped like the laurel, of a
light green colour without, and inclining to blue within; the bark is
easily stripped with a bone or a stick, and its virtues are well known:
It may be used for culinary purposes as a spice, and is not less
pleasant than wholesome: Here is also plenty of wild celery and
scurvy-grass. The trees are chiefly of one kind, a species of the birch,
called _Betula antarctica_; the stem is from thirty to forty feet long,
and from two to three feet in diameter, so that in a case of necessity
they might possibly supply a ship with top-masts: They are a light white
wood, bear a small leaf, and cleave very straight. Cranberries were also
found here in great plenty, both white and red.

The persons who landed saw none of the inhabitants, but fell in with two
of their deserted huts, one in a thick wood, and the other close by the
beach.

Having taken the boat on board, I made sail into the Streight, and at
three in the morning of the 15th, I anchored in twelve fathom and a
half, upon coral rocks, before a small cove, which we took for Port
Maurice, at the distance of about half a mile from the shore. Two of the
natives came down to the beach, expecting us to land; but this spot
afforded so little shelter, that I at length determined not to examine
it: I therefore got under sail again about ten o'clock, and the savages
retired into the woods.

At two o'clock, we anchored in the bay of Good Success; and after dinner
I went on shore, accompanied