riety of
new objects that every moment presented themselves, without any
expression either of wonder or pleasure, for the vociferation of our
exorcist seemed to be neither.

After having been on board about two hours, they expressed a desire to
go ashore. A boat was immediately ordered, and Mr Banks thought fit to
accompany them: He landed them in safety, and conducted them to their
companions, among whom he remarked the same vacant indifference, as in
those who had been on board; for as on one side there appeared no
eagerness to relate, so on the other there seemed to be no curiosity to
hear, how they had been received, or what they had seen. In about half
an hour Mr Banks returned to the ship, and the Indians retired from the
shore.

SECTION IV.

_An Account of what happened in ascending a Mountain to search for
Plants._

On the 16th, early in the morning, Mr Banks and Dr Solander, with their
attendants and servants, and two seamen to assist in carrying the
baggage, accompanied by Mr Monkhouse the surgeon, and Mr Green the
astronomer, set out from the ship with a view to penetrate as far as
they could into the country, and return at night. The hills, when viewed
at a distance, seemed to "be partly a wood, partly a plain, and above
them a bare rock. Mr Banks hoped to get through the wood, and made no
doubt, but that, beyond it, he should, in a country which no botanist
had ever yet visited, find alpine plants which would abundantly
compensate his labour. They entered the wood at a small sandy beach, a
little to the westward of the watering-place, and continued to ascend
the hill, through the pathless wilderness, till three o'clock, before
they got a near view of the places which they intended to visit. Soon
after they reached what they had taken for a plain; but, to their great
disappointment, found it a swamp, covered with low bushes of birch,
about three feet high, interwoven with each other, and so stubborn that
they could not be bent out of the way; it was therefore necessary to
lift the leg over them, which at every step was buried, ancle-deep, in
the soil. To aggravate the pain and difficulty of such travelling, the
weather, which had hitherto been very fine, much like one of our bright
days in May, became gloomy and cold, with sudden blasts of a most
piercing wind, accompanied with snow. They pushed forward, however, in
good spirits, notwithstanding their fatigue, hoping the worst of the way
was past,