Early Voyages to Terra Australis, Now Called Australia:: A Collection of Documents, and Extracts from Early Manuscript Maps, Illustrative of the History of Discovery on the Coasts of That Vast Island, from the Beginning of the Sixteenth Century to the Time of Captain Cook.Major, Richard Henry
History
Early Voyages to Terra Australis, Now Called Australia:: A Collection of Documents, and Extracts from Early Manuscript Maps, Illustrative of the History of Discovery on the Coasts of That Vast Island, from the Beginning of the Sixteenth Century to the Time of Captain Cook.
Major, Richard Henry
Australia -- Discovery and exploration; Discoveries in geography -- Portuguese; Voyages and travels
We were now on the inner side of the island, on whose outside is the
Bluff-point. We rode a league from the island, and I presently went
ashore, and carried shovels to dig for water, but found none. There grew
here two or three sorts of shrubs, one just like rosemary; and therefore
I called this Rosemary Island. It grew in great plenty here, but had no
smell. Some of the other shrubs had blue and yellow flowers; and we
found two sorts of grain like beans: the one grew on bushes; the other
on a sort of a creeping vine that runs along on the ground, having very
thick broad leaves, and the blossom like a bean blossom, but much
larger, and of a deep red colour, looking very beautiful. We saw here
some Cormorants, Gulls, Crabcatchers, etc., a few small land birds, and
a sort of white Parrots, which flew a great many together. We found some
shell fish, viz., limpits, perriwinkles, and abundance of small oysters
growing on the rocks, which were very sweet. In the sea we saw some
green turtle, a pretty many sharks, and abundance of water snakes of
several sorts and sizes. The stones were all of rusty colour, and
ponderous.
We saw a smoak on an island three or four leagues off; and here also the
bushes had been burned, but we found no other sign of inhabitants: ’twas
probable that on the island where the smoak was there was inhabitants,
and fresh water for them. In the evening I went aboard, and consulted
with my officers whether it was best to send thither, or to search among
any other of these islands with my boat; or else go from thence, and
coast along shore with the ship, till we could find some better place
than this was to ride in, where we had shoal water, and lay exposed to
winds and tides. They all agreed to go from hence; so I gave orders to
weigh in the morning as soon as it should be light, and to get out with
the land breeze.
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