least one half longer: the foot-stalks were swelled into an air vessel, and Mr. Banks and Dr. Solander called this plant _Fucus giganteus_. Upon the report of the master, I stood in with the ship; but not trusting implicitly to his intelligence, I continued to sound, and found but four fathom upon the 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 fowl 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.