DAMPIER’s ACCOUNT OF NEW HOLLAND.

492

brought ten or twelve cocoa-nuts, left them on the fhore after he had ftiewed them toour men, and went out of fight. Our people finding nothing but nets and images,brought forne of them away, which two of my men brought aboard in a fmall canoe,and prefently after my boats came off. I ordered the boatl'wain to take care of the netstill we came at fome place where they might be difpofed of for fome refrefhment forthe ufe of all the company. The images I took into my own cuftody.

In the afternoon I fent the canoe to the place from whence Ihe had been brought,and in her two axes, two hatchets (one of them helved), fix knives, fix looking-glaffes,a large bunch of beads, and four glafs bottles..Our men drew the canoe alhore,'placed thethings to the beft advantage in her, and came off in the pinnace which I fent to guardthem : and now being well flocked with wood, and all my water-calks full, I refolvedto fail the next morning. All the time of our flay here we had very fair weather, onlyfometimes in the afternoon we had a fhower of rain, which lafted not above an hour atmoft; alfo fome thunder and lightning, with very little wind : we had fea and landbreezes, the former between the fouth-fouth-eaft, and the latter from north-eaft tonorth-weft.

This place I named Port Montague, in honour of my noble patron : it lies in thelatitude of 6° 10' fouth, and meridian diftance from Cape St. George, one hundredand fifty-one miles weft. The country hereabouts is mountainous and woody, full ofrich valleys and pleafant frefh water-brooks. The mould in the valleys is deep andyellowifh, that on the fides of the hill of a very brown colour, and not very deep,but rocky underneath, yet excellent planting land. The trees in general are neithervery flraight, thick nor tall, yet appear green and pleafant enough ; fome of them boreflowers, fome berries, and others big fruits, but all unknown to any of us : cocoa-nut-trees thrive very well here, as well on the bays by the fea-fide, as more remote amongthe plantations; the nuts are of an indifferent fize, the milk and kernel very thick anapleafant. Here is ginger, yams, and other very good roots for the pot, that our menlaw and tailed: what other fruits or roots the country affords, I know not. Here arehogs and dogs; other land-animals we faw none. The fowls we faw and knew,were pigeons, parrots, cockadores, and crows like thofe in England; a fort of birdsabout the bignefs of a black-bird, and fmaller birds many. The fea and rivers haveplenty of fifti; we faw abundance, though we catched but few, and thefe werecavallies, yellow-tails and whip-rays.

We departed from hence on the 22d of March, and on the 24th, in the even-ing, we faw fome high land bearing north-weft half-weft, to the weft of whichwe could fee no land, though there appeared fomething like land bearing weft alittle foutherly, but not being fure of it, I fleered weft-north-weft all night,and kept going on with an eafy fail, intending to coaft along the fhore at adiftance. At ten o’clock, I faw a great fire bearing north-weft-by-weft, blazing up ma pillar, fometimes very high for three or four minutes, then falling quite down for anequal fpace of time; fometimes hardly vifible, till it blazed up again. I had laid medown, having been indifpofed thefe three days; but upon a fight of this, my chief matecalled me; I got up and viewed it for about half an hour, and knew it to be a burning-hill by its intervals: I charged them to look well out, having bright moon-light.the morning I found that the fire we had feen the night before, was a burning-ifland,and fteered for it. We faw many other iflands, one large high ifland, and anotherfmaller, but pretty high. I flood near the volcano, and many fmall low iflands withfome lhoals.

March the 25th, 1700, in the evening, we came within three leagues of this burning-hill, being at the fame time two leagues from the main; I found a good channel to

4 P afs