VOYAGE FOR THE DISCOVERY OF SOUTHERN LANDS.
796
taking are owing the details, exceedingly inexact., from which this part of New Hollandis laid down in the common maps. From that epoch a century has elapfed without anyEuropean fhip having been feen in thefe feas, and fhortly it will appear that it was notwithout reafon that navigators have kept at a diftance from thefe dangerous fliores.
The 23d July we palfed within fight of a low and barren ifland, about three leagues?in length, called Hermit Ifland, from the brave officer in the navy of that name.
From the 23d to the 25th we had flagging winds and dead calms, which did not ad-mit of our making much progrefs, and the currents carried us far enough from thefhore to prevent our having fight of it. The temperature of the feaat its furface wasthen 20 0 of Reaumur*, and multiplication went on rapidly in ilsbofom. Independent,,in fa£t, of a prodigious number of medufac, f'alpse, porpites, &c. we were furroundedby fifh of different kinds, efpecially baliftse, chaetodons, clupese, &c. which muff beplaced at the head of equatorial fifh. Large fharks were feen at every inltant aboutthe fnip, and every where whales and turtles in profufion. We likewife diftinguifhedtwo new fpecies of fea-ferpents, the one from eight to ten feet (Englifh) in length, ofa green colour, fpotted with red and brown ; the other, from three to four feet long,of a duller green, was diftinguifhed by large yellow and black fcales on its back.
The 27th, we had fight of a fmall archipelago, which we called Foreftier’s Archi-pelago , in honour of the chief of the firft divifion of the miniftry of marine. Thefeiflands, which we afterwards examined with greater exactitude, are at a fhort diftancefrom thofe of Rofemary, and the Archipelago of Dampier. We reckoned fix princi-pal ones, the largeft. but from three to four leagues in length : they appear to be gene-rally low and fteriie, like thofe of Rivoli ; one of them, however, defignated theIfland Depuch, and which lays in latitude 20° 35' 30'*' fouth, longitude 115 0 12' 5 o' 7eaft of Paris , prefented itfelf under fuch a particular appearance, that the commanderthought right to examine it with greater nicety. For this purpofe M. Ronfard fet oftin the long boat. Vainly did the naturalifts requeft to be put on fhore, not one couldobtain this permiflion. M. Ronfard returned by ten the next morning; he relatedthat Depuch Ifland was only from four to five miles long; that a boat can readily land •,and that from different marks of the tides upon the rocks, the greateft difference ofhigh and low water appeared to be 26 feet (Englifh).
By the mere appearance of this ifland we could difcover that its chara&er and naturewere different from all we had hitherto feen. In faft, the land was higher, the figureof it more marked, and proportionately as we advanced this difference became moreevident. Inftead of thofe uniform coafts preferring no point, no eminence whatever,onthis ifland were feen pointed and folitary rocks, which like fo many needles feemed to ftartfrom the furface. The whole ifland was volcanic, prifms of bafalt, generally pentaqdra,heaped one upon the other, and moft commonly lying on their angles, conftituted itsentire mafs. There they arofe like walls of hewn ftone; here they prefented them-felves in form of a pavement, fimilar to the Giant’s Caufeway, fo much renowned.In feme parts, excavations were feen, of various depths; here the water, whichran from neighbouring parts, uniting, formed a kind of fountains, in which ourfearnen met with fome excellent water of ferruginous nature. In thefe fp ots >more moift than others, vegetation was rather aftive, and about them grew feme hand-fome fhrubs, with trees of higher fize, which formed very pleafing groves the ref*of the ifland, with a different difpofition, prefented likewife as different a perfpective ~
* 68° of Fahrenheit.
among