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1796               but none of the inhabitants themselves.
March             The extremity of the reef, which afforded us such
Wednesday     signal shelter, bore E.S.E. by compaƒs: – the north head of the
    30         cove N.E.b.E. The cove affords anchorage for large boats, upon
a fine sand; the depth regularly decreasing as you approach
the shore. It is sheltered from all winds but those ^ ^directly from the sea
      At nine, we stood to the northward, with a light southerly
breeze, and Point Solander was soon after in sight, making like
islands. The shore was still bounded by cliffs, which decrease in
height towards Hackings River, or rather Port, the original place
of our destination, where the land is very low.
      Before noon, we entered Port Hacking, and landed in a small
cove on the north side, where we observed a number of cabbage
trees growing.
      After making a comfortable meal and getting every thing
dry and in order, we amused ourselves, in the evening, with fish-
-ing; but the sharks were so numerous that no other fish dare
make its appearance. These sea monsters appeared to have a great
inclination for us; and were sufficiently daring to come to the
surface of the water, eyeing us at the same time with voraci-
-ous keenneƒs. The size of our veƒsel did not place us at a
great distance from them.
      Night drawing on, we retired to our cove, where we had
prepared a place and pulled graƒs to sleep on. Two natives
had paid us a visit in the afternoon, and behaved very
civilly. We understood them tolerably well, and were not un-
-der the least apprehension, considering ourselves as almost
at