And here I would note once for all that the
latitudes marked in the draughts, or sights here given, are not the
latitude of the land, but of the ship when the sight was taken. This
morning, August the first, as we were standing in, we saw several large
seafowls, like our gannets on the coast of England, flying 3 or 4
together; and a sort of white seamews, but black about the eyes, and with
forked tails. We strove to run in near the shore to seek for a harbour to
refresh us after our tedious voyage; having made one continued stretch
from Brazil hither of about 114 degrees designing from hence also to
begin the discovery I had a mind to make on New Holland and New Guinea.
The land was low, and appeared even, and as we drew nearer to it it made
with some red and some white cliffs; these last in latitude 26 10 south,
where you will find 54 fathom within 4 miles of the shore.
THAT PART DESCRIBED, AND SHARK'S BAY, WHERE HE FIRST ANCHORS.
About the latitude of 26 degrees south we saw an opening, and ran in,
hoping to find a harbour there: but when we came to its mouth, which was
about 2 leagues wide, we saw rocks and foul ground within, and therefore
stood out again: there we had 20 fathom water within 2 mile of the shore.
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