Flinders
and Bass
1798.
strong directly into it, there was too much danger in bearing away for its examination.
At three o'clock, we passed the southern point of the bight, at the distance of four miles; and the coast then again trended S.S.E., waving in rocky bights and projections. The land here rises by a gentle ascent for two or three miles from the shore; its appearance was smooth and uniform; but it was destitute of wood, and almost of other vegetation: the back mountains were obscured by the haze.
The heavy south-west swell, which had met us at the entrance of the Indian Ocean, still continued to roll in, and set dead upon this coast; and the wind blew fresh at W.N.W. Under these circumstances, we looked out for some little beach, where, in case of necessity, the sloop might be run on shore with a prospect of safety to our lives; for should the wind come three or four points further forward, there was no probability of clearing the land on either tack. No such beach could, however, be discovered; and we therefore carried all possible sail to get past this dreary coast. A remarkable pyramid came in sight in the evening; at eight o'clock it was distant five miles to the east, and seen to be a rock on the north side of a point, which projects two or three miles from the coast line. This point, named Point Hibbs after the colonial master of the Norfolk, is higher than the neck by which it is joined to the back land; and from thence, it appears to have been taken for an island by Tasman; for I consider Point Hibbs and the pyramid to be the two islands laid down by him, in 42° 35′: their latitude, by our run from noon, is 42° 39′.
We hauled off, upon a wind, at eight o'clock; and at four next morning, Dec. 12, came in again with the same land. At five, when our course was resumed along shore, Point Hibbs was distant two or three miles, and the pyramid, which bore N. 31° E. over its extremity, then appeared like the crown of a hat. The coast to the