[* These islets seem to be what are marked as rocks under water in
captain Cook's chart. In it, also, there are three islets laid down to
the south of Red Point, which must be meant for the double islet lying
directly off it, for there are no others. The cause of the point being
named _red_, escaped our notice.]

The shore in this part is mostly high and cliffy; and under the cliffs
were lying black lumps, apparently of slaty stone, rounded by attrition.
These were not particularly noticed, but Mr. Clarke, in his disastrous
journey along the coast, afterwards made fires of them; and on a
subsequent examination, Mr. Bass found a stratum of coal to run through
the whole of these cliffs.

March 29. By rowing hard we got four leagues nearer home; and at night
dropped our stone under another range of cliffs, more regular but less
high than those near Hat Hill. At ten o'clock, the wind, which had been
unsettled and driving electric clouds in all directions, burst out in a
gale at south, and obliged us to get up the anchor immediately, and run
before it. In a few minutes the waves began to break; and the extreme
danger to which this exposed our little bark, was increased by the
darkness of the night, and the uncertainty of finding any place of
shelter. The shade of the cliffs over our heads, and the noise of the
surfs breaking at their feet, were the directions by which our course was
steered parallel to the coast.

Mr Bass kept the sheet of the sail in his hand, drawing in a few inches
occasionally, when he saw a particularly heavy sea following. I was
steering with an oar, and it required the utmost exertion and care to
prevent broaching to; a single wrong movement, or a moment's inattention,
would have sent us to the bottom. The task of the boy was to bale out the