those in the cliffs near Hat Hill. The port was named after His
Excellency governor HUNTER; and a settlement, called _New Castle_, has
lately been there established. The entrance is narrow, and the deepest
water (about three fathoms) close to the north-west side of the Coal
Island; but no vessel of more than three hundred tons should attempt it.

[* Afterwards captain of the _Junon_. He was mortally wounded, whilst
bravely defending his Majesty's frigate against a vastly superior force;
and died at _Guadaloupe_.]

BASS. 1797.

In December, Mr. GEORGE BASS obtained leave to make an expedition to the
southward; and he was furnished with a fine whale boat and six weeks
provisions by the governor, and a crew of six seamen from the ships. He
sailed Dec. 3., in the evening; but foul and strong winds forced him into
_Port Hacking_ and _Watta-Mowlee_. On the 5th, in latitude 34° 38', he
was obliged to stop in a small bight of the coast, a little south of
_Alowrie_. The points of land there are basaltic; and on looking round
amongst the burnt rocks scattered over a hollowed circular space behind
the shore, Mr. Bass found a hole of twenty-five or thirty feet in
diameter; into which the sea washed up by a subterraneous passage.

Dec. 6., he passed a long sloping projection which I have called _Point
Bass_, lying about three leagues south of Alowrie. Beyond this point, the
coast forms a sandy bay of four or five leagues in length, containing two
small inlets; and the southernmost being accessible to the boat, Mr. Bass
went in and stopped three days. This little place was found to deserve no
better name than _Shoals Haven_. The entrance is mostly choaked up by
sand, and the inner part with banks of sand and mud; there is, however, a