Red Island is small, rocky, and of no great elevation; its colour is a
very dark red; the sides are precipitous, and in its centre is a clump of
trees which cannot be seen until you have run by the island, as it falls
gradually from the south-west to the north-east, so that the north-east
side is the least elevated. We sounded when about seven miles to the
north-west of it, and found bottom at twenty-five fathoms, of green sandy
mud.

The sandbank laid down on the Admiralty charts to the north-east of Red
Island is small and barren; it is very low, and at some distance looks
like a white rock in the water; being apparently an island formed of the
same rock as the former, and topped with quartz or white sand. In
entering Hanover Bay, or Port George the Fourth, a good course is to run
nearly midway between this and Red Island. At sunset we anchored off
Entrance Island (Port George the Fourth) in twenty-five fathoms water.

ARRIVAL OFF THE COAST OF AUSTRALIA. ASPECT OF THE COUNTRY FROM
SHIP-BOARD.

At the first streak of dawn I leant over the vessel's side to gaze upon
those shores I had so longed to see. I had not anticipated that they
would present any appearance of inviting fertility; but I was not
altogether prepared to behold so arid and barren a surface as that which
now met my view. In front of me stood a line of lofty cliffs,
occasionally broken by sandy beaches; on the summits of these cliffs and
behind the beaches rose rocky sandstone hills, very thinly wooded. Whilst
I mused on this prospect, all hands were busied in getting the vessel
under weigh, which was soon accomplished; but there was little or no
wind, and the ship lay almost motionless upon the waters.