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"There I was again in error, this place, as I afterwards learned in Port Jackson had been discovered ten weeks before by Lieutenant John Murray, in command of the LADY NELSON. He had given to it the name of Port Phillip, and to the rocky point on the east side of the entrance Point Nepean."
Clark and Nepean, upon their cross-examination, evidently gave such testimony as told much more against him than for him. But Lord Nelson spoke of him as follows: " We went on the Spanish Main together; we slept many nights together under the same blanket, in our clothes, upon the ground; we have measured the height of the enemy's walls together.
But if they knew nothing about the port until they learnt of its existence later at Sydney, and saw no chart of it till an English chart was brought to their notice, the omission is comprehensible. Another fact which must not escape notice is that the French charts show two lines of soundings, one along the inside of the Nepean peninsula, and a shorter one towards the north.
The rivers Hawkesbury, Nepean, and Grose, with other minor tributaries in the neighbourhood of Sydney. To the north, the river Hunter, and to the south, the district now known as the Illawarra.
"On the 13th of July, off the Cape of Good Hope, in the midst of a heavy winter's gale, our worthy passenger, Sir Evan Nepean, governor of Bombay, was thrown down the ladder, by the violent rolling of the ship; and another gentleman, the Baron Tuyll, the best-natured and deservedly popular passenger I ever saw afloat, was very nearly washed out of his cot by a sea which broke into the stern windows of the captain's cabin."
In Nepean Bay there is a deficiency of water, which is not the case in either of the last mentioned places. The soil is equally good in the neighbourhood of all three, but Kingscote having been occupied, the ground has been cleared of the dense brush that grew on it in a state of nature, and some of the most productive gardens in the Province are to be found there.
The next day, an excursion was made up the river Nepean, a tributary of the Hawkesbury, on which trip many valuable facts of natural history were obtained, Bougainville enriching his collection with canaries, waterfowl, and a very pretty species of kingfisher and cockatoos.
Two pecks of wheat were drilled into an acre of ground in Arthur's Vale, on the 24th; and on the next day, one acre and a quarter was sown with half a bushel of wheat at a broad cast. We now had very strong gales at south-west, and at nine o'clock in the morning the Supply passed between Nepean Isle and Point Hunter.
Captain Nepean has paid every attention to me, and has been so kind as to let us have a cooper: he dines with me to-morrow. I am collecting you some beautiful birds, and land animals, and other curiosities for you. The ship remains tight and strong, and in good condition. I will write you by the Gorgon man of war; she sails in about a month or six week's time. I am, Sirs, Your humble servant,
In the afternoon, I went in the boat, and attempted to land on Nepean Isle, on the south-west side of which is a small creek that goes in a considerable way, with a small sandy beach at the end of it; but as there was a number of rocks in the creek, and a surf beating on the shore, I did not land.
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