Almost the only thing to be seen beyond the outline of the coast was the constantly recurring smoke; one point received the name of Smoky Cape on account of the great quantity seen in its vicinity.  Cook, of course, was unaware that these “smokes” were probably, many of them, signals from one party of blacks to another of the arrival of something strange on the coast.  That these “smokes” are used by the blacks as a means of communication is a well recognised fact, and the news they can convey by this means is perfectly astonishing to a white man.

The country appeared to increase in height with: 

“an agreeable variety of Hills, Ridges, and Valleys, and large plains all clothed with wood, which to all appearance is the same as I have before mentioned as we could discover no visible difference in the soil.”

After escaping a reef off Point Danger they discovered a bay, which Cook called Morton Bay after the Earl of Morton, P.R.S.; now wrongly spelt as Moreton Bay.  Here, from the colour of the water, they supposed a river emptied into the sea; the surmise was correct, for they were at the mouth of the Brisbane River.  At the same time some curiously-shaped hills were given the name of the Glasshouses, from their resemblance to the buildings in which glass is manufactured, and the resemblance is most striking.

After rounding Breaksea Spit, Cook found himself in a large bay, and conjectured, from the birds and the direction of their flight, that there was fresh water to the south-west; and rightly, for here the Mary River enters Hervey’s Bay.  On 23rd May they landed for the second time, and Cook says this was “visibly worse than the last place,” that is Botany Bay.  They managed to shoot a bustard of 17 1/2 pounds, and Banks says it was “as large as a good turkey, and far the best we had eaten since we left England.”  It was so much appreciated that its name was conferred on Bustard Head and Bustard Bay.  This bird is known in Australia as the Plain Turkey.  Oysters of good quality were also obtained, and Banks made the personal acquaintance of the green tree ant and the Australian mosquito, neither of which were appreciated.

Cape Capricorn.

On 24th May a moderately high, white, barren-looking point was passed, which being found by observation to be directly under the tropic was named Cape Capricorn, and soon after the mouth of the Fitzroy was crossed, with the remark from Cook that from general appearances he believed there was a river in the immediate vicinity.  Soundings becoming very irregular, he ran out between the Keppel Islands, on one of which natives were seen.  Cape Townshend was named after Charles Townshend, one of the Lords of the Admiralty when the Endeavour left England, and not the Chancellor of the Exchequer, as stated by Wharton.