Next day Mr. Thistle was sent to examine the coast and islands to the eastward, when he found the archipelago to be full as dangerous in that direction as to the west.  He landed upon an island three leagues distant, and brought me from thence a list of other islands and rocks further on, whose bearings had been taken.  Several seals were procured on this and the preceding day, and some fish were caught alongside the ship; but our success was much impeded by three monstrous sharks, in whose presence no other fish dared to appear.  After some attempts we succeeded in taking one of them; but to get it on board required as much preparation as for hoisting in the launch.  The length of it, however, was no more than twelve feet three inches, but the circumference of the body was eight feet.  Amongst the vast quantity of substances contained in the stomach was a tolerably large seal, bitten in two, and swallowed with half of the spear sticking in it with which it had probably been killed by the natives.  The stench of this ravenous monster was great even before it was dead; and when the stomach was opened it became intolerable.

WEDNESDAY 13 JANUARY 1802

On the 13th the wind blew fresh from the eastward; and as we could not sail with the ship, lieutenant Fowler and Mr. Thistle went over to Mondrain Island, the largest we had yet seen in the archipelago.  An observation of the latitude and a set of angles were there taken, and they brought back some seals of a reddish fur, and a few small kangaroos of a species different from any I had before seen.  The island was covered with brush wood; but some of the party, either from accident or design, set it on fire, and the wind being fresh, there was a general blaze in the evening all over the island.

Very little other stone was seen about Lucky Bay than granite; and all the surrounding hills, as well as the islands visited, were composed of varieties of the same substance; and some specimens from Mondrain Island contained garnets.  In many places the surface of the rocks was scaling off in layers, and in the steep parts great lumps had fallen off, and some caverns were formed in the cliffs.  This propensity to decomposition was more remarkable in the high peak of Cape Le Grand, about five miles to the westward, to which Mr. Brown made an excursion.  He found a perforation at the top forming an arch of great width and height, and above it, at the very summit of the peak, were loose pieces of granite of considerable size.

There did not appear to be any Indians at this time in the neighbourhood of Lucky Bay; but from their fire places, it was judged that they had not quitted it long since.  Geese and ducks were found here, and not being very shy, some of them were killed by the shore parties.  The goose was also found upon the islands; and is the same bird spoken of in the Introduction [**] as resembling the bernacle goose, and frequenting Furneaux’s Islands in Bass Strait.*