The island is nearly three miles long, north-west and south-east, and is moderately high and cliffy at the ends; the middle part is a sandy isthmus, not more than half a mile broad, but the breadth of the higher ends is from one-and-half to two miles.  This island is the central one of a group; for besides the four small isles to the north-east, there are two close to the west end, and two others, something larger, lying off to the southward.  I call these the ISLES OF ST. FRANCIS; in the persuasion that the central one is that named St. Francis by Nuyts.  Independently of the eight isles and a rock, surrounding this Isle St. Francis, I set from the north-east point three other islands.  The first, named Lacy’s Isle, bore N. 28 deg.  E., seven miles; and two miles from it to the north-west there is an islet and a separate rock above water surrounded with breakers, the same near which we had tacked at half-past four on the preceding evening.  The second was called Evans’ Isle, and bore N. 49 deg.  E. eleven miles, and the third to which the name of Franklin was given, bore N. 81 deg.  E. sixteen miles.  All these are much inferior in magnitude to the central island of St. Francis.

For several days before anchoring here we had observed large flocks of sooty petrels; and I found the surface of the island, where it was sandy and produced small shrubs, to be full of their burrows.  Penguins, similar to those of Furneaux’s Islands, had their burrows nearer to the water-side.  A small species of kangaroo, was also found, and at some preceding season the island had been frequented by geese; but at this time, the vegetation being almost burnt up, they seemed to have quitted it from want of food.  The heat was, indeed, such as to make walking a great fatigue; and this was augmented by frequently sinking into the bird holes and falling upon the sand.  The thermometer stood at 98 deg. in the shade, whilst it was at 78 deg. on board the ship.

Where the surface is not of sand it consists of calcareous rock, mostly in loose pieces; but the stone which forms the basis of the island is heavy and of a close grain, and was judged to be porphyry.  In the crevices of a low calcareous cliff, at the south-east side of the bay, I found some thin cakes of good salt, incrusted upon a stone containing laminae of quartz.

A party was sent on shore at dusk to collect petrels, and in less than two hours returned with sufficient to give four birds to every man in the ship.  Early in the morning [THURSDAY 4 FEBRUARY 1802] the boats were again sent upon the same errand, and to haul the seine; but the birds were gone off to sea for the day, and no fish were caught.  A small kangaroo was brought off, as also a yellow snake, which was the second killed on this island.  The great heat deterred the naturalists from going on shore this morning, for the very little variety in the vegetable productions presented no inducement to a repetition of their fatigue.  I landed to see what further could be discovered of the neighbouring islands; and we then prepared to get under way so soon as the breeze set in from the south-eastward, which it usually did about noon, after a few hours of calm or of light airs.