Joseph Banks - Endeavour journal, 25 August 1768 - 12 July 1771 - No. 0259
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[Page 259]
South Sea
April 1769
the land as the void space within the bow does to the string & wood the string of the bow was a flat beach without any signs of vegetation on it but heaps of sea weed laying in ridges as higher or lower tides had left them this was 3 or 4 Leagues long & appeard not more than 200 yards wide in any part tho doubtless as flat objects foreshorten themselves so much it might be much more The Horns or angles of the bow were two large tufts of Cocoa nut trees & much the largest part of its arch was filld up likewise with trees of different hights & appearances a small part of it however was in my opinion low & like the string here some thought there was an opening into the Pool in the center & myself cannot say there was not indeed it was at so great a distance that all must be conjecture
Along the low beach or bowstring we saild within less than a league of the shore till sunsett when we judg'd ourselves about half way between the two horns we then brought too & sounded 130 fathom of line out & no ground night which came on here almost instantly after sunset made us lose sight