The criſta marina is found upon theſe ſhores. I diſcovered at a little diſtance from them a new ſpecies of parſley, which I named apium proſtratum, on account of the poſition of its ſtem, which always creeps along the ground. Its analogy with the other ſpecies of the ſame genus, led me to think it might be good to eat, and it anſwered my expectations. We carried a large quantity of it on board with us, which was acceptable to mariners who felt the neceſſity of obviating, by vegetable diet, the bad effects of the ſalt proviſions on which we had lived during the whole of our paſſage from the Cape of Good Hope to that of Van Diemen.
Cretin, one of the officers of our ſhip, together with the engineer, had been ſent with the longboat by our Commander, in order to reconnoitre Tempeſt-bay. They brought intelligence at their return, after having advanced fifteen or twenty thouſand toiſes into a channel which we had left on our right when we entered the bay, that every appearance concurred to make it probable that this was a ſtrait. Wherever they had ſounded they found very good anchorage ground.
29th. I was very little on ſhore during the two following days.
30th. The whole forenoon I employed in deſcribing and preparing the copious collections
which
