Page:A Voyage to Terra Australis Volume 2.djvu/125

Torres' Strait.]

with squally weather. We steered south-westward, passing at seven o'clock between two dry sands, three or four miles apart, with a depth of 15 fathoms; at eight, another dry bank was left two miles to the southward, and a small, low island set at N. by W., two or three leagues. From this time, and running at the rate of seven knots, nothing was seen until ten; a dry sand then bore N. 78° W., two miles and a half, and two more low isles were seen to the northward; the soundings had become regular, between 10 and 9 fathoms, and the bottom was of mixt sand and shells, fit for anchorage. Our latitude at noon was 10° 26′ 45″, and longitude 142° 39½′; and we had high land bearing S. 3° E. ten or twelve miles, which I supposed might be the easternmost of the York Isles, although captain Cook's longitude of it was 38′ more westward. The weather being hazy, no other land was seen, nor any reefs; but at one o'clock, I set these bearings:

At two o'clock, when we passed on the north side of the double isle, it was seen to be surrounded with a coral reef, and there were rocks on its west and south sides. We then hauled up S.W. by S. for some rocky islets lying, as I supposed, off Cape York; but finding no shelter there, bore away round the north end of an island, of which Mr. Westall took a view, and anchored in 7 fathoms, gravel and shells, one mile and a half from the land, and two or three cables length from a shoal to the southward, which became dry at low water. Our latitude here was 10° 30′ from bearings, and longitude by time-keeper 142° 18½′ east; but I was altogether at a loss to know what islands these were, under which we had anchored. Supposing the flat-topped island to have been the easternmost York Isle, the land we had in sight to the southward should have been Cape York; but no such isles as those around us were laid down by captain Cook, to the north of that cape. On consulting the sketch