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prefer Torres' Strait, were it only on this account; considering the long continuance of the danger in one case, as being more than a counterbalance to the superior degree of it in the other.

With respect to a passage through Torres' Strait in the opposite direction,—from the Indian Sea to the Great Ocean, it has not, to my knowledge, been attempted; and I have some doubt of its practicability. A ship would have an advantage in entering the strait by its least dangerous side; but as the passage could be made only in December, January, or February, the rainy squally weather which probably will then prevail, would augment the danger from the reefs ten fold. The experiment is therefore too hazardous for any except a ship on discovery; whose business it is to encounter, and even to seek danger, when it may produce any important benefit to geography and navigation.