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out, the basin would contain fifteen or twenty sail of merchant ships with great ease.

The flood tide came from the north and the ebb from the south, past the anchorage; but on the outside, they run south-west and north-east. It is not extraordinary that the rise and fall by the shore did not exactly coincide with the swinging of the ship; but that the time of high water should differ three hours, and the rise twenty feet from Broad Sound, is remarkable. According to Mr. Fowler's observations in the basin, it was high water there eight hours after the moon's passage; and the rise at the neaps and springs appeared to be from eight to twelve feet.

Upon the different elevated places whence bearings were taken, the variation differed from 7° 30′ to 9° 30′ east.

Early in the morning of the 4th, we got under way, with the Lady Nelson in company, to proceed on our voyage to Torres' Strait and the Gulph of Carpentaria. The wind was at E. by N., and we kept close up, to weather the northern Percy Isles; for I had a desire to fall in with the reefs laid down by Mr. Campbell, three-quarters of a degree to the eastward, in latitude 21½°; and to ascertain their termination to the north-westward.

The tide prevented us from weathering the islands till three in the afternoon; we then passed between No. 4 and some rocks