Page:Journal of the Royal Geographical Society of London, Volume 1 (2nd edition).djvu/283

 Rh V.—Reef in the Pacific.

' reef has been discovered in the Pacific Ocean, among the Caroline Islands, the N.E. extremity of which is in latitude 7° 36' N., and longitude 155° 18' E. It was found to lie in a N.E. and S.W. direction, and is so extensive, that the whole of it could not be seen from the N.E. extremity. It is about fourteen miles in a W.S.W. direction from Island Bordelaise, discovered in 1826.'

The discovery is due to the ship Larkins, W. Campbell, master; and, as here given, is extracted from her log, bearing date 23d February, 1830.

VI.—Private Letter from Governor Stirling (Swan River Settlement) to Mr. Barrow. 'Western Australia, March 13, 1831.

,—By a ship which arrived here a few days since, I had the satisfaction to receive your very agreeable notes, dated June and July last, in which I observe the expression of that kind interest which you have always taken in the welfare and establishment of this settlement. I shall be truly glad to send you such a detailed account of its statistics as you seem to wish, and I would forward it by this opportunity, if it were not necessary to wait for the completion of a general map of the territory, which is now about to be begun, as well as for a further account of the weather, as registered during last year at King George's Sound and Garden Island. As soon as all the matters relating to a full and accurate description of this country can be brought into arrangement, I shall beg your acceptance of it.

'Through good report and evil report we have worked our way nearly to the conclusion of the second year, and I am proud in saying, that our prospects are brighter and better assured than ever. Since I last wrote to you, we have been frequently on the point of failing, from causes which I suppose are always to be found in operation in similar enterprises. It was my business to counteract these by further explorations of the country, of which the general result has been that the future prosperity of the settlement is now a point which no one is foolish enough to doubt. To give you an idea of our progress in discoveries, I shall briefly allude to them in the order in which they were made. Two attempts to get beyond the mountains were unsuccessful; I therefore took to the sea-coast during the wet and dry season.

'At Port Leschenault, in March, we found some good land; but before it could be occupied by settlers, I learnt that a good