Page:Narrative of a survey of the intertropical and western coasts of Australia, Volume 1.djvu/509

 COAST8 OF AUSTRALIA. The following Reruoon, the man at the mast- lsao. head reported breakers in the W.N.W., and when I went to examine from thence, I w as for some time equally deceived: the helm was put up, and we bore down towards them, but, as we approached, they vanished, and we found we had been deceived by the reflection of the sun's rays upon the water'. ARer being sufficiently assured of our mistake, the course was resumed; and, by the following noon, we had passed .the parallel of the southernmost limit assigned to these re- doubtable rocks. When we were on the starboard tack, two nights before, the cutter leaked so' much, that we ' The decept|ous appearances that are frequently observed at Sea, such as the reflection of the sun, rippliugs occasioned by the meeting of two oppos}te currents, whales.asleep upon the surface othe water, shoals of fish, fog-banks, and the extraordinary effect of mirage, than which, as an optical illusion, nothing is more de- ceiving, have doubtless given birth to many of these non-existing shoals and islands. Were charts to be published, (one dos exist iu manuscript, in the Hydrographical Oee at the Admiralty,) with all the islands and dangers !aid down that have been reported by good and respectable authorities, the navigator would be iu a con- stant fever of anxiety and alarm for the Safety of his vessel. The charts of the present day teem with examples of this sort, and many islands and reefs a laid down which have not been seen since their first discovery, and which, perhaps, never existed at all, unless, llke Sabrin.m Island, they were thrown up by a sub-marine volcano, and disappeared immediately afterwards.

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