Page:Narrative of a survey of the intertropical and western coasts of Australia, Volume 1.djvu/55



1817. Dec. 21.

AT the time that the Mermaid was ready to commence her voyage, it was the season when the westerly monsoon blows over that part of the sea which separates the islands of Timor and New Guinea from Australia; it was therefore necessary, in order to benefit by the direction of the wind, to commence the survey of the coast at its western extremity, the North-West Cape: but, to do this, the passage was to be made, by taking Vol,. I.