Page:Narrative of a survey of the intertropical and western coasts of Australia, Volume 2.djvu/386

 SAILING DIRECTIONS. 361 Islands, are several small'rocky islands, particularly on' the A. iorth-east side of the former; and at the.distance of three Sect. IV miles, to the north of the centre of Mains Island, is a patch 1'. Wet of fiat rocks, which.are those seen and noticed by Demeter, Coast. (Dampier, vol iii. p. 81, tab. xv. No. I0), but from his vaue account, it is not at all certain what island he saw; and, was it not for the peculiarity and remarkable appearance o Courtenay Head, it might have been any of the others. particularly within Lewis Island, where the Intercourse Islands will shelter a ship from whatever point the wind may blow. There is no wood of any size to be procured among the islands, which is a great'drawback: upon its utility as a Port. In the rainy season water is doubtless abundant, but must be soon evaporated.' We saw no rivulet or any fresh water, excepting a few gallons that.were :protected-from the heat of the sun by being under :the shade' of a fig, but from the number of natives seen by us, it is probable that there must be a large qiantity not far o.. The natives of this part use ioge to convey them from and to the islands. A smelt sandy .island, with a. reef extendin K for two miles from its .north-weet end, and one mile and a half from its south-east end, lies oil' the south-west end of Enderby Island, and would serve .as.a good'protection.from the sea in a S.W. wind, for the anchorage on the south side of Enderby Island. The main land is high and rocky bchind.the islands, but at the bottom of. the bay. again assumes a low charac- ter: more to the westward, a range of hills rises abruptly and advances for fourtee miles in a N.W. direction from the interior, and reaches the shores of the bay, when it ex- 'tends for eleven miles to the westward, and is then termi- nated by a vnitey, or an opening o�one mile and a halfwide,
 * lnere is good anchorage in all parts about the Archipelago,

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