The country here is thickly wooded, but very low,
excepting a few ranges of hills that may rise to the
height of two hundred feet. The south side of
Bathurst Island has no sinuosities.
Near CAPE FOURCROY the coast is formed by sandhills:
but, for the next fifteen miles, it is low and backed
by wooded hills.
...
OF THE NATURE OF THE WINDS AND THE DESCRIPTION OF
THE COAST BETWEEN CLARENCE STRAIT AND THE NORTH-WEST
CAPE.
NORTH-WEST COAST.
The nature of the winds upon the North-west Coast,
that is, between Cape Van Diemen and the North-west
Cape, differs very materially from the regularity
of the monsoons in the sea that divides it from Timor
and the islands to the northward; excepting in the
narrower part between Cape Londonderry and the Sahul
Bank, where, from the contracted nature of the sea,
more regular winds may be expected. The easterly
monsoon commences about the beginning of April, and
in the months of May and June blows with great strength,
and will be found more regular close to the projecting
parts of the coast, but they then rather assume the
character of a sea-breeze, for the nights are generally
calm.
After the month of June the winds to the westward
of Cape Londonderry are very irregular, and generally
blow from the southward or south-west; they are however
more constant to the westward of Buccaneer’s
Archipelago, where the seabreezes blow principally
from the North-West along the land. At intervals,
during the east monsoon, the wind blows strong from
South-East, but only for a short time, perhaps only
for a few hours. Ships may creep along the Coast
of New Holland to the eastward during the easterly
monsoon, when they could not make any progress in the
mid sea, without being much delayed by calms.
Towards the North-west Cape, neither the monsoon nor
the South East trade are much experienced, the wind
being generally from the South-West or North-West.
During the strength of the westerly monsoon, that
is, in the months of December and January, the wind
is regular between West-North-West and West-South-West,
and, in the neighbourhood of the North-west Cape,
sometimes blows hard; but even in these tropical regions,
when the weather is very bad, the change is predicted
by the barometer, which otherwise is scarcely affected.
In February, near the coast of New Holland, the monsoon
is less constant, and the wind often blows off the
land, so that a ship could make her westing, when,
if more to the northward, it would be impossible for
her to gain any ground. At the latter end of
February the westerly winds die away, and are succeeded
by light, baffling, easterly winds, with damp, unwholesome
weather, and attended occasionally by heavy squalls
of wind and rain.
If a ship is detained late in the easterly monsoon,
and wishes to get to the westward, she will find the
wind more regular and strong from the eastward in
the neighbourhood of Timor, where the easterly monsoon
lasts until the first or second week in November:
in the months of September and October, to the southward
of the parallel of 12 degrees, the winds are almost
constant from South-West.
