Narrative of a Survey of the Intertropical and Western Coasts of Australia eBook

Philip Parker King
This eBook from the Gutenberg Project consists of approximately 567 pages of information about Narrative of a Survey of the Intertropical and Western Coasts of Australia.

Narrative of a Survey of the Intertropical and Western Coasts of Australia eBook

Philip Parker King
This eBook from the Gutenberg Project consists of approximately 567 pages of information about Narrative of a Survey of the Intertropical and Western Coasts of Australia.

RED POINT, a steep cliffy projection, is the north extremity of a range of reddish-coloured cliffs, of about two hundred feet high, that extends to the southward for eight miles, when a sandy shore commences and continues with little variation, except occasional rocky projections and sometimes rocky bays, as far as Cape Burney.  The coast is moderately high, and, in the interior, some hills of an unusual height for this part of the coast are seen.  MOUNT NATURALISTE is in latitude 28 degrees 18 minutes, and between the latitudes 28 degrees 25 minutes and 28 degrees 55 minutes, is MORESBY’S FLAT-TOPPED RANGE.  It is terminated at the north end by three hills, called MENAI HILLS; and at the southern end, by the WIZARD HILLS.  MOUNT FAIRFAX is in latitude 28 degrees 45 minutes 30 seconds, and longitude 114 degrees 38 minutes 45 seconds.  The coast in front of this range is of pleasing and verdant appearance; two or three small openings in the sandy beach, with an evident separation in the hills behind, particularly one in latitude 28 degrees 36 minutes, bore indications of rivulets; and the smokes of natives’ fires, and the more wooded character of the coast, showed that the country was evidently more fertile and productive than any other part between Cape Leeuwin and the North-west Cape.  The bottom at from ten to twelve miles off, is from twenty to twenty-five fathoms deep, and composed of a fine sand, of a dark gray colour.

CAPE BURNEY is in latitude 28 degrees 56 minutes:  four miles to the southward is a reef, apparently detached from the shore.

HOUTMAN’S ABROLHOS.  The old Dutch charts give a very considerable extent to this reef; Van Keulen makes it cover a space of sea, forty-seven miles long, and twenty-five broad.  We only saw the islands at the south end, with three detached reefs between them and the shore; one of which (the southernmost) may probably be the TURTLE DOVE.  The islands lie West 4 degrees North true, forty-one miles from Cape Burney, but the channel (GEELVINK CHANNEL) between the shore and the reefs, is not more than twenty-six miles wide.  The south-easternmost reef that we saw is about three miles long, and lies nearly ten miles South 55 degrees East from the islands; it appeared to be covered, but the sea was breaking high over it.  In passing this part of the coast, Captain Hamelin, who commanded the Naturaliste under Commodore Baudin’s orders, must have steered within the reefs, as the Geelvink (Vlaming’s ship) did.  The reef that is laid down upon the chart, in latitude 29 degrees 10 minutes is from Van Keulen.  We did not see it. (See Horsburgh volume 1 page 98.)

From Cape Burney the coast is rather low and sandy; in 29 degrees 16 minutes is a reef; and seven miles more to the south is another; they lie from five to seven miles from the shore.

In latitude 29 degrees 6 minutes 30 seconds, there is a small peaked hillock; and in 29 degrees 17 minutes 50 seconds, a small sandy patch upon the land.

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Narrative of a Survey of the Intertropical and Western Coasts of Australia from Project Gutenberg. Public domain.