The existence of Cloates Island also, of which there are so many undeniable and particular descriptions, has been for a long time questioned by navigators; I think however there is no doubt that it does exist but that it is no other than the mainland to the southward of the North West Cape.  The descriptions of this island by Captain Nash of the ship House of Austria, as well as that of the Haeslingfield in 1743, and subsequently by Captain Pelly, accord exactly with the appearance of this promontory; nor is the longitude much in error when we consider the strength of the currents which set to the north-west, during the easterly monsoon, in the space between New Holland and Java.  Captain Nash places Cloates Island 7 degrees 26 minutes East of Java Head, and the Haeslingfield 7 degrees 12 minutes; the mean of the two accounts is 7 degrees 19 minutes; the true difference of the meridians of Java Head and the North West Cape is 9 degrees 3 minutes, a difference only of 1 degree 44 minutes.

May not the Tryal Rocks also be some of the low islands that skirt the coast?  The account of them by the Dutch sloop in 1718 places them in latitude 19 degrees 30 minutes and eighty leagues from the coast of New Holland; but, unless it is Bedout Island (a sandy islet seen by Captain Baudin, in longitude 118 degrees 50 minutes) there is no part of the coast that can at all accord with the description in respect to latitude.  The rocks seen by the Fredensberg Castle in 1777 are certainly the Montebello Isles, which answer the Dane’s description exactly; for they are very low and rocky and abound in reefs, one of which extends a long distance to the north-west from Trimouille Island.  There remains no doubt in my mind but that Barrow’s Island and Trimouille Island, and the numerous reefs around them, are the identical Tryal Rocks which have been the theme and dread of every voyager to the eastern islands for the two last centuries.* Captain Flinders** spent some days in an ineffectual search for them and has, I think, decidedly proved their non-existence between the parallels of 20 1/4 and 21 degrees, and the meridians of 103 1/2 and 106 1/2 degrees.  The above islands accord exactly as to latitude; and the only argument against the probability of this supposition is their longitude; but during the month of July the current sets with great strength to the westward and might occasion considerable errors in ships’ reckonings, which, in former days, were so imperfectly kept that no dependence can be placed upon them.

(Footnote.  The Tryal Rocks obtained their name from the English ship Tryal, said to have been lost upon them in 1622 (vide Horsburg’s Indian Directory volume 1 page 100).  This danger having been once laid down will, perhaps, never be erased from the chart, although it is generally believed not to exist.  It has been placed in various positions according to the account which the compiler gives most credence to.  In Arrowsmith’s large chart of the South Sea it is laid down in 20 degrees 40 minutes South and 104 1/2 degrees East.)