178 CAPTAIN DUMONT D'uKVILLE. 



on a plank^ in return for cocoa-nuts^ a stone axe^ and 

 some shells. These natives appeared to be unarmed ; 

 by sig'ns they invited the Frenchmen to visit them on 

 shore. D'Urville was now anxious to determine 

 whether J as represented by his charts^* a passag-e 

 existed between this portion of the '' Louisiade of 

 Bougainville^'' and what w^as then considered to be 

 the south-east extremity of New Guinea^ in the 

 neig-hbourhood of Cape Rodney. Next day^ how- 

 ever (28th)^ a hig'h chain of mountains was seen to 

 occupy the space assigned to the supposed passag'e. 

 On the 29th^ a barrier reef was found extending* to 

 the eastward in the direction of the coast line ; they 

 were unable clearly to identify Cape Rodney and 

 Point Hood^ of the English charts. In the evening* 

 D'Urville saw a chain of hio-h mountains which he 

 named Mount Astrolabe^ and a w^ell marked head- 

 land (Cape Passy) beyond which the coast appeared 

 to trend to the northward. The expedition now 

 shaped a com-se for Torres Strait^ having in seven 

 days made a ^^ running survey'' extending over a 

 space of 450 miles in lengthy without anchoring or 

 communicating* with the inhabitants.f 



* This matter had beea discussed by the Russian Admiral 

 Krusenstern ; see " Recueil de Memoires Hydrographiques pour 

 servir d' analyse et d'expUcation a 1' Atlas de I'Ocean Pacifique,'* 

 p. 60. Also in his Atlas, a general chart of the Pacific Ocean^ 

 and two others of New Guinea, and the Louisiade Archipelago, 

 published in 1824. 



f Voyage au Pole Sud et dans I'Oceanie sur les corvettes 



