594 Voyage of the Novara. 



stationed at the mast-heads, in order the more readily to make 

 it out with the advantage of such an elevation, there was not 

 the slightest trace perceptible of rocks or shoals, and we sailed 

 without obstruction over the very spot at which, according 

 to the English charts, Bradley's Reef rises from the waves. 

 This reef was discovered by Captain Hunter in May, 1791, 

 two days after he had passed Stewart's Island (Sikayana), 

 and is doubly dangerous in a climate where the sea rarely 

 runs so high as to make it easily observed by the surf break- 

 ing over it. According to our observations, collated with 

 those of Captain Cheyne, Bradley's Reef must lie in about 

 160° 48' E.* 



The same day about 7 p.m., when we were about 120 miles 

 distant from the N. W. part of the Solomon group, there sud- 

 denly and altogether unexpectedly blazed forth in the western 

 sky an immense and most brilliant comet, with a yellow, 

 rather bright nucleus, and an enormous tail, sweeping over 

 some 15° or 20". It was about 8° or 10° above the horizon 

 when we observed it. 



This rare phenomenon, during the fourteen days it con- 

 tinued visible, presented a most excellent opportunity for 

 astronomical observations. Upon the sailors, usually so su- 

 perstitious, this splendid celestial visitor made a much less 

 profound impression than we had anticipated. But few were 

 apprehensive that the end of the world was at hand, while 



* A. Cheyne — Sailing Directions from New South Wales to China and Japan. 

 London, 1855, page 68. 



