HARBOURS INSIDE THE BARRIER REEF. 61 



below, probably of debris, while the fiat top slopes 

 backwards with a very gentle declivity. Owen 

 Stanley Rang-e ag-ain presented quite a different as- 

 pect as seen on the occasion alluded to, when nearly 

 one half of its whole leng-th (300 miles) from Mount 

 YuJe to Heath Bay was in full view : the outline was 

 irreg'ular but never suddenly so, and no peaks or 

 other remarkable points were seen. 



I may mention here in relation to this part of 

 New Guinea, though not in continuance of the nar- 

 rative, that the Barrier Reef, beginning- (or endino-)^ 

 at Low Island, is continued to the southward and 

 eastward for 150 miles, as far as Cape Colombier, 

 g-enerally following* the tread of the coast, at a dis- 

 tance oft" it of from three to fifteen miles. A long- 

 strip of apparently navig-able water is thus enclosed 

 between the reef and the shore, with numerous pas- 

 sag-es, many of which appeared to be clear to Lieut. 

 Yule as he passed along close to the outer margin 

 of the reef. Some good harbours doubtless exist 

 here ; the Bramble passed through Roundhead 

 Entrance and found good anchorage in fifteen 

 fathoms immediately inside. The whole of this 

 extent of coast appeared to be well peopled. On 

 the western side of Mount Astrolabe, for instance, 

 numerous villages and patches of cultivated land 

 were seen from the Bramble. 



Both in Redscar Bay and for the first two or 

 three days after leaving- it numbers of sago palms, 

 some quite recent, were observed on the water, occa- 



