REMARKABLE RIPPLINGS. 219 



still on the coral ledge that skirts the whole of this 

 coast, northward of Cape Leveque; on the raised parts 

 of which are numerous reefs of an irregular size and 

 almost invariahly trending from W. to l^f.W. The 

 number of these low coral reefs already known, and 

 the probable number of those yet undiscovered, 

 make this rather a dangerous sea, and must have a 

 tendency to lessen the value of the N.W. coast of 

 Australia for purposes of forming settlements. In 

 the afternoon we saw again the reef discovered and 

 named after the Beagle. Steering W.N. W. we passed 

 four miles from its northern side in soundings vary- 

 ing from 41 to 47 fathoms. 



April Q3. — Towards the close of this day we 

 passed through a line of very remarkable ripplings, 

 extending in a north and south direction, which we 

 knew indicated some great inequality in the bottom, 

 but whether from deep to shoal water was a matter 

 of some anxiety ; therefore, with leadsmen in the 

 chains and the men at their stations for working- 

 ship, we glided into this streak of agitated water, 

 where plunging once or twice she again passed into 

 the silent deep. We sounded ineffectually with 

 8() fathoms in the ripplings ; for some time before 

 the soundings had been regular 52 and 55 fathoms 

 fine sand, and four miles beyond it we had 14G 

 fathoms, but did not succeed afterwards in reaching 

 the bottom with 200 fathoms. This line of disturbed 

 water, therefore, marks the edge of the bank of 

 soundings fronting this part of the coast, from which 



