NAVARIN AND HARBINGER ROCKS. 30,5 



scrubs, among which we saw numerous tracks of kan- 

 garoos, a certain sign that it is not much frequented 

 by civilized or uncivilized man. Leaving this 

 anchorage we examined the eastern shore of the 

 island which we found, as I have before described, 

 to be low and sandy. Passing along two miles from 

 it, we had a depth of from 8 to 12 and 15 fathoms. 

 As we approached the northern end, the character 

 of the coast changed, it being formed by rocky points 

 with small sand bays intervening. The reef laid 

 down by the French, two miles from the N.E. 

 extremity of the island, we found to be only half a 

 mile S.S.W. from it, one of the many errors we 

 discovered in the French chart of the strait. It 

 is a small ugly ledge quite beneath the water, and 

 from the absence of rocky points on the low sandy 

 shore it fronts, is quite unlooked for. 



The next day, February 13th, we examined the 

 dangers fronting the north side of the island, con- 

 sisting of Navarin and Harbinger Rocks, neither of 

 which we found so formidable or so far from the 

 shore as had been reported. The former lies only a 

 mile and a half off the north end, and although 

 we did not pass between it and the shore, there 

 is little doubt that a passage exists. We passed 

 between the Harbinger rocks in 27 fathoms ; this 

 great depth in their immediate vicinity, gives no 

 warning of their proximity in the night or during 

 thick weather. 



As it was now necessary for us to think of pre- 



VOL. I. X 



