PROVIDENCE CHANNEL. 34>7 



perceiving the extent of a danger so justly dreaded, 

 how much stronger must have been the feelings of 

 Captain Cook, when from the same spot years be- 

 fore, he saw by a gap in the line of broken 

 water, there was a chance of his once more 

 gaining the open sea, after being confined to the 

 eastern shores of the Australian continent, for a 

 distance of 750 miles. Though the dangers of this 

 inner channel had proved so nearly fatal to his 

 ship, the truth of the homely adage, which de- 

 scribes all as happening for the best, was here 

 fully borne out, as the very fact of his position 

 enabled Captain Cook to make considerable dis- 

 coveries along the coast, — ^just as by the mishap on 

 Endeavour Reef, the presence of a river was made 

 apparent, and some slight knowledge of the abo- 

 rigines obtained, as well as numerous facts illus- 

 trative of the natural and vegetable productions of 

 the locality. 



Little did he think at that time, however, when 

 standing on the summit of the peak, that he was 

 about as it were to thread the eye of a needle, by 

 passing through another break, in a manner 

 which can only be designated as providential. 

 This gap in the great reef is now known as Provi- 

 dence Channel, a name which must ever remind 

 us of Him, who in moments when our lives hang 

 as by a thread, is ever watchful, and spares us in 

 the exercise of his inscrutable will. 



Carried back to times past, we stood upon the 



