CAPE MELVILLE. 351 



keeping away again W. N. W. for Point Barrow, 

 found ourselves close to a reef, almost dry, 

 and extending nearly a mile further off the N. E. 

 side of Coles Island, than is laid down in the 

 chart; thus contracting the channel between it 

 and No. 4 island, to a space of not more than 

 two miles. When the course was shaped for Point 

 Barrow, Noble Island, a very remarkable pyra- 

 midal shaped rocky height, was a point on the 

 port bow. Its singular appearance makes it con- 

 spicuous amid the recollections of this part of the 

 coast. 



We now once more approached to within a dis- 

 tance of seven miles of the main land, which 

 presented to our view a low sandy shore, with a 

 few remarkable hummocks rising over it, and 

 somewhat high, broken, rocky land imm.ediately 

 behind. Passing Point Barrow we anchored near 

 the north end of a large reef. Cape Melville bearing 

 W. N. W. ten miles. Here we felt a swell rolling 

 in from seaward, and during the day there had been 

 a current in our favour, of about a mile an hour. 

 From the haze on the horizon, noticed from this an- 

 chorage, as well as on passing Cape Melville, I believe 

 the outer edge of the Barrier Reef to be not more 

 than four or five leagues distant from the land. 



Our attention had been previously directed by 

 Captain King and others, to the singular appear- 

 ance of the rocks on Cape Melville ; indeed 

 no one can pass this remarkable projection without 



