372 BOOBY ISLAND. 



letters for transmission by any vessel proceeding in 

 the required directions. I noticed a similar prac- 

 tice prevailing among the whalers at the Galapagos 

 Islands in the Pacific. We are indebted for the 

 book to the public spiritedness of an Indian array 

 officer. The beneficial results of the plan were 

 experienced by ourselves, as here we first heard 

 of the Port Essington expedition, having passed 

 eight months previously ; also of the schooner Es- 

 sington, that left Sydney in advance of the expedi- 

 tion for that place, having succeeded in determin- 

 ing the fact of the non-existence of the other young 

 D'Oyly, one of the passengers of the ill-fated 

 Charles Eaton. This result of the enterprising 

 merchant-man's researches, fully bears out the fact 

 mentioned by Captain King, on the authority of the 

 Darnley islanders, that he shared the fate of his 

 parents, being devoured by their savage captors. 

 All the ships which have recorded their passage in 

 the book, appeared to have entered the Barrier be- 

 tween the latitude of 11° 30' and 12° 10' ; generally 

 about 1 V 50' reaching Sir Charles Hardy's Island 

 the same day. They all spoke of a strong northerly 

 current outside the reef, in some instances of nearly 

 three knots. The time occupied in making the 

 passage from Sydney by the outer route, varied 

 from fourteen to twenty days, it being certainly 

 shorter than the inner, though attended with much 

 greater risks. One objection made against the 

 latter is the necessity of anchoring every evening, 



