364 SAHUL SHOAL. 



surgeon, in order to alleviate Mr. Fitzmaurice*s 

 great sufferings by a little rest, that our stay was 

 lengthened to September Jth, when we left in 

 the morning.* By noon we had cleared the heads of 

 Port Essington, and a course was then shaped for 

 the supposed Sahul Shoal, the northern and central 

 parts of which we passed over without finding any 

 remarkable decrease in the soundings. f The winds 

 were singularly light from the eastward, until we 

 approached Timor, the S. W. end of which we saw 

 in the morning of the 15th, t when, after passing 



* While steering N. by E. h E. for Point Record, we discovered 

 a bank of 4| fathoms, with 7 and 8 on each side. When just 

 off it, to the northward, in 7 fathoms, the west extreme of Point 

 Record bore N. 19j E., and its east extreme N. 35j E., and the 

 north-east end of Spear Point N. 59o W. 



t This clearly proved that our knowledge of the extent of 

 the Sahul Bank was very imperfect. It appears that between 

 the latitudes 11° 0' S. and 11° 25' S., and the longitudes 125° 

 20' E. and 125" 50' E., there are no less than six patches of 

 coral known, of 12 and 16 fathoms. It is my belief that the 

 whole of this shoal, if it merit the name, lies between the 

 latitudes of 11° 15' S. and 11° 35' S., and the longitudes of 1 23" 

 35' E. and 124° 15' E. 



X In passing the north-east end of Rottee a good look-out was 

 kept for a 5-fathom patch, laid down in the Admiralty Chart as 

 lying four miles east of it. Nothing, however, could be dis- 

 covered of it ; and close to the place we had 50 fathoms. In 

 Flinders' Atlas we find 50 fathoms marked on this spot; and it 

 is probable that the mistake has occurred in copying, the being 

 left out, and the space dotted round, to draw attention to the 

 supposed shoal-water. 



