368 REACH THK NORTH-WEST COAST. 



until the 1st, when in Lit. H" 24' S., and long. 

 123° ^3' E. we had 70 fathoms.* 



After midnii^ht on the 3rd and 4th we had strong 

 breezes of short duration from S. E., and although 

 a hundred miles from the nearest land to windward, 

 a fine kind of dust was found on the rigging, which, 

 on examination by a microscope, proved to consist of 

 sand and wood ashes. 



We saw the land to the southward of Roebuck 

 Bay on October 8th, and at noon passed four miles 

 from Cape Bossut, which we found to be in lat. 

 18M2' S. and long. 121° 45' E.t On the south side 

 opened a bay two miles deep, with a small high- 

 water inlet at its head. From thence we held a 

 general S. by W. ^ W. course, passing along the 

 land at the distance of from three to four miles, in 

 soundin«^s of 5 and 6 fathoms, and at sunset an- 

 chored four miles from a low sandy coast, on which 

 the sea broke heavily. Cape Joubert,t distant six- 

 teen miles, was the last projection of any kind we 



* From the result of our soundings on the passage to the 

 coast, it would appear that a ship in CO or 70 fathoms would be 

 about the same number of miles from the land between the 

 latitude of 14° S. or 15° S. — quality of bottom, a greyish sand, 

 which becomes coarser as the depth increases. 



■f The longitudes depend on the meridian of Coepang, which 

 has been considered in 123° 37' 0'' E. 



t In latitude 18° 58' S. and longitude 121° 42' E. It is 

 crested with bare white sand, and although only forty-five feet 

 high is a remarkable headland on this low coast. 



