106 



HYDROGRAPHY. 



[Sect. Ill 



are sufficiently represented on our charts for the general purposes of 

 navigation, thoivjh many further researches along the former po..t 

 might still be profitably made. '^ 



■■' The Red Sc 



r 



art of the coast of Arabia, the Gulf of Persia and 

 many detached portions of the East Indies, have been ah-eadv executed 

 by the Company's officers ; iiad no doubt it is intended that the coasts of 

 Mahibar and Coromandel shall soon be undertaken by the same hands 



1 



he long Malay Peninsula and the Strait of Malacca will require much 

 time and skill to complete, and to combine v,-ith each other those parts 

 that have been surveved. 



" With the China Sea we are daily becoming better acquainted, but 

 much is still to be done there ; for probably not one of the multitude of 

 rocks and shoals with which it is almost covered is put exactly in its 

 right position ; and while some are repeated two or three tiuics, others 

 have been omitted. 



" On the coast of China the charts are excellent, from Canton round 

 to the moath of the great river Yang-tse-Kiang ; but of the Yellow Sea 



^'""^^'^^ '^^^ still less of the Corea, Japan, and the coast of 



we Know ver\ 



Tartary, and up to the confines of the Russian empire. 



" The southern passages into the China seas have never been examined 

 with the care they deserve ; and all that is known of what are called the 

 eastern passages through the Great Malay Archipelago are only the 



*^"al observations and sketches made years ago by indus- 



V, Vet/ 



results of th 

 trious seamen. 



" The islands and surrounding shores of the Arafura Sea, if better 

 kn ™, would offer nmny ports of refuge, and probably an increased 

 opening to commerciai enterprise. 



'' The Strait of Torres has been satisfactorily surveyed; but before it 



oeco 



cientU k 



3 the great highway for steam-vessels to and from Sydney, its 

 approaches, and also its contiguous coasts of New Guinea, should be 

 more intimately known. 



"The whole circuit of the great island of Australia has been well 

 explored, and the general characteristics of its several shores are suffi- 



known for all general purposes ; but far more minute surveys of 

 Its immediate waters and maritime resources must precede their being 

 mliabited, beginning with the eastern coast, along which the tide of 

 colonization seems to be already creeping. 



'^ The shores of Tasmania, in like manner, are but very roughly laid 

 down, and even to this day there is no chart of the harbour and entrance 

 to Hobart Town, its capital aud principal seat of trade. 



'' A full survey of New Zealand has just been commenced, and will 

 no^doubt answer all the wants of both the settler and nav^-rjator. 



" In advancing to the eastv/ard across the Pacific Ocean, there are 



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