CHAPTER IX. 



Torres Straits. 



'The Diamond sleeps within the mine, 

 The Pearl beneath the water." 



LTHOUGH this fishery has been of 

 more importance than that of Western 

 Australia, and has produced consi- 

 derably more than double the quantity of shell, 

 it is needless to describe it at great length, inas- 

 much as the Pearls which it yields are of very 

 little value. Torres Straits are situated at the 

 extreme North-Eastern corner of Australia, sepa- 

 rating Cape York from New Guinea. This passage of 

 water was discovered in 1605, by the Spanish navi- 

 gator Torres, after whom it was named. It measures 



