78 ENTRANCE TO THE INNER PASSAGE. 



" Our soundings were obtained by using- Massey's 

 patent lead, with which we found we could reach 

 the bottom at twenty-six fathoms, when the sliip 

 was going 9.3 knots an hoiu- ; and with such a 

 guide any error in the reckoning would be detected, 

 even by night, as the Bunker Group gives warning 

 by the soundings. For a steamer going to Sydney 

 by the Inner Route, this channel would be in- 

 valuable as far as the Pine Peak of the Percy Isles. 

 One direct course wiU. lead out to sea clear of all 

 the reefs, a distance of more than 200 miles, 

 during which period there would be ample time to 

 ascertain by observations of the sun, whether any 

 current had been experienced sufficient to place the 

 ship in danger, and, as the channel between Swain's 

 Reef and the Bunker Group appears to be clear, 

 there is a drift of thirty miles on each side the course 

 from the High Peak." 



May 16th. —After having at dayhght sighted the 

 land about Port Bowen and Cape Townshend, we 

 passed the Northumberland and Percy Isles to the 

 westward, the water being very smooth with light 

 airs from S. to E.N.E. A very offensive smell 

 which has been experienced in the after part of the 

 ship for a week back, was to-day traced to some 

 preserved meats prepared in Sydney ; 1036 poimds 

 of these being found quite putrid were condemned.* 



* It is but justice to state here that the English invention of 

 preserving meat in air-tight canisters had only recently been 

 attempted in Sydney ; and it vpas then to be regarded merely as 



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