AEEIVE IN SIGHT OF NEW GUINEA. 251 



most, in lat. 10° 63' S. and long-. 150° 69' E.), the 

 former, a group of four, of which the larg'est 

 measures two and a half miles in leng-th, while the 

 smallest is a remarkable pyramidal projection, to 

 which the name of Bell Eock was g'iven, — this last 

 is situated in lat. 10° 67|-' S. and lon^. 161° 2' E. 



Aug. 12th. — We saw in the distance part of the 

 high land of New Guinea in the neighbourhood of 

 where its south-east cape has been conjectured to be, 

 and approached within a few miles of the Dumoulin* 

 Islands, a group of four rocky isles, the westernmost 

 of which is 400 feet high, and less than a mile in 

 length j there are besides five rocks, some of con- 

 siderable size. The Dumoulin Isles are inhabited, 

 and appear fertile, — they are tolerably well-wooded 

 with small trees and a sprinkUng of cocoa-palms. 

 In standing off for the night, the water suddenly 

 shoaled from no bottom with 80 fathoms to casts of 

 16 and 12 fathoms, of coral, and sand and shells, 

 and then deepened again as we went out. One is 

 inchned to suspect that this may be a submarine 

 extension of the barrier reef 



The Bramble meanwhile had been ordered in to 

 look for anchorage, and found it under the lee of 

 the largest island in 26 fathoms. She remained in 

 that neighbourhood for several days while we were 

 beating about at sea. Several of the Dumoulin 



* The hydrographical engineer attached to D'TJrville's last 

 expedition, and the constructor of most of the charts published 

 in the Hydrographical Atlas of " Voyage au Pole Sud, &c." 



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