PASSAGE ALONG THE COAST. 289 



Sept. l^th. — Passed Mount Astrolabe, a series of 

 long- flat-topped ridg-es parallel mth the coast, but 

 were unable clearly to identify tbe Cape Passy of 

 D'UrviUe where his running survey terminated, and 

 where the Astrolabe and Zelee bore away to the 

 westward for Torres Strait. 



Sept. 20th. — During the forenoon the Bramble 

 was observed to windward, and in the afternoon she 

 was sent in-shore to look for anchorage. Following 

 her we stood in towards a remarkable headland (365 

 feet high) which afterwards received the name of 

 Redscar Head, from the reddish colour of its cHfFs. 

 At the distance of six and a half miles fi"om the 

 shore fl'e struck soundings in twenty-seven fathoms, 

 and soon afterwards crossed a narrow ridge of coral, 

 with only five fathoms over it ; after this the bot- 

 tom consisted of tenacious mud, and we carried in 

 from twenty-two to eighteen fathoms, in the last of 

 which we anchored two miles and two-thu*ds off the 

 point. 



When Lieut. Yule came on board we heard that 

 since we left the Bramble near Dufaure Island to 

 do the in-shore work, he had on one occasion an 

 affray with the natives in the neighbourhood of the 

 Toulon Islands. When the Bramble ^as nearly 

 becalmed close in-shore, several canoes with about 

 thirty people, including several women and children, 

 came off" to barter. A small pig* was handed up 



* As has often happened the hone of contention did not rest 

 with the belligerents, for the pig was eventually handed over to me 

 A'OL. I. U 



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