ASPECT OF CORAL REEF. ](J3 



dual whim or caprice, or perhaps merely the elastic 

 bound of fear recovering at our departure. 



June 20. — We passed out this morning through 

 a small opening in the Barrier Reef, near Cape 

 Melville, and ran down on the outside of the reefs, 

 running in again in the afternoon, and anchoring 

 under the lee of a sand bank, on which I was able 

 to land. This reef was about two miles long and one 

 mile broad, completely covered even at low water, 

 except just about the sand bank, which was on its 

 shoalest point on the leeward or N.W. extremity. 

 The sand was wholly calcareous, grains of triturated 

 corals and shells ; many crabs burrowed in it ; 

 small sharks and sting-rays were cruising about in 

 the shallow water, and a few sea birds flying over 

 head. 



The shallow water of the reef was of a pale grass 

 green, while the deep water all round it was of the 

 dark ocean blue, the boundary line between the two 

 colours being clear and sharp. On the windward 

 side, or towards the open and unfathomable sea, the 

 swell broke upon the reef in a huge roll of surf, while 

 inside, where the water was not more than fifteen or 

 twenty fathoms deep, there was only the surface 

 ripple flaked with spray, from the action of the 

 strong S.E. trade, which was blowing half a gale of 

 wind. The outside edge of the reef was of course 

 unapproachable, but the inside edge I examined as 

 we passed it. The reef sloped gradually at its 

 edge from a depth of one or two feet to about four 



