302 NEWS FROM BOOBY ISLAND. 



final adieu to Cape York and Torres Strait. On 

 nearing Booby Island, we saw the appointed signal 

 for good news flying, and found that our boats, 

 having missed us on the coast of New Guinea, after 

 a vain attempt to reach Caedha, or Bramble Key, 

 had run for this little islet. We had left provisions 

 here in the early part of the year for any ship- 

 wrecked people that might come in their boats. 

 Availing themselves of these, and procuring a fresh 

 supply of water near Port Lihou, in Endeavour 

 Strait, our people had left the second gig on Booby 

 Island, and gone on in the Midge to Port Essing- 

 ton. We also found intelligence that two large 

 vessels had been wrecked — one the Hyderabad, in 

 the Cumberland Passage, near Murray Island, 

 another the Coringa Packet, on some outside reefs to 

 the northward, about S. lat. 17°, and E. long. 150°. 

 The crews and passengers of these, consisting alto- 

 gether of seventy or eighty people, had also visited 

 Booby Island, and gone on to Port Essington, 

 partly in their boats and partly in a small schooner 

 that happened to pass by. Among the passengers 

 by the Hyderabad were some ladies from Van Die- 

 men's Land, on their way to India, whose acquaint- 

 ance we had had the pleasure of making when in 

 Hobarton. 



The mention of these circumstances leads me na- 

 turally to enter on a subject which I believe an 

 important one, namely, the propriety of establishing 

 a post in Torres Strait, somewhat similar to that 



