318 BR EARS E A SPIT. 



land, sometimes occupying the greater part of the 

 intermediate space, sometimes leaving a compara- 

 tively clear channel on one or both sides of them ; 

 that is between themselves and the Barrier, and 

 between themselves and the land. They have no 

 peculiarity of form, are perhaps most commonly 

 steep-sided, but not unfrequently have a gradual 

 slope. 



We will now commence at Sandy Cape, and trace 

 the reefs to the northward, into Torres Strait. 

 From the pitch of that Cape a narrow sandy shoal 

 runs out to the northward, which appears to become 

 partially covered with coral as it proceeds. It is 

 about twenty miles long, and was called by Cook 

 Breaksea Spit. From Sandy Cape, a bank of 

 soundings is found, running along the east side of 

 Breaksea Spit, and continuing from it to the north- 

 west. This bank of soundings has from ten to 

 twenty fathoms' depth upon it, but it slopes towards 

 its outer edge down to thirty fathoms, and then sud- 

 denly pitches down into deep water. The edge of 

 this bank runs from a little outside Breaksea Spit, 

 first in a N.W. direction to lat. 23° 30', and then 

 in a N.N.W. direction to 23° 12\ It appears to 

 consist entirely of sand, which, immediately north 

 of the end of Breaksea Spit, was wholly siliceous, 

 hardly a particle dissolving in muriatic acid. Thirty 

 miles N.W. from the point of Breaksea Spit is Lady 

 Elliot's Island, a regular coral reef, with an islet 

 on the lee side of it. The edge of the bank of 



