PART SOUTH OF LIZARD ISLAND. 323 



regularly surveyed by H.M.S. Fly and Bramble as 

 far as tbe coast of New Guinea. 



From 16° 40' to lG° 10', the reefs seem much 

 broken, with but little regular barrier. The linear 

 extension of the reefs stretches nearly east and west, 

 and the bottom is very irregular. At one point 

 soundings were got outside the reefs for a distance 

 of four miles, within which space there were casts 

 obtained of 27, 4*3, and 165 fathoms, the latter in 

 blue mud, immediately beyond which was no bottom, 

 with 321 fathoms. 



From 16° 10' to the parallel of Lizard Island, the 

 Barrier is formed by a narrow chain of reefs running 

 due north and south, at a distance of about thirty 

 miles from the land. The openings or breaks in 

 the Barrier are many, but small, rarely so much as 

 a mile wide, while the reefs are from one to six, or 

 even fifteen miles long, and about a quarter of a mile 

 broad. Outside this part of the Barrier no sound- 

 ings were obtained, though trials with 75 and 1.50 

 fathoms were made at one or two miles' distance. 

 Immediately inside is an almost clear channel, of 

 about five miles wide, running north and south 

 parallel to the Barrier, inside of which again there 

 are numerous inner reefs, running nearly close up to 

 the land, and making the inshore navigation very 

 intricate. The usual depth in the channels among 

 these inner reefs, and between them and the Barrier, 

 is 15 to 25 fathoms. 



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