328 



THE DETACHED REEFS. 



miles, or as far as 11° 34', From this point con- 

 nected reefs run out about E. by N. for ten miles, 

 forming the northern side of Raine's Islet open- 

 ing, then curving N.N.W. they are again broken 

 in a few miles by Pandora's Entrance, after which 

 they recover their usual linear form. 



Returning now to the neighbourhood of Wreck 

 Bay, we have Yule's detached reef, three or four 

 miles north of the projecting loop before described. 

 This is about three miles in diameter, and is 

 very steep all round. It rises from an unknown 

 depth, greater than 100 fathoms, and seems to 

 have a deep lagoon in the centre, into which there 

 was no entrance. Six miles N.N.E. of this com- 

 mences a large detached reef of irregular outline, 

 twelve miles long from north to south, bounded on 

 three sides by an almost continuous mass of reef, 

 but open on its western or leeward side, where is 

 an irregular-shaped bank of soundings, with patches 

 of reef upon it. Inside the lagoon of this detached 

 reef there is a depth of 20 to 30 fathoms, but out- 

 side the reef the depth is very much greater, and 

 generally unknown. There is a passage five miles 

 wide between this detached reef and the line of the. 

 Barrier, in which bottom was reached in two places, 

 once with 105 and once with 135 fathoms, fine sand 

 being brought up on the lead. In other places 

 ineffectual soundings were tried with 130 and 150 

 fathoms of line. 



The northern side of this Great Detached reef 



