N E W S O U T H W A L E S. ' 201 
eeived ; and by five the fliin had nearly cleared the c h a p. 
' ^ ^ ^ XVIII. 
ftraits. She had then the followinp- bearings : Cape ' — 
Alexander, fouth-eaft ; fome illands and rocks that lie oiF 
the moft weftern ifland of tliofe which form the ftraits, 
weft by fouth ; and the remoteft point in fight to the north- 
weftward, north-weft by north, diftant fourteen or fif- 
teen leagues. This point is remarkably high and forms 
the centre of a large body of land, between the firft and 
laft point of the ftraits on tlie weftern iide, which were 
called Cape FriendJJjip^ and Cape he Cras, ■ . 
Thefe ftraits Lieutenant Shortland judged to be be- 
tween four and five leagues in length, and about feven 
or eight miles broad, running in a north-weft direction; 
and, conceiving himfelf to be the firft navigator who 
had failed through them, he ventured to give them 
the name of Shortland'' s Straits, On comparing his 
account wdth the narrative of M. Bougainville, which 
he had not then by him, there feems to be rea- 
fon to fufpe6l that this is the fame pafiage through 
which thai navigator failed at the latter end of 
June, 1768 ; and that the ifland fuppofed to be called 
Simboo, is the fame which was then named Choijeul ' 
Ifland. To corroborate this fufpicion, M. Bougain-* 
ville's defcription of the canoes and perfons of the na- 
tives agrees entirely, as far as it goes, with that given 
D d by 
