TERRA AUSTRALIS. 
99 
Barrier Reefs.} 
advantages in fixing the positions of places ; it cannot therefore be m 
thought presumptuous, that I should consider the Investigator's Ion- Tuesday 19 . 
gitude to he preferable. 
We ran from noon, five leagues W. ^ N. along the south side 
of the reefs; and seeing their termination at two o’clock, steered 
N. N. W., Holborne Isle then bearing S. 53 0 W., about four leagues. 
At half past four we had a small reef two or three miles to the 
W. S. W., and a larger four miles to the N. E. ; and behind this last 
was one more extensive, with high breakers on the outside, reaching 
from N. E. by N. to E. ~ S. I hauled up with the intention of anchor- 
ing under the lee of these reefs, till morning; but not finding suffi- 
cient shelter against the sea, we tacked and stretched southward for 
the clear water between the reefs and the land. At sunset, the 
variation from amplitude was 5 0 39' east; Holborne Isle bore S. by W. 
from the mast head, and no breakers were in sight. This tack was 
prolonged, under treble-reefed top sails, till ten o'clock ; when a 
light was seen bearing S. by E. f E., probably upon the isle, and we 
stood to the northward. 
The wind blew fresh from the eastward all night, and raised 
a short swell which tried the ship more than any thing we had en- 
countered from the time of leaving Port Jackson ; and I was sorry 
to find, brought on her former leakiness, to the amount of five inches 
of water per hour. We tacked to the south, soon after mid-night, 
and to the northward at three in the morning. Holborne Isle Wednes. 20. 
was seen bearing S. 6 ° W., four or five leagues, at daylight ; and at 
seven we passed betwen three small reefs, of which the easternmost 
had been set at W. S. W. on the preceding afternoon. In half an 
hour, when the latitude from the moon was 19 0 14/, and longitude 
by time keeper 148° Qij, distant high breakers were seen to the 
north and eastward; the nearest small reef bore S. W. |W., two 
miles, and a much larger one extended from N.£E. to W. by N. 
The passage between these two being three miles wide, we bore 
away through it ; and in following the south side of the great reef. 
