292 
A VOYAGE TO ' [Tones' Strait 
degree of caution which a commander may see necessary to employ.* 
He will, of course, sound continually, though it have not been speci- 
fied; and keep a boat a-head with sounding signals, from the time 
of passing Murray’s Isles till Half-way Island is in sight, and where- 
ever else there appears to him a necessity. Should he miss the 
Investigator’s track in any part, which is very possible, there is no 
occasion for alarm ; most, if not all the inner reefs have deep chan- 
nels through them at every four or five miles, and by these he may 
regain the track, with the assistance of his boat, 
The following precautions must not be neglected : a strict and 
constant look-out at the mast head, by the commander or his most 
confidential officer, all the time that the ship is amongst the reefs ; 
— not to pass Murray’s Islands without seeing them, since they are 
the leading mark for getting into the proper track ; — and on anchor- 
ing there, or at any other inhabited island, a strict watch must be 
kept on the natives, who will come off' in canoes to barter a few 
cocoa-nuts, plantains, and their arms, for hatchets and other iron 
ware. No boat should be sent to an island where there are inhabi- 
tants ; but if distress make it necessary, two or three should go 
together, well armed; for they will certainly be attacked, if the 
Indians have been able to lay a plan and collect their strength. A 
British seaman will, at the same time, studiously avoid all cause of 
quarrel with these poor misguided people, and not fire upon them 
but where self-defence makes it indispensable. 
Most of the dry sands and the uninhabited islands in the Strait 
appear to be frequented by turtle ; and in the month of August, 
* The most expeditious passage known to have been made through the St : rait, pre- 
viously to the Investigator, was that of captains Bligh and Portlock, in nineteen days; the 
account of which, as also that of Messrs. Bampton and Alt in the Introduction, page xix 
to xlv, a commander should previously read with the chart before him ; and if he do the 
same with the passage of the Investigator, in Chap. V. of this Book II., and that of the 
Cumberland in Chap. III. following, he will have a tolerably correct notion of the dangers 
in Torres’ Strait, and of the advantage in pursuing the route above described. 
