TERRA AUSTRALIS. 
Torres' Strait .] 
343 
Booby Isle was in, sight from the mast head at one o’clock, 180S * 
bearing nearly W. S. W. ; and soon after three we anchored one Monday 24. 
mile to leeward of it, in 7 fathoms, soft sand. A boat was sent on 
shore, which presently cattle back loaded with boobies ; and fresh 
turtle tracks having been perceived, the crew returned to watch, 
and at midnight we received five turtle. These appeared to be of 
the species called hawkes-bill ; the shells and skins, as also their 
fat, were of a red tinge, and they had longer necks than the turtle 
procured at Wellesley’s Islands, to which they were much inferior, 
both in size and quality. 
When entering the Gulph of Carpentaria in the Investigator, 
I had remarked what appeared to be a considerable error in the 
relative positions of Booby Isle and the flat-topped York Island, as 
they are laid down by captain Cook ; and to obtain more certainty, 
the longitude of the flat top had been observed this morning from 
the time keeper, and I anchored here this afternoon to do the same 
by Booby Isle. The result showed the difference of longitude be- 
tween them to be 43-', differing less than 1' from what had been 
deduced in the Investigator, whereas, by captain Cook, they are 
placed 63' asunder. The high respect to which the labours of that 
great man are entitled, had caused me to entertain some doubt of the 
reality of this error until the present verification. It is to be wholly 
ascribed to the circumstance of his not having had a time keeper in 
his first voyage ; and a more eminent proof of the utility of this 
valuable instrument cannot be given, than that so able a navigator 
could not always avoid making errors so considerable as this, when 
deprived of its assistance. 
A meridian altitude of the moon placed Booby Isle in latitude 
io° 36' south ; and the longitude from a medium of the Investi- 
gator's and Cumberland’s time keepers, was 141° 56'j east. A 
morning’s amplitude taken after quitting the isle when the schooner’s 
head was W. by S., gave the uncorrected variation 5 0 38' east. 
At daybreak next morning, 'having a fresh trade wind, we Tuesday $5. 
