194 
SURVEY OF THE INTERTROPICAL 
1 ^. was SO very light and leewardly, that it would 
Jan. so. have been running a great risk to approach the 
land, as she then was. But in this we were dis- 
appointed, for after an interval of close sultry 
weather, and a severe thunder-storm, a gale of 
wind set in from the S.W., during which the 
barometer fell as low as 29.36 inches. The 
gale then veered gradually round to the N.W., 
and obliged us to make sail off the coast, and 
by the time it moderated, we were so far to 
leeward of Dampier’s Archipelago, that I was 
constrained to alter my plan, and give up the 
idea of taking ballast on board. I therefore de- 
termined upon making Rowley’s Shoals, for the 
purpose of fixing their position with greater cor- 
rectness, and examining the extent of the bight 
round Cape Lev^que, which we were obliged 
to leave unexplored during the earlier part of 
this voyage. 
Feb. 4. The first of these objects was effected on the 
4th ; on which day we passed round the south 
end of the Imperieuse (the westernmost) Shoal ; 
which we now found to extend nearly four miles 
more to the southward than had been suspected 
in 1818, at which period we steered round its 
north end. 
A large patch of dry rocks was also seen on 
the north-east end of the reef, about ten miles 
