SAILING DIRECTIONS. 
259 
wise, because the reefs, from the absence of the glare of the 
sun, are more distinctly seen, particularly in the afternoon, 
when the sun is to the westward. Later in the season (Au- 
gust, 1820,) we had more settled weather, for the wind 
seldom veered to the southward of S.S.E., or eastward of 
E.S.E. ; and this weather accompanied us from Breaksea Spit, 
through Torres’ Strait. 
The best time for passing up this coast is in April and the 
beginning of May, or between the middle of August and 
latter end of October; in the months of June and July, the pas- 
sage is not apparently so safe, on account of the changeable 
weather that may be encountered, which to a stranger would 
Create much anxiety, although no real danger. Strict at- 
tention to these directions and confidence in the chart, with 
a cautious look out will, however, neutralize all the dangers 
that thick weather may produce in this navigation. 
The tides and currents in this part are not of much con- 
sequence. The rise of tide is trifling, the flood-tide sets to 
the N.W., but at a very slow rate. In the neighbourhood 
of the reefs, the stream sometimes sets at the rate of a knot 
or in some cases at two knots, but for a small distance it is 
scarcely perceptible. There appeared rather to be a gentle 
drain of current to the N.W. 
HERVEY’S BAY and BUSTARD BAY have been already 
described by Captains Cook and Flinders. We did not enter 
either, so that I have nothing to offer in addition to the 
valuable information of those navigators, (Hawkesworth, 
vol. iff. p. 113 and 117; and Flinders’s Introduc. cci. and 
vol. ii. p. 9, et seq.) 
LADY ELLIOT’S ISLAND is a low islet, covered with 
shrubs and trees, and surrounded by a coral reef, which 
S 2 
A. 
Sect. II. 
N. East 
Coast. 
