SAILING DIRECTIONS. 
287 
reefs, for the sea was breaking very heavily upon their 
outer edge there were, however, considerable spaces where 
no breakers appeared, some of which, being three or four 
miles wide, may possibly be as many outlets to sea* 
NINIAN BAY is a bight to the west of Point Barrow * ; 
it is about three miles deep, and has a small opening at the 
bottom ; in crossing it we had not more water than four fa- 
thoms, and within our course it appeared to be very shoal : 
there is doubtless a channel leading to the opening; but, to 
the name of harbour dr port, it has not the slightest pre- 
tension: it was named Port Ninian by Lieutenant Jeffreys : 
off the north end of Point Barrow are two rocky islands. 
Between Ninian Bay and Cape Melville the coast is high 
and rocky, but appeared to be fronted by a reef, which in 
some places extends for a mile and a half from the shore ; 
in this interval there are two or three sandy beaches, but I 
doubt the practicability of landing upon them in a boat. 
The summit and sides of the hills that form the promontory, 
of which Cape Melville is the extreme, are of most remark- 
able appearance, being covered with heaps of rounded 
stones of very large size (vol. i. p. 229.) 
CAPE MELVILLE, sloping off into the sea to the north, 
terminates this remarkable promontory in latitude 14° 9' 30", 
and longitude 144° 24' 50" : the coast trends round it to 
the S.S.W. and S.W., and forms Bathurst Bay, which is 
* Off Point Barrow, the shoals lie from half to one mile 
nearer the shore» than they are laid down ; and one mile and three 
quarters N. 55® E. from the point are two small patches of coral, 
under water ; they bear N.E. and S.W. from each other and are 
probably one tenth of a mile apart.— MS, 
A. 
Sect. II. 
N. East 
Coast. 
