Here the number of the coral reefs begin to increase, and great attention must be paid in navigating amongst them; but, with a careful look out from the masthead, and a quick leadsman in the chains, no danger need be apprehended.

Between reef a and the shoal off the south-west Hope Island there is a passage two miles wide, with twelve fathoms:  a is about half a mile in diameter, with a few rocks above water; its centre is in 15 degrees 43 minutes 20 seconds, two miles from the shore, and three miles North 55 degrees West from the south west Hope.

b is about a mile and a quarter long, and has a dry rock at its north end, the latitude of which is 15 degrees 39 minutes 20 seconds:  it is divided from Endeavour Reef by a channel of nearly a mile wide, and fifteen fathoms deep:  abreast of the south end of b, on the western edge of Endeavour Reef, there is a dry rock, in latitude 15 degrees 39 minutes 55 seconds.

ENDEAVOUR REEF is nine miles long; it lies in a North-West direction; the north end, in 15 degrees 39 minutes South, bears due from the North-east Hope.

c is covered, and not quite half a mile in length; its latitude is 15 degrees 32 minutes:  it lies four miles from the shore.

d is rather larger, and has some dry rocks on its north end, in latitude 15 degrees 29 minutes 30 seconds.  Between c and d and the shore the passage is from three to four miles wide, and in mid-channel the depth is seven and eight fathoms.

On the south side of Point Monkhouse there is a bay having a small opening at the bottom, but not deep enough for ships:  it was this bay that Captain Cook first examined in search of a place to repair his ship.

On steering along the shore between Point Monkhouse and the entrance of Endeavour River, the bottom is of sand and of irregular depth.  A spit of sand was passed over with only two and a half fathoms on it when the summit of Mount Cook bore South 66 degrees West (magnetic) and the outer extreme of Point Monkhouse South 18 degrees West (magnetic).  One mile off shore the shoal soundings continued with two and a half fathoms until it bore South 59 degrees West (magnetic) when the depth was three, and three and a half fathoms.

ENDEAVOUR RIVER.  The entrance of this river, in latitude 15 degrees 27 minutes 4 seconds, and longitude 145 degrees 10 minutes 49 seconds,* forms a very good port for small vessels; and, in a case of distress, might be useful for large ships, as it proved to our celebrated navigator Captain Cook, who, it is well known, repaired his ship there after having laid twenty-three hours upon a coral reef.

(Footnote.  The situation of the observatory at Endeavour River was found by lunar distances, taken during my visits to that place in 1819 and 1820, as follows: 

Latitude by meridional altitudes of the sun, taken in the artificial horizon, being the mean of twenty-seven observations:  15 degrees 27 minutes 4 seconds.