NOBLE ISLAND is a rock, having a sandy, or a coral beach at its north-west end; although small it is very conspicuous; and, when first seen from the southward, has the appearance of a rock with a double rounded top.

The REEFS s, t, and u are unconnected; the north end of s, lying six miles and a half due east from Point Barrow, was dry for a considerable extent; t, one mile to the north, was covered; but there is a dry sandy key on u, bearing from Point Barrow, North 32 degrees East, six miles:  some rocks showed themselves above the water off its south end.

v and w may possibly be connected; the former was noticed to extend for three miles, and the latter for nearly ten miles; there was, however, a space of three miles between them, where a channel may possibly exist.  The channels between t and u, and between v and w, appeared to be clear and deep.

The REEFS x, y, and Z, are probably parts of the barrier 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 fathoms, 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 or port, it has not the slightest pretension:  it was named Port Ninian by Lieutenant Jeffreys:  off the north end of Point Barrow are two rocky islands.

(Footnote.  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 North 55 degrees East from the point are two small patches of coral, under water; they bear North-East and South-West from each other and are probably one tenth of a mile apart.  Roe manuscript.)

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 remarkable appearance, being covered with heaps of rounded stones of very large size (volume 1.)

CAPE MELVILLE, sloping off into the sea to the north, terminates this remarkable promontory in latitude 14 degrees 9 minutes 30 seconds, and longitude 144 degrees 24 minutes 50 seconds:  the coast trends round it to the South-South-West and South-West, and forms Bathurst Bay, which is nine miles and a half deep, and thirteen wide, the western side being formed by Flinders’ Group.  A reef extends for more than two miles off Cape Melville in a North West by North direction, on which some rounded stones, similar