The appearance of the island is similar to that of the Albany cluster, it having the same rocky, bleak, and almost wild look; from which I conclude they are of the same formation, which in general terms we may call porphyritic.  Parts of the island appeared to be intersected by a growth of mangroves.

There appeared great irregularity in the tides at this anchorage, as if there were a meeting of various streams.  At 5 P.M. it was setting South-West about an hour, and continued to run in that direction until 8 hours 30 minutes, gradually decreasing its rate.  It then took a North and by East direction with the same velocity, until half an hour after midnight, when it again changed back to South-South-West, a course it pursued during the remainder of our stay.  By the rise of the water on the shore it would appear that the flood came from the westward.

TORRES STRAIT.

On reaching York Island we considered ourselves within the Strait, which took its name from the Spanish navigator Torres, who sailed in 1605, second in command under Pedro Fernandes de Quiros, from Callao in Peru, with the object of discovering the Tierra Austral, then supposed to be a continent occupying a considerable portion of the southern hemisphere, lying westward of America.  Torres passed through this strait in 1606, but despite the great importance of the discovery, its existence remained unknown until 1762, from the jealousy of the Spanish monarchy, which kept the reports of its navigators a secret from the world.  At the time in question, however, Manila fell into our hands, and in the archives of that colony, a duplicate copy of Torres’s letter to the king of Spain was found by the hydrographer, Mr. Dalrymple.  The passage was now made known, and in tardy justice to the discoverer it received the appellation of Torres Strait; a tribute to the reputation of man, the greatest perhaps which could be bestowed, since no more sure road to immortality can be pointed out, than giving a name to the great and imperishable works of the Creator’s hand.  It was not however until 1770, that the world received full confirmation of this great acquisition to our geographical knowledge; the immortal Cook then passing through and settling the question of its existence.  This being the high road between our growing Eastern and Australian possessions, the reader will at once see the importance which must ever attach to the discovery, and will the more readily comprehend our enlarging in some degree upon the circumstance.

July 13.

There had been noticed last evening a slight rippling outside the bay, and on leaving this morning we found it to be a ridge about two cables width, the least water on it being three fathoms.  From the shoalest part, Mount Adolphus bore North 56 degrees East, and Point Dicky South 26 degrees East.  It appeared by the ripples continuing towards the north-west of York Island, that this rocky ledge extended in that direction.  Vessels entering Blackwood Bay may always avoid this shoal, by keeping close to Point Dicky, or by steering for Mount Adolphus, when it bears North-East 1/2 North.