During the whole of this period the westerly winds did not appear to come from any distance, but to be merely local seabreezes, as they did not cause any sea upon the coast, nor did they reach far in shore; as we frequently observed smoke at no great distance from the coast, rising perpendicularly, or influenced by a light south-easterly wind, and this at times when the seabreeze was strong.  From this it would appear, that the westerly monsoon had not reached so far to the southward, nor did we find, after sailing from Point Pearce, that the winds were at all steady from the westward, until we had reached to the northward of Cape Londonderry, which is in latitude 13 degrees 45 minutes South.  To the northward of this, the winds were from the westward, accompanied by fine weather during the day to the southward of that point—­sometimes as far as South-West—­and at night inclining to the northward of west, but generally speaking, we found the wind to the southward of west, and the current running from half a mile to a mile an hour to the North or North-North-East.

The currents between New Holland and Timor, are said to run to the westward, during the easterly monsoon—­and in the opposite direction with the westerly; but they seem to be influenced by every trifling change of wind—­as on the 20th, 21st, 22nd, and 23rd of December (when the westerly monsoon might be supposed at its height) we experienced light, variable winds, between South-East and East-North-East—­during which period the current ran to the westward—­at times, a knot an hour.  We were then between the parallels of 11 1/2 and 13 degrees, south of which we experienced winds between South-South-West and West until we were to the southward of the North-West Cape, when they became more southerly, and at times South-South-East (in January).  Throughout all this period, the weather was fine, and different from what was expected during the westerly monsoon.

All that part of the North-West coast of New Holland, between the North-West Cape, and Cape Londonderry, appears to be very much subjected to light winds, particularly during the easterly monsoon, the strength of which is not felt to the southward of 13 or 14 degrees of south latitude.  During the westerly monsoon, strong winds and gales from the North-West at times blow upon the coast, but they do not appear to be frequent.  The strongest winds at this season, are the heavy squalls between East-South-East and North-East (and which may with propriety be termed hurricane squalls); fortunately they are not of long duration, rarely lasting over two hours.  They give ample warning of their approach, by the gathering of a heavy bank of clouds between North-East and South-East, and much lightning in that quarter.  Appearances such as these frequently precede the squall some days, but coming gradually nearer (to the westward).  The barometer shows no indication of approaching bad weather, being only acted upon by the immediate change; these squalls mostly occur in the night, or between sunset and sunrise.