662

THE NEW ZEALAND GAZETTE.

All bearings are magnetic.—Variation in 1874,
7º easterly.

EAST COAST OF NEW GUINEA, WITH OFF-LYING
ISLANDS.

General Remarks.

THE east end of New Guinea, terminating in what
is called East Cape, is a long, narrow, hilly peninsula,
increasing in height to the westward, having at its
extremity two small coral islets, its north shore being
washed by the waters of Goschen Strait, its south by
those of Milne Bay. Immediately to the southward,
Milne Bay runs in, in a westerly direction, 31 miles,
and is about 8 miles across, after rounding the south-
east shore of which China Strait divides the high bluff
land of the south-east part of New Guinea from the
islands discovered in 1873, in H.M.S. "Basilisk," by
Captain J. Moresby.

The three principal islands taken in order from
west to east (appearing in the distance as part of the
mainland), are called Hayter, Basilisk, and Moresby.
Of these the latter is the largest, highest, and most
important. China Strait separates Hayter Island
from the mainland—Rocky Pass (a narrow gut),
Hayter from Basilisk Island—and Fortescue Strait,
Basilisk from Moresby Island. To the eastward of
these the islands become smaller and more scattered,
Haines, Connor, Glenton, and Smith continuing the
chain, until a decided break of 5 miles occurs, when
the Engineer Group, consisting of four islands,
varying in height from about 596 to 300 feet, are
seen, with Bentley and Mudge Islands, to the
southward, all differing more or less in aspect and
description.

The navigator, not expecting to find islands in this
vicinity, and viewing the whole from a distance of 20
or 25 miles, might easily be led to suppose that as
far east as Smith Island the land from the south-east
cape of New Guinea was continuous; China and
Fortescue Straits being shut in, and the channels
between Smith, Connor, and Moresby Islands having
the appearance of dips in a range of hills: and this
would account for the error fallen into by former
explorers in so describing it; for what was formerly
thought to be the south-east cape is almost identical
in geographical position' with what has now been
found to be and named Smith Islet.

To the north-eastward of the Engineer Group are
many small islets of coral formation, insignificant in
size, similar in aspect, and, with the exception of the
northern of the two called Haszard Islets, unin-
habited.

Lydia Island, 20 miles further north again, is
loftier, larger, well cultivated, and inhabited, and,
with its dependent islets of Gibbons and Stansfield,
forms a picturesque group on the south side of
Goschen Strait. Twenty-four miles to the eastward
of Lydia Island are the Dawson Islands (six in num-
ber), the highest being about 500 feet above the sea
level; they are thickly wooded, unattractive, and
without inhabitants. Scattered farther to the south-
west are more coral-formed islets, to which the
names of Grace, Hull, Blakeney, and Hardman have
been given, partaking of the same nature and de-
scription as those of Dawson. To the north-westward
of these, again, the chain of hills forming the penin-
sula terminating in East Cape, and decreasing in
height as the cape is approached, juts out into the
strait; beyond are seen the lofty mountains of the
Prevost Range, rising to an altitude of upwards of
3,000 feet, and descending steeply to the sea, forming
the northern boundary of Goschen Strait and south
coast of Normanby Island (the eastern of the
D'Entrecasteaux Group). The actual summits of
this range are generally hidden by clouds, but a
remarkable gap, of which the position has been

marked in the chart, affords an excellent mark in
almost all conditions of weather.

Teste Island, formerly thought the western island
of the Louisiade Archipelago (see Australian
Directory, vol. ii., second edition, page 383), stands
17 miles to the southward of Moresby Island, and
with the Bell Rock may be called the finger-post for
vessels intending to pass through Goschen Strait
from the southward; it is visible at a distance of 20
miles from a ship's deck, its conical peaks appearing
like detached islets, the whole blending upon nearer
approach.

Soundings.—A bank with depths varying from 7 to
18 fathoms unites Lebrun and Heath Islands with
those of Blanchard and Dumoulin, the nature of the
bottom being coral and sand, owing to which, and
the numerous tide rips, the water has the appearance
of being shoaler than it really is, there being no less
depth than 7 fathoms found in the "Basilisk," or
her boats. Three and a half miles south of Teste
Island, the sunken barrier reef, generally marked by
ripples, runs in an easterly direction, but may be
safely crossed with the largest Lebrun Islet on a
N.N.E. 1 E. bearing. To the eastward of Teste
Island the depths are from 23 to 35 fathoms sandy
bottom; for 7 miles immediately to the eastward of
this distance no bottom is obtainable with 60 fathoms.
Four hundred and twenty-five fathoms, brown sand,
was found about 5 miles north-eastward of Imbert
Island, and a continuation of no bottom at 60, be-
tween this position and Smith Islet. To the north-
ward of Smith Island, and between it and the
Shortland Reefs (in the main route), depths of 29 to
50 fathoms were found; to the north-eastward of
these last-mentioned reefs, and in the direction of
Hardman Islets, no bottom with 35 fathoms; and a
mile south-west of the western or larger Hardman,
300 fathoms, coral bottom. Again, about midway
between the Hardman Islets and Gallows Reef (the
middle danger of Goschen Strait), a cast was got of
500 fathoms, over a bottom of yellow ooze; between
Gallows and Grind Reefs, 120 fathoms, no bottom ;
and westward of these reefs, about mid-channel
between the south coast of Normanby and Lydia
Islands, 510 and 570 fathoms were found, the bottom
in both cases being a mixture (of which a specimen
was preserved) of yellow sand and mud.

In the above description the depths in the Main or
Blakeney Island route have been followed; in other
parts, mushroom coral patches are so numerous, and
depths so uncertain, that to particularize would be
only to puzzle, and the chart which will shortly be
published, is the best guide, to which the mariner is
referred, together with the more detailed description
which will be given hereafter.

Winds and Weather.—Of the "Basilisk's" visit of
1873 to this locality, Captain Moresby reports :—

"The wind and current chart compiled by the
Admiralty is no guide during the months of February,
March, April, and May. In February and March of
that year, calms and variable winds were experienced,
and fine clear weather. Occasionally a fresh breeze
from the south-east would prevail for two or three
days, which would again be succeeded by calms and
light winds. Excepting two or three days, the
weather was always dry.

"In the same months of 1874, more wind and rain
were experienced, the westerly monsoon, with un-
settled weather, being met with from the middle of
February to the 11th of March. After which,
easterly breezes, with sometimes calm and clear
weather, were felt; then, after a few days of un-
settled rainy weather with strong east-south-east
breeze, it again became fine, with light and variable
winds, generally from the northward, until the 29th
April, when the "Basilisk" left the vicinity of East