northern passage, he recommended making Norfolk Island;
and thence, passing between the Loyalty islands* and New Caledonia, to
keep as nearly as circumstances would allow in the longitude of 165
degrees East; until the ship should reach the latitude of 8 degrees
South; and then shape a course to cross the equator in 160 degrees East;
after which the master should steer to the NW by N or NNW until in the
latitude of 5 degrees 20 minutes or 5 degrees 30 minutes North; in which
latitude Mr. Raven would run down his longitude, and pass the south end
of Mindanao, and between that island and Bascelan; and thence through the
straits of Banguey into the China Sea. In running this passage, it would
be necessary to pay attention to Mr. Dalrymple's charts of those islands,
etc. which Mr. Raven found very accurate.

[* The Loyalty Islands are situated between New Caledonia and the New
Hebrides, and extend from about 21 degrees 30 minutes to 20 degrees 50
minutes S and from the longitude of 168 degrees to 167 degrees E.
Mr. Raven supposed them to be a large group of islands, which, being
pressed for time, he could not stop to survey. All that he had
opportunity to determine was, the longitude and latitude of some of the
head-lands. Many fires were seen on them in the night; the whole appeared
to be full of wood, and in some places in high cultivation. These
islands, certainly a discovery belonging to Mr. Raven, may be thought
worthy of being explored at some future day, and become an object of
consequence to the settlement in New South Wales.]

If leaving Port Jackson any time between the beginning of March and the
1st of September, Mr. Raven would prefer passing through a strait in the
longitude of 156 degrees 10 minutes E or thereabout; and from the
latitude of 7 degrees 06 minutes E to 6 degrees 42 minutes S which
divides some part of the islands of the New Georgia of Captain Shortland;
thence through St. George's Channel to the northward of New Guinea,
through Dampier's Strait, down Pitt's Passage, to the southward of
Boutton, and through the Straits of Salayer, into the Banda or Amboyna
Sea. This passage the _Britannia_ performed in sixty-five days from Port
Jackson to Batavia; which, had it not been for calms she met with off the
coast of New Guinea, would in all probability have been performed in six
weeks, or thereabout.

Mr. Raven furnished these observations in the hope that they might
benefit the settlement, by proving