usketry.
At the Prince of Wales' Islands, good water was found; and much
alleviated the distress of captain Edwards and his people. They heard
here the howling of wolves, (probably of wild dogs,) and "discovered a
_morai_, or rather heap of bones. There were amongst them two human
skulls, the bones of some large animals, and some turtle bones. They were
heaped together in the form of a grave; and a long paddle, supported at
each end by a bifurcated branch of a tree, was laid horizontally along
it. Near to this, there were marks of a fire having been recently made;
and the ground about was much footed and worn." *
[* See "_A Voyage round the World in H. M. frigate Pandora_," by George
Hamilton, Surgeon; page 123, _et seq._]
A few small oysters, a harsh austere fruit, resembling a plum, and a
small berry of a similar taste to the plum, were all that could be found
for food.
"There is a large sound formed here, to which," says Mr. Hamilton, "we
gave the name of _Sandwich's Sound_; and commodious anchorage for
shipping in the bay, to which we gave the name of _Woy's Bay_, in which
there is from five to seven fathoms all round. Near the centre of the
sound is a small, dark-coloured, rocky island."
Sept. 2. In the afternoon, captain Edwards passed out to the northward,
with his little squadron, from amongst the Prince of Wales' Islands; and
the same evening, by steering westward, cleared all the islands and reefs
of Torres' Strait: on the 14th he reached Timor.
The track and discoveries of the Pandora, in Plate XIII. are taken from a
chart published in 1798, by Mr. Dalrymple, upon the authority of one
constructed by lieutenant Hayward; but it does not contain the track of
the boats after the loss of the Pandora. This chart, and the account
given by Mr. Hamilton, which, though more than sufficiently explicit upon
some points, is very defective in what concerns navigation and geography;
are all that appears to have been published of this voyage.
BLIGH and PORTLOCK. 1792.
Neither the great extent of the reefs, to the eastward of Cape York, nor
the loss of the Pandora, were known in 1792; when captain WILLIAm BLIGH
came a second time to Torres' Strait, with His Majesty's ship
_Providence_, and the brig _Assistant_ commanded by lieutenant (now
captain) NATHANIEL PORTLOCK. The objects of his mission were, to
transport the bread-fruit plant from Taheity to the West Indies; and, in
his way, to explore a new passage t
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