or twice she again
passed into the silent deep. We sounded ineffectually with 86 fathoms in
the ripplings; for some time before the soundings had been regular 52 and
55 fathoms fine sand, and four miles beyond it we had 146 fathoms, but
did not succeed afterwards in reaching the bottom with 200 fathoms. This
line of disturbed water, therefore, marks the edge of the bank of
soundings fronting this part of the coast, from which the nearest point,
Cape Leveque, bore South-East 195 miles.

PART FROM THE LYNHER.

The Lynher having to pursue a more westerly course, we were of necessity,
though reluctantly, obliged to part company this evening: the few
evenings we passed together at sea were rendered very pleasant and
amusing by the crews singing to each other as the vessels, side by side,
slipped stealthily through the moonlit waters.

April 24.

Still pursuing a West-South-West course, at the slow rate of forty miles
daily, our position at noon was latitude 15 degrees 40 minutes South
longitude 120 degrees 41 minutes East. During the day we passed within
fifteen miles of the Lively's reef, and from the numbers of terns and
other small seabirds, seen for the last three days, there can be little
doubt of its whereabouts being known, and that during that time we had
been in the neighbourhood of other reefs still undiscovered.

April 27.

We experienced the long rolling swell of the Southern Ocean, which, as
well as our reckoning, informed us we were rounding North-West Cape; at
the same time we began to feel a steady breeze from the South-East and
the northerly current which there prevails. As we were now approaching
the usual track of vessels bound from Australia to India, we were not
unprepared for the somewhat unusual sight of a strange sail: an object
always of some little interest, but which becomes quite an event to those
whose duty leads them into the less frequented portions of the deep.

THE TRYAL ROCKS.

The increasing trade now carried on between Sydney and the gorgeous East,
has converted the dividing sea into a beaten track; and as no further
evidence has been brought forward to confirm the reported existence of
the Tryal Rocks, asserted to lie directly in the course steered by
vessels making this passage, I cannot but adhere to Captain King's
opinion, that Tremouille Island and its outlying reefs, situated in the
same latitude as that in which the Tryal Rocks are supposed to lie, have
originated the mist