Rulhieres, which, like Point
Pearce, we found to be four miles and a half west of its assigned
position. On the 14th and 15th we were beating to the westward with a
light and variable wind.

SAHUL SHOAL.

Our progress was slow, the monsoon being light; we therefore stood to the
northward, to find a more steady breeze, and in order, whilst making our
westing, to get some soundings over a large dotted space in the chart,
bearing the name of the Great Sahul Shoal. We desired also to ascertain
the extent of the bank of soundings extending off this part of the
Australian continent, which here approaches to within 245 miles of the
south end of Timor. The soundings varied, according to the boards we made
over it, from 30 to 60 fathoms; the bottom in the lesser depth being a
kind of coral, with bits of ironstone mixed with sand; whilst in the
greater depth, it was a green sandy mud.

On the 17th at 8 P.M., whilst standing on the north-west, near the centre
of the eastern part of the supposed Sahul Shoal, the water shoaled
suddenly to 16 fathoms, from 68, a mile to the south-east. The helm was
put down, and when in stays there were only 14 1/2. The position of this
patch is in latitude 11 degrees 8 1/2 minutes South, longitude 126
degrees 33 minutes East. Standing off South by East, in two miles the
water deepened to 72 fathoms. It was not until we had gone about ten
miles, that we again got into 60 fathoms, on the outer edge of the bank
of green sandy mud, fronting the Australian shore, and approaching within
a hundred miles of the south end of Timor. This bank appears to be
separated from the collection of coral patches, forming the Sahul Shoal
by a deep gap or gut, in which the depth generally was above 70 fathoms,
with a rocky bottom; though in part of it, in latitude 11 degrees 36
minutes South and longitude 124 degrees 53 minutes East, there was no
bottom with 207 fathoms.

Dr. Wilson, in his Voyage round the World, mentions that he crossed
several parts of the Sahul Shoal on his passage from Timor to Raffles
Bay, and never found less than 14 fathoms.

On the 20th, at noon, we had no bottom with 131 fathoms, latitude 11
degrees 34 minutes and longitude 124 degrees 52 minutes East. Our
progress now appeared to improve. Strange to say, though apparently in
the very heart of the monsoon, we were favoured with a light breeze from
the south-east; and, to show how currents are governed by the wind, I may
remark that the c