or Islands, which until this day hath been a doubtful
point with Geographers.* (* Luis Vaez de Torres, commanding a Spanish
ship in company with Quiros in 1605, separated from his companion in the
New Hebrides. He afterwards passed through the Strait separating New
Guinea from Australia, which now bears his name. This fact, however, was
little known, as the Spaniards suppressed all account of the voyage; and
though it leaked out later, the report was so vague that it was very much
doubted whether he had really passed this way. On most charts and maps of
the period, New Guinea was shown joined to Australia, and to Cook the
establishment of the Strait may fairly be given. Only the year before
Bougainville, the French navigator, who preceded Cook across the Pacific,
and who was steering across the Coral Sea on a course which would have
led him to Lizard Island, abandoned his search in that direction, after
falling in with two reefs to the eastward of the Barrier, because he
feared falling amongst other shoals, and had no faith whatever in the
reports of the existence of Torres Strait. Had he persevered, he would
have snatched from Cook the honour of the complete exploration of Eastern
Australia, and of the verification of the passage between it and New
Guinea. Bougainville paid dearly for his caution, as he found that
retracing his steps against the trade wind, in order to pass eastward and
northward of New Guinea, occupied such a weary time, that he and his
people were nearly starved before they reached a place of refreshment.)

[Description of Endeavour Strait.]

The North-East entrance of this passage or Strait lies in the Latitude of
10 degrees 27 minutes South, and in the Longitude of 218 degrees 36
minutes West from the Meridian of Greenwich.* (* As before mentioned,
this longitude is over a degree in error. The sun was not available for
lunars until the 24th August, and the first was observed on the 25th,
when the ship was at Booby Island; but the result is not recorded in Mr.
Green's log. Mr. Green was at this time ill. The latitude is a clerical
error for 10.37, which Cook's chart shows, and is nearly correct.) It is
form'd by the Main, or the northern extremity of New Holland, on the
South-East, and by a Congeries of Islands to North-West, which I named
Prince of Wales's Islands. It is very Probable that the Islands extend
quite to New Guinea;* (* This conjecture was very near the truth. The
whole of Torres Strai