t duration,
as the same agreeable operation, of alternate drenching and drying,
occurred several times during our stay on the Peak.

BARRIER REEF.

The opening through which Captain Cook passed out to sea, bore about
North by East 9 miles, the outer line of the Barrier Reef, curving from
thence to the North-West, and following the trend of the land. When this
singular wall of coral, the most extensive perhaps in the world, is
surveyed, it will I think be found to follow the direction of the coast
it fronts with such exactness, as to leave little doubt that the vast
base on which rests the work of the reef-building Polypifers, was,
contrary to the opinion which I am aware prevails, upheaved at the same
time with the neighbouring coast of the Australian continent, which it
follows for a space of upwards of a hundred miles.

CORAL REEFS.

From the elevation on which I stood, I had an excellent view of some
reefs within the Barrier; whether they encircled an islet, or were wholly
beneath the water, their form was circular, although from the ship, and
indeed anywhere, viewed from a less height, they appeared oval-shaped.
This detection of my own previously erroneous impressions, seemed to
account for the recurrence in charts of elongated-shaped reefs, others
having doubtless fallen into the same error. It is very remarkable that
on the South-East or windward side of these coral reefs, the circle is of
a compact and perfect form, as if to resist the action of the waves,
while on the opposite side they were jagged and broken.*

(*Footnote. In the Pacific the islets are generally on the weather side
of the lagoon reefs.)

The South-West side of the peak rises perpendicularly from a grassy flat,
which stretches across that part of the island, separating two bays, the
beaches of which with the rest on the island are composed of granulated
quartz, and coarse shingle. A stream of water, rising in the peak, runs
through the green, while a few low gumtrees grow in small detached
clumps; a ship may therefore procure both water and fuel; finding this to
be the case, and as it was a convenient stopping place, we made a plan of
the island, connecting it with those in the immediate neighbourhood. It
is the more advantageous as an anchorage, in that it can be reached
during the night, whereas this could not be done in the inner channel
near Turtle Islands, it lying so much to the westward, and being more
intricate. Indeed it is not