his having seen them at a distance. Had he been certain of the fact he
would not have hesitated to approach sufficiently near them to have made
all on board sensible of their existence; but it appears that the greater
part, if not the whole, of the crew were so obstinate that they either
would not, or could not, see them.

Were the tracks of every vessel that has passed over this part laid down,
I think there would remain very little belief of their existence; in my
own opinion I am convinced that there is no danger of the sort between
the coast of New Holland and the meridian of 102 degrees east longitude.
The Dutch account records this danger to be forty miles in extent from
east to west and fifteen miles in breadth; and the Danish account
describes it to extend for twenty-four miles from north-east to
south-west. Was there a danger of so considerable an extent in existence
in the direct track of outward-bound China-ships, it is hardly possible
to conceive it could be passed without having been repeatedly seen.

The existence of Cloates Island also, of which there are so many
undeniable and particular descriptions, has been for a long time
questioned by navigators; I think however there is no doubt that it does
exist but that it is no other than the mainland to the southward of the
North West Cape. The descriptions of this island by Captain Nash of the
ship House of Austria, as well as that of the Haeslingfield in 1743, and
subsequently by Captain Pelly, accord exactly with the appearance of this
promontory; nor is the longitude much in error when we consider the
strength of the currents which set to the north-west, during the easterly
monsoon, in the space between New Holland and Java. Captain Nash places
Cloates Island 7 degrees 26 minutes East of Java Head, and the
Haeslingfield 7 degrees 12 minutes; the mean of the two accounts is 7
degrees 19 minutes; the true difference of the meridians of Java Head and
the North West Cape is 9 degrees 3 minutes, a difference only of 1 degree
44 minutes.

May not the Tryal Rocks also be some of the low islands that skirt the
coast? The account of them by the Dutch sloop in 1718 places them in
latitude 19 degrees 30 minutes and eighty leagues from the coast of New
Holland; but, unless it is Bedout Island (a sandy islet seen by Captain
Baudin, in longitude 118 degrees 50 minutes) there is no part of the
coast that can at all accord with the description in respect to latitude.
Th