-ribbed sea by a bit of seaman's advice to
brother sailors. A captain who wished to make the experiment of getting
through the Barrier Reef "must not be one who throws his ship's head
round in a hurry so soon as breakers are announced from aloft. If he do
not feel his nerves strong enough to thread the needle, as it is called,
amongst the reefs, while he directs the steerage from the masthead, I
would strongly recommend him not to approach this part of the coast."
Strong nerves and seamanship had pulled through in this case, with a few
exciting phases; and the Investigator, in the open ocean, was headed for
Torres Strait.

The strait was entered eight days later, by a passage through the reef
which had been found by Captain Edwards of the Pandora in 1791, and which
Flinders marked on his chart as Pandora's Entrance.* (* It is generally
marked Flinders' Entrance on modern maps; but Flinders himself held to
his principle of never calling a place after himself, and of invariably
ascribing full credit to his predecessors.) He preferred this opening to
the one further north, found by Bligh in 1792. The ship was brought to
anchor on October 29th under the lee of the largest of Murray's Islands.

Immediately afterwards three long Papuan canoes, carrying about fifty
natives, came in sight. Remembering the attacks he had witnessed in the
Providence, Flinders kept his marines under arms and his guns ready, and
warned his officers to watch every movement of the visitors. But the
Papuans were merely bent on barter on this occasion, hatchets especially
being in demand. Seven canoes appeared on the following morning. "Wishing
to secure the friendship and confidence of these islanders to such
vessels as might hereafter pass through Torres Strait, and not being able
to distinguish any chief amongst them, I selected the oldest man, and
presented him with a handsaw, a hammer and nails, and some other trifles;
of all which we attempted to show him the use, but I believe without
success; for the poor old man became frightened on finding himself to be
so particularly noticed."

Darwin, in writing his treatise on the Structure and Distribution of
Coral Reefs, in 1842, made use of Flinders' chart and description of the
Great Barrier Reef, which extends for more than a thousand miles along
the east side of the continent, and into the throat of Torres Strait. The
hypothesis that as the bed of the ocean subsides the coral polyps go on
building