than the land near
it, and conspicuous from its flat tabular shape, is a good mark for the
port; it is in latitude 13 degrees 54 minutes 20 seconds and longitude
126 degrees 18 minutes 40 seconds.

Vansittart Bay is eighteen miles deep, and from five to ten broad; it
offers excellent anchorage. The eastern shore is rocky, and should not be
approached nearer than a mile; but the western shore is steep to, and may
be passed very close: on this side the port there are many coves and bays
fit for any purposes. The most secure anchorage is in the centre of the
bay, where there is from seven to nine fathoms, mud, and the sea-breeze
has free access: but, if a more sheltered place is required, such may be
found at the south-east corner of the bottom of the bay in six and seven
fathoms, mud. High water at full and change takes place in the eastern
entrance, at a quarter past nine o'clock; the tide rises about six feet.

JAR ISLAND is surrounded by rocks, but to the eastward of it the channel
is twelve fathoms deep. Its summit is in latitude 14 degrees 7 minutes 10
seconds, longitude 126 degrees 15 minutes 40 seconds.

The western side of Vansittart Bay is formed by a peninsula, the
extremity of which is Cape Bougainville; the northern part of this land
is fronted by a reef, that extends round it for three miles from the
shore, but the western side appeared to be of bold approach. The reef
commences at Cape Bougainville, and trends round to Point Gibson, where
it terminates. This part of the coast is fronted by extensive reefs,
which render the approach to it very dangerous: at sixteen miles to the
northward of the cape there is a range, the HOLOTHURIA BANKS, that extend
in an east and west direction for twenty-three miles; their north-east
extent was not ascertained, but the western end, in latitude 13 degrees
32 minutes, and longitude 125 degrees 46 minutes 45 seconds, is narrow,
and not more than five or six miles broad.

There is another range of reefs to the westward of the cape, that extends
in a north and south direction for upwards of twenty miles; and about
from three to five miles broad. The water breaks on many parts of it. Its
north extremity, in latitude 13 degrees 41 1/2 minutes, is sixteen miles
West 3/4 North from Troughton Island: in this space the sea is quite
clear, and from sixteen to twenty fathoms deep. The narrowest part of the
channel, between the reef and the peninsula, is at Point Gibson, where it
is