when sailing northward and intending to touch on the coast; but in
the winter season this must be done with caution, because gales then
often blow from the eastward. A marine barometer will here be of signal
advantage. If the weather be tolerably fine, and the mercury do not stand
above 30 inches, there is no probability of danger; but when the mercury
much exceeds this elevation and the weather is becoming thick, a gale is
to be apprehended; and a ship should immediately steer off, until it is
seen how far the wind veers to blow dead on the coast. With respect to a
rise and fall in the marine barometer, it may be taken as a general rule
upon this East Coast, that a rise denotes either a fresher wind in the
quarter where it then may be, or that it will veer more to seaward; and a
fall denotes less wind or a breeze more off the land; moreover, the
mercury rises highest with a south-east, and falls lowest with a
north-west wind; and north-east and south-west are points of mean
elevation.

The shelter for ships which may be caught so suddenly as not to be able
to clear the land, are these: Two-fold Bay, for vessels of four-hundred
tons and under; Jervis and Botany Bays, Port Jackson, and Broken Bay;
Port Hunter for brigs and small craft; Port Stephens; Shoal Bay for
vessels not exceeding fifty tons; Glass-house Bay; and lastly Hervey's
Bay, by going round Break-sea Spit. All these places will be found in
Plates VI, VIII, IX, and X. of the Atlas, with particular plans of the
entrances to some of them. Directions for Port Jackson, and Botany and
Broken Bays are given by captain Hunter in his voyage; and they may be
found in Horsburgh's _East-India Directory_, Part II, p. 465-468.
Two-fold Bay is described in the Introduction to this voyage, and mention
made of Jervis, Shoal, Glass-house, and Hervey's Bays.

A ship sailing along this coast to the southward, should not, to have the
advantage of the current, come nearer than five or six leagues unless to
the projecting points; and if the distance were doubled, so as to have
the land just in sight, an advantage would be found in it; and such an
offing obviates the danger of the gales.

Whilst western winds prevail on the southern parts of the East Coast, the
south-east trade blows with most regularity within, and close to the
tropic, producing sea and land breezes near the shore, and serenity in
the atmosphere; and the further we go northward the longer does this fine
weather