]?0 SURVEY OF THE INTE?tTROPICAb lssl. masts; but he declined it as he was anxious .to, jane m. get on without delay; and, having Captain Flin-. ders*s charts, intended to run "d? and nigkt tlwougk th? reefs;" he told me .that he ?had an- chored here with the intention of watering and cutting some pine spars, but that not finding the latter worth the trouble, he was then getting underweigh to proceed. When I went away, he accompanied me to look over my plan of the passage; after which he returned to his vessel, which soon afterwa?s steered past us on her way to the northward. Mr. Hemroans told me that he had anchored under Keppel Islands, where he had a friendly communication with the natives, who used nets, which he thought were of European construction; but from his descrip,' tion, they are similar to what have been before seen on the coast, and are constructed by the natives themselves. 13. At eight ?'clock the next morning we got un- derweigh; but the Dick in weighing her an- ehor found both flukes broken off[ The nex? 14, day, we rounded the north extremity of the Cumberland Islands; and at four o'clock a.m. 15. the 15th, were abreast of Cape Gloucester. Thick cloudy weather with rain and a fresh breeze from the southward, variable between S.S.F_, and S.S.W., now set in, and was unfa-
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