placed us forty-two miles too fax west[1]. It afforded us much gratification to find the observations, which we had taken so frequently, and with great care, prove so correct; as we could now with confidence lay down on the chart our true track, (where we neither met nor saw either reefs or shoals, or sand-banks,) which might prove of considerable utility to others who might hereafter pursue the same route.
Shortly after noon the wind became light and variable; during the night it blew from the westward, consequently we got to the ripplings to the northward of the reef, and experienced an easterly current, which retarded our progress considerably. On the 17th, towards evening, a steady breeze again blew from the south-east, and we made all sail with the intention of being up to the Barrier Reef betimes in the morning; and as we should most probably pass between Boot Beef and Portlock Reef some time in the middle watch, a knowledge of our latitude was an object of the utmost importance.
Fortunately, having fine weather and a cloudless sky, our latitude could be, and was, ascertained almost every half hour, by the meridian altitude of a star, either north or south of the zenith, and by the dis-
- ↑ I believe that many islands, islets, and reefs, said to be new discoveries, are not so—that they have been already described—and supposed new through too much reliance being placed on the chronometer; several instances of this are within my own knowledge. In the present instance, had we trusted to the chronometer, this reef (the Eastern Fields) would doubtlessly have been considered as hitherto unknown.
