Page:Narrative of a survey of the intertropical and western coasts of Australia, Volume 1.djvu/184

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1?;4 SURVEY OF THE INTERTROPICAL We therefore bore up, and at four o'clock the coast was lost sight of from Latitude 11 � 4&' Longitude �. It9 �' From this, having ran four miles and a half on a N.W. course, we passed over a small coral b?n? in thirteen fathoms; at eight o'clock, we were in forty-two fathoms sandy mud; but between midnight and four'a.m., we passed over another coral bank, on which the least water was eighteen fathoms. On the 9.d June, two small birds were caught; ? they proved to be the Java swallow (h/rundo ?culcnta), the nest of which is esteemed as a great delicacy; and is an article of trade between the Malays and Chinese. Large quantifies of pu- " mice-stone were also seen floating on the water; on one piece was found a sea centipede, about four inches long, covered with fine bristly hair; it was feeding upon two barnacles (l?pas anati- fro-a) which had attached themselves to the stone. This morning the .high land of Timor was seen from N.N.W? to N.W. ? W.; and, at sunset, the highest part bore N. 70 � 30 leagues off. ' At day-break, the 4th, we were off the S:W. point of the island, and at nine o'clock entered the Strait of Samow; but, from light winds, we