degree of caution which a commander may see necessary to employ.[1] He will, of course, sound continually, though it have not been specified; and keep a boat a-head with sounding signals, from the time of passing Murray's Isles till Half-way Island is in sight, and where-ever else there appears to him a necessity. Should he miss the Investigator's track in any part, which is very possible, there is no occasion for alarm; most, if not all the inner reefs have deep channels through them at every four or five miles, and by these he may regain the track, with the assistance of his boat.
The following precautions must not be neglected: a strict and constant look-out at the mast head, by the commander or his most confidential officer, all the time that the ship is amongst the reefs;—not to pass Murray's Islands without seeing them, since they are the leading mark for getting into the proper track;—and on anchoring there, or at any other inhabited island, a strict watch must be kept on the natives, who will come off in canoes to barter a few cocoa-nuts, plantains, and their arms, for hatchets and other iron ware. No boat should be sent to an island where there are inhabitants; but if distress make it necessary, two or three should go together, well armed; for they will certainly be attacked, if the Indians have been able to lay a plan and collect their strength. A British seaman will, at the same time, studiously avoid all cause of quarrel with these poor misguided people, and not fire upon them but where self-defence makes it indispensable.
Most of the dry sands and the uninhabited islands in the Strait appear to be frequented by turtle; and in the month of August,- ↑ The most expeditious passage known to have been made through the Strait, previously to the Investigator, was that of captains Bligh and Portlock, in nineteen days; the account of which, as also that of Messrs. Bampton and Alt in the Introduction, page xix to xlv, a commander should previously read with the chart before him; and if he do the same with the passage of the Investigator, in Chap. V. of this Book II., and that of the Cumberland in Chap. III. following, he will have a tolerably correct notion of the dangers in Torres' Strait, and of the advantage in pursuing the route above described.
