Eastern Passage Route.-The first half of this route is so well known, from its being frequented by vessels bound to China during the westerly monsoon, that it will only be necessary to notice the ports on this portion of the route that are most convenient for obtaining supplies, should they be required. These are Bonthain, at the South extreme of Celebes, and Gebi, an island in the Gilolo Passage. The former has a secure and convenient anchorage during the westerly monsoon; and fresh water, wood, fruits, vegetables, and live stock can be obtained on very moderate terms. The water is particularly good, as it is supplied by springs in the Lumpo Batang mountain, at the foot of which Bonthain is situated. Gebi also has an excellent anchorage, and the water is of the best quality; but in other respects it is not so good a refreshment port as Bonthain, besides which, it is a little out of the way if the most direct route through Dampier or Pitt Strait is taken. But it is the last port on the route at which it will be advisable for small vessels to touch, as Port Dory is not convenient, and the natives of the islands further to the eastward, although extremely anxious to trade, are a formidable race, and intercourse with them had best be avoided.

The passage to the eastward along the North coast of New Guinea is well known to the whalers of the Pacific, who, when they happen to have drifted off their fishing ground with the easterly winds, recover their position by taking advantage of the westerly winds which prevail at this season near the line, and extend far into the Pacific. But these experienced navigators rarely publish their notes, being satisfied with making their passages in the quickest possible time, without caring whether others adopt them or not. It will therefore be necessary to look up other sources of information for those details which will naturally be expected under the circumstances.

neers.

The first navigator that passed along New Guinea from West to East was the celebrated Dampier, who became aware of the existence of a westerly monsoon in these seas while cruising with the buccaWhen on their return to Europe from the West coast of America, in the year 1687, they touched on the coast of Celebes, and, departing in the month of November, they met with westerly winds, which obliged them to stand to the South, past Timor, until they reached the N.W. coast of Australia. Twelve years afterwards, Dampier returned in a king's ship, the Roebuck, for purposes of discovery, and leaving Timor on the 12th of December, he sailed for the coast of New Guinea with westerly winds, and passed through the strait that bears his name to the North coast, along which he ran as far as New Britain (more than 1,200 miles), which he circumnavigated and examined. The westerly monsoon was very strong this year (1699) often amounting to a "fresh gale," and they were unable to commence the return voyage until nearly the end of March. The westerly winds, however, did not cease until a month afterwards, but they found a current setting in the opposite direction at the rate of a mile an hour.

The next authority for the winds during this season is Captain

Thomas Forrest, who sailed from Balambangan to the North coast of New Guinea in November, 1775, in the Tartar, galley, belonging to the East India Company, and was on the coast or in its neighbourhood during the five following months. As Captain Forrest seems to have published his journal as it was written, the details respecting the winds are very full and satisfactory. The following is an abstract:

The variable winds occasionally experienced are accounted for partly by Captain Forrest being in harbour a great part of the time he was on the coast. From notices that appear in his journal, it is evident that he supposed a strong monsoon to be blowing in the offing.

The next authority is Captain (now Admiral) Keppel, of H.M.S. Maander, who left Port Essington on the 1st December, 1849, with

the garrison and remains of the establishment, with the express object of proceeding to Sydney round the North side of New Guinea, and of putting the practicability of the route to a test. He touched at Banda, and afterwards had to beat to the westward between Ceram and the S.W. coast of New Guinea against a strong breeze with a proportionate sea, in order to get sufficiently to windward to enter Pitt Strait, formerly much used by ships making the Eastern Passage to China, but latterly the Gilolo Passage seems to be preferred.

The Maander entered Pitt Strait on the 21st of December, and passed through with a single tide. "On emerging from the straits, we found the wind still blowing fresh from the westward, with a following swell, and a strong easterly set; but as our course now lay in that direction, before the following morning we were many miles on our voyage, and thereby missed seeing a large portion of the northern coast of New Guinea."*

It had been our

December 24th.- "We passed Point D'Urville. intention to visit Humboldt Bay, as laid down in the chart, that we might see something more of that country and its people; but to our disappointment, the strong current carried us past in the night."† The Meander reached the Admiralty Islands on the 29th of December, and remained at this and the neighbouring group, New Ireland, until the 12th of January, wooding and watering, and carrying on a great barter for curiosities with the natives. This impairs the utility of the voyage as a test of the route, or rather of the rapidity with which the voyage can be made. And unfortunately no details are given of the passage from New Ireland to Sydney; but from the track chart it appears that she must have met with easterly winds in about 10° S., as she could not weather the East end of the Louisiade group without tacking, and her course after getting round is laid down as S.S.E. for the few miles that remain before the margin of the chart is crossed. She arrived at Sydney on the 7th of February, 1850, so that the run from Pitt Strait may be estimated at thirty-four days. Of this twentyseven days were occupied by the portion of the voyage from the Louisiade to Sydney; and as Port Curtis is only half way, and so far to leeward that a ship leaving Cape Deliverance with the wind at S.E.b.E. can fetch the port without tacking, fourteen days will be a liberal estimate of the time that would have been occupied in making the passage to Port Curtis.

The deficiency in the Maander's journal is partially supplied by that of H.M.S. Rattlesnake, which left the Louisiade group for Sydney on January 8th, 1850, while the Meander was at New Ireland. For the first few days the wind varied from N.E. round by the Northward to S.W., and they did not get the trade wind until they reached 20° S., when it blew a steady breeze between E.S.E. and S.S.E., enabling them to fetch Sandy Cape, about 120 miles to the southward of the parallel of Port Curtis. The Rattlesnake made the passage from the

Keppel's Voyage of the Meander, vol. ii. p. 190.

+ Ibid, p. 201.

Louisiade group to Sydney in twenty-eight days; but the date at which she made Sandy Cape is not given. It is evident that the sea which lies between the Barrier Reefs and New Caledonia must be considered a region of variable winds during the period in which the S.E. trade wind is held in abeyance by the westerly monsoon.

The following paragraph on the winds in this neighbourhood is extracted from a paper on the Steam Route through Torres Strait in the Indian Archipelago Journal for 1851, p. 493. Several additional passages from West to East by sailing vessels have been made since that time, but the additional experience has not rendered any correction necessary.

"Hitherto Torres Strait has only been navigated generally by ships passing from East to West; but on three or four occasions vessels have sailed through in the opposite direction. This passage, however, has always been attended with great delay, as it was found that the westerly monsoon, which prevails from November to March inclusive in the seas of the Indian Archipelago, does not blow steadily within. Torres Straits, where it only appears in spurts of eight or ten days' duration about the change of the moon. Occasionally these westerly winds blow with considerable strength; but they are usually unsteady, in fact mere interruptions of the S. E. trade wind. These spurts may be expected in November and in the following months until March. Sometimes, but rarely, they are encountered as late as April. In this month of 1844, the writer, while en route from Sydney to Port Essington by the Middle Passage, met with a spurt of N.W. wind when in lat. 19° S., which lasted from the 24th to the 29th of the month. It blew a steady six-knot breeze throughout this period, and the writer was subsequently able to trace it to Port Essington, the Arru Islands, and Macassar, where it blew with some strength, and was remarked as an unusual occurrence so late in the season. This period appears to be the fine season in Torres Strait, (as is the case in the Moluccas,) at least to the South of Cape York, as this is the time chosen by the Murray and Darnley Islanders for making their annual excursions to the islets which lie off the N.E. coast of Australia. The question of winds is, however, of little importance when steam routes are under consideration, especially on the present occasion, as parties interested will be satisfied on learning that no winds have ever yet been experienced in Torres Strait which are calculated in the slightest degree to interfere with the progress of steamers in either direction.”

We have another authority for the winds and currents on the North coast of New Guinea in Lieutenant De Bruiju-Kops, of the Dutch navy, who visited the coast in the Government schooner Circe during the same season as the Mæander's visit, but much later, and the details are not without interest. The object of the voyage was to examine Humboldt Bay with a view to settlement. The Circe ran down from Java to Amboyna with the West monsoon, and left the latter place on the 16th December (1849) for Ternate, where they were to receive their instructions; but, meeting with strong N.W. winds (the same spurt that the Maander experienced in that neighbourhood) and a

strong current setting to the eastward, they were forced to put into Wahaai, a port on the North side of Ceram, where they heard of the Maander having passed. This was on the 24th of December, and they lay wind-bound until the 13th February, when they put to sea, and reached Ternate on the 25th. It was not until the 15th of March that they finally sailed for New Guinea, and arrived at Gebi, an island in the Gilolo Passage, on the 19th. Here they were joined by a fleet of Molucca prows, belonging to the Sultan of Tidore, which accompanied them for the remainder of the voyage. Leaving Gebi on the 26th March, they passed through Dampier Strait, were abreast of Cape Good Hope on the 29th, and entered the Great Bay on the 31st, where they anchored at Port Dory. The direction of the wind from leaving Ternate is not given, but it must have been favourable throughout.

The Circe remained at anchor at Port Dory until the 25th April waiting for the flotilla of prows, which did not join until the 20th. The winds during their stay are stated as follows:-"From the 1st to the 22nd April the wind for the most part was S.E. and N.E., which towards evening was often alternated with N.W., seldom with S.W. winds." Weather fair, but occasional showers. On the 25th, left Port Dory with light westerly winds, and stood into the Great Bay, where several trading stations were visited, and on the 11th of May they anchored at the N.E. point of the bay. During this period, regular land and sea breezes were experienced, the first at S.E. and the latter at N.W., but an adverse current was found in the offing, setting W.N.W. On the 24th of May a strong breeze set in from S.S.W., which in four days carried them up to Humboldt Bay; but as they were about to enter, the wind shifted to S.E. and E.S.E., with a chopping sea, and the Circe, being a slow and far from weatherly vessel, was forced to bear up and return to Amboyna.

The details of the latter portion of the voyage given above will not be of much use to navigators, who are supposed to adopt this route during December, January, February, and part of March, the only period in which westerly winds can reasonably be expected to remain steady; but they are interesting as showing the possibility of fast and weatherly vessels being able to make the passage even late in the

season.

The Meander lost the strong westerly wind and favourable current when she approached the Admiralty Islands. It is therefore a question whether she would not have made a more rapid passage by running down her easting along the line as far as Schanks Island, or even farther, if the wind held, when, by getting into the S.E. trade, she would have had a free wind for the remainder of the passage. That the westerly winds blow thus far the writer of these notes is aware from his own experience, having crossed the line at the latter end of December, 1847, with a westerly gale that had brought the ship under close-reefed fore and main topsails, and the squalls were so heavy that the fore topsail had to be taken in twice during the night. We had