that they have frequently been near us. Should the same feeling predominate at the intended colony on Melville Island, it will perhaps be beneficial to their new visitors, who will thereby be enabled to establish themselves without molestation, and be spared the necessity of keeping such strict watch and guard as will otherwise be found necessary. This forenoon it was new moon, and we ascertained it to be high water at half past two, P.M., the tide having a rise and fall of fourteen feet. It has not set regular or with any strength at our anchorage, being considerably affected by the near neighbour hood of Table Point, and the reefs which project from its southern termination. We were a good deal astonished early this morning at discovering about three hundred yards in-shore of us, or half a mile westward of Table Point's north bend, a small rock just awash, which had previously escaped our observation. The master, who went to sound about it, found the water decrease gradually to three fathoms close alongside of it, and the same depth was preserved all round at the distance of as many yards, the rock not being more than a dozen yards in circumference. Between it and Table Point were found four feet in apparently a clear channel; but this projection should not be approached within a mile by any ship, unless necessity requires it, as the rock dries only at the lowest tides, and appears then only as large as a bucket. Our boats must frequently have passed over without discovering it, on their passage to and from the shore, as it is covered by more than two fathoms at high-water spring tides. 23d. Sept. Having a light easterly air at daylight, we made all sail out of Port Essington with our convoy, carrying very even soundings nearly on the same ground we had previously ran over, and trying by boat several large patches of discoloured water off Vashon Head, without finding any diminution in its depth. A considerable reef and shoal surrounding that projection, render it necessary for a ship not to approach it within two miles in any direction, unless with a very clear and good look-out ahead. Being about the period of low water, the rocky reef off Point Smith was also dry to some extent, and should be carefully avoided in going in. On clearing Port Essington, and bringing Vashon Head (which is low and sandy) to bear S. by W. 4 W. to S. by E, distant six or seven miles, we steered a west course by compass for Cape Van Diemen, about 120 miles distant, and found the variation by a setting amplitude off Dundas Strait to be 1° 24 with the ship's head west. The N.E. part of Melville Island was then in sight, bearing from S. 23 to 56 W., 20 miles distant. It was not until the 25th of September, after being detained by anchoring to avoid the set of the tide, that with a light northerly breeze, we made all sail with our convoy towards the north entrance of Apsley Strait. The steep bright red cliffs of Piper's Head were very conspicuous to the E.N.E., and, keeping them on our larboard bow, we gradually neared the southern verge of Cape Van Diemen's Shoal, (which Captain King called The Mermaid Shoal, after the little cutter in which we discovered it,) decreasing the depth of water on a very even bottom of seven and six fathoms. Edging away gradually to the northern extreme of Bathurst Island, which is low, sandy, and covered with trees, and has a sandy shoal projecting from it in a N.W. direction; we increased our depth, and, when approaching this shoal within half a mile, got suddenly from eight and nine to eighteen and twenty fathoms. The Mermaid Shoal approaches Bathurst Island hereabout in the form of a small sand-bank and a reef of rocks, both of which were dry at low water, and form a channel about a mile and a quarter wide, with the above sandy spot off Bathurst Island. The sand-bank was set at E. S. by compass, (which may also be considered as the true bearing,) in a line with the steep bushy south view of Piper's Head, and N.E. on with the end of the bushes on Cape Van Diemen. The dry reef above alluded to, bears about E. 25° S. from the sand-bank, three and a quarter miles distant, and was set at E. 17° N. in a line with Piper's Head south view. There did not appear to be any safe or practical channel for ships between these dangers and Piper's Head, that space being occupied by numerous reefs and shoals, partly uncovered at low water. In the channel to southward of them, we had 16 and 18 fathoms, borrowing towards Bathurst Island, and, on hauling in to the S.E. towards Luxmore Head, shoaled gradually on muddy bottom to ten and twelve, about half way over. That projection is easily distinguished by its lofty cliffy appearance, being more elevated than the adjoining land, and projecting considerably from the larboard shore. Indeed, its locality in many respects seeming to recommend it particularly for the site of our new establishment, we anchored about three-quarters of a mile from its N.W. trend, bearing S. 65 E. All boats were immediately lowered; and our convoy having brought up near us, we landed on Luxmore Head in the same form as at Port Essington, and took possession of the country in a similar manner, by hoisting a British union jack in a conspicuous tree. The Declaration being read as before, the same ceremonies were observed. The Tamar fired a royal salute with the national colours displayed at each mast-head, and terminated the ceremony of taking possession of this valuable tract of country for the British crown; a supremacy which this portion of the globe has hitherto known only to admire and respect. Having adjusted this desirable point, we separated into two parties in search of fresh water: Captain Bremer, with the first lieutenant, proceeded with four marines to examine the northern part of Luxmore Head, while I took the opposite direction with four more, and about a dozen seamen who wished to follow. The ridge of stony land that forms Luxmore Head, is about two miles in length, parallel with the coast line, and then falls back with a gradual descent towards a flat of mangroves, overflown nearly half way across at half a mile from the ridge. I walked to the southern extreme of Luxmore Head, and traced along a great portion of the mangroves without finding any fresh water, or immediate indication of it, although several spots appeared capable of producing it by digging, and traces of natives were frequently fallen in with. Captain Bremer met with as little success; but a few men, who strayed alongshore to the northward, observed a small quantity of brackish water near some nativs huts behind the beach, two or three hundred yards from Luxmore Head. The huts were said to be composed of bark of trees, supported by branches bent in a curved form, and capable of containing about two persons each in a recumbent position; the greatest elevation of any of these frail edifices above the ground being no more than four feet; but it being then late, we were obliged to defer our further examination until the next day. On the morning of Monday, September 27th, every man was active and alert in the discharge of his duties. Our principal object being the attainment of fresh water upon any spot that should be found most eligible for the new town, several parties were despatched in various directions about Luxmore Head for that purpose, while Captain Bremer deputed me to land, and take possession of Bathurst Island, and afterwards to search for fresh water in any place most likely to afford it. With Lieutenant Clayton, R.N., Mr. Lairie, midshipman, and my boat's crew of six hands, I landed on the north sandy point of the island, erected a British union jack upon an oar, and took formal possession of Bathurst Island, &c., in the name of his Majesty, George the Fourth, with three times three. Having drank to the health of our noble sovereign, and to the success of our new colony, I left the boat's crew digging a deep hole in the sand for water, and with two men walked inward to the southward and westward to examine the produce of this land. 49 Point des Monts Canada о 0 Ditto. +49 18 48 +68 26 24 Capt.H.W. Bayfield Ditto +49 19 42 +68 25 British Islands +53 36 30+ 6 11 Ditto 53 Hunstanton Ditto Ditto 54 Lowestoffe 8 48 Com. W. Mudge. 31 Capt. M. White. 0 29 39 Com. W. Hewett. - 1 45 12 Ditto. +52 33 51+10 52 42 Capt. M. White. 3 Ditto. 6 Ditto. 63 St. Paul's Island 65 D'Entrecasteaux Ditto +39 58 38 0 44 British Islands +58 41 38+ 2 55 +58 40 30 + 3 22 0 Ditto. 25 Capt. H. W. Smyth 2 Mr. G. Thomas. 1 Ditto +51 56 43 1 39 2 Com. W. Hewett. 1 17 6 Ordnance Surv. 72 Harwick 73 Mewstone Rock Ditto +50 18 30+ 4 5 35 Ditto. +54 55 33+ 6 44 12 Com. Mudge. +49 38 18+68 13 12 Capt.H.W. Bayfield 0 Capt. P. P. King. 0 Ditto. 25 2 30-116 29 6 15-118 0 45 Ditto. 79 Seal Island Ditto 35 34 39 81 Knob Cape Ditto 0-118 14 30 Ditto. -34 31 30_119 24 30 Ditto. British Islands +51 36 18+ 8 33 20 Capt. M. White. Ditto 87 Gt. Fox River +50 4 7 5 41 33 Ordnance Surv. +53 24 50+ 3 6 51 Ditto +49 6 0+66 48 18 Capt.H.W. Bayfield +49 5 F West Poiut. East point of the bay. REMARKS ON QUARANTINE SYSTEMS. By Usher Parsons, M.D., formerly Surgeon in the U.S. Navy. [From the New York Naval Magazine.] THE Commercial welfare and prosperity of maritime cities, as well as the health and convenience of crews and passengers who arrive at them, are involved in the subject of quarantine restrictions, and impart to it greater interest than any other question of medical police that can offer itself for discussion. It is a subject, too, particularly suited to the pages of the Naval Magazine. The term quarantine is used to express detention, for any specified number of days, of persons, ships, goods, &c., supposed to be capable of propagating any infectious or contagious disease. The number forty, implied in the derivation of the word, probably originated in a superstitious notion of the dark ages, that this number of days passed in seclusion purified the body of pestilential taint, as forty days of Lent is supposed to do the soul of its moral pollutions and as Lent claims kindred with forty days' fasting in the wilderness, and this probably with the forty years' march of Israel to the land of promise, so the term in question can certainly boast of a remote ancestry. But, that forty days marks a crisis, or defines a boundary to the existence of contagion in persons or vessels, is a doctrine which neither experience proves, nor common sense any longer tolerates. The Quarantines are the offspring of a belief in contagion, as a cause of some epidemics. The origin of such belief is traced by some to the year 1545, and is attributed to a political intrigue said to have been practised by Pope Paul III. at the council of Trent. story is, that, desirous of removing the assembled conclave from that city to Bologna, in Italy, where his supremacy was absolute, this pontiff commissioned one of his cardinals to propagate the report, that a contagious fever prevailed in the former place; which he accomplished through the instrumentality and connivance of an eminent physician named Fracastorius. But, although such a pious fraud is recorded in history, and has been often recited by eminent writers both in Europe and America, yet it is demonstrable that a belief in the existence of contagion is of a much earlier date. Dr. Pariset, of France, has faithfully investigated this subject, and cites numerous extracts from Greek and Roman writings, which shew that some pestilential diseases were regarded as contagious in those nations. Authentic facts prove also that quarantine laws existed in Italy, generally, as early as 1484; and in Venice prior to 1448, or nearly a century prior to the council of Trent. The northern nations of Europe feeling less apprehensive of plague, were slow in imposing commercial restrictions for its prevention. England deferred them till after the plague of Marseilles, |