Note 69-2 — CAPTAIN EDWARDS' REPORTS.

It was, in fact, the mainland of New Guinea. The land East of Cape Rodney, comprising Orangerie, Table, and Cloudy Bays, lies so low and is so generally obscured with haze that on a dull day Edwards would not have seen it.

It is doubtful whether Edwards' Capes Rodney and Hood, are correctly placed in the modern charts. Our Cape Rodney is not a conspicuous headland, and it lies half a degree eastward of 212·14 W. Longitude, and 9′ South of 10⁶·3° S. Latitude. Edwards' positions are usually so accurate that I cannot see why they should have been departed from. Our Cape Hood, on the other hand, is exactly in the position of his Cape Rodney, and is besides a very conspicuous wooded tongue of land. Beyond is another conspicuous point. Round Head, which corresponds in position with Edwards' Cape Hood. Mount Clarence, moreover, would not appear to lie between Capes Rodney and Hood until the former was out of sight astern. I think that Mount Clarence must have been hidden by clouds, and that Edwards' Mount Clarence was in reality the high cone in the Saroa district, which is a conspicuous feature on the coast line. A further indication that the day was hazy lies in the fact that Edwards did not see the great Owen Stanley Range which towers up 13,000 feet behind. Had he done so he would not have mistaken the mainland for a group of scattered islands. Hamilton does not call Mount Clarence an "island," but a "mountain." A further proof that Edwards' "Cape Hood" was Round Head is found in the remark "After passing Cape Hood the land appears lower, and to branch off about N.N.W., . . . for we saw no other land." This applies to Round Head, and to no other part of the coast.