The China Sea directory - Sabrizain.org

CHAP. vriLj WEST COAST OP BORNEO. 389
on its shoalest part and is steep-to. Breakers are nearly always to be seen
on this reef. A patch of 2| fathoms lies 7^ miles N. :^ E. from Clemencia
*eef.
Liuge shoal, consisting of hard sand, having a depth of 1^ fathoms,
lies with Pulo Mangkap bearing N.W. by N., distant 13^ miles; the shoal
is steep upon the northern side, but in other directions the water shallows
gradually.
Banks.—Between Clemencia shoal and Pulo Mangkap are several
sand ridges extending in a north-west and south-east direction and with
shoal spots of 2 to 3 fathoms.
Between these ridges are depths of 6 to 12 fathoms mud ;
as the currents
are generally strong with overfalls, and there are no objects by which the
position of a vessel may be accurately ascertained, it is advisable, as" before
mentioned, to pass southward of Fox shoal.
GELAM or Laag Island is about 4 miles in extent, very low,
wooded, and the largest of a group lying 10 miles north-westward of
Sambar point. Penambung Tikus, a group of islets and sunken rocks,
extend about 8 miles westward of Gelam island, being "a continuation of
the rocky and foul ground lying between Mangkap and Gelam. Beranton
islets lie about 2 miles northward.
A roef, with a least depth of 1-^ fathoms, lies S.S.W. ^ W., about
6 miles from the west extreme of Gelam.
PULO KUMPAL (Rendezvous island), better known
among the natives as Pulo Bauwal, lies about 6 miles northward of Gelam
island. It is 6 miles long, by 4 miles broad, thickly wooded and low, with
the exception of two small hills rising above the vegetation near the centre.
of the island.
This island was, in former times, the rendezvous for the China convoys-
in case of separation.
Reefs extend about one mile from the north and -west shores, and several
islets and rocks lie upon the reef off the north extreme ; upon the eastern
side, banks of hard sand lie parallel with the coast, extending a mile from
it, and are steep-to. Patches of sand and stones both above and below
water are found within 2 miles of the south side of Pulo Kumpal, and foul
ground extends to the Beranton islets.
Corcyra bank, of 2 fathoms, lies S. by W. ^ W. about 5 miles from
Sulphur point, with a patch of same depth nearly 2 miles within it. A
patch of 4 fathoms also lies South 2^ miles from Corcyra.
The hill over Batu Jurong point, open westward of Pulo Kumpal, leads
westward of these reefs.
There is a channel of 6 to 8 fathoms between Pulo Eumpal and a mud
flat extending from the Borneo coast ; the southern part of the channel