Torres Strait lies between the northernmost part of Australia and New Guinea. The channel is from 80 to 90 miles in width; and its navigation, though practicable, is rendered dangerous and difficult by the innumerable shoals, reefs, and islands with which it is strewn. It was discovered in 1606 by Luis Vaez de Torres, a Spanish navigator sent out by the viceroy of Peru. See map at NEW GUINEA, and Nature, October 1890, p. 637.
Torres Strait
Chambers's Encyclopaedia, Volume 10: Swastika to Zyrianovsk and Index, p. 249
Source scan(s): p. 0268