A Voyage to Terra Australis Volume I Part 10

There was no other prospect of safety for Mr. Clarke and his companions, than to reach Port Jackson on foot; and they commenced their march along the sea sh.o.r.e, scantily furnished with ammunition, and with less provisions. Various tribes of natives were pa.s.sed, some of whom were friendly; but the hostility of others, and excessive fatigue, daily lessened the number of these unfortunate people; and when the provisions and ammunition failed, the diminution became dreadfully rapid. Their last loss was of the chief mate and carpenter, who were killed by Dilba, and other savages near Hat Hill;* and Mr. Clarke, with a sailor and one lascar, alone remained when they reached Watta-Mowlee. They were so exhausted, as to have scarcely strength enough to make themselves observed by a boat which was fishing off the cove; but were at length conveyed into her, and brought to Port Jackson.

[* This Dilba was one of the two Botany-Bay natives, who had been most strenuous for Tom Thumb to go up into the lagoon, which lies under the hill.]

Mr. Clarke gave the first information of the coal cliffs, near Hat Hill; and from him it was ascertained, that, besides the known bays, many small streams and inlets had interrupted his march along the sh.o.r.e, from Cape Howe to Watta-Mowlee; but that there were none which he had not been able to pa.s.s, either at the sea side, or by going a few miles round, into the country. A journal of his route was published in the Calcutta newspapers, some time in 1798.

The colonial schooner Francis had made one voyage to Furneaux's Islands, and brought from thence captain Hamilton, and part of his people and cargo. The same vessel was about to proceed thither a second time, and I was anxious to embrace that opportunity of exploring those extensive and little known lands; but the great repairs required by the Reliance would not allow of my absence. My friend Ba.s.s, less confined by his duty, made several excursions, princ.i.p.ally into the interior parts behind Port Jackson; with a view to pa.s.s over the back mountains, and ascertain the nature of the country beyond them. His success was not commensurate to the perseverance and labour employed: the mountains were impa.s.sable; but the course of the river Grose, laid down in Plate VIII, resulted from one of these excursions.

SHORTLAND. 1797. (Atlas, Pl. VIII.)

In September, a small colonial vessel having been carried off by convicts, lieutenant JOHN SHORTLAND, first of the Reliance,* went after them to the northward, in an armed boat. The expedition was fruitless, as to the proposed object; but in returning along the sh.o.r.e from Port Stephens, Mr. Shortland discovered a port in lat.i.tude 33, capable of receiving small ships; and what materially added to the importance of the discovery, was a _stratum of coal_, found to run through the south head of the port, and also pervaded a cliffy island in the entrance. These coals were not only accessible to shipping, but of a superior quality to those in the cliffs near Hat Hill. The port was named after His Excellency governor HUNTER; and a settlement, called _New Castle_, has lately been there established. The entrance is narrow, and the deepest water (about three fathoms) close to the north-west side of the Coal Island; but no vessel of more than three hundred tons should attempt it.

[* Afterwards captain of the _Junon_. He was mortally wounded, whilst bravely defending his Majesty's frigate against a vastly superior force; and died at _Guadaloupe_.]

Ba.s.s. 1797.

In December, Mr. GEORGE Ba.s.s obtained leave to make an expedition to the southward; and he was furnished with a fine whale boat and six weeks provisions by the governor, and a crew of six seamen from the ships. He sailed Dec. 3., in the evening; but foul and strong winds forced him into _Port Hacking_ and _Watta-Mowlee_. On the 5th, in lat.i.tude 34 38', he was obliged to stop in a small bight of the coast, a little south of _Alowrie_. The points of land there are basaltic; and on looking round amongst the burnt rocks scattered over a hollowed circular s.p.a.ce behind the sh.o.r.e, Mr. Ba.s.s found a hole of twenty-five or thirty feet in diameter; into which the sea washed up by a subterraneous pa.s.sage.

Dec. 6., he pa.s.sed a long sloping projection which I have called _Point Ba.s.s_, lying about three leagues south of Alowrie. Beyond this point, the coast forms a sandy bay of four or five leagues in length, containing two small inlets; and the southernmost being accessible to the boat, Mr. Ba.s.s went in and stopped three days. This little place was found to deserve no better name than _Shoals Haven_. The entrance is mostly choaked up by sand, and the inner part with banks of sand and mud; there is, however, a small channel sufficiently deep for boats. The lat.i.tude was made to be 34 52' south; the sloping Point Ba.s.s, to the northward, bore N. 12 E., and a steep head at the southern extremity of the bay, S. 35 E. The tide was found to rise seven or eight feet, and the time of high water to be about _eight hours and a half after_ the moon pa.s.sed over the meridian.

The great chain of high land, called the Blue Mountains, by which the colony at Port Jackson is prevented from extending itself to the west, appeared to Mr. Ba.s.s to terminate here, near the sea coast. The base of this southern extremity of the chain, he judged to extend twenty-five or thirty miles, in a south-western direction from Point Ba.s.s; after which it turns north-westward. In the direction of west from Shoals Haven, and in all the s.p.a.ce to the south of that line, was an extensive, flat country, where a party desirous of penetrating into the interior might reasonably hope to avoid those impediments which, at the back of Port Jackson., have constantly proved insurmountable.

In an excursion from the boat towards the southern end of the mountains, Mr. Ba.s.s fell in with a considerable stream, which he traced down to the sh.o.r.e, about three miles north of Shoals' Haven: this is the first inlet of the long bay, which had been observed from the sea, with a bar running across the entrance. The soil on the southern bank of this stream he compared, for richness, to the banks of the Hawkesbury; and attributes this unusual fertility to the same cause: repeated inundations. In fact, the stream has since been found to descend from the mountains at twelve or fifteen miles from the coast, and to run along their southern extremity to the sea; so that it performs the same office here that the Hawkesbury does further north--that of being a channel for the waters which descend from the high back land; but as, in the heavy rains, it is also unequal to the task, the banks are overflowed, and the low country to the south and west is inundated and fertilized. There are, however, at the back of Shoals Haven, many thousand acres of open ground, whose soil is a rich vegetable mould, and now beyond the reach of the floods.

Dec. 10. The boat left Shoals Haven and entered _Jervis Bay_, a large open place of very unpromising appearance. On the north side of the entrance, between Point Perpendicular and Long Nose, there is a small cove, where a ship's boat might lie at half tide; and with a hose fill water from the back of the beach, at two pits which appeared to be always full. The best anchorage for ships seemed to be on the east side of the bay, between Long Nose and the northern beach, though they would not, even there, be entirely land-locked. _Bowen's Island_ lies a quarter of a mile from the south side of the entrance, but the pa.s.sage between does not admit any thing larger than boats. There is a small beach at the back of the island, off which ships might anchor in 8 fathoms sandy bottom, and be sheltered as far round as south-east; but with the wind nearer to east they would be exposed.

The east sh.o.r.e of Jervis Bay runs, for twelve or fifteen miles, so near to north from the entrance, that it is not, at the head, more than four hundred yards across to the sh.o.r.e of the long outer bay. The piece of land, which is thus made a narrow peninsula, is rather high, with a face of steep cliffs toward the sea. The rocks on the inner side bear strong marks of volcanic fire; and being disposed in parallel layers, their inclination to the west is very evident: quant.i.ties of pumice stone were scattered along the sh.o.r.es.

The country round the bay is mostly barren. On the eastern side it is rocky, with heath and brush-wood; the west is low, swampy, and sandy, with some partial exceptions; but on the south side there are gra.s.sy s.p.a.ces amongst the brush-wood which might afford pasturage for cattle.

Jervis Bay was quitted Dec. 13., and at noon the Pigeon House bore W. by N. In the evening Mr. Ba.s.s stopped in a cove, which Point Upright shelters from northern winds; and he employed the next day in looking round the country. The vallies and slopes of the hills were found to be generally fertile; but there being nothing of particular interest in this place, it was quitted on the 15th. Some small islands lying close under the sh.o.r.e (in Bateman Bay), bore west at noon; and the night was pa.s.sed at anchor under a point, in lat.i.tude 36 00', where, the wind being foul on the 16th, Mr. Ba.s.s laid the boat on sh.o.r.e, and proceeded to examine the surrounding country.

At eight or nine miles from the coast is a ridge of hummocky hills, extending to the southward; but the s.p.a.ce between these hills and the sea is low and in great part occupied by salt swamps. The sea was found to have an entrance at the back of the point, and to form a considerable lagoon, which communicated with the swamps by means of several branching arms. The soil, as may be supposed, was generally bad, the sloping sides of some of the hills being alone capable of any utility. In a round of twelve or fourteen miles Mr. Ba.s.s could not find a drop of fresh water, or see a native. There were, however, many huts, and he traced the paths from them down to holes dug in the lowest grounds; but these were then all dried up, and the country in general seemed to be suffering from drought.

Dec. 17. The wind having veered to N. N. W., the boat was launched, and proceeded to the southward. Mount Dromedary was pa.s.sed at eleven; and an island of about two miles in circuit was seen lying off it, a few miles to the eastward: the lat.i.tude at noon was 36 23'. At four, the fair breeze died away, and a strong wind, which burst forth from the south, obliged Mr. Ba.s.s to run for a gap in the land, which had just before been noticed. Here, on a little beach at the mouth of an inlet, across which the sea was breaking, the boat was hauled up for the night. Next morning, the inlet being free of breakers, he entered the prettiest little model of a harbour he had ever seen. Unfortunately it is but a model; for although the shelter within be complete for small craft, yet the depth over the bar is too small, even for boats, except at high water, when there is eight or nine feet. This little place was named _Barmouth Creek_, and lies, according to Mr. Ba.s.s' computation, in 36 47' south.

The country round, so far as was examined, is rocky and barren near the sea; and towards the head of the creek, it is low and penetrated by the salt swamps.

(Atlas, Pl. VI.)

Dec. 19. At day light Mr. Ba.s.s continued his course to the southward., with a fair breeze. At seven he discovered TWO-FOLD BAY; but unwilling to lose a fair wind, reserved the examination of it for his return. At five in the evening the wind came at S. S. W.; and he anch.o.r.ed under the lee of a point, but could not land. A sea breeze from E. N. E. next day, enabled him to continue onward; and at eleven, he bore away west, round _Cape Howe_, whose lat.i.tude was observed to be 37 30'. In the evening he landed at the entrance of a lagoon, one mile north of the _Ram Head_, in order to take in as much fresh water as possible; for it was to be feared that a want of this necessary article might oblige him to discontinue his pursuit, at a time when, from the coast being unexplored, it would become more than ever interesting.

Dec. 21. A gale set in at W. S. W., and continued for nine days without intermission. This time was employed in examining the country, which, though hilly in external appearance, was found to be mostly low, sandy, and wet. The hills have a slight covering of green upon them, but consist of little else than sand; and from what could be seen of the back country, the soil there is scarcely better. The vallies are overgrown with long gra.s.s, ferns, brush-wood, and climbing plants, so as to be almost impenetrable; yet even there the soil is good for nothing.

At every landing place, from Jervis Bay to Barmouth Creek, the fresh water had been observed to diminish both in quant.i.ty and quality; and upon this coast of sand the difficulty of procuring it was expected to be very great. It was, on the contrary, plentiful; there being many little runs which drained out from the sand hills, and either trickled over the rocky spots at their feet, or sank through the beaches into the sea.

The western gale being at length succeeded by a breeze at E. N. E., Mr.

Ba.s.s left the Ram Head early on the 31st. His course was W. by S., close to a low, sandy coast; the beach being interrupted by small, rocky points, not oftener than once in ten or fifteen miles. The back land consisted of short ridges of irregular hills, lying at no great distance from the sea. At noon, the lat.i.tude was 37 42'; and the distance run from the Ram Head, by computation, was thirty or thirty-five miles.

The furthest land seen by captain Cook, is marked at fifteen leagues from the Ram Head, and called _Point Hicks_; but at dusk Mr. Ba.s.s had run much more than that distance close along the sh.o.r.e, and could perceive no point or projection which would be distinguishable from a ship: the coast continued to be straight, low, and sandy, similar to what had been pa.s.sed in the morning. There arose many large smokes from behind the beach; probably from the sides of lagoons, with which, there was reason to think, the back country abounded.

1798.

The breeze continuing to be fresh and favourable, Mr. Ba.s.s ventured to steer onward in the night, and kept the sh.o.r.e close a-bord. At two in the morning, the increased hollowness of the waves made him suspect the water was becoming shallow; and he hauled off for an hour, until there was sufficient daylight to distinguish the land. It was still low, level, and sandy, and trended S. W. by W., nearly as the boat was steering. At seven o'clock, high land appeared at a considerable distance in the south-west; and the beach then trended in the same direction. It, however, changed soon afterward, to run nearly west; and Mr. Ba.s.s quitted it to keep on his course for the high land. The lat.i.tude at noon was 38 41'; and the difference made from the noon before, upon the average course of S. W. by W, makes the distance run 107 miles; which, added to the preceding thirty or thirty-five, gives the length of the beach from the Ram Head, to be about 140 miles.*

[* But the lat.i.tude observed appears to be 8' or 10' too little; and if so, the length of the beach would be something more than 150 miles. It is no matter of surprise if observations taken from an open boat, in a high sea, should differ ten miles from the truth; but I judge that Mr. Ba.s.s'

quadrant must have received some injury during the night of the 31st, for a similar error appears to pervade all the future observations, even those taken under favourable circ.u.mstances.]

The high land extended from the bearing of S. W. by S. to W. N. W., and was distant in the latter direction two or three leagues. North of it there was a deep bight; and further eastward, two or three places in the Long Beach which had the appearance of inlets. To the south there were several rocky islets; and great numbers of petrels, and other sea-birds, were flying about the boat.

From the lat.i.tude of the high land, Mr. Ba.s.s considered it to be that seen by captain Furneaux (or supposed to have been seen), in 39; and consequently, that he had traced the unknown s.p.a.ce between Point Hicks and _Furneaux's Land_. His course was now steered to pa.s.s round this land; but on coming abreast of the rocky islets, a hummock appeared above the horizon in the S. E. by S., and presently, a larger one at S. W.; and being unable to fetch the first, he steered for the latter, which proved to be an island; and at six in the evening, he anch.o.r.ed under its lee. Vast numbers of gulls and other birds were roosting upon it, and on the rocks were many seals; but the surf would not admit of landing. This island was judged to be thirty miles, S. by W., from the situation at noon.

Jan. 2. The wind was strong at E. N. E.; and Mr. Ba.s.s being apprehensive that the boat could not fetch the high main land, determined to steer southward for the islands, in the hope of procuring some rice from the wreck of the ship Sydney Cove, to eke out his provisions. The wind, however, became unfavourable to him, veering to E. S. E; so that with the sea which drove the boat to leeward, the course to noon was scarcely so good as S. S. W. The lat.i.tude observed was then 39 51'; and no land being in sight, the prospect of reaching Furneaux's Islands became very faint. At four o'clock an accident caused it to be totally given up: water was observed to rush in fast through the boat's side, and made it absolutely necessary to go upon the other tack. The lat.i.tude to which Mr.

Ba.s.s supposed himself arrived, was something to the south of 40; and the weather was clear enough for land of moderate height to have been seen five leagues further, had there been any within that distance.

The boat was then kept north-eastward, towards Furneaux's Land. At nine in the evening, the wind blew hard at S. E. by E., accompanied by a hollow, irregular sea, which put our enterprising discoverer and his boat's crew into the greatest danger; but the good qualities of his little bark, with careful steerage, carried him through this perilous night. On the 3rd, at six o'clock the land was seen; and in the afternoon, whilst standing in to look for a place of shelter, a smoke and several people were observed upon a small island not far from the main coast. On rowing up, they proved to be, not natives, to Mr. Ba.s.s' great surprise, but Europeans. They were convicts who, with others, had run away with a boat from Port Jackson, in the intention of plundering the wreck of the Sydney Cove; and not being able to find it, their companions, thinking their number too great, had treacherously left them upon this island, whilst asleep. These people were seven in number; and during the five weeks they had been on this desert spot, had subsisted on petrels, to which a seal was occasionally added. Mr. Ba.s.s promised to call at the island, on his return; and in the mean time, proceeded to the west side of the high main land, where he anch.o.r.ed, but could not get on sh.o.r.e.

Jan. 4. The wind being at north-east, he continued his course onward, steering W. N. W. round an open bay; and afterwards N. W. by W., as the coast generally trended. The sh.o.r.e consisted of long, shallow bights, in which the land was low and sandy; but the intermediate rocky points were generally steep, with a ridge of hills extending from them, into the interior, as far as could be distinguished. In the evening an inlet was discovered, with many shoals at the entrance; and the deep channel being not found till a strong tide made it unattainable, Mr. Ba.s.s waited for high water; he then entered a s.p.a.cious harbour which, from its relative position to the hitherto known parts of the coast, was named WESTERN PORT. It lies, according to the boat's run, about sixty miles N. W. by W.

W. from Furneauxs Land; and its lat.i.tude is somewhere about 38 25'

south.* The time of high water is near _half an hour_ after the moon's pa.s.sage over the meridian, and the rise of tide from ten to fourteen feet.

[* The true lat.i.tude of the east entrance into Western Port, is about 38 33' south.]

The examination of this new and important discovery, the repairs of the boat, and the continuance of strong winds, kept Mr. Ba.s.s thirteen days in Western Port. His sketch of it has since been superseded by the more regular examination of ensign Barralier, copied into the chart, where its form, situation, and extent will be best seen. The land upon its borders is, generally, low and level; but the hills rise as they recede into the country, and afford an agreeable prospect from the port. Wherever Mr.

Ba.s.s landed, he found the soil to be a light, brown mould, which becomes peaty in the lowest grounds. Gra.s.s and ferns grow luxuriantly, and yet the country is but thinly timbered. Patches of brush wood are frequent, particularly on the eastern sh.o.r.e, where they are some miles in extent; and there the soil is a rich, vegetable mould. The island (since called _Phillip Island_) which shelters the port, is mostly barren, but is covered with shrubs and some diminutive trees.

Mr. Ba.s.s had great difficulty in procuring good water, arising, as he judged, from unusual dryness in the season; and the head of the winding creek on the east side of the port, was the sole place where it had not a brackish taste. The mud banks at the entrance of the creek may be pa.s.sed at half tide by the largest boats; and within it, there is at all times a sufficient depth of water.

No more than four natives were seen, and their shyness prevented communication; the borders of the port, however, bore marks of having been much frequented, but the want of water seemed to have occasioned a migration to the higher lands. Kangaroos did not appear to be numerous; but black swans went by hundreds in a flight, and ducks, a small, but excellent kind, by thousands; and the usual wild fowl were in abundance.

The seventh week of absence from Port Jackson had expired, by the time Mr. Ba.s.s was ready to sail from Western Port; and the reduced state of his provisions forced him, very reluctantly, to turn the boat's head homeward.

Jan. 18. At daylight, he sailed with a fresh wind at west, which increased to a gale in the afternoon, with a heavy swell from the south-west; and he sought shelter behind a cape since named _Cape Liptrap_. Next morning, he ran over to the islands on the west side of Furneaux's Land; but was obliged to return to his former place of shelter, where a succession of gales kept him until the 26th. A quant.i.ty of petrels had been taken on the islands, and this week of detention was mostly employed in salting them for the homeward bound voyage.

At length, Mr. Ba.s.s was able to execute the project he had formed for the seven convicts. It was impossible to take them all into the boat; therefore to five, whom he set upon the main land, he gave a musket, half his ammunition, some hooks and lines, a light cooking kettle, and directions how to proceed in their course toward Port Jackson. The remaining two, one of whom was old and the other diseased, he took into the boat with the consent of the crew, who readily agreed to divide the daily bannock into nine with them. He then bore away, with a fresh wind at west, round Furneaux's Land.*

[* I have continued to make use of the term Furneaux's Land conformably to Mr. Ba.s.s' journal; but the position of this land is so different from that supposed to have been seen by captain Furneaux, that it cannot be the same, as Mr. Ba.s.s was afterwards convinced. At our recommendation governor Hunter called it WILSON'S PROMONTORY, in compliment to my friend Thomas Wilson, Esq. of London.]

From Jan.26 to Feb. 1, Mr. Ba.s.s was detained by eastern gales from proceeding on his return. The boat lay in _Sealers Cove_, whilst he occupied the time in examining Wilson's Promontory. The height of this vast cape, though not such as would be considered extraordinary by seamen, is yet strikingly so from being contrasted with the low, sandy land behind it; and the firmness and durability of its structure make it worthy of being, what there was reason to believe it, the boundary point of a large strait, and a corner stone to the new continent. It is a lofty ma.s.s of hard granite, of about twenty miles long, by from six to fourteen in breadth. The soil upon it is shallow and barren; though the brush wood, dwarf gum trees, and some smaller vegetation, which mostly cover the rocks, give it a deceitful appearance to the eye of a distant observer.

Looking from the top of the promontory to the northward, there is seen a single ridge of mountains, which comes down, out of the interior country, in a southern direction for the promontory; but sloping off gradually to a termination, it leaves a s.p.a.ce of twelve or sixteen miles of low, sandy land between them. This low land is nearly intersected by a considerable lagoon on the west, and a large shoal bay, named _Corner Inlet_, on the east side; and it seemed probable, that this insulated ma.s.s of granite has been entirely surrounded by the sea at no very distant period of time.

There were no inhabitants on Wilson's Promontory; but, upon the sandy neck, some were seen near the borders of the inlets. The few birds were thought to have a sweeter note than those of Port Jackson.

Four small, barren islands lie seven or eight miles to the northeast, from Sealers Cove. The northernmost of them was visited, and found to be about one mile and a half in circuit, ascending gradually from the sh.o.r.e, to a hill of moderate elevation in the centre. There was neither tree nor shrub upon it; but the surface was mostly covered with tufts of coa.r.s.e gra.s.s, amongst which the seals had every where made paths and the petrels their burrows. Mr. Ba.s.s was of opinion, that upon these islands, and those lying scattered round the promontory, which are all more or less frequented by seals, a commercial speculation on a small scale might be made with advantage. The place of shelter for the vessel would be Sealers Cove, on the main land; which, though small, and apparently exposed to east winds, would be found convenient and tolerably secure: fresh water is there abundant, and a sufficiency of wood at hand to boil down any quant.i.ty of blubber likely to be procured.

The observed lat.i.tude of the cove was 38 50';* and the rise of tide found to be ten or eleven feet, _ten hours and a quarter after_ the moon pa.s.sed over the meridian. The flood, after sweeping south-westward along the great eastern beach, strikes off for the Seal Islands and the promontory, and then runs westward, past it, at the rate of two or three miles an hour: the ebb tide sets to the eastward. "Whenever it shall be decided," says Mr. Ba.s.s in his journal, "that the opening between this and Van Diemen's Land is a strait, this rapidity of tide, and the long south-west swell that seems to be continually rolling in upon the coast to the westward, will then be accounted for."

[* This appears to be from 10' to 15' too little: an error which probably arose from the same cause as others before noticed.]