An Account of the English Colony in New South Wales Volume II Part 12

In size the two s.e.xes are nearly the same, but the female is perhaps rather the heaviest.

In the opinion of Mr. Ba.s.s, this Wombat seemed to be very economically made; but he thought it unnecessary to give an account of its internal structure in his journal.

This animal has not any claim to swiftness of foot, as most men could run it down. Its pace is hobbling or shuffling, something like the awkward gait of a bear. In disposition it is mild and gentle, as becomes a gra.s.s-eater; but it bites hard, and is furious when provoked. Mr. Ba.s.s never heard its voice but at that time; it was a low cry, between a hissing and a whizzing, which could not be heard at a distance of more than thirty or forty yards. He chased one, and with his hands under his belly suddenly lifted him off the ground without hurting him, and laid him upon his back along his arm, like a child. It made no noise, nor any effort to escape, not even a struggle. Its countenance was placid and undisturbed, and it seemed as contented as if it had been nursed by Mr.

Ba.s.s* from its infancy. He carried the beast upwards of a mile, and often shifted him from arm to arm, sometimes laying him upon his shoulder, all of which he took in good part; until, being obliged to secure his legs while he went into the brush to cut a specimen of a new wood, the creature's anger arose with the pinching of the twine; he whizzed with all his might, kicked and scratched most furiously, and snapped off a piece from the elbow of Mr. Ba.s.s's Jacket with his gra.s.s-cutting teeth.

Their friendship was here at an end, and the creature remained implacable all the way to the boat, ceasing to kick only when he was exhausted.

[* The kangaroo, and some other animals in New South Wales, were remarkable for being domesticated as soon as taken.]

This circ.u.mstance seemed to indicate, that with kind treatment the Wombat might soon be rendered extremely docile, and probably affectionate; but let his tutor beware of giving him provocation, at least if he should be full grown.

Besides Furneaux's Islands, the Wombat inhabits, as has been seen, the mountains to the westward of Port Jackson. In both these places its habitation is under ground, being admirably formed for burrowing, but to what depth it descends does not seem to be ascertained. According to the account given of it by the natives, the wombat of the mountains is never seen during the day, but lives retired in his hole, feeding only in the night; but that of the islands is seen to feed in all parts of the day.

His food is not yet well known; but it seems probable that he varies it, according to the situation in which he may be placed. The stomachs of such as Mr. Ba.s.s examined were distended with the coa.r.s.e wiry gra.s.s, and he, as well as others, had seen the animal scratching among the dry ricks of sea-weed thrown up upon the sh.o.r.es, but could never discover what it was in search of. Now the inhabitant of the mountains can have no recourse to the sea-sh.o.r.e for his food, nor can he find there any wiry gra.s.s of the islands, but must live upon the food that circ.u.mstances present to him.

The annexed representation of this new and curious addition to the animals of New South Wales was taken from a living subject, which was a female, and had the characteristic mark which cla.s.sed it with the opossum tribe, the pouch or bag for its young.

Cape Barren Island, besides the kangaroo and wombat, is inhabited by the porcupine ant-eater; a rat with webbed feet; paroquets, and small birds unknown at Port Jackson, some few of which were of beautiful plumage.

Black snakes with the venomous fangs were numerous upon the edges of the brush. The rocks toward the sea were covered with fur-seals of great beauty. This species of seal seemed to approach nearest to that named by naturalists the Falkland Island Seal.

'In point of animated life nature seems (says Mr. Ba.s.s) to have acted so oddly with this and the neighbouring islands, that if their rich stores were thoroughly ransacked, I doubt not but the departments of natural history would be enlarged by more new and valuable specimens than they ever before acquired from any land of many times their extent.'

CHAPTER XV

The _Norfolk_ proceeds on her voyage The Swan Isles; why so named Waterhouse Isle Discover Port Dalrymple Account of the country within it Natural productions Animals Sagacity and numbers of the black swan Inhabitants; inferior to those of the continent Range of the thermometer Pa.s.s Table Cape Circular head Three Hummock Island Albatross Island Hunter's Isles Proceed to the southward and westward

Leaving Furneaux's Islands, the _Norfolk_ proceeded toward the North coast of Van Diemen's land; and on the 1st of November she anch.o.r.ed for a tide at the largest of the Swan isles, two small islands so named by Lieutenant Flinders, when he was here in the _Francis_, because a European who belonged to the _Sydney Cove_ had a.s.sured him that he had met with vast numbers of breeding swans upon them.

The isle at which the sloop anch.o.r.ed bore a great resemblance to Preservation Island, being low, sandy, and barren, but differed from it in the composition of its rocks, or that substance which formed the basis of its support. This had not any affinity to granite, nor did Mr. Ba.s.s remember to have seen any of a similar kind upon any part of New South Wales. It was of various colours, but generally either a light brown, or a sort of grey. It seemed to be lamellated, but the lamellae were placed vertically, sometimes radiated with a diameter of four or five feet, and sometimes they were placed parallel. Upon breaking the stone, the fracture was vitreous, or like that of gla.s.s, and it scintillated on steel being applied. Rust of iron was visible in several parts, the stone breaking easily in those parts into plates correspondent to the length and direction of the rust; but where that was not, it broke with great difficulty. On the first view, the stone looked like a clay; but as it produced fire with steel, there must have been a large portion of flint in it. It appeared to contain iron in rather a large quant.i.ty, and probably some other metallic substances.

Notwithstanding the information given by the European, not a single swan was found upon the island; but several geese were breeding there, and the sooty petrel possessed the gra.s.sy parts; the swans of the sailor, in this instance, therefore, turned out to be geese. This bird had been seen before upon Preservation Island, and was either a Brent or a Barnacle goose, or between the two. It had a long and slender neck, with a small short head, and a rounded crown; a short, thick arched bill, partly covered with a pea-green membrane which soon shrivelled up, and came away in the dried specimens. Its plumage was, for the most part, of a dove colour, set with black spots. It had a deep, hoa.r.s.e, clanging, and, though a short, yet an inflected voice. In size it was rather less than our tame geese, and lived upon gra.s.s. The flesh was excellent.

Early in the morning of the first of November they left the Swan Isles, steering to the westward along sh.o.r.e. At nine o'clock the north coast of Van Diemen's land lay extended from about SE by E to West, the nearest part of it being distant two and a half or three miles. Its general trending seemed to be about ESE and WNW with a small island lying off the western extreme. The sh.o.r.es were chiefly beaches, the front land was of a moderate height, the back was mountainous. One ridge of mountains that bore south was very high and rugged, and from the white patches in it was concluded to be rocky and barren.

If any judgment could be hazarded of the quality of the country, at the distance the sloop was at, it might be supposed, from the beauty of the lower head-land, to be somewhat above mediocrity. Extensive tracts of open ground that come down towards the sea in gradual green slopes were varied by clumps of wood and large single trees.

A column of smoke that arose some few miles inland, was the only sign of its being inhabited.

At noon the lat.i.tude was 40 degrees 44 minutes 08 seconds, the peak of Cape Barren Island then in sight. At this time they were two miles to the westward of the small island, which was low and rocky, lying about two miles and a half off a sharp, sandy point, with which it was nearly connected by some lumps of rock that almost closed up the pa.s.sage.

A long curved line of ripple extended to the northward.

The aspect of the low land here became less pleasing, the mountains approaching nearer to the sea, and the country appearing to be more wooded. The coast seemed inclined to a more southerly direction, and the western extremity, which bore SW by W, appeared broken, like Islands.

At five in the afternoon they anch.o.r.ed two miles and a half to the westward of the small island, it being calm, and the tide of ebb setting the vessel to the Northward.

They weighed at nine the next morning with an easterly wind, and steered in towards a small break that presented itself in the bottom of an extensive but not deep bay, or rather bight, lying between the two extremes then in view. The break was not sufficiently distinct to have justified in itself alone a reasonable supposition of an inlet, but that it was corroborated by the direction of the ebb tide, which, while the sloop was at anchor, was observed to come from the SSW or directly out of the bight, running at the rate of two miles and a half per hour. By noon, it being ascertained that there was not any inlet, they bore away to the Westward along the land.

Their distance from the sh.o.r.e did not exceed a mile and a half. The back country consisted of high hummocky mountains, whose parallel edges were lying elevated one above another to a considerable distance inland. The land in front was woody and bushy, of a moderate height, but sandy.

At three in the afternoon they ran through between a sandy point, with shoal water off it, and two islands. One of these, named Waterhouse Isle, is between two and three miles in length, rather high, but level, and covered with large wood. The other is small, low, rocky, and almost bare.

The coast now trended to the SSW the land sloping up gradually from the sea to a moderate height, with more open than wooded ground, and but little brush; but the soil appeared sandy, and the gra.s.s but thinly grown. The hummocky mountains still retained their general figure in the more interior parts.

As they proceeded, the sh.o.r.e no longer preserved any regular line of direction, but fell back into sandy bights. Hauling off for the night, a little to the westward of a small rocky and barren island, lying about four miles from the land, at six o'clock the following morning they came in with it again, near where they had left it the preceding evening, and began their course along the sh.o.r.e, which trended to the SSW in an irregular manner, with a sandy country at its back.

At eleven o'clock they pa.s.sed within a mile of a high gra.s.sy cape, which is the seaward extremity of a ridge, that, rising up by a gentle ascent, retreats and joins some chains of lofty mountains. A small rocky island lay two miles from it to the WSW. At noon the lat.i.tude was 40 degrees 55 minutes 25 seconds, and the longitude 147 degrees 16 minutes 30 seconds.

Early in the afternoon a gap in the land situated at the back of a deep narrow bight, which had for some time attracted attention, began to a.s.sume the appearance of an inlet, which they bore away to examine; and, after running three miles, they found they had shut in the line of the coast on each side, and were impelled forward by a strong inset of tide.

Continuing their course for the gap, some back points within the entrance soon became distinguishable, and the rapidity of the flood tide was observed to increase with the increasing contiguity of the sh.o.r.es. When the sloop was on the point of entering the harbour, which appeared to be fairly open before her, the water shoaled suddenly, and she struck the ground and lay fast; but fortunately the strong flood in a few minutes dragged her over into deep water, and shot her into the entrance with uncommon velocity.

Having advanced within the entrance, the harbour began to expand itself in a kind of large basin. Its sh.o.r.es were broken into points and projections, between some of which the great strength of the flood tide led them to expect it would branch off into arms. The land lying immediately upon its borders was low, but not flat; well wooded; and those points near which the sloop pa.s.sed were clothed with a very unusual degree of verdure. The sun being down, the vessel was anch.o.r.ed for the night, and the next day they proceeded with their researches.

They were employed during sixteen days in the examination of this place; and the result of the observations which were made by Mr. Ba.s.s in different parts of it, and the neighbouring country, are thrown by that gentleman into one general account.

This harbour, or inlet, which was named by the governor Port Dalrymple, in compliment to Alexander Dalrymple, esq takes its course from the SE between two chains of rounded mountains, stretching inland from the sea with an almost imperceptible increase of elevation; and, after gradually approximating each other, seemed to unite, at the distance of between thirty and forty miles, in a body of rugged mountains more lofty than themselves. These two chains in their relative positions formed an acute angle, being at their greatest distance asunder, as measured along the sea coast, only sixteen miles.

Being limited in point of time (twelve weeks having been deemed by the governor sufficient for the execution of this service), the apprehension of losing a wind favourable for the prosecution of the princ.i.p.al object of the voyage, that of sailing through the strait, deterred them from attempting to reach the head of the river; but it was hardly to be doubted, that its princ.i.p.al source proceeded from some part near the point of union of the two chains of mountains. Allowing this supposition, a great part of its stream must be perfectly fresh; for at the place where they ended their examination, which was not more than half the whole supposed distance or length of the river, it had become half fresh half salt, although its breadth was from half a mile to a mile and a half, and its depth eight or nine fathoms.

The country which Mr. Ba.s.s had an opportunity of observing, was a certain portion of that lying within the angle formed by the two chains of mountains, and more especially of the parts which lay contiguous to the water, rather than of those situated in the vicinity of the chains.

The quality of the ground, taking it in the aggregate, was much superior to that of the borders of any of the salt water inlets of New South Wales, Western Port excepted (seen by Mr Ba.s.s on his first excursion in the whale boat). The vegetable mould was, however, found to be of no great depth, and was sometimes, perhaps advantageously, mixed with small quant.i.ties of sand.

The best of the soil was found upon the sides of sloping hills, and in the broad valleys between them. Some parts that were low and level had a wet and peat-like surface, bounded by small tracts of flowering shrubs and odoriferous plants, that perfumed the air with the fragrance of their oils.* These retained in general the appearance of those in New South Wales, while they were in reality very different. The rich and vivid colouring of the more northern flowers, and that soft and exquisite gradation of their tints, for which they are so singularly distinguished hold with those here, but in a less eminent degree. The two countries present a perfect similarity in this, that the more barren spots are the most gaily adorned. The curious florist, and scientific botanist, would find ample subject of exultation in their different researches in Port Dalrymple.

[* In this particular they differ from the flowering shrubs of New South Wales; none or very few of which were ever found, beautiful as they were in other respects, to possess the smallest particle of odour.]

Except in these places, the gra.s.s grows not in tufts, but covers the land equally with a short nutritious herbage, better adapted, possibly, to the bite of small than of large cattle. The food for the latter grows in the bottoms of the valleys and upon the damp flats. A large proportion of the soil promised a fair return to the labours of the cultivator, and a lesser ensures an ample reward; but the greater part would perhaps be more advantageously employed, if left for pasturage, than if thrown into cultivation; it would be poor as the one, but rich as the other.

Water was found in runs more than in ponds, and, though not abundant, was far from being scarce.

The west side of the river furnishes the largest quant.i.ty of the best ground, because the mountains on that side are at a greater distance than those on the east. The country lying near the west arm is chiefly rather flat, and might be converted to many useful purposes, both in agriculture and in pasturage, for which last it is probably well calculated. If it should ever be proposed to make a settlement here, this part seems to merit very particular attention.

The best land seems to be that fine hilly country which lies at the back of an island named Middle-island; but access to it is not easy on account of a large shoal extending along its front, which is dry at low water, as far out as the island itself. The shape of the land is very pleasingly variegated with hill and valley; the soil is in general a rich black mould, shallow, and even sometimes a little stony upon the hills, but in the valleys is of abundant depth and richness. A close coat of gra.s.s of a uniform thickness over-spreads it every where. It appears to be watered only by swampy ponds, which in many places are at some distance from each other; but it is hardly to be doubted, that wells sunk in the valleys would furnish water sufficient for all domestic purposes.

In sailing up the river, the points and sh.o.r.es present an appearance of fertility that astonishes an eye used to those of the rocky harbours of New South Wales. They are mostly gra.s.sed as well as wooded close down to the water side, the wood, perhaps, thin; the gra.s.s every where thick, every where a dark luxuriant vegetation, that, either from the thinness of the wood, or the gradual rounding of the hills and points, is visible to a very considerable extent of ground.

The tides run so uncommonly rapid, that if the port were colonised, and the princ.i.p.al town built, as it no doubt would be, near the entrance, the produce of the villages and farms scattered along its banks might be brought to market with the greatest ease, expedition, and certainty.

The heavy timber is chiefly gum tree of various species; of which two are different from any that have been yet seen in this country. Nothing new was observed in the quality of the wood; but, from the few trees that were felled, it was thought to be more sound at heart than they are usually met with. The she oaks were more inclined to spread than grow tall. The smaller trees and shrubs resemble, with some variety, those of the continent.* The tree producing the yellow gum is of a very diminutive size; but, unlike that of Cape Barren island, it bears a reed correspondent to itself. These were going into flower, and their length was only from nine inches to two feet.**

[* Mr. Pennant allows its claim to this distinction. Vide Pennant's 'Outlines of the Globe.']

[** This dwarf gum tree is of much use to the natives of New South Wales, as may be seen by the following distribution of its properties. The gum from the body of the tree, which they term Goolgad-ye, is used for repairing their canoes. Of the reed they make a fiz-gig, which they call Moo-ting. Of the gra.s.s or rushes which grow at the top of the tree, they make torches, named Boo-do. A gum which they extract from these rushes, and which is named w.a.n.gye, they use in fastening the joints of their spears; and from the centre of the tree they procure a loathsome worm, which they call Boo-roo-gal, and deem a great luxury. The tree itself is named Ye-gal.]

The few rocky sh.o.r.es of the river presented nothing remarkable, being generally either of a rough iron-stone, or a soft grid-stone.