Discoveries in Australia Volume I Part 15

After dinner we proceeded, steering North-North-East, and crossed two deep bays, the first 3 and the second 4 1/2 miles wide, both affording good anchorage, but utterly useless from the barrier of reefs and islets extending across their mouths. These bays and the ranges of hills we pa.s.sed, trended East-South-East. To the second and deepest we gave the name of Cone Bay, from a singular hill of that form on its eastern sh.o.r.e.

The eastern entrance of a small tortuous channel afforded us a resting place for the night, having made good 17 miles in a North-North-East direction from the ship. The observations were made for lat.i.tude on the south point, and gave a result of 16 degrees 24 1/2 minutes South. It was nearly dark when we anch.o.r.ed, and therefore our intended attempt to gain the summit of the neighbouring heights, was necessarily postponed till this morning.

March 24.

When the first rays of the sun saw us struggling over the huge ma.s.ses of rock of which they are composed. The view itself differed but little from that obtained yesterday, except that the islands are yet more numerous, the mainland more frequently indented with bays varying from two to five miles in width, and invariably trending in the same East-South-East direction. The long and narrow islands which these bays contained generally subsided to the South-South-West. I was fully occupied in sketching the surrounding objects from this station, till the tide had risen sufficient for us to pa.s.s the channel. After a late breakfast we again bore away to the North-East under a double-reefed sail, as the sky wore a threatening appearance. After clearing the channel we crossed a bay about two miles wide and four deep, thickly studded with small islands. At noon being near the north point of it, I landed in order to secure a lat.i.tude, and at the same time a round of angles. Having the flood tide against us, we had only made five miles in a North by East direction from last night's bivouac.

NATIVE FIRES.

Here for the first time since leaving the Fitzroy we saw native fires.

One of them was upon an island eight or nine miles from the main, between which, however, a chain of smaller ones formed links of communication.

These signs of inhabitants gave us hopes of finding some improvement from the almost utter sterility that had hitherto prevailed among these scattered islands. We had as yet seen no traces of either canoes or rafts, and therefore were not a little curious to see what mode of conveyance the natives of these parts used. We soon again moved onwards in a north by east direction, across another large bay, which, similar to the last, contained many islets. It was with great reluctance we pursued this northerly course, as I hoped ere this to have found an opening leading to the coast near Collier Bay; but the result of this day's progress fully satisfied me of the improbability of any such existing.

REMARKABLE HEADLAND.

The north point of this bay forms a most remarkable headland, rising abruptly from the water to an elevation of 400 feet. Its cliffy face presented a grey and aged appearance, which together with the strange column-shaped rocks, scattered over its level summit, gave it the appearance of an ancient turreted fortress. Here I first noticed a change in the strata; hitherto it had been invariably west-north-west, while from this point, as far as our subsequent experience enabled us to decide, it was west. I may be pardoned for noticing by way of a momentary digression that all the rocks. .h.i.therto seen on this part of the coast precisely resemble the group forming the western side of Sunday Strait; the inclination and direction of the strata are identical; while an examination of all the high rocky portions of this archipelago will satisfy the geologist that they belong to the same age of the world. The history of these coral reefs and islands, which have already attained something like a majority (if I may use the expression) may be read, at least it is apparently clearly written in the rising banks around, which are just struggling with the tide before they lift themselves forever beyond its reach. As they rise, the mangrove, the pioneer of such fertility as the sea deposits, hastens to maturity, clothing them with its mantle of never-fading green, and thus bestowing on these barren reefs the presence of vegetable life.

WHIRLPOOL CHANNEL.

Our course now lay along the western foot of the curious headland just described, a rapid tide soon hurried us past its frowning shadows into a very winding channel scarcely half a mile wide, and more than 20 fathoms deep; in this we experienced violent whirlpools, the first of which, from want of experience, handled us very roughly, suddenly wrenching the oars out of the men's hands, and whirling the boat round with alarming rapidity; after several round turns of this kind we shot out of the channel (which from the above circ.u.mstance we called Whirlpool Channel) into a bay about three miles wide, trending east; at the head of it were some snug coves, the sh.o.r.es of which were clothed with long rich gra.s.s and clumps of palm trees, thus realizing the hopes we had entertained of finding a more fertile country on first observing signs of inhabitants.

We would fain have occupied one of these beautiful coves for the night, but as there was still two hours' daylight, we pushed on across the bay for a group of islands three miles further in a north-north-east direction. We obtained snug quarters for the night in a little sandy cove, between the largest of this small cl.u.s.ter of isles which we found to differ totally in shape and character from any yet seen; they trended North-North-West in narrow ridges, and were of a grey slate formation, their eastern sides formed steep precipices, while the western subsided to the water in rich gra.s.sy slopes, leaving quite a serrated ridge on their summits.

BATHURST ISLAND.

We managed to reach the most elevated part of the highest island, by crawling along its ridge on our hands and knees. From this station I recognized the islands to the North-West to be those forming the eastern sh.o.r.e of Sunday Strait, and from the westerly trend of some larger ones bearing North-East about eight miles, I rightly supposed them to be the same Captain King had laid down off that part of the coast, where it trends away to the eastward into Collier Bay; the largest of these I in consequence named Bathurst Island, after his vessel. We were glad to find the islands becoming less numerous, and a prospect of at last making our way to the eastward. We just finished our observations, as the sun's bright orb touched the distant horizon, and ere we reached the boat, the last vestige of day had taken its silent flight. Our present position in this network of islands, will be better described by giving it in lat.i.tude and longitude, which we found to be 16 degrees 12 minutes South and 123 degrees 32 minutes East. We had as usual a fine night with a light East-South-East breeze, which had succeeded a strong one from South-East during the day.

March 25.

Daylight found us running before a fresh breeze from the South-East in a North-North-East direction; crossing the mouths of small bays, four miles brought us to the North-West extreme of the mainland, the sh.o.r.es of which we followed for two miles in a East-North-East and one in an East half South direction, when we came to a small sandy bay where we landed to search in a promising ravine for water; this we had the good fortune to find almost immediately; whilst the breakers were filling, Mr. Tarrant and myself ascended a hill near, for a few angles.

APPEARANCE OF THE COUNTRY.

The country again presented a barren appearance, large ma.s.ses of coa.r.s.e sandstone lay scattered over the face of it; a wiry gra.s.s, with a few stunted gum-trees growing in the ravines, were all the vegetation this point boasted of, and from what we saw of the interior, it appeared scarcely more inviting. The sterility however which apparently prevailed over this part of Australia, could not obliterate those feelings of deep interest, which must pervade everyone, as the eye wanders for the first time over a country hitherto unknown.

VISITED BY A NATIVE.

We had just completed our surveying operations, when two of the boat's crew came to report a visit from one of the natives, and concluding others were at hand, hastened up to strengthen our party; they said their sable visitor came to them without any enticing, no offers of red or blue handkerchiefs, or some gaudy bauble that seldom fails to catch the eye of a savage--and without the slightest indication of fear. We hurried down to see this marvellously confiding native, who we found coming up the hill; he met us with all the confidence of an old acquaintance. His first act of civility, was to show Mr. Tarrant and myself an easy road to the beach; and I shall never forget as he preceded us, or rather walked by our side, yielding the path, with natural politeness, to those he seemed to regard as his guests, how wonderful was the agility he displayed in pa.s.sing over the rocks; sometimes coming down the face of one almost precipitous, without the least apparent effort. When I pointed to the fresh water, he said slowly and distinctly, "Yampee, Yampee." In height he was about 5 feet 8 inches, his hair bore no symptoms of being tied up behind (a custom we always before noticed) his teeth were also perfect, and though his brow had the distinctive peculiarity of the people of this continent, his forehead was remarkably high, his perception was very quick, his utterance gentle and slow, both in articulation and by signs (not flinging his arms about in the windmill-like fashion customary with those we had before seen) his manner of conversation afforded a most pleasing contrast to that of the natives. .h.i.therto seen, and altogether I was exceedingly prepossessed in his favour. We very much regretted that we were not better provided with presents for him: particularly as it seldom happened that I was without a supply, for such occasions; in this case, however, all I could give him consisted of a few beads, and some biscuit which he devoured most readily. Nor ought the perfect confidence this man manifested, in thus trusting himself alone and unarmed, among such extraordinary strangers, to be pa.s.sed over unnoticed: it commanded respect from us all. His conduct too was in the same spirit when we parted from him, though then I admit it almost as much disappointed as astonished me: when the boat left the sh.o.r.e, he turned to ascend the beach, and without once looking back, walked as unconcernedly and listlessly away, as though such things were to him everyday sights.

NATIVE HABITS.

This want of curiosity is a very singular and I believe an almost distinctive feature in the character of the native Australian. Among all other savages of whom I have read, or among whom I have had any opportunity of judging for myself, except the inhabitants of Tierra del Fuego, a perpetual and never satisfied curiosity seems to be the leading habit of their minds: here, however, wonder is rarely expressed, curiosity seldom apparent--yet their indifference is not stupidity, or their simplicity cunning.

BATHURST ISLAND.

We had now been sufficiently long in Australia to know the value of a stream of water, and therefore always felt the necessity of particularizing the locality of any we had the good fortune to find; from this one the extremes of Bathurst Island bore North-West and North-East.

We now pulled for the opening on the east side of Bathurst Island, but finding the flood-tide setting so strong through it from the northward, I found it would be a waste of time to contend with it, and therefore proceeded to a hill on the east end of Bathurst Island. A large flock of white c.o.c.katoos screamed violently, as if wishing to dispute our landing, and it was not till their numbers had been thinned, of which our evening meal felt the benefit, that we could get any peace. We reached the summit of the island by following up a ravine, which formed the only break in the cliffs that faced the South-East side of the island. There was a thick growth of red gums and the papyrus, on its sides, and near the summit we found rocks containing iron; a vein of the same vitrified matter I have described as seen at Swan Point, separated it from the prevailing rock of the island, which was composed of sandstone and fragments of quartz. The rocks containing metal had a strange appearance, being heaped together in the form of a whirlpool; the ground beneath appeared quite hollow. Our view was very commanding, and fully repaid us for the scramble up; there was a clear sea to the North-East, and bearing East-South-East were some small islands, which I afterwards found to be situated near the depth of Collier Bay. The Macleay Isles of Captain King bore North-North-East about six miles: between the latter and a group farther west, there was a clear wide channel, which appeared to lead between the island we were on and the next to the westward. As this was the first part of the coast, since leaving Port Usborne, that a sailing vessel could approach without great risk, we proceeded to examine that channel more minutely, and were sorry to find the extensive coral reefs which fronted the islands, left a s.p.a.ce of only half a mile between; a black pointed rock ten feet above high-water, marks the edge of the western reef, where it is covered by the tide; keeping this close on the starboard hand, will conduct a ship into good anchorage in 13 and 15 fathoms. The rise and fall of the tide at this place, we found to be 22 feet.

NATIVE HABITATIONS.

As we required another station on the west end of Bathurst Island, I arranged that we should pa.s.s the night in a small cove near its south-eastern extreme; here we found several native habitations of a totally different and very superior description to any we had hitherto seen in any part of Australia; they bore a marked resemblance to those I had seen on the South-East coast of Tierra del Fuego, which was so striking as to be remarked even by some of the boat's crew, who had belonged to the Beagle in her wanderings on that stormy coast.

Stout poles from 14 to 16 feet high formed the framework of these snug huts--for so indeed they deserve to be termed--these were brought together conically at the roof; a stout thatching of dried gra.s.s completely excluded both wind and rain, and seemed to bespeak the existence of a climate at times much more severe than a lat.i.tude of 16 degrees 6 minutes south, would lead one to antic.i.p.ate. The remains of small fires, a well greased bark pillow, a head ornament of seabird's feathers, together with several other trifling articles, strewn upon the floors of these wigwams, proved that they had been very recently inhabited.

NATIVE RAFT.

But perhaps the most interesting discovery in this bay, was a native raft, which we found near the beach, in such a position as must have required the exertions of several men to have placed it there; being heavier than either of our boats.

In the construction of this raft, almost everything had been left to nature. It was framed of the dead trunk of a mangrove tree, with three distinct stems growing from one root, about 18 feet long, and 4 1/2 broad. The roots at one end closely entwined, as is the habit of the tree, formed a sufficient bulwark at the stem, while an elbow in the centre of the trunk, served the same purpose at the stern: a platform of small poles, well covered with dried gra.s.s, gave a sufficient flooring to this rude specimen of a raft. I could not survey it without allowing my thoughts to carry me away in pleasing reflections upon the gradual progress of human ingenuity by the advance of which, the same intellect that first contents itself with the mere floating of the single tree, at length shapes a forest into timbers and launches the floating fortress in triumph on the deep!

RETURN TO PORT USBORNE.

We were now about 40 miles in a direct line from Port Usborne, and perhaps 70 by the winding course we were obliged to follow; only two days' provisions remained, and as we were still deficient of material for the chart of this archipelago, I was reluctantly obliged to abandon the idea of attempting to reach Collier Bay. The mainland we had explored, since leaving Port Usborne, may be described as forming eight bays, varying in depth from three to eight miles, and in width from two to five; their general trend is East-South-East; many islets skirt their sh.o.r.es, and almost more than can be counted fill their mouths.

March 26.

With the first grey of the morning we left Bathurst Island, on our return to the southward. Whilst pa.s.sing inside the cl.u.s.ter of isles of slate formation, we heard a "halloa," and on looking in the direction from whence it proceeded, a native was observed on a raft: the boat's course was immediately altered so as to cut him off should he attempt to escape, but to my great surprise he paddled towards us with all possible haste.

THE NATIVE YAMPEE.

He was soon alongside, and with great satisfaction we at once recognized our strange friend of yesterday, who amongst the boat's crew, went by the sobriquet of Yampee. He again made use of the word Yampee according to our orthography, and after repeating it several times, I offered him some water, which he very eagerly accepted, twice emptying a canister that had originally held 4 pounds of preserved meat; this afforded me additional proof of Yampee being the word the natives of these parts use for water.

At Swan River, the native name for water is gab-by, which differs so much as to lead us to suppose the dialect of the two places is quite distinct.

This supposition is also borne out by the fact, that Miago, the native of Swan River we had on board, could never understand the language spoken by his countrymen, on the western sh.o.r.e of King's Sound. We found our new acquaintance as yesterday, perfectly naked, the raft he was on was in every respect similar to that previously seen upon Roe's Group, with this slight exception, that between each pole several small pieces of wood were inserted so as to make the flooring of the raft almost smooth. Into the large end of the centre, and largest pole, six long pegs were driven, forming a kind of basket in which were secured his means for procuring fire; they consisted of two pieces of white flint, and some tinder rudely manufactured from the inner bark of the papyrus tree. He used in paddling a short spear, sharp at each end, and struck the water alternately on either side; in this primitive manner he contrived to make way with a rapidity that astonished us all. He had two spears on the raft, besides the one he used for paddling; one of them was about 12 feet long, also pointed at each end, though not barbed; and a small stick, similar to that used by other natives for throwing at birds, and small animals. As well as we could understand by his signs, it appeared that he had been anxiously waiting our arrival, and had pushed off from the main to intercept the boat, on our leaving Bathurst Island. We threw him a line, and he immediately comprehended our intention, and its use, by at once making fast to the raft; an instance of confident reliance upon our good intentions, which reflected much credit upon the unsuspicious openness of his own character, and which I should have exceedingly regretted by any act of ours to abuse.

PARTING WITH THE NATIVE.

Had not the distance and our scant supply of food, rendered such a step imprudent, I should have been very glad to have towed him to the ship. I really believe he would have trusted himself with us, for that or a much longer distance; but this could not be, and therefore, after endeavouring to make him understand that we should sleep some distance to the south, where there was a larger boat, alluding to the ship, we filled his basket with bread, gave him as much water as he could drink, and bidding him farewell, reluctantly cut him adrift: I shall not soon forget the sorrowful expression of his countenance, when this apparently inhospitable act was performed; it did not seem however to quench his regard for his new friends, for so long as we could see him he was hard at work paddling in our wake. I noticed that the beads given him yesterday were gone; this fact, coupled with the smokes seen during the day, satisfied me that he had friends in the neighbourhood, to whom I hoped he would report favourably of his new acquaintances; we had certainly endeavoured to obtain his goodwill. Simple-hearted, trusting savage, farewell!

NATIVE SPEARS.

The woodcut represents the difference between the spear used by the natives of this district and those of Swan River.

We soon reached Whirlpool Channel, through which the tide again hurried and whirled us with almost frightful rapidity; we were in one part of it shot down a fall of several feet, the boat's bow being fairly buried in the boiling current. Emerging from this channel the h.o.a.ry face of the remarkable headland already described, burst on our view; and as it was necessary if possible to reach its summit, we landed in a small bay, near the southern extremity.

By following a winding ravine we gained the crest of this singular platform, which we found formed of a fine-grained sandstone, with some beautiful specimens of crystallised quartz on its higher parts, over which was a slight sprinkling of vegetation, consisting of a few small gumtrees and patches of coa.r.s.e gra.s.s. The weather was unusually cloudy, with squalls from the North-East; towards the evening it was fine with a moderate breeze from East-South-East. As it was late when we reached the boat, we spent the night where we landed.

March 27.

We were early on the move pursuing our southerly course, the morning being rather gloomy with a fresh North-East wind, which raised a good deal of sea in the mouths of the larger bays. As the day closed we reached a cove half a mile north of Tide-Race Point, where we pa.s.sed the night.

March 28.

This morning the thermometer was down to 72 degrees at daylight, which gave us the novel sensation of cold. It was late in the forenoon before the violent ripplings at Tide-Race Point had subsided sufficiently to allow of our pa.s.sing it. The rate of the current at this point appeared at times scarcely less than eight knots per hour, and traversing a rocky ledge, extending to some islands, and nearly dry at low-water, rendered it almost impa.s.sable, except when nearly high tide.

CASCADE BAY.

In the afternoon we reached the cascade discovered on our way to the northward, and from which the bay within which it is received its name.

We spent an hour or two luxuriating in the thorough enjoyment of a treat so rare, as this beautiful stream must be considered in North-western Australia. In the evening we continued our return to Port Usborne, by a channel leading from the bottom of Cascade Bay into the large sheet of water first seen from Compa.s.s Hill; our progress was arrested at its inner entrance by the violence with which the tide rushed through, and we were therefore obliged to pa.s.s another night in the boats.