Discoveries in Australia Volume I Part 4

Mr. Maclear and Captain Wauchope: 11.5 seconds South.

H.M. Sloop Beagle: 11.0 seconds South.

ADVENTURES OF CAPTAIN HARRIS.

We found at the Cape the renowned Captain Harris, H.E.I. Company's Bombay Engineers, who had just returned from his sporting expedition into the interior of Southern Africa, having made his way through every obstacle, from the frontier of the Cape Colony, through the territories of the chief Moselekatse, to the Tropic of Capricorn. With his spirit-stirring accounts of hunting adventure and savage manners we were all most highly gratified. What he had seen, where he had been, and what he had performed "by flood and field," have since been told to the world by himself, and therefore need not be repeated here: but it would be unpardonable not to do justice to his energy, his perseverance, and his success. He had collected quite a museum of the Natural History of the wild beasts against whom his crusade had been directed; while his collection of drawings, both as regarded the animals delineated, and the appearance of the country in which they were found, was really most beautiful: and many a pleasant hour was spent in viewing the various specimens and ill.u.s.trations, each one of which testified the intrepidity and skill of himself or his no less adventurous companion, William Richardson, Esquire, B.C.S. It will readily be believed that these two gentlemen were then, themselves, the great Lions of that part of Africa.

SAIL FOR SWAN RIVER.

Having completed our observations, and crammed every available square inch of the Beagle with various stores--a proceeding rendered absolutely necessary by the unsatisfactory accounts we received of the state of affairs at Swan River--we sailed for that place on the morning of the 12th of October.

It should be mentioned, that Lieutenant Grey, hearing it would be impossible for him to obtain a suitable vessel at Swan River, hired a small schooner from this port, and sailed, with his party, for Hanover Bay, on the north-west coast of Australia, the day after our departure.

His subsequent perils, wanderings, and adventures having been fully described in his own published account, I need do no more here than allude to them.

We encountered a good deal of heavy weather, shifting winds, and consequently irregular seas, during our run to Swan River; and owing to the deep state of our loaded little vessel, her decks were almost constantly flooded. For many days we had never less than an inch and a half of water on them all over; and this extra weight, in our already overburdened craft, did not, of course, add to her liveliness; however, she struggled on.

ISLAND OF AMSTERDAM.

And on the 1st of November bore us in sight of the Island of Amsterdam, and in the afternoon pa.s.sed to the southward of it, sufficiently near to determine its position. The summit of the Island, which has rather a peaked appearance, we found to be 2,760 feet high, in lat.i.tude 38 degrees 53 minutes South, longitude 77 degrees 37 minutes East of Greenwich. It is singular that though this Island, which is almost a finger-post for ships bound from the Cape either to New Holland or India, has been so long known to all navigators of these seas, its true longitude should have been till now unascertained. The western side presented the appearance of a broken-down crater, nor indeed can there be any reason to doubt its volcanic origin. Light brown was the pervading colour upon the sides of the island, and appeared to be caused by stunted bushes and gra.s.s. The southern island, St. Paul's, affords a good anchorage in 21 fathoms, about midway on its eastern side, lat.i.tude 38 degrees 42 minutes, and is in every way preferable to the spot chosen for that purpose by Vlaming in 1764, on the south-east side of Amsterdam, where landing is never very easy, and generally quite impracticable.

ST. PAUL'S.

The well ascertained fact, that water is found in abundance at St.

Paul's, leads to a very fair inference, that in this humid atmosphere, and with a much greater elevation, the same essential commodity may be met with at Amsterdam; but certainly at St. Paul's, and most probably at Amsterdam, the rugged nature of the travelling over these volcanic islands, would render useless any attempt to water a ship.

The following table, though it may not possess much interest for the general reader, will not be without its value in the eyes of my nautical brethren: it shows the increase of variation since 1747:

COLUMN 1: SOURCE.

COLUMN 2: DATE A.D.

COLUMN 3: WESTERLY VARIATION.

From Horsburg's Directory : 1747 : 17 1/2.

From Horsburg's Directory : 1764 : 18 3/4.

From Horsburg's Directory : 1793: 20.

H.M.S. Beagle : 1837 : 21.

As these islands lie in the same meridian, the longitude given above of Amsterdam, will equally apply to St. Paul's: they are admirably situated for connecting the meridians of Africa and Australia. We lost sight of Amsterdam towards evening, and flattered ourselves that we were also leaving the bad weather behind. The sky more settled; the sea less high; and the barometer rising: such indications, however, cannot be implicitly trusted in this boisterous climate; and shortly after dark, having shipped a very heavy sea, we rounded too for the night. The constant set of the huge following seas, carried our little vessel much faster to the eastward than could be easily credited, till proved by actual observation. During the last three or four days, we had run upwards of 195 miles daily by the observations, being from twenty to thirty more each day than appeared from the reckoning.

ROTTNEST ISLAND.

We made Rottnest Island on the morning of Wednesday, November 15th; and in the afternoon of the same day, anch.o.r.ed in Gage's Road, Swan River.

Our position at midnight, the night before, made us about 30 miles from the mainland, when we had the wind from the eastward, getting round again towards noon to south and by west. This may be some guide to the limit of the land wind, and as such I record the fact. During the three days previous to our making the land, we experienced a northerly current of one knot per hour. We tried during the same period for soundings, with nearly 200 fathoms, but in vain.

We pa.s.sed along the north sh.o.r.e of Rottnest at the distance of a mile and a half, closing with it as we got to the eastward, where it is not so rocky. The north sh.o.r.e should not be approached within a mile. As we were opening out the bay on the north-east end of the island, we pa.s.sed over a rocky patch, with, from appearance, not more than three fathoms on it, it is small, and we had 14 fathoms close to it. This patch is about one mile North by West from the north-west point of the bay. Off this point is a low rocky islet; and when on the shoal, we could just make out the white sandy beach in the bay open between it and the point. The western points of the island are all shut in by the north point; therefore, keeping them open, will always enable the navigator to give this dangerous rock* a wide berth.

(*Footnote. Now called Roe's Patch.)

SWAN RIVER SETTLEMENT.

The Swan River Settlement, which is a portion of the colony of Western Australia, was founded in August 1829, under the auspices of the Colonial Office, Captain Stirling being the first Lieutenant-Governor.

FREMANTLE.

Fremantle, at the entrance of Swan River, is the sea port; and Perth, situate about nine miles inland, the seat of Government: Guildford and York are the other chief places in the colony.

There is nothing very particularly inviting in the first appearance of Western Australia; dull-green-looking downs, backed by a slightly undulating range of hills, rising to nearly 2,000 feet high, are the chief natural features of the prospect. Fremantle, of which it was wittily said by the quartermaster of one of His Majesty's ships who visited the place, "You might run it through an hourgla.s.s in a day," is but a collection of low white houses scattered over the scarce whiter sand. The only conspicuous landmark visible in approaching the anchorage is the Jail: rather a singular pharos for a settlement in Australia, which boasts its uncontaminated state. This building I afterwards induced the Governor to have white-washed, and it now forms an excellent mark to point out the river, as well as the town.*

(*Footnote. A large patch of white sand, on the coast, about three miles to the northward of Swan River, also serves as a landmark.)

Shortly after our arrival, I was introduced to the Governor, Sir James Stirling; he, and all those here best qualified to judge, joined in regretting that Lieutenant Grey had not decided to come on with us. The accounts we heard of the country and the natives gave us every reason to entertain but slender hopes of his success.

AN INLAND LAKE.

Sir James and Mr. Roe, the Surveyor-General, appeared to coincide with the general opinion that a large inland lake will ultimately be discovered. They had questioned many of the natives about it, who all a.s.serted its existence, and pointed in a south-easterly direction to indicate its position. Their notions of distance are, to say the least, exceedingly rude; with them everything is "far away, far away." The size of this water the natives describe by saying, that if a boy commenced walking round it, by the time he finished his task he would have become an old man! After all may not this be the great Australian Bight that these natives have heard of, for none we met in Western Australia pretended to have seen it? They derive their information from the eastern tribes, and under such circ.u.mstances it must at least be considered extremely vague.*

(*Footnote. This much-talked-of lake, which it was the a.s.sumed labour of a life to circ.u.mambulate, was discovered in January 1843, by Messrs.

Landor and Lefroy, who found it about 100 miles South-South-East from Beverley. It is quite salt, called Dambeling, and about fifteen miles long by seven and a half broad!)

The Surveyor-General had lately returned from an exploring journey to the eastward of the capital, and reported that there existed no reasonable probability of extending the colony in that direction: he strongly recommended us to proceed at once to the north-west coast, and return again to Swan River to recruit; saying that we should find the heat there too great to remain for a longer period. This course Captain Wickham, after due deliberation, resolved to adopt, and accordingly all the stores, not absolutely required, were forthwith landed, and the ship made in every respect as airy as possible. The 25th November was fixed for our departure, when most unfortunately Captain Wickham, while on his way to Perth, was attacked with a severe dysentery, and continued so ill that he could not be brought to the ship till the end of December. The most that could be effected was done to improve this unavoidable delay; and our tidal observations, before commenced, were more diligently pursued. We found the greatest rise only thirty-one inches, and here, as elsewhere on the Australian coast, we observed the remarkable phenomenon of only one tide in the twenty-four hours! Surveying operations were also entered on, connecting Rottnest Island with the mainland; the dangers which surround it, as well as those which lie between its sh.o.r.es and the coast, were discovered and laid down: this survey, of great importance to the interests of shipping in these waters, was ultimately completed on our subsequent visits to Swan River.

That arid appearance which first meets the settler on his arrival, and to which allusion has already been made, cannot but prove disheartening to him: particularly if, as is generally the case, his own sanguine expectations of a second Paradise have been heightened by the interested descriptions of land jobbers and emigration agents.

APPROACH TO PERTH.

However, when he ascends the river towards the capital, this feeling of despondency will gradually wear away; its various windings bring, to his eager and anxious eye, many a bright patch of park-like woodland; while the river, expanding as he proceeds, till the beautiful estuary of Melville water opens out before him, becomes really a magnificent feature in the landscape; and the boats, pa.s.sing and repa.s.sing upon its smooth and gla.s.sy bosom, give the animation of industry, and suggest all the cheerful antic.i.p.ations of ultimate success to the resolute adventurer.

From about the centre of this lake-like piece of water, the eye first rests upon the capital of Western Australia, a large straggling village, partly concealed by the abrupt termination of a woody ridge, and standing upon a picturesque slope on the right bank of the river, thirteen miles from its mouth. The distant range of the Darling mountains supplies a splendid background to the picture, and the refreshing seabreeze which curls the surface of Melville water every afternoon, adds to the health, no less than comfort, of the inhabitants. The former inconvenience, caused by the shoal approach, and which rendered landing at low-water a most uncomfortable operation, has now been remedied by the construction of a jetty.

Like all the Australian rivers with which we are yet acquainted, the Swan is subject to sudden and tremendous floods, which inundate the corn lands in its vicinity, and sweep away all opposing obstacles with irresistible impetuosity.

NARROW ESCAPE OF THE FIRST SETTLERS.

The first settlers had a most providential escape from a calamity of this kind: they had originally selected for the site of their new city, a low-lying piece of land, which, during the first winter after their arrival, was visited with one of these strange and unexplained invasions from the swelling stream: had the deluge been delayed for another year, these luckless inhabitants of a new world would have shared the fate of those to whom Noah preached in vain; but, warned in time, they chose some safer spot, from whence, in future, they and their descendants may safely contemplate the awful grandeur of similar occurrences, and thankfully profit by the fertility and abundance which succeed to such wholesale irrigation. During this, our first visit, I had no opportunity of penetrating into the country further than the Darling range: in journeying thither, we pa.s.sed through Guildford, a township on the banks of the Swan, about seven miles north-east from Perth, and four from the foot of the mountains. It stands upon a high part of the alluvial flat fringing the river, and which extends from half to one mile from it on either side. The rich quality of the soil may be imagined from the fact, that, in 1843, after thirteen years of successive cropping, it produced a more abundant harvest than it had done at first, without any artificial aid from manures.

SINGULAR FLIGHT OF STRANGE BIRDS.

A singular flight of strange birds, was noticed at Guildford about the year 1833, during the time when the corn was green: they arrived in an innumerable host, and were so tame as to be easily taken by hand. In general appearance they resembled the land-rail, but were larger, and quite as heavy on the wing. They disappeared in the same mysterious manner as they arrived, and have never since repeated their visit. Were these birds visitors from the interior, or had they just arrived at the end of a migratory journey from some distant country? It is to be regretted that no specimen of them was to be obtained, as it might have helped to clear an interesting subject from doubt.

THE DARLING RANGE.

The change in ascending this range, from the alluvium near its base, to the primitive formation of which it is itself composed, is very remarkable. Sh.e.l.ls still common on the adjacent coasts were met with 14 feet below the surface, near the foot of the range, by one of the colonists when sinking a well. In the same locality deposits of sand may be seen, having that particular wavy appearance which is always noticed upon the sea beach. These appearances, as well as the general aspect of the adjacent country, seem to justify the conclusion I arrived at while on the spot, that the land which now intervenes between the mountains and the sh.o.r.e, is a comparatively recent conquest from the sea. The character of this land may be thus described: The first three miles from the coast is occupied with ridges of hills, from 100 to 200 feet high, of calcareous limestone formation, cropping out in such innumerable points and odd shapes as to be almost impa.s.sable. Some of these lumps resemble a large barnacle; both lumps and points are covered with long, coa.r.s.e gra.s.s, and thus concealed, become a great hindrance to the pedestrian, who is constantly wounded by them. To these ridges succeed sandy forest land and low hills, except on the banks of the rivulets, where a belt of alluvial soil is to be found. The Darling range traverses the whole of Western Australia in a direction, generally speaking, north and south. It appears to subside towards the north, and its greatest elevation is nearly 2,000 feet. The cliffs of the coast at the mouth of Swan River, have a most singular appearance, as though covered with thousands of roots, twisted together into a species of network.

A SINGULAR CLIFF.

A similar curiosity is to be seen on Bald Head, in King George's Sound, so often alluded to by former navigators, and by them mistaken either for coral, or petrified trees standing where they originally grew. Bald Head was visited by Mr. Darwin, in company with Captain Fitzroy, in February 1836, and his opinions upon the agencies of formation, so exactly coincide with those to which I attribute the appearances at Arthur's Head, that I cannot do better than borrow his words. He says--page 537, volume 3, "According to our views, the rock was formed by the wind heaping up calcareous sand, during which process, branches and roots of trees, and land-sh.e.l.ls were enclosed, the ma.s.s being afterwards consolidated by the percolation of rain water. When the wood had decayed, lime was washed into the cylindrical cavities, and became hard, sometimes even like that in a stalact.i.te. The weather is now wearing away the softer rock, and in consequence the casts of roots and branches project above the surface: their resemblance to the stumps of a dead shrubbery was so exact, that, before touching them, we were sometimes at a loss to know which were composed of wood, and which of calcareous matter."*

(*Footnote. For more exact details the reader should consult Mr. Darwin's volume on Volcanic Islands.)

THE NATIVES.