Discoveries in Australia Volume II Part 2

Their voices, shrill like those of all their fellows, were heard before they were seen. With these it was particularly so, though on all occasions the speaking, and hallooing of the Aborigines can be heard at a very considerable distance. They were found, when on sh.o.r.e, to be of the party we had before seen in Shoal Bay, with the addition of five strange men. All appeared actuated by the same friendly disposition, a very strong indication of which was their presenting themselves without spears.* Like most others on that coast, they had apiece of bamboo, eighteen inches long, run through the cartilage of the nose. Their astonishment at the size of the wells was highly amusing; sudden exclamations of surprise and admiration burst from their lips, while the varied expressions and play of countenance, showed how strongly their feelings were at work within.

(*Footnote. Speaking of natives appearing without spears, reminds me to mention for the information of future explorers, that their arms are always near at hand. They even trail them sometimes between their toes, a fact which travellers should ever bear in mind.)

It is very singular, and not very susceptible of explanation, that although they climb tall trees by merely resting their toes in a slight notch cut as they ascend, the natives will hesitate in alarm before looking over the edge of a precipice or height; it was, therefore, some time before this party could be induced to look down the well. At length by stretching their spare bodies and necks to the utmost, they caught sight of the water in the bottom.

SURPRISE OF NATIVES AT THE WELL.

The effect upon them was magical, and they stood at first as if electrified. At length their feelings gained vent, and from their lips proceeded an almost mad shout of delight. Nothing perhaps could have more decisively shown the superiority of the white men to these savages, than our being thus able to procure this necessary of life from so great a depth, there being moreover no outward appearance of any. Perhaps their delight may be considered a sign how scarce is water in this part of the country. I should certainly say from the immense quant.i.ty each man drank, which was two quarts, that this was the case. A further corroboration of the extreme importance of this element to the Western Australian is, that a native, in describing a fine country, always opens his narrative by stating the important fact--plenty water.

The deep interest which in the natives always succeeds to the discovery of this necessary article, must strongly impress the explorer, who will ever afterwards look upon streams, even in other countries, with far different feelings from any before experienced. In no land does the presence of water more rapidly enrich the landscape, changing it from a thirsty-looking plain to a rich green spot, than in Australia, and it is in journeying through such a country, when one suddenly meets with a luxuriant valley, that the eye naturally dwells with delight on the changing scene, and the impression, not easily forgotten, clings to us even when far away. When gazing on the superabundant water that flows in almost every corner of the earth, we cannot but reflect on the scantily supplied Australian, nor fail to wish him a more plentiful supply.

BLESSING OF WATER.

Naturally we are disposed to reflect but little on the great blessings of the most ordinary things. In the eyes of the civilized man, fire and water are matters scarcely worthy of thought; but it is the traveller who learns to appreciate how great blessings they are in reality.

An influenza appeared to be raging among the natives, all having the remnants of colds, coughing severely when we met them. Several attempts were made to induce them to come on board, but they proved vain.

Sometimes, just as the boat was leaving the sh.o.r.e, they would enter the bow of it, as if about to accompany us; no sooner, however, was the boat in motion, than out they jumped, laughing and apparently delighted to deceive us, acting, in fact, exactly the part of noisy children.

"IRRU, IRRU."

Our friendly intercourse with these natives sustained a shock, which at first threatened to annihilate it, but which fortunately ended, as it began, in smoke. One of the officers used a common flint and steel, in order to procure a light for his cigar; at this new mode of procuring fire all eyes were open--for doubtless they procure it only by means of friction--but when he proceeded to place the lighted cigar between his lips, and roll forth from thence a thick and perfumed cloud, fright took full possession of them, and exclaiming "irru, irru," with the arm extended, and a slight vertical motion of the hand, they darted off most unceremoniously, clambering up the face of a precipitous cliff, with extraordinary agility. Their cry of "irru, irru," and their manner of delivering it, were identical with those of King's Sound, under somewhat similar circ.u.mstances. In a few days they had forgotten their fright, and had returned to renew the friendly relations this little incident had interrupted.

During the short time we pa.s.sed with this people in Port Darwin, some words of their language were collected by many of us. Those that we all agreed in I have noted down, but the different names for things given by the same person, here and at Shoal Bay, will at once impress the reader with the conviction of how impossible it is for transient visitors to obtain a correct vocabulary. Those first made out at Port Essington, were found to be half Malay words, and of any meaning rather than what they were supposed to convey. The words given below are from Mr. Earl's vocabulary, the result of four years careful examination and experience.

COLUMN 1: ENGLISH.

COLUMN 2: SHOAL BAY.

COLUMN 3: PORT DARWIN.

COLUMN 4: PORT ESSINGTON.

COLUMN 5: SWAN RIVER.

Crab : Algaura : - : Meir : -.

Dog : Melinga : - : Mugki : Dudah.

Ear : Bangua : - : Alayjar : Zungah.

Eye : Ummera : Mical : Ira : Mael.

Hair : Brailma : Guarshiel : Angbal : Cutap.

Hand : - : Guian : - : -.

Stone : - : Lowheil : - : -.

Tree : Urmingua : - : Ojalli : Boono.

Teeth : Emburge : - : Aujije : Nalgo.

Water : - : Kararback : - : Kaaby.

DIFFICULTY OF UNDERSTANDING THE NATIVES.

The great difference between the words at Shoal Bay and Port Darwin, must now be apparent to the reader; a more extended acquaintance with the aboriginal inhabitants of Australia, has shown that many words put down by us as meaning a certain thing, signify in reality, "What do you mean?"

"I do not understand"--which shows at once the great difficulty of arriving at the truth. This must often be the case; for what is more natural, than that when a savage is asked the meaning of a thing, and knows not, but that he should express his ignorance? How often this expression of ignorance has been registered as the denomination of some animal or thing, we leave the reader to conjecture. Moreover, there are many words totally obliterated from their dialects, which thus undergo constant alteration. This in part arises from the circ.u.mstance of their never mentioning the name of a deceased person, who has perhaps been called after a tree, bird, or animal; which then receives another appellation, the old one pa.s.sing away. From the few words given of the respective dialects of Port Essington and Swan River, they would appear essentially to differ, and from what has since come under my own observation, as well as from facts collected by others, I feel confident that there are many distinct dialects spoken in Australia.

DIALECTS OF AUSTRALIA.

It is easy enough for those who hold to the theory that Australia produces few dialects, to create for themselves a resemblance in words by mutilation and addition; but on careful examination, the similarity will not be found to exist. The natives we took from Swan River, never could understand any of those we met on the North-west coast, though certainly Mr. Moore recognized a few words spoken by the natives on the West coast, about 200 miles north of Swan River, as being identical with the language used at the latter place.

It may here be as well to quote Strzelecki on this subject, ere we pursue our narrative:

"The circ.u.mstance of the three natives who accompanied Captain Flinders and Captain P.P. King, in the survey of New Holland, and of those who accompanied me amongst the different tribes of New South Wales, being unable to understand one word spoken by tribes of other districts, would lead to the belief that the dialects spoken in New Holland, are far from possessing those affinities, still less those ident.i.ties of language, from which a common root might be inferred. Those European visitors or explorers who adduce, in support of a common root, some hundred words a.n.a.logous in sound, construction and meaning, as being spoken all over New Holland, have jumped to the conclusion with, I fear, too much haste and eagerness. Besides many other insuperable difficulties, which an investigation of such a nature presents, there was one quite sufficient to defeat all attempts to fathom the subject, namely, the syntactic ignorance of the language to which the inquiry related. Indeed, to any man who knows and speaks four European languages, it will be at once apparent, that to seize upon, and note from the sound, a word belonging to one country, so as to compare its sound and accentuation with a word belonging to another country, needs a thorough knowledge of the genius of the two languages, and of their alphabet, through which alone the p.r.o.nunciation can be discriminated."

Though, however, we may not attain to a knowledge of the truth at once, yet should we never lose an opportunity of making a vocabulary of such words as we know to be correct. This should be the case from one consideration alone; for how gratifying it is, when visiting an uncivilized people, to find that you know a word or two of their language! The satisfaction is mutual--there is at once a sympathetic link between you--you no longer appear as thorough strangers to each other, and this slight knowledge of their dialect may often be the means of making useful acquaintances.

To return, however, to the thread of our narrative.

LEAVE PORT DARWIN.

The opening to the westward, visited by Captain Wickham, requiring further examination, we left Port Darwin for that purpose, beating out on the morning of the 26th. Before taking leave, however, of this place, it will not be deemed irrelevant if we give some slight description of it.

The entrance points, I have already said, are white cliffy projections, and distant from each other three miles. Just outside them lies a long four fathom bank, which, together with a very extensive flat of one, and two fathoms, nearly joining it from the eastern side, and another fronting the north side of the west entrance point, comprise all the dangers on entering this port; which, although of considerable size, is much occupied by shoal water, particularly on the western side, commencing from abreast of Talc Head. The best anchorage is near Point Emery. The extreme of the latter, and a clump of peaked bushes on the south point of the eastern arm of the harbour, when in one, make a good mark for leading out; pa.s.sing on the west side of the four fathom bank, where the channel is a mile wide and 10 fathoms deep.

IRREGULARITY OF THE TIDES.

The tide is very irregular in Port Darwin, rising at springs 24 feet, and at neaps sometimes only two; its rate being from one and a half to three knots. The time of high-water at the full and change of moon, was half-past five, which being half an hour earlier than at Clarence Strait, fully bears out the opinion I have before expressed, that the flood-tide comes from the westward.

Having to beat out against the seabreeze, the flood-tide made before we could get round the point on the coast lying midway between Ports Darwin and Patterson, and we were compelled to pa.s.s the night in the neighbourhood, a circ.u.mstance rendered disagreeable by the recurrence of another midnight squall from East-North-East, so severe as to require the use of a second anchor. The rain was so bitterly cold and sudden, as well as violent, acting also on our frames with more severity from the lightness of our clothing, that it had all the effect of a shower-bath, momentarily taking away the power of speech. It caused a rapid fall in the thermometer of ten degrees, bringing it as low as 60 degrees. At Port Darwin it had been regularly 87 and 89 degrees in the day, and 80 degrees at night.

MIDNIGHT SQUALL.

The squall gave but slight warning of its approach, and four hours afterwards the mutinous a.s.semblage of clouds had wholly disappeared from the heavens, leaving nothing to stay the advent of light which came pouring itself in floods of molten glory over the cloudless sky, as the morning broke. This was the signal of our again moving towards Port Patterson, which we entered, pa.s.sing on the eastern side of the reef in the mouth, and anchoring close to the eastern sh.o.r.e of the outermost of a chain of sandy islets, forming the west entrance point of the harbour, and extending eight miles in a North-North-East 1/2 East direction from the land. This group is based on a great coral ledge that dries in part at low-water, thus affording the natives the means of going over easily to them, a circ.u.mstance of which they avail themselves, as we found them on the outer island. They would not, however, come near us, moving off as we landed. Doubtless the terror of some of their party, in a great measure arose from a vivid recollection of the raft interview, which was likely to dwell long in their minds; at all events, if not of the same party, they had heard of us, and it will readily be believed, that we had been painted in sufficiently terrible and exaggerated colours to render a second interview, in their minds, very undesirable.

QUAIL ISLAND.

Our discovering them in this place, which we named Quail Island, from that bird being found in great abundance, quite destroyed the hope we had previously entertained of procuring turtle there. It was the season for their incubation, and at that time the island swarmed with them; but our sable friends had abundantly availed themselves of this fact, as we saw the remains of several of their turtle feasts. Although low, and composed entirely of sand, we found a native well of excellent water near the middle of the island, which, having been enlarged, afforded an ample supply, a circ.u.mstance that at once renders this a spot of importance and value. Both on this and others of the group there were a few small trees and a sprinkling of brushwood.

We did not notice any of the singular detached hills seen at Port Darwin, and the greatest elevation any of the land in the neighbourhood attained was 200 feet; neither did we observe any primary rocks.

The observations were made at the South-East point of Quail Island, which by them is placed in lat.i.tude 12 degrees 30 9/10 minutes South, and longitude 1 degree 42 1/4 minutes West of Port Essington. The almost insulated character of this part of the coast, and the quant.i.ty of soundings the openings required detained us until the 6th of October, when we pa.s.sed out on the western side of the large reef in the centre of the entrance, which is the proper one, and received the name of West Channel. The western entrance point of Bynoe's Harbour, bearing South 15 degrees East, leads through it. This guide is only, however, of service to a certain distance within the entrance, as it leads over a small patch that dries at low-water, distant two and a half miles from the above-mentioned point on the same bearing. To avoid this danger, it is therefore necessary to haul over towards Quail Island, when the highest hummock on it bears South-West 1/2 West. The tides follow the direction of the channel, varying in velocity from one to two knots. The ebb in the offing set West-North-West.

PORT PATTERSON.

The reader will be able to have an idea of the large sheet of water these united harbours form, by knowing that Port Patterson is twelve miles long and seven wide at the entrance; though at the upper part, forming the mouth of Bynoe Harbour, it is not half that width. The latter winds round to the South-East for a distance of 15 miles, with an average width of two, and a depth of nine fathoms. Thus terminated our exploration in this neighbourhood; the result having been to give this part of the coast quite an insulated character. The sheets of water creating this new feature, although monotonous with their mangrove-lined sh.o.r.es, still conveyed us many miles into various parts of the continent that had never before been seen by a civilized being.

Another opening of far greater magnitude, and promising in all probability to lead far into the interior now lay before us, at a distance of 140 miles further on the coast to the south-west. By the evening we had lost sight of the land near Port Patterson, and were steering towards the opening that promised so much. A gap in the coastline, 28 miles wide, with a strong tide pa.s.sing to and fro, failed not to give birth to endless speculation as we approached the spot. I had always looked forward to the examination of this unexplored portion of the North-west coast, as one of the most interesting parts of our survey.

REACH POINT PEARCE.

In consequence of light north-west and westerly winds, our approach was tantalizingly slow, and we did not enter the opening until the evening of the 9th, when we pa.s.sed four miles from the north point, called by Captain King, Point Pearce. His visit to this part of the coast was in September 1819, and under very adverse circ.u.mstances; his vessel had but one anchor left, and the strong easterly winds then prevailing, with thick hazy weather, rendered his progress into the opening both difficult and hazardous: after a trial of two days, and having several narrow escapes from getting on sh.o.r.e, he bore away to examine the coast to the south-west, where he was repaid for his disappointment by the discovery of Cambridge Gulf.

Thus did the exploration of this wide and interesting opening fall to our good fortune; as we proceeded inwards, several beautiful medusae pa.s.sed the ship, and our hopes were roused to the highest pitch by the muddy appearance of the water. At sun set the anchor was dropped in five fathoms; Point Pearce, a cliffy level projection, bearing North-West by North five miles, and about one and a half from a low rocky point.

FOSSIL HEAD.

A bluff projection, bearing South 65 degrees East seven miles, bounded our view to the southward, and a range of sugarloaf hills, the highest being 350 feet, rose about eight miles in the rear of it.

October 10.