Discoveries in Australia Volume II Part 16

In the course of four hours thirty green turtles were brought on board, one of which, and not the largest, weighed 385 pounds. A small hawk's bill, the first and only one seen, was also taken. On this part of the coast grows a peculiar small kind of weed, on which they feed; it was first seen near Depuch Island. I have been informed that the turtles at Ascension Island, when fresh caught, have a large ball of a curious kind of weed in their stomach, and that as soon as it is consumed, they become watery and lose their flavour. Though many diligent inquiries have been made after this weed, it appears to be still unknown.

A sandhill on the south-east end of the North Isle our observations placed in lat.i.tude 19 degrees 53 minutes 48 seconds South, and longitude 3 degrees 09 minutes 10 seconds East of Swan River; variation 1 degree 0 minutes westerly. The tide ran between the island and the sh.o.r.e nearly two knots an hour; the flood stream came from the north-west; and the rise at springs was 18 feet, the time of high-water being 11 o'clock.

SEARCH FOR WATER.

A fruitless attempt was made to procure water on this island, by digging; and as we were now reduced to a supply for only ten days, it became necessary that we should immediately proceed to Timor in search of some.

This was much to be regretted at the present moment, as the coast to the east had never been seen, and therefore possessed the charm of being a new part of the continent. We consoled ourselves for not being able to visit it by the reflection that it would hold out some inducement for us to return to this land of sterility.

On Turtle Island was found a broken jar, probably left by some of the Maca.s.sar people, who are occasionally blown in upon this part of the coast.

July 14.

The unusual fogs that had prevailed for three days dispersing, allowed us to leave our anchorage under the south-east side of North Turtle Isle, and soon after dark we occupied another near Bedout Island, having crossed some rocky ledges of seven fathoms on the way. When the Beagle was midway between these islands, they were both visible from the masthead. In the night, and during the early part of next day, it blew strong from south-east, causing a high-topping sea. Time being precious, we could not wait for a quiet day to land on Bedout; its position was therefore determined by observations with the sea horizon, and differs very materially from that given by the French.

We weighed early in the afternoon of the 15th, and pa.s.sed round the north-west end of Bedout, where there is much uneven ground with ripplings. We carried soundings until abreast of the north end of Rowley Shoals and twenty-five miles from their inner side, in from 45 to 154 fathoms. These shoals, like the Abrolhos, appear to stand on the outer edge of a bank projecting off this portion of the coast, as we did not get bottom after leaving their parallel.

On the 20th, in the afternoon, we pa.s.sed, having no soundings with 200 fathoms, along the western side of Scott's Reef, at the distance of three miles, and determined its position. It forms a large lagoon, with an opening, not appearing to be a ship pa.s.sage, midway on its western side; marked by a dry bank just within it, in lat.i.tude 14 degrees 3 minutes 30 seconds South and longitude 6 degrees 4 minutes 45 seconds East of Swan River. The eastern extreme of the reef was not seen; the southern limit is in lat.i.tude 14 degrees 15 minutes South; and the north-west extreme being in 13 degrees 55 minutes South, and longitude 6 degrees 2 minutes East of Swan River, gives it an extent of twenty miles in a north and south direction.

SCOTT'S REEF.

Captain Owen Stanley, in March, 1840, discovered a shoal about sixteen miles to the North-North-East of Scott's Reef; he considered its extent from east to west to be about five miles; but from the masthead the south end of it could not be seen. It did not appear to have more than two or three feet water on it. The north point, Captain Stanley places in lat.i.tude 13 degrees 39 minutes South, longitude 121 degrees 56 minutes East; or 6 degrees 11 minutes East of Swan River.*

(*Footnote. This reef was seen by the Seringapatam merchant ship in 1842.)

We now began to feel a westerly current, which increased to a knot and a half as we got near Rottee; the winds being moderate, between East and East-South-East.

PULO DOUW.

July 23.

The weather was hazy: the high land of Rottee was seen in the forenoon, the highest part of the island, a rather pointed hill, bearing North 60 degrees East. At 1 P.M. we saw Pulo Douw, which we endeavoured to weather, but the current prevented us. It is a remarkable island, with a gap in the centre and a clump of trees, that looks like a sail when first seen, on the north-west end, which terminates in a low sandy point. This is also the case with the south-east extreme, off which a reef extends for about half a mile; indeed, there appeared to be no ship pa.s.sage between the sandy islets that lie to the east of Pulo Douw and Rottee. We rounded the north-west end of the former at the distance of a mile and a half, pa.s.sing through some heavy ripplings, apparently an eddy setting to the north-east round the island. Pulo Douw appeared to be thickly inhabited, and was encircled by a reef, except at its North-North-West point, where there is a cliffy projection. Angles were taken for fixing the position of the islets between Pulo Douw and Rottee, which we found to be wrongly placed. The Scotch Bonnet, a remarkable rocky lump, seen over the south-west end of Rottee, and in line with the south side of Pulo Douw, bore South 60 degrees East. During the night we had a fresh wind from East-South-East and sailed through several ripplings, our first entering suddenly upon which caused some anxiety, though the lead gave no bottom with 60 and 70 fathoms. We pa.s.sed some distance from the western end of Samow Island in the morning; but the high peaks of Timor were not seen till near noon. The eager eyes of the native whom we had brought with us from Swan River were the first to descry them; and he exclaimed in tones of rapturous astonishment, "Land! big fella! all the same cloud!" I shall not easily forget the amazement of this savage, accustomed as he was to behold the level plains of his native land, when he saw, towering in alpine grandeur to the sky, the pinnacled heights of Timor. He seemed scarcely able to conceive, even when a.s.sured by the evidence of his own senses, that it was possible for mountains to be so high and ranges so vast as those that now developed themselves before him.

REACH TIMOR.

In crossing the mouth of Coepang Bay towards Samow, in the evening, the appearance was truly grand. A vast heap of vapour was slowly moving across the mountains, disclosing at intervals their jagged summits towering towards the sky, and occasionally allowing the eye to penetrate for a moment into the depths of mysterious valleys that seemed to stretch for unknown distances into the recesses of the great Timoree Range. Some wild flying clouds that rapidly traversed the heavens imparted a curious alternation of light and shadow to the lowlands that presented themselves to our view--chequering the whole with gloomy patches and light spots, and revealing or hiding in rapid succession the extensive woods and the patches of cultivation that lay within the bosom of the Bay. The dazzling white sand beaches, too, strongly marked by the dark blue sea, heightened the beauty of the scene; which to us, who had for some months seen nothing but the monotonous north-west coast of Australia, appeared truly enchanting.

During the first watch we beat up the bay, and at midnight anch.o.r.ed; the barking of dogs, the crowing of c.o.c.ks, and the tolling of bells a.s.suring us that we were once again in the vicinity of civilization. In the morning we found ourselves off the town of Coepang, when we shifted our berth farther in; the flagstaff of Fort Concordia bearing south a quarter of a mile.

SWAN RIVER NATIVE.

Our Swan River native came up to me after we had anch.o.r.ed, dressed in his best, shoes polished, and b.u.t.toned up to the chin in an old uniform jacket. "Look," said he, pointing to some Malay lads alongside in a canoe, "trousers no got 'um." A toss of the head supplied what was wanting to the completeness of this speech, and said as plainly as words could have done, "poor wretches!" I tried in vain to point out their superiority, by saying, "Malay boy, work, have house; Swan River boy, no work, bush walk." I then drew his attention to the country, the delicious fruits and other good things to eat (knowing that the surest road to an Australian's heart is through his mouth) but all was in vain! my simple friend shook his head, saying, "No good, stone, rock big fella, too much, can't walk." Home, after all, is home all the world over, and the dull arid sh.o.r.es of Australia were more beautiful in the eyes of this savage than the romantic scenery of Timor, which excited in him wonder not delight. It was amusing to see how frightened he was on going ash.o.r.e the first time. With difficulty could he be kept from treading on our heels, always, I suppose, being in the habit, in his own country, of finding strangers to be enemies. He was instantly recognised by the Malays, who had occasionally seen natives of Australia returning with the Maca.s.sar proas from the north coast, as a marega,* much to his annoyance.

(*Footnote. I have never been able to learn the meaning of this word.

They told us at Coepang it signified man-eater; which explains the native's annoyance; and may serve as a clue to the discovery that the aborigines of the northern part of the continent occasionally eat human bodies as they do in the south.)

LAND AT COEPANG.

Being anxious to make the acquaintance of the Resident, who bore the reputation of being a most intelligent person, a party of us paid him a visit the second day after our arrival. The narrow streets, lined with Chinese shops and pedlars of every description, from the long-tailed Chinaman to the thick, crisp-haired, athletic Timoree, were soon pa.s.sed.

We then entered a rich green valley, with some fine houses on the left: the sight was strange and new to us in every way. What we most enjoyed was the vegetation--a feast for our eyes, after the dull arid sh.o.r.es of North-western Australia: and we gazed with intense pleasure on the rich green spreading leaf of the banana and other tropical fruit-trees, above which towered, the graceful coconut. Is it possible, thought I, that Timor and Australia, so different in the character of their scenery, can be such near neighbours, that these luxuriant valleys, nestling among the roots of these gigantic hills, are only separated by a narrow expanse of sea from those sh.o.r.es over which nature has strewed, with so n.i.g.g.ard a hand, a soil capable of bearing the productions characteristic of the lat.i.tudes within which they lie?

A meagre-looking apology for a soldier, leaning against a tree, suggested to us that we must be near the Resident's dwelling: we were so. It soon appeared that it was the last of the large houses before mentioned, and that the soldier was the sentinel.

VISIT THE RESIDENT.

We were speedily ushered into the presence of D.T. Vanden Dungen Gronovius. What sort of person, reader, do you picture to yourself with such a name? Great of course; and in truth such was he, not only in height and bulk, but as he soon informed us, in deeds likewise; he talked fast, and smoked faster, and possessed a general knowledge of all the recent discoveries. We learned from him that the Zelee and Astrolabe were laid on their beam ends for twenty-four hours in the hurricane of last November, when the Pelorus was lost at Port Essington. After listening to some strange and amusing stories about Borneo, where the Resident had been Superintendent for twelve years, we took our leave. I was glad to find that Mr. Gronovius entertained views more liberal than Dutchmen generally do. He had, as he told me, written to the Governor-General at Batavia, requesting that Coepang might be made a free port, and emigration allowed. He most kindly offered us horses and guides for riding or shooting.

FORT CONCORDIA.

The observations for lat.i.tude, longitude, etc. were made in Fort Concordia,* near the flagstaff. I was surprised to find this fort so much out of repair; the only guns fit to be fired out of were two bra.s.s six-pounders, the carriages indeed of which were not trustworthy. On these guns I noticed the same mark as on that we found at Houtman's Abrolhos, namely, two sides of a triangle bisecting two small circles. I never see an old fort without thinking of the anecdote of a party from the Beagle visiting one at Valdivia on the west coast of South America.

The guns were very much out of repair, and when the remark was made to the old Spaniard who showed the fort, that they would not bear to be fired out of ONCE, with a shrug of his shoulders he replied that he thought they would bear it TWICE! But to return to Fort Concordia: it stands on a madreporic rocky eminence, about 60 feet in elevation, commanding the straggling town of Coepang, which, certainly, from the anchorage** does not impress the stranger with a favourable opinion of the industry of its inhabitants, though it improves in proportion as you retreat from the beach. The foot of the height on which the fort stands is washed by a small rapid stream that skirts the south side of the town.

Its course from the eastward is marked by a deep gorge, on the sides of which a stranger might feast his eyes on the riches of tropical scenery.

Here and there above the ma.s.s of humbler vegetation, a lofty tapering coconut tree would rear its graceful form, bowing gently in the pa.s.sing breeze. On every hill was presented the contrast of redundant natural verdure, clothing its sides and summit, and of cultivated fields along the lower slopes. These by irrigation are turned into paddy plantations, the winds blowing over which give rise to those insidious fevers, intermittent, I am told, in their character, which are so prevalent at Coepang, as well as dysentery, from which indeed the crew of the Beagle afterwards suffered.

(*Footnote. Lat.i.tude 10 degrees 10 minutes 11 seconds South, and longitude 9 degrees 50 minutes 00 seconds West of Swan River.)

(**Footnote. See the view annexed.)

DUTCH MILITARY FORCE.

The whole force the Dutch have at Coepang is sixty soldiers, half of whom, too, are Javanese. Yet the subjection in which this small force keeps the natives, is beyond belief. A sergeant is the commandant at Rottee, and such power has he over the inhabitants, that he can at any time raise a thousand armed men in the course of a few hours. Many of the largest ponies used at Coepang, are brought from Rottee. Their origin no one could give me any information about; all agree in saying they were found with the island, and the natives have no traditions.

THE RESIDENT'S TALES.

My second visit to the Resident was for the purpose of accepting his offer of a guide, and of making arrangements for a day's shooting. I found him as usual, sitting smoking in a large cool room. We were soon in the interior of Borneo, the scene of his former exploits. Some of these were of so sanguinary a character, that they do him very little credit; and many of his tales partook of the marvellous. Among the Dyaks, natives of the interior, it is a custom, he said, that when a man wishes to marry, he must produce a certain number of human heads. He related that he had once seen a very handsome young woman, to whom a number of heads had been delivered, swimming about in some water, and playing with them.

At another time he averred that he saw a woman mix human brains with water and drink it! Mr. Gronovius also informed me that the land on the western sides both of Timor and Borneo was gaining on the sea, particularly at the latter place; and a report prevailed that on some of the elevated parts of the former chama sh.e.l.ls had been found. In answer to my inquiries about earthquakes, I was told that, only the last month the island of Ternate in 0 degrees 50 minutes North had been visited by one, which had thrown down all the houses, and that in 1690, the town of Coepang had also been destroyed. From the Resident also, I received accounts of three ports in Rottee, one on the north-west side, another on the south-east, and a third, on the north-east, opening into Rottee Strait.

THE TIMOREES.

Among the fresh information gained from Mr. Gronovius during this visit, was an account of the natives of Timor called Timorees. They are very superst.i.tious, and when a person of consequence dies, a number of karabows (buffaloes) pigs, and ponies are killed and placed over his grave, as an offering to the evil spirit. Some, in case of sickness, imagine, that by eating a whole buffalo, even the horns and hoofs, by degrees, they can appease the anger of the demon to whom they attribute all their misfortunes.

Many of the Timorees have really handsome features, strikingly different from the Malays. Their hair, which is neither woolly nor straight, but crisp, and full of small waves, is worn long behind, and kept together by a curiously formed comb. There is altogether a degree of wildness in their appearance that ill accords with their situation; for nearly all the Timorees in Coepang are slaves sold by the Rajahs of the different districts, the value of a young man being fifty pounds.

A powerful Rajah, commonly called the Emperor of Timor, visited Coepang during our stay there. Unfortunately we all missed seeing him. He was attended by a large and well-armed guard, and appeared to be on very good terms with the merchants of the place, who made him several presents, no doubt through interested motives; probably he supplies them with slaves.

His character is notoriously bad; it was only the other day that he had one of his wives cut to pieces, for some very trifling offence.

A SHOOTING EXCURSION.

On taking my leave of the Resident, I fixed the day for our shooting excursion. We were to go to a place called Pritie, on the northern sh.o.r.e of Babao Bay, and distant some fifteen miles from the ship, which rendered it necessary therefore to make an early start.

Daylight on Monday morning accordingly found us on the northern sh.o.r.e of the bay, but we soon ascertained that our guide knew very little about the matter; and what was still worse, there was no getting near the sh.o.r.e, a bank of soft mud fronting it for some distance, at this time of tide, and particularly in the vague direction our guide gave us of Pritie. The day was fast advancing; so we made our way back to a cliffy projection we had pa.s.sed before light, where, after some difficulty, we got on sh.o.r.e. Whilst the breakfast was cooking, I made a sketch of the bay, and took a round of angles, all the charts and plans I had seen being very erroneous.

Our guide appeared to take our not going to Pritie greatly to heart; but we made the best of our way to some clear spots on the side of the high land seen from the boat. We met a few natives, who all agreed there were plenty of deer close by, which we believed, for we saw numbers of very recent tracks. But the jungle was impenetrable; so, after rambling for an hour or two, at the expense of nearly tearing the clothes off our backs, and emulating the folly of the wise man of Thessaly, we again determined to make for Pritie, or at least to try and find it. The tide too now served, and after a pull of some hours, carefully examining every creek and bight, we spied at length two canoes hauled up among a patch of mangroves. Landing, we soon found some houses, and a person to show us the road to Pritie; for we had still a walk of three miles across a well watered flat piece of country. We were highly pleased with this, to us, novel sight; and our enjoyment was heightened by beholding the tricks and grimaces of some impudent monkeys perched on the tops of the lofty trees, out of shot range, and too nimble to be hit with a ball.

VALE OF PRITIE.

We at last reached our destination, on the eastern side of a beautiful stream. Immediately to the northward some lofty peaks reared their rugged summits in an amphitheatre round the rich and picturesque vale of Pritie, which lay at the feet of their varied slopes, one ma.s.s of tropical vegetation. Trees of enormous height shot up by the waterside, and between them, as we approached, the little sharp-roofed houses of the village of Pritie could be seen scattered here and there amidst their gardens.

Our old guide, who had by this time recovered his serenity of mind, led us direct to the Commandant, a mild and very civil old Javanese, to whom orders had been sent by the Resident at Coepang to show us every attention. His room was adorned by a magnificent pair of antlers which, we were rejoiced to hear, had been lately taken from a deer shot within a hundred yards of the house. After a repast of young coconuts, and gula, a kind of honey; it was arranged that a party should be collected to go with us on the morrow to shoot deer and pigs.