Discoveries in Australia Volume II Part 21

On the Darling Range is found a red cellular structure capping the granite, a.s.suming all the appearance of having been subjected to fire; it extends also in the low country about that neighbourhood.

Slate of a primitive character is found on the Canning River. The mountain chain or Darling Range runs nearly in the direction of north and south. On the eastern side of it, close to the base, are several groups of isolated conical hills, from a half to one mile apart, extending from the William River to the Tugee District, a distance of about one hundred and twenty miles, bearing on their summits strong evidences of ignition.

The country farther on to the eastward falls into sandy plains, similar to those on the western side, and intersected by watercourses; during the summer, pools remain, and at that time become remarkably salt. On the mountains, as well as on the plains, scattered pebbles in patches are to be met with; they appear to contain iron, being highly magnetic.

SAIL FROM SWAN RIVER.

From the very debilitated state of some of the crew, from dysenteric affections contracted at Timor, we were not able to leave Swan River before the 25th of October. At noon on the 28th, Cape Naturaliste bore South 80 degrees East three miles; according to our observations it was in lat.i.tude 33 degrees 31 minutes 45 seconds South four miles further south than it is placed in the charts, though in longitude (0 degrees 47 minutes 30 seconds West of Swan River) it appeared pretty correct. Some reefs have been reported three or four miles off the north-east side of it: but we could see nothing of them, and had a depth of 25 and 26 fathoms. We got soundings of 23 and 25 fathoms in pa.s.sing along a few miles from the coast towards Cape Leeuwin, in the neighbourhood of which we looked in vain for a rock called the Rambler, that had been supposed to be about twelve miles south-west of a remarkable white patch close to the northward of the Cape, the locality of which it always serves to show. Twenty miles west of Cape Leeuwin the depth was 47 fathoms.

Pa.s.sing along the south coast we found the white-topped rocks near Cape Chatham to be in longitude 0 degrees 29 minutes 30 seconds East of Swan River. They are not only remarkable in themselves, but like the Eclipse Islands, are admirably situated for showing a ship's position when in with the coast.

PEAKED HILL.

We entered King George's Sound on November 2nd. I should here observe that Bald Head is connected with the main by a low piece of land, in the centre of which stands a small peak; this gives the head, from the offing to the southward, the appearance of an island. In the view annexed the reader will perceive a representation of the conspicuous headland called Peaked Hill, with its peculiar profile outline, lying about five miles south-west of Bald Head.

Proceeding up the Sound we anch.o.r.ed in Princess Royal Harbour, Mount Clarence bearing North-North-East, and the south end of Michaelmas Island just open of Point Possession. The entrance to this great basin is by a narrow channel in the north-east corner; a long spit extending off the inner western entrance-point forms the chief impediment. Few vessels escape touching it; but although the pa.s.sage is thus contracted the Beagle was worked through both ways. Inside, there is water sufficient for the largest ship in the navy; but only for a limited s.p.a.ce, a short distance within the entrance--merely a hollow scooped out towards the north-west corner of the harbour.

ALBANY.

Here, just above a dazzling white sandy beach, a straggling village points out the township of Albany. Mounts Clarence and Melville reared their bare granitic heads on either side, and huge fantastically-shaped boulders were strewn over their slopes. The origin of this settlement may not be generally known: it was first planned, in consequence of a report that the French were about to establish themselves there; which turned out to be the truth, for they had actually formed and abandoned a settlement before Major Lockyer arrived from Sydney, in 1825. The gang of convicts he brought with him was withdrawn, when Albany became part of the government of Western Australia.

Among the few improvements that had taken place since our visit in 1836, were a jetty and a government storehouse. The latter was close to the spot where the observations were made, and where I noticed some trappean d.y.k.es intersecting the granite in a North-North-West direction. I observed the same circ.u.mstance at Simon's Bay, Cape of Good Hope.

I was sorry to see that the infant town of Albany had made so little progress, especially as it possesses by far the finest harbour in Western Australia. There is no doubt that ultimately its great natural advantages will be developed; but it is somewhat surprising that they have not already been turned to better account. Though there is not a very great extent of good land in the neighbourhood, there is amply sufficient to hold out encouragement to the settler; especially when we consider that this is one of the most healthy portions of the continent, that it is never visited by hot winds, and that the thermometer is rarely below 60 or above 85 degrees. This evenness of temperature at all times of the year is very remarkable, and renders the spot particularly suitable for invalids, many persons coming even from Swan River to renovate themselves. If our East Indians were aware of what a salubrious climate they might enjoy at King George's Sound, they would soon be seen flocking thither to repair the const.i.tutions they have injured on the banks of the Ganges and the Indus.

Our object in visiting this place was to obtain a meridian distance; and between the observations for rating the chronometers I availed myself of an offer of Lieutenant Warburton, commanding the detachment of the 51st Regiment, doing duty there, to accompany him on a visit to the out-stations. We were joined by a person from the settlement, who owned some kangaroo dogs, and by three or four natives.

Leaving Albany, we reached the foot of a large clear piece of land called the Great Plain, about fifteen miles distant, and a little off the Swan River road.

BURNING THE BUSH.

On our way we met a party of natives engaged in burning the bush, which they do in sections every year. The dexterity with which they manage so proverbially a dangerous agent as fire is indeed astonishing. Those to whom this duty is especially entrusted, and who guide or stop the running flame, are armed with large green boughs, with which, if it moves in a wrong direction, they beat it out. Their only object in these periodical conflagrations seems to be the destruction of the various snakes, lizards, and small kangaroos, called wallaby, which with shouts and yells they thus force from their covert, to be despatched by the spears or throwing-sticks of the hunting division. The whole scene is a most animated one, and the eager savage, every muscle in action and every faculty called forth, then appears to the utmost advantage, and is indeed almost another being. I can conceive no finer subject for a picture than a party of these swarthy beings engaged in kindling, moderating, and directing the destructive element, which under their care seems almost to change its nature, acquiring, as it were, complete docility, instead of the ungovernable fury we are accustomed to ascribe to it. Dashing through the thick underwood, amidst volumes of smoke--their dark active limbs and excited features burnished by the fierce glow of the fire--they present a spectacle which it rarely falls to our lot to behold, and of which it is impossible to convey any adequate idea by words.

COURSE A KANGAROO.

After tethering out our horses and making our breakwind for the night, we went out in the evening to look for a kangaroo. I had never as yet seen one put fairly at his speed on open ground before a dog, but this evening I was fully gratified; for we soon found a couple lying out on our side of the plain, and by crawling up through the wood we managed to slip the dogs about five hundred yards from them. Away they went, leaving a stream of dust in their wake. Their habitual curving direction soon gave us a broadside view; and a splendid course it was. They ran horizontally, no leap or hop being perceptible. At first the dogs closed rapidly, but for some time afterwards no change in their relative positions took place, each doing his best. The kangaroos held their own well, until they had reached nearly the other side of the plain, a distance of about two miles, when the dogs began gradually to draw on them, and at length, after a turn or two, the smaller was run into just before entering the wood. It was a fine young buck, weighing about 60 pounds, and made a capital supper for our party. The natives cooked the tail for us in their own way, roasting it with the hair on, the best mode of dressing it, except in soup.

Next morning we found that our sable friends had eaten so much of the kangaroo that there was great difficulty in getting them to move.

However, they at length consented to accompany us, and we proceeded five or six miles further on the Swan River road, to a place where a party of soldiers were stationed. Here the temptation of a fresh supply of kangaroo proved irresistible, and with the exception of one, who was Lieutenant Warburton's servant, the natives all left us to resume the pleasant occupation of eating. The gastronomic feats performed by these persons are really surprising; and in the work recently published by Mr.

Eyre the reader will find some curious details on the subject.

We now took a westerly direction, for a tract of good country lying about thirty-five miles from the Sound, a little to the westward of the road to Swan River.

PITFALLS FOR KANGAROOS.

On our way we crossed several short trenches, cut by the natives for pitfalling kangaroos, which were here very numerous. They were dug across the runs of the animal, and covered with a slight layer of brush or gra.s.s, and were very narrow at the bottom, so that the prey could get no footing to bound out.

HERDS OF KANGAROOS.

I have never, at any other place, seen similar contrivances resorted to by the aborigines; in this neighbourhood they have probably been suggested by the great abundance in which the kangaroo is found. I am certain there could scarcely have been less than a hundred in a herd. It was curious to observe them hopping along over the gra.s.s or underneath the trees, with the large males bringing up the rear of a certain number of does. We had several very beautiful courses, but the dogs being footsore were beaten on all occasions.

I was very much pleased with this portion of the country: it quite resembles the park-like features of Port Phillip. We heard the kangaroos thumping the ground all night, as they hopped along round our bivouac, the heavier fall of the male being plainly distinguishable. It was now determined to shape a southward course for Ungerup, one of Lady Spencer's farms on the Hay River; and after laying down our position by a sort of dead reckoning I had kept to find the course, we started.

Soon after moving off, Lieutenant Warburton discovered that he had forgotten to leave some message or other at the station, and determined on sending back his native servant. But as he was out of the limits of his own tribe, it required some persuasion to induce him to go; and he was only prevailed on to do so by being allowed to carry his master's gun for protection.

Part of our road lay through a thick mahogany scrub; and as the horse I rode was a young unbroken one from the Cape, I might perhaps with less trouble have tried to take an elephant straight with a snaffle bit in his mouth. The sameness of the trees in this part being very great it is difficult to hold a direct course; and if, after having chosen one to steer by, my attention happened to be taken off by a kangaroo starting up, I was always obliged to refer to the compa.s.s.

We made the Hay a mile or two above Ungerup; it is there a small tortuous rivulet, with rich gra.s.sy banks, overhung by wide shady trees. The valley is narrow, sloping gently up on either side. If I had been pleased with the good piece of land just left, I was still more so with this; the mould was rich and fine: I did not believe there was land of such quality near the Sound.

LADY SPENCER'S FARMS.

In pa.s.sing another of Lady Spencer's farms, seven miles farther down the same river, we were glad to pocket a large piece of damper for our evening meal, which we made at our old bivouac near the Great Plain, where we found the native under the break-wind, which he had covered with another bough or two. Next evening we got into Albany, and on the morning of the 15th the Beagle was running out of King George's Sound.

It was resolved that we should touch at South Australia, to secure a good meridian distance by short stages between Swan River and Sydney.

Accordingly, on the morning of the 27th, we entered Investigator Strait, having been detained by strong easterly winds about a hundred and fifty miles to the westward of Kangaroo Island. Whilst contending with them we discovered a small high rocky island, the summit of which we found to be in lat.i.tude 34 degrees 49 minutes South and in longitude 19 degrees 4 minutes East of Swan River; it bore South 8 degrees East nine miles from the high peak on Greenly's Island. The name of the Beagle was bestowed upon it.

At noon, as we entered the Strait, we committed to the deep the body of Nicholas Lewis, seaman, who died of sickness contracted at Timor.

NEPTUNE ISLES.

We kept close to the Neptune Isles, a low rocky group, the southernmost of which we give the position of; Captain Flinders, who pa.s.sed too far to the northward, having not exactly determined it: it lies in lat.i.tude 35 degrees 22 minutes 15 seconds South and longitude 20 degrees 22 minutes 15 seconds East of Swan River. These islands appear well adapted for a light-house.

There was a strong indraught of a knot an hour into Spencer's Gulf.

Kangaroo Island has no remarkable features; whilst Althorpe and Quoin islands are sufficiently striking to be recognized by anyone who has once seen them.

On the morning of the 29th we anch.o.r.ed in Holdfast Road, in 4 1/2 fathoms, Mount Lofty,* a slight excrescence on the highest part of the range of hills eastwards, bearing North 80 degrees East; a flagstaff at a straggling village under it pointed out the township of Glenelg. At the foot of this we made our observations, which place it in lat.i.tude 34 degrees 58 minutes 30 seconds South and longitude 12 degrees 41 minutes 15 seconds West of Sydney.

(*Footnote. This hill, bearing east, is a guide to Holdfast Road.)

Landing at Glenelg we proceeded towards Adelaide, which lay about six miles to the northward, in the centre of a rich plain, stretching from the foot of Mount Lofty to the sea, and contracting gradually to the southward, where beyond Glenelg it rises into downs, increasing in height as they approach Cape Jervis, and ultimately blending with spurs thrown off from Mount Lofty range. Adelaide itself is situated on the banks of the Torrens, a very insignificant stream, or rather series of pools, in the dry season.

ADELAIDE.

I have spoken, in a former chapter, of my astonishment at first seeing Sydney; but certainly the same feeling was roused in a still greater degree by the first appearance of Adelaide; although I was prepared for something great by what I had heard of the mult.i.tudes that had flocked thither from the mother country. In truth a n.o.ble city had in the course of four years sprung, as if by magic, from the ground, wearing such an appearance of prosperity and wealth that it seemed almost incredible it could have existed but for so short a time.

GOVERNOR GAWLER'S POLICY.

The fact is that this was mainly owing to the liberal expenditure of the governor, Colonel Gawler, who saw the policy at the earliest possible opportunity of making adequate preparation for the stream of population that was so rapidly flowing in. Every public building was erected on a scale to suit the antic.i.p.ated splendour of the colony, and in so substantial a manner, that it will be long ere another outlay becomes necessary. That this was the best line of conduct to adopt, most persons, on reflection, will acknowledge. In New Zealand, for example, much of the disturbances that have arisen may be attributed to the fact of so many settlers arriving before sufficient preparation had been made for their reception.

Much fault has been found with Colonel Gawler's military display, as it is called; in other words, with his raising a corps of volunteers. But the necessity of this may be presumed from the facts, that Sir Charles Napier, the conqueror of Scinde, as we learn from his own pen, refused the government, because a military force was not to be sent with him; and that it has been found advisable to place a body of troops at the disposal of Colonel Gawler's successor.

I paid a visit to the port, distant from the town about five miles, made easy by an excellent macadamized road, carried, in some places, on a causeway over a swamp, and forming a great and imperishable monument of the Governor's enterprising spirit. The port reminded me of one of the quiet mangrove creeks on the North coast, except that it had only one bend, changing from a northerly to a south-westerly direction, which at certain times of the day renders it navigable, with a fair wind, each way. For instance, the seabreeze will take a vessel out through the northerly part, and next morning she will have the land breeze to carry her the rest of the distance; whilst, alternating, the same breeze serves to take ships in. The mouth of the port is well marked with black and white buoys; and a light vessel is moored off the entrance, with pilots in attendance; a red buoy is on the bar, where at high-water there is sometimes 15 feet, but the tides are very irregular, being much higher with south-west winds; the general rise was about four feet.

MR. EYRE'S EXPEDITION.

We were very much pleased with the animated description we had of the departure of Mr. Eyre's expedition to the north; but what gave us particular satisfaction was the evidence afforded of how much the whole colony had the welfare of this enterprising little band at heart. I had not before seen in Australia any place where the progress of discovery was so liberally forwarded, as the readers will at once learn from Mr.

Eyre's book. One cause of this we may discover in the fact that the richness of the country immediately surrounding Adelaide made them eager to ascertain its extent. Indeed until this was known they were necessarily unsettled, as few liked to locate themselves permanently until the extent of the field within which they were to make their choice was determined.

To what extent the colonists of South Australia are indebted to the sacrifice of property, the loss of time, the bodily fatigue, and unceasing exertions of Mr. Eyre, I also leave the reader to gather from his own lucid narrative. The country has now been found to be almost hemmed in by sterile districts; and the good lands, contrary to our experience of the rest of the continent, to be nearly all in one spot. A number of enterprising colonists, therefore, concentrated within comparatively narrow limits, could not fail of developing the resources of the country, and of discovering what mineral treasures it may contain.