Discoveries in Australia Volume I Part 8

Roebuck Bay, so named to commemorate the name of Dampier's ship, is about sixteen miles across: the southern sh.o.r.es are low, and extensive sandbanks and mud flats are bared at low-water. Near the North-East point of the bottom of this bay, is a curious range of low cliffs, from twenty to thirty feet high, and strongly tinged with red, in such a manner as to suggest that they must be highly impregnated with oxide of iron. In the neighbourhood of these cliffs the country had a more fertile, or rather a less desolate appearance, stretching out into extensive plains, lightly timbered with various trees of the genus Eucalypti, while, on the south sh.o.r.e of the bay, the mangroves were numerous.

Towards the afternoon we discovered a small inlet, being then about 30 miles from our former anchorage in Roebuck Bay. We steered directly for it, and when within half a mile of its mouth, we had, at high-water, six fathoms. From the masthead I could trace distinctly the course of this inlet, which at this state of the tide appeared to be of great extent; but the bar which locked its mouth, and over which the sea was breaking very heavily, rendered it impossible to take a boat across without evident risk, by which no real good would be obtained, as the rise and fall of the tide, eighteen feet, on this low coast, was more than sufficient to account for the imposing, though deceptive appearance of this opening. From the main-top-gallant yard I was enabled to take an almost bird's-eye view of the level country stretched apparently at my feet. The sh.o.r.e, like the south side of Roebuck Bay, was fringed with mangroves, while to the North-North-East lay an extensive plain, over which the water seemed, at certain seasons of the year, to flow. The country around, for miles, wore the appearance of an interminable and boundless plain, with an almost imperceptible landward elevation, and thickly wooded with stunted trees.

In sailing along this part of the coast we found several inaccuracies in Captain King's chart, doubtless owing to the distant view with which he was compelled to content himself, and to the unfavourable state of the weather against which he had to contend. I was on deck nearly, indeed, the whole of the night, baffled by flying clouds in my attempts to fix our lat.i.tude by the stars: at length, however, I succeeded in ascertaining it to be 17 degrees 40 minutes South.

January 23.

The morning was fine, but the wind we had experienced the preceding night caused a rather heavy swell, which rendered the attempt to enter this inlet an impracticable task; however, it was tried. We found between the ship and the sh.o.r.e six, four, and two fathoms, but as the mouth of the inlet was filled with breakers, apparently on a bar extending out half a mile, I was fully convinced that further perseverance would only amount to waste of time and needless risk, and therefore, after taking a few angles to fix the position of the boat, we returned on board. It appeared at low-water to be nearly dry, and then only amounted to a collection of mud and sandbanks. The examination quite satisfied me that it partook of the same character as the one already spoken of as seen yesterday, and that they are alike useless.

We were soon underway, and standing towards, or rather along, the sh.o.r.e; and as the day advanced, the wind drew more to the westward, a common occurrence, enabling us to lay along the sh.o.r.e, North 1/2 East. By four P.M., we were within two miles of it, in nine fathoms.

The coast here is fronted with a range of sandhills, some of which are topped with verdure: several low black rocky points extend for some distance from the flat sandy beach into the sea. I have no hesitation in saying, that this is a kind of black sandstone, often found at the bases of most cliffy points, and probably coloured by the chemical action of the salt.w.a.ter. The sandhills, which form the coastline, do not appear to extend more than a mile inland. Beyond, the country appeared to subside into the same dull level which is the characteristic feature of what we have yet seen of this coast, thickly studded with timber of a much finer growth than the stunted productions of Roebuck Bay. Behind the cliffy parts of the coast the land a.s.sumed a more fertile appearance; and this seemed an almost invariable law in the natural history of this new world.

PROGRESS TO THE NORTHWARD.

Five miles to the northward of Point Coulomb, we pa.s.sed a reef, lying a mile from the sh.o.r.e, with seven fathoms one mile seaward of it. The land now trended to the eastward, and formed a large bay, the south point of which we rounded at half past four P.M. The mangroves grew right down to the water's edge, and the spring tides appear to inundate the country to a very considerable extent, the land here being lower than any we had yet seen. We anch.o.r.ed, at half past eight, in six and a half fathoms, and I ran below to find how our wounded messmate had borne the day.

From my usual post, the masthead, I traced the sh.o.r.e from point to point of Carnot Bay, so named after the celebrated French consul and engineer.

A very low sandy point bore North 67 degrees, East 6 miles. Sandbanks and breakers completely fortified its sh.o.r.es, and effectually forbid all approach, except under the most favourable circ.u.mstances.

LAND DISCOVERED BY TASMAN.

The several French names with which Commodore Baudin has distinguished leading portions of this coast, of course, professional courtesy will willingly respect; it is, however, only right to mention, that while he contented himself with so distant a view of this part of Australia as to be sometimes completely mistaken in the most important particulars, to the celebrated Abel Tasman belongs the merit of having previously landed upon its sh.o.r.es in that very bay, which now bears the name of the great republican.

DESCRIPTION OF THE NATIVES.

Tasman describes the natives as being quite naked, black in colour, and having curly hair, "malicious and cruel," using for arms bows and arrows, hazeygaeys* and kalawaeys. They came, upon one occasion, fifty in number, to attack a party of the Dutch, who had landed, but took fright at the sight and sound of firearms. "Their proas," he adds, "are made of the bark of trees, and they use no houses."

(*Footnote. Hazeygaeys are synonymous with a.s.sagais, the name for the short African spear, used by the tribes between Port Natal and the Cape, and which is generally supposed to be the native term for the weapon.

Captain Harris, however, states that this supposition is incorrect; and, certainly, its appearance and termination here incline me to join him in suspecting it of a Dutch origin.)

Such is the account of this distinguished and trustworthy discoverer, upon whose veracity I should be the last to attempt to affix suspicion: his very simplicity of detail, and the entire absence of rhetorical artifice, would convey sufficient internal evidence of his truth, had not the subsequent progress of Australian discovery served to confirm all the material facts of his narrative. I may, however, remark, that the natives seen upon this coast during our cruise, within the limits of Roebuck Bay to the south, and Port George the Fourth to the north, an extent of more than 200 miles, with the exception that I shall presently notice, agreed in having a common character of form, feature, hair, and physiognomy, which I may thus describe. The average height of the males may be taken to be from five feet five inches to five feet nine inches, though, upon one occasion, I saw one who exceeded this height by an inch. They are almost black--in fact, for ordinary description, that word, unqualified by the adverb, serves the purpose best. Their limbs are spare and light, but the muscle is finely developed in the superior joint of the arm, which is probably owing to their constant use of it in throwing the spear. Some tribes are entirely naked, while others wear girdles of skin and leaves, hardly sufficient, however, to serve any purpose of decency, much less of comfort.

PHRENOLOGICAL DEVELOPMENT.

Their hair is always dark, sometimes straight and sometimes curled, and not unfrequently tied up behind; but we saw no instance of a negro, or woolly, head among them. They wear the beard upon the chin, but not upon the upper lip, and allow it to grow to such a length as enables them to champ and chew it when excited by rage; an action which they accompany with spitting it out against the object of their indignation or contempt.

They have very overhanging brows, and retreating foreheads, large noses, full lips, and wide mouths: in some cases they want the two foreteeth in the upper jaw, and while, in any one tribe in which the custom prevails, it seems to be unanimous, it does not appear to be, by any means, universally diffused along the whole north-western coast. The unfavourable impression produced by the prevailing character of their physiognomy, is confirmed, if their phrenological conformation is taken into consideration; and certainly, if the principles of that science are admitted to be true, these savages are woefully deficient in all the qualities which contribute to man's moral supremacy. Let me, in justice, add, that while we found them ignorant and incurious to the last degree, they were generally suspicious rather than treacherous, and not insensible to such acts of kindness as they could comprehend.

Upon all this extent of coast, we saw no single instance of the use, or even existence, of any proa, or canoe; and my own opinion, strengthened by personal experience, and enforced by the authority of the most recent navigators, is, that the canoe is not used upon the north-west coast. The negative evidence, at least, is strongly in favour of this presumption; for, while we saw the canoe in use in Clarence Strait--the western boundary of the northern coast--we saw nothing but the raft to the south of that point. I cannot, therefore, avoid the conclusion, that, misled by the similarity of external appearance, Tasman mistook the raft of unbarked timber for a bark canoe, such as he may have seen upon other parts of the coast.

We had a return of the same kind of squall from the eastward, as we had experienced before our arrival in Roebuck Bay, and from which, since that time till now, we had luckily managed to escape.

January 24.

We were again at work by daylight, but were delayed, getting clear of the foul ground, lying off Cape Baskerville, on which we twice shoaled the water to three and five fathoms, five and seven miles West and by South from that headland.

BEAGLE BAY.

The land over it rises to an elevation of nearly 200 feet, and then again becomes low and sandy, opening out a bay, which from appearance promised, and wherein we afterwards found, good anchorage: it was named Beagle Bay, and may serve hereafter to remind the seamen who benefit by the survey in which that vessel bore so conspicuous a part, of the amount of his obligations to the Government that sent her forth, the skill and energy that directed her course, and the patient discipline by which, during her long period of active service, so much was done for the extension of our maritime knowledge. In the bight formed between this bay and Cape Baskerville we pa.s.sed two high-water inlets; the mouths of both were fronted with rocky ledges. We anch.o.r.ed here, soon after midday, and had every reason to be satisfied with our berth. Beagle Bay is about three miles broad and seven deep; the country around is low and open, and traces of water deposit were visible in several spots to indicate its dangerous proximity to the sea. The smaller shrubs of the country were common; and the mangroves flourished in great abundance on the beach, and along the little creeks that diverge from it. Some large anthills, and very small palm trees, not six feet in height, were noticed for the first time so far south. During the night the wind veered round to South-West, and blew quite fresh, a circ.u.mstance which made us additionally prize our good anchorage here. We had, however, no squall, nor any dew, which I should mention falls most copiously upon certain nights, without any apparent indication; to these dews, the vegetation of this country, so far as we can judge, seems to owe its princ.i.p.al nourishment and support.

VISITED BY NATIVES.

January 25.

The forenoon was devoted to the examination of this excellent anchorage, and a party was also despatched to haul the seine. On landing they were met by a party of natives, who saluted them in a manner which strikingly resembled the eastern mode. They had no weapon, save one kiley or boomerang, and bowed down until they almost kissed the water.

CONDUCT OF MIAGO.

Their speech was shrill and quick, perfectly unintelligible to our friend Miago, who seemed greatly in fear of them: they seemed astonished to find one apparently of their own clime, complexion, and degree in company with the white strangers, who must have seemed to them a different race of beings; nor was their wonder at all abated when Miago threw open his shirt, and showed them his breast curiously scarred after their fashion--for this custom of cutting stripes upon the body, as other savages tattoo it, by way of ornament, seems universally to prevail throughout Australia--as a convincing evidence that he, though now the a.s.sociate of the white man, belonged to the same country as themselves.

When Miago had, in some degree, recovered from his alarm--and their want of all weapons no doubt tended to rea.s.sure him more than anything else, he very sagaciously addressed them in English; shaking hands and saying, "How do you do?" and then began to imitate their various actions, and mimic their language, and so perfectly did he succeed that one of our party could not be persuaded but that he really understood them; though for this suspicion I am convinced there was in truth no foundation. In general appearance this tribe differed but little from those we had previously seen. They wore their hair straight, and tied behind in a rude semblance of the modern queue; their beards were long, and two or three among them were daubed with a kind of black ochre. All of them had lost one of the front teeth, and several one finger joint;* in this particular they differed from the natives seen in Roebuck Bay, amongst whom the practice of this mutilation did not prevail. They were, I think, travelling to the southward, at the time they fell in with us, for they had no females among the party, by whom they are usually at other times accompanied. The circ.u.mstance of their being unarmed may seem to militate against the supposition that they were travelling, but it is to be borne in mind that these people universally consider the absence of offensive weapons as the surest test of peaceful intentions, and would therefore, if they desired to maintain a friendly footing with the newcomers, most probably deposit their arms in some place of concealment before they made themselves visible.

(*Footnote. A similar custom was noticed by Captain Cook at the Sandwich Islands, where it was regarded as a propitiatory sacrifice to the Eatooa, to avert his anger; and not to express, as the same mutilation does in the Friendly Islands, grief for the loss of a friend.)

NATIVE SMOKES.

The coast seems pretty thickly populated between Roebuck and Beagle Bays; as the smoke from native fires was constantly to be seen, but in all cases these signs of human existence were confined to the neighbourhood of the sea. The fishing proved unsuccessful, so we were fain to content ourselves without the promised addition to our evening meal. We found the tide rise here 18 feet.

In the afternoon we reached another anchorage, some ten miles further to the North-East. The coast along which we sailed within the distance of two miles, was chiefly remarkable for its tall, dark-looking cliffs, with here and there a small sandy bay intervening. We anch.o.r.ed under Point Emeriau, so named by Captain Baudin, by whom it was mistaken for an island; its tall, white cliffs, springing from and guarded by a base and ledges of black rock, and tinged with red towards their summits, render it a point not easily to be mistaken or forgotten by any who have once seen it. Beyond this the coast curved away to the eastward, forming a bight about eleven miles in length.

January 26.

Leaving our anchorage at daylight, we pa.s.sed the north point of the bight just mentioned soon after noon; it is a low black rugged cliffy point, called Borda by the French, having a much more weather-beaten appearance than would have been antic.i.p.ated in this lat.i.tude. Behind it the country rose obliquely, the horizon terminating in an inconsiderable, undulatory, and well-wooded elevation.

CAPE LEVEQUE.

We pa.s.sed another bight in the afternoon, the sh.o.r.es of which were low and rocky, with a mangrove creek in its depth: from this bight the coast becomes almost straight, the line being hardly broken by rocky points and shallow sandy bays, to Cape Leveque, on the North-East side of which we found an indifferent anchorage just before sunset. Cape Leveque is a red cliffy point some sixty feet in height, with an islet of the same character lying close off it. The latter bore from our anchorage in 5 fathoms, South 56 degrees West 2 miles, and 4 1/2 West 20 degrees South from the entrance point of the inviting opening, we were now about to explore, with an interest rather stimulated than decreased by the want of success that attended our examination of Roebuck Bay.

POINT SWAN.

This point was named by Captain King, Point Swan, in honour of Captain Swan of the Cygnet, under whom Dampier first discovered it; and was an appropriate tribute of respect and admiration, from one distinguished no less than Dampier himself, by the possession of those qualities of firmness, patience, judgment and perseverance, which make up the character of the scientific and adventurous navigator, to him by whom he had been preceded in Australian discovery. The country between Point Swan and Cape Leveque has a very sandy and barren aspect; the hillocks near the latter partook of its prevailing red colour.

TIDE-RACES.

January 27.

We proceeded this morning in the direction of Point Swan, and remarked, as we approached it, the heavy tide-race which used Captain King so roughly, and which subsequent surveying operations enabled us to account for, from great irregularity in the bottom, changing almost at once from 40 to 17 fathoms. We waited, having no wish to experience the full effect of the current, for slack water, and thus pa.s.sed round it quietly enough; we anch.o.r.ed in a small bight, South 20 degrees West 1 1/2 miles from Point Swan, in seven fathoms, which, as we rightly conjectured, would leave us in three, at low-water.*

(*Footnote. The following is Captain King's graphic account of his encounter with this race: "On my way towards Point Swan, we saw from the masthead a line of strong tide ripplings, extending from the Point in a North-West by West direction, within which we at first attempted to pa.s.s; but finding they were connected to the Point, hauled up to steer through them where they seemed to be the least dangerous. As we approached, the noise was terrific; and although we were not more than two minutes amongst the breakers, yet the shocks of the sea were so violent, as to make us fearful for the safety of our masts. A smaller vessel would perhaps have been swamped; for although the sea was in other parts quite smooth, and the wind light, yet the water broke over the bows, and strained the brig considerably.")

As we had now arrived at the point from which we antic.i.p.ated carrying on our most important operations, it became of paramount interest to know whether we could rely for that indispensable article, fresh water, upon the resources of the wild and barbarous sh.o.r.es. The vast extent of country; the delightful verdure which clothed great portions of it; nay, even the evidences of a people living upon its sh.o.r.es, would, under any other circ.u.mstances, and on any other coast, have been deemed conclusively to decide this point in the affirmative: but the voyager knows, from the best authority, that upon the coasts, and within the heart of Australia, nature seems to delight in contradiction, and that she is more than usually capricious with respect to the supply of what is ordinarily her most common, as it is ever one of her most precious gifts.

A few wretched mud-holes might serve for a time to content the savages trained to privation from their earliest infancy, but for ourselves it was clear, either that a reasonable supply of fresh water must be found here, or we must not calculate upon remaining beyond the time which would leave us sufficient to proceed to Hanover Bay, where this most needful commodity was, upon the authority of Captain King, to be found.

SEARCH FOR WATER.

No sooner, therefore, was the Beagle properly secured in her new berth, than a party was despatched in the boats to commence a search for water, and to fix upon a spot for carrying on the necessary observations: scarcely, however, had we pushed off from alongside, before the white ensign at our main warned us that the natives were in sight from the ship,* and, on turning our eyes to the sh.o.r.e, we beheld it thronged with savages: the rapidity of whose movements, as they shouted in apparent defiance, brandishing their spears, and whirling their arms round and round with windmill-like velocity, as though to threaten our advance, rendered it impossible to estimate their number with any confidence, but they were evidently in considerable force. However, we pulled to the sh.o.r.e, a measure against which the valiant Miago stoutly protested, and landed in a position not directly commanded by the natives. They made no attempt to prevent us, but anxious to avoid hostilities--in every event almost equally deplorable--we deferred any distant search for water; and having fixed on a spot for our temporary observatory, returned to the ship.

(*Footnote. This signal was always made when natives were seen from the ship, if any parties were away.)