Discoveries in Australia Volume I Part 9

January 27.

A strong party was sent on sh.o.r.e, early this morning, with the necessary tools for digging a well, should the search for water upon the surface prove abortive. It was at once found that this operation ought forthwith to be commenced, and accordingly a promising spot was selected in a valley not half a mile from the sea. The natives mustered again in force upon the heights, and seemed to watch our proceedings with the greatest interest: we saw nothing of them the following day, but on the third they seemed so much emboldened by our inoffensive proceedings, that they approached so near as to keep the party pretty much upon the alert.

FIRE A CONGREVE ROCKET.

It was, therefore, determined, lest familiarity should breed contempt, to give them a hint of our superiority without inflicting any injury upon their persons or property; and, accordingly, shortly after dark we fired a Congreve rocket from the ship, and in a direction immediately over their presumed position: this had the desired effect, and our well-digging operations, though ultimately unsuccessful, proceeded without further annoyance.

CONDUCT OF THE NATIVES.

Two or three days afterwards a small party came down upon the beach while we were hauling the seine; and tempted by the offer of some fish--for an Australian savage is easily won by him who comes with things that do show so fair as delicacies in the gastronomic department--they approached us, and were very friendly in their manner, though they cunningly contrived always to keep the upper or inland side of the beach. We made them some presents of beads, etc. from the stores supplied by the Admiralty for that purpose, but they received them with an indifference almost amounting to apathy. They very closely examined the heroic Miago, who submitted to be handled by these much-dreaded Northern men with a very rueful countenance, and afterwards construed the way in which one of them had gently stroked his beard, into an attempt to take him by the throat and strangle him! an injury and indignity which, when safe on board, he resented by repeated threats, uttered in a sort of wild chant, of spearing their thighs, backs, loins, and, indeed, each individual portion of the frame.

PLAGUE OF FLIES.

Their habit of keeping the eyes almost closed, and the head thrown back, in order to avoid the plague of flies, under which this country seems to suffer, adds to the unpleasant expression of their countenance, and quite justifies the correctness of Dampier's account: "Their eyelids are always half-closed, to keep the flies out of their eyes, they being so troublesome here, that no fanning will keep them from coming to one's face; and without the a.s.sistance of both hands to keep them off, they will creep into one's nostrils, and mouth too, if the lips are not shut very close; so that from their infancy, being thus annoyed with these insects, they do never open their eyes as do other people, and therefore they cannot see far unless they hold up their heads, as if they were looking at somewhat over them." We found constant occasion, when on sh.o.r.e, to complain of this fly nuisance; and when combined with their allies, the mosquitoes, no human endurance could, with any patience, submit to the trial. The flies are at you all day, crawling into your eyes, up your nostrils, and down your throat, with the most irresistible perseverance; and no sooner do they, from sheer exhaustion, or the loss of daylight, give up the attack, than they are relieved by the musquitos, who completely exhaust the patience which their predecessors have so severely tried. It may seem absurd to my readers to dwell upon such a subject; but those, who, like myself, have been half-blinded, and to boot, almost stung to death, will not wonder, that even at this distance of time and place, I recur with disgust to the recollection.

The natives, in all parts of the continent alike, seem to possess very primitive notions upon the subject of habitation; their most comfortable wigwams hardly deserve the name: not even in the neighbourhood of English settlements are they beginning in any degree to imitate our European notions of comfort. Among these northern people, the only approach to anything like protection from the skiey influences that I could discover, was a slight rudely thatched covering, placed on four upright poles, between three and four feet high.

Another, of a much superior description, which I visited on the western sh.o.r.e of King's Sound, will be found delineated in that part of my journal to which the narrative belongs.

WIND AND WEATHER.

February 10.

We remained at this anchorage until the 10th of February, in consequence of a continuance of bad weather; indeed, the rain during the three first days of that month was at times of the most monsoon-like character, while the wind, constantly blowing very fresh, kept veering from North-West to South-West. Every now and then, by way of agreeable variety, a heavy squall would take us from South-South-West, though more commonly from West-South-West. The only certainty that we could calculate upon, was, that at North-North-West the wind would remain when it got there, stationary for a few hours. The thunder and lightning, the former loud and with a long reverberating peal, and the latter of the most intensely vivid kind, were constantly roaring and flashing over our heads; and, with the stormy echoes which the rolling deep around woke on these unknown and inhospitable sh.o.r.es, completed a scene that I shall never cease to remember, as I never then beheld it without mingled emotions of apprehension and delight. The rain, however, certainly befriended us in more ways than one: it cooled the atmosphere, which would else have been insufferably hot, diminished for a time the number and virulence of our winged tormentors, and recruited our stock of fresh water; for, though ultimately we were not obliged to have recourse to it as a beverage, it did exceedingly well for washing purposes. We had also, during this time, one most successful haul with the seine, which amply supplied us with fresh fish for that and the two following days; the greater part were a kind of large mullet, the largest weighed six pounds five ounces, and measured twenty-five inches in length.

TIDAL PHENOMENON.

On the same day we remarked, owing to the North-West wind, a singular phenomenon in the tides here. From half-ebb to high-water the stream wholly ceased, and the water being heaped up in the bay by the force of the wind, fell only sixteen, instead of twenty-four feet.

Several sporting excursions were made during this period, but with comparatively little success. It is not a country naturally very abundant in game of any kind, except kangaroos, which are numerous, but so hara.s.sed by the natives as to be of course extremely shy of the approach of man.

SINGULAR KANGAROO.

However, Mr. Bynoe succeeded in shooting one which possessed the singular appendage of a nail, like that on a man's little finger, attached to the tail.

I regret that we had no subsequent opportunity to decide whether this was one of a new species of the Macropodidae family, or a mere lusus naturae.

The dimensions and height of this singular animal were as follows:*

Length of body from tip of nose: 22 inches.

Length of tail from stump to tip: 24 1/2 inches.

Weight: 13 pounds.

(*Footnote. This animal has been cla.s.sed by Mr. Gould as Macropus unguifer, and is now deposited in the British Museum. One precisely similar was afterwards killed on the east coast of the gulf of Carpentaria.)

We also saw some very large red or cinnamon-coloured kangaroos, but never got near enough to secure one; they were apparently identical with a new race, of which I afterwards procured a specimen at Barrow's Island.*

(*Footnote. Osphranter isabellinus. Gould.)

One day, when I had penetrated some considerable distance into the bush, farther indeed than any of our party had strayed before, I saw a large bustard, but was unable to get a shot at him; his anxious and acute gaze had detected me, at the same moment that I had discovered him, and he was off. I thought at the time that he bore a strong resemblance to the wild turkey of the colonists in the southern parts of the continent. We were lucky enough to shoot several quails of apparently quite a new species.

In one particular they differed from the members of the genus Coturnis, in having no hind toe. Goannas and lizards were plentiful in this neighbourhood, and some of the latter in particular were most brilliant in colour: they ran down the tall trees, in which they seem to pa.s.s a great portion of their lives, at our approach, with a most marvellous rapidity, and darting along the ground, were soon in safety.

ANTHILLS.

But what, perhaps, most attracted our attention, was the very surprising size of the anthills, or nests. I measured one, the height of which was 13 feet, and width at the base 7 feet; from whence it tapered gradually to the apex. They are composed of a pale red earth; but how it is sufficiently tempered, I am unable to state; certain is it, that it has almost the consistence of mortar, and will bear the tread of a man upon the top.

FISH.

The fishing over the ship's side was not less successful than hauling the seine; though quite a different kind of fish was taken to reward the labour of the salt.w.a.ter Waltonians, who devoted themselves to it. They generally secured (at slack water) a large fish, in shape like a bream, and with long projecting teeth.

February 6.

We made up a party on the 6th for the purpose of penetrating a little way into the interior, and got seven miles from the sea in a South by West direction. Everything wore a green and most delightful appearance; but the reader must bear in mind, how vegetation had just been forced by heavy rains upon a light, heated soil, and also recollect that to one who has been pent up for some time on board ship a very barren prospect may seem delightful.

NATIVE FIRES.

The country was more open in character than I had before noticed it, and the numerous traces of native fires which we found in the course of the excursion, seemed readily to account for this: indeed during dry seasons it not unfrequently happens, that an immense tract of land is desolated with fire, communicated, either by the design or carelessness of the natives, to the dry herbage on the surface. The moment the flame has been kindled it only waits for the first breath of air to spread it far and wide: then on the wings of the wind, the fiery tempest streams over the hillsides and through the vast plains and prairies: bushwood and herbage--the dry gra.s.s--the tall reed--the twining parasite--or the giant of the forest, charred and blackened, but still proudly erect--alike attest and bewail the conquering fire's onward march; and the bleak desert, silent, waste, and lifeless, which it leaves behind seems forever doomed to desolation: vain fear! the rain descends once more upon the dry and thirsty soil, and from that very hour which seemed the date of cureless ruin, Nature puts forth her wondrous power with increased effort, and again her green and flower-embroidered mantle decks the earth with a new beauty!

SOIL AND PRODUCTIONS.

The soil of the extensive plain over which we journeyed this day, was light and sandy in character, but the large amount of vegetable matter which it contains, and the effect of the late rains, which had penetrated some 24 or 30 inches into it, made us perhaps somewhat overvalue its real merits. This plain rose gradually before us until it reached an elevation of 180 feet above the level of the sea, and was covered with a long, thin gra.s.s, through which the startled kangaroo made off every now and then at a killing pace.

The face of the country was well but not too closely covered with specimens of the red and white gum, and paperbark tree, and several others. The timber was but small, the diameter of the largest, a red gum, 18 inches.

Ever and anon the sparkling brilliant lizards darted down from their resting places among the boughs, so rapid in their fearful escape, that they caught the eye more like a flash of momentary light, than living, moving forms. We flushed in the course of the day a white bird, or at least nearly so, with a black ring round the neck, and a bill crooked like the ibis, which bird indeed, except in colour, it more resembles than any I have ever seen.*

(*Footnote. Since ascertained to be an Ibis--the Threskiornis strictipennis.)

Among the trees seen in the course of this ramble, I had almost forgotten to mention one which struck me more than any other from its resemblance to a kind of cotton tree, used by the natives of the South Sea islands in building their canoes.

February 7.

The day following we secured several boat-loads of rainwater, deposited in the holes of the rocks, near our temporary observatory, and were the better pleased with our success, as our well-digging had proved unsuccessful.

GEOLOGY OF THE CLIFFS.

There was something particularly striking in the geological formation of the cliffs that form the western side of this bay: and which rise from 70 to 90 feet in height, their bases apparently resting amid huge and irregular ma.s.ses of the same white sandstone as that which forms the cliffs themselves, and from which this ma.s.sive debris, strewn in all conceivable irregularity and confusion around, appears to have been violently separated by some great internal convulsion.

Some of these great ma.s.ses, both of the living cliff and ruined blocks beneath, are strangely pierced with a vein or tube of vitreous matter, not less in some instances than 18 inches in diameter. In every place the spot at which this tube entered the rock was indicated by a considerable extent of glazed or smelted surface; but I am not sufficiently versed in the science of geology to offer any specific theory to account for the appearances I have described: the cliffs were rent and cracked in a thousand different ways, and taking into consideration their strange and wrecked appearance, together with the fact that lightning is known to vitrify sand, may we not thus get a clue to the real agency by which these results have been produced?*

(*Footnote. Since this was written, I have consulted my friend, Mr.

Darwin, who has kindly examined a specimen I brought away. He p.r.o.nounces it "a superficial highly ferrugineous sandstone, with concretionary veins and aggregations." The reader should, however, consult Mr. Darwin's work on the Geology of Volcanic Islands page 143.)

WEIGH AND GRAZE ON A ROCK.

February 10.

The weather was thick and gloomy, and it rained fast; but, having completed our survey and observations, and the wind being favourable, it was resolved to get underweigh without further loss of time.

In the very act of weighing, the ship's keel grazed a sunken rock, of the existence of which, though we had sounded the bay, we had been, till that moment, in ignorance! He only who has felt the almost animated shudder that runs through the seemingly doomed ship at that fearful moment, can understand with what grat.i.tude we hailed our escape from the treacherous foe.