Narrative of a Survey of the Intertropical and Western Coasts of Australia Volume I Part 2

INTERTROPICAL COASTS

OF

AUSTRALIA.

CHAPTER 1.

Intended mode of proceeding, and departure from Port Jackson.

Visit Twofold Bay.

Natives seen.

Pa.s.sage through Ba.s.s Strait and along the South Coast to King George the Third's Sound.

Transactions there.

Voyage to the North-West Cape, and Survey of the Coast between the North-West Cape and Depuch Island, including the examinations of Exmouth Gulf, Curlew River, and Dampier's Archipelago.

Loss of Anchors, and Interview with the Natives.

Remarks upon Dampier's account of Rosemary Island, and of the Island upon which he landed.

1817. December 21.

At the time that the Mermaid was ready to commence her voyage, it was the season when the westerly monsoon blows over that part of the sea which separates the islands of Timor and New Guinea from Australia; it was therefore necessary, in order to benefit by the direction of the wind, to commence the survey of the coast at its western extremity, the North-West Cape: but, to do this, the pa.s.sage was to be made, by taking the western route, as it is called; that is, by pa.s.sing either through Ba.s.s Strait, or round Van Diemen's Land, and steering up the West Coast. In doing this, the vessel would, doubtless, have to encounter much bad weather; and, on her arrival might, probably, be more fit to return than to commence the survey of a dangerous and an unknown coast. The pa.s.sage to the northward, through Torres Strait, would have been, on all accounts, the most advisable route, had the season been more advanced; and, indeed, it would have been even better to wait until March for that purpose; but this would be a loss of time in which much might be effected, were we only fortunate enough to make the western pa.s.sage without accident: under all these circ.u.mstances, I was induced to prefer the route of Ba.s.s Strait, rather than remain idle, after the vessel was completed.

Before we left Port Jackson, His Excellency the Governor was made acquainted with my intended mode of proceeding; that, having pa.s.sed Ba.s.s Strait to King George the Third's Sound, I should there complete my water and fuel: then, by steering up the West Coast, to commence my survey at the North-West Cape, and examine the coast easterly until the westerly monsoon should begin to decline; upon which I proposed to leave the land, and proceed as far to the eastward as the remainder of the monsoon would allow; when I might examine the coast back with the easterly monsoon as long as my stock of water lasted; and lastly, if I could not get a supply upon the coast, to go to Timor, by which time my provisions would, probably, be so reduced as to oblige my returning to Port Jackson to prepare for a second voyage.

December 22.

Having made our final arrangements, we left Port Jackson on the 22nd of December, with a fresh northerly breeze, which continued until the evening of the 24th, when we were abreast of Cape Howe. After this a heavy gale of wind from South-West obliged us to run into Twofold Bay for shelter, and to repair some trifling damage which we had already sustained.

Twofold Bay was discovered by Mr. Ba.s.s in 1797; and, although it is for the most part too open and exposed to easterly winds for large ships, yet it has a cove on its northern side, in which small vessels find secure anchorage and a convenient place for stopping at, if bound to the southward; and hence its name of Snug Cove. It is completely land-locked, and it also conveniently affords both wood and water, and is neither difficult to enter nor to leave.

December 26.

When pa.s.sing Red Point, which is on the south side of the bay, several natives were seen upon it; one of them came to the verge of the rocks that overhang the extremity of the point, and made violent gestures, but, whether they were those of friendship or hostility, could not be ascertained. Boongaree answered him in the Port Jackson language, but they were equally unintelligible to each other. The native had a spear in one hand, and either a throwing stick, or a club, in the other; both of which, with his legs widely extended, he flourished most furiously over his head. This man was quite naked, but a woman near him wore a kangaroo's skin over her shoulders. Several small parties of natives were seen in the other parts of the bay, but they appeared more anxious to avoid than to court a communication with us.

On anchoring in Snug Cove, I went on sh.o.r.e with Mr. Roe and Mr.

Cunningham: Boongaree also accompanied us, clothed in a new dress, which was provided for him, of which he was not a little proud, and for some time kept it very clean.

Wood was abundant and near at hand, and the water, which is in a mora.s.s at the back of the beach, although shallow, and covered with a species of azolla, was both good and plentiful.

The soil of the hills, contiguous to Snug Cove, is very good, and covered with luxuriant gra.s.s. The country appeared to be thickly wooded, but near the water the trees, which were princ.i.p.ally species of the eucalyptus and the casuarina, were small and stunted.

In our strolls during the day along the beach, and over the surrounding hills, we did not encounter any inhabitants, although recent signs of them were visible at every step; several beaten paths were observed leading to the mora.s.s from different directions, on the banks of which were many sh.e.l.ls (Haliotis gigantea, Linn.) used by the natives for drinking-vessels.

In the evening, after hauling the seine on the beach without success, we were upon the point of embarking, when we discovered, at about seventy or eighty yards up the hill, the heads of three or four natives peeping above the long gra.s.s, evidently watching our movements, and probably awaiting our departure to allow them to go to the mora.s.s for water.

Wishing very much to communicate with these people, we walked towards them, but they suddenly rose and scampered up the hill among the trees, which were so thick as soon to conceal them from our view. Boongaree called to them in vain; and it was not until they had reached some distance that they answered his call in loud shrill voices. After some time spent in a parley, in which Boongaree was spokesman on our part, sometimes in his own language, and at others in broken English, which he always resorted to when his own failed in being understood, they withdrew altogether, and we neither heard nor saw anything more of them.

December 27.

The next morning, the wind being easterly, we left the bay. On pa.s.sing Red Point, twenty or thirty natives came to the extreme point of the cliff, shouting and hallooing and making violent gestures; a large group of women and children appeared in the background, timidly concealing themselves behind the trees and bushes; another party was quietly seated round small fires on the rocks near the sea-beach, apparently engaged in cooking their fish; and at a little distance from the last group, two canoes were hauled upon the rocks.

The breeze being fresh from the North-North-East, we made rapid progress; and at three o'clock p.m., rounded Cape Howe, with every prospect of pa.s.sing through Ba.s.s Strait before the wind should again veer to the westward. In pa.s.sing Cape Howe, we observed large fires burning on the hills, made by the natives for the double purpose of burning off the dry gra.s.s and of hunting the kangaroos, which are thus forced to fly from the woods, and thereby fall an easy prey to their pursuers.

December 28.

The next day at noon, Kent's Group, in the eastern entrance of Ba.s.s Strait, was seen; but, at one o'clock, the wind shifted suddenly and blew a gale from South-West, with heavy rain: after beating against it until the following day, we bore up and ran under the lee of Great Island, intending to pa.s.s round Van Diemen's Land: at five o'clock, we pa.s.sed close to the Babel Islands, on which were heaped incredible numbers of sea-birds of various descriptions, each species huddled together in flocks separate from the other. On another part of the island many seals were seen, by the growl of which, and the discordant screams of the birds, a strange confused noise was made, not ill adapted to the name the island bears.

December 29.

By the following day, we had made some progress along the eastern side of Van Diemen's Land, but in the evening, the wind shifted to South-East, and induced us to try the Strait once more. In pa.s.sing the low north-easternmost point of the land, called by the French, Cape Naturaliste, we had nearly run ash.o.r.e from the darkness of the night, and the little elevation of the land. Our sounding in seven fathoms was the first indication of danger; and, on listening attentively, the noise of the surf upon the beach was distinctly heard.

December 30.

The next morning we pa.s.sed through Banks Strait, and entered Ba.s.s Strait.

1818. January 2.

But the wind was so light and baffling, that we made no progress until the 2nd of January; when, with a freshening breeze from the eastward, we moved rapidly on our way, and flattered ourselves with the hope of clearing the strait before night. In this hope we were not deceived; but before it was effected, we had very nearly suffered from the careless look-out of the man at the masthead. At four o'clock we were near Three Hummock Island, and steered so as to pa.s.s close to its northern point, in order that we might obtain a correct lat.i.tude for sights for the chronometers. Being within half a mile of it, rocks were suddenly seen outside and so close to us, that it was then too late either to haul up or bear away; the rocks to windward and the land to leeward preventing us: nothing was therefore left to us but to proceed and take the chance of finding sufficient depth of water between the point and the rocks; providentially there proved to be a pa.s.sage of one-eighth of a mile wide, and the cutter pa.s.sed safely through. These islands were examined by Commodore Baudin, and an elaborate survey made of them by his officers; but this danger is not noticed on their plan of the group. The rocks bear North 30 degrees West (by compa.s.s) from the northernmost point of the island, and North 8 degrees East (by compa.s.s) from the northernmost hummock. I do not think they extend far from the sh.o.r.e.

At sunset, we were in the meridian of Albatross Island, and by midnight cleared the Strait, when we steered a course for King George the Third's Sound.

Upon examining our bread, we found that a considerable quant.i.ty was spoiled from damp and leaks, which necessarily obliged us to go at once upon a reduced allowance of that article.

January 16.

From a succession of westerly winds, the vessel was driven so near to the Archipelago of the Recherche, that we were induced to bear up for the anchorage in Goose Island Bay; but as we steered round Douglas's Isles, the wind veered back to the South-East, and we might have proceeded: we were, however, so near the anchorage, that I determined upon occupying it for the night; and steering in between Middle Island and Goose Island, the anchor was dropped off the first sandy beach to the eastward of the highest hill, at the north-west end of the former.

In the evening I landed with the botanist and Mr. Roe, but we found little that was worthy of our attention. The basis of the island is granitic, and covered with a shallow soil, formed of decayed vegetable matter, mixed with sand, which nourishes the stunted vegetation that thickly clothes the surface, particularly on the north-eastern, which is its most sheltered side.

No animals were observed, excepting some small quadrupeds, which were momentarily seen by Mr. Roe, and, from his description, were kangaroo-rats. On Goose Island, the bird from which it takes its name appeared to be abundant; but there was too much surf to permit our landing upon it, and we were not so much in want of fresh provisions as to induce our risking any damage to the boats: we found the bones of a whale which had been thrown up on the beach where we landed.

January 17.

The wind in the night veered to North-East by East, to which quarter the anchorage is much exposed; towards morning it blew fresh, but the anchor held well. At dawn of day, (17th) we got underweigh and steered through the islands; at noon, we were abreast of Termination Island, the lat.i.tude of which we found to be 34 degrees 32 minutes. Our friendly wind died away at midnight, and was succeeded by a short gale from the westward.

January 20.

On the 20th, at daylight, we were close to Bald Island, and in the afternoon took up an anchorage in King George the Third's Sound, between Seal Island and the first sandy beach, at the distance of half a mile to the eastward of a flat rock in seven fathoms, sand and weeds.

In the evening we landed on Seal Island, which we had much difficulty in effecting on account of the surf. Several seals were upon it, one of which we killed; and some penguins were also taken. On the summit of the island or rock, for it scarcely deserves the former appellation, the skeleton of a goat's head was found, and near it were the remains of a gla.s.s case bottle; both of which, we afterwards learnt, were left on the island by Lieutenant Forster, R.N., who put into this harbour in 1815, on his pa.s.sage from Port Jackson to Europe, in the Emu, hired transport. We searched in vain for the bottle which Captain Flinders left there, containing an account of the Investigator's visit; my intention, in looking for this doc.u.ment, was not of course to remove it, but to ascertain its existence, and to add a few lines to the memorandum it contained.

Iguanas, geese, penguins, gulls, and seals of the hairy species, were the sole inhabitants of this rock. After leaving Seal Island, we landed on the sandy beach abreast of the anchorage; in doing this the boat filled, and the instruments were so wetted, that they were left on the beach to dry during our absence. Our ascent, from the hill being steep, and composed of a very loose drift sand, was difficult and fatiguing; but the beautiful flowers and plants, with which the surface of the hill was strewed, repaid us for our toil. These being all new to Mr. Cunningham fully occupied his attention, whilst I remained upon the summit, from whence a good view was obtained of the Eclipse Isles, and Vancouver's breakers, both of which are well laid down by Captain Flinders, whose correctness I had already many occasions to admire. An abundance of sh.e.l.ls of the helix tribe (Helix bulimus) was found on the top and sides of the hill; and a calcareous substance was observed protruding from the ground in every part, as noticed both by Vancouver and Flinders;* the former also found it on the bare sandy summit of Bald Head, and supposed it to be coral, a circ.u.mstance from which he inferred that the level of the ocean must have sunk. Similar substances have since been discovered by Dr. Clarke Abel, near Simon's Town, at the Cape of Good Hope, and are described by him to be vegetables impregnated with carbonate of lime; but from the specimens we obtained, it would appear that it is neither coral, nor a petrified vegetable substance, but merely sand agglutinated by calcareous matter**.

(*Footnote. Vancouver volume 1 page 49. Flinders volume 1 page 63.)

(**Footnote. Vide Appendix, C.)

January 21.

The next morning we got under weigh, and stood over to the entrance of Oyster Harbour, off which we anch.o.r.ed to examine the bar; after satisfying myself on this head, and choosing a spot within the entrance to anchor at, we got under-sail, and in crossing the bar had not less than thirteen feet and a half, being nearly about the time of high water; but between the heads of the harbour it deepened to five, seven, and eight fathoms. Our anchorage was about twenty-five yards from the eastern sh.o.r.e, and not more than fifty yards within the narrowest part of the entrance; it was convenient for our purposes, as the wood was abundantly procured close to our water-holes, which were dug at the edge of the sand, within thirty yards of the vessel; so that the people employed in these occupations could be protected against the natives by the proximity of the cutter, without preventing the necessary repairs to the rigging being carried on at the same time by the remainder of the crew on board.