Narrative of a Survey of the Intertropical and Western Coasts of Australia Volume II Part 6

"The inhabitants of this country are the miserablest people in the world.

The Hodmadods of Monomatapa, though a nasty people, yet for wealth are gentlemen to these; who have no houses, and skin garments, sheep, poultry, and fruits of the earth, ostrich eggs, etc., as the Hodmadods have: and setting aside their human shape, they differ but little from brutes. They are tall, straight-bodied, and thin, with small, long limbs.

They have great heads, round foreheads, and great brows. Their eye-lids 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 other people; and therefore they cannot see far, unless they hold up their heads, as if they were looking at somewhat over them.

"They have great bottle-noses, pretty full lips, and wide mouths. The two fore-teeth of their upper jaw are wanting in all of them, men and women, old and young; whether they draw them out, I know not: neither have they any beards. They are long-visaged, and of a very unpleasant aspect, having no one graceful feature in their faces. Their hair is black, short and curled, like that of the negroes; and not long and lank like the common Indians. The colour of their skins, both of their faces and the rest of their body, is coal-black, like that of the negroes of Guinea.*

(*Footnote. The natives of Hanover Bay, with whom we communicated, were not deprived of their front teeth, and wore their beards long; they also differed from the above description in having their hair long and curly.

Dampier may have been deceived in this respect, and from the use that they make of their hair, by twisting it up into a subst.i.tute for thread, they had probably cut it off close, which would give them the appearance of having woolly hair like the negro.)

"They have no sort of clothes, but a piece of the rind of a tree tied like a girdle about their waists, and a handful of long gra.s.s, or three or four small green boughs full of leaves, thrust under their girdle, to cover their nakedness.

"They have no houses, but lie in the open air without any covering; the earth being their bed, and the heaven their canopy. Whether they cohabit one man to one woman, or promiscuously, I know not; but they do live in companies, twenty or thirty men, women, and children together. Their only food is a small sort of fish, which they get by making weirs of stone across little coves or branches of the sea; every tide bringing in the small fish, the there leaving them for a prey to these people, who constantly attend there to search for them at low water. This small fry I take to be the top of their fishery: they have no instruments to catch great fish, should they come; and such seldom stay to be left behind at low water: nor could we catch any fish with our hooks and lines all the while we lay there. In other places at low water they seek for c.o.c.kles, mussels, and periwinkles. Of these sh.e.l.l-fish there are fewer still; so that their chief dependence is upon what the sea leaves in their wares; which, be it much or little, they gather up, and march to the places of their abode. There the old people that are not able to stir abroad by reason of their age, and the tender infants, wait their return; and what Providence has bestowed on them, they presently broil on the coals, and eat it in common. Sometimes they get as many fish as makes them a plentiful banquet; and at other times they scarce get every one a taste; but be it little or much that they get, every one has his part, as well the young and tender, the old and feeble, who are not able to go abroad, as the strong and l.u.s.ty. When they have eaten they lie down till the next low water, and then all that are able march out, be it night or day, rain or shine, 'tis all one; they must attend the weirs, or else they must fast; for the earth affords them no food at all. There is neither herb, root, pulse, nor any sort of grain for them to eat, that we saw; nor any sort of bird or beast that they can catch, having no instruments wherewithal to do so.

"I did not perceive that they did worship anything. These poor creatures have a sort of weapon to defend their weir, or fight with their enemies, if they have any that will interfere with their poor fishery. They did at first endeavour with their weapons to frighten us, who, lying ash.o.r.e, deterred them from one of their fishing-places. Some of them had wooden swords, others had a sort of lances. The sword is a piece of wood shaped somewhat like a cutla.s.s.* The lance is a long straight pole, sharp at one end, and hardened afterwards by heat. I saw no iron, nor any sort of metal; therefore it is probable they use stone hatchets, as some Indians in America do, described in Chapter 4.

(*Footnote. Probably a boomerang. See volume 1.)

"How they get their fire I know not; but probably as Indians do, out of wood. I have seen the Indians of Bon-Airy do it, and have myself tried the experiment. They take a flat piece of wood that is pretty soft, and make a small dent in one side of it, then they take another hard, round stick, about the bigness of one's little finger, and sharpened at one end like a pencil, they put that sharp end in the hole or dent of the flat soft piece, and then rubbing or twirling the hard piece between the palm of their hands, they drill the soft piece till it smokes, and at last takes fire.

"These people speak somewhat through the throat; but we could not understand one word that they said. We anch.o.r.ed, as I said before, January the 5th, and seeing men walking on the sh.o.r.e, we presently sent a canoe to get some acquaintance with them; for we were in hopes to get some provision among them. But the inhabitants, seeing our boat coming, run away and hid themselves. We searched afterwards three days in hopes to find their houses, but found none; yet we saw many places where they had made fires. At last, being out of hopes to find their habitations, we searched no farther; but left a great many toys ash.o.r.e, in such places where we thought they would come. In all our search we found no water, but old wells on the sandy bays.

"At last we went over to the islands, and there we found a great many of the natives; I do believe there were forty on one island, men, women, and children. The men on our first coming ash.o.r.e, threatened us with their lances and swords; but they were frightened by firing one gun, which we fired purposely to scare them. The island was so small that they could not hide themselves; but they were much disordered at our landing, especially the women and children; for we went directly to their camp.

The l.u.s.tiest of the women s.n.a.t.c.hing up their infants ran away howling, and the little children run after squeaking and bawling; but the men stood still. Some of the women, and such people as could not go from us, lay still by a fire, making a doleful noise, as if we had been coming to devour them: but when they saw we did not intend to harm them, they were pretty quiet, and the rest that fled from us at our first coming, returned again. This their place of dwelling was only a fire, with a few boughs before it, set up on the side the winds was of.

"After we had been here a little while, the men began to be familiar, and we clothed some of them, designing to have some service of them for it; for we found some wells of water here, and intended to carry two or three barrels of it aboard. But it being somewhat troublesome to carry to the canoes, we thought to have made these men to have carried it for us, and therefore we gave them some old clothes; to one an old pair of breeches, to another a ragged shirt, to the third a jacket that was scarce worth owning; which yet would have been very acceptable at some places where we had been, and so we thought they might have been with these people. We put them on them, thinking that this finery would have brought them to work heartily for us; and our water being filled in small long barrels, about six gallons in each, which were made purposely to carry water in, we brought these our new servants to the wells, and put a barrel on each of their shoulders for them to carry to the canoe. But all the signs we could make were to no purpose, for they stood like statues, without motion, but grinned like so many monkeys, staring one upon another; for these poor creatures seem not accustomed to carry burdens; and I believe that one of our ship-boys of ten years old would carry as much as one of them. So we were forced to carry our water ourselves, and they very fairly put the clothes off again, and laid them down, as if clothes were only to work in. I did not perceive that they had any great liking to them at first, neither did they seem to admire anything that we had.

"At another time our canoe being among these islands seeking for game, espied a drove of these men swimming from one island to another; for they have no boats, canoes, or bark-logs. They took four of them, and brought them aboard; two of them were middle-aged, the other two were young men about eighteen or twenty years old. To these we gave boiled rice, and with it turtle and manatee boiled. They did greedily devour what we gave them, but took no notice of the ship, or any thing in it, and when they were set on land again, they ran away as fast as they could. At our first coming, before we were acquainted with them, or they with us, a company of them who lived on the main, came just against our ship, and standing on a pretty high bank, threatened us with their swords and lances, by shaking them at us: at last the captain ordered the drum to be beaten, which was done of a sudden with much vigour, purposely to scare the poor creatures. They hearing the noise, ran away as fast as they could drive; and when they ran away in haste, they would cry gurry, gurry, speaking deep in the throat. Those inhabitants also that live on the main would always run away from us; yet we took several of them. For, as I have already observed, they had such bad eyes, that they could not see us till we came close to them. We did always give them victuals, and let them go again, but the islanders, after our first time of being among them, did not stir for us."*

(*Footnote. Dampier volume 1 page 464 et seq.)

At this anchorage we perceived very little rise and fall of tide, and the flood and ebb both set to the northward, this was also the case at our anchorage within the Lacepede Islands. At four o'clock the next morning a strong south-easterly breeze sprang up, and moderated again before we weighed; but no sooner were we under sail than it freshened again, and, at half-past five o'clock, blew so strong as to oblige our double reefing the topsails, which had not been done for many weeks before. At noon the wind fell, and was very calm, at which time our lat.i.tude observed was 17 degrees 36 minutes 38 seconds. The highest part of the land bore North 70 1/2 degrees East, south of which a sandy point, supposed to be Captain Baudin's Cape Boileau, bore South 87 degrees East; and a smoke, a little to the northward of the masthead extreme, bearing South 42 degrees East must be upon the land in the neighbourhood of Cape Latreille.

Soon after noon the breeze veered round by South to West-South-West, and enabled us to make some progress; at sunset we again anch.o.r.ed in thirteen fathoms, soft sand, at six miles from a sandy projection of the main, which we afterwards found to be the land called by Captain Baudin, Gantheaume Island; the name has therefore been given to the point, for there was no appearance of its being insulated. It bears a truly desolate appearance, being nothing but ridges of bare white sand, scantily crowned with a few shrubby bushes.

Behind Point Gantheaume the land appeared to be formed by downs of very white sand; and between this point and Cape Boileau is a bay, which at first, from the direction of the flood stream at the anchorage, was conjectured to be an inlet; but as the tide afterwards set to the Northward and North-East, it was concluded to be occasioned by the stream sweeping round the sh.o.r.es of the bay: according to the depth alongside there was a rise of ten feet; after high-water the ebb set between North 1/2 West and North-North-East, at the rate of a quarter to three quarters of a knot.

During the whole day the horizon was occupied by haze, and produced a very remarkable effect upon the land, which was so raised above the horizon by refraction that many distant objects became visible that could not otherwise have been seen. This mirage had been frequently observed by us on various parts of the coast, but never produced so extraordinary an effect as on the present occasion. The coastline appeared to be formed of high chalky cliffs, crowned by a narrow band of woody hillocks; and the land of Cape Villaret was so elevated as to be distinctly seen at the distance of forty miles, whereas two days afterwards, the weather being clear, it was not visible above the horizon for more than five leagues.

This state of the atmosphere caused a rapid evaporation during the day, and as the evening approached a very copious dew commenced falling, which by sunset was precipitated like a shower of rain.

The next morning the land was again enveloped in haze, but at seven o'clock it cleared off a little, and the coast was observed to trend round Point Gantheaume to the south-east, but as we had last evening seen it as far to the westward as South-West by South, we steered in the latter direction under the idea of there being no opening to the southward of the point, since the flood-tide flowed from it instead of towards it, as it naturally would have done had there been any inlet of consequence thereabout.

As usual, we had been surrounded by whales, and large flights of b.o.o.bies; one of the latter lighted upon the deck this afternoon, and was easily taken; it seemed to be the same bird (Peleca.n.u.s fiber) that frequents the reefs upon the north and north-eastern coasts. Between sunrise and midday our progress was much r.e.t.a.r.ded by light south-easterly winds. At noon we were in 17 degrees 51 minutes 45 seconds South: after which the sea-breeze set in from South-South-West and South-West, and we steered to the southward. The land was now visible considerably to the southward of Point Gantheaume, but of a very low and sandy character; and as we proceeded it came in sight to the South-South-West. At sunset we anch.o.r.ed about five or six miles to the north of Captain Baudin's Cape Villaret; the extreme, which was in sight a little without it, was doubtless his Cape Latouche-Treville. From Cape Villaret the land trended to the East-North-East, and was seen very nearly to join the sh.o.r.e at the back of Point Gantheaume.

The dew was precipitated as copiously this evening as the last, and the sun set in a very dense bank; but the night was throughout fine. We now began to experience a more considerable set of tide than we had found since rounding Cape Leveque, for the rate was as much as a knot and a half; but as the tides were neaped it only rose nine feet.

At an anchorage near this spot, in the year 1699, Captain Dampier remarks that the tide rose and fell five fathoms, and ran so strong that his nun-buoy would not watch: but the French expedition, at an anchorage a little to the southward, found the flood-tide to set South-South-East and to rise only nine feet, the moon being then three days past her full. All these particulars have been mentioned, since it is from the nature of the tides that Captain Dampier formed his hypothesis of the existence of either a strait or an opening between this and the Rosemary Islands; but from our experience it would appear more probable that these great tides are occasioned by the numerous inlets that intersect the coast between this and Cape Voltaire; a further examination, however, can only prove the real cause.

August 26.

At daylight (26th) we weighed with a light breeze from South-West, but soon afterwards falling calm, and the tide drifting us to the South-East the anchor was again dropped: ten minutes afterwards a land breeze from East-South-East sprung up, to which we again weighed, but no sooner were we under sail than we were enveloped in a thick mist that blew off the land, where it had been collecting for the last two days. At eleven o'clock the fog cleared away to seaward, but the land was screened from our view until noon, when a sea breeze from west gradually dispersed the fog, and the hillocky summit of Cape Latouche-Treville was seen, bearing South 17 degrees West. At half-past twelve two rocky lumps on the land to the westward of Cape Villaret were seen, and very soon afterwards the hill on the cape made its appearance. Between Capes Villaret and Latouche-Treville is a bay formed by very low sandy land, slightly clothed with a stunted vegetation. The wind was now unfavourable for our approaching the land, and after standing off to sea and then towards the sh.o.r.e we anch.o.r.ed in thirteen fathoms coa.r.s.e sand.

At this anchorage we found a still greater difference in the tides than was experienced the night preceding; the flood set South-East by East and East-South-East; and the ebb from North-North-East round to West-North-West; the rise was sixteen feet and a half, from which it would appear probable that there must be some reason for so great an indraught of water into the bight between Cape Villaret and Point Gantheaume, which I have named Roebuck Bay, after the ship that Captain Dampier commanded when he visited this part of the coast.

As the wind now blew constantly from the South-West, or from some southern direction, and caused our progress to be very slow and tedious; and as the sh.o.r.e for some distance to the southward of Cape Latouche-Treville had been partly seen by the French, I resolved upon leaving the coast. Our water was also nearly expended, and our provisions, generally, were in a very bad state; besides which the want of a second anchor was so much felt that we dared not venture into any difficulty where the appearance of the place invited a particular investigation, on account of the exposed nature of the coast, and the strength of the tides, which were now near the springs: upon every consideration, therefore, it was not deemed prudent to rely any longer upon the good fortune that had hitherto so often attended us in our difficulties.

August 27.

Accordingly after weighing, we steered off by the wind, and directed our course for Mauritius.

1821. September 22.

On the 22nd September at daylight after a pa.s.sage of twenty-five days we saw Roderigues, five or six leagues to the northward. In the evening a fresh gale sprung up from the southward and we experienced very bad weather: at noon of the 24th by our calculation we were seventy-three miles due East from the north end of Mauritius and, having the day before experienced a westerly current of one mile per hour, we brought to at sunset for the night, from the fear of getting too near the sh.o.r.e.

September 25.

At daylight the following morning, being by the reckoning only thirty-four miles to the eastward of the north end of the island, we bore up for it; but the land, being enveloped in clouds, was not seen until noon; we then found ourselves off the south-east end, instead of the north point; having been set to the southward since yesterday noon at the rate of three quarters of a mile an hour: in consequence of which we determined upon going round the south side, and bore up for that purpose; upon approaching the land we found another current setting us to the north.

September 26.

The next morning at nine o'clock we pa.s.sed round the Morne Brabant, the south-west point of the island, but it was four o'clock before we reached our anchorage (at a cable's length within the flag beacon at the entrance of Port Louis) in fifteen fathoms mud; we were then visited by the Health Officer, and afterwards by a boat from H.M. Ship Menai, which was at anchor in the port.

September 27.

But as it was too late that evening to enter the brig was not moved until the following morning, when she was warped in and moored head and stern within the harbour.

My wants were immediately made known to Captain Moresby, C.B. (of H.M.

Ship Menai) who directed the necessary repairs to be performed by the carpenters of his ship; those articles which could not be supplied from the Menai's stores were advertised for in the Mauritius Gazette, when the most reasonable tenders were accepted.

As many of the carpenters and caulkers of the Menai as could be spared from their other occupations were daily employed upon our repairs; but from her being put into quarantine and other unforeseen delays they were not completed for nearly a month: our sails were repaired by the Menai's sailmakers; and, as all our running rigging was condemned and we had very little spare rope on board, her rope-makers made sufficient for our wants. The greater part of our bread, being found in a damaged state from leaks, was surveyed and condemned.

Captain Flinders' account of Mauritius appears to have been drawn up with much correctness and judgment, and is, even at the present day, so descriptive of the island as to be considered, both by the English and French residents of Port Louis, as the best that has yet been given to the world. Many alterations and considerable improvements have however taken place since his departure, and among the latter the improved system of the culture of the sugar cane, and the introduction of modern machinery into their mills, may be particularly mentioned. These have been effected entirely by the political changes that have, since Captain Flinders' captivity, taken place in the government of the island; and by the example and exertions of the English, who possess very large plantations, and indeed may be considered now as the princ.i.p.al proprietors of the land.

(*Footnote. It afforded me very great pleasure to hear the high terms in which my late friend and predecessor Captain Flinders was spoken of by the inhabitants of this island, and their general regret at his infamous detention. His friend M. Pitot had lately died, but I met many French gentlemen who were acquainted with him. General Decaen, the governor, was so much disliked by the inhabitants that Captain Flinders gained many friends at his expense who would not otherwise have troubled themselves about him; and this circ.u.mstance probably went far towards increasing the severity of the treatment he so unjustly received. An anecdote of him was related to me by a resident of Port Louis, which, as it redounds to his honour, I cannot lose the gratification of recording.

When Captain Flinders was at the house of Madame d'Arifat in the district of Plains Wilhelms, in which he was latterly permitted to reside upon his parole, an opportunity of escaping from the island was offered to him by the commander of a ship bound to India: it was urged to him by his friends that, from the tyrannical treatment he had received and the unjustifiable detention he was enduring, no parole to such a man as General Decaen ought to be thought binding or prevent him from regaining his liberty and embracing any opportunity of returning to his friends and country. The escape was well planned, and no chance of discovery likely to happen: the ship sailed from Port Louis, and at night, bringing to on the leeward side of the island abreast of Captain Flinders' residence, sent a boat to the appointed spot which was six miles only from Madame d'Arifat's house; but after waiting until near daylight without the captain making his appearance the boat returned to the vessel, which was obliged to pursue her voyage to prevent suspicion.

It is almost needless to add that Captain Flinders did not think it consistent with his feelings to take advantage of the opportunity, nor to effect his escape from imprisonment by a conduct so disgraceful to the character of a British officer and to the honourable profession to which he belonged.)

For some years past coffee has entirely failed upon the island and cotton is seldom seen growing. The princ.i.p.al attention of the habitans appeared to be given to the cultivation of the sugar cane and maize, both of which had begun to produce an abundant return to the planters; the manihot is also generally cultivated: but the dreadful effects of the hurricanes to which this island is exposed render property of so precarious and doubtful a tenure that nothing is secure until the season for these destructive visitations is over; they last from the beginning of December to the end of April and generally occur about the full of the moon, being invariably preceded by an unsteady motion of the mercury in the barometer. They are not always so violent as to be termed hurricanes: the last experienced before our visit was merely a coup de vent, by which very little damage was sustained.*

(*Footnote. In the month of January, 1824 this unfortunate island was again visited and laid waste by a tremendous hurricane that did very considerable damage, and has in a great measure destroyed the prosperous state which the island was beginning to arrive at from the previous long absence of this dreadful visitation.)

The town of Port Louis which is at the north-west, or leeward, side of the island, is built at the extremity of an amphitheatre of low land, backed in by a high and precipitous range, upon which Peter Botte and the Pouce are conspicuous features. The streets are laid out at rightangles, the princ.i.p.al of which lead from the Chaussee to the Champ de Mars, a plot of gra.s.sy land about half a mile square that intervenes between the town and the hills. This is the promenade, the drive, the racecourse, and, in fact, the princ.i.p.al resort for the inhabitants. It is skirted by houses and gardens and is a valuable acquisition to the town. The Chaussee and other streets are well furnished with useful shops of which those of the Tinman, the Druggist, and the Conservateur et Patissier, are the most numerous.

The houses, generally of wood, are irregularly built, and far from being elegant in their appearance; those however that have been lately constructed by our countrymen have already given the place an appearance of solidity that it could not boast of before, and several substantial stone dwellings and stones have lately been erected. The roads for seven or eight miles out of the town, leading to Pamplemousses, to Plains Wilhelms and to Moca districts, are very good and are kept in repair partly by Malabar convicts from India; but travelling beyond that distance is performed in palanquins which four bearers will carry, at a steady pace, at the rate of six miles per hour.

At the time of our visit there were few fruits ripe; but when we were about to sail the mango of delicious flavour began to be common; besides which there were coconuts, guavas, papaws, grapes, the letchy (or let-chis, a Chinese fruit) and some indifferent pineapples. The ship's company were supplied daily with fresh beef and vegetables. The latter were procured in abundance at the bazaar and were exceedingly fine, particularly carrots and cabbages of an unusually large size and fine flavour. Bullocks are imported into the island from Madagascar, in which trade there are two vessels constantly engaged during the fine season.

Horses are very scarce; they are imported from the Cape of Good Hope and fetch a high price: a cargo of a hundred and seventy-seven mules arrived from Buenos Ayres while we were at Port Louis, which, on being sold by auction, averaged each one hundred and eighty dollars. To encourage the importation of these useful animals a premium of five dollars is offered by the government for every mule that is brought alive to the island.