Narrative of the Voyage of H.M.S. Rattlesnake Volume I Part 22

We had been becalmed all the morning, but before noon the seabreeze set in from the South-South-East, and we got underweigh, ran past South-west Cape, and anch.o.r.ed in 22 fathoms mud, off a large island afterwards named in honour of Lieutenant Yule.

September 27th.

This has proved a very uneasy anchorage under the combined influence of a strong breeze from the south-east and a heavy sea. At one P.M. we got underweigh in company with the Bramble, and left the coast of New Guinea, running to the westward for Cape York, in order to meet the vessel with our supplies from Sydney.

Next evening Bramble Cay was seen on our weather beam; being so low and so small an object, we had nearly missed it. We hauled upon a wind immediately but could not fetch its lee, so anch.o.r.ed two and a half miles North-west by West from it. Great numbers of b.o.o.bies and noddies came about us, but our distance from the sh.o.r.e was too great and our stay too short to send on sh.o.r.e for birds' eggs.

September 29th.

With a strong south-easterly breeze we pa.s.sed to the westward of Campbell and Stephens Islands, the Bramble leading, and anch.o.r.ed in the evening near Marsden Island. On Campbell Island, numbers of the natives came down to the edge of the reef, waving to us as we pa.s.sed by, and inviting us to land. There were many coconut-trees, and we saw a village on the north-west side of the island, beautifully situated on the shady skirts of the wood. The huts resemble those of Darnley Island, being shaped like a hayc.o.c.k or beehive, with a projecting central pole ornamented with a large sh.e.l.l or two attached to it. Most of the huts were situated in small enclosures, and there were other portions of ground fenced in with tall bamboo paling.

On the following day the Bramble* left us for b.o.o.by Island, to call at the post office there, and rejoin company at Cape York, and we reached as far as the neighbourhood of Coconut Island at noon, pa.s.sing close to Arden Island, then covered with prodigious numbers of blue and white herons, small terns, curlews, and other waders.

(*Footnote. On his return, Lieutenant Yule reported that the boats of an American whaler, lost on the Alert Reef (outside the Barrier) had reached b.o.o.by Island, and the crews had been saved from starvation by the depot of provisions there. That this supply will be renewed from time to time is most likely, as the Legislative Council of New South Wales, last year, voted the sum of 50 pounds for provisions to be left on b.o.o.by Island for the use of shipwrecked people.)

October 1st.

We had a fine breeze and pleasant weather, and in the afternoon reached our former anchorage in Evans Bay, Cape York, and moored ship in seven fathoms. A party was immediately sent to examine the waterholes, which promised, after a little clearing out, as abundant a supply as they afforded us last year. We met some of the natives who came down to the rocks as the boat landed, and among them I saw many old acquaintances who joyfully greeted us.

CHAPTER 1.8.

Rescue a white Woman from Captivity among the Natives.

Her History.

Bramble and boats complete the Survey of Torres Strait.

Wini and the Mulgrave Islanders.

Intercourse with the Cape York Natives.

Nearly quarrel with them at a night dance.

Witness a Native fight.

Discover some fine country.

Incidents of our stay.

Many new Birds found.

Remarks on the Climate, etc. of Cape York.

On the day after our arrival at Cape York the vessel from Sydney with our supplies anch.o.r.ed beside us, and besides provisions and stores, we had the additional pleasure of receiving five months' news from home.

HISTORY OF A WHITE WOMAN TAKEN BY THE BLACKS.

On October 16th, a startling incident occurred to break the monotony of our stay. In the afternoon some of our people on sh.o.r.e were surprised to see a young white woman come up to claim their protection from a party of natives from whom she had recently made her escape, and who, she thought, would otherwise bring her back. Of course she received every attention, and was taken on board the ship by the first boat, when she told her story, which is briefly as follows. Her name is Barbara Thomson: she was born at Aberdeen in Scotland, and along with her parents, emigrated to New South Wales. About four years and a half ago she left Moreton Bay with her husband in a small cutter (called the America) of which he was owner, for the purpose of picking up some of the oil from the wreck of a whaler, lost on the Bampton Shoal, to which place one of her late crew undertook to guide them; their ultimate intention was to go on to Port Essington. The man who acted as pilot was unable to find the wreck, and after much quarrelling on board in consequence, and the loss of two men by drowning, and of another who was left upon a small uninhabited island, they made their way up to Torres Strait, where, during a gale of wind, their vessel struck upon a reef on the Eastern Prince of Wales Island.

The two remaining men were lost in attempting to swim on sh.o.r.e through the surf, but the woman was afterwards rescued by a party of natives on a turtling excursion, who, when the gale subsided, swam on board, and supported her on sh.o.r.e between two of their number. One of these blacks, Boroto by name, took possession of the woman as his share of the plunder; she was compelled to live with him, but was well treated by all the men, although many of the women, jealous of the attention shown her, for a long time evinced anything but kindness. A curious circ.u.mstance secured for her the protection of one of the princ.i.p.al men of the tribe a party from which had been the fortunate means of rescuing her, and which she afterwards found to be the Kowrarega, chiefly inhabiting Muralug, or the Western Prince of Wales Island. This person, named Piaquai, acting upon the belief (universal throughout Australia and the Islands of Torres Strait so far as. .h.i.therto known) that white people are the ghosts of the aborigines, fancied that in the stranger he recognised a long-lost daughter of the name of Giaom, and at once admitted her to the relationship which he thought had formerly subsisted between them; she was immediately acknowledged by the whole tribe as one of themselves, thus ensuring an extensive connection in relatives of all denominations.

From the headquarters of the tribe with which Giaom thus became a.s.sociated being upon an island which all vessels pa.s.sing through Torres Strait from the eastward must approach within two or three miles, she had the mortification of seeing from twenty to thirty or more ships go through every summer without anchoring in the neighbourhood, so as to afford the slightest opportunity of making her escape. Last year she heard of our two vessels (described as two war canoes, a big and a little one) being at Cape York--only twenty miles distant--from some of the tribe who had communicated with us and been well treated, but they would not take her over, and even watched her more narrowly than before.

RESCUED FROM CAPTIVITY.

On our second and present visit, however, which the Cape York people immediately announced by smoke signals to their friends in Muralug, she was successful in persuading some of her more immediate friends to bring her across to the mainland within a short distance of where the vessels lay. The blacks were credulous enough to believe that as she had been so long with them, and had been so well treated, she did not intend to leave them--only she felt a strong desire to see the white people once more and shake hands with them; adding, that she would be certain to procure some axes, knives, tobacco, and other much prized articles. This appeal to their cupidity decided the question at once. After landing at the sandy bay on the western side of Cape York, she hurried across to Evans Bay, as quickly as her lameness would allow, fearful that the blacks might change their mind; and well it was that she did so, as a small party of men followed to detain her, but arrived too late. Three of these people were brought on board at her own request, and as they had been instrumental in saving her from the wreck, they were presented with an axe apiece, and other presents.

Upon being asked by Captain Stanley whether she really preferred remaining with us to accompanying the natives back to their island, as she would be allowed her free choice in the matter, she was so much agitated as to find difficulty in expressing her thankfulness, making use of sc.r.a.ps of English alternately with the Kowrarega language, and then, suddenly awaking to the recollection that she was not understood, the poor creature blushed all over, and with downcast eyes, beat her forehead with her hand, as if to a.s.sist in collecting her scattered thoughts.

HER HISTORY.

At length, after a pause, she found words to say: "Sir, I am a Christian, and would rather go back to my own friends." At the same time, it was remarked by everyone that she had not lost the feelings of womanly modesty--even after having lived so long among naked blacks; she seemed acutely to feel the singularity of her position--dressed only in a couple of shirts, in the midst of a crowd of her own countrymen.

When first seen on sh.o.r.e our new shipmate presented so dirty and wretched an appearance that some people who were out shooting at first mistook her for a gin, and were pa.s.sing by without taking further notice, when she called out to them in English: "I am a white woman, why do you leave me?"

With the exception of a narrow fringe of leaves in front, she wore no clothing, and her skin was tanned and blistered with the sun, and showed the marks of several large burns which had been received from sleeping too near the fire on cold nights; besides, she was suffering from ophthalmia, which had previously deprived her of the sight of one eye.

But good living, and every comfort (for Captain Stanley kindly provided her with a cabin and a seat at his table) combined with medical attention, very soon restored her health, and she was eventually handed over to her parents in Sydney in excellent condition.

Although perfectly illiterate, Mrs. Thomson had made good use of her powers of observation, and evinced much shrewdness in her remarks upon various subjects connected with her residence among the blacks, joined to great willingness to communicate any information which she possessed.

Much of this will be found in another part of this volume, incorporated with the result of my own observations. Several hundred words of the Kowrarega language, and a portion of its grammar, were also obtained from time to time, and most of these were subsequently verified. And, although she did not understand the language spoken at Cape York, yet, as some of the Gudang people there knew the Kowrarega, through its medium I was usually able to make myself tolerably well understood, and thus obtain an explanation of some matters which had formerly puzzled me, and correct various errors into which I had fallen. It was well, too, that I took an early opportunity of procuring these words, for my informant afterwards forgot much of her lately-acquired language, and her value as an authority on that subject gradually diminished.

PROCEEDINGS WHILE ON BOARD.

Giaom was evidently a great favourite with the blacks, and hardly a day pa.s.sed on which she was not obliged to hold a levee in her cabin for the reception of friends from the sh.o.r.e, while other visitors, less favoured, were content to talk to her through the port. They occasionally brought presents of fish and turtle, but always expected an equivalent of some kind. Her friend, Boroto, the nature of the intimacy with whom was not at first understood, after in vain attempting by smooth words and fair promises to induce her to go back to live with him, left the ship in a rage, and we were not sorry to get rid of so impudent and troublesome a visitor as he had become. Previous to leaving, he had threatened that, should he or any of his friends ever catch his faithless spouse on sh.o.r.e, they would take off her head to carry back with them to Muralug; and so likely to be fulfilled did she consider this threat, being in perfect accordance with their customs, that she never afterwards ventured on sh.o.r.e at Cape York.

SURVEY OF TORRES STRAIT COMPLETED.

During the period of our stay at Cape York, the Bramble, Asp, and Rattlesnake's pinnace were sent away to the western entrance of Torres Strait to finish the survey, and returned after a month's absence.

WINI AND THE MULGRAVE ISLANDERS.

The boats had held no intercourse with any of the natives, except a small party of Kowraregas, the inhabitants of Mulgrave and Banks Islands having carefully avoided them. Hopes had been entertained prior to starting of seeing something of a white man of the name of Wini, who had lived with the Badus for many years. Giaom had seen and conversed with him during a visit to Muralug which he had made in hopes of inducing her to share his fortunes. She supposed him to be a foreigner, from his not appearing to understand the English she used when asked by him to speak in her native tongue. He had reached Mulgrave Island in a boat after having, by his own account, killed his companions, some three or four in number. In course of time he became the most important person in the tribe, having gained an ascendancy by procuring the death of his princ.i.p.al enemies and intimidating others, which led to the establishment of his fame as a warrior, and he became in consequence the possessor of several wives, a canoe, and some property in land, the cultivation of which last he pays great attention to. Wini's character appears from the accounts I have heard--for others corroborated part of Giaom's statement--to be a compound of villainy and cunning, in addition to the ferocity and headstrong pa.s.sions of a thorough savage--it strikes me that he must have been a runaway convict, probably from Norfolk Island. It is fortunate that his sphere of mischief is so limited, for a more dangerous ruffian could not easily be found. As matters stand at present, it is probable that not only during his life, but for years afterwards, every European who falls into the hands of the Badu people will meet with certain death.*

(*Footnote. In further ill.u.s.tration of this a.s.sertion I give the following note with which I have lately been furnished by Mr. J.

Sweatman, R.N., who served in the Bramble at the time of the occurrence of the murder to which it alludes. In June 1846 the supercargo and a boat's crew of a small vessel from Sydney procuring trepang and tortoise-sh.e.l.l in Torres Strait, landed upon Mulgrave Island (the vessel being about seven miles off) in order to barter for tortoise-sh.e.l.l. The natives appeared at first to be friendly enough, but, towards evening some circ.u.mstances occurred which induced the boat's crew to re-embark, and they then went to a small sandbank about a mile off to pa.s.s the night there. The supercargo and three men landed, leaving two men in the boat at anchor; about midnight the latter were alarmed at hearing shouts and yells on sh.o.r.e, and, landing in haste, found that the natives had attacked their comrades, whose muskets being damp, were quite useless.

The supercargo and two men were killed--a shot from the boat however dispersed the natives sufficiently for the two men to drag their surviving comrade into the boat, but he had an arrow through the body, and his hands were partially severed, and he soon died. The bodies of the three people on the sandbank could not be recovered, the natives returning to the attack with showers of arrows, nor could the small force on board the schooner attempt to punish the perpetrators of this unprovoked murder.)

The inhabitants of the neighbouring Banks Island are described by Giaom as evincing the same hostility towards Europeans. Only a few years ago the Italegas, one of the two tribes inhabiting that island, murdered two white men and a boy, who had reached their inhospitable sh.o.r.es in a small boat, probably from a wreck. Such savage outrages committed by the inhabitants of the north-western islands would probably be completely prevented were they oftener visited by Europeans; such was the case with the people of Darnley Island, once dangerous savages, now safely to be dealt with by taking the usual precautions, and where, as at the Murray Islands, I believe strangers in distress, without valuable property, would now be kindly treated.

INTERCOURSE WITH CAPE YORK NATIVES.

We remained nine weeks at our anchorage in Evans Bay. The natives, of whom there were usually a number encamped in the neighbourhood, attracted by the presence of the ship, as vultures by a carca.s.s, continued on perfectly friendly terms, a.s.sisted the wooding and watering parties, brought off fish and portions of turtle to the ship, and accompanied us on our walks on sh.o.r.e. The usual remuneration for their services was biscuit, and, next to that, tobacco, besides which axes and knives were highly prized and occasionally given them. Immediately on landing for the purpose of an excursion, each of us looked out for his kotaiga* from among a crowd of applicants surrounding the boat, the haversack was thrown across his shoulders, and away we started for the bush. It was often difficult for the possessor of a good stock of biscuit to shake off other useless volunteers; these hangers-on, with few exceptions, were more remarkable for their capacity for food than for their powers of endurance, showing a deeply rooted antipathy to any exertion not actually necessary, and for every trifling additional service asking for bisiker muro, choka muro, neipa, or some such thing. Still a few of these same blacks make a very agreeable addition to a shooting party, as besides their services as guides, and in pointing out game, they formed amusing companions and enlivened many a noonday bivouac or dull thirsty march in the hot sun with their songs, jokes, and mimicry.

(*Footnote. Derived from the Kowrarega word Kutaig (younger brother); here in the jargon used between us it signified friend, a.s.sociate, companion, etc.)

INDUCE THEM TO GET UP A NIGHT DANCE.

One evening I was asked to join a party made up for the purpose of witnessing a native dance. Many strange blacks were then encamped on the margin of the beach, and altogether about 150 people belonging to four or five tribes had collected. Not being apprised of our coming they showed much surprise and suspicion at our landing after dark, but, with some trouble, a number were induced by the promise of a quant.i.ty of biscuit to get up a dance round a large fire on the sand to the music of a drum which we had taken with us to announce our approach. The dance after all was a very poor affair--none of the performers were painted and decorated, there was little scenic effect, and they seemed glad when it was over. The bag containing the promised biscuit was most injudiciously handed over to an old woman named Baki, or queena woman Baki, as someone had taught her to call herself, for distribution among the party. She doled out a few handfuls to some women and children who had not been at all concerned in the matter, and would have marched off with the remainder had she not been prevented. The appointment of a woman to this office gave great offence to the men who had been dancing--while not one among them would have scrupled forcibly to deprive her of the whole on the very first opportunity, yet every man there scorned the idea of having to ASK a woman for anything--the consequence was that the performers were not rewarded, and naturally imagined that we had broken faith with them. The discontent increased, some of the men left in a state of great excitement, and went for their spears and throwing sticks.

One or two rockets were sent up soon after to amuse them, on which the few remaining women and children hurried to their sheds of bark and hid their faces in terror. When a blue light was burned, and lit up the gloomy shadows of the neighbouring bush, it disclosed the spectral figures of many armed men among the trees, singly and in groups, intently watching our motions. Paida, who with other native allies of ours still remained with us, was very urgent for us to be off, telling me that spears would be thrown immediately (kaibu kalaka muro); being a kotaig of mine, he considered himself bound to attend to my safety, so conducted me to the boat which he a.s.sisted in shoving off, nor did he retire from the beach until we had got into deep water.

NEARLY QUARREL WITH THEM.

I have alluded to this occurrence, trivial as it may appear, not without an object. It serves as an ill.u.s.tration of the policy of respecting the known customs of the Australian race, even in apparently trifling matters, at least during the early period of intercourse with a tribe, and shows how a little want of judgment in the director of our party caused the most friendly intentions to be misconstrued, and might have led to fatal results.

OBSERVATIONS ON CAUSE OF OFFENCE.

I must confess that I should have considered any injury sustained on our side to have been most richly merited; moreover, I am convinced that some at least of the collisions which have taken place in Australia, between the first European visitors and the natives of any given district, have originated in causes of offence brought on by the indiscretion of one or more of the party, and revenged on others who were innocent. As a memorable instance I may give that which happened during Leichhardt's overland journey to Port Essington, when his camp was attacked one evening, and Mr. Gilbert lost his life. Long afterwards the undoubted cause of this apparently unaccountable attack transpired in the acknowledgment, while intoxicated, by one of the persons concerned, that a gross outrage had been committed upon an aboriginal woman a day or two previously, by the two blacks belonging to the expedition.

One day I witnessed a native fight, which may be described here, as such occurrences, although frequent enough in Australia, have by Europeans been witnessed only in the settled districts. It was one of those smaller fights, or usual modes of settling a quarrel when more than two people are concerned, and a.s.sumed quite the character of a duel upon a large scale. At daybreak, I landed in company with six or seven people who were going out on different shooting parties. The natives came down to the boat as usual, but all carried throwing-sticks--contrary to their usual practice of late; and at the place where they had slept, numbers of spears were stuck up on end in the sand. These preparations surprised me, but Paida would not explain the cause and seemed anxious to get me away.

The shooters marched off--each with his black--but I loitered behind, walking slowly along the beach.