Narrative of the Voyage of H.M.S. Rattlesnake Volume Ii Part 4

SAIL FROM REDSCAR BAY.

December 31st.

We sailed yesterday from our anchorage in Redscar Bay, but did not clear the sunken ridge of coral in the offing--a submarine extension of the Barrier Reef, stretching between Low Island and the vicinity of South-west Cape--until this forenoon, when we got out of soundings. The Bramble is to remain behind for three or four weeks upon the coast, to fill up various blanks in the chart between this and Rossel Island, while we are to make the best of our way to the Duchateau Islands, to obtain a meridian distance, and thence proceed direct to Sydney.

January 6th, 1850.

Our pa.s.sage to the Duchateau Isles, a distance of less than 400 miles, has been protracted by the prevalence of light winds, although these were generally favourable, or from the westward. Occasional calms, squalls, and rain occurred, but the weather generally was finer than during the South-East monsoon.

CLEARNESS OF THE ATMOSPHERE.

As an instance of the clearness of the atmosphere, so different from what we had usually experienced during our former visit to these sh.o.r.es, it may be mentioned, that on one occasion during a light breeze from the north-west we clearly saw Mount Yule (10,046 feet high) and the summit of Mount Owen Stanley, distant respectively, one hundred and twenty, and eighty miles from the ship. On this occasion also we had a full view of the whole of Mount Astrolabe, which although 3,824 feet in greatest height, and appearing to D'Urville as he ran past to be the highest land on this portion of the coast, is rendered quite insignificant by the lofty though distant range behind. Mount Astrolabe differs in character from any other of the New Guinea mountains seen by us, indicating a different geological formation. The summit extends thirteen miles, running parallel with the coastline and distant from it about eight miles. Viewed from the south-westward the outline is regular, exhibiting a series of nearly flat tops with slight interruptions, but from the southward it appears as a succession of terraces or projecting cliffs, precipitous in front near the summit, with a long steep slope below, probably of debris, while the flat top slopes backwards with a very gentle declivity. Owen Stanley Range again presented quite a different aspect as seen on the occasion alluded to, when nearly one half of its whole length (300 miles) from Mount Yule to Heath Bay was in full view: the outline was irregular but never suddenly so, and no peaks or other remarkable points were seen.

I may mention here in relation to this part of New Guinea, though not in continuance of the narrative, that the Barrier Reef, beginning (or ending) at Low Island, is continued to the southward and eastward for 150 miles, as far as Cape Colombier, generally following the trend of the coast, at a distance off it from three to fifteen miles. A long strip of apparently navigable water is thus enclosed between the reef and the sh.o.r.e, with numerous pa.s.sages, many of which appeared to be clear to Lieutenant Yule as he pa.s.sed along close to the outer margin of the reef.

HARBOURS INSIDE THE BARRIER REEF.

Some good harbours doubtless exist here; the Bramble pa.s.sed through Roundhead Entrance and found good anchorage in fifteen fathoms immediately inside. The whole of this extent of coast appeared to be well peopled. On the western side of Mount Astrolabe, for instance, numerous villages and patches of cultivated land were seen from the Bramble.

THE SAGO PALM.

Both in Redscar Bay and for the first two or three days after leaving it numbers of sago palms, some quite recent, were observed on the water, occasionally with b.o.o.bies and noddies perched upon them. These trees had probably grown upon the banks of the rivers of the bay, and been washed away by the undermining of the low alluvial banks on which they grow, and carried out to sea by the current. Along several of the freshwater channels on the western side of the Great Bight examined by the Fly's boats in 1844, I had seen this palm growing on the margin of the stream in great profusion, and according to Giaom, the bisi tree (as she called it) is occasionally carried by the winds and currents as far south as the Prince of Wales Islands, when the natives scoop out the soft spongy inner wood, wash it well with fresh water, beat it up into a pulp, separate the farinaceous substance which falls to the bottom of the vessel, and bake it as bread. On no part of the coast of New Guinea, however, did we ever see any of this sago bread, which is known to const.i.tute the princ.i.p.al food of the inhabitants of the north-west coast of that great island.*

(*Footnote. Forrest endeavours to show that an acre of ground planted with 300 sago palms will maintain fourteen men, as each tree produces 300 pounds of sago flour, when arrived at full maturity in its seventh year.

Voyage to New Guinea and the Moluccas in 1774 to 1776 by Captain Thomas Forrest second edition page 44.)

On one occasion lately the water was discoloured by a conferva resembling the sea-sawdust of Captain Cook, with which it was found to agree generically in consisting of long filaments joined together by a softer gelatinous-looking substance. The present species, however, is six times larger than the more common sort, some of which was mixed up with it, their diameters as ascertained by Mr. Huxley, being respectively 8 1/2 over 5000 and 1 1/8 over 5000 of an inch.

Today we stood in for the Duchateau Isles, and, rounding them to the westward, anch.o.r.ed in the afternoon in seventeen fathoms, with the central island bearing south, distant one mile.

SHOOTING PARTY ON DUCHATEAU ISLES.

January 7th.

Along with a shooting party I landed soon after daylight on the westernmost Duchateau Island. Numbers of Nicobar pigeons left the island as we approached, having apparently used it merely as a roosting-place.

HABITS OF DUPERREY'S MEGAPODIUS.

Heavy showers and thunderclouds pa.s.sed over at intervals during the whole morning, rendering our shooting not quite so successful as it might have been; still we procured about fifty pigeons and a few of Duperrey's megapodius. In habits this last bird resembles the Australian species, especially in constructing enormous mounds for the reception of its eggs.

Those which I saw averaged five feet in height and fifteen in diameter, and were composed of the sandy soil of the neighbourhood, mixed up with rotten sticks and leaves, but without any sh.e.l.ls or coral. Some were placed on the outer margin of the thickets close to the beach, and others were scattered about more inland. As several of these mounds showed indications of having lately been opened by the birds, I entertained hopes of being able to procure an egg, but after digging several pits three feet in depth, with no more efficient implements than my hands, I had to give up the work from sheer exhaustion. This bird is apparently very pugnacious at times, as I frequently saw them chasing each other along the ground, running with great swiftness, and uttering their cry more loudly than usual, stopping short suddenly and again starting off in pursuit. The cry consists of one or two shrill notes, uttered at intervals and ending in a hurried tremulous cry repeated five or six times. The noise made by this megapodius while scratching among the dead leaves for food may sometimes be imitated with such success as to bring the bird running up within gunshot. When suddenly forced to rise from the ground it flies up into a tree, and remains there motionless, but exceedingly vigilant, ready to start on the approach of anyone, but on other occasions it trusts to its legs to escape. Its food is entirely procured on the ground, and consists of insects and their larvae (especially the pupae of ants) small snails, and various fallen seeds and fruits. Although a great number of the Nicobar pigeons had left, many yet remained, and the whole island resounded with their cry mixed up with the cooing of the Nutmeg pigeon. Little skill is required in shooting these birds, for they generally admit of very close approach, as if trusting to the chance of being overlooked among the dense foliage.

ARE VISITED BY NATIVES.

January 8th.

During the night a party of natives in five canoes came over from the Calvados Group, and first attracted our attention by making several fires on the middle and easternmost islands. Soon after daybreak they came alongside in their usual boisterous manner. A few words of their language which were procured proved to be of great interest by agreeing generally with those formerly obtained at Brierly Island, while the numerals were quite different and corresponded somewhat with those of my Brumer Island vocabulary. Two of the canoes--one of which carried sixteen people--were large and heavy and came off under sail, tacking outside of us and fetching under the ship's stern. In these large canoes the paddles are of proportionate size and very clumsy--they are worked as oars with the aid of cane grommets--the sail is of the large oblong shape formerly described. One of the canoes was furnished with a small stage above the platform for the reception of a large bundle of coa.r.s.e mats, six feet long and two and a half broad, made by interlacing the leaflets of the cocoa-palm; these mats are probably used in the construction of temporary huts when upon a cruise.

Although rather a better sample of the Papuan race than that which we had lately seen at Redscar Bay, there was no marked physical distinction between these inhabitants of the Louisiade and the New Guinea men. The canoes, however, are as different as the language; here, as throughout the Archipelago, the canoes have the semblance of a narrow coffin-like box, resting upon a hollowed-out log, the bow having the two characteristic ornaments of the tabura, or head-board, and the crest-like carved woodwork running out along the beak. Some of the natives were recognised as former visitors to the ship. Nearly all were painted, chiefly on the face, the favourite pattern being series of white bars and spots on a black ground. Except their ornaments and weapons, they had little to give us for the iron hoop so much in request with them; only a few coconuts, and scarcely any yams were obtained, and to the latter they attached a much higher value than formerly.

SAIL FOR SYDNEY.

At length the natives left us, three canoes making to the northward, and two returning to the Duchateau Isles. Morning observations for rating the chronometers having been obtained, we got underweigh soon afterwards, and, bidding farewell to the Louisiade Archipelago, commenced our voyage to Sydney.

Our daily average progress during the pa.s.sage to Sydney (which occupied a period of twenty-eight days) was less than fifty miles. The winds for the first few days, or until beyond the influence of the land, were light and variable, shifting between South-West and North-East by the northward, and accompanied by occasional squalls and rain. It became a matter of difficulty to determine when we got into the south-east trade; it was not until we had reached lat.i.tude 20 degrees South that the wind--light on the preceding day, but on this strong, with squalls and rain--appeared steady between East-South-East and South-South-East and this carried us down to Sandy Cape.

REEFS OF THE CORAL SEA.

In traversing the Coral Sea, the numerous detached reefs were so carefully avoided that we saw none of them--thus in one sense it is to be regretted that the pa.s.sage through them of a surveying vessel, with seventeen chronometers on board, was productive of no beneficial result by determining the exact position of any one of these dangerous reefs, most of which are only approximately laid down upon the charts.*

(*Footnote. About this time a new reef was discovered during the pa.s.sage from Cape Deliverance to Sydney of H.M.S. Meander, Captain the Honourable H. Keppel. While this sheet was pa.s.sing through the press, I saw an announcement of the total wreck upon Kenn Reef--one of those the position of which is uncertain--of a large merchant ship, the pa.s.sengers and crew of which, 33 in number, fortunately however, succeeded in reaching Moreton Bay in their boat--a distance of 400 miles.)

PRACTICAL RESULTS OF THE SURVEY.

The most important practical result of Captain Stanley's survey of the Louisiade Archipelago and the south coast of New Guinea, was the ascertaining the existence of a clear channel of at least 30 miles in width along the southern sh.o.r.es of these islands, stretching east and west between Cape Deliverance and the north-east entrance to Torres Strait--a distance of about 600 miles. This s.p.a.ce was so traversed by the two vessels of the expedition without any detached reefs being discovered, that it does not seem probable that any such exist there, with the exception of the Eastern Fields of Flinders, the position and extent of which may be regarded as determined with sufficient accuracy for the purposes of navigation, and the reefs alluded to in Volume 1, which, if they exist at all, and are not merely the Eastern Fields laid down far to the eastward of their true position, must be sought for further to the southward. The sh.o.r.es in question may now be approached with safety, and vessels may run along them either by day or night under the guidance of the chart--without incurring the risk of coming upon unknown reefs, such as doubtless exist in other parts of the Coral Sea further to the southward--judging from the occasional discovery of a new one by some vessel which had got out of the beaten track. Whalers will no doubt find it worth their while--with the characteristic enterprise of their cla.s.s--to push into those parts of the Coral Sea now first thrown open to them, and, although we have not as yet sufficient grounds to warrant the probability of success in the fishery, yet I may mention that whales were seen on several occasions from both of our vessels.

USEFUL PRODUCTIONS OF NEW GUINEA.

This naturally originates the question--to what extent do the Louisiade Archipelago and the south-east coast of New Guinea afford a field for commercial enterprise? What description of trade can be established there by bartering European goods for the productions of these countries?

Unfortunately at present most of the evidence on this point is of a negative kind. Besides articles of food, such as pigs, yams, and coconuts, and weapons and ornaments of no marketable value--tortoise-sh.e.l.l, flax, arrowroot, ma.s.soy bark, and feathers of the birds of paradise were seen by us, it is true, but in such small quant.i.ties as to hold out at present no inducement for traders to resort to these coasts for the purpose of procuring them. That gold exists in the western and northern portions of New Guinea has long been known, that it exists also on the south-eastern sh.o.r.es of that great island is equally true, as a specimen of pottery procured at Redscar Bay contained a few small laminar grains of this precious metal. The clay in which the gold is embedded was probably part of the great alluvial deposit on the banks of the rivers, the mouths of which we saw in that neighbourhood, doubtless originating in the high mountains behind, part of the Owen Stanley Range.

It is evident, however, that our acquaintance with the productions of a great extent of coastline upon which we never once landed must be very slight, but with that little we must be content until some more complete exploration of the sh.o.r.es, which were only cursorily examined, and especially of the rivers of the Great Bight--which seem to offer a ready means of penetrating far into the interior of New Guinea--shall have been effected. That an expedition with this end in view will soon be undertaken is, however, highly improbable, the survey of the Rattlesnake having completed all that was requisite for the immediate purposes of navigation in those parts.

GEOLOGICAL REMARKS.

The fact of the existence of several active volcanoes on islands immediately adjacent to the north coast of New Guinea (first made known by Dampier) and the circ.u.mstance of volcanic bands traversing the length of many of the great islands of the Malayan Archipelago, and others as far to the southward as New Caledonia and New Zealand, rendered it extremely probable that we should have found indisputable signs of comparatively recent volcanic action in the south-east part of New Guinea. We saw no volcanoes, however, and the great central mountain chain appeared to me to be probably granitic. The large Brumer Island is composed of igneous rocks as formerly mentioned; and at Dufaure Island I obtained from some canoes which came off to us a few smooth water-worn pieces of hornblendic porphyry. Some specimens of obsidian, or volcanic gla.s.s, were also procured from the natives at the latter place, where sharp-edged fragments are used for shaving with; one variety is black, another of a light reddish-brown, with dark streaks. Mount Astrolabe is apparently of trap formation, as I have already stated. Some conical hills scattered along the coast may possibly be of volcanic origin, especially one of that form rising to the height of 645 feet from the lowland behind Redscar Head. It is in this neighbourhood also that we find the upraised calcareous rocks of modern date exhibited by the Pariwara Islands and the neighbouring headland, with which they were probably once continuous; near this, too, the barrier reef of the coast ceases at Low Island, which it encloses, although its line is continued under water, as a ridge of coral, as far as the South-west Cape, where the coral ends, unless the shoals apparently blocking up the channel south of Yule Island are of the same formation.

LOUISIADE ARCHIPELAGO.

Reference to the outline chart will enable the reader to follow me in some general remarks which did not properly enter into the narrative. The Louisiade Archipelago, reduced to what I conceive to be its natural limits, includes that extensive group of islands comprised between the parallels of 10 degrees 40 minutes and 11 degrees 40 minutes South lat.i.tude, and the meridians of 151 degrees and 154 degrees 30 minutes East longitude. About eighty are already known, and probably many others remain yet to be discovered in the north-west, a large s.p.a.ce there being as yet a blank upon the chart. All the islands of the group, with the exception of the low ones of coral formation to the westward, appear to be inhabited, but probably nowhere very densely, judging from the comparatively small number of natives which we saw, and the circ.u.mstance of the patches of cultivation being small and scattered, while the greater part of the large islands is either covered with dense forest, or exhibits extensive gra.s.sy tracts with lines and clumps of trees. Such of the islands as were examined consisted of mica slate, the line of direction of the beds of which is nearly the same as that of the Archipelago itself, and the physical appearance of the other islands leads me to believe that the same rock prevails there also.

CORAL REEFS OF THE LOUISIADE ARCHIPELAGO DESCRIBED.

One of the most remarkable features connected with the Louisiade Archipelago is the manner in which its sh.o.r.es are protected by the coral reefs which have frequently been alluded to above. The princ.i.p.al of these are good examples of that kind distinguished by the name of barrier reefs. Rossel Reef has already been described, and the only other large one of this description which we saw more than a portion of, is that partially encircling South-east Island at a variable distance from the land, then pa.s.sing to the westward as far as longitude 152 degrees 40 minutes, where it ceases to show itself above water; thence, however, the edge of a bank of soundings (represented on the chart by a dotted line) which is suddenly met with in coming from the deep blue unfathomed water to the southward, can be traced in a continued line to the westward as far as the Jomard Isles, whence it turns round to the northward for ten miles further, where our examination ended. This last may be considered as a submarine extension of the barrier, which probably reappears again above water, and pa.s.sing to the northward of the Calvados Group, reaches as far as the northern entrance to Coral Haven, enclosing nearly all the high islands of the Archipelago. The expanse of water inside when not occupied by land usually exhibits a depth of from 15 to 30 fathoms, with numerous sunken patches of coral, and several reefs which partially dry at low-water. The sh.o.r.es of the islands also are generally protected by fringing coral reefs, the largest of which is that extending off the west and south side of Piron Island to a distance of seven or eight miles, with a well defined border towards Coral Haven.

At the western portion of the Louisiade Archipelago the reefs seen by us exhibit great irregularity of outline, continuity, and width. Some are linear reefs, others atolls* more or less distinct in character, and the remainder are usually round or oval. Viewed as a whole they form an interrupted chain, with numerous deepwater channels, which terminates in the West Barrier Reef of the chart but is connected with the coast of New Guinea by a bank of soundings, with, probably, a well-defined margin.

Many low, wooded islands are scattered along this line. I know of no distinguishing feature presented by the coral reefs of the Louisiade compared with those which I have seen elsewhere. One remarkable occurrence, however, connected with them, may be mentioned. While pa.s.sing in the ship the most northern point of Rossel Island, I observed upon the reef, about a hundred yards inside its outer border, a series of enormous insulated ma.s.ses of dead coral rising like rocks from the shallow water.

The largest of these, examined through a good telescope from the distance of half a mile, was about twenty feet in length and twelve in height, with a well-defined high-water mark. It formed quite a miniature island, with tufts of herbage growing in the clefts of its rugged sides, and a little colony of black-naped terns perched upon the top as if incubating.

(*Footnote. "An atoll differs from an encircling barrier reef only in the absence of land within its central expanse; and a barrier reef differs from a fringing reef in being placed at a much greater distance from the land with reference to the probable inclination of its submarine foundation, and in the presence of a deep water lagoon-like s.p.a.ce or moat within the reef." The Structure and Distribution of Coral Reefs by Charles Darwin page 146.)

THEORY OF THEIR FORMATION.

I had only once before seen a similar exhibition of such great and permanently elevated ma.s.ses of dead coral upon a living reef--a phenomenon of much interest in connection with Mr. Darwin's theory of the mode of formation of coral reefs. This was on a portion of the Great Barrier Reef of Australia, visited in company with Mr. Jukes, who has published a detailed account of it.* In both cases the only obvious explanation is that these huge blocks--too ma.s.sive to have been hove up from deep water into their present position by any storm--reached their present level by the elevation of the sea bottom on which they were formed.

(*Footnote. Voyage of H.M.S. Fly by J.B. Jukes volume 1 page 340.)

Before quitting the subject of the coral reefs of the Louisiade I may be permitted to express my conviction of the perfect manner in which many, perhaps all of the appearances which they present may be satisfactorily accounted for by the application of Mr. Darwin's theory. We have only to presume the whole of the Archipelago to have once formed part of New Guinea--a supposition highly probable in itself (suggested even by a careful examination of the large charts) and strengthened by the total absence of signs of volcanic agency in what the theory in question would require to be an area of subsidence as opposed to those of elevation, such as are known to exist in parts of New Guinea.