Two Expeditions into the Interior of Southern Australia Part 34

CIRc.u.mSTANCES ATTENDING THE LOSS OF CAPTAIN BARKER.

For a considerable time Mr. Kent remained stationary, in momentary expectation of his return; but at length, taking the two soldiers with him, he proceeded along the sh.o.r.e in search of wood for a fire. At about a quarter of a mile, the soldiers stopped and expressed their wish to return, as their minds misgave them, and they feared that Captain Barker had met with some accident. While conversing, they heard a distant shout, or cry, which Mr. Kent thought resembled the call of the natives, but which the soldiers positively declared to be the voice of a white man.

On their return to their companions, they asked if any sounds had caught their ears, to which they replied in the negative. The wind was blowing from the E.S.E., in which direction Captain Barker had gone; and, to me, the fact of the nearer party not having heard that which must have been his cries for a.s.sistance, is satisfactorily accounted for, as, being immediately under the hill, the sounds must have pa.s.sed over their heads to be heard more distinctly at the distance at which Mr. Kent and the soldiers stood. It is more than probable, that while his men were expressing their anxiety about him, the fearful tragedy was enacting which it has become my painful task to detail.

Evening closed in without any signs of Captain Barker's return, or any circ.u.mstance by which Mr. Kent could confirm his fears that he had fallen into the hands of the natives. For, whether it was that the tribe which had shown such decided hostility to me when on the coast had not observed the party, none made their appearance; and if I except two, who crossed the channel when Mr. Kent was in search of wood, they had neither seen nor heard any; and Captain Barker's enterprising disposition being well known to his men, hopes were still entertained that he was safe. A large fire was kindled, and the party formed a silent and anxious group around it.

Soon after night-fall, however, their attention was roused by the sounds of the natives, and it was at length discovered, that they had lighted a chain of small fires between the sand-hill Captain Barker had ascended and the opposite side of the channel, around which their women were chanting their melancholy dirge. It struck upon the ears of the listeners with an ominous thrill, and a.s.sured them of the certainty of the irreparable loss they had sustained. All night did those dismal sounds echo along that lonely sh.o.r.e, but as morning dawned, they ceased, and Mr. Kent and his companions were again left in anxiety and doubt. They, at length, thought it most advisable to proceed to the schooner to advise with Doctor Davies. They traversed the beach with hasty steps, but did not get on board till the following day. It was then determined to procure a.s.sistance from the sealers on Kangaroo Island, as the only means by which they could ascertain their leader's fate, and they accordingly entered American Harbour. For a certain reward, one of the men agreed to accompany Mr. Kent to the main with a native woman, to communicate with the tribe that was supposed to have killed him. They landed at or near the rocky point of Encounter Bay, where they were joined by two other natives, one of whom was blind. The woman was sent forward for intelligence, and on her return gave the following details:

ACCOUNT OF HIS MURDER.

It appears that at a very considerable distance from the first sand-hill, there is another to which Captain Barker must have walked, for the woman stated that three natives were going to the sh.o.r.e from their tribe, and that they crossed his tract. Their quick perception immediately told them it was an unusual impression. They followed upon it, and saw Captain Barker returning. They hesitated for a long time to approach him, being fearful of the instrument he carried. At length, however, they closed upon him. Capt. Barker tried to soothe them, but finding that they were determined to attack him, he made for the water from which he could not have been very distant. One of the blacks immediately threw his spear and struck him in the hip. This did not, however, stop him. He got among the breakers, when he received the second spear in the shoulder. On this, turning round, he received a third full in the breast: with such deadly precision do these savages cast their weapons. It would appear that the third spear was already on its flight when Capt. Barker turned, and it is to be hoped, that it was at once mortal. He fell on his back into the water. The natives then rushed in, and dragging him out by the legs, seized their spears, and indicted innumerable wounds upon his body; after which, they threw it into deep water, and the sea-tide carried it away.

HIS CHARACTER.

Such, we have every reason to believe, was the untimely fate of this amiable and talented man. It is a melancholy satisfaction to me thus publicly to record his worth; instrumental, as I cannot but in some measure consider my last journey to have been in leading to this fatal catastrophe. Captain Barker was in disposition, as he was in the close of his life, in many respects similar to Captain Cook. Mild, affable, and attentive, he had the esteem and regard of every companion, and the respect of every one under him. Zealous in the discharge of his public duties, honourable and just in private life; a lover and a follower of science; indefatigable and dauntless in his pursuits; a steady friend, an entertaining companion; charitable, kind-hearted, disinterested, and sincere--the task is equally difficult to find adequate expressions of praise or of regret. In him the king lost one of his most valuable officers, and his regiment one of its most efficient members. Beloved as he was, the news of his loss struck his numerous friends with sincere grief, but by none was it more severely felt than by the humble individual who has endeavoured thus feebly to draw his portrait.

From the same source from which the particulars of his death were obtained, it was reported that the natives who perpetrated the deed were influenced by no other motive than curiosity to ascertain if they had power to kill a white man. But we must be careful in giving credit to this, for it is much more probable that the cruelties exercised by the sealers towards the blacks along the south coast, may have instigated the latter to take vengeance on the innocent as well as on the guilty. It will be seen, by a reference to the chart, that Captain Barker, by crossing the channel, threw himself into the very hands of that tribe which had evinced such determined hostility to myself and my men. He got into the rear of their strong hold, and was sacrificed to those feelings of suspicion, and to that desire of revenge, which the savages never lose sight of until they have been gratified.

FEATURES OF THE COUNTRY, AND CAPABILITIES OF THE COAST.

It yet remains for me to state that when Mr. Kent returned to the schooner, after this irreparable loss, he kept to the south of the place at which he had crossed the first range with Captain Barker, and travelled through a valley right across the promontory. He thus discovered that there was a division in the ranges, through which there was a direct and level road from the little bay on the northern extremity of which they had last landed in St. Vincent's Gulf, to the rocky point of Encounter Bay.

The importance of this fact will be better estimated, when it is known that good anchorage is secured to small vessels inside the island that lies off the point of Encounter Bay, which is rendered still safer by a horse shoe reef that forms, as it were, a thick wall to break the swell of the sea. But this anchorage is not safe for more than five months in the year. Independently of these points, however, Mr. Kent remarks, that the spit a little to the north of Mount Lofty would afford good shelter to minor vessels under its lee. When the nature of the country is taken into consideration, and the facility of entering that which lies between the ranges and the Lake Alexandrina, from the south, and of a direct communication with the lake itself, the want of an extensive harbour will, in some measure, be compensated for, more especially when it is known that within four leagues of Cape Jervis, a port little inferior to Port Jackson, with a safe and broad entrance, exists at Kangaroo Island. The sealers have given this spot the name of American Harbour. In it, I am informed, vessels are completely land-locked, and secure from every wind.

Kangaroo Island is not, however, fertile by any means. It abounds in shallow lakes filled with salt water during high tides, and which, by evaporation, yield a vast quant.i.ty of salt.

I gathered from the sealers that neither the promontory separating St. Vincent from Spencer's Gulf, nor the neighbourhood of Port Lincoln, are other than barren and sandy wastes. They all agree in describing Port Lincoln itself as a magnificent roadstead, but equally agree as to the sterility of its sh.o.r.es. It appears, therefore, that the promontory of Cape Jervis owes its superiority to its natural features; in fact, to the mountains that occupy its centre, to the debris that has been washed from them, and to the decomposition of the better description of its rocks.

Such is the case at Illawarra, where the mountains approach the sea; such indeed is the case every where, at a certain distance from mountain ranges.

ADAPTION OF THIS PART OF THE COUNTRY FOR COLONISATION.

From the above account it would appear that a spot has, at length, been found upon the south coast of New Holland, to which the colonist might venture with every prospect of success, and in whose valleys the exile might hope to build for himself and for his family a peaceful and prosperous home. All who have ever landed upon the eastern sh.o.r.e of St. Vincent's Gulf, agree as to the richness of its soil, and the abundance of its pasture. Indeed, if we cast our eyes upon the chart, and examine the natural features of the country behind Cape Jervis, we shall no longer wonder at its differing in soil and fertility from the low and sandy tracks that generally prevail along the sh.o.r.es of Australia. Without entering largely into the consideration of the more remote advantages that would, in all human probability, result from the establishment of a colony, rather than a penal settlement, at St. Vincent's Gulf, it will be expedient to glance hastily over the preceding narrative, and, disengaging it from all extraneous matter, to condense, as much as possible, the information it contains respecting the country itself; for I have been unable to introduce any pa.s.sing remark, lest I should break the thread of an interesting detail.

The country immediately behind Cape Jervis may, strictly speaking, be termed a promontory, bounded to the west by St. Vincent's Gulf, and to the east by the lake Alexandrina, and the sandy track separating that basin from the sea. Supposing a line to be drawn from the parallel of 34 degrees 40 minutes to the eastward, it will strike the Murray river about 25 miles above the head of the lake, and will clear the ranges, of which Mount Lofty and Mount Barker are the respective terminations. This line will cut off a s.p.a.ce whose greatest breadth will be 55 miles, whose length from north to south will be 75, and whose surface exceeds 7 millions of acres; from which if we deduct 2 millions for the unavailable hills, we shall have 5 millions of acres of land, of rich soil, upon which no scrub exists, and whose most distant points are accessible, through a level country on the one hand, and by water on the other. The southern extremity of the ranges can be turned by that valley through which Mr. Kent returned to the schooner, after Captain Barker's death. It is certain, therefore, that this valley not only secures so grand a point, but also presents a level line of communication from the small bay immediately to the north of the cape, to the rocky point of Encounter Bay, at both of which places there is safe anchorage at different periods of the year.

HINTS FOR FUTURE EXPEDITIONS.

The only objection that can be raised to the occupation of this spot, is the want of an available harbour. Yet it admits of great doubt whether the contiguity of Kangaroo Island to Cape Jervis, (serving as it does to break the force of the prevailing winds, as also of the heavy swell that would otherwise roll direct into the bay,) and the fact of its possessing a safe and commodious harbour, certainly at an available distance, does not in a great measure remove the objection. Certain it is that no port, with the exception of that on the sh.o.r.es of which the capital of Australia is situated, offers half the convenience of this, although it be detached between three and four leagues from the main.

On the other hand it would appear, that there is no place from which at any time the survey of the more central parts of the continent could be so effectually carried on; for in a country like Australia, where the chief obstacle to be apprehended in travelling is the want of water, the facilities afforded by the Murray and its tributaries, are indisputable; and I have little doubt that the very centre of the continent might be gained by a judicious and enterprising expedition. Certainly it is most desirable to ascertain whether the river I have supposed to be the Darling be really so or not. I have stated my objection to depots, but I think that if a party commenced its operations upon the Murray from the junction upwards, and, after ascertaining the fact of its ultimate course, turned away to the N.W. up one of the tributaries of the Murray, with a supply of six months' provisions, the results would be of the most satisfactory kind, and the features of the country be wholly developed.

I cannot, I think, conclude this work better than by expressing a hope, that the Colonial Government will direct such measures to be adopted as may be necessary for the extension of our geographical knowledge in Australia. The facilities of fitting out expeditions in New South Wales, render the expenses of little moment, when compared with the importance of the object in view; and although I am labouring under the effects of former attempts, yet would I willingly give such a.s.sistance as I could to carry such an object into effect.

APPENDIX.

APPENDIX No. I.

GEOLOGICAL SPECIMENS FOUND TO THE SOUTH-WEST OF PORT JACKSON.

Considering the nature of the country over which the first expedition travelled, it could hardly have been expected that its geological specimens would be numerous. It will appear, however, from the following list of rocks collected during the second expedition, that the geological formation of the mountains to the S.W. of Port Jackson is as various as that to the N.W. of it is mountainous. The specimens are described not according to their natural order, but in the succession in which they were found, commencing from Ya.s.s Plains, and during the subsequent stages of the journey.

Sandstone, Old Red.--Found on various parts of Ya.s.s Plains.

Limestone, Transition.--Colour dark grey; composes the bed of the Ya.s.s River, and apparently traverses the sandstone formation. Ya.s.s Plains lie 170 miles to the S.W. of Sydney.

Sandstone, Old Red.--Again succeeds the limestone, and continues to the N.W. to a considerable distance over a poor and scrubby country, covered for the most part with a dwarf species of Eucalyptus.

Granite.--Colour grey; feldspar, black mica, and quartz: succeeds the sandstone, and continues to the S.W. as far as the Morumbidgee River, over an open forest country broken into hill and dale. It is generally on these granite rocks that the best grazing is found.

Greywacke.--Colour grey, of light hue, or dark, with black specks.

Soft.--Composition of a part of the ranges that form the valley of the Morumbidgee.

Serpentine.--Colour green of different shades, striped sulphur yellow; slaty fracture, soft and greasy to the touch. Forms hills of moderate elevation, of peculiarly sharp spine, resting on quartz. Composition of most of the ranges opposite the Doomot River on the Morumbidgee, in lat. 35 degrees 4 minutes and long. 147 degrees 40 minutes.

Quartz.--Colour snow-white; formation of the higher ranges on the left bank of the Morumbidgee, in the same lat.i.tude and longitude as above; showing in large blocks on the sides of the hills.

Slaty Quartz, with varieties.--Found with the quartz rock, in a state of decomposition.

Granite.--Succeeds the serpentine, of light colour; feldspar decomposed; mica, glittering and silvery white.

Sandstone, Old Red.--Composition of the more distant ranges on the Morumbidgee. Forms abrupt precipices over the river flats; of sterile appearance, and covered with Banksias and scrub.

Mica Slate.--Colour dark brown, approaching red; mica glittering.

The hills enclosing Pondebadgery Plain at the gorge of the valley of the Morumbidgee, are composed of this rock. They are succeeded by

Sandstone.--Which rises abruptly from the river in perpendicular cliffs, of 145 feet in height.

Jasper and quartz.--Colour red and white. Forms the slope of the above sandstone, and may be considered the outermost of the rocks connected with the Eastern or Blue Mountain Ranges. It will be remembered that jasper and quartz were likewise found on a plain near the Darling River, precisely similar to the above, although occurring at so great a distance from each other.

Granite.--Light red colour; composition of a small isolated hill, to all appearance wholly unconnected with the neighbouring ranges. This specimen is very similar to that found in the bed of New-Year's Creek.

Breccia.--Silicious cement, composed of a variety of pebbles. Formation of the most WESTERLY of the hills between the Lachlan and Macquarie Rivers.

This conglomerate was also found to compose the minor and most westerly of the elevations of the more northern interior.

Chrystallized Sulphate of Lime.--Found embedded in the deep alluvial soil in the banks of the Morumbidgee River, in lat. 34 degrees 30 minutes S., and long. 144 degrees 55 minutes E. The same substance was found on the banks of the Darling, in lat. 29 degrees 49 minutes S., and in long. 145 degrees 18 minutes E.

A reference to the chart will show that the Morumbidgee, from the first of the above positions, may be said to have entered the almost dead level of the interior. No elevation occurs to the westward for several hundreds of miles. A coa.r.s.e grit occasionally traversed the beds of the rivers, and their lofty banks of clay or marl appear to be based on sandstone and granitic sand. The latter occurs in slabs of four inches in thickness, divided by a line of saffron-coloured sand, and seems to have been subjected to fusion, as if the particles or grains had been cemented together by fusion.

The first decided break that takes place in the level of the interior occurs upon the right bank of the Murray, a little below the junction of the Rufus with it. A cliff of from 120 to 130 feet in perpendicular elevation here flanks the river for about 200 yards, when it recedes from it, and forms a s.p.a.cious amphitheatre that is occupied by semicircular hillocks, that partake of the same character as the cliff itself; the face of which showed the various substances of which it was composed in horizontal lines, that if prolonged would cut the same substance in the hillocks. Based upon a soft white sandstone, a bed of clay formed the lowest part of the cliff; upon this bed of clay, a bed of chalk reposed; this chalk was superseded by a thick bed of saponaceous earth, whilst the summit of the cliff was composed of a bright red sand. Semi-opal and hydrate of silex were found in the chalk, and some beautiful specimens of brown menelite were collected from the upper stratum of the cliff.