Narrative of a Survey of the Intertropical and Western Coasts of Australia Volume I Part 25

A bay trends to the westward of Point Pickering, which was called Walmsley Bay; it probably affords good anchorage.

October 14.

During the night we had lightning from the North-West, and the next day the wind was so light that we did not make much progress; an anchorage was occupied during the ensuing night to the eastward of Point Biggs, half a mile to the northward of a small rocky island in ten fathoms and a half, muddy bottom. Every succeeding day the weather was getting more and more unfavourable for our purpose; which increased my anxiety to escape from this labyrinth of islands and shoals; for we had evidently no time to spare in order to leave the coast before the rainy season should commence.

The whole of this gulf is admirably formed for the trepang fishery and the animal is extremely abundant among the reefs. Both fish and turtle are plentiful, the latter are of very large size; none however were taken to determine its species. We have seen very few inhabitants on this part of the coast but at this season they are doubtless divided into small detached parties for the greater facility of procuring sustenance, and of making their reservoirs of water, wherever they may be, last longer.

October 15.

The next day, after an ineffectual attempt to pa.s.s out through the islands in the vicinity of Cape Voltaire, we anch.o.r.ed about midway between three of high flat-topped form; and at night the boat was despatched to the easternmost island, to watch for turtle, but it returned without having seen any. During the night the wind blew a moderate breeze from South-West with dark cloudy weather.

October 16.

At daylight we weighed, but from light baffling winds it was some time before we cleared the islands. The tide however swept us out and drifted us half a mile to windward of a small peaked island which must be the Pascal Island of the French: this islet is of small size but remarkable for its conical shape and having, as it were, its apex cut off. It is surrounded by a rocky shoal of small extent.

The wind had now veered to West-North-West and obliged our pa.s.sing to the eastward of Ca.s.sini Island (of Captain Baudin); and, from the immense numbers of turtle-tracks that were seen upon its beach, we would gladly have anch.o.r.ed near it, had a convenient place offered; but the bottom was so deep that we could not with safety drop our anchor. The plan given by M. de Freycinet of this archipelago is so defective that many of his islands could not be recognised; but those which were made out preserve his names. Ca.s.sini Island is sufficiently well placed by him, and was a useful point for the sake of comparing our longitudes. In the s.p.a.ce between Cape Bougainville and Cape Voltaire, which was named the Admiralty Gulf, we have given positions to at least forty islands or islets.

Having now emerged from the archipelago of islands which front this part of the north-west coast we seized the opportunity of taking leave of it for the present and directed our course for Timor. At 4 hours 19 minutes p.m., when the centre of Ca.s.sini Island bore South 4 degrees 30 minutes West, distance 6 minutes 8 seconds by survey, sights for the chronometers made the centre of the island in 125 degrees 41 minutes 22 seconds, which is 2 minutes 32 seconds to the eastward of the longitude a.s.signed to its centre in M. de Freycinet's chart.

October 20.

On the 20th in the evening after a succession of damp weather with squalls of thunder, lightning, and rain, and variable baffling winds, a fresh breeze set in from East-South-East.

October 21.

At six o'clock the next morning it settled in the South-East with heavy rain, thunder, and lightning, and afterwards the weather cleared up. As soon as day dawned, sail was made to the North-West and before noon we hauled up North-North-West to allow for a westerly current; at two p.m.

the weather clouded in and was followed by squalls of wind and rain from the North-East, which, after pa.s.sing over us, returned again from the westward with more rain but less wind.

October 22.

At daylight (22nd) we saw the Island of Rottee, but instead of being, according to our account, to windward of it, we were very little to the eastward of its south-west end; having been set forty-three miles to the westward since yesterday noon. During the day, as the wind was at South-East, we endeavoured to pa.s.s round its windward side, but the current was setting with such strength to the westward that, finding we had lost ground during the night, we bore up the next morning for the island of Savu, a proceeding which, if we should succeed in procuring refreshments and fresh water there, would be more advantageous than going to Timor: for in the first place there was less chance of incurring sickness among the crew; and secondly we should be farther advanced on our voyage back. Captain Cook, on his visit to Savu in 1770, found a Dutch resident there; and I recollected having been a.s.sured by Mr.

Hazaart, the Resident at Timor, that the people were well-disposed towards the English: Captain Horsburgh also mentions in his description of Savu that the Dutch have residents on all these islands; and, as a corroboration of these accounts, I had been informed by the master of a merchant schooner at Port Jackson, who had lately been among these islands, that abundance of good water could be procured there. Opposed to this last report, Captain Cook says, "We were upon the coast at the latter end of the dry season (September), when there had been no rain for seven months, and we were told, that when the dry season continues so long, there is no running stream of fresh water upon the whole island, but only small springs, which are at a considerable distance from the sea side:"* this conflicting account was discouraging; but as we had lately had much rain it was hoped that there would be a sufficiency in the springs for our use.

(*Footnote. Hawkesworth Coll. volume 3 page 277.)

October 24.

Having fully weighed all these circ.u.mstances we bore up for Savu, and at four p.m. on the 24th anch.o.r.ed in Zeba Bay, on the north-west side of the island. The bank on which the anchor was dropped was so steep that, although the anchor was in twelve fathoms, the vessel was, at the length of forty fathoms of cable, in twenty-two fathoms. As we were bringing up, two muskets were fired from the sh.o.r.e, and a white flag, or rather a rag, was suspended to a pole, around which a group of people had collected.

This flag gave us no very favourable idea of the respectability of the place, and the meaning of the muskets we could not divine, nor indeed ever did discover, unless it was that we had anch.o.r.ed on bad ground: the boat was then hoisted out and I went on sh.o.r.e, accompanied by Messrs.

Bedwell and Cunningham, to where the flag was displayed. On approaching the sh.o.r.e three people came down to direct us to the proper landing place; for in all other parts of the beach a heavy surf was breaking. We were then conducted to a hut in the rear of the flagstaff, where we found from fifteen to twenty persons a.s.sembled; two of whom appeared, by their dress and from the respect paid to them by the rest, to be chiefs. To these I addressed myself and inquired for the Dutch resident, but soon found there was none, and that one of those to whom we were speaking was the Rajah himself. I afterwards found he was the identical Amadima of whom interesting mention is made by Peron in his historical account of Captain Baudin's expedition.*

(*Footnote. Peron tome 1 pages 119, 151, 161, and 162.)

My inquiries were made partly by signs and partly by a few terms in the Malay language that we had collected from Captain Cook,* and from Labillardiere's account of D'Entrecasteaux's voyage. Aer (water) was among the foremost of our inquiries, to which we added the terms for pigs, sheep, fowls, and coconuts, (vavee, doomba, mannu, and nieu).

Everything but water was plentiful and could be supplied by paying for them in rupees or bartering them for gunpowder. On repeating the question for water, their constant reply was, trada aer! trada aer! (no water, no water). No misunderstanding could have taken place, for on our inquiry, thinking it was for present use, they brought us some to drink. They afterwards conducted us to a shallow well or spring in which there were about ten or fifteen gallons; and this was all there was near the sea.

(*Footnote. Hawkesworth Coll. volume 3 page 298.)

Amadima, on our landing, sent a horseman to the town with a message, who soon after returned with a paper which was shown to us; but, the substance being in Dutch, we could not understand its purport; the sum of seventy-four rix-dollars was, however, sufficiently plain to show that money was wanted, and this conjecture was afterwards strengthened by a pet.i.tion whispered in my ear by Amadina himself for sato rupee (one rupee); but, not having provided myself with any, I could not satisfy his wants.

Gunpowder was in great request among them and we were given to understand that we might obtain everything we required, excepting water, for money or for gunpowder. Trada aer was so often repeated that we re-embarked quite disappointed.

On our way to the boat we were accompanied by the whole mob, which had now increased to forty or fifty people: all the men were armed with cresses, and two amongst them had swords and spears; but there was no appearance of hostility or of any unfriendly disposition towards us. When they saw our empty barica in the boat they intimated by signs that we might fill it, and Mr. Bedwell and Mr. Cunningham accordingly accompanied one of our people to the well to take advantage of their offer; for a few gallons of water were now of great importance to us.

We then took a friendly leave of these islanders under the full expectation on their part of our returning in the morning with rupees and powder to barter with their commodities; whereas I had quite determined to leave the bay the moment that the day dawned.

The two following modes of proceeding were now only left to us; namely, either to beat back to Coepang which bore East by North 120 miles, or to bear up and pa.s.s through the straits of Lombock or Allas, and go to Madura or Sourabaya for water, of which, on a reduced allowance, we had enough on board for fifteen days.

To do the first would probably take a week or ten days, even if favoured by the wind. At Coepang we could procure everything we wanted; and the only arguments against such a measure were the probable length of the voyage, and when there, the chance of being delayed until the adverse monsoon should set in against us, by which our return to Port Jackson would be perhaps prevented. To undertake the second would, from our being weakly manned, subject us to danger from the Malay piratical proas in pa.s.sing the Straits; but as the latter mode of proceeding could be resorted to in the event of our failing in the other, our united opinion was that, of the two plans, the better was to go to Timor. Upon this decision all hands were immediately set to work to fill our empty water-casks with salt water and to get all the weighty things off the deck into the hold, in order to give the vessel more stability.

October 25.

This was completed by night and at break of day we left the anchorage with a fresh breeze from East-South-East.

Considering the short time we were on sh.o.r.e it would be the greatest presumption for me to say anything respecting Savu, when so good an account is already before the public in Captain Cook's voyage.* Every circ.u.mstance that we could compare with it is still correct, except that the women appear to have lost the decency he describes them to possess; for there were several whom curiosity and the novelty of our arrival had brought down to see us, naked to the hips, which alone supported a petticoat or wrapper of blue cotton stuff that exposed their knees.

(*Footnote. Hawkesworth Coll. Volume 3 page 277 et seq.)

The beach was lined with the areca, or fan-palm tree, from which the well-known liquor called toddy is procured. During our conference with these people they were all busily employed in eating the fruit spike of the piper betle,* which they first thickly covered with sh.e.l.l-lime; after chewing it for some time, they spit it out into the hand of the attendant slave who completes the exhaustion of this luxurious morceau by conveying it to his own mouth.

(*Footnote. Persoon, in his description of areca catechu, makes the following observation: E fructu ab extima pellicula libero, simul c.u.m foliis piperis betle, addito pauxillo calcis ex ostreis, fit masticatorium, quod Indiani continue volvunt in ore, ut malus anhelitus corrigatur, et dentes ac stomachus roborentur. Persoon, Syn. Plant. pars.

2 577.)

They have a small-sized breed of horses at Savu, similar to that of Rottee; and pigs, sheep, and poultry appeared to be very plentiful. No observations were taken during our stay in Zeba Bay. The tides were scarcely perceptible and their rise and fall uncertain from the steep bank on which we had anch.o.r.ed.

After quitting the bay we made every possible progress towards Timor; and as long as we kept between the Islands of Savu and Rottee we found no perceptible current against us, although the wind was constantly from the South-East.

October 26.

On the 26th the contents of one of our remaining casks of water was found to be so bad that it could not be used for any purpose; upon examination it turned out that the cask had been constructed at Port Jackson of the staves of old salt-provision barrels. This loss, amounting to two days'

water, we could but ill spare: two or three gallons were collected from the rain which fell during the evening; and this trifling supply, although it had a tarry taste, was acceptable in our present circ.u.mstances.

The next morning was calm. A small coasting proa was seen to the northward but soon afterwards lost sight of, steering towards Timor.

October 28.

At daylight (28th) land was seen bearing East 1/2 North; at noon our lat.i.tude was nine degrees 45 minutes 32 seconds; and by the morning and evening sights for the chronometers a current had set us to the North 81 degrees West at nearly one mile and a quarter per hour. The wind, hanging between South-East and South-South-East, prevented our tacking to the southward to get out of the current, which, on our first experiencing it, was thought to have been occasioned by a set through the strait of Rottee; it was however afterwards found that we were on the southern edge of the current that sets to the westward, down the north coast of Timor, and that between Rottee and Savu the current is of trifling consequence.

October 29.

The next morning land was again indistinctly seen bearing East 12 degrees South. At ten a.m. it was clearly visible, as well as a peaked hill which bore East 1/2 North. We were now in a current setting rapidly to the westward and soon lost a great portion of the ground that we had been so long toiling to gain. In the evening the wind veering to East-South-East enabled us to steer to the southward and to get out of the influence of the current.

October 30 to 31.

From this to the 31st we had made little progress to the eastward; but in the afternoon a breeze set in from West-South-West and brightened our prospects: our water being now nearly expended, no time was to be lost, and we steered for the Strait of Rottee in order to pa.s.s through that of Samow; but the wind was so light that, not being sufficiently advanced before dark, we bore up, and pa.s.sed round the west side of Pulo Samow with a breeze from South-East which continued during the night...

1819. November 1.

And by daylight had carried us near the north-west end of the island; at nine a.m. the sea breeze set in from South-West and West, and gradually increasing, we happily succeeded in arriving off the town of Coepang where we moored at one-fifth of a mile from the flagstaff of Fort Concordia, bearing South 14 1/2 degrees East.