Journals of Two Expeditions of Discovery in North-West and Western Australia Volume I Part 12

In the rainy season (March 7th) I again pa.s.sed this spot and found the watercourse full of water, which was also falling abundantly from the cascade. From this circ.u.mstance I inferred that the subterraneous outlets for the water were all filled, consequently the large body which these caverns would contain must have been then endeavouring to force its way through the fissures in the porous sandstone rocks.

CONTINUATION OF ROUTE. HALT IN A VALLEY.

After breakfast we continued on our route through a sandstone country precisely resembling the one which I have now described, and in the course of the day, having completed fifteen miles in a straight line, we halted for the night in a fertile valley affording plenty of fresh water, and so densely wooded with the dwarf panda.n.u.s and other p.r.i.c.kly trees that we could scarcely make our way through the underwood. In this valley we saw several sorts of cranes, princ.i.p.ally Ardea antigone, and Ardea scolopacia, and I shot one of the former kind and laid it by, intending to eat it in the morning. We could not find any holes in the rocks large enough to protect us from the rain, which fell throughout the night, accompanied by thunder and lightning.

December 20.

Just as we turned out this morning a large kangaroo came close to us to drink at a waterhole; the effect as it stole along through the thick bushes in the morning twilight was very striking. I could not succeed in getting a shot at it; but, as I was determined to have a meat breakfast, I desired Mustard to cook the crane, the rats however had eaten the greater part of it; we therefore at once moved on and, after travelling four miles in a south-east direction over good land, we reached a valley, the largest and best I had yet seen, containing trees and birds such as we had not before met with; kangaroos were more plentiful, and, for the first time, we saw the opossum. The valley was more than a mile in width at the point where we first made it, and we had but just time to cross it and to gain the partial shelter of some rocks when heavy rain again set in. We could keep no fire and, being soon wet through, pa.s.sed a wretched night.

December 21.

We all today began to feel the want of food; since Sunday night we had subsisted on nothing but rice and tea, and only in very small quant.i.ties at a time, as the heavy rain had materially interrupted our cooking. As there was plenty of game in this valley I determined to halt for a day previously to my return to the party, for the double purpose of exploring the valley and of shooting game.

CUCKOO-PHEASANT.

The large bird which was the most abundant here was the Cuculus phasia.n.u.s or pheasant cuckoo. This bird in colour, in length of tail, in its size, and general appearance so closely resembles the hen pheasant of England that, when it is on the wing, it is almost impossible to tell the difference; its habits and food are also identical with that of the English pheasant. The chief point of distinction is that its toes point two before and two behind, in the same manner as those of a parrot; but what is very remarkable about this bird is that, although, like the other Scansores, it delights in climbing and running up trees, it is equally fond of running along the ground in the manner a pheasant does.

SPORTING.

This day I found plenty of these birds in a cover of long dry gra.s.s and bushes about half my height. From this kind of ground I descended to deep lagoons in the bottoms, with rushes, reeds, and dense tropical vegetation around them, amongst which the bamboo and panda.n.u.s bore a conspicuous figure; as I beat this cover the pheasants, with their whirring noise, rose on all sides of me, and my Westley Richards was kept in constant operation. I never enjoyed a better day's pheasant shooting in any preserve in England; and I may here remark that North-Western Australia is as good a country for sport in the shooting way as I am acquainted with; whilst for every kind of sport except wild-fowl shooting the southern part of Australia is the worst country in the world. My bag being full, and my companions very hungry, I had no excuse for staying longer away from them, and therefore returned, although very loth to leave such beautiful scenery and such excellent sport.

FERTILE COUNTRY DESCRIED.

In the interval between the showers, and whilst the men were trying to kindle a fire, I ascended a sandstone range under the shelter of some rocks near the summit of which we were encamped; from this elevated position I saw a far better country to the south of us than any we had yet traversed; and the prospect was so cheering in this direction that I felt a.s.sured, when it was once gained with the horses, we should be able to travel on with comparative rapidity and facility.

NATIVE HAUNTS.

Having emptied my bag I started again to commence the exploration of the valley we were in. It sloped first in a north-easterly and then in a nearly easterly direction; the river that ran through it was in some places almost dry, or was rather a chain of large ponds than a river, several of these ponds being more than a hundred yards across. I followed the valley down for about five miles in the direction of Prince Regent's River and found to my surprise that this part was by no means thinly inhabited by natives; still, as none of the traces I had yet seen were very recent, I trusted that we should not fall in with any considerable body.

TRACES OF NATIVES.

At length however I came upon a spot which a number of them appeared to have quitted only an hour or two before, and where they had been sitting under a large tree at the edge of one of these ponds; their recent fire had been first slaked with water and sand then thrown over it. I knew therefore that they had been disturbed, and most probably by my gun; but not before they had made a hearty meal of roasted fresh-water mussels (unios) and nuts of a kind which grew on a large shady tree in pods, like a tamarind pod, the kernel being contained in a sh.e.l.l, of which each pod held several, and the fruit tasting exactly like filberts. The spot was admirably suited for their purpose; their bark beds were placed under the shelter of this tree and only a few yards distant from the pond, which contained abundance of large unios.

ATTACK OF NATIVES.

I sat down under the nut tree to consider what was my best plan to adopt.

From the signs around us the natives were evidently much more numerous than I had expected: in the event of anything happening to one of the three our return to the main party might be considerably impeded, if not altogether prevented; and although, from the superiority of our weapons over theirs, I entertained but little doubt as to the issue of any contest we might be forced into, the calls of humanity as well is of personal interest warned me to do my utmost to avoid an affray.

RETURN TOWARDS HANOVER BAY.

I returned therefore to the party and, having made our dinner from pheasant soup and birds which had been first split in two and then nicely roasted on the ashes, we commenced our journey homewards, cautiously and circ.u.mspectly, that we might run no risk of being surprised. Until the evening began to close upon us we pursued our route through scenery similar to that we had pa.s.sed the day before, our course laying several miles to the northward of our former track; and when we halted for the night I carefully chose a good position and, mentioning my apprehensions concerning the natives to the men in such a way as to put them on their guard without exciting their alarm, we bivouacked for the night. Soon after sunset the thunderstorms of the previous evening were renewed, accompanied by tremendous rain. This was unfortunate as it rendered it nearly impossible for us to keep our arms in an efficient state.

December 22.

After pa.s.sing a wretched and uncomfortable night we started before dawn, pursuing a direction about west by north, and pa.s.sed one of the openings from Prince Regent's River laid down in Captain King's chart, and there left without a termination, which I had thus an opportunity of fixing.

Having completed about six miles I halted for breakfast. No signs whatever of the natives had been again seen; this restored my confidence and, as the sun was intensely hot and we were much fatigued, we lay about in rather a careless and imprudent way. Fortunately the gathering clouds prognosticated that we should soon have rain; and, as we could get no good shelter where we were, I ordered the men to move on: we had just gained the top of the range when a violent storm of rain overtook us, I therefore doubled back about a hundred yards to the left of our former track to gain some rocks forming a portion of a detached group upon a tableland, and which I had observed as we pa.s.sed them.

ATTACKED BY NATIVES.

Scarcely had we reached these rocks, and sheltered ourselves under the overhanging projections, when I saw a savage advancing with a spear in his right hand, and a bundle of similar weapons in his left; he was followed by a party of thirteen others, and with them was a small dog not of the kind common to this country. The men were curiously painted for war, red being the predominant colour, and each man carried several spears, a rowing stick, and a club. Their chief was in front, and distinguished by his hair being of a dark red colour from some composition with which it was smeared; the others followed him close, noiselessly, and with stealthy pace, one by one, whilst he, crouching almost to the earth, p.r.i.c.ked off our trail.

We remained concealed and motionless until they had all pa.s.sed, but the moment they came to where we had turned off they discovered our retreat, and raised loud shouts of triumph, as, forming themselves into a semicircle, they advanced upon us, brandis.h.i.+ng their spears and bounding from rock to rock. It was in vain that I made friendly signs and gestures, they still closed upon us, and to my surprise I heard their war-cry answered by a party who were coming over the high rocks in our rear, which I had flattered myself protected us in that direction.

Our situation was now so critical that I was compelled to a.s.sume a hostile att.i.tude. I therefore shouted in answer to their cries and, desiring the men to fire one at a time if I gave the word, I advanced rapidly, at the same time firing one barrel over their heads. This had the desired effect. With the exception of one more resolute than the rest they fled on all sides, and he, finding his efforts unavailing, soon followed their example.

RETURN TO THE ENCAMPMENT. HANOVER BAY.

Feeling however that the neighbourhood we were in was a dangerous one, and being anxious to know whether the party I had left at the encampment--only six in number--had seen these natives, I hurried our march, although the rain fell in torrents all day; and we that night made the camp.

PROCEEDINGS THERE DURING MY ABSENCE.

I found the party all in good health and spirits: they had seen nothing whatever of the natives during my absence. The sailing of the Lynher had been unfortunately delayed until the 21st of December. On the 18th and 19th the tides had been so low that, although Mr. Lus.h.i.+ngton had done his utmost, the schooner made little or no progress in her watering. On the 20th the crew and whole party were employed; yet they only succeeded in getting off 280 gallons for they were obliged to carry the water in small baricos to the boat, over slippery rocks and deep mud: and on the 21st, thinking it better to complete their water at Timor, they set sail. This difficulty of watering only arose from the lowness of the tides (neap) and our ignorance of the country. Subsequently we found no difficulty in procuring it; indeed no country in the world is better watered than this portion of Australia.

Since the sailing of the Lynher the party had been actively engaged in building a shed for the stores. This labour was still continued, after my arrival, and completed on Christmas eve.

CHRISTMAS DINNER.

On Christmas Day we all dined together in a little booth made of boughs, which we dressed up as gaily as we could. I could not but feel considerable pleasure in seeing the happy countenances of the men ranged round the rough plank that formed our table. We sat down, a little band of nine, bound upon an adventure of which the issue to any and all of us was very uncertain: yet no forebodings appeared to damp the pleasure of the present moment; and as I anxiously looked round I could not detect the slightest trace of a gloomy thought in any of the cheerful faces that surrounded me. After dinner we drank the Queen's health, the first time such a toast had been given in these regions; and then, Mr. Walker and myself retiring to talk alone, left the rest to their own amus.e.m.e.nts.

1838.

PLANTING USEFUL SEEDS.

The interval between that and New Year's Day found and left us full of occupation. On this latter day I had resolved to do homage to the country by a seasonable gift; and therefore, rising with the earliest dawn, spent the whole day in planting, in various positions, seeds of the most useful fruits and vegetables. Those we had already planted were doing well, and I hoped that this benefaction might prove one of no small value, perhaps to civilized man, or at least to the natives of the vicinity.

WALK TO MUNSTER WATER.

January 4.

A party of us this day walked to Hanover Bay for the purpose of making some observations on the sandy beach there, after which we went over to Prince Regent's River, near Munster Water. The country until near the bank of the river at this point was of the same sandy nature as that about the beach: there however it improves; and from the circ.u.mstance of my finding a regular haunt of the natives I feel sure that there is plenty of fresh water in the neighbourhood. This place of their sojourn resembled one before described, and many others I had seen. An extensive circle was formed by laying a large flat stone upon the ground, and on each of these a smaller one; between the two they evidently crushed the sh.e.l.lfish and nuts which formed their food. Near some of the stones were laid huge sh.e.l.ls for the purpose of drinking from; and in the centre of the circle were the marks of frequent fires. We heard the natives calling to one another in the woods, but saw none of them; and in the evening returned to our encampment.

ISTHMUS NEAR HANOVER BAY.

January 6.

I made an excursion this day for the purpose of examining the land lying between Port George the Fourth and Hanover Bay: it consists of a low neck which connects the peninsula terminating in High Bluff Point with the main. Thus it is bounded on two sides by the sea, and on the other two by rocky hills which are perfectly precipitous, both towards the main and the peninsula; but a natural terrace runs along under the cliff in the direction of Camden Sound, which I believe would form a good road to that harbour. The tract thus enclosed appears to be very fertile. Porphyry and basalt are the common rocks. The soil is rich vegetable mould, mixed with gravel and covered with the most luxuriant gra.s.s. The trees were in general small. We only found three springs here; these however were sufficient to prove that it was well supplied in this respect. A species of plant was observed here, which in appearance and smell exactly resembled the jasmine of England: and it would be difficult to give any adequate impression of the singular sensation of pleasure derived from the sight of this simple emblem of home. Here were regular beaten tracks of the natives, as completely pathways as those we find in England leading from a village to a farmhouse.

HILL OF Sh.e.l.lS.

Near the sea we also came upon a complete hill of broken sh.e.l.ls, which it must have taken some centuries to form, for it covered nearly, if not quite, half an acre of ground, and in some places was ten feet high: it was situated just over a bed of c.o.c.kles, and was evidently formed from the remains of native feasts, as their fireplaces, and the last small heaps of sh.e.l.ls were visible on the summit of the hill.* This neck of land is undoubtedly of the first importance; for, lying as it does between Port George the Fourth and Hanover Bay, it commands two excellent harbours, and its soil is moreover highly fertile. I conceive that a point nearer Camden Bay would be of greater consequence to the mother country; but, after such a spot, this neck of land is the most important position on the North-west coast of Australia.

(*Footnote. A similar ma.s.s of sh.e.l.ls, though of smaller dimensions, is spoken of by Captain King, at Port Essington: A curious mound, constructed entirely of sh.e.l.ls, rudely heaped together, measuring thirty feet in diameter, and fourteen feet high, was also noticed near the beach, and was supposed to be a burying-place of the Indians. King's Australia volume 1 page 87.)

For some days after our return from this excursion all hands were occupied in drying the stores, which had suffered a little from the late rains; in planting barley and potatoes; and in a variety of occupations of the same nature.

EXCURSION TO COUNTRY ABOUT PRINCE REGENT'S RIVER.

As all the necessary magnetic and astronomical observations were now completed I seized the opportunity offered by the first favourable day and started with a party of three in the direction of Prince Regent's River.