Discoveries in Australia Volume I Part 2

The crew embarked in the Beagle in this her third voyage, consisted of:

John Clements Wickham, Commander and Surveyor.

James B. Emery, Lieutenant.

Henry Eden, Lieutenant.

John Lort Stokes, Lieutenant and a.s.sistant Surveyor.

Alexander B. Usborne, Master.

Benjamin Bynoe, Surgeon.

Thomas Tait, a.s.sistant Surgeon.

John E. Dring, Clerk in charge.

Benjamin F. Helpman, Mate.

Auchmuty T. Freeze, Mate.

Thomas T. Birch, Mate.

L.R. Fitzmaurice, Mate.*

William Tarrant, Master's a.s.sistant.

Charles Keys,** Clerk.

Thomas Sorrell, Boatswain.

John Weeks, Carpenter.

A corporal of marines and seven privates, with forty seamen and boys.

(*Footnote. This officer I afterwards appointed to the a.s.sistant surveyors.h.i.+p (vacated upon my succeeding Captain Wickham) on account of the active part he had taken in the surveying duties: an appointment most handsomely confirmed by Captain Beaufort.)

(**Footnote. Mr. Keys was always a volunteer for boat work, and is ent.i.tled to honourable mention as being, even where all were zealous, of great value upon more than one occasion.)

During our six years' voyage the following changes occurred:

Mr. Usborne invalided, in consequence of his wound, in May 1839; Mr.

Birch exchanged, in August 1839, with Mr. Pasco, into the Britomart; Mr.

Freeze exchanged, in September 1839, with Mr. Forsyth,* into the Pelorus; in February 1840, Mr. Helpman joined the colonial service in Western Australia; Mr. C.J. Parker was appointed, in December 1840, to Mr.

Usborne's vacancy, superseding Mr. Tarrant, who had been doing Master's duty since Mr. Usborne left; Lieutenants Emery and Eden returned to England in March 1841. Late in the same month Commander Wickham invalided, when the writer of this narrative was appointed to the vacant command, by Commander Owen Stanley, H.M.S. Britomart, senior officer present, an appointment subsequently confirmed by the Lords of the Admiralty. In April 1841, Lieutenant Graham Gore succeeded Lieutenant Emery.** Commander Wickham, myself, Mr. Bynoe, the Boatswain, and two marines, had served in both the previous voyages of the Beagle.

(*Footnote. From this officer's previous knowledge of the duties of surveying, having sailed in the Beagle on her former voyage, he proved a very valuable addition to our party.)

(**Footnote. Lieutenant Gore had been appointed to H.M.S. Herald and came down from India, expecting to join her at Sydney: on his arrival, he found she had left the station; and though he might have spent some months among his friends there, he in the most spirited manner, at once volunteered to join the Beagle, and proved himself throughout the remainder of the voyage of the greatest value, both to the service, and the friend who here seeks to do justice to his worth. This deserving officer would seem to have an hereditary taste for the duties of a voyage of surveying and discovery, his grandfather having accompanied the renowned circ.u.mnavigator, Cook, and his father, the unfortunate Bligh.

Besides Lieutenant Gore's valuable services in H.M.S. Beagle, he was 1st Lieutenant of H.M.S. Volage, during the early part of the Chinese war, and present at the capture of Aden: he served under Captain Sir George Back in the Polar expedition, and on board H.M.S. Albion at the battle of Navarin.)

DEPARTURE FROM WOOLWICH.

On the 9th of June we left Woolwich, in tow of H.M. Steamer Boxer, furnished with every comfort and necessary (by the Lords of the Admiralty) which our own experience, or the kind interest of Captain Beaufort could suggest. It had been determined by the Government--the plan having been suggested by Lieutenant Grey to Lord Glenelg, then Secretary of State for the Colonies--that, simultaneously with the survey of the seaboard of the great continent of Australia, under Captain Wickham, a party should be employed in inland researches, in order more particularly to solve the problem of the existence of a great river, or water inlet, supposed, upon the authority of Captains King and Dampier, to open out at some point on its western or north-western side, then but partially and imperfectly surveyed.

LIEUTENANTS GREY AND LUs.h.i.+NGTON'S PARTY.

This expedition was now entrusted to the command of Lieutenant Grey--since Governor of South Australia--who was accompanied by Lieutenant, now Captain Lus.h.i.+ngton; Mr. Walker, Surgeon, and Corporals Coles and Auger, of the Royal Sappers and Miners, who had volunteered their services: they were to take pa.s.sage in the Beagle, and to proceed either to the Cape of Good Hope or Swan River, as Lieutenant Grey might ultimately determine. It was arranged that they should join us at Plymouth, and on our arrival there on the 20th of June--having called at Portsmouth on our way--we found them anxiously expecting us.

Here we were busily occupied for some days in rating the chronometers, and testing the various magnetic instruments: we also during this time swung the s.h.i.+p to try the local attraction, which neither here, nor in any subsequent experiments, exceeded one degree. As the s.h.i.+p lay in the Sound our observations were made on a stone in the breakwater marked 230/1, from whence we took our chronometric departure; it is about one-third of the length from the east end, and had been used for similar purposes by Captains King and Fitzroy. We considered it to be west of Greenwich, 0 hours 16 minutes 33 seconds 4t.

FAREWELL GLANCE AT PLYMOUTH.

Hardly anyone can visit Plymouth Sound without being at once struck with the singular beauty of the surrounding scenery; nor shall I easily forget the mingled feelings of admiration and regret with which my eye dwelt upon the quiet spot the evening before bidding it a long, long farewell.

The sea had sunk to sleep, and not a single breath disturbed its gla.s.sy surface: the silent waters--and yet how eloquently that silence spoke to the heart--glided swiftly past; into the still air rose the unbroken column of the thin and distant smoke; through long vistas of far-off trees, which art and nature had combined to group, the magnificent building at Mount Edgc.u.mbe, but veiled, to increase its beauty: scenery varying from the soft luxury of the park, to the rude freedom of the wild mountain's side, by turns solicited the eye; and as I leant against a shattered rock, filled with all those nameless feelings which such an hour was so well fitted to call forth, I felt notwithstanding all the temptations of promised adventure, the full bitterness of the price we pay for its excitements!

DEATH OF WILLIAM THE FOURTH.

On the evening of the 21st of June, we received the melancholy intelligence of the death of our late most gracious Sovereign, King William the Fourth. To all cla.s.ses of his subjects his mild and paternal government has endeared his memory; and none however they may differ with him, or with each other, upon that great political revolution which will render the name and reign of the Fourth William, no less remarkable than that of the Third, will refuse the tribute of their sincerest respect for qualities that adorned the sovereign while they exalted the man. By the naval service, in which he had spent the early part of his life, his name will long be remembered with affection; he never lost sight of its interests; and warmly supported its several inst.i.tutions and charities, long after he had been called by Providence to the Throne of his Fathers.

We bore the first intelligence of his fate, and the account of the accession of our present most gracious Queen, to every port at which we touched up to the period of our reaching Swan River.

CHAPTER 1.2. PLYMOUTH TO BAHIA.

Sail from Plymouth.

The Eight Stones.

Peak of Tenerife.

Approach to Santa Cruz.

La Cueva de Los Guanches.

Trade with Mogadore.

Intercourse between Mogadore and Mombas.

Reason to regret Mombas having been given up.

Sail from Tenerife.

Search for rocks near the equator.

Arrival at San Salvador.

Appearance of Bahia.

State of the Country.

Slave Trade.

And results of Slavery.

Extension of the Slave Trade on the eastern coast of Africa.

Moral condition of the Negroes.

Middy's Grave.

Departure from Bahia.

Mr. "Very Well Dice".

The morning of the 5th July saw us running out of Plymouth Sound with a light northerly wind, and hazy weather: soon after we were outside we spoke H.M.S. Princess Charlotte, bearing the flag of Admiral Sir R.

Stopford, and as she was bound down channel we kept together for the next three days: she had old s.h.i.+pmates on board, and was not the less an object of interest on that account. Nothing worthy of particular notice occurred during the run to Santa Cruz in Tenerife, which we made on the 18th of July; having in obedience to our instructions pa.s.sed over the presumed site of The Eight Stones, thus adding another though almost needless testimony to their non-existence, at least in the place a.s.signed them in the old charts.

In pa.s.sing the gut of Gibraltar we remarked the current setting us into it: this I have before noticed in outward voyages: in the homeward, one is generally too far to the westward to feel its effects. A small schooner sailed for England on the 20th, and most of us took the opportunity of sending letters by her. I learnt from the master of her that a timber s.h.i.+p had been recently picked up near the island, having been dismasted in a gale off the banks of Newfoundland; she was 105 days drifting here.

PEAK OF TENERIFE.

We were not so fortunate on this occasion as to obtain a distant sea view of the far-famed peak of Tenerife. There are few natural objects of greater interest when so beheld. Rising at a distance of some 40 leagues in dim and awful solitude from the bosom of the seemingly boundless waves that guard its base, it rests at first upon the blue outline of the horizon like a conically shaped cloud: hour after hour as you approach the island it seems to grow upon the sight, until at length its broad reflection darkens the surrounding waters. I can imagine nothing better calculated than an appearance of this kind to satisfy a beholder of the spherical figure of the earth, and it would seem almost incredible that early navigators should have failed to find conviction in the unvarying testimonies of their own experience, which an approach to every sh.o.r.e afforded.

In approaching the anchorage of Santa Cruz, vessels should close with the sh.o.r.e, and get into soundings before--as is the general custom--arriving abreast of the town, where from the steepness of the bank, and its proximity to the sh.o.r.e, they are obliged to anchor suddenly, a practice never desirable, and to vessels short handed, always inconvenient: besides calms sometimes prevail in the offing, which would prevent a vessel reaching the anchorage at all.

LA CUEVA DE LOS GUANCHES.

Lieutenant Grey was most indefatigable in collecting information during the short period of our stay at the island, as an examination of his interesting work will at once satisfy the reader: he explored a cave three miles to the north-east of Santa Cruz, known by tradition as La Cueva de los Guanches, and reputed to be a burying-place of the aboriginal inhabitants of the island: it was full of bones, and from the specimens he brought away, and also from his description of all that he examined, they appear to have belonged to a small-limbed race of men.

Besides the wine trade, a considerable traffic is carried on with the Moors upon the opposite coast, who exchange gums and sometimes ivory for cotton and calico prints, and occasionally tobacco.

TRADE WITH MOGADORE.