Discoveries in Australia Volume I Part 34

The land near the huts was turned up in search of roots, and close by were some large clubs. The thermometer fell in the night to 67 degrees, producing the novel though pleasant sensation of cold.

July 27.

Although apparently we could trace the land, near the head of the opening or bay, still the great set of tide in that direction, left hopes of its being the mouth of a river. We have already alluded to the difficulty of detecting the mouth of Australian streams, and the doubts thus engendered occasioned the greater anxiety.

Impatient to learn the truth, Mr. Fitzmaurice was despatched to examine the head of the bay, whilst the s.h.i.+p was moved towards it, anchoring again one mile North-West from a very remarkable patch of low red cliffs (which from startling circ.u.mstances, hereafter to be related, were called Escape Cliffs) and only two cables length distant from the coral ledge, by which this and the sh.o.r.es around were fronted.

VISIT THE Sh.o.r.e.

Here another party visited the sh.o.r.e, and those whose occupation did not render their presence necessary near the water, strolled into the country, penetrating about four or five miles inland, but they were rewarded by the sight of no novelty, or even variety in the scenery, beyond what was presented to our view on the visit to Cape Hotham, which it will readily be allowed was little enough. Indeed it will in general be found, that in Australia, a change of formation is necessary to produce any of the scenery, which otherwise exhibits a most monotonous sameness.

A coa.r.s.e kind of ironstone gravel was (if I may use the term) scattered over the face of the country; some of it had a glazed appearance on the surface, being hollow within, and about the size of a musket ball.

Properly speaking they are composed of a ferruginous sandstone, but they have been already more fully alluded to when first met with at Point Cunningham, near King's Sound, on the North-West coast. The general formation is the same as at Cape Hotham, itself almost identical with the rocks at Port Essington. A few traces of small kangaroos were seen; but not a bird or any other living thing two miles from the beach. This peculiarity the reader will remember was also noticed in the neighbourhood of King's Sound.

DISCOVERY OF ADELAIDE RIVER.

On returning to the s.h.i.+p we found that Mr. Fitzmaurice had arrived, bringing the expected, and very gratifying intelligence, that a large river with two branches, running South-East and South, with a depth of four fathoms, emptied itself into the head of the bay. The joy a discovery of this nature imparts to the explorer, when examining a country so proverbially dest.i.tute of rivers as Australia, is much more easily imagined than described. It formed a species of oasis amid the ordinary routine of surveying, rousing our energies, and giving universal delight. The castle-builders were immediately at work, with expectations beyond the pale of reason.

EXPLORING PARTY.

An exploring party, however, was at once formed, consisting of Captain Wickham, Lieutenant Emery, and Mr. Helpman, who--the next day being Sunday--did not leave before the morning of the 29th, with two boats and four days' provisions.

Many were the anxious and envious looks bestowed on the party as they left the s.h.i.+p on the deeply interesting service of exploring the new river. So strong and native is man's desire for the unknown, that his feelings are never more tried than when on the brink of a discovery, while those who are in presence of the novelty, and cannot enjoy the satisfaction of tasting that pleasure, must ever experience somewhat acute emotions of regret.

There was no difficulty in finding a name for a river which fell into Clarence Strait; it was at once, therefore, honoured with that of Adelaide, after her most gracious Majesty the Queen Dowager. The bay that receives its waters was called after Vice-Admiral Sir Charles Adam. The remaining part of the south side of Clarence Strait, together with the islands in the western entrance of it, gave ample, though not such interesting employment as the exploration of the Adelaide, to those who were left behind. Several unsuccessful hauls were made with the seine, fish in Adam Bay being very scarce.

NATIVE FAMILY.

Near Escape Cliffs I met a small family of natives, consisting of an elderly man, his wife, and four children; by degrees, advancing alone, I contrived to get near enough to make the woman a present of a handkerchief, in return for which she gave me a large leaf of the cabbage palm, that was slung across her back. I at length drew all the family around me, the eldest child, a youth of about 15, being the most timid.

He had a small piece of wood two feet long, sticking through the cartilage of his nose. His teeth and those of the other children were quite perfect, but in the father and mother two of the upper front ones were gone, as we before noticed was the case with the natives at Port Essington, where this ceremony is performed after marriage. The hair of these people was neither curly nor straight, but what I have before called crisp, being of that wavy nature sometimes noticed in Europeans.

They had with them three small-sized dogs of a light brown colour, of which they appeared very fond, and I could not induce them to part with them.

The old man's spear was not barbed, and the womera or throwing stick of the same long narrow shape as at Port Essington. The woman had also the same bottle-shaped basket slung over her neck, as before remarked, and containing white and red earths for painting their bodies.

CURIOSITY AND FEAR.

These people exhibited more curiosity than I had before noticed in the Aborigines, as I was able to induce them to visit the whaleboat that was on sh.o.r.e close by. Here, as in other places, the size of the oars first astonished them, and next the largeness of the boat itself. The exclamations of surprise given vent to by the old man as he gazed on the workmans.h.i.+p of his civilized brethren, were amusing; suddenly a loud shout would burst from his lips, and then a low whistle. I watched the rapid change of countenance in this wild savage with interest; all his motions were full of matter for observation. The mixed curiosity and dread depicted in his dusky face, the feeling of secret alarm at this first rencontre with a white man intruding in his native wilds, which he must have experienced, added much to the zest of the scene. I, however, at length almost persuaded the old man to accompany me on board; he even put one foot in the boat for the purpose, when seeing the depth of the interior, he recoiled with a slight shudder, as if from immersion in cold water. He was now overwhelmed by the woman and elder child with entreaties not to take such a rash step, and their rude eloquence succeeded.

It was amusing to see the struggle between fear and curiosity plainly depicted in the man's face, as he stood with one foot on the boat, and the other on the sh.o.r.e, hearkening but too credulously to the picture of danger, forcibly drawn by his friends, while curiosity, with almost equal strength, was urging him to dare the perils of the white man's boat.

A desire to be better acquainted with the strangers who had come to the sh.o.r.es of his native land in a large bird--such being their strange idea of a s.h.i.+p, the sails forming the wings--no doubt materially influenced him; but the eloquence of his relatives prevailed over all; and this interesting interview terminated by our leaving the sh.o.r.e without our sable friend, who, however, promised to visit the s.h.i.+p in an old bark canoe, about 20 feet long, that was lying on the beach near at hand. This promise was faithfully kept, for the same evening, a canoe was seen paddling off, containing two young natives in addition to the old man.

They stopped at some distance from the s.h.i.+p, moving round to view her on all sides.

ATTEMPT TO ENTICE NATIVES ON BOARD.

Fearing at last that their courage had failed, and that they would not come on board, the dinghy, our smallest boat, was sent towards them, there being only a boy besides myself in it.

I had hoped that thus they would not be frightened, but they instantly began to move towards the sh.o.r.e, and it required some manoeuvring to get near them; succeeding at length, however, I found my acquaintance of the morning anxious to go to the s.h.i.+p, a measure the other two did not at all approve of, as they kept edging away towards the land, whilst I gave the old man the presents I had brought him. At one time the dinghy got between the canoe and the sh.o.r.e, when instantly a gleam of terror flashed across the faces of the young men. One of them was a large square-headed fellow of ferocious aspect, whose countenance was lit up by a look of fierce revenge, as the canoe made towards the land, after I had ceased my endeavours to entice them on board.

Whatever these people may have imagined to be our motive in wis.h.i.+ng them to visit the s.h.i.+p, I little thought that my pressing them would have so nearly led to fatal results. I shall proceed to explain this remark by relating the startling circ.u.mstances from which Escape Cliffs received their name.

NARROW ESCAPE OF MR. FITZMAURICE.

A few days after my interview in the dinghy with the natives, Mr.

Fitzmaurice went ash.o.r.e to compare the compa.s.ses. From the quant.i.ty of iron contained in the rocks, it was necessary to select a spot free from their influence. A sandy beach at the foot of Escape Cliffs was accordingly chosen. The observations had been commenced, and were about half completed, when on the summit of the cliffs, which rose about twenty feet above their heads, suddenly appeared a large party of natives with poised and quivering spears, as if about immediately to deliver them.

Stamping on the ground, and shaking their heads to and fro, they threw out their long s.h.a.ggy locks in a circle, whilst their glaring eyes flashed with fury as they champed and spit out the ends of their long beards.* They were evidently in earnest, and bent on mischief.

(*Footnote. A custom with Australian natives when in a state of violent excitement.)

DANCING FOR LIFE.

It was, therefore, not a little surprising to behold this paroxysm of rage evaporate before the happy presence of mind displayed by Mr.

Fitzmaurice, in immediately beginning to dance and shout, though in momentary expectation of being pierced by a dozen spears. In this he was imitated by Mr. Keys, who was a.s.sisting in the observations, and who at the moment was a little distance off, and might have escaped. Without, however, thinking of himself, he very n.o.bly joined his companion in amusing the natives; and they succeeded in diverting them from their evident evil designs, until a boat landing in a bay near drew off their attention. The foremost of this party was recognised to be the ill-looking fellow, who left me in the canoe with a revengeful scowl upon his face.

Messrs. Fitzmaurice and Keys had firearms lying on the ground within reach of their hands; the instant, however, they ceased dancing, and attempted to touch them, a dozen spears were pointed at their b.r.e.a.s.t.s.

Their lives hung upon a thread, and their escape must be regarded as truly wonderful, and only to be attributed to the happy readiness with which they adapted themselves to the perils of their situation. This was the last we saw of the natives in Adam Bay, and the meeting is likely to be long remembered by some, and not without pleasant recollections; for although, at the time, it was justly looked upon as a very serious affair, it afterwards proved a great source of mirth. No one could recall to mind, without laughing, the ludicrous figure necessarily cut by our s.h.i.+pmates, when to amuse the natives, they figured on the light fantastic toe; and the readers, who look at the plate representing this really serious affair,* will behold two men literally dancing for their lives.

(*Footnote. See above.)

RETURN OF THE BOATS.

August 2.

This morning the boats returned; they had gone up the Adelaide in a general southerly direction, nearly 80 miles: the windings of the river, which were very great in some places, forming the shape of the letter S.

It became at this distance very narrow, and was divided into two branches, one taking a southerly direction, the other an easterly; the latter was too narrow for the boat's oars, while the former was blocked up by fallen trees lying across it. As in addition to the difficulties just mentioned, only one day's provision remained in the boats, the further exploration of the Adelaide was necessarily, though reluctantly, abandoned.

BANKS OF THE ADELAIDE.

For thirty miles of the upper part of the river the water was fresh; while the banks, excepting near the point of separation, were low, being not more than five feet above the present level of the river, a circ.u.mstance very favourable for irrigation, and the cultivation of rice.

Fifteen miles from the mouth they were fringed by the growth of mangroves; and higher up many of the points were thickly wooded, while on either side stretched a vast extent of prairie country, dotted here and there with islands of timber, which served to break the native monotony of the scene. Somewhat less than halfway up, rose on both banks a thick jungle of bamboo, which, in places where the water was always fresh, attained the gigantic height of from 60 to 80 feet. Between 20 and 70 miles from the mouth the soil is a good light-coloured mould; above this, commencing where the bank of the river is marked by a coa.r.s.e red gritty sandstone projection, the aspect of the country changes from that of low plains to a slightly wooded and gently undulating surface, in some places stony. This character continued to the furthest point reached in the boats, in lat.i.tude 12 degrees 57 minutes South, and longitude 131 degrees 19 minutes East.

When they had penetrated thus far into the new lands of Australia, the explorers returned, having experienced those sensations of delightful excitement, to which we have before alluded, and which naturally called forth strong emotions of regret in those who were denied a partic.i.p.ation in the feverish enjoyment of discovery.

From the highest tree at Captain Wickham's furthest point, the appearance of the country was, as far as the eye could reach, one wearisome level, broken to the southward, at a distance of ten miles, by a rocky mound about 150 feet high.

UPPER PART OF THE RIVER.

The river, which for some distance had not been fifty yards wide, with a rocky bed in places, and banks from six to twenty feet high, was subject at this point to a tidal change of level of about three feet, but there was no perceptible stream, and the water which a few miles lower down had been muddy, was here quite clear. Small bamboos and other drift were observed in the branches of the trees eight or ten feet above the water, showing the height which the river attains at some seasons of the year.

By the hollows on many of the plains, water appeared to have lain some time, and doubtless parts of this low land were periodically overflowed.

On the point dividing the upper branches of the river some coa.r.s.e sand was washed up, which on examination was found to be of a granitic character, clearly showing the primary formation of the country through which the Adelaide flowed. The only rocks noticed in the parts traversed by the boats were, as I have before said, of red porous sandstone. The smoke of several large fires was observed up the country, but none of the natives were seen.

MONKEY-BIRDS.

Towards the upper part of the river they noticed a strange bird, very much like a guineafowl in size and manner of running along the ground.

The colour was speckled white and brown. This, doubtless, from Mr.

Bynoe's description of one he wounded on the coast in the neighbourhood of the Adelaide, must have been the Leipoa ocellata of Gould, one of the mound or tumuli-building birds, first seen in Western Australia by Mr.