Discoveries in Australia Volume II Part 4

In sounding the channel, I found that when the hill Captain Wickham and myself were first on, behind Entrance Isle, was in a line with the north end of the high land at the south side of the entrance, it formed a good lead up. In consequence we named it Leading Hill, and the end of the range alluded to, Indian Hill, from our constantly seeing smoke near it.

A flat of three or four fathoms at low-water extended across the channel, with River Peak bearing between North 35 East and North 64 East. I visited Indian Hill, but failed to meet with any of the natives, although I saw their fires not far off in the hills to the south-west. It is a ridge covered with blocks of sandstone, with a few trees here and there.

From its summit I had an extensive view of the low land stretching away to the northward, and forming the western side of the channel. It appeared so cut up with creeks as to form a ma.s.s of islands and mud flats, which appeared from the quant.i.ty of drift timber, to be frequently overflowed, and partially so apparently at high spring tides. The farthest high land I saw bore west about twelve miles.

MEMORIAL ON INDIAN HILL.

I left here a paper in a bottle, giving an account of our proceedings, and should have been sorry to think, as Wallis did when he left a similar doc.u.ment on a mountain in the Strait of Magellan, that I was leaving a memorial that would remain untouched as long as the world lasts. No, I would fain hope that ere the sand of my life-gla.s.s has run out, other feet than mine will have trod these distant banks; that colonization will, ere many years have pa.s.sed, have extended itself in this quarter; that cities and hamlets will have risen on the banks of the new-found river, that commerce will have directed her track thither, and that smoke may rise from Christian hearths where now alone the prowling heathen lights his fire. There is an inevitable tendency in man to create; and there is nothing which he contemplates with so much complacency as the work of his own hands. To civilize the world, to subdue the wilderness, is the proudest achievement to which he can look forward; and to share in this great work by opening new fields of enterprise, and leading, as it were, the van of civilisation, fills the heart with inexpressible delight. It is natural, therefore, as I traced the record of our visit and deposited it on Indian Hill, that I should look forward in a mood very far different from that of Wallis, to the speedy fruition of my hopes.

October 27.

The winds for the last few days had been from West-North-West to North-West, light after midnight to near noon, then moderate and sometimes fresh. The tides, as they approached the springs, increased their velocity, occasionally coming down in bores at the rate of four and five knots.

RETURN OF CAPTAIN WICKHAM.

Captain Wickham returned this morning, having discovered the river to be fresh about seventy miles above the s.h.i.+p. For some distance it had not decreased in size, which was very delightful news. I had been several times on the point of inquiring on this subject; but fearing an unfavourable reply, hesitated. Now my hopes were at their highest pitch, and I was quite impatient to start on an expedition up the river.

On the 29th the s.h.i.+p was taken under my guidance up the river, as far as the commencement of the long southerly reach. As the shoals in that part had not been sufficiently examined, we proceeded to do so in the evening, and two channels were discovered; one between a bank, dry at low-water, and a covered patch of one and a half and two fathoms, and the other between the covered bank and the east sh.o.r.e; the latter, although the narrower, I found to be the better. The tides set direct through it, and to keep close to the bank is a simple and sure guide. The least water is four fathoms, half a fathom more than was found in the other, the direction of which crossed the set of the tide when the bank on the west side became covered.

THE BEAGLE TAKEN UP THE VICTORIA.

Next morning we moved the s.h.i.+p three miles further up into a bight on the east side from which Endeavour Hill bore West 13 South two miles and a half.

The Beagle was now nearly fifty miles up the Victoria, and might have gone seven miles further, but a valley holding out a hope that we might find water by digging, and the distance at which the river was fresh being too great for us to think of completing our stock from it, we anch.o.r.ed abreast of it. Whilst on sh.o.r.e getting observations for the errors of the chronometers in the afternoon, I could not avoid soliloquising as I gazed on the s.h.i.+p lying surrounded by lofty rocky heights, that towered above her masts till they appeared mere sticks. The contrast forcibly presented itself between the comparative insignificance to which she was reduced by the elevation of the hills around, and the majestic appearance she was accustomed to bear when among the low lands of which we had seen so much. The sight reminded me of early years of wandering within the narrow arms of the sea in Tierra del Fuego, save and except there were not the forests of ages to hide the nakedness of the land, which even there was clothed to the water's edge.

My companion reporting the instruments in the boat broke the reverie I was indulging in; and on returning on board I found everyone busily preparing for the expedition up the river.

CHAPTER 2.2.

Exploration of the Victoria.

First appearance of Sea Range.

Curiosity Peak.

Appearance of Country from.

Whirlwind Plains.

Encounter with an Alligator.

His capture and description.

Cross Whirlwind Plains.

White and black ducks.

Kangaroos.

Enter hilly country.

Meet the boats.

Thunderstorm.

Carry boats over shoals.

New birds.

Reach Hopeless.

Progress of boats arrested.

Reconnoitre the river.

Prospect from View Hill.

Preparation for pedestrian excursion.

Leave Reach Hopeless to explore the upper part of the river.

Native village.

Squall.

Muscle Bend.

Meet Natives.

Successful fis.h.i.+ng.

Party distressed.

Thirsty Flat.

Tortoise Reach.

Singular appearance of the ranges.

Effect of the great heat.

One man knocked up.

Approach of natives.

Preparation for defence.

Appearance of the natives.

Move further up the river.

Emu Plains.

Select position for night quarters.

Upward course of the Victoria.

Commence return.

Kangaroo shot.

Wickham Heights.

New Tortoise.

Lucky Valley.

Race was with a native.

Meet his tribe.

They make off.

Hard day's work.

Quarters for the night.

Return to Reach Hopeless.

EXPLORATION OF THE VICTORIA.

The expedition, consisting of the two large boats and gig, with Captain Wickham, who was to show them the watering place, left the s.h.i.+p early on the morning of the 31st of October. I was to follow in one of the whaleboats, and explore the upper parts in company with Captain Wickham; and after completing the survey near the s.h.i.+p, I was at last fairly off to explore the Victoria with the first glimmer of light the morning following, once more to revel in scenes where all was new. How amply is the explorer repaid by such sights for all his toils! To ascend a hill and say you are the first civilized man that has ever trod on this spot; to gaze around from its summit and behold a prospect over which no European eye has ever before wandered; to descry new mountains; to dart your eager glance down unexplored valleys, and unvisited glens; to trace the course of rivers whose waters no white man's boat has ever cleaved, and which tempt you onwards into the bosom of unknown lands: these are the charms of an explorer's life.

Mr. Forsyth accompanied me. We landed nearly opposite the rugged ridge I have before mentioned, for a few angles and bearings. Here we found two native rafts of precisely the same construction as those we had previously seen on the North-west coast, formed out of nine poles. The shape the reader will remember from the sketch in that part of the work, and with the exception of only two instances, where they appeared merely temporary affairs, we have noticed no other kind of rafts in use.

Wherever this great similarity in their mode of water-conveyance prevails, we may infer the natives have had communication with each other.

We pa.s.sed the night in the end of a crooked reach, near the only rocky islet in the river, lying four miles East-South-East from the furthest point I had before attained. With the exception of a squall from north-east in the afternoon, there was scarcely any wind, and the night was cloudy with some slight showers of rain. As the mosquitoes allowed us little rest, we were glad, when the day broke, to be again moving. We now found the river take a north-east direction for eight miles, averaging in width upwards of three-quarters of a mile, and in depth at low-water two fathoms. A sudden change in the trend of the reaches brought in sight the strange appearance of the country represented in the woodcut annexed.

CURIOSITY PEAK.

The peak on the right bank we named, from the pa.s.sion it a.s.sisted us in gratifying, Curiosity Peak. Landing at the foot we were not long reaching the summit, although the thermometer was 90 degrees in the shade. The river formed a remarkable feature in the landscape before us, to the north-east; and behind it rose a high table-range of hills, from five to six hundred feet in elevation. These were capped with low reddish-coloured cliffs.

WHIRLWIND PLAINS.

At their feet stretched an extensive and seemingly boundless plain in a north-east direction, whilst on the south-east side, and distant about eighteen miles from where we stood, low ranges of hills were visible.

Here and there over the plains were many small whirlwinds appearing in the distance like streaks of smoke curling upwards through the air.

These, though affording relief to the eye in the wide prospect that opened before us, are fraught with danger when occurring on the river; for on one occasion they nearly upset the gig, and threatened to consign its crew to a watery grave. In the present instance they gave an impulse to our invention, suggesting the propriety of designating the level tract of country before us, Whirlwind Plains. The high land rising suddenly out of it, and bounding it very abruptly on the north-west side, we named Sea Range. We could trace the river pa.s.sing along at its foot in an East-North-East direction for nine miles, when it appeared to cross the plain; a large island lying midway changed its course for a short distance.

I found a strange kind of fruit growing in a hollow, near the top of Curiosity Peak; the tree was small and leafless, with the fruit hanging in bunches about the size of a damascene plum, of the colour of a peach, and containing a large stone. I afterwards had a pie made of this fruit, which proved to be by no means bad eating.