Discoveries in Australia Volume I Part 7

LOADED PISTOLS LEFT BEHIND.

The accident, however, and their sudden appearance, could only serve additionally to flurry the little party who had to convey their disabled officer to a place of safety, and Mr. Helpman, who may well be pardoned the want of his usual self-possession at such a moment, left behind a pair of loaded pistols. They would puzzle the savages greatly of course, but I hope no ill consequences ensued: if they began pulling them about, or put them in the fire, the better to separate the wood and iron, two or three poor wretches might be killed or maimed for life, and their first recollections of the Quibra men, as Miago calls us, would naturally be anything but favourable.

Thus disastrously terminated our examination of Roebuck Bay, in which the cheering reports of former navigators, no less than the tenor of our hydrographical instructions had induced us to antic.i.p.ate the discovery of some great water-communication with the interior of this vast Continent.

A most thorough and careful search--in which everyone seemed animated by one common and universal sentiment, prompting all to a zealous discharge of duty--had clearly demonstrated that the hoped-for river must be sought elsewhere: and that very fact which at first seemed to lessen the probabilities of ultimate success, served rather to inspire than to daunt; since while it could not shake our reliance upon the opinions of those best qualified to decide, that such a river must ultimately be discovered, it only narrowed the ground upon which energy, knowledge, and perseverance had yet to undergo their probation, ere they enjoyed their reward!

THE BOYL-YAS.

Our intercourse with the natives had been necessarily of the most limited character, hardly amounting to anything beyond indulging them with the sight of a new people, whose very existence, notwithstanding the apathetic indifference with which they regarded us, must have appeared a prodigy. What tradition may serve to hand down the memory of our visit to the third generation, should no newer arrival correct its gathering errors, and again restore some vestige of the truth, it is hardly possible to imagine; but should any misfortune follow their possession of Mr. Helpman's pistols, that in particular will be narrated as the motive for the visit of those white men who came flying upon the water, and left some of the secret fire upon the peaceful coast: and when again the white sails of the explorer glisten in the distant horizon, all the imaginary terrors of the Boyl-yas,* will be invoked to avert the coming of those who bring with them the unspeakable blessings of Christian civilization.

(*Footnote. The natives in the neighbourhood of Swan River give this name to their Sorcerers.)

CHAPTER 1.5. FROM ROEBUCK BAY TO SKELETON POINT.

Departure from Roebuck Bay.

Appearance of the Country.

Progress to the northward.

Hills and Cliffs.

French Names and French Navigators.

Tasman, and his account of the Natives.

Hazeygaeys and a.s.sagais.

His Authenticity as an Historian.

Description of the Natives.

Marks and mutilations.

Phrenological Development.

Moral condition.

Proas, Canoes, and Rafts.

Another squall.

Anchor in Beagle Bay.

Face of the Country.

Palm Trees.

Dew.

Hauling the Seine.

A meeting with Natives.

Eastern Salutation.

Miago's conduct towards, and opinion of, his countrymen.

Mutilation of the Hand.

Native smokes seen.

Move further to the North-East.

Point Emeriau.

Cape Leveque.

Point Swan.

Tide-races.

Search for water.

Encountered by Natives.

Return to the s.h.i.+p.

The attempt renewed.

Conduct of the Natives.

Effect of a Congreve Rocket after dark.

A successful haul.

More Natives.

Miago's Heroism.

The plague of Flies.

Dampier's description of it.

Native Habitations.

Underweigh.

Wind and weather.

Tidal Phenomenon.

Natural History.

Singular Kangaroo.

Bustard.

Cinnamon Kangaroo.

Quails.

Goanas and Lizards.

Ant Hills.

Fis.h.i.+ng over the side.

A day in the Bush.

A flood of fire.

Soil and Productions.

White Ibis.

Curious Tree.

Rain water.

Geology of the Cliffs.

Weigh, and graze a Rock, or Touch and go.

The Twins.

Sunday Strait.

Roe's Group.

Miago and his friends.

A black dog.

A day of rest.

Native raft.

Captain King and the Bathurst.

A gale.

Point Cunningham.

Successful search for water.

Native estimation of this fluid.

Discovery of a Skeleton.

And its removal.

The grey Ibis.

Our parting legacy.

DEPARTURE FROM ROEBUCK BAY.

January 22, 1838.

Satisfied that no inland communication could be expected from Roebuck Bay, we weighed in the early part of the morning, and stood away to the northward.

APPEARANCE OF THE COUNTRY.