Discoveries in Australia Volume II Part 33

October 17.

In the morning another party visited the sh.o.r.e, landing under a low sandhill, sixty feet high, bearing South by East six miles, called Mount Blaze, in lat.i.tude 20 degrees 0 minutes South and longitude 119 degrees 40 minutes East. This was found to stand on a projection, with two small rocky islets on either side. Eastward from it cliffy points separating shoal mangrove bays, formed the character of the coast; whilst in the opposite direction extended a bay, fifteen miles wide, over the western point of which we recognised the sandhills seen on our visit to this part in July, 1840; the sh.o.r.es of this great bay were fronted for some distance by shoal water.

Behind Mount Blaze the country was swampy, with mangroves, for a few miles; it then gradually rose, and on the bearing of South 7 degrees East, distant nearly fifteen miles, were seen conical-sided flat-topped hills about two hundred feet high. This was the first remarkable elevation in the country we had seen during the two hundred miles of the coastline traced by the Beagle; it appears to be the North-East termination of the high land seen southward from the Turtle Isles.

Some small burrowing animal had so excavated the ground in the vicinity of Mount Blaze, that at each step we sunk in knee-deep; a few quails were shot, but no varieties of birds were seen beyond what had been already observed at the other points of the coast visited.

Weighing, we stood to the westward, after making a short stretch to the north-east; but shoal water, at the end of six miles, obliged us to go on the other tack. The change in the direction of the flood- tide, from westerly to northerly, did not leave much hope of our finding a pa.s.sage to the westward. At sunset the anchor was dropped in 9 fathoms, with a shoal patch of 5 fathoms two miles to the eastward, Mount Blaze, just visible from the masthead, bearing south sixteen miles. During the afternoon we had crossed no less than five lines of ripplings, on which, at low-water, there was only from 2 to 5 fathoms.

October 19.

After the noon observation another attempt was made to find a pa.s.sage to the westward; but at the end of eighteen miles we found ourselves embayed among patches of ripplings and breakers. The western sandhills, seen yesterday, bore at this time South by East fifteen miles. Two-thirds of the distance from the sh.o.r.e was a continued line of broken water.

Finding, by sounding with the boats, that there was no pa.s.sage for the s.h.i.+p, we retraced our track east; and in the evening anch.o.r.ed again in 7 fathoms, between two ridges of 4.

AMPHINOME SHOALS.

The outer breaker of the Amphinome Shoals bore North 37 degrees West three miles, which placed it in lat.i.tude 19 degrees 41 minutes South and longitude 119 degrees 24 minutes East; and as these shoals extend eighteen miles off such low land, they may fairly be considered dangerous.

BEDOUT ISLAND.

Next evening we anch.o.r.ed off the east side of Bedout Island, having, in the morning, nineteen miles to the east of it and twenty-two from the mainland, pa.s.sed over a ridge of 5 fathoms.

October 21.

We spent the day on Bedout, the centre of which we found to be in lat.i.tude 19 degrees 35 minutes 45 seconds South, longitude 119 degrees 08 minutes 45 seconds East. It is a circular sand islet twenty feet high, and half a mile in extent. Off its western side ripplings and rocks extend nearly three miles; in other parts it is fronted by a circular reef a mile in extent, and of a different kind from the Turtle Isle reefs, being composed of live corallines and fan-like leaves, which giving way readily to the feet, we suddenly found ourselves immersed almost up to our necks; within fifty yards of the island this became worse. The reefs and beaches abounded with turtles of two kinds, the Mydas and a species of the Imbricated. We were in time for the noddy's eggs; but the other birds had hatched theirs, and left for sea, returning only at night. From their great abundance and constant visits they had formed a kind of guano on the island. Among the varieties of the feathered tribe was the golden plover.

On the following afternoon we stood over, South-South-East for the main; but were again prevented by shoal water from approaching within twelve miles of the nearest part, which was the western point of the bay seen from Mount Blaze. Broken water and dry sands extended between south and east, and to the south-west the entrance of Breaker Inlet and other parts of the last year's survey were readily distinguished.

October 22.

During the forenoon the boats completed the soundings, and in the evening the s.h.i.+p was anch.o.r.ed under the North Turtle Isle. Thus terminated the examination of this. .h.i.therto unexplored part of the coast, which had been the field of many years' speculation. One of the most remarkable points, is the great rise of twenty-eight feet in the tide, which can only be accounted for by the fact of the water being heaped up in the concavity formed by the coast; on the first part of the bight the direction of the flood was from West, and on the latter from West-North-West. We had found that no river or other interesting feature existed; and that it was the most dull and uniform portion of the continent we had seen, or that could possibly be imagined.

BREAKER INLET.

While I have no reason to believe that an examination of Breaker Inlet, which, from the numerous sandbanks forming the Amphinome Shoals, has probably a considerable outlet, would lead to a discovery of any importance, nevertheless, I regret that the heavy surf which breaks across its entrance at this season of the year entirely prevented my exploring it.

The winds we had experienced on this part of the coast were light, from the eastward, during the night, and moderate from North-North-West to West-South-West towards the latter part of the day, the morning being frequently calm. On one or two occasions in the night we had slight squalls from South-East accompanied by lightning; but, commonly speaking, the weather was very fine, the temperature on board being generally 77, the maximum being 82 and the minimum 75 degrees. On sh.o.r.e it was about five degrees higher.

EXMOUTH GULF.

The necessary chronometric and magnetic observations were completed, and a supply of turtles taken on board by the evening of the 26th, when after leaving a paper in a bottle, recording our visit and describing the nature of the coast eastwards, we left with the intention of exploring Exmouth Gulf, which was the only remaining portion of the north-western sh.o.r.e of the continent that had not been visited by Captain King or ourselves. But as we were forced away from the land by southerly winds as we approached the North-West Cape, and as there was no certainty of procuring water, I have been obliged to content myself with the report of a whaler who went in there and found it to be the mouth of a large inlet conveying a vast body of water into the interior, occasionally, I imagine, even as far as the neighbourhood of the north-east sh.o.r.e of Shark's Bay, as Captain Grey speaks of finding there extensive plains of mud and sand, at times evidently flooded by the sea and presenting no limit in a north-east direction.

Continuing our pa.s.sage we arrived at Swan River on November 23rd.

CHAPTER 2.12.

Reported Harbour.

Set out for Australind.

The Gra.s.s-tree.

Correspondence with Mr. Clifton, etc.

Sail from Gage Road.

Examination of coast.

Reach Champion Bay.

Visit Mount Fairfax and Wizard Peak.

Arid nature of country.

Want of water.

Native Grave.

The Greenough river.

Natives.

Leave Champion Bay.

Koombanah Bay.

Naturaliste Reef.

Reach South Australia.

Port Adelaide.

Proposed Railroad.

Visit Mount Barker.

Encounter Bay.

Native fis.h.i.+ng.

Return to Adelaide.

Sail from South Australia.

Portland Bay.

Squatters.

Tour in the interior.

Fertile country.

View from the Sugarloaf.

Visit Cape Bridgewater.

Sail for Hobart.

Liberality of Sir John Franklin.

Atmospheric changes.

Arrive at Sydney.

REPORTED HARBOUR.

Among the news that most interested us on our arrival at Swan River, was the report of the discovery of a harbour on the west coast, near Moresby's Flat-topped Range. In the Surveyor General's office I was shown a map of that portion of Western Australia by Mr. Arrowsmith, "from the surveys of Captain Grey," whose name the port bore; and the united authorities of this talented explorer, and this celebrated geographer, would have removed all doubt from my mind as to the correctness of the report to which I have alluded, even if the alleged discovery had not taken place on a portion of the coast unvisited by Captain King or myself. In the colony, however, very different opinions were held; and it was confidently maintained that Port Grey, although placed, by accident or otherwise, twelve miles to the southward, was no other than the bay we had previously visited, called by us Champion Bay. It is true I could trace a resemblance between their southern parts; but they differed so widely in their northern--Port Grey being represented in the chart, and printed description, to be perfectly safe, and sheltered in that quarter by a point and a reef--that I saw no grounds for giving credence to the opinion industriously circulated at Swan River, that the reef and point, or perhaps the whole port, had been fabricated by the land-jobbers at home. Such an opinion, however, was quite a disinterested one on their part; as an extension of the colony northwards, and the establishment of a settlement near Moresby's Flat-topped Range, would have led to a result much desired by them, the occupancy, namely, of the intervening country.

It was in the neighbourhood of the harbour, the existence or ident.i.ty of which was thus called in question, that Captain Grey had reported to have seen a fertile district; and a company had actually arrived from England for the purpose of forming a settlement there. Mr. Clifton, the Chief Commissioner, however, on hearing the opinion prevalent in the colony, did not think proper to risk the lives of the people under his charge, by conveying them to a port that might be fabulous, and to a country the fertility of which was absolutely denied; and the destination of the new settlement was, accordingly, provisionally changed to the sh.o.r.es of the Leschenault Inlet, which held out a prospect of solid, if not brilliant, success, and possessed advantages, which, if not dazzling, were at least exempt from the suspicion of being visionary.

Anxious to have further information on this subject through a personal interview with Mr. Clifton, I accompanied His Excellency Governor Hutt and the Surveyor General on a tour in the direction of the new settlement, whilst the s.h.i.+p underwent a slight refit, and the men had a run ash.o.r.e. The survey of the Swan, from the entrance to Perth, was, meanwhile, undertaken by Mr. Forsyth.

THE GRa.s.s-TREE.

Leaving Fremantle, the first part of the road lay between low ranges of limestone hills, and through quite a forest of gra.s.s-trees, gums (Xanthorroea) some k.n.o.bby, old and crooked, others erect and reaching the height, occasionally, of perhaps seventeen feet, with their tufted and overarching crests towering above those of smaller growth that were scattered over the earth around.*

(*Footnote. These trees, called Blackboys by the colonists, from the resemblance they bear, in the distance, to natives, attain, it is said, a great age, and there is a vague report that when fifty years old they are only a foot above ground.)

ROAD TO AUSTRALIND.

The road pa.s.ses through the towns.h.i.+p of Pinjarra, on the fertile banks of the Murray. Where it crosses the river, the first and only great affray took place with the natives, whose blood on that unfortunate occasion stained the waters of the reach that now slept in peaceful beauty, as if strife had never polluted its banks.* Here we met Mr. Clifton, who accompanied us to his new towns.h.i.+p of Australind, to plant the germs of which, in the wilds of Western Australia, he and his worthy family had left England and all the comforts of society. This interesting spot is situated on the east side of Leschenault Inlet; the approach is laid out with much taste, the road leading along the foot of a hill covered with wood, whilst on the right is an open growth of trees, affording every now and then a glimpse of the beautiful estuary, with its surface just ruffled and glittering in the rays of the setting sun. I was much struck with the beauty of the scenery during this evening's and the morrow's excursion, having had no idea that there was such a fertile, well watered, and heavily timbered district so near the coast in Western Australia.**