Narrative of the Voyage of H.M.S. Rattlesnake Volume Ii Part 18

From the entrance we went South-South-West five miles, when the river narrowed to about the third of a mile, we had from six to two and a half fathoms all the way in. From here we went into the branch of the river that ran about south, the main river going west. The entrance to the branch is about two cables' lengths wide, we went in a southerly direction about six miles, when the river narrowed to forty feet; here we landed at half-past three P.M. Leaving two hands in charge of the boat, walked about two and a half miles, where Jackey found the papers, they had been pulled out of the hollow trunk where he had placed them, and were much damaged, being saturated with water. We then went half a mile to where Jackey had camped, to look for a pair of compa.s.ses he had left; could not find them, but found a notebook that Jackey had been drawing sketches in; from here we went to another camp to look for the compa.s.ses, but did not find them. At half-past five came back to the boat and camped for the night, none of us could sleep on account of the mosquitoes and flies, etc.

At six A.M. started down the river; at eight calm, got into the main river, had breakfast. At half-past eight, a light breeze from the eastward. At eleven pa.s.sed within half a mile of two native canoes with seven men in each, stood towards them, they immediately paddled away. At one rounded Fly Point, and at half-past one got alongside the brig.

Sunday, May 13, 1849.

Fresh breeze from South-East and fine all day. At eight A.M. both vessels hoisted the ensign half-mast. At three P.M. having put the remains of Messrs. Wall and Niblet in a coffin, left the s.h.i.+p in the two boats with nearly all the s.h.i.+p's crew cleaned, and pulled to the southern end of Albany Island, landed and went up to the highest hill on that part of the island, and on the top, a clear open place, we dug a grave and interred the remains of the unfortunate individuals Thomas Wall and Charles Niblet, reading the funeral service over them; about ten or twelve of the natives were present, and we fully explained to them what we were doing, they conducted themselves with propriety when the funeral service was being read. Poor Jackey was much affected, and could not refrain from tears.

The spot I selected is the most conspicuous on the island, and would be an excellent site for the erection of a monument to the memory of the unfortunate men who perished on the late ill-fated expedition.* At each end of the grave I planted two large bushes, and on the top were placed several large stones. A bottle was suspended over the grave, with a paper in it, stating who was interred, with the date, etc.; and at sunset we returned on board.

(*Footnote. A tombstone with suitable inscription was afterwards erected by Captain Stanley, and two young coconut trees were planted near the grave.)

I cannot close my extracts without mentioning the exemplary conduct of Jackey-Jackey. Since he came on board I have always found him quiet, obliging, and very respectful; when on sh.o.r.e he was very attentive, nothing could abstract him from his object; the sagacity and knowledge he displayed in traversing the trackless wilderness were astonis.h.i.+ng; when he found the places he went in search of, he was never flushed with success, but invariably maintained his quiet, un.o.btrusive behaviour; he was much concerned at not being able to find the remains of his late unfortunate master, to whom he was sincerely attached; his two companions* also conducted themselves well, and were very useful on sh.o.r.e.

(*Footnote. Aboriginal blacks of his own tribe.)

APPENDIX 1.

COMPARATIVE VOCABULARY OF TWO OF THE LANGUAGES OF THE NEIGHBOURHOOD OF CAPE YORK.

A few words procured at Cape York and Port Lihou are given in the Voyage of the Fly, and most of those which I have been able to identify belong to the language spoken by the Kowrarega tribe, inhabiting the Prince of Wales Islands, and frequently visiting Cape York.

For the materials composing the present Kowrarega Vocabulary, I am almost entirely indebted to Mrs. Thomson. Unfortunately, however, her total want of education prevented her from acquiring any idea of the construction of the language; nor could she always be made to understand the meaning of a question--however simple in its form--framed to elicit information on this point. Even by carefully sifting at leisure hours the ma.s.s of crude materials obtained from her and written down at each interview, day by day, I did not make sufficient progress in the grammar of the language to enable me to pursue the subject further, until her value as an authority had so far declined that it was prudent to reject it altogether. Nearly all the words originally procured from Mrs. Thomson were subsequently verified either by herself or by our Kowrarega visitors.

The Gudang Vocabulary was formed at Cape York, and the chief contributor to it was the black named Paida, mentioned above, to whom I latterly was able to make myself tolerably well understood upon most subjects, through the medium of the Kowrarega language, which he knew thoroughly. As several dialects are spoken at this place,* I took care to reject all such words as were not given me expressly as Gudang.

(*Footnote. Two examples will suffice to show the differences in the five languages which I have heard spoken at Cape York.

Dog = ing-G.o.dinya (Gudang and Yagulle), ngyomo (Kachialaiga), Inyomo (Induyamo), umai (Kowrarega).

Smoke = ekura (Gudang and Induyamo), rong-gura (Yagulle and Kachialaiga), tuo (Kowrarega).)

The following rules have been adopted in the Vocabularies:

[The vowels are sounded as follows:

a as in hard.

a as in hat.

e as in there.

e as in bet.

e as in French meme.

i as in eel.

i as in bit.

o as in hole.

o as in not.

u as in cool.

u as in cut.

ai as in eye.

ei not represented in English.]

G is always hard, as in get; ch soft, as in church.

The letters in italics are sometimes omitted.

The numbers appended to some words point out similarities and derivations.

1. NATURAL OBJECTS.*

(*Footnote. To form the plural of a noun or adjective, the rule appears to be to add le as a postfix, sometimes previously supplying a terminal vowel if required: Example: geta = hand becomes getale in the plural: kuku = foot, kukule: kutai = yam, kutaile: ipi = wife, ipile: kerne = lad undergoing a certain ceremony, kernele: makaow = mat, makaowle: bom = fruit of panda.n.u.s, bomale. There are exceptions however; mari = sh.e.l.l ornament, makes marurre in the plural: gul = canoe, gulai: tawpei = short, tawpeingh: all nouns ending in ra have the plural in re, as kowra = ear, kowrare and all ending in kai gain jille in the plural, as ipikai = woman, ipikaijille.

Regarding the allusion to a terminal vowel, it may be mentioned here that as most Kowrarega words end in a vowel, its absence when a vowel commences the following word is commonly owing to elision. Example: udzu umai = my dog becomes udz'umai. When the last consonant in a word is the same as the first in the following word, one of the letters is omitted.

Example: apa pirung = soft ground becomes ap'irung. There are numerous other contractions, as ai for aidu = food: aiye for aiyewel = come here: mue utsem = the fire has gone out, for mue utsimem etc.)

COLUMN 1: ITEM NUMBER.

COLUMN 2: ENGLISH.

COLUMN 3: KOWRAREGA.

COLUMN 4: GUDANG.

1 : Sky : je : -.

2 : Sun : gariga : inga.

3 : Cloud : dapar : otera.

4 : Cloud, heavy, c.u.mulus : markei : -.

5 : Cloud, driving, scud : ras : -.

6 : Moon : kissuri : aikana.

7 : Moon, new : kainidung (634) : kichia.

8 : Moon, full : mullpal : ichara.

9 : Moonlight : kapi kissurri (612.6) : -.

10 : Star : t.i.ture : onbi, unbi.

11 : Star, falling : t.i.ture udzarizhe (10.745) : -.

12 : Star, morning : gariga t.i.ture (2.10) : -.

13 : Jupiter ? : dogei : -.

14 : Pleiades : kusali* : -.

(*Footnote. The frequency of words having different meanings may perhaps lead some to suppose that they may have originated in error on my part.

Some have a figurative connexion as upu = a series of waterholes, also a blister; kusali = the constellation of the Pleiades, also a plant with bunches of seeds which become white and glittering by exposure to the sun: others have no obvious community of meaning, as ari = rain, also a louse; gi = laughter, also ripe, &tc.)

15 : Darkness, night : inur : yulpalga.

16 : Shadow, shade : yirada : moda.

17 : Wind : guba : alba.

18 : Rain : ari : apura.

19 : Rainbow : oripara : ung-gebanya.

20 : Dew : urma : -.