Journals of Two Expeditions of Discovery in North-West and Western Australia Volume I Part 13

We made the river about Halfway Bay, and then followed its course, keeping about a mile or two inland. A considerable portion of the land in the neighbourhood of the river was most excellent, consisting of rich meadow plains. The general proportion of good country compared with the bad was still however but small.

GOUTY-STEMMED TREES.

There was a very remarkable feature in the appearance of this part of the country, caused by the number of gouty stemmed trees (a species of Capparis ?) These trees grow to a considerable height, and had the appearance of suffering from some disease, but, from the circ.u.mstance of all of them being affected in the same way, this was undoubtedly their natural state. I measured one of the largest I here saw, and found that at eighteen inches above the ground its circ.u.mference was about twenty-eight feet six inches.

The foliage of this tree was slight but graceful, and it was loaded with a fruit of an elliptical form, as large as a coconut. This fruit was enclosed in a rind, closely resembling that of the almond, and inside the rind was a sh.e.l.l containing a soft white pulp, in which were placed a species of almond, very palatable to the taste, and arranged in this pulp much in the manner in which the seeds are placed in the pomegranate. Upon the bark of these trees being cut they yielded in small quant.i.ties a nutritious white gum, which both in taste and appearance resembles macaroni; and upon this bark being soaked in hot water an agreeable mucilaginous drink was produced.

This tree is, from this combination of useful qualities, a vegetable production of no slight value, and probably comes near the cocoa-nut tree in value. Its worth is well known to the natives for its vicinity is one of their favourite haunts. Around nearly all of them I have found marks of their fires, and on many of these trees were several successive rows of notches, formed in this manner:

All but the last row being invariably scratched out. These rows of notches were evidently of different ages, and I imagine must indicate the number of nuts taken each year from the tree.* I often also found rude drawings scratched upon the trees, but none of these sketches indicated anything but a very ordinary degree of talent, even for a savage: some were so imperfect that it was impossible to tell what they were meant to represent.

(*Footnote. This tree was also observed on this part of the continent by Captain King, who met with it both at Cambridge Gulf and Careening Bay, and describes it as follows: Mr. Cunningham was fortunate in finding the fruit of the tree that was first seen by us at Cambridge Gulf, and had for some time puzzled us from its immense size and peculiar appearance.

It proved to be a tree of the Natural Order Capparides, and was thought to be a Capparis; the gouty habit of the stem, which was soft and spongy, gave it an appearance of disease; but as all the specimens, from the youngest plant to the full-grown tree, possessed the same deformed appearance, it was evidently the peculiarity of its habit. The stem of the largest of these trees measured twenty-nine feet in girt, whilst its height did not exceed twenty-five feet. It bore some resemblance to the Adansonia figured in the account of Captain Tuckey's expedition to Congo.

King's Australia volume 1 page 423.)

SINGULAR PIECES OF SANDSTONE.

I this day again remarked a circ.u.mstance which had before this period elicited my attention; which was that we occasionally found fixed in the boughs of trees, at a considerable height from the ground, pieces of sandstone, nearly circular in form, about an inch and a half in thickness, and from four to five in diameter, so that they resembled small millstones. What was the object in thus fas.h.i.+oning and placing these stones I never could conceive, for they were generally in the least remarkable spots: they cannot point out burial places, for I have made such minute searches that in such a case I must have found some of the bones; neither can they indicate any peculiar route through the country, for two never occur near one another.

PREPARATION TO BUILD A BOAT.

On my return to the camp I found that the schooner had not yet arrived; I now began to fear that some accident had occurred, and made my preparations accordingly. The party was fully prepared to meet such a misfortune and, as we had the means of constructing a boat large enough to take us to Swan River, I felt more anxious for the safety of those in the vessel than for our own. That no time however might be lost I examined the neighbourhood of the encampment and found that within our immediate vicinity were plenty of trees well adapted for the purpose, which I marked, and had some of them felled.

CHAPTER 7. HANOVER BAY AND ITS VICINITY.

OCCUPATION AT THE CAMP.

During the absence of the schooner we had our attention fully engaged in forming a garden, collecting specimens, and building sheds for the stores. So difficult and rocky was the country we were in that I was employed for several days in finding a route by which unloaded horses could travel from the beach in Hanover Bay to the point where we were encamped, for the landing-place at the end of the ravine was so rocky as to be impracticable for that purpose. Mr. Walker at length discovered a pa.s.s in the cliffs, and by constructing a winding path in this he thought that we should be able to get loaded horses out of the valley. I feared that he was too sanguine, and therefore daily renewed my search in all directions. I travelled up the entire length of the ravine that we were encamped in but found that, even granting it was not flooded, we should find great difficulty in emerging by this route.

These circ.u.mstances made me resolve upon the return of the schooner to re-embark the stores, and land them again either upon a point I had fixed upon on the south bank of Prince Regent's River, or upon the neck of land I have before mentioned, which lay between Port George the Fourth and Hanover Bay; but I could not finally decide upon either of the points until the return of the vessel should enable me to examine the coast between Port George the Fourth and Camden Sound; for my party only consisted of nine men, of whom with the exception of three or four I knew nothing, and after what I had seen of the treacherous disposition of the natives I did not think, in my position, it would be prudent to absent myself from them for any length of time.

RETURN OF THE LYNHER.

Amidst such exciting and busy scenes, the time flew rapidly away until the 17th of January, when about 11 A.M. the report of a carronade came echoing up the valley. This was the preconcerted signal which was to announce to us that the vessel was safely at anchor in Hanover Bay. We were of course all anxiety to hear an account of their adventures, and to ascertain whether the horses were safe. I hastened directly to the landing-place, where I met Mr. Lus.h.i.+ngton and a party coming ash.o.r.e from the schooner.

RELATION OF PROCEEDINGS AT KUPANG TIMOR AND ROTI.

The following outline of their transactions was soon given:

They had quitted Hanover Bay on the 21st December at 9 A.M., and reached Kupang in the Island of Timor on the 1st of January. For the first three days until they got clear of the land they had every evening, soon after sunset, heavy squalls from the north-east, accompanied with thunder, lightning, and rain; the prevalent wind was however from the north-west.

The Lynher remained at Kupang until the 7th, during which time they completed their water and collected coconuts, bread-fruit trees, etc., to be planted in Australia; but as Mr. Lus.h.i.+ngton found that he should be able more easily to obtain ponies at the island of Roti than at Kupang, they sailed on the morning of the 7th for that place, and at 7 P.M. came to in the harbour of Rougun in eleven fathoms water, with muddy bottom.

They were enabled to procure at Roti the requisite number of horses by the evening of the 11th of January. The people of this island appeared to be excessively ignorant, knew but little of the nature and value of money, and were much astonished when they were shown a watch. Their favourite mode of disposing of their property was by barter; the articles they prized most were muskets and coa.r.s.e gunpowder, but they preferred having the gunpowder in a claret bottle, as if this was considered by them to be some definite measure which bore a certain value. They were not very particular about the quality of the muskets provided their outward form and appearance were tolerably good. I have since ascertained that the natives of the little-frequented islands of the Archipelago invariably prefer an old musket to a new one, as they conceive a totally new one may be unsafe, from having been made merely for the purpose of sale; whilst one which has seen service has been indisputably manufactured for use. If they entertain any doubt about the goodness of a musket they generally insist upon the seller's firing it off.

MODE OF BARTER AT ROTI.

The people of Roti are not allowed to fix themselves what is to be the price of their horses; all the details of the sale are settled by an a.s.semblage of chiefs: their constant cry in bartering (if anything else is offered to them) is "schnapper, schnapper" (a musket, a musket). They refused at first to take percussion guns in exchange, but when they saw Captain Browse c.o.c.k one of these, pour a quant.i.ty of water over the lock, and fire it off, their astonishment knew no bounds, and they then eagerly bartered for them. When they found that all the muskets were exhausted they were content to take money and other articles in lieu: an old dress waistcoat of mine and a regulation breastplate procured eight small sheep; and Captain Browse got fourteen goats for a pair of old pistols.

The authorities give every encouragement to the trader; but the duties exacted are high, for at Kupang and Roti they demand six rupees duty for every horse exported, or musket imported. Arms and gunpowder are no longer considered contraband.

The inhabitants of Roti were described as being so indolent that it was almost impossible to induce them to do anything: although every means were used to tempt them to cut a sufficient quant.i.ty of fodder for the ponies on their pa.s.sage they constantly delayed doing so and, Mr.

Lus.h.i.+ngton's patience being at last worn out, the vessel put to sea on the 12th of January 1838.

NEW ISLAND DISCOVERED.

On the 13th they sighted the Hibernian shoal which they made in 11 degrees 57 minutes south lat.i.tude and 123 degrees 22 minutes 30 seconds east longitude. On Monday 15th of January at 10 P.M. they discovered an island, thus described in the log of the Lynher:

At 10 hours 30 minutes P.M. saw land about a quarter of a mile ahead; hauled our wind to west by south; sounded in 12 fathoms water, rocky bottom; it appeared to be about one mile in extent, and about twenty feet above the water. After running west by south one mile, got no bottom with 40 fathoms of line. Kept our course south by east: it (the island) appeared to be quite level with rocks extending to north-west, with heavy breakers. Made it by observation south lat.i.tude 14 degrees 4 minutes; east longitude 123 degrees 31 minutes by good chronometer rated at Roti.

TROUBLE WITH THE HORSES.

At 6 A.M. on the morning of the 16th they experienced heavy squalls of wind off Red Island, and this prevented them from getting into Hanover Bay on that day; but on the morning of the 17th they anch.o.r.ed safely, without having lost a single pony, or without having experienced any serious misfortune, having made the pa.s.sage from Roti in five days.

UNFORESEEN EMBARRa.s.sMENTS.

Some short time was occupied in narrating the adventures we had respectively encountered since we had last seen one another, and in giving way to the pleasure arising from meeting again in so distant a land, and under such circ.u.mstances: at last came the unpleasant announcement that there was not an atom of forage on board, so that the ponies must of necessity be landed tomorrow; and my plans of disembarking them at a more eligible site were thus at once overthrown. Being the only person who knew the route to Hanover Bay from the encampment, I was obliged to remain on sh.o.r.e to guide the party over there the next morning. Mr. Lus.h.i.+ngton and the Captain however returned on board to make preparations for landing the horses at daybreak.

LANDING THE HORSES.

I lay down to sleep this night oppressed with very uneasy thoughts. I was thoroughly convinced that the position we occupied was a bad one to make a start from; but we had already approached too near the season of the heaviest rains (the beginning of February) to allow of longer delay, so that to have landed the horses, then to cut gra.s.s for them, and afterwards to have re-embarked them and the stores, would, in my opinion, have been a tedious and wrong course to adopt. Unforeseen difficulties, and against which we could not have guarded, had already completely encompa.s.sed us, so that, considering the scanty means at our disposal, the remote and unknown region in which we were situated, and the impossibility of our receiving further aid from any quarter, I saw no way of overcoming them. All therefore that was now left us was to make the most of our actual means, to acquit ourselves like men, and do our utmost.

EXCURSION BY WATER TO PRINCE REGENT'S RIVER.

January 18.

Fortune smiled on us this morning in as far as she gave us a fine daybreak, and at dawn we started for Hanover Bay, leaving a small party at the encampment. After all the trouble I had taken to find a good route for the horses, we still had a great deal to do to render it at all practicable; we however all worked cheerfully and st.u.r.dily away at burning the gra.s.s, moving rocks and fallen trees, etc., and thus, as it were, fought our way through opposing obstacles to Hanover Bay, over a distance of about four miles.

TROUBLE IN GETTING THE HORSES TO THE CAMP.

On arriving there I found Mr. Lus.h.i.+ngton already on sh.o.r.e and some of the horses disembarked. They were not only well selected for the purpose, but were generally in good condition. They had however two faults which could not have been avoided, and these were that they were very small and perfectly wild. By about two o'clock in the afternoon the whole twenty-six had been swum ash.o.r.e, and we started for the huts.

Our progress was however slow; for, as there were only a few of us, each person was obliged to take charge of three or four of these untamed, unbroken brutes. The mode we adopted was to fasten them together by long ropes so that the number each man led could follow in a line; but, being wholly unused to this kind of discipline, they strenuously resisted it, biting and kicking at one another with the greatest ferocity; and as they were chiefly very courageous little entire horses, a variety of spirited contests took place, much to their own satisfaction, but to my infinite chagrin. Some of the men who were not much accustomed to horses regarded these wild ponies as being but little better than savage monsters, with whom it was dangerous to have anything to do; and, being thus rather afraid of them, treated them very cruelly, kicking them often with great violence whenever I for a moment looked away, and thus naturally rendering the ponies still more wild.

But even when we did induce these brutes to move along pacifically they would not follow one another in a line, but all strove to go in different directions, and, as our road lay through a rocky forest, the consequence of this pulling was that the connecting ropes kept on getting entangled in rocks and trees; indeed there was scarcely an instance of two of them pa.s.sing on the same side of a tree or rock at the first attempt, so that we were continually halting to clear their tether ropes; again, one of the beasts would now and then become obstinate, refuse to move, and this delayed us all; for I would not allow the party to separate for fear of the natives. In consequence of all these adverse circ.u.mstances at sunset we had scarcely got half-way to the encampment; and just at this period one pony became and remained so obstinate that, in despair, I had it tied up to a tree alone. We now moved on again as fast as we could, but night soon surprised us, and, when it became too dark to see our course, we tethered our horses and laid down in the forest by them; but as it rained, and we had neither warm clothes nor covering, and many of the party had tasted nothing since dawn, our situation was not very pleasant; indeed, the combined circ.u.mstances of cold, hunger, and obstinate ponies had rendered some of the men more crabbed than I had ever before seen them.

January 19.

As soon as it was light enough to find the ponies we recommenced our march; and, all our annoyances of yesterday being repeated, did not succeed in arriving at the ravine until noon--it took us much care and a great deal of time to reach the bottom of this in safety; when however we had done so, we knee-haltered the ponies and let them loose amidst very good feed, of which they now stood much in need, for there was no gra.s.s whatever between the encampment and Hanover Bay; the whole of the intervening country being a ma.s.s of rock, scrub, and spinifex. I now sent a party back to bring on the refractory pony, which I had yesterday been obliged to tie up to a tree, and the long fast it had been subjected to appeared to have produced a very beneficial effect on its temper, for it now was perfectly docile.

EXCURSION UP PRINCE REGENT'S RIVER. PREPARATIONS FOR MOVING.

For the next few days all was bustle and preparation. The ponies being so much smaller than I had expected, all our packsaddles had to be altered, and fourteen of them, which the party had made during the absence of the schooner, still had to be put together. Mr. Walker undertook the task of constructing a pathway up the cliffs, by means of which the loaded ponies could ascend; he laboured personally at making this path, occasionally a.s.sisted by two or three others; and it would be impossible for anyone who had not seen it at all to comprehend the obstacles he met with, and the perseverance with which he contended against and finally overcame them. We were obliged to complete everything in a hurried and unsatisfactory manner, for our departure had been so long delayed that we were every day in expectation of the setting in of the heavy rains and the consequent flooding of the ravine in which we were encamped; and in the event of this taking place before we made a start it was impossible to foresee for how long a period our movements might be delayed.

CHARACTER OF ITS Sh.o.r.eS.

On Monday the 22nd Captain Browse and Mr. Walker accompanied me in the jolly-boat up Prince Regent's River; we went up with the flood-tide, entering the river by its northern mouth; I had thus an opportunity of examining the island which lies at the entrance to this great arm of the sea, and landed upon it in several places, but found only bad sandy land, occasionally covered with rocks; it was however well wooded and abounded with birds. After we had pa.s.sed the mouth of Rothsay Water the tide swept us along with great rapidity, and we soon found ourselves in St. George's Basin. I kept close along the northern sh.o.r.e, where we saw but little good land after entering the basin; but there was one fertile island, of a small conical shape, bearing nearly due east as you enter. From the appearance of this island there can be no doubt whatever that it is of volcanic origin; as it in all respects resembles Mount Lyell and the other basaltic conical hills which we afterwards found in the fertile district of Glenelg; we did not however land on it, but merely ran close by, and then continued our route up the river.

St. George's Basin is a n.o.ble sheet of water some ten or twelve miles across. On its southern side deep inlets run up into a low and marshy country, leading to fertile districts, and the main object of my present excursion was to endeavour to identify these inlets with some I had seen on my first trip to the southward.