Narrative of the Circumnavigation of the Globe by the Austrian Frigate Novara Volume Ii Part 27

We employed our time, when sailing back to the island of Faole, in finis.h.i.+ng a small vocabulary of the language in use by the inhabitants of the Stewart Island group, which we accomplished with the last stroke of the oar that brought our heavily-laden boat back to Faole, where the rest of our companions already anxiously awaited our return. We had occasion to remark with surprise the perseverance and readiness of comprehension of one native named Karosi, to whose a.s.sistance we are entirely indebted for the preparation of this vocabulary.

After a stay of about four hours on the island, we returned to the s.h.i.+p about 4.30 P.M., and by sundown were again under weigh for Sydney.[203] If the inhabitants of the Solomon group were the most savage race of men we encountered throughout our cruise, these amiable Sikayanese left on us the impression of being the most moral and peacefully disposed race of aborigines that we became acquainted with, and even to this day the few fleeting but highly suggestive hours we spent with these primitive people are among the most singular, yet delightful, on which memory rests, when recalling the incidents of our circ.u.mnavigation.[204]

A fresh breeze hurried us rapidly to the southward during the 18th, but we soon entered once more upon the region of squalls[205] and calms, and on 19th and 20th October we were lying listlessly about 15 miles E., by chart, from Sesarga,[206] called also _Ile de Contrariete_ (9 49' S., 162 13' E.), condemned to inactivity to the northward of San Christoval.

We could now satisfy ourselves that it is quite erroneous to identify this island with that seen by Pedro de Ortega in 1567, round in shape, and with a lofty volcano in its midst continually throwing up smoke and steam. _Ile de Contrariete_, as seen from the deck of our frigate, presented the appearance of a long wooded ridge, averaging about 800 feet in height, whereas some of the peaks of San Christoval, 3000 or 4000 feet in height, presented all the configuration peculiar to a volcanic island; this was especially the case with one remarkably regular cone of about 2000 feet in height, which rises quite close to Cape Surville. So that Burney's theory seems the most probable, that Ortega's Sesarga is no other than Mount Lammot, 8000 feet high, on Guadalcanar (9 50' S., 160 20' E.).

At last, on 21st October, we succeeded in weathering Cape Surville. Thus the Solomon's group too were what seamen call "hull-down," and we might look forward to a speedy termination to this most tedious and unpropitious voyage. For a long month we had, while to the northward of the Solomon's Islands, vainly sighed for a fresh breeze, and now all at once the S.E.

trade was blowing so strong that the s.h.i.+p could only lay her course to the southward under reduced sail, close-hauled, and had now to plunge laboriously through the heavy seas, which the stiff breeze was knocking up. On the 25th and 26th October it blew a regular storm from the S.E., we forging along under double-reefed square-sails, till it almost seemed that the end of our voyage was destined to be as stormy as its commencement "away in the China seas." The s.h.i.+p's timbers creaked and groaned, as though they would break into a thousand pieces, while the whistling and moaning of the wind, the raging and roaring of the sea, the tremendous crash of the waves against our bulwarks, left no peace night or day for the "non-effectives," as all pa.s.sengers not regularly borne upon the s.h.i.+p's books are called on board a man-of-war. As though to increase the discomfort of their position, it happened that the frigate began to make water to such an extent, that in what was fortunately but a very small portion of the hold, the water rose to fifty inches within four hours! It was supposed that during the typhoon on the China sea, some of the copper plates had been wrenched off, and that the water was finding entrance through some leak in her outer timbers, but the most rigid examination failed to discover its whereabouts. At all events it must have been at or above the water line, as when the sea rose higher than usual, or the s.h.i.+p lurched much, the water was sure to gain. We were compelled consequently to vary from our original course by the open sea-way along the west coast of New Caledonia, and steer for the coral sea, thickly studded with reefs, which lies between New Caledonia and "Sandy Cape" on the sh.o.r.es of Australia, as by adopting this dangerous route we should at least have smoother water and more favourable winds. Meanwhile, every possible precaution was taken in handling the s.h.i.+p, so as not to increase the leak, and a sail was kept ready to be fothered from without over the leaky part in case of necessity.

On 28th October we had expected to be in sight of the great horse-shoe-shaped Bampton Reef. But there was no surf discernible from the mast-head, only the change to smooth water, which we at once felt, proving that the reef really existed, and that we were to leeward of it. Its position is so variously laid down on the charts, that while by one chart we must have been upon the very reef itself, we were, according to a second, four miles, and, according to a third, fourteen miles to the eastward of it! The last-mentioned seemed to be the most correct, since at four miles the surf must have been visible, whereas it would be impossible to see it at fourteen miles.

By 30th October we had pa.s.sed the lat.i.tude of Sandy Cape, and could now steer direct for Sydney, the capital of the colony of New South Wales. The same day we also crossed the tropic of Capricorn. The temperature, which had been falling regularly ever since we left the Solomon Islands, in 28 S., was as low as 64.4 Fahr., so that we found it advisable to resume our woollen clothing.

Ten months we had now spent in the tropics, in the hottest seas of the globe, and we now felt, on a beautiful November morning in the southern tropics, as on a clear spring morning at home. On 4th November we had our first peep of the coast of Australia at Smoky Cape, a fresh easterly breeze filling our sails, as we bowled along at 10 knots an hour, constantly nearing the next station of our voyage. On the 5th, at 2 P.M., the not very high land round Port Jackson came in sight, and we had not to alter her course by one spoke, so that our chronometer had given unmistakeable proof of its accuracy. The coast is for the most part rather flat and monotonous, but we soon recognized the entrance by North Cape, which rises sheer out of the water at the harbour mouth, where we also took a pilot on board. The light-house here, 420 feet above sea-level, had been visible from the deck of the frigate 15 miles away! During the whole voyage we had only seen one vessel, an American clipper off the Marianne Archipelago, and were greatly amazed to find not a single sail in the vicinity of the port. At last, just as we got abreast of the entrance, we saw a steamer and some small boats making for the land. At 6 P.M., after a voyage of 82 days, during which we had sailed 5930 miles, the anchor was let go in the magnificent harbour of Port Jackson, off Garden Island, to the N.E. of the city of Sydney. We had reached in safety the fifth quarter of the globe!

FOOTNOTES:

[200] As it is not uninteresting to know the course of exchange at Sikayana existing between the products of European industry and its native products, we subjoin a few of the most important equivalents:

For 5 lbs. tobacco one pig.

" 20 Steel fish-hooks "

" 5 Strings of red corals "

" 5 Strings of green and red gla.s.s beads "

" 5 Packets of needles and thread "

" 10 Ells of calico "

" 5 Fish-hooks ten eggs.

" 5 Fish-hooks two hens.

" 10 Fish-hooks 30 pieces of Taro.

" 2 Packets needles and threads 30 pieces of Taro.

" 1 Packet old playing-cards 4 hens.

[201] One Chinese picul = 133-1/2 lbs. English, whereas one Dutch picul = 135-3/5 lbs. English.

[202] Called Trepang by the Malays, _hai-schni_ by the Chinese, and _b.i.+.c.he-de-mar_ by both English and French. Of this _holothuria_ or sea-cuc.u.mber (_Holothuria edulis_), there are about 400 tons annually imported into China from the various islands of the Southern Ocean.

[203] During our excursion, there were taken on board the frigate, which cruised to and fro in short tacks off the island, about 200 readings of the temperature, at depths of every 50 fathoms. It was also intended to experiment as to soundings, but the state of the weather prevented this, as there were continual squalls, and the threatening state of the weather did not admit of a boat being launched. However at a distance of half a mile from the reef, no bottom was found with 200 fathoms of line.

[204] It is perhaps a duty to our gallant companions of every grade to vindicate the Expedition once more, and finally, from certain malignant calumnies which, upwards of a year after we had left Australian waters, were circulated in the columns of even respectable newspapers, accusing the crew of the _Novara_ of having been guilty of most scandalous excesses and wanton robbery while at Sikayana. It seems however needless to insist that not the slightest pretext for such infamous aspersions was furnished by any of the party who spent these few hours in Sikayana, of which we have sketched the details in the present chapter. But the fact that they could be circulated without its being possible to contradict them on official authority points to a serious defect in our diplomatic position abroad. True, that no respectable member of the community accredited the idle mischievous report; true that the leading inhabitants, English, American, and German, strenuously combated it on every possible occasion, and in every possible manner. Yet had Austria been a recognized power, instead of a friendly guest, it needs but little acquaintance with the etiquette of public and official life to know that the calumny must have been stifled in its birth, by the prompt action of those specially appointed to protect the fair fame of their country in these distant waters. Not till her flag floats regularly to the breeze in the most distant countries, instead of being that of a casual visitor, will Austria, and through her the entire German nation, receive that respect, and occupy that position among the family of nations, to which her intelligence, her energy, and her important influence upon the progress of civilization alike ent.i.tle her.

[205] The quant.i.ty of rain that falls in these lat.i.tudes is something almost incredible. One single squall from the N.W. was accompanied by a rainfall of _three_ inches, in the course of _five hours_, whereas the _entire rainfall_ for the _year_ in London, for instance, is only 18.07 inches.

[206] The native name is Ulatua.

END OF VOL. II.