Discoveries in Australia Volume I Part 13

Result of Explorations in King's Sound.

Interview with Natives.

Coral Reefs.

Discover Beagle Bank.

Arrival at Port George the Fourth.

Examination of Collier Bay in the boats.

Brecknock Harbour.

The Slate Islands.

Freshwater Cove.

An Eagle shot.

Its singular nest.

Rock Kangaroos.

A Conflagration.

Sandstone Ridges.

Doubtful Bay.

Mouth of the Glenelg.

Remarkable Tree.

Fertile Country near Brecknock Harbour.

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

Meet with Lieutenant Grey.

His sufferings and discoveries.

Visit the Encampment.

Timor Ponies.

Embarkation of Lieutenant Grey's Party.

Sail from Port George the Fourth.

Remarks on position of Tryal Rock.

Anecdotes of Miago.

Arrival at Swan River.

Directions for entering Owen's Anchorage.

March 7, 1838.

We spent the morning in making the necessary preparations, and in the afternoon started to resume our examination of Fitzroy River. Captain Wickham and Lieutenant Eden in the gig, and myself, accompanied by Mr.

Tarrant, in one of the whaleboats; we reached the mangrove isles at sunset, and spent the night between them and the eastern sh.o.r.e. On the 8th the tide suited us but badly, and we were only able to proceed about four miles beyond Escape Point, where we secured the boats in a creek out of the influence of the tide. We found much less water off Escape Point than on our former visit.

EXCURSION INTO THE INTERIOR.

In the evening we made an excursion into the interior. It was one vast unbroken level, covered with a strong and wiry gra.s.s, intersected with numerous watercourses, which the tide filled at high-water, there were also indications of more important, but less regular, visits from the sea. Here and there a solitary tree a.s.sisted us in estimating the distance we had walked. We saw two emus in this plain, which appeared also a favourite resort of quail and a bronze-winged pigeon. We could not get within shot of the wary emus, but the quail and pigeons afforded us good sport, notwithstanding the ceaseless attacks of the mosquitoes, which swarmed in the long gra.s.s, and defied anything less impenetrable than Mackintosh leggings, enc.u.mbrances not desirable for a pedestrian with the thermometer at 87 degrees, particularly when worn over a pair of Flus.h.i.+ng trousers. Thus defended, I could, in some degree, defy these tormenting a.s.sailants, and at night, under the additional security afforded by a large painted coat, contrived to secure two or three hours of unbroken rest--a luxury few of my companions enjoyed.

It was with much disappointment that we found the channel occupied, at low-water, by a mere rivulet, draining the extensive mud flats then left uncovered. Hope, however, though somewhat sobered, was not altogether destroyed by this malapropos discovery, and we still looked forward with an interest but little abated, to the results of a complete survey of our new discovery.

March 9.

We moved on when the tide served, keeping close to the eastern bank of the river, where there appeared at low-water, the largest stream, then barely two feet deep. Following the sinuosity of the sh.o.r.e, our general direction was south, and after we had thus proceeded two miles, we found the width of the river suddenly contract from three miles to one. The banks were low and covered with a coa.r.s.e gra.s.s.

NATIVES.

Here we saw three natives, stretching their long spare bodies over the bank, watching the leading boat with the fixed gaze of apparent terror and anxiety. Sso rivetted was their attention, that they allowed my boat to approach unnoticed within a very short distance of them; but when they suddenly caught sight of it, they gave a yell of mingled astonishment and alarm, and flinging themselves back into the long gra.s.s, were almost instantly out of sight. They were evidently greatly alarmed, and as Miago, whose presence might have given them confidence, was not with us, it seemed hopeless to attempt any communication with them, much as we should have liked to convince them, that these strange white creatures were of a race of beings formed like themselves, though even of our existence they could have had no previous idea.

EXPLORATION OF THE RIVER.

Six miles from our last night's bivouac, still keeping our southerly direction, brought us to some low, gra.s.sy islets, extending almost across the river, and leaving only confined and shallow channels; through one of which we had, at half tide, some difficulty in finding a pa.s.sage for the boats. The river now widened out a little, and we found the deep water near the western bank, the appearance of the country remaining unaltered.

We landed to pa.s.s the night at a rocky point on the east side of the river, one mile south from the most western islet of the chain just described as almost preventing our ascent. The depth of the river at this point was about twelve feet at low-water; and its breadth some four or five hundred yards. We found the water fresh at all times of tide, which here rose only eight feet; being ten feet less than its greatest rise eight miles nearer the mouth, where the time of high-water at the full and change of the moon occurs at 4 hours 10 minutes P.M.

This was the first rock formation we had noticed since leaving Point Torment, a distance of nearly thirty miles; it was a very fine-grained red sandstone, darkened and rendered heavy by the presence of ferruginous particles. The appearance of the country now began to improve, the eastern bank was thickly wooded, and a mile higher up, the western appeared clothed in verdure. I noticed here the same kind of tree, seen for the first time behind our last night's bivouac; it was small and shrubby-looking, with a rough bark, not unlike that of the common elm, and its little pointed leaf, of a deep, dark green, contrasted with the evergreen Eucalypti by which it was surrounded, reminded me of the various tints that give the charm of constant variety to our English woods, and lend to each succeeding season a distinctive and characteristic beauty.*

(*Footnote. The diameter of the largest tree of this kind was only eight inches: it was exceedingly hard, and of a very dark red colour, except a white rim about an inch in thickness. This wood worked and looked the best, in a table I had made out of various specimens of woods collected on the North-west coast of Australia.)

SUFFERINGS FROM MOSQUITOES.

I must be pardoned for again alluding to our old enemies the mosquitoes, but the reception they gave us this night is too deeply engraven on my memory to be ever quite forgotten.

NIGHT OF TORMENT.

They swarmed around us, and by the light of the fire, the blanket bags in which the men sought to protect themselves, seemed literally black with their crawling and stinging persecutors. Woe to the unhappy wretch who had left unclosed the least hole in his bag; the persevering mosquitoes surely found it out, and as surely drove the luckless occupant out of his retreat. I noticed one man dressed as if in the frozen north, hold his bag over the fire till it was quite full of smoke, and then get into it, a companion securing the mouth over his head at the apparent risk of suffocation; he obtained three hours of what he gratefully termed comfortable sleep, but when he emerged from his shelter, where he had been stewed up with the thermometer at 87 degrees, his appearance may be easily imagined.

Our hands were in constant requisition to keep the tormentors from the face and ears, which often received a hearty whack, aimed in the fruitless irritation of the moment at our a.s.sailants, and which sometimes ended in adding headache to the list of annoyances. Strike as you please, the ceaseless humming of the invincible mosquito close to your ear seems to mock his unhappy victim!

One poor fellow, whose patience was quite exhausted, fairly jumped into the river to escape further persecution.

We had the wind from South-West to South-East during the afternoon, but at 6 P.M. it veered round to North-North-West.

While getting the observations for time and lat.i.tude, some of us were compelled to remain quiet, an opportunity our tiny a.s.sailants instantly availed themselves of, covering our faces and hands. To listen quietly to their hum, and feel their long stings darting into your flesh, might put the patience of Job himself to a severe trial.

ASCENT OF THE FITZROY.

March 10.

After such a night of torment, we hailed the morning with delight; and having partaken of an early breakfast, proceeded on our interesting discovery. The first reach took us more than a mile, in a South-West by West direction, the width of it being towards the latter end nearly a quarter of a mile; the deepest water (from seven to eight feet) was on the west side, and a dry flat of sand fronted the other for some distance. The course of the river now changed, first to South-East then round to West-North-West enclosing a mile of ground. We had great difficulty, owing to the water being very shoal, in getting our boats through the next reach, which was rather more than a mile in a West by South direction. After threading our way through three more reaches, trending South-South-West--South-West, and South and from half to one mile in length, the shades of evening and fatigue attending a long and unsatisfactory day's work, warned us that it was time to seek a resting-place for the night, although we had but little hopes of obtaining any. We had made good but six miles during the day in a general South-West by West direction. Our progress being delayed by the difficulty we had in getting the boats over the shallows, and by a current running at the rate of from one to two miles an hour.

The depth of the river varied during the day from one to fourteen feet, and its width from three to five hundred yards. In the deep reaches were the wrecks of large trees, rearing their decayed heads, in evidence of the resistless fury of the torrent that had torn them from their roots, during some vast inundation, traces of which still remain on the banks, many feet above the present level of the river.

The general aspect of the country had improved, and the eastern bank reached an elevation of 20 feet; it was covered with long, green gra.s.s, and thickly wooded with a luxuriant growth of the white eucalyptus, while the almost total absence of every appearance of animal life, impressed an air of solemn tranquillity upon the whole scene. Perhaps it was from there being little to admire in the surrounding scenery that we were so much struck with the beauty of the western sky, as its gilded clouds marked the departure of the great ruler of the day. It was scarcely possible to behold a more splendid sunset; but with us, after another sleepless night, his rise, as he tinged the eastern sky, was hailed with even greater delight.

March 11.

At daylight I climbed the highest tree I could find on the eastern bank of the river, in order to get a peep at the surrounding country. The prospect, however, was but limited. The landscape presented to my view, was an almost uninterrupted level; open woodlands, with here and there a few gra.s.sy spots, were its prevailing features. I could see nothing of the river itself beyond the reach in which the boats were lying; its upper extremity bore South by West and was about half a mile from our halting place. I made a discovery in climbing this tree, which I hoped to make available in our farther ascent of the Fitzroy, should we be so fortunate as to accomplish its further exploration, or in any similar circ.u.mstances during our examination of these untrodden wilds. It was this, and I mention it, as the hint may be useful to others: I found our enemies the mosquitoes did not resort to the higher portions of the tree, and that by climbing some thirty feet from the ground, a night's repose, or at least a night undisturbed by their attacks might be obtained.

Hastening back to the boats, we pushed on, but were some time getting to the end of the reach, the shallowness of the water rendering our advance difficult and tedious; entering at length the next, which trended South-West for about half a mile, the river gradually widened out until it attained a breadth of about half that s.p.a.ce. An extensive flat of sand fronted the eastern bank, which was very low, and though now dry, bore undoubted marks of being not unfrequently visited by floods. The western bank of the next reach was low and broken, evidently forming a group of low gra.s.sy islands when the river is in a higher state.

Some yellow sandstone cliffs, from ten to sixteen feet in height, formed the opposite bank of this reach, which extended barely a quarter of a mile, in from a South by East to a South by West direction; and varied in width from one to two hundred yards. We now entered a lake-like reach of the river, trending south for a mile and a quarter, having a breadth of about a hundred yards, and a depth in many places of twelve feet; being twice that which we had usually found in any of the lower reaches, with scarcely any stream. Soon after entering this remarkable sheet of water, we noticed a rock formation in its western banks; this we found to be a coa.r.s.e-grained red sandstone, with fragments of quartz, and extended for nearly a quarter of a mile along the edge of the water. Over many parts of it was a coating of a dark and metallic appearance, about three inches thick; and the surface in places presented a glazed or smelted appearance. Mr. Darwin, in his work upon volcanic islands, page 143, alludes to this formation, under the head of "Superficial ferruginous beds," and thus concludes his observations: "The origin of these superficial beds, though sufficiently obscure, seems to be due to alluvial action on detritus abounding with iron."

As we proceeded along this ca.n.a.l, for such was the appearance of the reach we were now ascending, we surprised a small party of natives. They were at the water's edge, beneath a high mound of loose white sand, over which the children were some time in making their escape, struggling and screaming with anxiety and fear, as they half buried themselves beneath its treacherous surface; and sometimes, after almost gaining the summit, sliding back again to the base. All parental care seemed for the moment lost in the overwhelming sense of present danger, caused by the strange and unknown spectacle thus suddenly presented to the gaze of these poor savages. Our white faces, curious garments, moving boats, the regular motions and unaccustomed sounds of our heavy oars, must indeed have filled them with amazement. I have since frequently remarked, that our oars created more wonder, or alarm, among the various tribes who first learnt through us the existence of their white brethren, than almost any other instrument of which they could at all understand the use; perhaps, as they propel their frail rafts with a spear, they jumped to the conclusion, that our oars were also immense spears, which, being their chief weapons, must have given us a formidable appearance. We noticed, among the trees on the banks of this natural ca.n.a.l, two varieties of the palm; both kinds had been observed by Mr. Brown in the Gulf of Carpentaria, during Captain Flinders' voyage.

At the end of this reach, which extended for a mile and a half in a South-East by South direction, the river was scarcely 50 yards wide, and the depth had decreased from 12 to 6 feet; the current, scarcely perceptible in the deep water, now ran with a velocity of from one to two miles per hour. Here, therefore, the Fitzroy may be said to a.s.sume all the more distinctive features of an Australian river: deep reaches, connected by shallows, and probably forming, during the droughts which characterize Australia, an unlinked chain of ponds or lagoons; and in places, leaving no other indication of its former existence than the water-worn banks and deep holes, thirsty and desolate as a desert plain.

At this point, the river divided into two branches, one having an East-South-East, and the other a South-South-East direction. Anxious to determine, which, as the larger, best deserved our exploration, we landed at a high gra.s.sy point on the west bank. From the top of the highest tree in the neighbourhood, I commanded an extensive view of the wide and far-spread landscape then first submitted to the scrutiny of a European.

Varied and undefined are the thoughts called forth at such a moment; the past, the present, and the future, at once occupy, and almost confound the imagination. New feelings accompany new perceptions; and gazing for the first time upon a vast and unknown land, the mind, restless and active, as the roving life by which it is informed, expands for the reception of the crowding fancies, called into life as by the wand of the magician.

After yielding for a while to the influence of the scene, I was glad to perceive the greater magnitude of the southerly branch of the river, which offered the most direct line into the interior. I could trace each stream for nearly three miles, but that which trended to the east was a mere rivulet. Both flowed through a perfectly level country. Seven miles was about as far as the eye could reach over this wearisome-looking level. To the westward the country was open; the trees were small, and in clumps, with green gra.s.sy patches between; but in other directions, it was densely wooded, and on the eastern bank the trees were large. In the branches of the one I ascended, rushes, deposited by the current, were found 20 feet above the present level of the stream. This part of the country is therefore sometimes visited by heavy floods; they do not, however, seem to depend immediately upon the quant.i.ty of rain, for while the whole face of the landscape indicated large and recent supplies, the river appeared little, if at all, affected by them.