Journals of Two Expeditions of Discovery in North-West and Western Australia Volume I Part 15

With this view Coles and myself searched until after sunset, but without success. We found the ravine bounded throughout its southern side by inaccessible cliffs. Occasionally little branch ravines ran into it; but on penetrating for some distance up these they invariably terminated in precipitous cascades. A great portion of this afternoon was spent up to our middles in water as we waded about the flooded valley; and the only thing we had to compensate us for the fatigue and suffering we underwent was the wild beauty of the scenery, which was as lovely and picturesque as impetuous torrents, foaming cascades, lofty rocks, and a rich tropical vegetation could render it.

NATIVES.

On our return homewards, wearied and disappointed, we came close upon a large party of natives before they were aware of our presence. Coles had followed me up the northern bank of the ravine, and we thus occupied a good position; the natives had, I suppose, wished to avoid us, for we saw no more of them, but merely heard the sound of their retiring voices as they moved up the centre of the valley. We now returned to the men we had left in charge of the stores, and reached the tent soon after dark.

LABOUR OF TRACING AND FORMING A PATH.

February 7.

This day was pa.s.sed in constructing the pathway which was to lead us down into the deep ravine in our front. Whilst the men were thus engaged I traversed the country I had yesterday visited in the hope that I might yet find some outlet into the good country which would take us clear of the others; but my searches were in vain. Only one man accompanied me, and I completely knocked him up ere the evening closed in upon us. We then were obliged to retrace our steps to the camp, and I now found myself perfectly worn out by the fatigue consequent on such continued and violent walking exercise under a tropical sun.

It was however cheering to me to see how constantly some of the men had laboured at forming the road down the valleys which led into the ravine.

The horses had been brought down thus far; but three more of them had died, so that our twenty-six ponies were reduced to nineteen, many of whom were in wretched condition.

CONTINUED DIFFICULTIES OF ROUTE.

February 8.

We again resumed our journey towards the interior; but the pathway, which ran through the valleys leading to the summit of the ravine, was still so broken and difficult that the ponies could only carry half loads along it; and the descent down the clifTs was so steep that they were obliged to be unladen and led into the ravine without their burdens, which were carried down upon the men's shoulders. Men could not have behaved better than they all did on this occasion, particularly Corporal Auger who, possessing the power of carrying on his back very heavy burdens, took every occasion of exercising it in such a way as to stimulate the others, and very much to accelerate our movements.

But even when we had with so much labour got ponies, stores, etc. to the bottom of the ravine, our troubles had, as it were, only commenced, for we now had to get out of it on the other side. In the course of the afternoon however a path had been made, and most of the stores were safely stowed upon an elevated tableland where we had pitched the tents.

The place I had chosen for our camp was a pretty spot; a sweet, short herbage had been raised by the heavy rains from the sandy soil, and amongst this the beauteous flowers, for which Australia is deservedly celebrated, were so scattered and intermixed that they gave the country an enamelled appearance. A lofty species of Casuarina was intermingled with trees of a denser foliage, and on each side we looked down into two deep ravines; through the dense dark foliage of which could be seen the white foaming waters brawling on their way far below.

The next day was occupied in bringing up the remainder of the stores from the ravine and repairing the damages which had resulted from the bursting of bags and other mischief in their transit over such rough ground. Early in the morning we all had a good bathe, and only those who have been so constantly engaged under a burning sun, and for upwards of a week without regularly was.h.i.+ng or undressing, can at all estimate the pleasure with which I plunged into the clear and rapid stream.

ASCENT FROM THE RAVINE.

After thus performing our ablutions we breakfasted, and then, whilst the stores were being conveyed to the tableland, I started, accompanied by one man, to explore a route for our line of march next day. After continuing on the tableland for about a mile I traced a good route both into and out of another ravine; the stream which occupied the bed of this was so swollen that I had some difficulty in finding a ford across it; but after a few rather ludicrous plunges and falls upon the green slippery rocks I succeeded in detecting a tolerably good one. Our line of route now lay across some elevated open plains, clothed with spinifex, and thinly wooded with a large species of Eucalyptus. We saw here numerous signs of the natives, who had been cutting steps in the trees for the purpose of hunting opossums. These open plains extended for about two miles, and we then reached another small ravine, with a rapid stream running through it. A very good route brought us across this slight descent and stream; and from this point no further impediment of any consequence appeared to lie in our way. The direction in which I now wished to travel presented a series of rocky, sandy plains, thinly wooded, and affording a scanty sufficiency of food for the ponies.

EXHAUSTION FROM FATIGUE. COLD RAINS.

During the time I was searching for this route the rain had fallen in torrents, and the quant.i.ty of ground I had walked over was so considerable that I was exhausted; riding was quite impossible in these excursions as, in many places where the ground was covered with loose rocks overgrown with a vegetation which concealed treacherous cavities, it was necessary to pa.s.s across it two or three times before I could determine whether a horse could move over it or not. Today I found myself completely knocked up, and felt certain that I could not for many days longer bear up against such continued fatigues. On my return to the camp I found all prepared for a start tomorrow; but many of the horses were so ill as to be incapable of carrying more than half a load.

February 10.

We moved off at daybreak and, having reached the ravine, set to work to form a pathway down the descent, and up the ascent on the other side, under the additional disadvantage of heavy rain. The sudden transition from the rays of a burning sun to this cold bath made my teeth chatter as if I had a tertian ague. When half our work was completed we breakfasted in the beautiful ravine amidst the dark luxuriant vegetation of the tropics, formed by the panda.n.u.s, bamboo, and palm.

After breakfast the men recommenced their labour on the road. About two P.M. it was completed, and we then loaded the ponies and set out. The poor animals were however so weak that it was almost impossible to get them to move; they stumbled and fell repeatedly, and thus thereby not only injured themselves but so delayed our movements that we only made three miles and a half during the day, and then halted for the night on very elevated land, and in a good position, for we were on a little sandy rise, along the base of which ran a stream, distant about one hundred yards.

WORST DIFFICULTIES SURMOUNTED.

Having thus gained the elevated plains I laid down to sleep, satisfied that the worst of our labours were over; yet I could not but recollect that it had taken us ten days to reach a spot which by the proper route was only a short day's journey from the valley we were first encamped in, and that in our march through the country we had been compelled to traverse we had lost seven ponies, and injured many of those remaining; all these difficulties arose from our departure having been delayed so long that the rains had set in and so flooded the country that we could not proceed by the proper route.

CHAPTER 8. TO THE GLENELG RIVER.

MEETING AND ENCOUNTER WITH THE NATIVES.

February 11.

The stores we had left behind yesterday were so necessary to us that I was fearful they might be injured or destroyed if left exposed in the bush beyond today, and therefore despatched a party under Mr. Lus.h.i.+ngton for them.

Some time after they were gone I started from the encampment on foot, with the intention of choosing a track for our route next day, as well as of endeavouring to fall in with my former track in this direction; for by so doing I should be enabled to get the party on the good land without further impediment, and at the same time to complete my map of this part of the country.

GATHERING OF NATIVES ABOUT THE CAMP.

I was accompanied by Corporal Coles and a fine-looking young man about twenty years of age, from the Cape of Good Hope, leaving three men at the camp. Soon after my departure these men heard the voices of natives in the woods, and presently they appeared themselves in numbers which rapidly increased until there were collected together about two hundred men, women, and children. The party at the tents instantly got under arms, and posted themselves on the brow of the hill on which our tents stood; whilst at some distance from its base, and on the opposite side of the stream, the natives were a.s.sembled.

The advance of a large armed body from the woods seemed now to indicate that a hostile movement was about to be made; one of my party therefore shouted out to them in a threatening tone, motioning to them at the same time to go away. The natives immediately answered the shout, then halted, and, after apparently consulting together for some time, retired a little. The party at the tents simultaneously took counsel together and, agreeing that it would be imprudent in their small number to hold intercourse, under the existing circ.u.mstances, with so large a body of natives, it was resolved not to allow them to approach beyond a certain point, and, in the event of any armed portion pa.s.sing the stream towards the tents in disregard of their signals, then to fire on them one by one.

PROCEEDINGS AT THE CAMP.

In the meantime the women and little children moved round the hill, examining everything with the most intense delight: a pony which was in front of the camp more particularly excited their attention; the little children laughed loudly at it, and appeared also to laugh at the party themselves, regarding them much the same way that little boys do a stranger in foreign costume when he appears in the streets of a country village in England. The native men regarded the pony more seriously; they walked round and round, examining it carefully, and when the little stallion, becoming playful from these marks of attention, neighed, put down his head, and prepared to fight and kick vigorously, they all beat a precipitate retreat.

The party at the tents overlooked all their movements and heard every word that was uttered. They describe the language this people spoke as clear, distinct, and agreeable to the ear; the men they observed to be a fine race, tall and athletic: two were remarked in particular, one of whom was very tall, and had his forehead and face painted with white (their sign of mourning, and that there is a death to avenge) whilst the other was of a far lighter shade of colour than the rest, and these two appeared to direct the general movements.

After some time distant shouts were heard from other natives in the direction in which my party had seen me go; and a large body of the native men instantly hurried off in that quarter, headed by the tall man and the light-coloured one I have just mentioned. Then ensued a pause of about two hours, during which the native women and children wandered about in the distance, conversing in groups: suddenly was heard shouts, as of distress, from the same quarter, which were answered by the natives in front of the camp, when all moved off in a hurried manner and were seen there no more. But in the interim another scene connected with this had been pa.s.sing at a distance.

EVENTS IN TRACING A ROAD.

On quitting the camp in the morning I and my two companions traversed for some time portions of the elevated sandstone plains which I had pa.s.sed on a former occasion; and, after an hour's walking through the gloomy stringy-bark forest which covered them, we reached a stream of water running in a shallow valley; and as there was a bad route down to this I halted to make a road which the ponies could traverse. There was plenty of water and forage hereabouts, and a fine level country for our proceedings, so that we were all in high hopes and spirits, and, as I then believed, our princ.i.p.al difficulties were at an end.

Whilst at work at the road we all thought that we heard a native call, and that others answered him; having listened for a repet.i.tion of these sounds we again heard them, but they were so indistinct in character that none of us this time agreed as to what they were. I imagined that it was the call of a bird and, when I again heard the same sound very faintly in the distance, I felt convinced it was not a human voice, and proceeded on my way perfectly at ease.

My attention was soon occupied by other objects. I saw from a hill I ascended some remarkable blue peaks to the south: this gave us fresh hopes; and nothing occurred till about three-quarters of an hour after we had first heard the native call, when we arrived at a short descent covered with rocks, from which started a large kangaroo; I got a fair shot at, and knocked it over, but it sprang up again and hopped away; we then tried to track it but soon lost its footsteps in the scrubby vegetation of the gloomy forest,

It was the duty of the Cape man who accompanied me to mark a tree every here and there by chipping the bark, so that the party might the next day easily recognise the route which they had to pursue; upon looking back I now perceived that he had neglected a very remarkable tree about twenty or thirty yards behind us, and which stood close to the spot where I had fired at the kangaroo. I desired him to go back and chip it, and then to rejoin us; in the meantime I stood musing as to the best means of avoiding the little rocky ravine in our front.

SUDDEN SURPRISE BY NATIVES.

Finding that the man remained absent longer than I had expected I called loudly to him, but received no answer, and therefore pa.s.sed round some rocks which hid the tree from my view to look after him. Suddenly I saw him close to me breathless and speechless with terror, and a native with his spear fixed in a throwing-stick in full pursuit of him; immediately numbers of other natives burst upon my sight; each tree, each rock, seemed to give forth its black denizen, as if by enchantment.

A moment before, the most solemn silence pervaded these woods. We deemed that not a human being moved within miles of us, and now they rang with savage and ferocious yells, and fierce armed men crowded round us on every side, bent on our destruction.

CONTEST WITH THEM. UNFORTUNATE RESULTS.

There was something very terrible in so complete and sudden a surprise.

Certain death appeared to stare us in the face: and, from the determined and resolute air of our opponents, I immediately guessed that the man who had first seen them, instead of boldly standing his ground, and calling to Coles and myself for a.s.sistance, had at once, like a coward, run away; thus giving the natives confidence in themselves, and a contempt for us: and this conjecture I afterwards ascertained was perfectly true.

We were now fairly engaged for our lives; escape was impossible, and surrender to such enemies out of the question.

As soon as I saw the natives around me I fired one barrel of my gun over the head of him who was pursuing my dismayed attendant, hoping the report would have checked his further career. He proved to be the tall man seen at the camp, painted with white. My shot stopped him not: he still closed on us and his spear whistled by my head; but, whilst he was fixing another in his throwing stick, a ball from my second barrel struck him in the arm and it fell powerless by his side. He now retired behind a rock, but the others still pressed on.

IMMINENT DANGER.

I now made the two men retire behind some neighbouring rocks, which formed a kind of protecting parapet along our front and right flank, whilst I took post on the left. Both my barrels were now exhausted; and I desired the other two to fire separately, whilst I was reloading; but to my horror, Coles, who was armed with my rifle, reported hurriedly that the cloth case with which he had covered it for protection against rain had become entangled. His services were thus lost at a most critical moment whilst trying to tear off the lock cover; and the other man was so paralysed with fear that he could do nothing but cry out, "Oh, G.o.d! Sir, look at them; look at them!"

In the meantime our opponents pressed more closely round; their spears kept whistling by us, and our fate seemed inevitable. The light coloured man, spoken of at the camp, now appeared to direct their movements. He sprang forward to a rock not more than thirty yards from us and, posting himself behind it, threw a spear with such deadly force and aim that, had I not drawn myself forward by a sudden jerk, it must have gone through my body, and as it was it touched my back in flying by. Another well-directed spear, from a different hand, would have pierced me in the breast, but, in the motion I made to avoid it, it struck upon the stock of my gun, of which it carried away a portion by its force.