The History of Australian Exploration from 1788 to 1888 Part 39

On the 12th January, 1820, the MERMAID returned to Port Jackson, having surveyed five hundred miles of coast, in addition to five hundred and forty surveyed on the previous voyage, and a running survey of the east coast from Percy Islands to Torres Straits, which had not formerly been narrowly examined.

CHAPTER XVIII.

King's Third Voyage--Early misadventures--Examines North-West coast closely--The Mermaid careened--Unforeseen result--Return to Sydney--The Bathurst--King's Fourth Voyage--Last of the MERMAID--Love's stratagem--Remarkable cavern--Extraordinary drawings--Chasm Island--South-West explorations--Revisits his old camp--Rich vegetation--Greville Island--Skirmish at Hanover Bay--Reminiscence of Dampier--His notes on the natives and their mode of living--Cape Leveque--Buccaneers' Archipelago--Provisions run out--Sails for the Mauritius--Survey of South-West re-commenced--Cape Chatham--Oyster Harbour anchorage--A native's toilet--Seal hunt--Friendly intercourse--Cape Inscription--Vandalism--Point Cloates not an island--Vlaming Head--Rowley Shoals--Cunningham--Botanical success--Rogers Island closely examined--Mainland traced further--An amazing escape from destruction--Relinquishment of survey--Sails for Sydney--Value of King's work--Settlement on Melville Island--Port Essington--Colonisation--Fort building--A waif--Roguish visitors--Garrison life--Change of scene--Raffles Bay--Dismal reports--Failure of attempt.

King, now got ready for his third voyage, and on the 14th June, 1820, left Port Jackson to again encounter the perils of the north coast in his little cutter, with the addition to his company of Mr. James Hunter, as surgeon.

His late voyage had led him to recommend to vessels the pa.s.sage of the Barrier Reef, between the reef and the sh.o.r.e, instead of the outside pa.s.sage, that had been usually adopted by northern bound s.h.i.+ps. His start was unfortunate; heavy weather set in, the cutter lost her bowsprit, and they had to put back. On the way up, after repairs had been effected, the little craft struck heavily on a sandbank, and damaged her hull considerably, but the voyage was continued.

On the 19th of August the voyagers were at their former anchorage at Goulburn Island, taking in fresh water, and watching narrowly for their old friends the natives, who were so long in making their appearance.

They cut off Lieutenant Roe, when by himself, and nearly succeeded in spearing him; he was only rescued, when quite exhausted, by the boat's crew coming to his a.s.sistance.

King proceeded to examine that part of the north-west coast that M.

Baudin had overlooked, more minutely than he had been enabled to do before. Reaching Hunter's River on September 14th, an opportunity was offered for filling the water casks. The harbour of this river is of considerable size, and in most parts offers good anchorage, with abundance of fuel and water. The harbour was called Prince Frederic's, and the sound that fronts it, York Sound.

"After pa.s.sing Point Hardy we entered a fine harbour, bounded on the west by a group of islands, and on the east by the projection of land that forms the western side of Prince Frederic's Harbour. The flood tide was not sufficient to carry us to the bottom, so we anch.o.r.ed off the east end of the southernmost island of the group, which, on the occasion of the anniversary of the late king's coronation, was subsequently called the Coronation Islands. The harbour was called Port Nelson, and a high, rocky hill that was distinguished over the land to the southward received the name of Mount Trafalgar."

From the alarming increase of the leak which the MERMAID had sprung, it was found necessary to find a place to careen her in, in order, if possible, the damage might be repaired, that they might continue the survey, or, at least, ensure their safe return to Port Jackson. On the sandy beach of a bay, which they named Careening Bay, a place was found in every way suitable.

"These repairs were completed by the 28th, but just as we were congratulating ourselves upon having performed them, a fresh defect was discovered, which threatened more alarming consequences than the others.

Upon stripping off some sheets of copper, the spike nails which fastened the planks were found to be decaying, and many were so entirely decomposed by oxidation that a straw was easily thrust through the vacant holes. As we had not enough nails to replace the copper, for that was now our only security, we could not venture to remove more than a few sheets from those parts which appeared to be the most suspicious, under all of which we found the nails so defective that we had reason to fear we might start some planks before we reached Port Jackson... When the repairs were completed, and the people were more at leisure, I made an excursion as far as Bat Island, off Cape Brewster... . Bat Island is a ma.s.s of sandstone superinc.u.mbent upon a quartzoze basis, and intersected by nearly vertical veins of white quartz, the surface of which was in a crystallised state. The floor of the cavern was covered with heaps of water-worn fragments of quartzoze rock containing copper pyrites, in some of which the cavities were covered by a deposit of greenish calcedony.

The sides of the cavern had a stalagmitical appearance, but the recess was so dark that we could not ascertain either its formation or extent... . On first entering it we were nearly overpowered by a strong, sulphurous smell, which was soon accounted for by the flight of an incredible number of small bats, which were roosting in the bottom of the cave, and had been disturbed at our approach. We attempted to grope our way to the bottom, but not having a light, were soon obliged to give up its further examination... . From the summit of this place a set of bearings were obtained, particularly of the islands to the northward and westward, and Mr. Cunningham secured here specimens of eighteen different sorts of plants."

On the 9th, leaving Careening Bay, pa.s.sing between Cape Brewster and the Coronation Islands, they enter a s.p.a.cious sound, which received the name of Brunswick Sound. And here they also found and named the Prince Regent's River, afterwards the scene of Grey's discomfiture. Here it was patent that, in spite of their late repairs, the cutter leaked so much that, for the safety of the crew, King had reluctantly to return to Sydney; and when off Botany Bay, narrowly escaped total wreck during a dark and stormy night.

The tiny craft that had carried King so far and so safely was now laid up for repairs, and a brig of one hundred and fifty tons was purchased and re-christened the BATHURST. On the 26th of May, 1821, King sailed from Port Jackson upon his fourth and last voyage to the north coast, accompanied by the merchant s.h.i.+ps d.i.c.k and SAN ANTONIO, bound for Batavia, who requested permission to accompany King through Torres Straits.

Meantime, the MERMAID had been thoroughly repaired and fitted out, leaving Port Jackson to carry the first establishment to Port Macquarie, on which service she was wrecked.

Their company now numbered thirty-three, but three days after they left port, King says:--

"A discovery was made of another addition to the crew. Upon opening the hold, which had been locked ever since the day before we sailed, a young girl, not more than fourteen years of age, was found concealed among the casks, where she had secreted herself in order to accompany the boatswain to sea. Upon being brought on deck she was in a pitiable plight ...

that her acquaintances, of which she had many on board, could scarcely recognise her. Upon being interrogated, she declared she had, unknown to all on board, concealed herself in the hold the day before the vessel sailed, and that her swain knew nothing of the step she had taken. As it was now inconvenient to return to put her on sh.o.r.e, and as the man consented to share his rations with her, she was allowed to remain; but in a very short time heartily repented of her imprudence, and would gladly have been re-landed, had it been possible."

Along the east coast the BATHURST was accompanied by the d.i.c.k and SAN ANTONIO, both going north, and near the wreck of the FREDERICK, they had a trifling brush with the natives. While here, Mr. Cunningham visited Clack's reef:

"The reef abounded with sh.e.l.ls, of which they brought back a large collection, but not in any great variety; an indifferent CYPRAEA was the most common, but there were also some VOLUTAE and other sh.e.l.ls, besides trepang and ASTERIAE in abundance.

"Mr. Cunningham observed a singularly curious cavern upon the rock, of which he gave me a description in the following account of the island:--

"'The south and south-eastern extremes of Clack's Island presented a steep rocky bluff, thinly covered with small trees. I ascended the steep head, which rose to an elevation of a hundred and eighty feet above the sea.

"'The remarkable structure of the geological feature of this islet led me to examine the south-east part, which was the most exposed to the weather, and where the disposition of the strata was, of course, more plainly developed. The base is a coa.r.s.e granular, silicious sandstone, in which large pebbles of quartz and jaspar are imbedded. This stratum continues for sixteen to twenty feet above the water; for the next ten feet there is a horizontal stratum of black schistose rock, which was of so soft a consistence, that the weather had excavated several tiers of galleries, upon the roof and sides of which some curious drawings were observed, which deserve to be particularly described. They were executed upon a ground of red ochre (rubbed on the black schistus), and were delineated by dots of white argillaceous earth, which had been worked up into a paste. They represented tolerable figures of sharks, porpoises, turtles, lizards (of which I saw several small ones among the rocks), trepang, star-fish, clubs, canoes, water-gourds, and some quadrupeds, which were probably intended to represent kangaroos and dogs. The figures, besides being outlined by the dots, were decorated all over with the same pigment in dotted transverse belts. Tracing a gallery round to windward, it brought me to a commodious cave, or recess, overhung by a portion of the schistous sufficiently large to shelter twenty natives, whose recent fire places appeared on the projecting area of the cave.

"'Many turtles' heads were placed on the shelfs or niches of the excavation, amply demonstrative of the luxurious and profuse mode of life these outcasts of society had, at a period rather recently, followed. The roof and sides of this snug retreat were also entirely covered with the uncouth figures I have already described.'

"As this is the first specimen of Australian taste in the fine arts that we have detected in these voyages, it became me to make a particular observation thereon. Captain Flinders had discovered figures on Chasm Island [Note, below] in the Gulf of Carpentaria, formed with a burnt stick, but this performance, exceeding a hundred and fifty figures, which must have occupied much time, appears at least to be one step nearer refinement than those simply executed with a piece of charred wood.

Immediately above this schistose stratum is a superinc.u.mbent ma.s.s of sandstone, which appeared to form the upper stratum of the island."

[Note: "Chasm Island lies one mile and a half from a low point of GROOTE EYLANDT, where the sh.o.r.e trends southward and seemed to form a bay. In the deep sides of the chasms were deep holes or caverns, undermining the cliffs; upon the walls of which I found rude drawings made with charcoal and something like red paint upon the white ground of the rock. These drawings represented porpoises, turtle, kangaroos, and a human hand; and Mr. Westall, who went afterwards to see them, found the representation of a kangaroo, with a file of thirty-two persons following after it. The third person of the band was twice the height of the others, and held in his hand something resembling the 'whaddie' or wooden sword of the native chiefs of Port Jackson, and was probably intended to represent a chief.

They could not, as with us, indicate superiority by clothing or ornament, since they wear none of any kind, and, therefore, with the addition of a weapon similar to the ancients, they seem to have made superiority of person the princ.i.p.al emblem of superior power, of which, indeed, power is usually a consequence of the very early stages of society."]

From the wreck of the FREDERICK the crew had been busy during their stay here procuring all the spars and planks that would be of use to them, and on the 25th June the BATHURST got under weigh, and with her two companions resumed their course to the northward, following the same route as that traversed last year by the MERMAID--steering across the Gulf of Carpentaria to Cape Wessell, which they sighted on the 3rd June.

Anchoring in South-West Bay, they landed at their former watering place on Goulburn Island, but found the stream had failed, and the parched appearance of the island showed that the season had been unusually dry.

Leaving South-West Bay, they pa.s.sed to the eastward of New Year's Island, and the following day sighted Cape Van Dieman. Here they parted company with their companions, the d.i.c.k and SAN ANTONIO, by an interchange of three cheers, the d.i.c.k having King's letters for conveyance to England.

The course of the BATHURST was now south-west towards Cape Londonderry, sighting, during the next few days, Eclipse Hill, Sir Graham Moore's Islands, and Troughton Island. Light baffling winds detained them for two days in the vicinity of Ca.s.sini Island, and on the 23rd the BATHURST anch.o.r.ed about half a mile off the sandy beach of Careening Bay.

"As soon as the vessel was secured we visited the sh.o.r.e, and recognised the site of our last year's encampment, which had suffered no alteration except what had been occasioned by a rapid vegetation. A sterculia, the stem of which had served as one of the props of our mess tent, and to which we had nailed a sheet of copper, with an inscription, was considerably grown, and the gum had oozed out in such profusion where the nails had pierced the bark that it had forced one corner of the copper off. The large, gouty-stemmed tree on which the MERMAID'S name had been carved in deep indented characters remained without any alteration, and seemed likely to bear the marks of our visit longer than any other memento we had left. The sensations experienced at revisiting a place which had so seasonably afforded us a friendly shelter and such unlooked-for convenience for our purposes, can only be estimated by those who have experienced them; and it is only to strangers to such feelings that it will appear ridiculous to say that even the nail to which our thermometer had been suspended was the subject of pleasurable recognition.

"No water in the gully where last year it was running, and no sign that it had contained any for some time, yet from the luxuriant vegetation and verdant appearance of the gra.s.s, it was the more astonis.h.i.+ng. After examining the bight to the eastward, where formerly there had been a considerable stream, all hope of success in finding water here was given up, and an anchorage made in St. George's Basin, finding an abundant supply at the cascade in Prince Regent's River.

"While the boat's crew rested and filled their baricas, I ascended the rocks over which the water was falling, and was surprised to find its height had been so underrated when we pa.s.sed by it last year; it was then thought to be about forty feet, but I now found it could not be less than one hundred and fifty. The rock--a fine-grained, silicious sandstone--is disposed in horizontal strata, from six to twelve feet thick, each of which projects about three feet from that above it, and forms a continuity of steps to the summit, which we found some difficulty in climbing; but where the distance between the ledges was great, we a.s.sisted our ascent by tufts of gra.s.s firmly rooted in the luxurious moss that grew abundantly about the watercourses. On reaching the summit, I found that the fall was supplied from a stream winding through rugged chasms and thickly-matted cl.u.s.ters of plants and trees, among which the panda.n.u.s bore a conspicuous appearance, and gave a picturesque richness to the place. While admiring the wildness of the scene, Mr. Montgomery joined me; we did not, however, succeed in following the stream for more than a hundred yards, for at that distance its windings were so confused among rocks and spinifex that we could not trace its course. Large groves of panda.n.u.s and hibiscus, and a variety of other plants, were growing in great luxuriance upon the banks of the Prince Regent's River, but, unhappily, the sterile and rocky appearance of the country was some alloy to the satisfaction we felt at the first sight of the fresh water."

Water had been obtained sufficient to last until October. Preparations were then made to leave this anchorage, when they explored Half-way Bay, finding in it a strait that communicated with Munster Water, so insulating the land that forms the northwest sh.o.r.e of the Bay. This island was named Greville Island.

Whilst in Hanover Bay, a skirmish with the natives enlivened proceedings.

In spite of all the many warnings the party had received by this time, they would venture amongst the natives quite unarmed, and when their men came to their a.s.sistance the muskets, as a rule, would not go off. This time the surgeon, Mr. Montgomery, was speared in the back--fortunately, not fatally.

From Hanover Bay, King sailed some distance to the westward, anchoring on August 21st, near the Lacepede Islands. The next day Cape Baskerville was named, and the smoke of fires was noticed at intervals for miles along the sh.o.r.e; from which one might infer that this part of the coast was very populous. Captain Dampier saw forty Indians together on one of the rocky islands to the eastward of Cape Leveque, and in his quaint description of them says:--

"The inhabitants of this country are the miserablest people in the world.

The Hodmadods, of Monomatapa, though a nasty people, yet for wealth are gentlemen to these, who have no houses and skin garments, sheep, poultry, and fruits of the earth, ostrich eggs, etc., as the Hodmadods have; and, setting aside their human shape, they differ but little from brutes. They are tall, straight-bodied, and thin, with small, long limbs. They have great heads, round foreheads, and great brows. Their eye-lids are always half-closed to keep the flies out of their eyes, they being so troublesome here that fanning will not keep them from coming to one's face; and without the a.s.sistance of both hands to keep them off, they will creep into one's nostrils, and mouth too, if the lips are not shut very close. So that, from infancy, being thus annoyed with those insects, they do never open their eyes as other people; and therefore they cannot see far unless they hold up their heads, as if they were looking at somewhat over them. They have great bottle noses, pretty full lips, and wide mouths. The two fore-teeth of their upper jaw are wanting in all of them, men and women, old and young. Whether they draw them out or not I know not. Neither have they any beards. They are long-visaged, and of a very unpleasant aspect, having not one graceful feature in their faces.

Their hair is black, short, and curled like that of the negroes; and not long and lank like the common Indians. The colour of their skins, both of their faces and the rest of their body, is coal-black like that of the negroes of Guinea. They have no sort of clothes but a piece of the rind of a tree tied like a girdle about their waists, and a handful of long gra.s.s, or three or four small green boughs full of leaves thrust under their girdle to cover their nakedness. They. have no houses, but lie in the open air without covering, the earth being their bed and heaven their canopy.

"They live in companies-twenty or thirty men, women, and children together. Their only food is a small sort of fish, which they get by making weirs of stone across little coves or branches of the sea, every tide bringing in the small fish, and there leaving them a prey to these people, who constantly attend there to search for them at low water. This small fry I take to be the top of their fishery. They have no instruments to catch great fish should they come, and such seldom stay to be left behind at low water; nor could we catch any fish with our hooks and lines while we lay there. In other places, at low water, they seek for c.o.c.kles, mussels, and periwinkles; of these sh.e.l.l-fish there are fewer still, so that their chief dependency is upon what the sea leaves in their weirs, which, be it much or little, they gather tip and march to the places of their abode. There is neither herb, root, pulse, nor any sort of grain for them to eat that we saw, nor any sort of bird or beast that they can catch, having no instruments. I did not perceive that they did wors.h.i.+p anything. These poor people have a sort of weapon to defend their weirs or fight with their enemies, if they have any, that will interfere with their poor fishery. They did at first endeavour with their weapons to frighten us, who, lying ash.o.r.e, deterred them from one of their fis.h.i.+ng places. Some of them had wooden swords, others had a sort of lance. The sword is a long, straight pole, sharp at one end, and hardened afterwards by heat. I saw no iron, nor any sort of metal; therefore, it is probable they use stone hatchets. How they get their fire I know not, but, probably, as Indians do, out of wood. I have seen the Indians of Bon-Airy do it, and have myself tried the experiment. They take a flat piece of wood that is pretty soft, and make a small dent in one side of it; then they take another hard, round stick, about the bigness of one's little finger and sharpened at one end like a pencil; they put that sharp end in the hole or dent of the flat, soft piece, and then rubbing or twirling the hard piece between the palm of their hands, they drill the soft piece till it smokes and, at last, takes fire.

"These people speak somewhat through the throat, but we could not understand one word they said... . We went over to the islands, and there we found a great many of the natives. I do believe there were forty on one island--men, women, and children. The men, on our first coming ash.o.r.e, threatened us with their lances and swords, but they were frightened by firing our gun, which we purposely fired over their heads.

The island was so small that they could not hide themselves, but they were much disordered by our landing. This, their place of dwelling, was only a fire, with a few boughs before it, set up on the side the winds were off.

"After we had been here a little while, the men began to be familiar, and we clothed some of them, designing to have some service of them for it; for we found some wells of water here, and intended to carry two or three barrels of it aboard. But it being somewhat trouble some to carry to the canoes, we thought to have made these men to have carried it for us, and therefore, we gave them some old clothes; to one an old pair of breeches, to another a ragged s.h.i.+rt, to the third a jacket that was scarce worth owning, which yet would have been very acceptable at some places where we had been, and so we thought they might have been with these people. We put them on them, thinking that this finery would have brought them to work heartily for us; and our water being filled in small, long barrels, about six gallons in each, which were made purposely to carry water in, we brought these our new servants to the well, and put a barrel on each of their shoulders for them to carry to the canoe. But all the signs we could make were to no purpose, for they stood like statues, without motion, but grinned like so many monkeys, staring one upon another; for these poor creatures seem not accustomed to carry burthens, and I believe that one of our s.h.i.+p boys, of ten years old, would carry as much as one of them. So we were forced to carry our water ourselves, and they very fairly put the clothes off again, and laid them down, as if clothes were only to work in. I did not perceive that they had any great liking to them at first, neither did they seem to admire anything we had. Four men, captured while swimming, were brought aboard; two of them were middle aged, the other two young men about eighteen or twenty years old. To these we gave boiled rice, and with it turtle and manatee boiled. They did greedily devour what we gave them, but took no notice of the s.h.i.+p, or anything on it, and when they were set on land again, they ran away as fast as they could. At our first coming, before we were acquainted with them, or they with us, a company of them, who lived on the main, came just against our s.h.i.+p, and standing on a pretty high bank threatened us with their swords and lances, by shaking them at us; at last the captain ordered the drum to be beaten, which was done of a sudden with much vigour, purposely to scare the poor creatures. They, hearing the noise, ran away as fast as they could drive, and when they ran away in haste they would cry GURRY-GURRY, speaking deep down in the throat. Those inhabitants, also, that live on the main would always run away from us yet we took several of them. For, as I have already observed, they had such bad eyes that they could not see us till we came close to them; we did always give them victuals, and let them go again." ["Dampier."

Vol. I, p464.]

August 20. King, when laying down the plan of the coast upon his chart, found Cape Leveque to be the point Dampier anch.o.r.ed under when on his buccaneering voyage in the CYGNET, 1688. In commemoration of his visit the name of Buccaneer's Archipelago was given to the islands that front Cygnet Bay, which bay is so named after his vessel; and on August 26, Roebuck Bay received its name after the s.h.i.+p Captain Dampier commanded when he visited this coast in 1699. Their water being nearly out, and the provisions generally being in a bad state, besides the want of a second anchor being very much felt, King deemed it prudent not to rely longer upon the good fortune that had attended them, but to sail for the Mauritius, entering Port Louis on September 26th.