Transactions of the Colony in April and May, 1789.
An extraordinary calamity was now observed among the natives. Repeated
accounts brought by our boats of finding bodies of the Indians in all the
coves and inlets of the harbour, caused the gentlemen of our hospital
to procure some of them for the purposes of examination and anatomy. On
inspection, it appeared that all the parties had died a natural death:
pustules, similar to those occasioned by the small pox, were thickly spread
on the bodies; but how a disease, to which our former observations had led
us to suppose them strangers, could at once have introduced itself, and
have spread so widely, seemed inexplicable.* Whatever might be the cause,
the existence of the malady could no longer be doubted. Intelligence
was brought that an Indian family lay sick in a neighbouring cove: the
governor, attended by Arabanoo, and a surgeon, went in a boat immediately
to the spot. Here they found an old man stretched before a few lighted
sticks, and a boy of nine or ten years old pouring water on his head, from
a shell which he held in his hand: near them lay a female child dead, and
a little farther off, its unfortunate mother: the body of the woman shewed
that famine, superadded to disease, had occasioned her death: eruptions
covered the poor boy from head to foot; and the old man was so reduced,
that he was with difficulty got into the boat. Their situation rendered
them incapable of escape, and they quietly submitted to be led away.
Arabanoo, contrary to his usual character, seemed at first unwilling to
render them any assistance; but his shyness soon wore off, and he treated
them with the kindest attention. Nor would he leave the place until he had
buried the corpse of the child: that of the woman he did not see from its
situation; and as his countrymen did not point it out, the governor ordered
that it should not be shown to him. He scooped a grave in the sand with his
hands, of no peculiarity of shape, which he lined completely with grass,
and put the body into it, covering it also with grass; and then he filled
up the hole, and raised over it a small mound with the earth which had
been removed. Here the ceremony ended, unaccompanied by any invocation to a
superior being, or any attendant circumstance whence an inference of their
religious opinions could be deduced.
[*No solution of this difficulty had been given when I left the country, in
December, 1791. I can, therefore, only propose queries for the ingenuity of
others to exercise itself upon: is it a disease indigenous to the country?
Did the French ships under Monsieur de Peyrouse introduce it? Let it be
remembered that they had now been departed more than a year; and we had
never heard of its existence on board of them. Had it travelled across the
continent from its western shore, where Dampier and other European voyagers
had formerly landed? Was it introduced by Mr. Cook? Did we give it birth
here? No person among us had been afflicted with the disorder since we had
quitted the Cape of Good Hope, seventeen months before. It is true, that
our surgeons had brought out variolous matter in bottles; but to infer
that it was produced from this cause were a supposition so wild as to be
unworthy of consideration.]
An uninhabited house, near the hospital, was allotted for their reception,
and a cradle prepared for each of them. By the encouragement of Arabanoo,
who assured them of protection, and the soothing behaviour of our medical
gentlemen, they became at once reconciled to us, and looked happy and
grateful at the change of their situation. Sickness and hunger had,
however, so much exhausted the old man, that little hope was entertained
of his recovery. As he pointed frequently to his throat, at the instance of
Arabanoo, he tried to wash it with a gargle which was given to him; but
the obstructed, tender state of the part rendered it impracticable. 'Bado,
bado' (water), was his cry: when brought to him, he drank largely at
intervals of it. He was equally importunate for fire, being seized with
shivering fits; and one was kindled. Fish were produced, to tempt him to
eat; but he turned away his head, with signs of loathing. Nanbaree (the
boy), on the contrary, no sooner saw them than he leaped from his cradle,
and eagerly seizing them, began to cook them. A warm bath being prepared,
they were immersed in it; and after being thoroughly cleansed, they had
clean shirts put on them, and were again laid in bed.
The old man lived but a few hours. He bore the pangs of dissolution with
patient composure; and though he was sensible to the last moment, expired
almost without a groan. Nanbaree appeared quite unmoved at the event;
and surveyed the corpse of his father without emotion, simply exclaiming,
'boee' (dead). This surprised us; as the tenderness and anxiety of the old
man about the boy had been very moving. Although barely able to raise his
head, while so much strength was left to him, he kept looking into his
child's cradle; he patted him gently on the bosom; and, with dying eyes,
seemed to recommend him to our humanity and protection. Nanbaree was
adopted by Mr. White, surgeon-general of the settlement, and became
henceforth one of his family.
Arabanoo had no sooner heard of the death of his countryman, than he
hastened to inter him. I was present at the ceremony, in company with the
governor, captain Ball, and two or three other persons. It differed, by
the accounts of those who were present at the funeral of the girl, in no
respect from what had passed there in the morning, except that the grave
was dug by a convict. But I was informed, that when intelligence of the
death reached Arabanoo, he expressed himself with doubt whether he should
bury, or burn the body; and seemed solicitous to ascertain which ceremony
would be most gratifying to the governor.
Indeed, Arabanoo's behaviour, during the whole of the transactions of
this day, was so strongly marked by affection to his countryman, and by
confidence in us, that the governor resolved to free him from all farther
restraint, and at once to trust to his generosity, and the impression which
our treatment of him might have made, for his future residence among us:
the fetter was accordingly taken off his leg.
In the evening, captain Ball and I crossed the harbour, and buried the
corpse of the woman before mentioned.
Distress continued to drive them in upon us. Two more natives, one of them
a young man, and the other his sister, a girl of fourteen years old,
were brought in by the governor's boat, in a most deplorable state of
wretchedness from the smallpox. The sympathy and affection of Arabanoo,
which had appeared languid in the instance of Nanbaree and his father, here
manifested themselves immediately. We conjectured that a difference of
the tribes to which they belonged might cause the preference; but nothing
afterwards happened to strengthen or confirm such a supposition. The young
man died at the end of three days: the girl recovered, and was received
as an inmate, with great kindness, in the family of Mrs Johnson,
the clergyman's wife. Her name was Booron; but from our mistake of
pronunciation she acquired that of Abaroo, by which she was generally
known, and by which she will always be called in this work. She shewed, at
the death of her brother more feeling than Nanbaree had witnessed for the
loss of his father. When she found him dying, she crept to his side, and
lay by him until forced by the cold to retire. No exclamation, or other
sign of grief, however, escaped her for what had happened.
May 1789. At sunset, on the evening of the 2d instant, the arrival the
'Sirius', Captain Hunter, from the Cape of Good Hope, was proclaimed, and
diffused universal joy and congratulation. The day of famine was at least
procrastinated by the supply of flour and salt provisions she brought us.
The 'Sirius' had made her passage to the Cape of Good Hope, by the route of
Cape Horn, in exactly thirteen weeks. Her highest latitude was 57 degrees
10 minutes south, where the weather proved intolerably cold. Ice, in great
quantity, was seen for many days; and in the middle of December (which is
correspondent to the middle of June, in our hemisphere), water froze in
open casks upon deck, in the moderate latitude of 44 degrees.
They were very kindly treated by the Dutch governor, and amply supplied by
the merchants at the Cape, where they remained seven weeks. Their passage
back was effected by Van Diemen's Land, near which, and close under
Tasman's Head, they were in the utmost peril of being wrecked.
In this long run, which had extended round the circle, they had always
determined their longitude, to the greatest nicety, by distances taken
between the sun and moon, or between the moon and a star. But it falls
to the lot of very few ships to possess such indefatigable and accurate
observers as Captain Hunter, and Mr. (now Captain) Bradley, the first
lieutenant of the 'Sirius'.
I feel assured, that I have no reader who will not join in regretting the
premature loss of Arabanoo, who died of the smallpox on the 18th instant,
after languishing in it six days. From some imperfect marks and indents
on his face, we were inclined to believe that he had passed this dreaded
disorder. Even when the first symptoms of sickness seized him, we continued
willing to hope that they proceeded from a different cause. But at length
the disease burst forth with irresistible fury. It were superfluous to say,
that nothing which medical skill and unremitting attention could perform,
were left unexerted to mitigate his sufferings, and prolong a life,
which humanity and affectionate concern towards his sick compatriots,
unfortunately shortened.
During his sickness he reposed entire confidence in us. Although a stranger
to medicine, and nauseating the taste of it, he swallowed with patient
submission innumerable drugs,* which the hope of relief induced us to
administer to him. The governor, who particularly regarded him, caused him
to be buried in his own garden, and attended the funeral in person.
[*Very different had been his conduct on a former occasion of a similar
kind. Soon after he was brought among us he was seized with a diarrhoea,
for which he could by no persuasion be induced to swallow any of our
prescriptions. After many ineffectual trials to deceive, or overcome him,
it was at length determined to let him pursue his own course, and to watch
if he should apply for relief to any of the productions of the country. He
was in consequence observed to dig fern-root, and to chew it. Whether the
disorder had passed its crisis, or whether the fern-root effected a cure, I
know not; but it is certain that he became speedily well.
**The regard was reciprocal. His excellency had been ill but a short time
before, when Arabanoo had testified the utmost solicitude for his case and
recovery. It is probable that he acquired, on this occasion, just notions
of the benefit to be derived from medical assistance. A doctor is, among
them, a person of consequence. It is certain that he latterly estimated our
professional gentlemen very highly.]
The character of Arabanoo, as far as we had developed it, was distinguished
by a portion of gravity and steadiness, which our subsequent acquaintance
with his countrymen by no means led us to conclude a national
characteristic. In that daring, enterprising frame of mind, which, when
combined with genius, constitutes the leader of a horde of savages, or the
ruler of a people, boasting the power of discrimination and the resistance
of ambition, he was certainly surpassed by some of his successors,
who afterwards lived among us. His countenance was thoughtful, but not
animated: his fidelity and gratitude, particularly to his friend the
governor, were constant and undeviating, and deserve to be recorded.
Although of a gentle and placable temper, we early discovered that he was
impatient of indignity, and allowed of no superiority on our part. He knew
that he was in our power; but the independence of his mind never forsook
him. If the slightest insult were offered to him, he would return it with
interest. At retaliation of merriment he was often happy; and frequently
turned the laugh against his antagonist. He did not want docility;
but either from the difficulty of acquiring our language, from the
unskillfulness of his teachers, or from some natural defect, his progress
in learning it was not equal to what we had expected. For the last three
or four weeks of his life, hardly any restraint was laid upon his
inclinations: so that had he meditated escape, he might easily have
effected it. He was, perhaps, the only native who was ever attached to us
from choice; and who did not prefer a precarious subsistence among wilds
and precipices, to the comforts of a civilized system.
By his death, the scheme which had invited his capture was utterly
defeated. Of five natives who had been brought among us, three had perished
from a cause which, though unavoidable, it was impossible to explain to a
people, who would condescend to enter into no intercourse with us. The same
suspicious dread of our approach, and the same scenes of vengeance acted on
unfortunate stragglers, continued to prevail.