The channel narrowed till it was not more than three hundred yards or
so wide. Pigeon Island lay on our left, with deep water right up to its
precipitous rocky bank. The island is one rocky coral mass, with scarce
a sign of vegetation. Its surface is covered with mounds of rocks
thrown together or built into rough walls gleaming white in the sun,
and we are told that these stones were built up as they were removed
from the deposit of guano which was worked here. Sixteen hundred
tons of this useful manure has been shipped from the island, which
has an area of perhaps 200 acres. Going ashore we find it a barren,
inhospitable rock--a gull or mollyhawk sits here or there--a few hover
about, but there is no sign of the bird life which we were prepared to
see here in such abundance. Since the removal of the guano, the island
appears to have been so disturbed that the birds have almost entirely
forsaken it. It is too rough to walk about on with any comfort, so,
looking round it, we return to the dinghy and put off to the boat,
where luncheon is ready for us.
To the right, and about half a mile away, is East Wallaby Island. From
the deck we see the channel line clearly defined against the shoal
water, out of which the island rises. As four of our party have to get
back by Monday to resume their business--and this is Saturday--some
of those who are going to remain put off in the afternoon to Wallaby
Island to select a camp in which to wait till the boat returns from
Geraldton, whither she is to start on Sunday morning. We expect her to
return by Tuesday, at furthest. There is little likelihood of rain,
and we are going to camp on the beach, with the prospect of plenty of
sport in fishing and wallaby and pigeon shooting. The dinghy puts off
with four of the party, her full capacity, but ere she has reached
halfway to the shore the water suddenly shoals and they have to get
out and walk the remaining distance up to their knees in water, over
the sharp coral rocks which form the base on which the island stands.
It is fortunate that we brought strong, heavy boots with us, for the
sharp coral would have cut light ones to pieces, and it would be
impossible to walk over that stretch of shallow water in the bare feet.
The prospecting party returned in a couple of hours with a couple
of wallabies, and reported having found a good wind-break, where Mr.
Drewry had camped some twelve months or so ago. In the afternoon the
dinghy was again despatched with provisions, cooking utensils, and a
sail to cover over the wind-break, and so provide a shade shelter for
the eatables. Those left on board the boat put out the lines and in a
very short time had a good bucketful of small schnapper. Mr. Randell
proved himself to be the piscatorialist-in-chief, and to the culinary
skill of Mr. Nathan we owed a delightfully fried fish supper.
In the morning wading operations had to be renewed, while breakfast
was being prepared, and bedding and water, were transported to the
camp. Our case of beer was sensibly diminishing. The Governor of North
Carolina would have his say, and, amongst other things which we were
to give was an order to the boat to bring out from Geraldton, was
another case, so as to give “His Excellency,” as someone remarked,
a fair show. The transportation of our party and bedding, however,
took two trips of the dinghy--and in the hurry of our departure, the
order for the beer was forgotten, and not thought of till the boat had
hoisted sail and was fairly under way. One of the legal members of our
party thought he could convey the message by signs, and, holding up a
bottle and shouting frantically, he ran along the shoal water towards
the boat, when, tripping over a sharp piece of coral, he fell headlong
with a splash into a deeper hole, amid roars of laughter from boat and
shore, in which further opportunity for conveying the message to the
fast receding boat was lost. We sadly realised that, if not absolute
teetotallers, we would at least have to place ourselves on short
commons, as far as beer was concerned, for the remainder of the trip.
Water which has been stored for some days in a boat’s tanks is not the
pleasantest of drinking. There were eight days of the trip yet to do,
and only eighteen bottles of beer and four of whisky amongst six of us.
Mr. Baston was placed in charge of the liquor, while one other learned
member of the Bar was placed in possession of our only corkscrew, with
strict injunctions that neither was to listen to the syren voice of the
Governor of Carolina, except twice a day, and then only when every
member of the party was present--an injunction which it is gratifying
to note, they both rigidly adhered to.
Wallaby Island is about three miles long by a little over a mile wide,
and is the hilliest of the group. Sand-hills have been blown to a
height of about 50 feet, and cover a good portion of the bare coral
rocks, of which the island is composed. The sand is mixed to some
extent with guano, and for the most part the island is well clothed
with short scrubby vegetation. About a quarter of a mile north of our
camp, which we named “Point Desolation,” a mast has been erected on the
summit of the highest hill as a beacon to navigators of the intricate
channels in the neighborhood. Some 200 yards north-east of this
beacon, on bare limestone rocks, is a natural well, or gnamma hole,
about ten feet deep, with a good supply of drinkable water. It is well
for tourists to know of the existence of this well, as otherwise the
islands appear to be devoid of fresh water.
Wallabies are fairly numerous on this island, but as the island is
of very limited extent, they should be protected from indescriminate
destruction, except for food. A party with a few guns would
exterminate them all in a week or two. Pigeons also are fairly
plentiful. Most of these islands are merely banks of dead coral
elevated only a few feet above the sea and devoid of vegetation, and
on those few exceptions which are capable of supporting animal life,
the game at least should be preserved as a possible means of life to
shipwrecked or weather-bound crews who may be compelled to remain on
them for some time. The southern shore of the island is, for the most
part, bare and rocky bluff headland, but on the northern side there is
a pleasant beach extending up to Turtle Bay, the only really pretty and
pleasant spot on the whole island--or indeed on any which we visited.
There the sandy beach shelves gradually out into deep water, and while
there we daily walked the three miles along the beach to the bay to
bathe, and spend most of the day. Plenty of sponges, known as the
abdominal variety, lie about on the beach. They are, of course, dried,
and for the most part rotted by the weather and exposure, but some
are of fine texture, and appear to show that the waters may be worth
prospecting with a view to opening up the industry. The pretty little
Lesser Tern is numerous among the bird life. She lays a brown spotted
egg in exposed situations on the bare rock. In the season they are said
to possess a delicate flavor. Some hundreds were gathered.
* * * * *
Tuesday evening arrived, and no sail was visible from our look-out on
the hill. Our last loaf was cut into for supper, and, unless the boat
arrived soon, we would have to bake a damper, but the difficulty was in
getting wood enough for the fire to bake it in. We, however, had plenty
of potatoes and onions, and crayfish were plentiful, so we were in no
fear of starvation, but it was disappointing for the boat not to have
showed up. With a few pigeons shot by Mr. Kidd and curried crayfish
and vegetables, we regaled ourselves, and washing our supper down with
our evening modicum of beer, turned in on the sands and talked till we
fell asleep. The wallabies, unaccustomed to seeing men or dogs, are
exceedingly tame, and during the night hopped about the camp within a
few yards of our beds.