_EAST COAST (continued)._
_Monday, August 15th._--Last night was an anxious one for Tom, who was
up and down a good deal, and did not get to bed until 5.45 A.M.,
having hoisted the pilot-flag and left orders for the yacht to jog
about until the pilot came on board. It was half-past eight o'clock
before we were securely moored in the harbour, almost alongside of our
old friend the little 'Harrier.' Originally a yacht, she is now one of
her Majesty's ships, and is used for cruising from one island to
another. With 35 men on board, and guns and gear of all kinds, she is
not by any means the smart little craft she used to be; but she is in
thorough working order, and as good a sea-boat as ever.
Cooktown, in spite of the preponderance of iron houses and shops,
looks rather pretty from the sea, and is picturesquely situated in an
amphitheatre of hills, of which Mount Cook is the highest. Its small
port is formed by the mouth of the Endeavour River. There are abundant
indications that larger and more substantial buildings will rapidly be
substituted for the provisional structures of which Cooktown at
present consists. The population is about 2,500. The Palmer River
gold-diggings, and some recent discoveries of tin, which have
attracted a large number of miners, are the chief sources of
prosperity. A railway will shortly connect Cooktown with the
gold-mines. A section of thirty-two miles has been already opened. It
was a delicious day, and I enjoyed sitting under an awning until the
afternoon, when some of the party went on shore to play lawn-tennis,
whilst the Doctor, Muenie and I went for a little drive, which did me
good, though it tired me at the time.
[Illustration: Cooktown]
_Tuesday, August 16th._--Awoke about seven, feeling much refreshed,
and went early on deck. Many visitors came on board, only a few of
whom I was able to see. All the rest of the party again landed, and at
twelve o'clock Tom and I went on board the 'Harrier.' I was carried on
deck, and then managed to get below to look at the new alterations.
Captain Pike had some pretty watercolour drawings and a good
collection of curios, picked up at various islands. These were
capitally arranged in the cabin, and looked very nice. He kindly gave
Mabelle and me some beautiful shells, as well as some gorgonias
growing on a pearl-shell. In the afternoon we went out for a drive. On
leaving the town we followed the same road as yesterday, after which
we came to a fairly good bush-road or track, running through a pretty
country, with some fine trees and a great variety of foliage. We
passed one or two nice stations, with comfortable, deep-verandahed
houses, and tidy gardens and orchards. Ultimately we plunged into the
regular bush, where the sandflies and mosquitoes began to trouble the
rest of the party; but my invaluable eucalyptus oil saved me. Nothing
could exceed the care our driver took of me; his chief anxiety was
that I should not suffer a single jolt beyond what the roughness of
the road necessitated. He came out here when he was twenty-one years
old, and rushed at once to the gold-fields; found 1,100_l._ in three
days, on an alluvial field 300 miles inland from Sydney; lost it two
days after, by putting it into a speculative mining concern which
failed the day after he parted with his money. He then became a
gentleman's coachman at Sydney, and had several other mining and
reefing adventures on some fields near the Johnstone River. All went
well with him until he had an attack of fever, which laid him up for
eighteen months, and not only absorbed all his own little savings but
that of his comrades, to whose kindness he was indebted for the
positive necessaries of life. Now he is coachman at the largest hotel
here, and as soon as he has scraped a little money together, intends
going off to the Croydon diggings, where I hope he will be fortunate,
and trust he will invest his hard-earned money more satisfactorily.
Owing to our late departure we had no time to stop, as we had
intended, to see the tomb erected over the remains of poor Mrs.
Watson, her child, and Ah Sam the Chinaman, who are buried here. The
story of their death is a sad one, and we listened with interest to
the circumstances as related by Mr. Fitzgerald; which are briefly
these.
Elizabeth Wilson, who came originally from Rockhampton, was the wife
of Mr. Watson, the owner of some small schooners engaged in the
beche-de-mer trade, whose head establishment was at the Lizard Island.
Some time in 1881 she persuaded her husband to take one of his vessels
on a tour of inspection, leaving her with a child of two years old and
a couple of faithful Chinamen in charge of the Lizard Island. Mr.
Watson set forth very reluctantly, only yielding to his wife's
assurances that with firearms in the house, which she well knew how to
manage, she would be in no danger. Soon after her husband's departure,
however, the natives came across from the mainland in great force,
killed one of the Chinamen, and wounded the other. When it became dark
the brave woman hastened to provision one of the square iron tanks
used for boiling down the beche-de-mer, and embarked in it with her
babe and wounded retainer. Nothing could be more clumsy than such a
craft, 4 feet long by 3 feet wide, and perhaps 1-1/2 feet high. She
put water-bottles on board, and with only a shawl for sail and an oar
to steer with set forth on the calm sea, towing, however, a little
dinghy behind, in case of her iron vessel proving too unmanageable.
The trade-wind carried the tank thirty miles out to sea to one of the
Hawick group; but she was prevented from landing there by the
threatening aspect of the blacks in possession. She drifted a little
further to a neighbouring island, where the spring tide carried the
tank up so far inland that she could not launch it again. This was the
more terrible, as a very few miles further would have brought her to
the lightship. There were no blacks on the island, to which the tank
had been carried. Mrs. Watson had sufficient provisions, but
apparently no water. They all must have died of thirst just before an
abundant rainfall. Three weeks later, when their bodies were
discovered, there were pools of fresh water around them. In the
meantime Mr. Watson called at the lightship and recognised his own
dinghy, which had drifted thither a few days before. He immediately
set out, accompanied by Mr. Fitzgerald, and soon reached the little
island, where he found his wife's body, one arm still clasping her
child, and the other hand holding a loaded revolver. Her diary lay
close by, and told the sad story almost up to the last moment. The
dead Chinaman lay near the tank. The bodies were put into rude shells
and taken to Cooktown, where they were buried. The poor woman's diary
and the tank are preserved in the Museum at Brisbane.
_Thursday, August 18th._--We gave Cape Sidmouth a wide berth and
passed Night Island, going close to Cape Direction and Restoration
Island, which latter is exactly opposite the narrow opening in the
Barrier Reef through which Bligh found his way in 1780, in an open
boat, after the Mutiny of the 'Bounty.' Bligh gave the name to
Restoration Island to commemorate his escape from the mutineers. A
little further to the north took us abreast of Providential Channel,
through which Captain Cook entered with the greatest difficulty in
1770. He arrived outside the Barrier Reef, rolling heavily to the
swell with no wind, and finding it impossible to descry a single
opening. Hope seemed at an end, when, providentially, Captain Cook
espied from his masthead what looked like deep water between two
rocks, through which he safely steered his vessel. From Restoration
Island to Cape Weymouth we were considerably exposed to the sea, and
rolled about a good deal until we got into the shelter of Weymouth
Bay. Passing Fair Cape, we reached Piper Island at about eight
o'clock, and anchored for the night, close to the lightship, alongside
which there was another small steamer. The last fourteen miles had to
be done in the dark. This was a time of great anxiety for Tom, for the
passage was narrow, being only about half a mile wide in places, and
the current was strong. It blew hard all night, and we longed for the
sheltered anchorage of last evening.
_Friday, August 19th._--Early this morning Tom and some of the
gentlemen went on board the 'Claremont' lightship. After breakfast we
landed on the reef. It is a bare heap of sand and coral, save on its
highest part, where a few tufts of coarse grass are growing. Here we
found a native of St. John, New Brunswick, brought up, as he told us,
by foreign parents, engaged in the business of collecting
beche-de-mer, or dried sea-slugs, for which there is a large demand in
China.
[Illustration: Coral on Pearl-oyster]
This white man had in his employ thirty natives. He had five fine
boats, which are constantly at work inside the Great Barrier Reef. The
money embarked in this enterprise had been advanced by a bank at
Cooktown. Beche-de-mer commands a high price. We were shown the
accumulated casks full of this unattractive edible, representing a
value of many hundreds of pounds. Lee, the head of this establishment,
was living in a shelter formed of tattered canvas and battered sheets
of corrugated iron, but he evidently possessed the power of command
and organisation, and was not without education. He produced the
Admiralty charts of the coast and Barrier Reef, with large additions
to the delineation of the reefs from his own explorations.
Beche-de-mer is of various qualities. The best is worth 120_l._ per
ton, the next 100_l._, a third quality 90_l._, and a fourth from
80_l._ to as low as 30_l._ per ton. The beche-de-mer is a curious kind
of sea-slug, rather like a sea cucumber. Its scientific name is
_Holothuria_. It makes excellent soup, which is very nourishing, and
is like the snail soup so much given to invalids in the south of
France. In Cooktown the Europeans eat it largely, while in China, as
trepang, it is a much-prized and high-priced delicacy.
We had a long and pleasant conversation with Lee, and Tom and I were
both much struck with him. Tom was anxious to purchase for me a pair
of large hawksbill turtle shells which he had seen earlier in the
morning on the lightship, but Lee absolutely refused to part with them
at any price. He said a man had done him a good turn in Cooktown, and
he had promised him the shells. We suggested that it was possible, as
the man was a resident of Cooktown, that he might get him another pair
and let us have these; but Lee was quite firm, and said, 'No, I have
given my word, and it would be very wrong to break it on any account
whatsoever.' His charts were most interesting, and his own discoveries
of new reefs and shoals were intelligently marked. I hope that for the
good of the navigating world they may some day be incorporated into an
Admiralty chart, but I trust not without due recognition of Lee's
work. He certainly deserves the greatest credit for the careful and
painstaking observations he must have made while cruising in his
little schooners about the Barrier Reef. Many a shipwreck may possibly
be prevented and many a life saved by his laborious and at present
unrewarded exertions. Just before we were going away it seemed to
suddenly dawn upon Lee that Tom was Lord Brassey. He asked the
question, and when an answer in the affirmative was given shook hands
most warmly, and was delighted when he was told that I was Lady
Brassey and that the children were my own dear ones. He had all our
history at his fingers' ends, and was extremely pleased to see the
'historical Sunbeam' and 'her spirited owners,' as he called us. Later
on in the morning he tried to come on board the yacht in his schooner,
but unfortunately missed the rope and so lost the opportunity of
seeing the vessel. I was interested to hear from him a confirmation of
our supposition that the island off which we anchored was the one on
which Eliza Watson's body was found.
We landed on the leeward side of the island, and on going to the
windward shore it was curious to notice the process by which these
islands gradually become covered with vegetation. The whole shore just
above high-water mark was covered with little seeds, beans, and
various other atoms of vegetation which had been dropped by birds or
cast up by the sea, and which in process of time will cover the island
with trees and shrubs. The island did not look much bigger than half a
dozen times the size of the yacht. At low spring tides the most
beautiful corals and shells are found.
The blacks we saw on shore were a good-looking set of men, the finest
in stature we have yet seen. Lee says he has to be most careful and
always 'sleep with one eye open,' as they are treacherous. They would
turn round on him at any moment if they saw a chance and did not know
he was well armed.
All the inmates of the lightship came on board the yacht, with which
they were much delighted. They said they could not have imagined
anything like it on the sea, and thought they must have got on dry
land without knowing it. We parted with mutual good wishes, and I have
no doubt that the visit of the 'Sunbeam' will be a pleasant little
incident, affording much material for conversation for weeks to come.
We did not forget to give them some Ambulance papers.
We weighed at 11.30, and anchored under the Piper Islands an hour
after sunset. Distance, eighty-five miles.
_Saturday, August 20th._--All hands were called at four, and we got
under weigh soon after, making Home Islands about seven. Thence we
passed through Shelbourne Bay, by Hannibal Islands, and so off Orford
Ness. The navigation here was very intricate, and necessitated much
trouble and attention on Tom's part, and the taking of endless cross
bearings and observations. At 11.50 we passed the s.s. 'Tannadice,'
and exchanged friendly greetings. All navigators owe the commander of
this ship gratitude for reporting the reef named after his vessel. It
lies in a most dangerous position, and would doubtless have brought
many a good ship to grief had it not been reported and charted. Soon
after we started this morning we very nearly got on another reef. The
wind blew fresh and fair, and the current ran strong. Tom chanced to
be engaged taking some observations, and so paid, for a few moments,
less attention than usual to the pace at which we were going; and in
this hazardous interval the yacht very nearly ran on a coral reef that
was only just a-wash.[6]
[Footnote 6: The temporary failure of the chart lamp was the real
cause of this alarm. The coast sheets for Northern Queensland are on a
very small scale, and it requires a strong light and young eyes to
read their figures and the infinitesimally small signs denoting
rocks.]
From Fern Island, an almost straight course through a narrow channel
hemmed in by rocks, reefs, shoals, and islets, brought us to the
entrance to the Albany Pass. The navigation is intricate, but the
scenery quite lovely; the land on either side of the Pass, whether on
the mainland or on the islands, being densely wooded. At Fly Point on
the mainland our attention was attracted by some curious-looking
projections on a hillside, which resembled an enlarged edition of
Stonehenge, in red sandstone. On looking through the glasses we
discovered that these projections were ant-hills of an extraordinary
peaked shape, some of them being many feet in height.
The entrance to Port Albany and Somerset is narrow; and the strong
tide and wind combined to knock up an unpleasant popple. At Somerset
on the mainland, and immediately opposite to our anchorage at Port
Albany, a pretty little station has been built, with a flagstaff in
front of the bungalow. On our arrival the flag which was hoisted was
dipped a great many times and a large bonfire was lighted, in order to
give us, I suppose, a really warm welcome.
_Sunday, August 21st._--The boat went ashore early this lovely morning
to the large house we had seen last night. The station belongs to Mr.
Jardine, a relative of the founders of the firm of Jardine, Matheson,
& Co., so well known in China as well as along this coast. The station
is for cattle, and they are gradually increasing its boundaries so as
to be able to supply Thursday Island and the neighbourhood with fresh
meat, of which they are lamentably in need at present. About
twenty-five years ago Mr. Jardine drove a mob of 700 cattle from
Rockhampton to this place. It took him and his party nearly two years
to accomplish the journey, and they had to fight the blacks on their
way.
The men who went ashore in the boat brought off some milk and new-laid
eggs. There is excellent water here. The supply is obtained from two
springs and a well, and as water is bad, scarce, and dear at Thursday
Island, many ships come here for it. Last Sunday there were sixteen
schooners in this little port. They are all away now at the reefs, but
are expected back next Sunday.
We had Litany at eleven o'clock. In the afternoon I landed with the
Doctor, and sat, or rather lay quietly, on the pleasant sandy shore
for an hour or two, while the Doctor and the sailors roamed about and
picked up many curious pieces of coral and some lumps of scoriae, of
which the whole island seems to be formed. There is very little soil
beneath the volcanic matter, and it is wonderful how trees and plants
manage to grow in such luxuriant fashion. Some cocoa-nut trees have
been planted, which are doing exceedingly well, and I rested under
their shade, looking up at the sky through the long, pale green
leaves. The innumerable flies, ants, and sandflies were troublesome.
But what can be expected in a land where the ant-heaps are ten feet
high and twenty-four feet in circumference? While on his rambles with
one of our men the Doctor saw a large snake four or five feet in
length, which he vainly tried to kill; but the reptile escaped into a
crevice in the rocks amongst the brushwood.
Tom, Tab, and Mr. Wright, in the meantime, went over to the mainland
to pay a visit to Mr. Jardine. They found the sea rather rough in the
narrow crossing, and after a stiff clamber up the hillside arrived at
the house. Mr. Jardine was away, but his manager, Mr. Schramud, gave
them some interesting information about the pearl fishery, and spoke
of the trouble of establishing their station in old days. He took them
round the paddocks where the bullocks are kept, and then a little way
through the bush, where he showed them an encampment of aborigines
which was much better constructed than usual. The centre hut was
large, with nicely built walls and a substantial thatched roof of
coarse dry grass.
The hut was divided into two parts, one section containing two beds
slightly raised from the floor, and the other a few rough seats and a
table, upon which stood a broken lamp and a drum, apparently hollowed
out from a piece of wood. Mr. Schramud gave the drum to Tab, saying
that its peculiarity consisted in the fact that, though the natives
possessed no adzes or chisels, the wood was completely hollowed out,
and yet it must have been done with knives of the most inferior
description. He had often tried, unsuccessfully, to 'catch the natives
at work' as he expressed it, in order to watch their method of dealing
with such hard wood. On leaving the encampment the party returned to
the beach and came across in the cutter to the island, landing in the
nice little sheltered cove where the Doctor and I were established.
[Illustration: Drum from Murray Island]
Shortly afterwards the Doctor and Mr. Wright started across the hills
to meet the others, while Tom, Tab, and I returned, or rather tried to
get back, to the yacht in the gig and the cutter, but the tide had
fallen considerably, and the reef over which we had floated so gaily
on landing, was now showing all sorts of nasty little jagged heads and
rounded tops, both above and very near the surface of the water. It
was not without many bumps and jars, and a certain amount of risk of
finding ourselves firmly aground, that we fairly emerged into the open
sea; then a long pull, a strong pull, and a pull all together against
the swiftly running current brought us once more alongside the good
ship 'Sunbeam.'
The rest of the party had still greater difficulty in getting off, for
the tide was falling every minute, and the dinghy had to be sent off
to pick them up one by one and transfer them to the gig. They seemed
to have enjoyed their walk very much, and described the island as
being covered with scrub. They saw a few animals which, though wild
now, have evidently once been domesticated, and actually stumbled upon
a family of little pigs. They climbed over the hill at the back of the
landing-place and descended to the windward shore, where they found a
stretch of beautiful firm white sand, extending for some distance
along the coast, indented by many pretty little coves and bays, in
which however there was not much flotsam and jetsam to be collected.
Mr. Wright and the Doctor had also been to the windward beach, but by
a different route, which led them through a valley full of
extraordinary ant-hills. From their description this place must have
looked like a veritable city of tombs, something like the view of
Jerusalem from the Mount of Olives. I was sorry they had not taken a
camera with them, although we had already taken photographs of
isolated ant-hills. The Doctor saw another snake quite as large as the
first, but it also escaped before he could get within striking
distance of it. Perhaps it was just as well it did escape, as we heard
afterwards that they are venomous, in fact deadly. There is no cure
for their bite, and though they get out of your way if they can, when
once attacked, or if you chance to stand between them and their hole,
they fly at you most viciously, and their bite has generally fatal
results.
We had evening prayers on board at six, and after a quiet evening's
reading, went to bed rather early.
_Monday, August 22nd._--I sent ashore this morning, by the men who
went for the milk, a few books and Ambulance papers for Mr. Jardine,
in return for which he sent me several beautiful pearl-shells, some of
which had curious corals growing on them. Mr. Schramud paid us an
early visit. He was much interested in the Ambulance papers I had sent
him, and said he always had a good deal of amateur doctoring to do,
both for himself and others, when out in the bush. He gave me a vivid
description of how on one occasion his horse, usually a quiet animal,
first threw him against the trunk of a tree, breaking his leg in two
places, and then, instead of standing still for him to remount, bolted
off to the station, seven miles away. Mr. Schramud crawled to the
nearest tree, stripped some bark off with his knife, padded it as well
as he could with some portion of his garments, and with two straps
which he fortunately found in his pocket strapped his leg up, making
what he described as an excellent splint or cradle. He then proceeded
to drag himself on his hands and knees through the bush towards the
station, a terrible journey, for he had not a drop of water or food of
any kind with him. Some hours passed before the people at the station,
seeing his horse come home riderless and guessing an accident, set out
to trace the tracks of the horse through the bush by the light of a
lantern, and found him with much difficulty.
[Illustration: Hammer-headed Oyster]
We had great trouble in getting up our anchors this morning, for they
were fouled in every possible way, and it was nearly eleven before we
started and were fairly steaming through Albany Pass towards Cape
Yorke, on our way to the Thursday Island group. Cape Yorke has been
described as the seat of Government in these parts, but is a
melancholy looking place, and can never have been of any importance.
Tom did not quite like taking the inner and shorter channel to
Thursday Island, so we went to the north of Wednesday and Hammond
Islands, and arrived at the back of Goode Island, where there is a
signal-station and lighthouse, from which they signalled a kind
welcome and an offer of a pilot, which was declined with thanks. We
then rounded the island and proceeded to Normanby Sound close to
Friday Island, and, after a tremendous tussle with the tide, finally
reached Thursday Island and anchored in Normanby Sound just off Port
Kennedy, the name given to the capital of the island, after the late
Governor of Queensland.
Thursday Island is one of an extensive and intricate group. The chief
building material used in the settlement is corrugated iron,
embellished by verandahs supported on wooden posts and nattily
painted, making the little dwellings look both pretty and comfortable.
The Residency is a larger bungalow on the top of a little hill, and
half a dozen fairly good houses cluster round it. Then comes a row of
stores along the sea-face, and a few more houses stand at the back. A
soft sandy track runs in front of the stores, but there are no roads,
and consequently no vehicles, and no draught beasts. There is no
communication, except from the visits of occasional steamers, nor are
any provisions obtainable, except canned meat and fruits. The
vegetables are grown by the invaluable Chinese, on some of the islands
opposite. Even the water, of which the supply is scanty, is condensed.
The only servants available are people of colour. The ladies have to
do everything for themselves, and children of eleven and twelve years
are frequently trained by the force of circumstances to become as good
cooks and housemaids as many a well-paid servant at home. A gentleman
living here said to me the other day, 'How little do our sisters in
England know the way we live in some of the colonies! I am very glad
you have come out, Lady Brassey, for you will be able to describe, as
we cannot in letters, the really hard, rough life we lead here.' For
those who are well and strong, and can enjoy roughing it, constantly
knocking about in a small schooner from island to island, with often
nothing to eat except cocoa-nuts and yams, the life is not
intolerable; but for those who are delicate, and not able to bear
without suffering these conditions, it is indeed a very hard life. The
women who bravely face these hardships deserve all our admiration and
sympathy. In spite of the great difficulties, they manage to maintain
a high standard of education and refinement. Truly their lives read a
lesson to us all, and teach us how much there is to be thankful for,
and how little real cause we have to grumble at many things about
which we make a fuss.
[Illustration: Claremont Island Lightship]
Mr. Milman, the Resident, and Mr. Symes, the Commissioner of Customs,
called upon us soon after our arrival, and took the rest of the party
on shore to lawn-tennis, which must be a great resource here, for
there is no sport of any kind. Mr. Milman has made a good
tennis-court, and anybody who likes can play there every afternoon.
The society on Thursday Island consists of two resident ladies,
supplemented by occasional visitors, and six gentlemen. Besides this
handful of English, Mr. Hall lives on Prince of Wales' Island, and
Captain and Mrs. Stevens on Goode Island.
Mr. Milman was anxious to take us to Murray and Darnley Islands, in
his little steamer the 'Albatross,' but she is at present looking for
escaped convicts from New Caledonia, and it seems doubtful when she
will return. The story about these escaped convicts is rather
interesting. A boat's crew landed here the other day, with four men,
who stated they were shipwrecked mariners. They were all examined
separately, and told such inconsistent stories (even differing as to
whether their ship had one, two, or three masts), that suspicion was
aroused. Some were Italians, but one appeared to be a Frenchman,
though he pretended not to understand a word of the language. They are
undoubtedly escaped convicts from New Caledonia. Two own to having had
another man with them, and say that when they landed he disappeared.
The others will not acknowledge that the party was ever more than four
in number, but the blacks have since reported finding a body on the
beach twelve miles from where these men landed, near Somerset. There
are still five men wandering about, who were hospitably entertained
and furnished with food and clothes by Mr. Jardine, at Somerset,
before he knew who they were, and three others were compelled to go on
board the 'Claremont' lightship, through want of food, and were
promptly shipped off to gaol in Brisbane. The 'Albatross' was the
little steamer we saw lying alongside the lightship at Piper Island,
on the 19th inst. She was then on her way to search all the reefs and
islands for the five missing men. I hope it will not be long before
they are brought in, for, independent of any other crimes they have
committed, they must almost certainly have been guilty of a most
brutal murder, and have killed their own comrade. It is wonderful how
so many of these men escape. It is difficult to understand how they
can procure boats, provisions, and sufficient water for the voyage of
over 2,500 miles, that being about the distance from New Caledonia to
Rockhampton or Cooktown. The run between New Caledonia and Australia
is dead to leeward before the trade-winds.
[Illustration: The Last Mill in Australia]
[Illustration: Port Darwin]