Sail from Gage's Road.
Search for a bank.
Currents and soundings.
Houtman's Abrolhos.
Fruitless search for Ritchie's Reef.
Indications of a squall.
Deep sea soundings.
Atmospheric Temperature.
Fish.
A squall.
Anchor off the mouth of Roebuck Bay.
A heavy squall.
Driven from our anchorage.
Cape Villaret.
Anchor in Roebuck Bay.
Excursion on shore.
Visit from the Natives.
Mr. Bynoe's account of them.
A stranger among them.
Captain Grey's account of an almost white race in Australia.
Birds, Snakes, and Turtle.
Move the Ship.
Miago, and the Black Fellows.
The wicked men of the North.
Clouds of Magellan.
Face of the Country.
Natives.
Heat and Sickness.
Miago on shore.
Mr. Usborne wounded.
Failure in Roebuck Bay.
Native notions.
CURRENTS AND SOUNDINGS.
The solemnities of Christmas, and the festal celebration of the New Year,
beneath a cloudless sky, and with the thermometer at 90, concluded our
first visit to Swan River. We left our anchorage in Gage's Road on
Thursday, January 4th, devoting several hours to sounding between
Rottnest and the main. We bore away at 4 P.M. to search for a bank said
to exist about fifteen miles north from the middle of Rottnest Island,
having from twenty to twenty-two fathoms over it. Near the position
assigned we certainly shoaled our water from twenty-eight to twenty-four
fathoms, but no other indication of a bank was to be found.
Satisfied that we had now no further reason for delay, we kept away
North-West with a fresh southerly wind, and the glad omen of a brilliant
sunset.
January 5.
We were rather surprised to find by our observation at noon, no
indication of a northerly current, though yesterday when becalmed between
Rottnest and the main we were drifted to the northward at the rate of
nearly two knots per hour. We sounded regularly every four hours, but
found no bottom at 200 fathoms: the wind during the morning was light
from South-South-West but during the night we had it fresh from
South-East.
January 6.
We passed, at midnight, within 60 miles of the position assigned in the
chart to the low coral group known as Houtman's Abrolhos,* and again
sounded unsuccessfully with 200 fathoms.
(*Footnote. Subsequent observations placed these islands 30 miles more to
the eastward than the position there assigned them. Our track, therefore,
was really 90 miles from them.)
We continued steering a northerly course up to the 9th, keeping within
from 60 to 80 miles distance of the coast, and repeating our deep-sea
soundings every six hours without success.
INDICATIONS OF A SQUALL.
The wind during each day was moderate from the South-South-West and South
by West, freshening during the night from South, and South by East; a
heavy swell was its constant companion, and the barometer fell to 29.75.
On the morning of the 9th, being in the parallel of North-west Cape, our
course was altered to North-East by East; it blew hard during the night,
and we had a disagreeable sea; but, as usual, it moderated again towards
the morning.
We had shaped a course to make a reef in latitude 20 degrees 17 minutes,
and named after its discoverer, Lieutenant Ritchie, R.N.; but owing to
its being situated, as we afterwards found, half a degree to the eastward
of its assigned position in the charts, we did not see it.
At 4 A.M., and with 195 fathoms, we reached a bottom of sand, broken
shells, and coral, being then about 80 miles North-North-East from
Tremouille Island, the nearest land. Steering East by North 1/2 North for
31 miles, brought us to our noon position in latitude 19 degrees 20
minutes South, longitude 116 degrees 16 minutes East, and into a depth of
120 fathoms, with the same kind of bottoms. South-South-West, 17 miles
from our morning position, Captain King had 83 and 85 fathoms; from this
we may suppose the edge of the bank of soundings, extending off this part
of the coast, to be very steep. These soundings, together with those of
Captain King, as above, may give some idea of the nature and extent of
this bank, which seems to be a continuation of the flat extending
North-North-East 40 miles, connecting Barrow and Tremouille Islands with
the main: its outer edge being kept heaped up thus steeply by the
constant action of the current sweeping round the North-west Cape.
DEEP SEA SOUNDINGS.
We continued steering East and by North 1/2 North, and at sunset, 14
miles from our noon position, the water had deepened to 145 fathoms,
bottom a fine white sand and powdered shells. Before we were 50 miles
from our noon position, we could find no bottom with 200 fathoms.
January 12.
We made but slow progress during the night, and felt delay the more
tedious from the eager anxiety with which we desired sight of the land
where our duties were to begin in earnest. We were not successful with
our soundings till 6 P.M., when we had the same kind of bottom as before
described, with 117 fathoms: 15 miles East by North 1/2 North from our
noon position, which was 220 miles West by South from Roebuck Bay: 30
miles in the same direction from our noon position, we shoaled our water
to 85 fathoms, the ground retaining the same distinctive character. We
had the wind from South-West to South-East during the afternoon, but at 6
P.M. it chopped round to North-North-West, when, too, for the first time,
we perceived lightning to the South-East--Barometer 29.92; thermometer
85.
January 13.
The preceding indications of the coming squall, which had given us full
time for preparation, were realized about one o'clock this morning, when
it reached us, though only moderately, from South-East. It was preceded
by the rise and rapid advance of a black cloud in that quarter, just as
Captain King has described.
ATMOSPHERIC TEMPERATURE.
At noon we were in latitude 18 degrees 26 minutes South, longitude 119
degrees 18 minutes East, and in soundings of 75 fathoms, fine white sand,
broken shells, and fragments of dead coral. There was only a slight
variation in the atmospheric temperature of two degrees during the
twenty-four hours, the highest in the day being 85, and the lowest at
night 83. The water was very smooth, but as night approached it thundered
and lightened heavily and vividly, and most of us noticed and suffered
from a particularly oppressive and overpowering state of the atmosphere,
which the heat indicated by the thermometer was by no means sufficiently
intense to account for.
January 14.
During the last twenty-four hours we had made but 51 miles progress in
the direction of Roebuck Bay; our noon observations placed us in latitude
18 degrees 25 minutes South, longitude 120 degrees 13 minutes East, being
about 80 miles from the nearest land. We obtained soundings at 72
fathoms, yellow sand and broken shells. During the afternoon, it being
nearly a calm, we found ourselves surrounded by quantities of fish, about
the size of the mackerel, and apparently in pursuit of a number of small
and almost transparent members of the finny tribe, not larger than the
minnow.
We sounded at sunset, and found bottom at 52 fathoms, which shoaled by
half-past ten to 39. The circumstance, however, occasioned no surprise,
as we had run South-South-East 25 miles, in a direct line for that low
portion of the coast from which the flat we were running over extends.
The first part of the night we had the wind at North-North-East, the
breeze steady, and the water as smooth as glass; but as the watch wore
on, quick flashes of forked lightning, and the suspicious appearance of
gathering clouds in the South-East, gave warning of the unwelcome
approach of a heavy squall.
HEAVY SQUALL.
At eleven we lay becalmed for ten minutes between two contending winds;
that from the South, however, presently prevailed, and shifting to the
South-East, blew hard: meantime, a dark mass of clouds in the
East-South-East appeared suddenly to assume the form of a deep-caverned
archway, and moved rapidly towards us; in a few minutes, the ship was
heeling majestically to the passing gust, the lightning flashed vividly
and rapidly around us, alternately concealing and revealing the troubled
surface of the foam-covered sea, while the thunder rolled heavily over
our heads.
The squall was heavy while it lasted, commencing at East-South-East and
ending at East-North-East. It was accompanied by heavy rain. Towards the
end of the middle watch, the weather began to assume a more settled
appearance, and we had a moderate breeze from the north; but between five
and six o'clock A.M., it shifted suddenly by the West to
South-South-East, and became light. We sounded repeatedly during the
night in from 32 to 35 fathoms, the same kind of bottom as before; which
we found agree very well with those reported in the account of the French
expedition under Captain Baudin.
From the specimens of the squalls we experienced the last two nights, and
which appear to be pretty regular in their visitation, I am inclined to
believe they do not extend any considerable distance from the land. They
give the seaman ample warning of their approach; yet, since they always
come on in the night, when their violence cannot be properly estimated,
the ship's head should (if circumstances permit) be kept to the westward
(West-North-West) until the short-lived fury of the storm has exhausted
itself.
January 15.
We progressed with light and variable airs through the day, gradually
shoaling our water till nine P.M., when the anchor was dropped in 14
fathoms, having previously passed over a rocky ledge of apparently coral
formation, in 13 1/2 fathoms. The land over the south point of Roebuck
Bay bore East-South-East, about 17 miles distant; but we did not see it
till the following morning.
DRIVEN FROM THE ANCHORAGE.
The evening wore a threatening aspect, though not apparently so much to
be dreaded as that of yesterday; however, we were disagreeably out in our
anticipations, for about three o'clock A.M. (January 16) a heavy squall
burst on us, veering from East-South-East to East-North-East, broke our
best bower anchor, and drove us half a mile out to sea, when the
remaining fluke hooked a rock and brought us up. It rained and blew till
daylight, then we were again favoured with fine weather, and light
westerly winds. The land was now in sight, Cape Villaret being the most
northerly point, and bearing East-South-East some 16 or 17 miles. The
hillock upon this cape, and two other hummocks, lying to the southward,
formed the only prominent features of the low land in sight.
CAPE VILLARET.
At this anchorage the flood-tide set East and by North, from one to one
and a half knots per hour. Before weighing I procured a specimen of live
coral from the depth of 11 fathoms.
Light airs, and the aid of the flood-tide, carried us into the centre of
Roebuck Bay, where we came to an anchor in 7 fathoms, Cape Villaret
bearing South by West 1/2 West about 10 miles. The fall of the tide here
was no less than 18 feet.
As we closed with the land, I had a good opportunity of speculating upon
its appearance, and the probability of our investigation confirming or
contradicting the opinion entertained by Captains King and Dampier, that
a channel would be found to connect Roebuck Bay with an opening behind
Buccaneers Archipelago, thus making Dampier's Land an island. I confess,
my own impressions at first sight differed from that of those high
authorities, nor did a nearer examination shake my opinion. Cape
Villaret, a short ridge lying East and West, and about 150 feet high, was
still the most remarkable object; the sand on its side having a curious
red appearance. From the masthead the land was not visible to the
eastward for the space of one point of the compass; yet its level
character, and the shoalness of the water, led alike to the opinion that
no such communication as supposed would be found to exist.
January 17.
Collecting materials for the chart was the chief occupation of the day.
Mr. Usborne discovered a high-water inlet in the south shore of the bay,
five miles east of Cape Villaret, having a dry bank of sand before it at
low-water.
VISIT FROM THE NATIVES.
While the party were on shore, they were visited by six of the natives, a
larger race of men than those on the south coast, naked, with the
exception of a grass mat round the waist, and the hair straight and tied
up behind, seemingly ignorant of the use of the throwing stick, but
carrying spears ill-shapen and unbarbed. One of them had a kiley, or
boomerang, and each carried a rude hatchet of stone. None of them had
suffered the loss of the front tooth, which, with some tribes, is a
distinction of manhood. When asked by signs for fresh water, of which our
party saw no traces, they pointed to the South-East; a circumstance which
I record, as it may possibly be of some service to future explorers. As
the boat was leaving, one of them, supposing, I presume, that they were
out of our reach, and might therefore attack us with impunity, threw a
stone at the boat, which luckily did no harm, though hurled with great
dexterity and force. Upon this, a pistol was discharged over their heads,
when they retired with far greater rapidity than they had advanced.
AN ALMOST WHITE RACE.
Mr. Usborne mentions, in an account of this interview (published in the
Nautical Magazine for 1840, page 576) that one of the party differed in
several physical characteristics from the rest. After describing them in
general terms as being from five feet six, to five feet nine inches tall,
broad shoulders, long and slight legs, large heads, and overhanging
brows--he continues, "There was an exception in the youngest, who
appeared of an entirely different race: his skin was a copper colour,
while the others were black; his head was not so large, and more rounded;
the overhanging brow was lost; the shoulders more of a European turn; and
the body and legs much better proportioned; in fact, he might be
considered a well-made man, at our standard of figure." A similar
instance of meeting with one of a tribe, not apparently belonging to the
same subdivision of the human family as those by whom he was surrounded,
is recorded by Captain Grey, who speaks indeed of the existence of a
distinct race, totally different (i.e. from the other aborigines) and
almost white. I cannot say that I have myself encountered any of these
almost white men, whose existence, as a distinct race, Captain Grey
appears to have rather hastily admitted; such variation in form and
colour as Mr. Usborne alludes to, may, however, be accounted for by the
intercourse which the natives on the north coast hold from time to time
with the Malays.
Several very large black martins, with white or grey heads, were hovering
over the ship this morning; and many flights of small white tern, and a
bird, commonly called the razor-bill, passed and re-passed the ship every
morning and evening, flying from the bay to seaward, and returning at
sunset. Two water snakes were shot alongside the ship during the day; the
largest measured four feet, and was of a dirty yellow colour. A
good-sized fish was taken from the stomach of one of them. Their fangs
were particularly long, and very much flattened, having no cutting edge
whatever.
Some turtle also passed the ship to-day, and a day or two afterwards we
were fortunate enough to shoot one which weighed 160 pounds: he had ample
justice done to his merits. It was high-water at 1.50 P.M., and the
stream changed at the same time, a circumstance conclusively
demonstrating that we were not anchored in a strait.
January 18.
We got underweigh in the morning, but from the shallowness of the water
anchored within a mile east of our former position.
THE NATIVE MIAGO.
The native Miago, who had accompanied us from Swan River, was most
earnest in his inquiries about the savages, as soon as he understood that
some of them had been seen. He appeared delighted that these
blackfellows, as he calls them, have no throwing sticks; for though at
times exceedingly valiant in conversation, and very anxious to kill one
of the men, and carry off one of their gins, or wives--the great end,
aim, and ambition of all Australian force or policy--he yet evidently
holds these northmen in great dread. They are, according to his account,
"Bad men--eat men--Perth men tell me so: Perth men say, Miago, you go on
shore very little, plenty Quibra men* go, you go." These instructions
appear to have been very carefully pressed upon him by his associates,
and certainly they had succeeded in inspiring him with the utmost dread
of this division of his fellow countrymen, which all his boasting about
killing some of them and taking one of their women as proof of his
prowess, back to Perth, failed to concern.
(*Footnote. i.e. Men of the ship.)
CLOUDS OF MAGELLAN.
He gave me this evening a new reason to account for the appearance of the
two small clouds called after the celebrated Magellan, in the following
words: "You see," said he, pointing up to the sky, "little smoke." I
assented at once; for certainly the clouds have very much the appearance
of that to which he compared them: he then continued: "Perth man tell me,
long, long time back, he make fire, smoke go far away up, far away, stop
and never go away more." Miago evidently believed that his friend at
Perth had really lighted the fire, the smoke of which had thus gone up
"far away, far away," to "stop and never go away more." I can easily
enough comprehend why the assertion might be made, and possibly without
any intention to deceive upon the part of the asserter, who may first
have seen the clouds after watching the ascent of his own fire smoke
through the still air, in the same direction; but that it should be
implicitly believed, as it evidently was by Miago, upon the mere word of
his fellow countryman, did, I own, astonish me; and seems to indicate
that, in their social intercourse with each other, they may have more
regard for truth than I was at first inclined to give them credit for.
USELESS BAY.
Mr. Usborne was away to-day in one of the boats, seeking a berth for the
ship higher up the bay: upon his return he reported that he had been over
the banks before mentioned, upon which he found the water very shoal: the
face of the country he described as exceedingly low, with mud lumps not
unlike ant-hills,* scattered here and there over the face of it, and
several clusters of small trees. Natives also had been seen, though no
opportunity of approaching them had occurred, as the moment their
restless eyes, or quick ears, detected our approach, they most rapidly
retreated.
(*Footnote. Subsequent experience literally verified this opinion.)
HEAT AND SICKNESS.
January 19.
Two boats were despatched this morning, under Mr. Usborne's command, to
examine the eastern part of what I think may be named very properly
Useless Bay. This would have been my duty, had I not unfortunately been
taken ill in the evening of the preceding day: the symptoms were violent
headache, and a disordered state of the stomach, caused, the surgeon
says, by the oppressive and overpowering heat which we have experienced
for the last few days, and the general effects of which seem more
distressing to the ship's company than is often experienced under a
higher range of the thermometer; the deprivation of all power, or energy,
is one of its most unpleasant consequences. I am inclined to think that
one reason for its great and wearying effect upon most of us--indeed,
more or less, all are suffering from it--is that there is hardly any
variation in temperature during the whole twenty-four hours: it sometimes
does not amount to more than two or three degrees. Captain Wickham and
the surgeon visited an inlet near the ship to-day, which had indeed been
looked into, but not explored before. They proceeded to the south-west
for about three miles, through a very tortuous channel, dry in many parts
at low-water, thickly studded with mangrove bushes, over and through
which the tide made its way at high-water, giving to that part of the
country the appearance of an extensive morass. A slightly elevated
table-topped range of land was seen from time to time, some eight or nine
miles to the south-east, but in its highest elevation did not reach 200
feet. The apparent width of the inlet in no way diminished so far as the
exploring party examined it; and this fact, coupled with the general
character of the country hereabouts, induces me to suppose that the
periodical return of the spring tide, floods the greater part of the
coast between the sea shore and the base of the range I have alluded to.
Vampires of a very large kind were here met with, the furthest south we
had seen them.
MIAGO ON SHORE.
Miago had accompanied this party on shore, though he evidently showed no
great devotion to the deed. They said he watched everything, aye, every
bush, with the most scrutinizing gaze: his head appeared to turn upon a
pivot, so constantly was it in motion, with all that restless
watchfulness for which the savage is ever remarkable. The heat to-day
either exceeded an average, or else perhaps, as an invalid, I noticed it
more closely:
On shore, it was 98 degrees in the shade.
On board, it was 90 degrees in the shade.
Pulling off in the boats 118.
During the day, it fluctuated, between 88 and 94.
A breeze from seaward blew the greater part of each night from
West-South-West, hauling round to south in the morning.
January 20.
Our noon observation to-day enabled us to fix the latitude of Cape
Villaret 18 degrees 18 minutes 50 seconds, which precisely agrees with
that assigned to it by Captain King.
MR. USBORNE WOUNDED.
In the afternoon the boats returned with Mr. Usborne, who had been
unfortunately very severely wounded by the accidental discharge of a
musket. It appeared that after a careful examination of the bay, which
ended as I had anticipated, in proving that no opening to the interior
would be found in it, the party were returning to the boats, when, from
the accidental explosion of a musket in the hand of one of the party, a
ball entered Mr. Usborne's right side, near the spine, between the lower
rib and hip bone, making an exit in a line with the navel. This truly
unfortunate circumstance--which for some weeks deprived the expedition of
the services of a most valuable officer--occurred about 10 o'clock A.M.,
but the time and trouble of carrying the sufferer through the mud to the
boats, and then pulling some 15 miles, made it near 6 o'clock before he
was on board and under the charge of Mr. Bynoe: we were all shocked to
see our companion lifted apparently lifeless into the vessel he had so
recently quitted full of health, and animated by an anxious desire to do
all in his power to conduce to the general success; but were ere long
assured by Mr. Bynoe, whose personal or professional merits need no
eulogium from me--and who immediately and most carefully attended our
wounded messmate--that the best results might be reasonably hoped for: a
prediction shortly afterwards happily verified. At the time this unlucky
accident occurred, some twenty natives rushed from the concealment whence
they had been doubtless watching all the proceedings of the party, as
though they designed to bear a part in what probably seemed to them, as
poor Usborne went down, an approaching fray: however, the sight of the
two boats in the distance, which upon deploying they had full in view,
deterred them from acting upon any hostile intentions, supposing such to
have existed in their minds.
LOADED PISTOLS LEFT BEHIND.
The accident, however, and their sudden appearance, could only serve
additionally to flurry the little party who had to convey their disabled
officer to a place of safety, and Mr. Helpman, who may well be pardoned
the want of his usual self-possession at such a moment, left behind a
pair of loaded pistols. They would puzzle the savages greatly of course,
but I hope no ill consequences ensued: if they began pulling them about,
or put them in the fire, the better to separate the wood and iron, two or
three poor wretches might be killed or maimed for life, and their first
recollections of the Quibra men, as Miago calls us, would naturally be
anything but favourable.
Thus disastrously terminated our examination of Roebuck Bay, in which the
cheering reports of former navigators, no less than the tenor of our
hydrographical instructions had induced us to anticipate the discovery of
some great water-communication with the interior of this vast Continent.
A most thorough and careful search--in which everyone seemed animated by
one common and universal sentiment, prompting all to a zealous discharge
of duty--had clearly demonstrated that the hoped-for river must be sought
elsewhere: and that very fact which at first seemed to lessen the
probabilities of ultimate success, served rather to inspire than to
daunt; since while it could not shake our reliance upon the opinions of
those best qualified to decide, that such a river must ultimately be
discovered, it only narrowed the ground upon which energy, knowledge, and
perseverance had yet to undergo their probation, ere they enjoyed their
reward!
THE BOYL-YAS.
Our intercourse with the natives had been necessarily of the most limited
character, hardly amounting to anything beyond indulging them with the
sight of a new people, whose very existence, notwithstanding the
apathetic indifference with which they regarded us, must have appeared a
prodigy. What tradition may serve to hand down the memory of our visit to
the third generation, should no newer arrival correct its gathering
errors, and again restore some vestige of the truth, it is hardly
possible to imagine; but should any misfortune follow their possession of
Mr. Helpman's pistols, that in particular will be narrated as the motive
for the visit of those white men who came flying upon the water, and left
some of the secret fire upon the peaceful coast: and when again the white
sails of the explorer glisten in the distant horizon, all the imaginary
terrors of the Boyl-yas,* will be invoked to avert the coming of those
who bring with them the unspeakable blessings of Christian civilization.
(*Footnote. The natives in the neighbourhood of Swan River give this name
to their Sorcerers.)