Produced by Nick Wall, Anne Storer, and the Online
Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This
file was produced from images generously made available
by The Internet Archive/American Libraries.)
Transcriber's Notes:
1) Morrumbidgee/Murrumbidgee each used on several occasions
and left as in the original. 'Morrumbidgee' is the aboriginal
name for the Murrumbidgee.
2) Used on numerous occasions, civilisation/civilization;
civilised/civilized; civilising/civilizing; uncivilised/uncivilized:
left as in the original.
3) Same with variations of colonisation/colonization, and a few other
"z" words that should be "s" words in their English form.
* * * * *
The
Englishman's Library.
XXVI.
AUSTRALIA,
ITS HISTORY AND PRESENT CONDITION;
CONTAINING
AN ACCOUNT BOTH OF THE BUSH AND OF THE COLONIES,
WITH THEIR RESPECTIVE INHABITANTS.
BY THE
REV. W. PRIDDEN, M.A.
VICAR OF BROXTED, ESSEX.
"_Truth_, in her native calmness and becoming moderation, shall
be the object of our homage and pursuit; and we will aim at the
attainment of knowledge for the improvement of our reason, and not
for the gratification of a passion for disputing."--_Address of
the Bp of Australia in 1841 to the Church of England Book Society._
LONDON:
JAMES BURNS, 17, PORTMAN STREET,
PORTMAN SQUARE.
1843.
LONDON:
PRINTED BY R. CLAY, BREAD STREET HILL.
* * * * *
[Illustration: Map of Australia]
PREFACE.
A few words by way of Preface are requisite, in order that the objects
of the present Work may be stated to the reader, and that he may also
be made acquainted with the sources whence the information here
communicated is derived, and from consulting which he may still
further inform himself concerning Australia. The aim of the writer of
the following pages has been,--while furnishing a description of some
of the most flourishing and interesting settlements belonging to the
British Crown, which, at the same time, exhibit in contrast to each
other the two extremes of savage and civilised life;--to call the
attention of his countrymen, both at home and in the colonies, to
the evils which have arisen from the absence of moral restraint and
religious instruction in colonies of civilised and (nominally)
christian men. And although it must in many ways be a disadvantage
that the person professing to describe a particular country should
have gained all his knowledge of it from the report of others, without
ever having himself set foot upon its shores; yet, in one respect at
least, this may operate advantageously. He is less likely to have
party prejudices or private interests to serve in his account of the
land to which he is a total stranger. In consequence, probably, of his
being an indifferent and impartial observer, not one of our Australian
colonies wears in his eye the appearance of a perfect paradise; but
then, on the other hand, there is not one of those fine settlements
which prejudice urges him to condemn, as though it were barren and
dreary as the Great Sahara itself. And the same circumstance--his
never having breathed the close unwholesome air of colonial
party-politics--will render it less likely that his judgment
respecting persons and disputed opinions should be unduly biassed.
There will be more probability of his judging upon right _principles_,
and although his facts may (in some instances, unavoidably) be less
minutely accurate than an inhabitant of the country would have given,
yet they may be less coloured and less partially stated. Instead of
giving his own observations as an eye-witness, fraught with his own
particular views, he can calmly weigh the opposite statements of men
of different opinions, and between the two he is more likely to arrive
at the truth. With regard to the present Work, however impartial the
author has endeavoured to be, however free he may be from colonial
passions and interests, he does not wish to deceive the reader by
professing a total freedom from all prejudice. If this were desirable,
it is impossible; it is a qualification which no writer, or reader
either, possesses. But thus much may be stated, that all his
prejudices are in favour of those institutions with which it has
pleased God to bless his native land. In a volume that is intended to
form part of a series called "The Englishman's Library," it may be
permitted, surely, to acknowledge a strong and influencing attachment
to the Sovereign, the Church, and the Constitution of England.
The object and principles of the present volume being thus plainly
set forth, it remains only to mention some of the sources whence the
information contained in it is derived. To the Travels of Captain Grey
on the western coast of New Holland, and to those of Major Mitchell in
the interior, the first portion of this Work is deeply indebted, and
every person interested in the state of the natives, or fond of
perusing travels in a wild and unknown region, may be referred to
these four volumes,[1] where they will find that the extracts here
given are but a specimen of the stores of amusement and information
which they contain. Captain Sturt's "Expeditions" and Mr. Oxley's
"Journal" are both interesting works, but they point rather to the
progress of discovery in New Holland than to the actual state of our
local knowledge of it. Dr. Lang's two volumes upon New South Wales are
full of information from one who has lived there many years, and his
faults are sufficiently obvious for any intelligent reader to guard
against. Mr. Montgomery Martin's little book is a very useful
compendium, and those that desire to know more particulars concerning
the origin of the first English colony in New Holland may be referred
to Collins's account of it. Various interesting particulars respecting
the religious state of the colonies in Australia have been derived
from the correspondence in the possession of the Society for the
Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts, free access to which was
allowed through the kind introduction of the Rev. C. B. Dalton. Many
other sources of information have been consulted, among which the
Reports of the Parliamentary Committee upon Transportation, in 1837
and 1838; and that of the Committee upon South Australia, in 1841,
must not be left unnoticed. Neither may the work of Judge Burton upon
Religion and Education in New South Wales be passed over in silence;
for, whatever imperfections may be found in his book,[2] the
facts there set forth are valuable, and, for the most part,
incontrovertible, and the principles it exhibits are excellent. From
the works just mentioned the reader may, should he feel inclined,
verify for himself the facts stated in the ensuing pages, or pursue
his inquiries further. In the meantime, he cannot do better than join
the author of the little book which he holds in his hand, in an humble
and earnest prayer to Almighty God, that, in this and in every other
instance, whatever may be the feebleness and imperfection of human
efforts, all things may be made to work together for good towards
promoting the glory of God, the extension of Christ's kingdom, and the
salvation of mankind.
[1] Published, all of them, by T. and W. Boone, London, to whom it is
only just to acknowledge their kindness in permitting the use that has
been made of these two publications in the first portion of the present
Work.
[2] See Dr. Ullathorne's Reply to Burton, especially at p. 5, where it
appears that the judge was not quite impartial in one of his statements.
Dr. Ullathorne himself has, in his 98 pages, contrived to crowd in at
least twice as many misrepresentations as Burton's 321 pages contain.
But that is no excuse. The Romish Church may need, or seem to need,
such support. The cause defended by Judge Burton needs it not.
#Contents.#
INTRODUCTION.
[Page 1.]
Subject of the Work--Discovery and Situation of New Holland--Its
Interior little known--Blue Mountains--Conjectures respecting the
Interior--Van Diemen's Land, or Tasmania.
CHAPTER I.
[Page 8.]
The Bush described--Remains of it near Sydney--North-western Coast
of New Holland--Sandy Columns and Fragments--Recollections of
Home--Gouty Stem Tree--Green Ants--Fine Volcanic District--Cure
for Cold--Travelling in the Rainy Season--Rich sequestered Valleys--
Plains near the Lachlan--Falls of the Apsley--Beauties of Nature
enjoyed by Explorers--Aid afforded by Religion--Trials of Travellers
in the Bush--Thirst--A Christian's Consolations--Plains of Kolaina,
or Deceit--Bernier Island--Frederic Smith--A Commander's Cares--Dried
Streams--Return from a Journey in the Bush--Outsettlers--Islands on
the Australian Coast--Kangaroo Island--Coral Reefs and Islets.
CHAPTER II.
[Page 42.]
Forbidding aspect of coast no argument against inland beauty and
fertility--River Darling--The Murray--Other Rivers of New Holland--
Contrasts in Australia--The Lachlan, Regent's Lake, &c.--Sturt's
Descent down the Murray--His Return--Woods--Difficulties and Dangers
of Bush travelling--Wellington Valley--Australia Felix--Conclusion.
CHAPTER III.
[Page 72.]
Comparative advantages of Europeans over Savages--Degraded condition
of Natives of New Holland--Total absence of Clothing--Love of
Ornaments--Peculiar Rites--Ceremony of knocking out a Tooth--Hardships
of Savage Life--Revengeful Spirit--Effect of Native Songs in exciting
Anger--Cruelty--Courage--Indifference to accounts of Civilized Life--
Contempt of its ways--Treatment of Women--Family Names, and Crests--
Language--Music.
CHAPTER IV.
[Page 97.]
Means of Subsistence--A Whale Feast--Hunting the Kangaroo--Australian
Cookery--Fish--Seal Catching--Turtles--Finding Opossums--Birds--
Pursuit of the Emu or Cassowary--Disgusting Food of the Natives--
Vegetables--_By-yu_ Nuts--Evils of European Settlements in cutting
off the native supply of Food--Native Property in Land--Inhabitants
of Van Diemen's Land--A word of Advice to Christian Colonists.
CHAPTER V.
[Page 120.]
First Shyness of Natives natural--Their perplexity between European
Customs and their own--Health and Longevity--Old Age--Funereal
Rites--Belief in Sorcery--The _Boyl-yas_--Various modes of
Interment--Tombs--Riches of a Native--Bodily Excellences--Secrecy--
Quickness of Sight, &c.--Kaiber and the Watch--The _Warran_ Ground--
Various Superstitions--Mischief of bad Example, for which the British
nation is responsible--The Church, the right Instrument, and the only
one that will be found successful, for civilising the Australian
Tribes, if they are ever to be civilised.
CHAPTER VI.
[Page 149.]
Bennillong--Barangaroo's Funeral--The Spitting Tribe--Mulligo's Death--
The Corrobory--Peerat and his Wives--Woga's Captivity--Ballooderry
and the Convicts--Native Hospitality and Philosophy--The Widow and
her Child--Miago.
CHAPTER VII.
[Page 186.]
Infancy of New South Wales an interesting subject to Englishmen--Arrival,
in 1788, of the Sirius, and the Supply at Botany Bay--Settlement
commenced in the Harbour of Port Jackson--Character of the
Convicts--Influence of Religion--Particulars respecting the Chaplain--
His peculiar situation and efforts--A Gold Mine pretended to be found--
Supply of Food precarious--Farming--Failure of Provisions--Erection
of a Flag-staff at the entrance of Port Jackson--Activity of
Governor Phillip--Emigration to Norfolk Island--Loss of the Sirius--
Departure of the Supply for Batavia--Arrivals from England--Cruel
treatment of Convicts on board--Paramatta founded--Arrival of the
Second Fleet--State of Agriculture--The Chaplain's bounty abused--
Attendance at Divine Service--A Church built--Its subsequent fate--
Scarcity of Provisions, and great Mortality--Profligacy of Convicts--
Harvest of 1792--Departure of Governor Phillip--Major Grose's
government--Captain Paterson's--Various occurrences--Drunkenness--Love
of Money--Spirit of Gambling.
CHAPTER VIII.
[Page 216.]
Arrival of Governor Hunter--His efforts for reformation--Advancement
of the Colony towards supplying its own wants--Wild Cattle found--Coal
discovered--Governor's regulations--Incendiarism--Natives
troublesome--Difficulties in governing New South Wales--Crimes
common--Laxity of public opinion--The gaols at Sydney and Paramatta
purposely set on fire--Departure of Governor Hunter--Captain
King succeeds him--Norfolk Island abandoned--Sketch of Norfolk
Island--Settlement of Van Diemen's Land--Free Settlers--Philip
Schoeffer--The Presbyterian Settlers at Portland Head--Resignation
of Governor King--Captain Bligh his successor--Great Flood of
the Hawkesbury--Unpopularity of the Governor--Seizure of his
person--Rebellion--Usurpation--Arrival of a new Governor, Colonel
Macquarie--Improvements in his time--Road-making--Passage across the
Blue Mountains--Public Buildings--Patronage of Emancipists--Discoveries
in the Interior, and Extension of the Colony--Continued neglect of the
spiritual need of the Colonists--Governor Macquarie's Departure--His
own statement of the progress of the Settlement under his
administration.
CHAPTER IX.
[Page 243.]
Subject stated--Day-dreams of Colonization--Local divisions of New
South Wales--Its Counties--Cumberland--Camden--Illawarra and the
Cow Pastures--Argyle--Bathurst--Northumberland--Coal Pits--Hunter's
River--Remaining Counties--Sydney--Port Jackson--Buildings,
&c. of Sydney--Commerce--Public Press--Paramatta--Windsor--Liverpool--
Conclusion.
CHAPTER X.
[Page 266.]
Description of Van Diemen's Land--Its local Divisions--Its general
Character and Aspect--Hobart Town--Launceston--Other Australian
Colonies--Port Phillip--South Australia--Adelaide--Western Australia--
Its Towns--North Australia.
CHAPTER XI.
[Page 286.]
Climate of Australia--Drought--Agriculture--Flocks and Herds--Government
of the Colonies--Discontent--Means of National Improvement--Bishopric
of Australia--Tribute of Thanks justly due to the Whig Government--
Effects of a Bishop being resident in New South Wales--Educational
provision made by George the Fourth--Dr. Lang's Account of it--Judge
Burton's--Church and School Corporation, established in 1826; suspended
in 1829; dissolved in 1833--Causes of this change of Policy--
Conclusion.
CHAPTER XII.
[Page 307.]
Inhabitants of Australian Colonies--What seed has been there sown--
Elements of Society in the Penal Colonies--Convicts--System of
Assignment--Public Gangs--Mr. Potter Macqueen's Establishment--Norfolk
Island and its horrors--These have been mitigated of late years--Means
of reforming Convicts--Prevalence of Vice among them--The class of
Convicts called _specials_ described.
CHAPTER XIII.
[Page 325.]
Emancipists--Their general Character--Their conduct in the Jurors' Box
no argument in favour of bestowing upon them a Representative
Government--Free Population--Ancient Nobility of Botany Bay--Prevailing
taste in New South Wales and Van Diemen's Land--Love of Gain--Land
Sharks--Squatters--Overlanders.
CHAPTER XIV.
[Page 338.]
Importance of Religion--The Lord's Day--Habits of duly observing it
nearly lost among many of the inhabitants of our Australian
Colonies--Opposition to Improvement--Religious strife prevails where
religious union is needed--Sir R. Bourke's novel system of religious
Establishments--Its practical working--Efforts of the Church coldly
seconded or else opposed, by Government--Petty Persecutions--Similar
opposition to National Religious Education as to National Church--
Blunders respecting the Irish System of Education in 1836--Attempt
in 1840 to banish the Creed and Catechism from Protestant Schools
having Government support--Schools of a higher rank in New South
Wales--King's School, Paramatta--Sydney College--The Australian
College--The Normal Institution--Proposed College at Liverpool--Other
Schools--Population of New South Wales in 1841--Emigration--Conclusion.
#Illustrations.#
PAGE
Map of Australia _Frontispiece_
Reduced Map of Van Diemen's Land 1
Travellers in the Bush 8
Explorers finding the Bed of a dried-up River 42
Opossum Hunting 97
Natives of the Murray Islands in Boats 120
Sydney in its Infancy--View from the South 186
North View of Sydney 243
Hobart Town 266
Cape Pillar, near the Entrance of the Derwent, Van Diemen's Land 286
Conveying Cattle over the Murray, near Lake Alexandria 325
* * * * *
[Illustration: VAN DIEMEN'S LAND.]
INTRODUCTION.
The vast tract of country which it is the object of the present volume
to describe in its leading features, both moral and natural, may be said
to consist of two islands, besides many small islets and coral reefs,
which lie scattered around the coasts of these principal divisions. The
larger island of the two, which from its size may well deserve the
appellation of a continent, is called New Holland, or Australia; and is
supposed to be not less than three-fourths of the extent of the whole of
Europe. The smaller island, so well known by the names of Van Diemen's
Land, or Tasmania, (from those of the discoverer, Tasman, and the Dutch
governor of Batavia, Van Diemen) is not to be compared in size to the
other, being about equal in magnitude to Ireland, and, like that island,
abounding in fine and excellent harbours. Although, strictly speaking,
the name of Australia is confined to the former of these two islands,
yet it may be understood to include the smaller island also; and under
this name it is proposed to make the reader familiar with the chief
objects of curiosity in the natural world, and likewise with the state
of human society, whether savage or civilised, in the two islands of New
Holland and Van Diemen's Land, so far as both of these have been
hitherto known and explored.
It is by no means certain what nation may justly lay claim to the honour
of the discovery of New Holland, the coasts of which were probably seen
by the Spaniards, Quiros or Torres, in 1606, and are by some supposed to
have been known to the Spanish and Portuguese yet earlier than this
date, but were not regularly discovered until the Dutch, between the
years 1616 and 1627, explored a considerable portion of the northern and
western shores of that vast island, to which they gave the name of their
own country, Holland. To the Spaniards this land was known by the names
of Terra Australis Incognita, (The Unknown Southern Land,) or Australia
del Espiritu Santo, (The Southern Land of the Holy Spirit,) the meaning
of which last name does not exactly appear, unless it arose from the
discovery of Quiros having been made a little before Whitsuntide. Since
that time the coasts of this immense island, extending, it is said, to
no less than 8000 miles, have been gradually explored, although they
still remain in some parts very imperfectly known. Indeed, it was only
in the year 1798 that Van Diemen's Land was discovered to be an island
separated from New Holland, of which before that time it had been
thought to form a large projection or promontory.
New Holland is situated in the vast ocean extending to the south and
east of the Spice Islands, and it lies about even with the lower part of
the continent of Africa, only at an immense distance due east of it. Its
extreme points of latitude are 39 degrees and 10 1/2 degrees S., and of
longitude 112 degrees and 153 degrees 40 minutes E. from Greenwich,
so that it includes in its huge extent climates both tropical and
temperate, but none that are decidedly cold. It must be remembered,
indeed, that the countries south of the equator become colder at
the same latitude than those that extend towards the north; but,
nevertheless, the nearest point towards the South Pole, 39 degrees,
nearly answering to the situation of Naples in the northern hemisphere,
cannot be otherwise than a mild and warm climate. The shape of New
Holland is very irregular, its coast being much broken and indented by
various great bays and smaller inlets; but it has been estimated to have
a _width_ from E. to W. of 3000 miles, and a breadth from N. to S. of
2000, containing altogether not less than three millions of square
miles. Of course, it is impossible, in so large an extent of country,
that the interior parts of it should have been explored during the few
years in which any portion of it has been occupied by Europeans.
Accordingly, almost all the inland tracts are still a vast blank,
respecting which very little is known, and that little is far from
inviting. Indeed many hindrances oppose themselves to the perfect
discovery of these inland regions, besides those common obstacles, to
encounter and overcome which every traveller who desires to explore
new, wild, and savage countries, must have fully made up his mind.
First among the peculiar difficulties which have opposed the Australian
explorer is the height and ruggedness of that chain of mountains,
called, in the colony of New South Wales, the Blue Mountains, which form
a mighty barrier of more or less elevation along most parts of the
eastern coast of New Holland, sometimes approaching as nearly as 30
miles to the sea, and at other places falling back to a distance of 60
or nearly 100 miles. These mountains are not so very high, the loftiest
points appearing to exceed but little the height of Snowdon in Wales, or
Ben Nevis in Scotland; but their rugged and barren nature, and the great
width to which they frequently extend, render it no very easy matter to
cross them at all. Indeed, although the settlement of New South Wales
was founded in 1788, it was not before 1813 that a route was discovered
across those vast ranges which shut in the colony to the west.
Frequently had the passage over the Blue Mountains been attempted
before, but never with any success; and the farthest point which had
been reached, called Caley's Repulse, was a spot that almost seemed
to forbid man's footsteps to advance beyond it. Nothing was to be
seen there in every direction but immense masses of weather-beaten
sandstone-rock, towering over each other in all the sublimity of
desolation; while a deep chasm, intersecting a lofty ridge covered with
blasted trees, seemed to cut off every hope of farther progress. But all
these difficulties have now long since been got over, and stage-coaches
are able to run across what were a few years ago deemed impassable
hills. Yet, when this dreary barrier of barren mountains has been
crossed, another peculiar hindrance presents itself to the exploring
traveller. In many parts of the interior of New Holland, which have
been visited, the scarcity of water is such that the most distressing
privations have been endured, and the most disagreeable substitutes
employed. And yet, strange to say, the very same country, which
sometimes affords so few springs, and of which the streams become dried
up into chains of dirty pools, and at last into dry ravines and valleys,
is, occasionally, subject to extreme floods from the overflowing of its
rivers, and then offers a new obstacle to the traveller's progress in
the shape of extensive and impassable marshes! To these difficulties
must be added the usual trials of adventurous explorers, the dangers and
perplexities of a journey through pathless forests, the want of game
of any kind in the barren sandstone districts, the perils sometimes
threatened by a visit from the native inhabitants, and, altogether, we
shall have reason rather to feel surprise at what has been done in the
way of inland discovery in New Holland, than to wonder that so much
remains yet undone.
In consequence of the interior portions of the country remaining still
unknown, fancy has been busy in forming notions respecting them, and
one favourite supposition has been that there exists somewhere in the
central part of New Holland an immense lake or inland sea; but of this
no proof whatever can be produced, so that it can only be said that _it
may be so_. Certainly, unless some such means of communication by water,
or some very large navigable river, should exist, it is hardly possible
to imagine how the extensive tracts of inland country can ever become
civilized or inhabited by Europeans. And of that portion which has been
visited a considerable extent of country appears to be shut out by the
natural barrenness of its soil and sandstone-rocks from any prospect of
ever supplying food to the colonies of civilized man. So that, while
the whole of New Holland is an interesting country from its natural
peculiarities, and even the desolate portion of it adds, by its very
desolation, a deep interest to the adventures of those persons who have
had the courage to attempt to explore it; yet the chief prospects of
Australia's future importance seem to be confined to its line of
coast,--no narrow limits in an island so extensive. Hence the colonies
now flourishing on the eastern, southern, and western shores of New
Holland, especially on the first, will form a chief object of attention
in the present work; although, as will be seen by its contents, the
"bush," or wild country, and its savage inhabitants, will be by no
means overlooked.
Respecting Van Diemen's Land much need not be here said, although,
however small in comparative extent, its population was in 1836 above
half of that of the whole colony of New South Wales. It is, therefore,
and always will be, an important island, though, from its mountainous
character and confined limits, it cannot, of course, be expected to keep
pace with the increasing population of the sister colony. Van Diemen's
Land was discovered in 1642, by the Dutchman, Tasman, who first sailed
round its southern point, and ascertained that the great Southern Land,
or Australia, did not extend, as it had been supposed, to the South
Pole. The island was apparently overlooked, until, in 1804, a colony
was founded there by the English, and it was taken possession of in the
name of his Britannic majesty. Since that time, with the exception of
those early hardships to which all colonies seem liable, it has been
flourishing and increasing. To many Englishmen its colder climate,
(which is yet sufficiently mild,) and its supposed resemblance in
appearance and productions to their native land, have appeared
preferable to all the advantages which the larger island possesses.
Van Diemen's Land is divided from New Holland on the north by Bass's
Straits, its extreme points of latitude are 41 deg. 20', and 43 deg.
40' S., and of longitude 144 deg. 40', and 148 deg. 20' E. Its shape is
irregular, being much broken by various inlets, but its greatest extent
from N. to S. is reckoned to be about 210 miles, and from E. to W. 150
miles, containing a surface of about 24,000 square miles. The native
inhabitants of this smaller island have entirely disappeared before the
superior weapons and powers of _civilised_ man.
[Illustration: TRAVELLERS IN THE BUSH.]
CHAPTER I.
THE BUSH, ON OR NEAR THE COAST.
All that country, which remains in a state of nature uncultivated and
uninclosed, is known among the inhabitants of the Australian colonies
by the expressive name of _the Bush_.[3] It includes land and scenery
of every description, and, likewise, no small variety of climate, as
may be supposed from the great extent of the island of New Holland.
Accordingly, without indulging in surmises concerning the yet unknown
parts, it may be safely said, respecting those which have been more or
less frequently visited and accurately explored, that the extremes of
rural beauty and savage wildness of scenery,--smiling plains and barren
deserts, snowy mountains and marshy fens, crowded forests and bare
rocks, green pastures and sandy flats,--every possible variety, in
short, of country and of aspect may be found in that boundless region
which is all included under the general appellation of _the Bush_. To
enter into a particular or regular description of this is clearly no
less impossible than it would be tedious and unprofitable. And yet
there are many descriptions of different portions of it given by
eye-witnesses, many circumstances and natural curiosities belonging to
it, and related to us upon the best authority, which are likely to
please and interest the reader, who can see and adore God everywhere,
and is capable of taking delight in tracing out and following the
footsteps of Almighty Wisdom and Power, even in the wilderness and among
the mountain-tops. It is proposed, therefore, to select a few of the
pictures which have been drawn by the bold explorers of the Bush, so as
to give a general idea of the character, the scenery, the dangers, and
the privations of that portion of the Australian islands. And, having
first become familiar and acquainted with these, we shall be better able
to set a just value, when we turn to the state of the colonies and their
inhabitants, upon that moral courage, that British perseverance and
daring, which have, within the memory of man, changed so many square
miles of bush into fertile and enclosed farms; which have raised a
regular supply of food for many thousands of human beings out of what,
sixty years ago, was, comparatively speaking, a silent and uninhabited
waste. When the troops and convicts, who formed the first colony in New
South Wales, landed at Port Jackson, the inlet on which the town of
Sydney is now situated, "Every man stepped from the boat literally into
a wood. Parties of people were everywhere heard and seen variously
employed; some in clearing ground for the different encampments; others
in pitching tents, or bringing up such stores as were more immediately
wanted; and the spot, which had so lately been the abode of silence and
tranquillity, was now changed to that of noise, clamour, and
confusion."[4]
[3] It is supposed that the word "Sin," applied to the wilderness
mentioned in Exodus xvi. 1, and also to the mountain of "Sinai," has
the same meaning, so that the appellation of "Bush" is no new term.
[4] Collins' "Account of the Colony of New South Wales," p. 11.
And still, even near to the capital town of the colony, there are
portions of wild country left pretty much in their natural and original
state. Of one of these spots, in the direction of Petersham, the
following lively description from the pen of a gentleman only recently
arrived in the colony, may be acceptable. "To the right lies a large and
open glen, covered with cattle and enclosed with _bush_, (so we call the
forest,) consisting of brushwood and gigantic trees; and, above the
trees, the broad sea of Botany Bay, and the two headlands, Solander and
Banks, with a white stone church and steeple, St. Peter's New Town,
conveying an assurance that there are Englishmen of the right sort not
far from us. And now we plunge into the thicket, with scarcely a track
to guide our steps. I have by this time made acquaintance with the
principal giants of the grove. Some are standing, some are felled; the
unmolested monarchs stand full 200 feet high, and heave their white and
spectral limbs in all directions; the fallen monsters, crushed with
their overthrow, startle you with their strange appearances; whilst
underfoot a wild variety of new plants arrest your attention. The
bush-shrubs are exquisitely beautiful. Anon a charred and blackened
trunk stops your path: if you are in spirits, you jump over all; if you
are coming home serious, weary, and warm, you plod your way round.
Well,--in twenty minutes' time you reach a solitary hut,--the first
stage of the walk: you pass the fence, the path becomes narrow,--the
bush thickens round you,--it winds, it rises, it descends: all on a
sudden it opens with a bit of cleared ground full twenty yards in
extent, and a felled tree in the midst. Here let us pause, and,
kneeling on the turf, uncovered, pour forth the voice of health, of
cheerfulness, and gratitude to Him who guides and guards us on our way.
And now, onward again. The land falls suddenly, and we cross a brook,
which a child may stride, but whose waters are a blessing both to man
and beast. And now we rise again; the country is cleared; there is a
flock of sheep, and a man looking after them; to the left, a farmhouse,
offices, &c.; before us the spire of St. James's, Sydney, perhaps three
miles distant, the metropolitan church of the new empire, and, a little
to the right, the rival building of the Roman church. Beneath us lies
Sydney, the base-born mother of this New World, covering a large extent
of ground, and, at the extreme point of land, the signal station, with
the flags displayed, betokening the arrival of a ship from England. Till
now we have met with no living creature, but here, perhaps, the chaise
with Sydney tradesman and his wife, the single horseman, and a straggler
or two on foot, begin to appear."
The general appearance of the coast of New Holland is said to be very
barren and forbidding, much more so than the shores of Van Diemen's Land
are; and it thus often happens that strangers are agreeably disappointed
by finding extreme richness and fertility in many parts of a country,
which at their first landing afforded no such promises of excellence.
One of the most dreary and most curious descriptions of country is to
be met with on the north-western shores of New Holland, quite on the
opposite coast to that where the principal English colony is situated.
The daring explorer of this north-western coast, Captain Grey, has
given a fearful account of his dangers and adventures among the barren
sandstone hills of this district. Its appearance, upon his landing at
Hanover Bay, was that of a line of lofty cliffs, occasionally broken by
sandy beaches; on the summits of these cliffs, and behind the beaches,
rose rocky sandstone hills, very thinly wooded. Upon landing, the shore
was found to be exceedingly steep and broken; indeed the hills are
stated to have looked like the _ruins of hills_, being composed of huge
blocks of red sandstone, confusedly piled together in loose disorder,
and so overgrown with various creeping plants, that the holes between
them were completely hidden, and into these one or other of the party
was continually slipping and falling. The trees were so small and so
scantily covered with leaves that they gave no shelter from the heat of
the sun, which was reflected by the soil with intense force, so that it
was really painful to touch, or even to stand upon, the bare sandstone.
Excessive thirst soon began to be felt, and the party, unprepared for
this, had only two pints of water with them, a portion of which they
were forced to give to their dogs; all three of these, however, died of
exhaustion. After a vain search of some hours, at length the welcome cry
of "Water!" was heard from one of the party; but, alas! upon scrambling
down the deep and difficult ravine where the water ran, it was found to
be quite salty, and they were compelled to get up again as well as they
could, unrefreshed and disheartened. After following the course of the
deep valley upwards about half a mile, they looked down and saw some
birds ascending from the thick woods growing below, and, knowing these
white cockatoos to be a sure sign of water very near, the weary party
again descended, and found a pool of brackish water, which, in their
situation, appeared to afford the most delicious draughts, although they
shortly afterwards paid the penalty of yet more intolerable thirst,
arising from making too free with a beverage of such quality.
The nature of the country near Hanover Bay, where the party belonging
to Captain Grey was exploring, is most remarkable. The summits of the
ranges of sandstone hills were generally a level sort of table-land, but
this level was frequently broken and sometimes nearly covered with lofty
detached pillars of rock, forming the most curious shapes in their
various grouping. In one place they looked like the aisle of a church
unroofed, in another there stood, upon a huge base, what appeared to be
the legs of an ancient statue, from which the body had been knocked
away; and fancy might make out many more such resemblances. Some of
these time-worn sandy columns were covered with sweet-smelling creepers,
and their bases were hidden by various plants growing thickly around
them. The tops of all were nearly on a level, and the height of those
that were measured was upwards of forty feet. The cause of this singular
appearance of the country was at length discovered by the noise of water
running under the present surface, in the hollows of the sandstone, and
gradually carrying away the soil upon which the top surface rests.
Formerly, no doubt, the level of the whole country was even with the
tops of the broken pillars, and much higher; and hereafter what is now
at the surface will give way beneath the wasting of the streams that
flow below, and no traces of its present height will be left, except in
those places where the power of the water is less felt, which will rear
up their lofty heads, and bear witness by their presence of the ruin
that will have taken place.
In wandering through a country of this description, how natural does the
following little remark of Captain Grey appear! A plant was observed
here, which, in appearance and smell, exactly resembled the jasmine of
England; and it would be difficult to give an idea of the feeling of
pleasure derived from the sight of this simple emblem of home. But,
while the least plant or tree that could remind them of home was gladly
welcomed, there were many new and remarkable objects to engage the
attention of the travellers. Among these the large green ants, and the
gouty stem tree may be particularly noticed. The ants are, it would
seem, confined to the sandstone country, and are very troublesome. The
gouty stem tree is so named from the resemblance borne by its immense
trunk to the limb of a gouty person. It is an unsightly but very useful
tree, producing an agreeable and nourishing fruit, as well as a gum and
bark that may be prepared for food. Upon some of these trees were found
the first rude efforts of savages to gain the art of writing, being a
number of marks, supposed to denote the quantity of fruit gathered from
the tree each year, all but the last row being constantly scratched out,
thus:
[Illustration]
But, miserable as the general appearance of that part of the
north-western coast of New Holland undoubtedly is, yet are there many
rich and lovely spots to be found in its neighbourhood; and, further
inland, vast tracts of fertile country appear to want only civilised and
Christian men for their inhabitants. What is wanting in the ensuing
picture but civilisation and religion, in order to make it as perfect as
any earthly abode can be? "From the summit of the hills on which we
stood," (says Captain Grey) "an almost precipitous descent led into a
fertile plain below; and, from this part, away to the southward, for
thirty to forty miles, stretched a low, luxuriant country, broken by
conical peaks and rounded hills, which were richly clothed with grass
to their very summits. The plains and hills were both thinly wooded,
and curving lines of shady trees marked out the courses of numerous
streams." This beautiful prospect was over a volcanic district, and with
the sandstone which they were just leaving, they were bidding farewell
to barrenness and desolation. It was near this beautiful spot, and in a
country no less rich and delightful, that the party of adventurers was
overtaken by the violent rains, which occur in those hot climates, and
which struck the men with so great chill, that they were driven to make
trial of an odd way of getting warm. Some of them got into a stream, the
waters of which were comparatively warm, and thus saved themselves from
the painful feeling arising from the very cold rain falling on the pores
of the skin, which had previously been opened by continued perspiration.
The rains appear during the wet season to fall very heavily and
constantly in North-Western Australia, and though a good supply of these
is an advantage to an occupied country, well provided with roads, it is
a great cause of trouble to first explorers who have to find a ford over
every stream, and a passage across every swamp, and who often run the
risk of getting into a perfectly impassable region. Of this sort, alike
differing from the barren sandstone and the volcanic fertile country,
was a third track through which Captain Grey endeavoured to pass. A
vast extent of land lying low and level near the banks of the river
Glenelg,[5] and well fitted, if properly drained, for the abundant
growth of useful and valuable produce, was found, during the rainy
season, to be in the state of a foul marsh, overgrown with vegetation,
choking up the fresh water so as to cause a flood ankle-deep; and this
marshy ground, being divided by deep muddy ditches, and occasionally
overflown by the river, offered, as may be supposed, no small hindrances
to the progress of the travellers. In some places it was quite
impossible, from the thickly-timbered character of its banks, to
approach the main stream; in others they appeared to be almost entirely
surrounded by sluggish waters, of which they knew neither the depth nor
the nature of their banks. Elsewhere, unable to cross some deep stream,
the explorers were driven miles out of their way, and sometimes even in
their tents, the water stood to the depth of two or three inches. On one
occasion, when the party was almost surrounded by swamps, their loaded
ponies sank nearly up to the shoulders in a bog, whichever way they
attempted to move, and from this spot they had two miles to travel
before they could reach the nearest rising ground. The river Glenelg was
at this time overflowing its banks, and, to the natural alarm of men
wandering in its rich valley, drift-wood, reeds, grass, &c. were seen
lodged in the trees above their heads, fifteen feet beyond the present
level of the water, affording a proof of what floods in that country
_had been_, and, of course, _might be_ again. However, this very soil in
so warm a climate, only about sixteen degrees south of the equator,
would be admirably fitted for the cultivation of rice, which needs
abundance of moisture. But little do the peaceful inhabitants of a
cultivated country, well drained, and provided with bridges and good
roads, think of the risk and hardships undergone by the first explorers
of a new land, however great its capabilities, and whatever may be its
natural advantages.
[5] This river must not be confounded with another of the same name in
South Australia.
But it was not in the plain country alone, that Captain Grey found spots
of great richness and fertility, as the following description of the
happy vallies frequently found among the mountain-ranges may testify:
One may be chosen as a specimen of many. At its northern end it was
about four miles wide, being bounded on all sides by rocky, wooded
ranges, with dark gullies from which numerous petty streams run down
into the main one in the centre. The valley gradually grows narrow
towards the south, and is bounded by steep cliffs betwixt which the
waters find an outlet. Sometimes a valley of this kind, most beautiful,
most productive, will contain from four to five thousand acres of nearly
level land, shut out from the rest of the world by the boundary of hills
that enclose it. How great a contrast to these lovely vallies does the
description, given by another traveller in a different district,
present! Nothing, according to Mr. Oxley's account, can be more
monotonous and wearying, than the dull, unvarying aspect of the level
and desolate region through which the Lachlan winds its sluggish course.
One tree, one soil, one water, and one description of bird, fish, or
animal, prevails alike for ten miles, and for a hundred. And, if we turn
from this to a third picture of desolation mingled with sublimity, the
contrast appears yet more heightened. Among the hills behind Port
Macquarrie on the eastern coast, Mr. Oxley came suddenly upon the spot
where a river, (the Apsley,) leaves the gently-rising and fine country
through which it had been passing, and falls into a deep glen. At this
spot the country seems cleft in twain, and divided to its very
foundation, a ledge of rocks separates the waters, which, falling over
a perpendicular rock, 235 feet in height, form a grand cascade. At a
distance of 300 yards, and an elevation of as many feet, the travellers
were wetted with the spray. After winding through the cleft rocks about
400 yards, the river again falls, in one single sheet, upwards of 100
feet, and continues, in a succession of smaller falls, about a quarter
of a mile lower, where the cliffs are of a perpendicular height, on each
side exceeding 1,200 feet; the width of the edges being about 200 yards.
From thence it descends, as before described, until all sight of it is
lost from the vast elevation of the rocky hills, which it divides and
runs through. The different points of this deep glen, seem as if they
would fit into the opposite openings forming the smaller glens on either
side.[6]
[6] See Oxley's Journal, p. 299.
Amid scenery like that which has now been described, varying from
grandeur to tameness, from fertility to barrenness, from extreme beauty
to extreme ugliness, but always possessing, at least, the recommendation
of being _new_, the wanderers in the Bush are delighted to range. There
is a charm to enterprising spirits in the freedom, the stillness, and
even in the dangers and privations, of these vast wilds, which, to such
spirits, scenes of a more civilised character can never possess. If it
be true,--and who has never felt it to be so?--that
"God made the country and man made the town,"
much more distinctly is God's power visible in the lonely wastes of
Australia, much more deeply do men feel, while passing through those
regions, that it is His hand that has planted the wilderness with trees,
and peopled the desert with living things. Under these impressions men
learn to delight in exploring the bush, and when they meet, as they
often do, with sweet spots, on which Nature has secretly lavished her
choicest gifts, most thoroughly do they enjoy, most devotedly do they
admire, their beauty. In travelling some miles to the northward of
Perth, a town on the Swan River, Captain Grey fell in with a charming
scene, which he thus describes: "Our" station, "this night, had a beauty
about it, which would have made any one, possessed with the least
enthusiasm, fall in love with a bush life. We were sitting on a
gently-rising ground, which sloped away gradually to a picturesque lake,
surrounded by wooded hills,--while the moon shone so brightly on the
lake, that the distance was perfectly clear, and we could distinctly see
the large flocks of wild fowl, as they passed over our heads, and then
splashed into the water, darkening and agitating its silvery surface; in
front of us blazed a cheerful fire, round which were the dark forms of
the natives, busily engaged in roasting ducks for us; the foreground was
covered with graceful grass-trees, and, at the moment we commenced
supper, I made the natives set fire to the dried tops of two of these,
and by the light of these splendid chandeliers, which threw a red glare
over the whole forest in our vicinity, we ate our evening meal; then,
closing round the fire, rolled ourselves up in our blankets, and laid
down to sleep."
The very same feeling of religion, which heightens the pleasures and
gives a keener relish to the enjoyments of life in these lonely places,
can also afford comfort, and hope, and encouragement under those perils
and privations which first explorers must undergo. Religion is the sun
that brightens our summer hours, and gives us, even through the darkest
and most stormy day, light, and confidence, and certainty. And when a
small body of men are left alone, as it were, in the wilderness with
their God, whatever occurs to them, whether of a pleasing or of a trying
character, is likely to lift up their souls to their Maker, in whom
"they live and move, and have their being." When the patient traveller,
of whose adventures in Western Australia so much mention has been made,
had waited weather-bound on a lonely coast, never before trodden by the
foot of civilised man, until eight days had been consumed in watching to
no purpose the winds and the waves,--when, at a distance of thousands of
miles from their native country, and many hundreds of miles from the
nearest English colony, he and his little party were wasting strength
and provisions in a desert spot; from which their only means of escaping
was in one frail boat, which the fury of the sea forbade them to think
of launching upon the deep,--when the men, under these circumstances,
were becoming more and more gloomy and petulant, where was it that the
commander sought and found consolation? It was in religion. And the
witness of one who has successfully gone through trials of this kind, is
well deserving of the utmost attention. "I feel assured," says Captain
Grey, in his account of this trial of patience, "that, but for the
support I derived from prayer, and frequent perusal and meditation of
the Scriptures, I should never have been able to have borne myself in
such a manner as to have maintained discipline and confidence amongst
the rest of the party; nor in all my sufferings did I ever lose the
consolation derived from a firm reliance upon the goodness of
Providence. It is only those who go forth into perils and dangers,
amidst which human foresight and strength can but little avail, and who
find themselves, day after day, protected by an unseen influence, and
ever and again snatched from the very jaws of destruction, by a power
which is not of this world, who can at all estimate the knowledge of
one's own weakness and littleness, and the firm reliance and trust upon
the goodness of the Creator, which the human breast is capable of
feeling. Like all other lessons which are of great and lasting benefit
to man, this one must be learned amid much sorrowing and woe; but,
having learned it, it is but the sweeter from the pain and toil which
are undergone in the acquisition."
The mention of these trials to which travellers in the bush are
peculiarly liable, brings naturally to mind that worst of all
privations, a want of water, to which they are so frequently exposed.
The effects of extreme thirst are stated to have been shown, not merely
in weakness and want, in a parched and burning mouth, but likewise in a
partial loss of the senses of seeing and hearing. Indeed, the powers of
the whole frame are affected, and, upon moving, after a short interval
of rest, the blood rushes up into the head with a fearful and painful
violence. A party of men reduced to this condition have very little
strength, either of mind or body, left them, and it is stated, that, in
cases of extreme privation, the worst characters have always least
control over their appetites.[7] Imagine men marching through a barren
and sandy country, a thirsty land where no water is, at the rate of
about two miles in an hour and a quarter, when, suddenly, they come upon
the edge of a dried-up swamp, and behold the footmark of a native,
imprinted on the sand,--the first beginning of hope, a sign of animal
life, which of course implies the means of supporting it. Many more
footsteps are soon seen, and some wells of the natives are next
discovered, but alas! all appear dry. Kaiber, a native companion of the
party, suddenly starts up from a bed of reeds, where he has been burying
his head in a hole of _soft mud_, with which he had completely swelled
himself out, and of which he had helped himself to pretty well half the
supply. It is so thick that it needs straining through a handkerchief,
yet so welcome, after three days and two nights of burning thirst,
under a fierce sun, that each man throws himself down beside the hole,
exclaiming "Thank God!" and then greedily swallows a few mouthfulls of
the liquid mud, declaring it to be the most delicious water, with a
peculiar flavour, better than any that had ever before been tasted by
him. Upon scraping the mud quite out of the hole, water begins slowly to
trickle in again.[8] As might be expected, game abounds here, driven by
the general dryness of the country to these springs. But the trembling
hand of a man worn down by fatigue and thirst is not equal to wield a
gun, or direct its fire to any purpose; so it seems as if thirst were
escaped for a time, in order that hunger might occupy its place. At
length, however, the native kills a cockatoo, which had been wounded
by a shot; and this bird, with a spoonful of flour to each man, and a
tolerable abundance of liquid mud, becomes the means of saving the lives
of the party.
[7] See Mitchell's Three Expeditions in Australia, vol. i. p. 38.
[8] An expedient used by the natives in Torres Strait, on the
northern coast of Australia, for getting water, may here be noticed,
both for its simplicity and cleverness. "Long slips of bark are tied
round the smooth stems of a tree called the _pandanus_, and the loose
ends are led into the shells of a huge sort of cockle, which are placed
beneath. By these slips the rain which runs down the branches and stem
of the tree is conducted into the shells, each of which will contain
two or three pints; thus, forty or fifty placed under different trees
will supply a good number of men."--FLINDERS' _Voyage to Terra
Australis_, vol. ii. p. 114.
A different plan for improving the water that is hot and muddy, is thus
detailed by Major Mitchell. To obtain a cool and clean draught the
blacks scratched a hole in the soft sand beside the pool, thus making a
filter, in which the water rose cooled, but muddy. Some tufts of long
grass were then thrown in, through which they sucked the cooler water,
purified from the sand or gravel. I was glad to follow their example,
and found the sweet fragrance of the grass an agreeable addition to the
luxury of drinking.
Such is the picture, taken from life, of some of the privations
undergone, during dry seasons, in certain portions of the bush, and we
must, at the risk of being tedious, repeat again the witness of a
military man, of one who has seen much of the world, respecting the best
source of comfort and support under these distressing trials. At such
times, upon halting, when the others of the party would lie wearily
down, and brood over their melancholy state, Captain Grey would keep his
journal, (a most useful repository of facts,) and this duty being done,
he would open a small New Testament, his companion through all his
wanderings, from which book he drank in such deep draughts of comfort,
that his spirits were always good. And on another occasion, he shared
the last remaining portion of provision with his native servant; after
which he actually felt glad that it was gone, and that he no longer had
to struggle with the pangs of hunger, and put off eating it to a future
hour. Having completed this last morsel, he occupied himself a little
with his journal, then read a few chapters in the New Testament, and,
after fulfilling these duties, he felt himself as contented and cheerful
as ever he had been in the most fortunate moments of his life.
As in life, those objects which we have not, but of which we think we
stand in need, are ever present to our fancy, so in these thirsty soils
the mere appearance of that water, of which the reality would be so
grateful, is frequently known to mock the sight of man. A remarkable
specimen of this was seen at the plains of Kolaina (Deceit), in
North-Western Australia. From a sand hill, not very far from the
coast, was seen a splendid view of a noble lake, dotted about with many
beautiful islands. The water had a glassy and fairy-like appearance, and
it was an imposing feeling to sit down alone on the lofty eminence, and
survey the great lake on which no European eye had ever before rested,
and which was cut off from the sea by a narrow and lofty ridge of sandy
hills. It was proposed at once to launch the boats upon this water, but
a little closer survey was thought prudent, and then it proved that the
lake was not so near as it had seemed to be, and that there were
extensive plains of mud and sand lying between it and the rising ground.
It appeared to be about a mile distant, and all were still certain that
it was water they saw, for the shadows of the low hills near it, as well
as those of the trees upon them, could be distinctly traced on the
unruffled surface.[9] As they advanced, the water retreated, and at
last surrounded them. The party now saw that they were deceived by
_mirage_,[10] or vapour, which changed the sandy mud of the plains they
were crossing into the resemblance, at a distance, of a noble piece of
water. In reading the history of mankind, how often may we apply this
disappointment to moral objects! how very frequently do the mistaken
eyes of mortals eagerly gaze upon the _mirage_ raised by falsehood, as
though they were beholding the living waters of truth itself! What
appearance, indeed, does the whole world present to one who rests upon
the everlasting hill of the gospel,--the rock upon which Christ's church
has been built,--except it be that of one vast plain of Kolaina, or
deceit? It was no long time after the explorers of the north-western
coast of New Holland had been mocked by the _mirage_ or vapour which has
just been spoken of, that they had a fearful lesson of the vain and
shadowy nature of human hopes and expectations. When they had first
arrived off the coast, on that expedition, they had chosen an island,
named Bernier Island, upon which to bury, for the sake of safety, their
stores and provisions, so that they might return to them whenever it
should be necessary. Bernier Island is a barren spot, formed of
limestone, shells, and sand, and without a single tree or blade of
grass upon it, but only wretched, scrubby bushes, amidst which the light
sand and shells are drifted by the winds. Such was the remote spot,
surrounded by the ocean's waves, yet not very far from the main shore,
upon which it was resolved to conceal their store of necessaries,
secure, as it was supposed, from every enemy. In little more than three
weeks, during which the adventurers had gone through many perils, and
much stormy weather, they returned again, not without some difficulty,
to their stores. But on approaching Bernier Island with their boat they
scarcely knew it again, so vast a difference had the recent storms made
in its outward appearance, so fearful were the pranks which the
hurricane had played upon a land which was, in fact, nothing but loose
sand, heaped upon a bed of limestone. The place where their stores had
been securely left was gone, the remains of the flour-casks, salt
provisions, &c. were scattered about in various directions; and the
whole spot so entirely altered that it could hardly be ascertained,
except by the fragments that were seen near it. How to get back again to
Swan River, the nearest British settlement, without provisions, without
water, without strength, was indeed a perplexing inquiry, and to answer
this the leader of the party, having left his companions for a while,
set himself seriously to work. Sitting down upon a rock on the shore,
he felt the gale blowing fiercely in his face, and the spray of the
breakers dashing over him; nothing could be more gloomy and dreary.
Inland, no objects were to be seen but a mere bed of rock covered with
drifting sand, on which were growing stunted, scrubby bushes; and former
experience taught him, that no fresh water was to be found in the
island. Several plans of escape, all apparently alike hopeless, offered
themselves to his mind, and, more fully to compose himself, he took
forth his constant companion in the wilderness, and read a few chapters
of Holy Writ. Contentment and resignation were thus in some degree
gained, and he soon joined the rest of the party, having resolved upon
that plan, which God's providence and mercy finally enabled him to carry
out, without losing, from a party of twelve, constantly exposed during a
very long journey to most dreadful toils, hunger, and thirst, more than
one man only, who died at no great distance from the English colony.
That one person was a youth of eighteen years of age, who had come out
from England, led solely by an enterprising spirit, and not with any
view of settling. On the return of the party under Captain Grey towards
Swan River, they were so sadly pinched by want of provisions, and by
thirst, that five of them were obliged to start with their leader, in
order to reach the British colony by forced marches, and Frederick
Smith, the youthful adventurer, was one of those that remained behind.
After undergoing extreme trials, which from his age he was less able to
bear than the others, he, at last, became quite worn out, and sat down,
one evening, on a bank, declaring that he could go no further. He was
behind the rest of the party, and the man who was with him went and told
his companions that he thought Smith was dying. The next morning that
man went back for him; but, being himself very weak, he did not go far
enough, at all events he did not find him. Probably, the poor sufferer
had crawled a little out of the track, for, afterwards, when a party was
sent from Swan River in search of him, they traced, with the help of a
native, his footsteps up a bare sand hill to the height of twelve or
fourteen feet, and there, turning about to the left, they found the
object of their search stretched lifeless upon his back, in the midst of
a thick bush, where he seemed to have laid down to sleep, being half
wrapped up in his blanket.[11] All his little articles of baggage were
very near him, and, from the posture in which he was found, it appeared
that the immediate cause of his death was a rush of blood to the head,
which would occasion no great suffering in his last moments. A grave was
scraped in the sand by the searching party, and Frederic Smith was
buried in the wilderness wherein he had died, and which he had been
among the first to explore, about seventy-six miles northward of the
Swan River. The grave was made smooth, and a piece of wood found upon
the neighbouring beach was placed at its head, and then the solitary
spot was forsaken for ever by the mourning companions of the departed
youth, who left
"Heaven's fresh gales, and the ocean's wave,
Alternate to sigh o'er the wanderer's grave."[12]
[9] "The most singular quality of this vapour or _mirage_, as it is
termed, is its power of reflection; objects are seen as from the
surface of a lake, and their figure is sometimes changed into the
most fantastic shapes."--CRICHTON'S _Arabia_, vol. i. p. 41.
[10] See two other curious accounts of the effects of _mirage_
and refraction in Sturt's Expeditions in Australia, vol. ii. pp.
56 and 171.
[11] The artless description of this sad discovery, given by one of
the natives who accompanied the party, may be not unworthy of the
reader's notice. "Away we go, away, away, along the shore away, away,
away, a long distance we go. I see Mr. Smith's footsteps ascending a
sand-hill, onwards I go regarding his footsteps. I see Mr. Smith dead.
We commence digging the earth. Two _sleeps_ had he been dead; greatly
did I weep, and much I grieved. In his blanket folding him, we scraped
away the earth. We scrape earth into the grave, we scrape the earth
into the grave, a little wood we place in it. Much earth we heap upon
it--much earth we throw up. No dogs can dig there, so much earth we
throw up. The sun had just inclined to the westward as we laid him in
the ground."--GREY'S _Travels in Western Australia_, vol. ii. p. 350.
[12] See a like melancholy history of the death of Mr. Cunningham, in
Mitchell's Three Expeditions, vol. i. p. 180, _et seq._ How thrilling
must have been the recollections of his fellow-travellers in the
wilderness at the simple incident thus related: "In the bed of the
river, where I went this evening to enjoy the sight of the famished
cattle drinking, I came accidentally on an old footstep of Mr.
Cunningham in the clay, now baked hard by the sun. Four months had
elapsed, and up to this time the clay bore the last records of our
late fellow-traveller."
It was only six weeks before this untimely end of the young explorer,
that he had set out, full of hope, on the long journey by the coast,
which the party made on their return, and had been a leading character
in such beautiful pictures of life in the Australian wilderness as this
which is given by his friend Captain Grey. "We soon found ourselves at
the foot of a lofty cascade, down which a little water was slowly
dropping; and, on climbing to its summit, it appeared to be so well
fitted for a halting-place for the night, that I determined to remain
there. The men made themselves comfortable near the water-holes, and
Mr. Smith and myself crept into a little cave, which occasionally served
as a resting-place for the natives, the remains of whose fires were
scattered about. A wild woodland and rocky scenery was around us; and
when the moon rose and shed her pale light over all, I sat with Mr.
Smith on the edge of the waterfall, gazing by turns into the dim woody
abyss below, and at the red fires and picturesque groups of the men,
than which fancy could scarcely imagine a wilder scene."
It is no uncommon mistake, with persons who ought to know better, to
magnify the toils and hardships endured by the body, while those labours
and anxieties that the mind undergoes are disregarded and forgotten.
Every man engaged in an exploring party in the bush, for instance, has
his severe trials to go through, but their trials are not to be compared
to those of the commander of the party. How often when the rest are
sleeping must he be watchful? How frequently, while others are gay, must
he feel thoughtful! These remarks may easily be applied to the following
description of the coast near Shark's Bay, in the N. W. of the island of
New Holland. There was great beauty in the scenery, both the sky and the
water had that peculiar brilliancy about them to be seen only in fine
weather, and in a very warm climate. To the west lay a boundless extent
of sea, to the eastward was a low shore fringed with trees, not only
down to the water's edge, but forming little green knots of foliage in
the ocean itself; behind these trees were low wooded hills, and in
front of them were numbers of pelicans and water-fowl. There was only
about three feet depth of clear transparent water, through which were
seen many beautiful and large shells, and various strange-looking fish,
at some of which last one or other of Captain Grey's men would sometimes
make an attack, while loud peals of laughter would rise from the rest,
when the pursuer, too anxious to gain his object, would miss his stroke
at the fish, or, stumbling, roll headlong in the water. The fineness of
the day, the novelty of the scenery, and the rapid way they were making,
made the poor fellows forget past dangers, as well as those they had yet
to undergo. But this was more than their commander was able to do.
"My own meditations," adds Captain Grey, "were of a more melancholy
character, for I feared that the days of some of the light-hearted group
were already numbered, and would soon be brought to a close. Amid such
scenes and thoughts we were swept along, while this unknown coast, which
so many had anxiously yet vainly wished to see, passed before our eyes
like a dream, and ere many more years have hurried by, it is possible
that the recollection of this day may be as such to me."
Among the wonders of Nature to be met with in the Australian bush, the
large rivers occasionally dried up to their very lowest depth by the
extreme drought, are very remarkable. Few natural objects can equal in
beauty and utility a river in its proper state,--
"Though deep, yet clear; though gentle, yet not dull;
Strong without rage, without o'erflowing full;"
but few can exceed in terror and destruction a large river in time of
flood; while nothing, surely, can surpass in horror and desolation the
same object when its stream is wasted, its waters disappeared, its
usefulness and beauty alike gone. This spectacle is, fortunately, but
rarely seen, except in Australia, and even there only after very dry
seasons. One river seen in this state consisted of several channels or
beds, divided from each other by long strips of land, which in times of
flood become islands; the main channel was about 270 yards in breadth,
and the height of its bank was about fifteen feet. After the exploring
party had passed the highest point in the channel to which the tide
flowed from the sea, this huge river bed was perfectly dry, and looked
the most mournful, deserted spot imaginable. Occasionally water-holes
were found eighteen or twenty feet in depth, and it is from these alone
that travellers have been enabled to satisfy their thirst in crossing
over the unexplored parts of the bush, where no water could elsewhere be
obtained. Still, notwithstanding the extreme drought by which they were
surrounded, the strangers could see by the remaining drift wood, which
had been washed high up into the neighbouring trees, what rapid and
overpowering currents sometimes swept along the now dry channel.
On another occasion the same singular object is powerfully described,
and the feelings of men, who had long been in need of water, at
beholding a sight like this can scarcely be imagined. Beneath them lay
the dry bed of a large river, its depth at this point being between
forty and fifty feet, and its breadth upwards of 300 yards; it was at
times subject to terrible floods, for along its banks lay the trunks of
immense trees, giants of the forest, which had been formerly washed down
from the interior of the country; yet nothing now met their craving eyes
but a vast sandy channel, which scorched their eyeballs, as the rays of
the sun were reflected back from its white, glistening bed. Above and
below this spot, however, large pools of water were found, and even
here, when a hole of a few inches depth was scraped in the dry channel,
it soon became filled with water which oozed into it from the sand. At
another stream, which the same exploring party afterwards fell in with,
they were less successful, and found all the pools entirely dry. The sun
was intensely hot, and the poor men grew faint for want of water, while
it heightened their sufferings, that they stood upon the brink of a
river, or wandered along its banks with eager, piercing eyes, and an air
of watchfulness peculiar to those who seek for that on which their lives
depend. One while they explored a shallow, stony part of the bed, which
was parched up and blackened by the fiery sun: their steps were slow and
listless, and it was plainly to be seen how faint, weak, and weary they
were; the next minute another pool would be seen ahead, the depth of
which the eye could not at a distance reach; now they hurried on towards
it with a dreadful look of eager anxiety--the pool was reached--the
bottom seen; but, alas! no water: then they paused, and looked one at
the other with an air of utter despair. The order to march from this
distressing spot was unwillingly and slowly obeyed. So fondly does the
human soul cling to the very faintest semblance of hope, that the
adventurers would rather have wandered up and down these barren and arid
banks, in vain search after water, than tear themselves away by one bold
effort from the deceitful expectations held out to them by the empty
channel.
It was on his return from a journey attended by perils and privations
like these, that Captain Grey relates the following simple occurrence,
which may help to make men value more highly, or rather prize more
justly, the many little comforts they may possess: The Captain had
left some of his men behind, and was hastening with all speed to the
settlement of Perth, in Western Australia, in order to get assistance
and necessaries for them. Starting an hour and a half before daylight,
he reached the hut of Williams, the farthest settler, north of Perth, in
time to find the wife and another woman at breakfast. He had known Mrs.
Williams, and, forgetting how strangely want and suffering had changed
his appearance for the worse, he expected her to remember him again. But
he was mistaken for a crazy Malay, nicknamed Magic, who used to visit
the houses of the out-settlers. Hurt at his reception, "I am not Magic,"
exclaimed he. "Well then, my good man, who are you?" inquired they,
laughing. "One who is almost starved," was his solemn reply. "Will you
take this, then?" said the hostess, handing him a cup of tea she was
raising to her lips. "With all my heart and soul, and God reward you for
it," was the answer; and he swallowed the delicious draught. Who can
fail of being reminded, upon reading this anecdote, of those gracious
and beautiful words of his Redeemer--"Whosoever shall give you a cup of
water to drink in my name, because ye belong to Christ, verily I say
unto you, he shall not lose his reward"? (Mark ix. 41.)
The mention of the out-settler's hut, in which Captain Grey met with
this small, but most acceptable, kindness, may serve to remind us of an
object, which, although not, strictly speaking, belonging to the bush,
is, nevertheless, very frequently seen in that part of the wild country
which is most visited,--the portions of it which are adjoining to the
British settlements. In these parts of the bush the small hut of the
humble out-settler may often be espied; and, while we speak of the toils
and privations frequently undergone by this class of people at first, we
must not forget that they are thus opening to themselves a way to future
wealth and comfort. Nor, be it recollected, is the condition of an
out-settler in the Australian bush any more a fair average specimen of
that of the inhabitants of the colonies than the owner of a mud-hovel
raised on some English heath would be of the inhabitants of the parish
in which he happens to dwell. One strong difference may be seen in the
two cases. In England the cottager must, in all likelihood, live and die
a cottager, as his fathers have done before him, and his children will
after him; whereas, in the Australian colonies, with prudence and the
Divine blessing, (without which a man can do well nowhere) the humble
out-settler may gradually, yet rapidly, grow up into the wealthy and
substantial farmer and landowner. Bearing in mind these facts, the
following sketch of the premises of an out-settler on the river
Williams, at the back of the Swan River settlement, in Western
Australia, may be at once instructive, and not unsuitable to the subject
of this chapter. The house was made of a few upright poles, to which, at
the top, cross poles were fastened, and a covering of rude thatch tied
upon the whole. It was open at both ends, and exposed to the wind,
which, as the situation was high, was very unpleasant. Here, however,
were the elements of future riches, a very large flock of sheep, in fair
condition, also a well-supplied stock-yard, and cattle in beautiful
order; while upwards of twenty dogs, for hunting the kangaroo, completed
the establishment. The settlers were four in number, and, except four
soldiers quartered about sixteen miles from them, there were no other
Europeans within fifty miles of the spot. All stores and necessaries
were sent from a distance of 120 miles, through a country without roads,
and exposed to the power of the native inhabitants. In this but might
be seen a lively picture of the trials occasionally endured by _first
settlers_; they had no flour, tea, sugar, meat, or any provision
whatever, except their live stock and the milk of their cattle, their
sole dependence for any other article of food being the kangaroo dogs,
and the only thing their visitors were able to do to better their
situation was to leave them some shot. All other circumstances were on
the same scale with them, and one, supposing them to have been faithful
members of the Church of their native land, must have been the most
grievous privation of all:--
"The sound of the church-going bell
Those valleys and rocks never heard;
Never sighed at the sound of a knell,
Nor smiled when a sabbath appear'd."
They had but one old clasp knife; there was but one small bed, for one
person, the others sleeping on the ground every night, with little or no
covering; they had no soap to wash themselves or their clothes, yet they
submitted cheerfully to all these privations, considering them to be
necessary consequences of their situation. Two of these out-settlers
were gentlemen, not only by birth, but also in thought and manner; nor
can it be doubted that they were really happier than many an idle young
man to be seen lounging about in England, a burden to himself and to his
friends. Idleness and vice have often in England been the means of
levelling with the dust the lordly mansion, whilst industry, in the
wilds of Australia, can rear a comfortable dwelling on the very spot
where once stood the hut of the out-settler.
Scattered round the shores of New Holland at various distances are many
small islands and rocks, the prevailing appearance of which is that of
extreme barrenness. On many of these it would seem that no human beings
had ever set their feet before the Europeans, and especially the
English, explored those coasts. In several parts the natives were
without any means of conveyance across even a narrow arm of the sea,
and thus the brute creation were left in a long and undisturbed
possession of many of the isles which lie near the main land. In the
more barren and miserable of these the bird called the _sooty petrel_,
and the seal, are the principal animals to be found, whilst in those
that are somewhat more fruitful, kangaroos, also, and emus are to be
found; the smaller breed of kangaroos being usually met with in the
smaller islands, and the larger species on the main land or in islands
of a greater extent. The following short account, by Captain Flinders,
may serve as a specimen of the lesser isles: Great flocks of petrels
had been noticed coming in from the sea to the island, and early next
morning, a boat was sent from the ship to collect a quantity of them for
food, and to kill seals, but the birds were already moving off, and no
more than four seals, of the hair kind, were procured. Upon the men
going on shore, the island was found to be a rock of granite, but this
was covered with a crust of limestone or chalk, in some places fifty
feet thick. The soil at the top was little better than sand, but was
overspread with shrubs, mostly of one kind, a whitish velvet-like
plant, amongst which the petrels, who make their nests underground,
had burrowed everywhere, and, from the extreme heat of the sun, the
reflection of it from the sand, and frequently being sunk half way up
the leg in these holes, the sailors, little used to difficulties in
land-travelling, were scarcely able to reach the highest hill near the
middle of the island. It was in the neighbourhood of scattered sandy
spots of this description that the sailors of Captain Flinders would
often endeavour successfully to improve their ordinary fare by catching
a few fish. On one occasion they were very much hindered by three
monstrous sharks, in whose presence no other fish dared to appear.
After some attempts, and with much difficulty, they took one of these
creatures, and got it on board the ship. In length it was no more than
twelve feet three inches, but the body measured eight feet round. Among
the vast quantity of things contained in the stomach was a tolerably
large seal, bitten in two, and swallowed with half of the spear sticking
in it, with which it had probably been killed by the natives. The stench
of this ravenous monster was great, even before it was dead; and, when
the stomach was opened, it became intolerable.
Quite contrary, in many respects, to these sandy islands, and yet but
little superior to them in fruitfulness, are some of those which were
visited by the same enterprising voyager on the eastern coast of
Australia. Their shores were very low, so much so, that frequently a
landing is impossible, and generally very difficult, on account of the
mud; and often a vast quantity of mangrove trees are found growing in
the swamps that surround the shores, and choking the soil with a rank
vegetation. On one of these islands when a landing had been effected
without a very great deal of trouble, and a rising ground was reached,
the sides of this little eminence were found to be so steep, and were so
thickly covered with trees and shrubs, bound together and interlaced
with strong plants, resembling vines in their growth, that all attempts
to reach the top of the hill were without success. It appeared to be
almost easier to have climbed up the trees, and have scrambled from one
to another upon the vines, than to have threaded a way through the
perplexing net-work formed by these plants, beneath which all was
darkness and uncertainty.
There are, however, some few islands, which promise to become, at a
future time, inhabited and cultivated spots, being neither so entirely
naked, nor yet so choked up by a poor and hungry vegetation concealing a
thin soil, as those already described. Of these more smiling spots the
large island, off the western coast, called Kangaroo Island, may serve
for a specimen. A thick wood covered almost all that part of the island
which was seen from the ship by Captain Flinders, but the trees that
were alive were not so large as those lying on the ground, nor as the
dead trees still standing upright. Those upon the ground were so
abundant, that, in ascending the higher land, a considerable part of the
walk was upon them. No inhabitants were seen in the island, but yet it
seemed, from the appearance of the trees, as though, at the distance of
some years, the woods had been destroyed by fire. The soil, so far as it
was seen, was thought very good, and the trees bore witness of this by
their size and growth; yet so frequently do travellers, like doctors,
disagree, that another explorer, Captain Sturt, pronounces this spot to
be not by any means fertile. The quantity of kangaroos found here was
remarkable enough to give a name to the island; and so entirely were
these harmless animals strangers to the power of man, that they suffered
themselves to be approached and killed without any efforts to escape.
Captain Flinders, on the first day of landing, killed ten, and the rest
of his party made up the number to thirty-one taken on board in the
course of the day, the least weighing 69 and the largest 125 lbs. The
whole ship's company were employed that afternoon in skinning and
cleaning the kangaroos, and a delightful feast they afforded to men
who for four months had scarcely tasted any fresh provisions. Never,
perhaps, had the dominion held here by these creatures been before
disturbed; the seals, indeed, shared it with the kangaroos on the
shores, but they seemed to dwell peacefully together, each animal
occasionally wandering into the haunts of the other, so that a gun fired
at a kangaroo upon the beach would sometimes bring forth two or three
bellowing seals from underneath bushes a good deal further from the
water-side. The seal, indeed, was the most knowing creature of the
two, for its actions bespoke that it distinguished the sailors from
kangaroos, whereas the latter not uncommonly appeared to mistake them
for seals. Indeed it is curious to trace the total absence of all
knowledge of man in these distant isles of Australia. In another island
a white eagle was seen making a motion to pounce down upon the British
sailors, whom it evidently took for kangaroos, never, probably, having
seen an upright animal, (except that, when moving upon its hind legs,)
and naturally, therefore, mistaking the men for its usual prey.
In another part of Kangaroo Island, which was afterwards visited, a
large piece of water was discovered at the head of a bay, and in this
water an immense number of pelicans were seen; upon some small islets
were found many young birds yet unable to fly, and upon the surrounding
beach a great number of old ones were seen, while the bones and
skeletons of many lay scattered about. So that it appeared to be at once
the breeding-place and death-bed of these birds, who, in the hidden
bosom of a quiet lake, in an uninhabited island, had long continued to
extend their race, generation after generation retiring to the same spot
where they were first brought to light, and there ending their days in
tranquillity. In this part of the island kangaroos were less plentiful
than in the other, but the soil appeared equally promising, and in all
likelihood, before many years have flown by, trees, seals, kangaroos,
and pelicans will all be forced to give up their old domains, and be
destroyed before the pressing wants and daring spirit of the British
emigrant. One important hindrance is noticed by Flinders,--the scarcity
of water,--but the presence of so many animals shows that there is an
abundance somewhere, though he could find but a scanty supply in one
single spot. In Kangaroo Island only one accident occurred which showed
any disposition or power on the part of its old inhabitants to wage war
with the intruders. One of the sailors having attacked a large seal
without proper caution, was so severely bitten in the leg, that he was
not merely laid up in consequence of this hurt, but was obliged to be
discharged, three months afterwards, when the ship was refitted at
Sydney.
In addition to the numerous barren rocks and the few tolerably large
wooded islands, which encircle the shores of Australia, there is a third
description of isles or rocks, which must not be passed over altogether
without notice. The substance called _coral_ is well known in Europe,
but with us the name connects itself with very different objects from
those to which it is related in Australia. _Here_ female ornaments and
toys for infants are almost the only objects to be seen that are formed
of coral; _there_ it forms the most stupendous rocks or reefs, which
serve frequently for a foundation to islands of no mean size; indeed, in
one part of the north-eastern coast of Australia, the coral reefs are
known to extend not less than 350 miles in a straight line, without a
single opening of any magnitude occurring in them.
Among these, surrounded by dangers, did Captain Flinders sail, during
fourteen days, for more than 500 miles before he could escape into less
perilous seas. Upon landing on one of these reefs, when the water was
clear, the view underneath, from the edge of the rocks, was extremely
beautiful. Quite a new creation, but still not unlike the old, was
offered to the view. There appeared wheat-sheaves, mushrooms, stags'
horns, cabbage-leaves, and a variety of other forms, glowing under
water with brilliant tints, of every shade betwixt green, purple, brown,
and white; equalling in beauty and surpassing in grandeur the most
favourite flower-bed of the curious florist. These appearances were, in
fact, different sorts of _coral_, and fungus, growing, as it were, out
of the solid rock, and each had its own peculiar form and shade of
colouring, but yet the spectators, who knew their ship to be hemmed in
by rocks of this material, while considering the richness of the scene,
could not long forget with what power of destruction it was gifted.
The cause of these coral rocks and islands, which are slowly, but
certainly, increasing, is a very small marine insect, by which the
substance called coral is formed. These work under water, generation
after generation contributing its share in the construction of what, in
the course of ages, becomes a solid rock, exalting its head above the
face of the surrounding waters, and rising sometimes from the depth of
200 fathoms, and perhaps even more. To be constantly covered with water
seems necessary to these minute animals, for they do not work, except
in holes upon the reef, beyond low-water-mark; but the coral and other
broken remains thrown up by the sea lodge upon the rock and form a solid
mass with it, as high as the common tides reach. The new bank is not
long left unvisited by sea-birds; salt-plants take root upon it, and a
kind of soil begins to be formed; a cocoa-nut,[13] or the seed of some
other tree, is thrown on shore; land-birds visit it, and deposit the
seeds of fresh shrubs or trees; every high tide, and still more every
gale, adds something to the bank; the form of an island is by degrees
assumed; and, last of all, comes man to take possession.
[13] "A cluster of these trees would be an excellent beacon to warn
mariners of their danger when near a coral reef, and at all events
their fruit would afford some wholesome nourishment to the ship-wrecked
seamen. The navigator who should distribute 10,000 cocoa-nuts amongst
the numerous sand banks of the great ocean and Indian Sea, would be
entitled to the gratitude of all maritime nations, and of every friend
of humanity."--FLINDERS' _Voyage to Terra Australis_, vol. ii. p. 332.
[Illustration: EXPLORERS FINDING THE BED OF A DRIED UP RIVER.]