The first species was a very large bird, of a dark colour (Aquila fucosa,

Cuvier) in size, appearance, and flight closely resembling the golden

eagle which I have often seen, and have once shot on the north-west coast

of Ireland. I have approached these birds closely--so closely indeed that

I have on two occasions shot them, but each time they fell into a thick

mangrove inlet and I was not fortunate enough to procure either of them;

they appeared to me always to frequent the shores, for I never saw them

further inland than a mile from the sea. The large nests Captain King

mentions as having been found upon the coast I imagine must have belonged

to this species.

The second species was a sort of hawk (Haliaeetus leucosternus, Gould)

rather larger than the sparrow-hawk, of a light cinnamon colour, with a

perfectly white head. They also frequent the shores, but I never shot

one.

The third species was a Peregrine falcon (Falco melanogenys, Gould) which

is nearly allied to that of Europe. I was not fortunate enough to procure

a specimen of this bird.

The fourth was the Athene Boobook. Belly brown and white; wings brown,

with white spots; third quill-feather, longest; legs feathered, lightish

brown colour; tail brownish white, marked with transverse bars of a

darker brown; eye prominent; iris blue. The only difference I could

observe between the male and female is that the female is rather larger

than the male, and her colours somewhat lighter. These birds inhabit the

whole of that part of North-western Australia lying between the Prince

Regent and Glenelg Rivers, and probably may be distributed over the

greater portion of the Continent. They feed on insects, reptiles, and

birds of the smaller kind. I have always found them seated in holes in

the rocks, or in shady dells, and have never seen them fly in the daytime

unless compelled by fear; they are very stupid when disturbed, and in

flight and manner closely resemble the common English owl. I cannot

however recollect having ever seen one on the wing during the night.

Upon describing the two singular birds mentioned above in Chapter 9 to

Mr. Gould he informed me that they were most probably of the rare species

Anas semipalmata.

REMARKABLE NEST.

I have already spoken in the 9th chapter of a very curious sort of nest

which was frequently found by myself and other individuals of the party,

not only along the seashore, but in some instances at a distance of six

or seven miles from it. This nest, which is figured in Illustration 19, I

once conceived must have belonged to the kangaroo rat I have above

mentioned, until Mr. Gould, who has lately returned from Australia,

informed me that it is the run or playing ground of the bird he has named

Chalmydera nuchalis.

These nests were formed of dead grass, and parts of bushes, sunk a slight

depth into two parallel furrows, in sandy soil, and then nicely arched

above. But the most remarkable fact connected with them was that they

were always full of broken shells, large heaps of which protruded from

each extremity of the nest. These were invariably seashells. In one

instance, in the nest most remote from the sea that we discovered, one of

the men of the party found and brought to me the stone of some fruit

which had evidently been rolled in the sea; these stones he found lying

in a heap in the nest, and they are now in my possession.

EMUS.

I have seen no Emus in North-western Australia, but on two occasions

their tracks were impressed in the mud on some plains lying on the banks

of Glenelg River; and Mr. Dring, of H.M.S. Beagle, informed me that,

whilst that vessel was employed in the survey of Fitzroy River, about

seventy miles to the southward of the former, he not only several times

saw traces of them but that, on one occasion when he was in the bush, two

of them passed within a few yards of him. They may, I conceive, therefore

be considered as inhabitants of this part of the continent.

ALLIGATORS.

No alligators were seen by the land party in any of the rivers of

North-western Australia, but the crew of the schooner saw one in Hanover

Bay. I can however safely assert from my own experience that they are by

no means numerous upon this coast. At the islands of Timor and Roti

however they abound.

TURTLES.

Turtles were abundant on the coast, and a freshwater tortoise was found

inland.

PLANTS.

Amongst the vegetable kingdom I shall only observe generally that the

Calamus, or rattan, which in King's voyage* is considered to be peculiar

to the primary granitic formation on the east coast, is abundant in the

interior of the north-west between latitude 15 and 17 degrees south.

(*Footnote. Appendix, volume 2.)

I found a dwarf cabbage-palm between 15 and 16 degrees south latitude,

always in moist situations in the neighbourhood of streams, although not

immediately on the banks.

Of the family of Urticeae many species of Ficus were observed.

The Banksia, common to Swan River, and bearing a yellow flower, is to be

found in many of the valleys on the north-west coast; thus appearing to

form an exception to Mr. Cunningham's observation inserted in Captain

King's voyage,* wherein he says:

Viewing the general distribution of Banksia, it is a singular fact in the

geographical distribution of this genus that its species, which have been

traced through almost every meridian of the south coast, upon the islands

in Bass Strait, in Van Diemen's Land, and widely scattered throughout the

whole extent of New South Wales to the north coast, at which extreme

Banksia dentata has been observed as far west as longitude 136 degrees

south, should be wholly wanting on the line of the north-west coast.

(*Footnote. Ibid.)

I observed a great variety of plants of the order Leguminosae.

Of the extraordinary Capparis resembling the African Adansonia I have

already spoken in Chapter 6.

A species of Callitris (Pine) was common, as was the Pandanus; and the

Araucaria excelsa was found on the heights, both near the sea coast and

further inland.

CLIMATE. ITS HEALTHINESS.

I conceive the climate of North-western Australia to be one of the finest

in the world, and my reasons for thus thinking are grounded upon the

following circumstances.

PROOFS OF ITS SALUBRITY.

I was resident there from the beginning of the month of December 1837 to

the middle of the month of April 1838; a period of four months and a

half: and during the whole of this time the men under my command were

exposed to great hardships and privations. On one occasion three of us

slept in the open air without any covering or warm clothes for five

successive nights, during three of which we had constant showers of heavy

rain, and yet did not in any way suffer from this exposure.

Other detached parties were on various occasions subjected for a shorter

period to exposure of a similar nature, and no instance occurred of any

individual suffering in the least from it. One or two cases of slight

diarrhoea occurred, but they could be always traced to some food that had

been eaten the day before, and never were sufficiently violent to delay

us for a single hour.

Whilst this perfect freedom from disease existed amongst the party they

had not only to bear exposure of the nature above stated, but the

provisions with which I was enabled to supply them were sometimes very

insufficient for their wants. During the whole month of March and part of

April their daily full allowance of food was about 1 3/4 pounds of flour,

first made into dough and then baked in the form of a flat cake upon a

large stone.

This low diet, at the same time that they were compelled to work very

hard, naturally rendered some of them extremely weak, and several were,

on our return to the coast, in a very reduced state.

I should here state that we were (perhaps fortunately) unable to carry

more than one pint of brandy with us, hence no spirits were issued to the

men, and the non-appearance of diseases of an inflammatory nature may

perhaps in some measure be attributed to this circumstance.

The opinion of Captain Wickham, R.N. commanding H.M. ship Beagle, is

perfectly in accordance with my own. He was upon the coast at the same

time that we were, and in a letter to me writes thus: "Our cruise has

been altogether a fortunate one, as we have been enabled to examine the

whole coast from Cape Villaret to this place (Port George the Fourth)

without any accident, and the climate is so good that we have had no

sick."

THERMOMETRICAL OBSERVATIONS. RAIN AND TEMPERATURE.

I have annexed a short statement of the weather and range of the

thermometer during some parts of the months of December, January, and

February. It will be seen from this that the heat was on some occasions

great, even as high as to 136 degrees of Fahrenheit in the sun; yet, by

not exposing ourselves to its influence in the heat of the day more than

we could help, we suffered no inconvenience from this circumstance:

indeed in other tropical countries where the heat has not been so great I

have suffered much more than I did in North-western Australia.

NUMBER OF DAYS IN WHICH RAIN FELL:

December: 6 days.

January: 19 days, namely, 12, to January 19th, 4 between 19th and 28th, 3

to end of month.

February: 7 days.

March: 12 days.

To 12th April: 2 days.

In January the greatest quantity of rain fell between the 15th and 30th,

accompanied by storms of thunder and lightning.

In February the greatest quantity of rain fell in the commencement of the

month. For several nights in the middle of February we had thunder,

lightning, and strong gusts of wind, seldom accompanied by rain.

In March the greatest quantity of rain fell from the 17th to the 23rd.

The mean temperature of the different periods of the day for the month of

December 1838 at Hanover Bay, determined by observations for only six

successive days from the 26th to the 31st inclusive (thermometer in the

shade) are as follows:

6 A.M. 82.2.

9 A.M. 85.3.

12 m. 91.3.

3 P.M. 90.2.

6 P.M. 85.8.

9 P.M. 83.5.

The same for the month of January 1838, determined by observations made

from the 1st to the 19th inclusive, was:

6 A.M. 78.2.

9 A.M. 84.3.

12 M. 83.1.

3 P.M. 85.7.

6 P.M. 80.7.

9 P.M. 83.4.

I should observe that the mean temperature for 9 P.M. for this month is

deduced from only seven days observation.

The same as the above for the month of February, taken twelve miles to

the south of Hanover Bay, from the 19th to the 26th February inclusive,

is as follows:

6 A.M. 77.0.

9 A.M. 86.0.

12 A.M. 92.7.

3 P.M. 94.0.

6 P.M. 83.3.

ABORIGINES, THEIR HABITS AND MANNERS.

I was never fortunate enough to succeed in obtaining a friendly interview

with the natives of these parts; but I have repeatedly seen them closely,

was twice forced into dispute with them and, in one of these instances,

into deadly conflict. My knowledge of them is chiefly drawn from what I

have observed of their haunts, their painted caves, and drawings. I have

moreover become acquainted with several of their weapons, some of their

ordinary implements, and I took some pains to study their disposition and

habits as far as I could.

In their manner of life, their roving habits, their weapons, and mode of

hunting, they closely resemble the other Australian tribes with which I

have since become pretty intimately acquainted; whilst in their form and

appearance there is a striking difference. They are in general very tall

and robust, and exhibit in their legs and arms a fine full development of

muscle which is unknown to the southern races.

They wear no clothes, and their bodies are marked by scars and wales.

They seem to have no regular mode of dressing their hair, this appearing

to depend entirely on individual taste or caprice.

They appear to live in tribes subject, perhaps, to some individual

authority; and each tribe has a sort of capital, or headquarters, where

the women and children remain whilst the men, divided into small parties,

hunt and shoot in different directions. The largest number we saw

together amounted to nearly two hundred, women and children included.

THEIR WEAPONS AND IMPLEMENTS.

Their arms consist of stone-headed spears (which they throw with great

strength and precision) of throwing sticks, boomerangs or kileys, clubs,

and stone hatchets. The dogs they use in hunting I have already stated to

be of a kind unknown in other parts of Australia, and they were never

seen wild by us.

The natives manufacture their water-buckets and weapons very neatly; and

make from the bark of a tree a light but strong cord. Their huts, of

which I only saw those on the sea-coast, are constructed in an oval form

of the boughs of trees, and are roofed with dry reeds. The diameter of

one which I measured was about fourteen feet at the base.

LANGUAGE.

Their language is soft and melodious, so much so as to lead to the

inference that it differs very materially, if not radically, from the

more southern Australian dialects which I have since had an opportunity

of enquiring into. Their gesticulation is expressive, and their bearing

manly and noble. They never speared a horse or sheep belonging to us and,

judging by the degree of industry shown in the execution of some of their

paintings, the absence of anything offensive in the subjects delineated,

and the careful finish of some articles of common use, I should infer

that under proper treatment they might easily be raised very considerably

in the scale of civilization.

INDIVIDUALS OF AN ALIEN WHITE RACE.

A remarkable circumstance is the presence amongst them of a race, to

appearance, totally different, and almost white, who seem to exercise no

small influence over the rest. I am forced to believe that the distrust

evinced towards strangers arose from these persons, as in both instances,

when we were attacked, the hostile party was led by one of these

light-coloured men.

SIMILARITY OF CUSTOMS WITH OTHER AUSTRALIAN TRIBES.

Captain King, who had previously experienced the same feelings of

ill-will in the natives of Vansittart Bay, attributed them to the

periodical visits of the Malays during the season of the trepang fishery.

He says (volume 1 page 320):

On this beach (of Vansittart Bay) we found a broken earthen pot, which

decidedly proved the fact of the Malays visiting this part of the coast,

and explained the mischievous disposition of the natives.

...

I saw but three men of this fair race myself, and thought they closely

resembled Malays; some of my men observed a fourth.

NATIVES AT ROEBUCK BAY.

An individual differing in appearance and colour from his aboriginal

associates was also seen amongst a native tribe whilst the boats of the

Beagle were surveying in Roebuck Bay, and is thus ably described by Mr.

Usberne, the master of the vessel; who was in command of the boat at the

time he was observed, and who thus narrates the interview:*

(*Footnote. Nautical Magazine for 1840 page 576.)

To prevent interruption during dinner the things were removed to the

boat, and she was then shoved a few yards off the beach, and we commenced

our repast.

As we took to the water they (the natives) rose and followed us close;

but in the act of shoving off, the boat-hook being pointed over the bow,

they one and all involuntarily stepped back a couple of paces, thinking

no doubt that it was one of our spears, which to them must have appeared

a formidable weapon; but, seeing no harm was intended, they remained at

the water's edge, watching us whilst at dinner.

At this time I had a good opportunity of examining them. They were about

the middle age, about five feet six inches to five feet nine in height,

broad shoulders, with large heads and overhanging brows; but it was not

remarked that any of their teeth were wanting (as we afterwards observed

in others); their legs were long and very slight, and their only covering

a bit of grass suspended round the loins. There was an exception in the

youngest, who appeared of an entirely different race: his skin was a

copper colour, whilst 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. They were

each armed with one, and some with two, spears, and pieces of stick about

eight feet long and pointed at both ends. It was used after the manner of

the Pacific Islanders, and the throwing-stick so much in use by the

natives of the south did not appear known to them.

After talking loud, and using very extravagant gestures, without any of

our party replying, the youngest threw a stone, which fell close to the

boat.

...

COINCIDENCE OF CUSTOMS.

It appears to me very probable that the same dark-coloured race inhabit

the whole of Northern Australia, and perhaps extend over the islands in

Torres Strait.

In order to support this opinion I shall first give an extract from the

journal of Dr. Duncan, from Wilson's Voyage round the World, page 148,

which contains a detail of the customs of Flinders Islands and part of

Northern Australia, and displays two or three remarkable customs

coinciding with those observed by myself and others to exist in Northwest

Australia:

At 8 hours 40 minutes P.M. the colonial brig Mary arrived, bringing along

with her a native of India, whom she picked up on one of Flinders

Islands.

On the 18th July the Lascar came on board the Success, and from him I

learned the following particulars: That he belonged to the ship Fame,

which was wrecked in the Straits; that he and a few others escaped in a

leaky boat after rowing for forty-eight hours. On landing the natives

stripped them of their clothes, etc., but otherwise behaved very kindly

to them. His companions in misfortune died the first year of his

residence amongst the natives, which in all amounted, he said, to six or

seven years.

The men in that part of Australia have from five to ten wives, of whom

they are rather jealous at times. The tribes are continually at war with

one another, and have regular pitched battles; but the moment that one is

killed on either side, the battle ceases, until they carry off their

dead, and mourn for certain days, according to their custom; bedaubing

themselves over with black earth, and on another day the fight begins and

ends in a similar way.

...

DISPOSAL OF THEIR DEAD.

This is singularly analogous to what occurred on our encounter with them

on the 11th February. Dr. Duncan continues:

When one dies or is killed they bury the body in the earth, but at the

end of five days dig it up again and wrap up the bones, etc., in bark of

trees, and carry them along with them. When the women fight, which is

very often, they use a short kind of club. The natives paint their bodies

over with red clay to prevent the mosquitoes from biting them. When they

paint their bodies white it is a sign of war with some other tribe.

...

A very remarkable instance of coincidence in this custom with regard to

the dead will be found in a subjoined extract from a letter sent to me by

an officer of the Beagle, together with a skeleton which he had found at

Cygnet Bay. The skeleton has been presented to the Royal College of

Surgeons:

The skeleton was found enveloped in three pieces of papyrus bark, on a

small sandy point in Cygnet Bay. All the bones were closely packed

together, and the head surmounted the whole. It did not appear to have

been long interred. They had evidently been packed with care. All the

long bones were undermost, and the small ones were strewed in among them.

The head was resting on its base, face across.

Three natives were close to the place when we first landed: the eldest of

the party went up to the spot immediately after I had removed the bones;

he turned up the bark with his foot, and did not appear to show the

slightest symptom of uneasiness. They were for some days among the

watering party on very friendly terms.

...

CAVES. DRAWINGS. TOMBS.

As I never, during my subsequent travels in Australia, saw anything at

all resembling the painted caves which I have described in the ninth

chapter, I shall here add some observations on the subject, which I could

not have there detailed without too great an interruption to the

narrative.

Two other instances of Australian caves which contain paintings have been

recorded. The first is by Captain Flinders and the second by Mr.

Cunningham in King's voyage.

PAINTINGS AT CHASM ISLAND.

The caves found by Flinders were in Chasm Island, in the Gulf of

Carpentaria, and are thus described:*

In the steep sides of the chasms were deep holes or caverns undermining

the cliffs; upon the walls of which I found rude drawings, made with

charcoal, and something like red paint, upon the white ground of the

rock. These drawings represented porpoises, turtles, kangaroos, and a

human hand; and Mr. Westall, who went afterwards to see them, found the

representation of a kangaroo, with a file of thirty-two persons following

after it. The third person of the band was twice the height of the

others, and held in his hand something resembling the waddy or wooden

sword of the natives of Port Jackson.

(*Footnote. Flinders' Voyages volume 2 page 158.)

...

PAINTINGS AT CLACK'S ISLAND.*

(*Footnote. North-east coast of Australia.)

The second instance is taken from Mr. Cunningham's manuscripts and is

contained in the following extract:*

The south and south-eastern extremes of Clack's Island presented a steep,

rocky bluff, thinly covered with small trees. I ascended the steep head,

which rose to an elevation of a hundred and eighty feet above the sea.

The remarkable structure of the geological features of this islet led me

to examine the south-east part, which was the most exposed to the

weather, and where the disposition of the strata was of course more

plainly developed. The base is a coarse, granular, siliceous sandstone,

in which large pebbles of quartz and jasper are imbedded: this stratum

continues for sixteen to twenty feet above the water: for the next ten

feet there is a horizontal stratum of black schistose rock which was of

so soft a consistence that the weather had excavated several tiers of

galleries; upon the roof and sides of which some curious drawings were

observed, which deserve to be particularly described. They were executed

on a ground of red ochre (rubbed on the black schistus) and were

delineated by dots of a white argillaceous earth, which had been worked

up into a paste. They represented tolerable figures of sharks, porpoises,

turtles, lizards (of which I saw several small ones among the rocks)

trepang, starfish, clubs, canoes, water gourds, and some quadrupeds,

which were probably intended to represent kangaroos and dogs. The

figures, besides being outlined by the dots, were decorated all over with

the same pigment in dotted transverse belts. Tracing a gallery round to

windward, it brought me to a commodious cave or recess, overhung by a

portion of the schistus, sufficiently large to shelter twenty natives

whose recent fire places appeared on the projecting area of the cave.

Many turtles' heads were placed on the shelves or niches of the

excavation, amply demonstrative of the luxurious and profuse mode of life

these outcasts of society had, at a period rather recently, followed. The

roof and sides of this snug retreat were also entirely covered with the

uncouth figures I have already described.

As this is the first specimen of Australian taste in the fine arts that

we have detected in these voyages it became me to make a particular

observation thereon: Captain Flinders had discovered figures on Chasm

Island, in the Gulf of Carpentaria, formed with a burnt stick; but this

performance, exceeding a hundred and fifty figures, which must have

occupied much time, appears at least to be one step nearer refinement

than those simply executed with a piece of charred wood. Immediately

above this schistose is a superincumbent mass of sandstone which appeared

to form the upper structure of the island.

(*Footnote. King's Australia volume 2 page 25.)

...

PAINTINGS IN THE YORK DISTRICT.

There is a third instance of a cave with a figure in it in the district

of York, in the settlement of Swan River; but in this case the species of

circle which is drawn on the cave, or rather scraped into it with a piece

of stone, may represent anything or nothing; in fact it is no more than

any idle or thoughtless savage might have executed, without any fixed

design whatever. The only other vestige of drawing contained in the cave

is evidently the mere impression of a hand, which has been rubbed over

with the red paint with which the natives are in the constant habit of

bedaubing themselves, and has then been pressed in on the wall.

NATIVE TRADITIONS.

I had been told that the natives had some very curious traditions current

amongst them with regard to this last cave and, after having visited it

and satisfied myself that there was no analogy between it and the caves

on the north-west continent of Australia, I set about collecting some of

the native stories that related to it. These legends nearly all agreed in

one point, that originally the moon, who was a man, had lived there; but

beyond this there was nothing common to them all, for every narrator

indulged his own powers of invention to the greatest possible degree,

scarcely ever relating the same story twice, but on each occasion

inventing a new tradition; and the amount of marvels and wonders which he

unfolded in this revelation were exactly proportioned to the quantity of

food which I promised to give him. I once or twice charged them with

attempting to impose upon my credulity and, far from denying the charge,

they only laughed and said, "that was a very good thing which they told

me, and that the Djanga (white men) liked it very much."

COLOURS USED IN PAINTING.

In the painted caves on the north-western coasts five colours were used:

red, several shades; yellow; blue; black, and white. With the exception

of blue these colours are all known to the natives of the whole

continent. The red they either dig up from the earth, fit for use, in the

form of red earthy pebbles, or they find it in the form of a brilliant

yellow clay, which they beat, clean, and dry, leaving it exposed to the

air for several days, when they bake it in a bark basket, and then, if

the clay is good and it has been well prepared and burnt, it is nearly as

bright as vermilion. In some parts of the continent however no good clay

can be found; and in this case, at their annual fair, where they meet to

exchange certain commodities only locally produced, this brilliant red

ochre is considered a very valuable article of traffic.

Yellow they obtain from several sources: the most common is the yellow

clay from which the red is afterwards produced, but they also procure it

from a stone which is traversed by veins of yellow earth; from the

interior of the nest of a species of ant which collects a yellow dust;

and from a sort of fungus from which a similar dust is also obtained.

The black is nothing but finely pounded charcoal.

The white is a very fine greasy species of pipe-clay, common all over

Australia, and which they use either wet or dry.

How the blue colour used in the caves on the north-west was obtained I do

not know; it is very dark and brilliant, and closely resembles the colour

obtained from the seed-vessel of a plant very common there, and which, on

being broken, yields a few drops of a brilliant blue liquid. I therefore

imagined that it was procured from this source.

AGE AND MOTIVE OF DRAWINGS.

With regard to the age of these paintings we had no clue whatever to

guide us. It is certain that they may have been very ancient, for,

although the colours were composed of such perishable materials, they

were all mixed with a resinous gum, insoluble in water, and, no doubt,

when thus prepared, they would be capable of resisting, for a long

period, the usual atmospheric causes of decay. The painting which

appeared to me to have been the longest executed was the one clothed in

the long red dress, but I came to this conclusion solely from its state

of decay and dilapidation, and these may possibly have misled me very

much; but, whatever may have been the age of these paintings, it is

scarcely probable that they could have been executed by a self-taught

savage. Their origin therefore I think must still be open to conjecture.

But the art and skill with which some of the figures are drawn, and the

great effect which has been produced by such simple means, renders it

most probable that these paintings must have been executed with the

intention of exercising an influence upon the fears and superstitious

feelings of the ignorant and barbarous natives: for such a purpose they

are indeed well calculated; and I think that an attentive examination of

the arrangement of the figures we first discovered, more particularly of

that one over the entrance of the cave, will tend considerably to bear

out the conclusion I have here advanced.

SINGULARITY REGARDING THEM.

It is a singularity worthy of remark that the drawings we found in the

vicinity of the coast were nothing but the rudest scratches; that they

gradually improved until we reached the farthest point we attained from

the sea; and that it was in the vicinity of this point that some of the

best productions were found.

CHAPTER 12. PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY. COMMERCIAL PROSPECTS.

PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY. MOUNTAIN RANGES.

The most remarkable geographical feature in North-Western Australia is a

high range of mountains running north-north-east and south-south-west,

named by me Stephen's Range after James Stephen, Esquire, Under-Secretary

of State for the Colonies. From this primary range several branches are

thrown off: 1. One between Roe's River on the north and Prince Regent's

River on the south. 2. Macdonald's Range that throws off streams to

Prince Regent's River on the north and to Glenelg River on the south. 3.

Whateley's Range which gives forth streams to Glenelg River on the north,

and to the low country behind Collier's Bay and Dampier's Land on the

south.

These branch ranges as well as the principal one are all composed of

ancient sandstone, deposited in nearly horizontal strata, or of basaltic

rocks which are only visible in certain places, and are most fully

developed in that part of Stephen's Range which lies behind Collier's

Bay, and in the low ground near Glenelg River.

With the extent of Stephen's Range I am unacquainted; but I have no doubt

that the high land whence the Fitzroy River takes its rise is merely an

under-feature again thrown off from it, and which I propose to call

Wickham's Range after Captain Wickham, R.N., the discoverer of the

Fitzroy.

We may form some idea of the limits of Stephen's Range in a north and

east direction from the following passage extracted from Captain King's

survey of these coasts:*

Lacrosse Island is situated in the entrance of a deep opening trending to

the south-south-west towards some steep, rugged hills. The character of

the country is here entirely changed. Irregular ranges of detached rocky

hills of sandstone formation, very slightly clothed with small shrubs and

rising abruptly from extensive plains of low, level land, seem to have

superseded the low wooded coasts that almost uninterruptedly prevails

between this and Cape Wessel, a distance of more than six hundred miles!

(*Footnote. King's Australia volume 1 page 291.)

...

It appears therefore that this main range contains within it the sources

of Roe's River, Prince Regent's and Glenelg Rivers, most probably the

Fitzroy, and those that run into Cambridge Gulf and perhaps others that

have their embouchures between this last and Admiralty Gulf.

From an accident having occurred to the only barometer we could carry

with us I am unable to state the elevation of the highest land we reached

above the level of the sea; but the appearance of the country on the

coast does not give the impression of any very elevated ground existing

near it. This however is owing to the great height of the shore cliffs

and the gradual rise of the land towards the interior. The following

observations, made with the barometer before it was broken, will show

however that the altitude of the country at no great distance from the

coast is considerable.

MACDONALD'S RANGE.

Our first encampment was on the banks of a small river at a spot 2,640

feet from the sea. This river ran through a deep and narrow valley,

descending with a nearly regular slope from a tableland of sandstone, in

which it took its rise about seven miles inland. At this encampment the

height of the bed of the river above the level of the sea was 188.76

feet, as found by the mean of several very accordant observations, which,

at the same average slope, gives an elevation of about 377 feet for the

height of a spot on its banks distant only one mile from the sea; and if

we conceive the average increase of elevation to the sandstone tableland

to be only 200 feet in every mile (and I believe it to have been more) we

shall have 1400 feet for the elevation of the tableland which formed one

of the highest parts of Macdonald's Range.

ELEVATION OF HILLS.

After passing across this range we again descended rapidly into the low

country, the face of which is much broken by conical hills composed of

basalt. The heights of some of these hills above their base, which had a

considerable elevation above the sea level, were in three instances as

follows:

February 28.

The measured height of a hill above its base was 331 feet.

March 4.

Measured the altitude of a hill above its base and found it to be 222

feet.

March 8.

Measured the altitude of a hill above its base and found it to be 229.5

feet.

None of these hills had apparently near so great an elevation as the

sandstone range of which they were under-features. At this period our

barometer was unfortunately broken. We now proceeded up the banks of the

Glenelg and arrived at many hills and conical peaks, apparently much

higher than those I had measured; yet on afterwards passing the river and

attaining the summit of the opposite sandstone range, we looked down upon

them as hills of far inferior elevation to those on which we stood. From

this circumstance, and from the very perceptible change of temperature we

experienced, I should think the altitude of the farthest point of

Stephen's Range which we reached must have been 2,500 or 3,000 feet above

the sea.

CHARACTER OF THE RIVERS.

The rivers in North-western Australia much resemble in character those of

the south-eastern parts of the continent. They rise at no very great

distance from the sea. Near their sources they are mountain torrents, but

in the lowlands they become generally streams with slow currents, winding

through fertile and extensive valleys or plains which are liable to

sudden and terrific inundations, caused, I conceive, by the rain which

falls in that part of the mountains where the rivers take their rise; for

at one period, when we had our encampment on the bank of the small stream

near the sea at Hanover Bay, I was myself distant about fourteen miles in

the interior in the direction of its source, where we had heavy rain; and

on my return I found that the party at the station had been surprised by

a sudden rising of the water for which there was no apparent cause as

there had been no rain where they were.

The Glenelg River, in like manner, is subject to sweeping inundations,

rising sometimes to the height of fourteen to fifteen feet above its

usual level, as was evinced by the weeds and other substances we saw in

the trees on its banks.

To show that these are characteristics of the Fitzroy River I shall quote

the authority of Captain Wickham from a letter addressed to me just

before our meeting at Hanover Bay:

It (the Fitzroy) appears to be very similar to the rivers on the

south-east side of New Holland, subject to dreadful inundations, caused

by heavy floods in the interior, and in no way connected with the rainy

season on the coast. Our visit to it being in February and March,

immediately after the rainy season on the coast, without our seeing any

indication of a recent flooding, although there were large trunks of

trees and quantities of grass and weeds lying on the bank and suspended

from the branches of trees from ten to twelve feet above the level of the

river. The bed is entirely of sand.

...

INUNDATIONS.

It will be clearly seen how nearly this corresponds with what we observed

about the same season on the banks of the Glenelg. I have therefore

little doubt that the Fitzroy takes its origin from the same mountain

chain, and that the inundations described by Captain Wickham originate in

the causes which I have here assigned.

To demonstrate more clearly the similarity of character of these rivers

with those of New South Wales I shall quote two passages from the British

Colonies of Mr. Montgomery Martin, regarding the Hawkesbury and Hunter

Rivers of that colony:

The Hawkesbury, which is a continuation of the Nepean River, after the

junction of the latter with a considerable stream, called the Grose,

issues from a remarkable cleft in the Blue Mountains in the vicinity of

the beautiful town of Richmond, about forty miles from Sydney. Along the

base of these mountains the Hawkesbury flows in a northerly direction,

fed by numerous tributary mountain torrents, descending from narrow

gorges, which, after heavy rains, cause the Hawkesbury to rise and

overflow its banks as it approaches the sea. In one instance it rose near

the town of Windsor ninety-seven feet above its ordinary level. Volume 4

page 257.

Again he says, page 258:

Hunter's River, about seventy miles to the northward of Port Jackson,

disembogues into the sea at the harbour of Newcastle.

There are three branches to the Hunter, called the upper, the lower, and

the middle: the two former are navigable for boats for about 120 miles,

and the latter for about 200 miles; but the branches are all subject to

sudden and terrific inundations owing to the rapid descent of torrents

from the Blue Mountains.

...

MOUTH OF THE GLENELG.

In concluding my remarks on the rivers of the north-west I should state

that Mr. Stokes, the surveyor of the Beagle, after a careful examination

of the coast did not succeed in finding the mouth of the Glenelg; and he

imagines that it has several openings, consisting of large mangrove

creeks, which fall into Stokes Bay; whilst it is my impression that it

will be found to run out somewhere between Camden Sound and Collier's

Bay, and that by some accidental circumstance its mouth was missed. That

it joins the sea in a considerable body I should infer from a shoal of

porpoises having been seen high up the river, and from the rise and fall

of tide, which was twenty feet at the direct distance of thirty miles

from the coast.

VALLEYS.

The valleys in this country are of two kinds: those which are almost

ravines, bordered on each side by nearly inaccessible cliffs; and valleys

of great width, bordered by fertile plains, often extensive, and which

occur where the basaltic rocks are developed; although ravines of this

formation are also of frequent occurrence in the mountainous parts.

CHARACTER OF THE VALLEYS. SOIL.

The soil found in the valleys of the former kind is extremely rich, but

they are all subject to very heavy inundations. As an example of this

kind of valley I may cite the one in which we first encamped. Its mean

width was only 147 feet, and the rocky precipitous cliffs at half a mile

from the sea rose above their base 138 feet. These deep valleys

undoubtedly afford water at all seasons of the year.

The sandstone formation is intersected in all directions by valleys of

this kind, which are seldom more than from two to three miles apart,

while the top of the range between them is a tableland, divided by

lateral valleys and gently rising towards the interior. Seawards they all

terminate in saltwater creeks, having the same narrow, rocky, and

precipitous character as they present themselves.

These tablelands afford good timber, particularly pine. Sheep thrive upon

the food there produced, but we found goats did not answer so well.

The richest land in this part of the country is found in the valleys of

the second class. The streams flowing through these valleys have

generally almost imperceptible currents and often form wide reaches. The

land upon their margins is thinly wooded; and I have often seen exposed

fine vegetable mould of ten or twelve feet in thickness, through which

these streams had worn their way. Good examples of this kind of valley

are those through which run the Fitzroy and Glenelg rivers.

The northern banks of Prince Regent's River I conceive to offer no

inducement whatever for the formation of a settlement, the whole of the

country in that direction, as far as I have seen, consisting entirely of

sandstone ridges. These ridges are continually intersected by valleys, or

rather ravines of great fertility, but they are so narrow, and the good

land contained in them is so very limited in extent, that from the first

moment of the establishment of a colony here the individuals composing it

must necessarily be scattered over a large space of country. They would

thus be separated from one another by considerable intervals, which

separation would not only render them more liable to disagreements with

the natives, but would for many other reasons be highly detrimental to

the interests of an infant colony.

The same objection holds good with regard to the south bank of this

river, as far as the longitude of 125 degrees 3 minutes east, and even

after passing this point the land immediately bordering the river is of

the same sterile character; however a creek which trends nearly south

runs up from thence into one of the most fertile countries I have ever

seen.

HARBOURS.

The coastline to the south of Prince Regent's River is indented, as shown

upon Captain King's chart, by numerous deep bays, many of which afford

excellent anchorage; indeed I believe that there is no other part of the

world in which an example occurs of three such fine harbours as Port

George the Fourth, Hanover Bay, and Camden Sound, lying so close to one

another.

These harbours alone render this a point of considerable consequence to

Great Britain; but when viewed in connexion with the fine tract of

country lying behind them its importance is very materially increased.

COMMERCIAL ADVANTAGES.

Should this part of Australia be found eligible for colonization its

commercial importance is well worthy of consideration.

PRODUCTIONS SUITED FOR CULTIVATION. COTTON TRADE.

The cultivated productions for the growth of which the country and

climate seem best adapted are cotton, sugar, indigo, and rice.

A species of cotton plant grows wild in the greatest abundance, and if a

colony was established and the proper cotton-plant introduced the

following advantages would be obtained:

Great Britain would possess in Northern Australia a colony standing in

the same relation to her manufacturies for cotton that her colonies in

the south do to her wool-market.

This colony would also form a sort of entrepot to which the manufactured

cotton would again be exported for the purpose of sale in the islands of

the Indian Archipelago or its vicinity, and other parts where we have at

present no trade, and where printed cottons now are, and from the nature

of these countries must constantly be, in great demand.

Thus a fresh supply of cotton for our markets would be obtained, which,

coming from an English colony, would give employment to British vessels

alone, and the industry of our manufacturers would be called into

operation by an entirely new market for cotton goods being thrown open to

them, in which the demand for these articles is far greater than the

supply could be for many years.

ARTICLES OF EXPORT.

The natural productions that are at present found in North-west Australia

and might be available for exportation consist chiefly of timber, gum,

lichens, and mimosa bark; all of which are abundant, and might be

collected with a trifling degree of labour.

There are many varieties of useful timber. Among others, pine, fit for

the purposes either of building or making spars for vessels, is abundant

and good, and could be readily and cheaply exported if they were cut in

the vicinity of the streams and floated down to the sea in the rainy

season, whereby all land carriage would be avoided.

I sent to England specimens of five different gums in order that they

might be examined. These consist of an elastic gum, closely resembling

Indian rubber, gum tragacynth, another gum yielded by a sort of capparis

and which I believe to be hitherto unknown, and two kinds of gum resin.

The mosses are of various kinds, many of which would afford useful dyes;

and these, together with the gums, would probably be found valuable

articles of export; for the collecting of them is a species of labour in

which the native tribes would more willingly engage than any other I am

acquainted with.

Immediately off North-West Cape is good whaling ground. The schooner

employed on the expedition fell in with two vessels--the Favourite,

Captain White, and the Diana, Captain Hamott, whalers belonging to

Messrs. Bennett & Co., of London, and then fishing between North-West

Cape and the position usually assigned to the Tryal Rocks. Both these

vessels had been very successful.

COMMERCIAL PROSPECTS. TRADE WITH THE ASIATIC ARCHIPELAGO.

With regard to the commerce that might be carried on by Northern

Australia with the islands of the Indian Archipelago I have made many

enquiries, and have gained from the most authentic sources some important

facts.

The points upon which I first endeavoured to obtain information were:

1. What desire was evinced by the inhabitants of the islands of the

Indian Archipelago and the China Sea to become possessed of articles of

British manufacture; and,

2. If they were able to pay a fair price, either in money, or by giving

goods for which there would be a demand in European markets, in exchange

for such articles of British manufacture as might be introduced amongst

them.

Upon both of these points I received very satisfactory information. In

some instances most respectable merchants detailed to me the result of

speculations of this kind in which they had been engaged; in others

mercantile letters were placed in my hands, fully corroborating what had

been told me; but the information I thus obtained bore reference also to

the following points:

1. The degree of labour necessarily required to transport articles of

British manufacture to such a distant mart as the one here contemplated

for their consumption.

2. The length of time during which wages must be paid to and food

provided for the individuals engaged in this labour.

3. The duties to which the articles will become liable in the various

ports; and,

4. The danger of loss or injury that may be incurred in their transport

thither.

With regard to the two first of the above heads it appears that the

profit that may be realized by the trader is so considerable as not only

to cover the expenses that they would necessarily entail upon him; but

after these expenses have been defrayed the residue of profit that would

remain in his hands would be so large as to render this commerce one of

the most lucrative in which capital could be embarked.

METHOD OF BARTER.

This will be readily conceived when it is considered that the mode of

barter is that which is most usual amongst the inhabitants, and that the

trader puts his own valuation upon the articles he exchanges with them.

One of the oldest and most respectable merchants at the Cape made a

voyage through these islands for the purpose of procuring gold dust, and

he detailed to me the mode in which he conducted the traffic. A Spanish

doubloon was placed in one of the scales, and gold dust in the other;

when the quantity of gold dust was equal in weight to the doubloon, he

gave a doubloon's worth of goods they required, at his own valuation; the

profit realized was large.

One great drawback to this commerce at present is the necessity of

coasting from place to place in order to obtain a full cargo. The same

inconvenience was felt along the coasts of Africa and Madagascar until

some enterprising London and Liverpool mercantile houses established the

system of receiving vessels, which remained stationary at one point

whilst smaller vessels collected cargoes for them. Now a colony in some

northern part of Australia would in the same manner totally obviate this

inconvenience by affording a place in which cargoes could be collected

from small vessels, and to which the British manufactures to be exchanged

could be brought. Kupang in Timor at the present moment is used for this

purpose by the Dutch.

DUTIES LEVIED AT THE ISLANDS.

With regard to the third point I find that at the native ports, in

general, no duty is required; but where there is a Rajah it is politic to

make him a present in goods. The duties levied by the Portuguese at Dili

in the month of June 1838 was 10 per cent. With regard to the duties

levied by the Dutch on British merchant vessels I know but little; but

the duty demanded at Kupang and Roti on each horse exported, or each

musket imported, was six rupees, being almost equal to their original

value. Arms or ammunition are no longer contraband either in the Dutch or

Portuguese possessions.

In considering the danger of loss or injury that may be incurred in the

transport of merchandise to these parts it is unnecessary to compute the

ordinary dangers to which the merchant is more or less liable in all

quarters of the world; but two distinct drawbacks to commercial

enterprise at present exist in these countries, which are peculiar to

them, these are the prevalence of piracy, and the constant occurrence of

political commotions in the native states. The establishment of a

settlement on the north or north-west coast of New Holland would have

however the effect of diminishing both these evils in so great a degree

that a very few years would probably suffice for their complete

annihilation.

SUCCESS OF AMERICAN VESSELS. CAUSES OF IT.

Notwithstanding the drawbacks occasioned to commercial enterprise by the

circumstances above detailed, there at this moment exists a very

considerable trade in the Indian Archipelago, which is, with the

exception of the few vessels that sometimes bring ponies to the Isle of

France and the British settlements, almost wholly in the hands of the

Americans. Indeed no fact which I have met with has so much surprised me

as the extraordinary diffusion of the American commerce, and the great

spirit of enterprise exhibited by them. For in many places where the

British merchants can find no commerce apparently worth their attention

the Americans carry on a lucrative and prosperous trade, and in

half-civilized countries, where the largest profits are always realized,

the Americans are so eminently successful that the British merchant

cannot attempt to compete with them.

This appears to arise from the following circumstance. The masters of the

American vessels engaged in this kind of trade are, in many instances,

whole, and in all other instances, part owners of the vessel and cargo;

whereas masters of English vessels have frequently little or no interest

in the vessel and cargo, and are moreover frequently tied down by

directions issued from the firm for which they act.

The difference between these two cases is very great; the American can

turn every circumstance that occurs to account: he can instantly enter

into any speculation that holds out a prospect of success; and can act

with rapidity and decision on his own responsibility. The English master,

on the contrary, has usually a certain prescribed line of duty to fulfil,

from which he cannot vary.

Hence it is that we often see the American whalers with arms, ammunition,

and other articles for barter on board. They whale off Madagascar, and,

whenever an opportunity offers, carry on a lucrative trade with the

natives. From thence their course is directed to St. Paul's and

Amsterdam, and afterwards along the coast of New Holland; and when it

again becomes necessary for them to refresh they touch at some island in

the Archipelago, and the scene of barter is once more renewed. Their

cargo eventually consists of sperm oil, gum copal and other gums, ebony,

tortoiseshell, gold dust, seal-skins, shells, and curiosities; yet they

originally started upon a whaling voyage.

INSTANCES.

During the years 1824 and 1825, when the port of Mombas upon the East

Coast of Africa was temporarily ceded to the British Government,

Lieutenant Emery, R.N., who was stationed there as commander, was witness

to a curious instance of this nature.

Whilst this port was in the possession of the English but one British

merchant vessel arrived there, yet three American vessels entered the

harbour. The master of the English vessel was not a part owner; the

American masters were all part owners and carried on a very lucrative

trade, shipping a large quantity of ivory, whereas the English master was

placed in a very unpleasant position, for, owing to the orders he had

received from his owners (Messrs Tobin and Co. of Liverpool) he had not

been able to ship a cargo suited to the market of Mombas, and if

Lieutenant Emery had not kindly cashed a bill for him the speculation

would have been a total failure.

The cargo these American vessels brought to Mombas was principally

muskets and ammunition, which they bartered with the natives for ivory;

and this is the cargo they always ship for trade with the inhabitants of

the Indian Archipelago, and, as muskets and ammunition are there of great

value, the profit they realize is enormous.

As an instance of the kind of persons these American masters often are I

may state the following circumstance.

Captain Wickham, R.N., was at Valparaiso in South America in the year

1836, where he met a purser in the American navy who had realized about

3000 pounds sterling; this person here quitted the American service and

laid out his capital in the purchase of a small vessel in which, having

embarked a cargo suited to the trade of the country, he started for the

coast of California; in a short period he returned to Valparaiso, having

in this single trip more than doubled his capital; this Captain Wickham

also stated was by no means a rare instance.

TRADING PRODUCTS OF THE SEVERAL ISLANDS.

Having bestowed some attention on the state of trade in the Indian

Archipelago, and collected considerable information from various

individuals who had been engaged in it, I shall here subjoin a summary of

such of the principal facts as I think may be depended on.

TRADE WITH TIMOR.

In all the ports of the natives, as well as those under the Dutch and

Portuguese authorities, the produce is much the same. It consists chiefly

of goats, pigs, poultry, maize, paddy, yams, plantains, fruit,

sandalwood, beeswax, and tortoiseshell in small quantities.

At Dili duties of 10 per cent are exacted and produce is rather dear.

Sandalwood is to be had at from 2 to 4 dollars the picul of 125 catties;

wax is generally from 30 to 35 dollars (Spanish) the picul of 110

catties.

The ports of Timor furnish a little gold dust at times. Good water and

firewood are to be had at most of them; that of Dili is a good and safe

one.

Gold dust, I understand, is also procurable at Sandalwood Island and New

Hebrides.

For vessels the good season on the coast is from about the 10th of April

to the 15th of October.

Cootababa affords horses and all the produce of the other places. No

duties are levied here, the place not being subject to the Portuguese. It

is a small port and should be entered with caution.

The best ports of Timor for wax are Dili, Cootababa, Ocussi, Sitranny,

Nilow, and Manatronto. It is gathered in June, cleaned in July, and sold

principally in that and the two following months; but a vessel should be

active, as enterprising people go along the coast and buy it up for the

Kupang merchants, who send it to Batavia where it is said to sell for 120

rupees the picul; the price at Cootababa, being lately about 80 rupees at

2 1/2 to the Spanish dollar.

Sandalwood can be had from March to October, the usual trading season;

but from March to May is the best time as vessels from Kupang and Macao

are on the coast early, buying it up in time to return to Macao and China

in the favourable monsoon. The best ports for sandalwood are, Cootababa,

Ocussi, and Sitranny, but it is to be had most abundantly at Ata-poopa.

ARTICLES IN REQUEST.

Spanish dollars, muskets, and gunpowder are the essentials for procuring

wax or sandalwood, but if you wish to have a greater assortment, small

quantities may be added of any articles from the following list.

Doubloons (Spanish).

Sovereigns (English).

blue cloth of Pondicherry of good quality.

ditto English (if cheap) of dark colour for officers.

white shirting or good calico for men and women.

handkerchiefs of colours and sorts.

white cotton stockings.

men and women's gown pieces of sorts and colours.

silk stockings, plain and ribbed.

shoes for men and women.

brandy, rum, gin, lead and flints.

quart-glass decanters, cruet stands, dress swords, wine glasses and

rummers, knives and forks, razors, needles, scissors, earrings,

bracelets, shawls of sorts, mock jewellery, sugar, soap, biscuits.

Bally and Surabaya are good places for rice, but more especially the

former, as it is to be had cheap, especially if bartered for opium. The

rice can be carried to Macao where a good price can always be obtained

for it.

Puloo, Batao, and Ocussi on the coast of Timor are good places for

obtaining tortoiseshell at all times, as well as the islands in front of

Timor, from October to December. The price is about 800 Spanish dollars

per picul in cash; but in exchange for blue or white cloth, powder, arms,

flint, etc., it would be obtained for much less.

Roti and Bally are both good places for ponies in exchange for cash or

goods.

The following is an account of our purchase and barter at the island of

Roti in January 1838:

10 horses for 10 muskets (old).

4 horses for 2 fowling-pieces (old).

9 horses for 27 1/2 rupees each.

3 mares for 22 rupees each.

8 sheep for an old regimental breastplate.

14 goats for a pair of pistols (old).

The duty on each horse was six rupees.

In Mr. Earle's translation of the account of the voyage of the Dutch

colonial brig Dourga, which, it is stated, left Amboyna May 26th 1825 and

visited the islands of Kissa, Lettee, Mon, Damma, Lakor, and Luan,* it is

said, in speaking of them:

The clothing of those who cannot obtain European or Indian cotton cloth

is pieces of prepared bark fastened round their waists.

The productions of these islands are sandalwood, beeswax, pearls,

tortoiseshell, trepang, edible birds' nests, Indian corn, rice,

vegetables, with abundance of livestock. As the use of money is scarcely

known these are only to be obtained by barter in exchange for cotton

cloths, brass wire, iron chopping knives, and coarse cutlery. The first

article, cotton cloth, is most in demand and M. Kolff suggests that a

European merchant might carry on an advantageous trade here. The value of

an ox is from 8 shillings and 4 pence to 10 shillings; of a sheep from 3

shillings and 4 pence to 5 shillings. Beeswax can be obtained in

abundance at Roma at the rate of 2 pounds 7 shillings per hundredweight.

The trade with the islands is carried on solely by natives, those of

Macassar, Amboyna, and the Arru Islands being the chief purchasers; and

Chinese brigs from Java occasionally visit Kissa.

(*Footnote. The Serwatty Islands to the east of Timor see the map of the

Asiatic Archipelago by Mr. John Arrowsmith.)

...

Geby, an island in the Gellola passage, has a fine harbour; a large

quantity of tortoiseshell can be obtained there for trade with the

natives. The Asia's Islands, lying a short distance to the northward, are

not inhabited but abound in turtle.

TRADE WITH THE ISLANDS OF THE ASIATIC ARCHIPELAGO.

The following points of information concerning the Indian Archipelago

were furnished by Captain Brodie, formerly in command of a Dutch vessel

of 326 tons:

In case of a necessity for repairing or coppering a vessel Surabaya is

the best place as it can be done well and cheap. Wood for ship-building

is abundant; and good carpenters can be had at the rate of 20 copper

doits per diem, that is to say, three men for a rupee a day.

The Malaccas are under Dutch government, of which Ternate forms a part.

It is said to be a good place to dispose of odds and ends,* and for

getting a little shell. It is also a good place for refreshments.

Banda is not so good a place to go to, if another is at hand, as it is

for a merchant vessel a strictly prohibited port. In fact the Spice

islands, or Malaccas, can be entered for water and refreshments.

At Timor (Kupang) you can get sandalwood, wax, and a little shell, but

dear.

At the north-east end of Celebes there are two other places, Monado and

Keema, where the best gormootip or black coir rope can be obtained at

about 7 rupees per picul. These two places are under the Dutch

government. Some little business might be done there: stock in particular

is cheap.

At the island of Ceram the inhabitants are said to be favourable to the

English, but Dutch vessels of war cruise often about there, and are very

jealous.

Bouton, a small island with a Rajah under Dutch protection, situate at

the south-east end of Celebes, and off the bay of Boni, is a place where

prows assemble and get vast quantities of shells and beche-de-mer. Nearly

all these prows proceed with their cargoes to Singapore for a Chinese

market.

Fine cattle are to be had at about four dollars a head at the town of

Bally, in the Straits of Allass, between Lombok and Sumbawa.

New Guinea produces good beeswax, pearls, tortoise-shell, trepang,

birds-of-paradise, etc.

(*Footnote. Another authority says: Tidore near Ternate is a good

friendly place. Articles for trade are looking-glasses of a better kind,

knives and forks, beads, watches, printed calicos, blue Pondicherry

cloth, Salimpores, arms, powder, flints, lead or shot, razors, scissors,

handkerchiefs; in return for which you may get pearls, pearl-shell,

tortoiseshell, birds-of-paradise, nutmegs, etc.)

...

FIELD FOR ENTERPRISE.

I shall conclude this subject with some remarks of Mr. John Sullivan.

R.N., a gentleman who possesses a vast fund of information regarding the

Indian Archipelago, and to whom I am indebted for many details regarding

its commerce. He says:

To suppose that the almost countless islands in the ocean before-named

(the Pacific) do not give many valuable articles, and particularly

tortoiseshell and pearl, would be no less an error than to doubt the

existence of the islands altogether.

No, the case is otherwise; and it is needless to say that in the quarter

alluded to there are already a few American merchants, who have

discovered by their China, whaling, and sealing voyages many sources of

wealth, and who are at this moment reaping rich rewards for their toil,

while 999 out of every thousand of the European world know nothing at all

about it. Nevertheless there is yet a vast field open to the speculator,

which must ever promise ample recompense for his confidence and outlay.

CHAPTER 13. AT SWAN RIVER.

PLAN FOR RETURNING TO THE NORTH-WEST COAST. WHY ABANDONED.

On arriving at the Mauritius I found that my stay would be unavoidably

protracted from the state of my wound, which the want of rest and

attention had prevented from healing during the expedition, whilst my men

were still suffering under the effects of the hardships and privations

they had recently been subjected to; my first step therefore was to

discharge the Lynher, and the next to consider a plan for future

operations.

The rivers Fitzroy and Glenelg, simultaneously discovered by Captain

Wickham and myself, although of considerable magnitude, were only

sufficient to account for the drainage of a small portion of the vast

continent of Australia, and this interesting question, far from being

placed in a clearer point of view by our expeditions, was if possible

involved in deeper obscurity than ever. I was therefore anxious to return

to the north-west coast and solve the mystery that still hung over those

regions; but, after considering various plans and suggestions, in which I

was kindly assisted by the advice and opinions of Sir William Nicolay,

then Governor of the Mauritius, I was induced to forego the intention of

proceeding again direct to the north-west, and to bend my course in the

first instance to Swan River. There I could consult Sir James Stirling,

the Governor, who had been instructed on our departure from England to

afford us every assistance; and, according to the means which could then

be obtained, I might either proceed again by sea to the vicinity of the

Glenelg or the Fitzroy; or, if a proper vessel and equipments could not

be had, I might endeavour to pass the range to the north-east of that

colony, ascertain the direction of the streams which must be thrown off

by it to the interior, and trace the main river into which they fell (if

such there was) to its outlet.

PROCEED TO SWAN RIVER.

I accordingly embarked my party and the stores in my possession at Port

Louis on the 21st August 1838, and arrived on the 18th September at Swan

River, where I lost no time in communicating my views to Sir James

Stirling, who concurred in the plan for returning to the north-west; and

it was arranged that as soon as the colonial vessel Champion, then absent

on a voyage to St. George's Sound, should come back to the Swan, it

should be prepared for the conveyance to Camden Bay of myself and party,

reinforced by such additional persons as might feel disposed to proceed

there at their own cost for speculative purposes.

RETURN TO THE NORTH-WEST FRUSTRATED.

It was not however until the month of December following that the

Colonial schooner became disposable, and then new impediments arose from

her being found so much in want of repair as to be, in Sir James

Stirling's opinion, scarcely in a condition to proceed on such a voyage

as we contemplated, whilst the repairs required were of a nature which

could not be effected in the Colony. From these and other considerations,

more especially the danger and disappointment likely to be experienced

for want of proper equipment, which it was found very difficult to supply

at the Swan in an effective and satisfactory manner, the expedition to

the North-west was deemed unadvisable and for the present given up.

It is unnecessary here to dwell on the mortification I felt at being

obliged thus to abandon my long-cherished projects. The delays I had

already experienced were sufficiently vexatious, but I had endeavoured to

turn the time thus lost to some profit by endeavouring to acquaint myself

with the resources of the country, as well as in acquiring information of

a scientific nature, and I had attained such a knowledge of the language

of the natives as enabled me to form a vocabulary of the different

dialects spoken in these parts, which was printed and forwarded to

England at the close of the year.

My excursions into the country from Perth whilst awaiting the arrival and

fitting out of the Champion were necessarily short, but the journal of

one to the northward, made in company with my young friend Mr. Frederick

Smith, who afterwards fell a sacrifice in the expedition to Shark Bay,

will I think be interesting enough to be inserted here.

EXCURSION TO THE NORTH OF PERTH.

November 30.

Mr. Smith and myself started at noon this day, accompanied by Corporal

Auger and two natives, upon a trip in a northerly direction; about 5 P.M.

we reached a lake distant about fifteen miles from Perth, and called by

the natives Mooloore: we halted here for the night.

The horses were scarcely tethered and our fire made when four more

natives joined the party; their names were Noogongoo, Kurral, Jeebar, and

Dudemurry; they brought us a present of twenty-seven freshwater

tortoises, the average weight of each of which was half a pound. They

said that, although the lake was called Mooloore, the name of the land we

were sitting on was Doondalup.

STORY-TELLING.

As soon as supper was finished they became very talkative, and, in a sort

of recitative, recounted various adventures; and, when they conceived

that they had sufficiently entertained me, they requested me to give them

an account of my adventures in the northern part of the country, where

they had heard from other natives that I had been for some time.

Having now acquired some knowledge of their language, I was able to make

myself tolerably intelligible to them, and they listened with the

greatest anxiety and interest to the various misfortunes that befel me.

When they heard that I had been wounded by the natives to the north no

persuasions or protestations upon my part could convince them that my

object in now proceeding in that direction again was merely to gratify

curiosity, and not from motives of revenge; but they kept continually

requesting me not to attempt to kill anybody until I had passed a spot

named Yalgarrin, about ten days journey to the north, and they then

advised me indiscriminately to shoot everybody I saw; and were the more

urgent in pressing the adoption of this course upon me from the fact of a

quarrel existing between some of their relatives and the tribe dwelling

there.

After I had exhausted the theme of my northern journey they desired me to

give them some information with regard to England; I therefore related

various circumstances which I thought would amuse them. Amongst other

things I described the track of the sun in the heavens in those northern

latitudes; this they fully understood, and it excited their most

unqualified admiration. I now spoke to them of still more northern

latitudes; and went so far as to describe those countries in which the

sun never sets at a certain period of the year.

ITS IMPRESSION ON THE NATIVES.

Their astonishment now knew no bounds: "Ah I that must be another sun;

not the same as the one we see here," said an old man; and in spite of

all my arguments to the contrary, the others adopted this opinion. I

wound up the night's conversation by an account of the diminutive

Laplanders, clothed in skins of the seal instead of kangaroo; and amidst

the shouts of applause that this account excited I laid down to rest. I

this night observed a circumstance which had often before struck me,

namely, that savages care but little for narratives concerning civilized

man, but that anything connected with other races in the same state is

most greedily received by them.

December 1.

Before sunrise this morning the two natives Yenmar and Nganmar, who had

accompanied us from Perth, came to me and said that, from what I had told

them last night, it appeared that some cause of quarrel existed between

myself and the natives to the north; and that, however pacifically I

might now express myself, they felt convinced that, if a fair opportunity

offered, I should revenge myself upon some northern native. Now they,

being southern men, had nothing whatever to do with these quarrels and

disputes, and therefore they should at once return to Perth.

I did my utmost by means of protestations and promises to induce them to

forego this resolution, but in vain; and the only boon I could gain from

them was that they would accompany me to another tribe, distant about

five miles, some of whom would probably go on with me; they, at the same

time, assured me that they would preserve the most profound secrecy as to

the fact of my having any cause of quarrel to the northward; and advised

me to hold my tongue upon this point and quietly shoot the first man I

saw there.

MEETING WITH OTHER NATIVES.

Finding that the arrangement pointed out by these natives was the only

one I could adopt I was obliged to follow their advice, and we

accordingly moved off in a north-east, and then north-east by east

direction. After travelling over about four miles of country we heard the

distant cries of natives, and soon after came up with and found them

engaged in the pleasant occupation of carrying two wounded men on their

shoulders into Perth. These men had quarrelled and had settled the

dispute to their mutual satisfaction, as well as to that of their

friends, by spearing each other through their respective thighs. One of

the poor fellows was very ill and told me that his intention was to sit

down at my house in Perth until he was well--and he kept his promise.

I had many friends amongst these natives and soon selected four to

accompany me, their names were Warrup, Jenna, Dwer, and Ugat. There were

five northern natives with the tribe who had never seen white men; they

seemed to view us with great suspicion at first, but the present of a

little bread soon placed us on the most friendly terms; and, after about

half an hour's halt, we separated, they proceeding to Perth whilst we

pursued a northerly course. After having made about four miles in this

direction we halted for the day at the head of the Lake Moolore.

LAKE COUNTRY.

December 2.

We started before dawn, travelling in nearly a straight line across the

country, our compass course being 329 degrees from the north. After we

had made about three miles we reached a swampy lake, called Nirrooba,

covered with wild-fowl. We here halted and prepared our breakfast whilst

the natives went out to hunt. I soon shot a brace of wild ducks, and they

speared nine; I now gave little Ugat my gun, and he brought in four more

ducks, making a total of fifteen. Part of these we cooked, and kept the

remainder for our dinner. I forgot to mention that we yesterday shot

twelve parakeets.

I wandered for some distance about the eastern side of this lake and saw

some very good land, I should say at least fifty acres; and, in addition

to this land of the best quality, there was plenty of good feed for

cattle all round the lake.

DELAY, AND BIVOUACK.

At 2 P.M. we started again in a due north direction and, having proceeded

about four miles, reached a lake called Nowoorgoop. We now changed our

course to north and by west, and, after travelling six miles more, came

to a lake called, by the natives, Beeulengurrinyup; the water was however

so thick and muddy that I determined, although it was getting late, to

proceed further; we therefore changed our course to north and by east,

and after travelling for about four miles more reached another lake,

called Maubeebee. This lake was about three-quarters of a mile long. Mr.

Smith's feet had latterly become so sore that he had been compelled to

tie pieces of kangaroo skin over them, and thus equipped to walk without

his half-boots; and, on coming in to our bivouac, I had the mortification

to hear that, having been put carelessly on the horses, one of these

boots had fallen down; I saw therefore that it would be necessary to let

him and a native go back the next day upon the two horses we had with us

for the purpose of finding it. To Europeans it would seem rather a

visionary task to travel twelve or fourteen miles in a trackless forest

in the hope of recovering a boot, but the natives' eyes are so keen that

their finding it amounted to a matter of certainty.

LOVELY BIVOUACK.

Our bivouac this night had a beauty about it which would have made anyone

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, whilst the moon shone so

brightly on the lake that the distance was perfectly clear, and we could

distinctly see the large flocks of wildfowl 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.

December 3.

At dawn this morning Mr. Smith and Warrup started on the horses in search

of his boot; and I spent the day in shooting wildfowl and various kind of

game, as well as in collecting words from the natives for my vocabulary.

About 4 P.M. Mr. Smith returned with his boot and we all retired early to

rest.

December 4.

We started at sunrise and travelled about six miles in the direction of

17 degrees, and then halted for breakfast at a lake called Boongarrup.

The whole of the country we passed over this morning was sandy and bad,

being thinly clothed with Banksia trees; but immediately about the lake

there was, as usual, good land. We started immediately after breakfast as

the natives told us we had a long journey to make. Our course now lay in

the direction of 13 degrees. The country we passed over was still of the

same sandy nature; and after travelling about ten miles we made another

lake.

STRANGER TRIBE. NATIVE TOILETTE.

The natives here saw the recent signs of strange blacks and insisted upon

my coming to a halt whilst they painted themselves and made sundry

additions to their toilette. I urged my remonstrances upon this head, but

it was in vain. They said that we should soon see some very pretty girls;

that I might go on if I liked, but that they would not move until they

had completed their preparations for meeting their fair friends. I

therefore made the best of it and sat myself down whilst they continued

adorning themselves. This being done to their satisfaction, they came and

requested my opinion as to their appearance; and as I intimated my most

unqualified approval they became in high spirits, and gave a very

animated description of the conquests they expected to make.

This weighty affair having been completed we again moved on, the natives

keeping a careful lookout for the friends they expected to see. They at

length espied one sitting in the rushes looking for small fish; but no

sooner did he see the approaching party than he took to his heels as hard

as he could, and two others whom we had not before observed followed his

example.

MEETING WITH A NEW TRIBE.

Our native comrades now commenced hallooing to the fugitives, stating

that I had come from the white people to bring them a present of rice and

flour. Moreover Jenna shouted out to his uncle, "Am not I your

nephew--why then should you run away?" This and similar speeches had, at

length, the desired effect. First one of them advanced, trembling from

head to foot, and when I went forward to meet him and shook hands with

him it reassured the others, and they also joined our party, yet still

not without evident signs of fear. An old man now came up who could not

be induced to allow me to approach him, appearing to regard me with a

sort of stupid amazement; neither horses or any other of those things

which powerfully excited the curiosity of the others had the least charm

for him, but his eyes were always fixed on me with a look of eagerness

and anxiety which I was unable to account for.

We explained to the strange natives that we intended to halt for the

night in this neighbourhood, and asked them to show us a good spot with

plenty of water and grass. At the same time those I had with me stated to

the others that unless the women and children came in I would give no

rice or flour. This declaration was however wholly unauthorised by my

sanction, and arose from their desire of exhibiting their personal

attractions to the ladies of these parts; but, feeling rather disposed to

see a little savage flirtation, I raised no objection to it.

The oldest of the natives, who appeared to regard me with so much

curiosity, went off for the purpose of collecting the women whilst we

proceeded to our place of halt. After going about three miles in a due

north direction we made a river coming from an east and by south

direction, and here called by the natives Goonmarrarup; it lies in rather

a deep valley, and at this point consisted of large pools connected by a

running stream about 20 yards wide. There was plenty of wildfowl upon

these pools and Ugat soon shot some for us.

SCENERY.

The scenery here was very picturesque: high wooded hills were upon each

side of us, and the valley was open and rather thinly timbered; but the

few trees it contained were of considerable size and beauty. Beneath one

of these we prepared our bivouac, the strange natives doing their utmost

to render themselves useful. They had never before seen white people, and

the quickness with which they understood our wants and hastened to

gratify them was very satisfactory.

MEETING WITH NATIVE WOMEN.

After we had tethered the horses and made ourselves tolerably comfortable

we heard loud voices from the hills above us: the effect was fine for

they really almost appeared to float in the air; and as the wild cries of

the women, who knew not our exact position, came by upon the wind, I

thought it was well worth a little trouble to hear these savage sounds

under such circumstances. Our guides shouted in return, and gradually the

approaching cries came nearer and nearer.

CURIOUS SUPERSTITION. CEREMONIES.

I was however wholly unprepared for the scene that was about to take

place. A sort of procession came up, headed by two women down whose

cheeks tears were streaming. The eldest of these came up to me and,

looking for a moment at me, said, "Gwa, gwa, bundo bal," "Yes, yes, in

truth it is him;" and then, throwing her arms round me, cried bitterly,

her head resting on my breast; and, although I was totally ignorant of

what their meaning was, from mere motives of compassion I offered no

resistance to her caresses, however disagreeable they might be, for she

was old, ugly, and filthily dirty; the other younger one knelt at my

feet, also crying.

At last the old lady, emboldened by my submission, deliberately kissed me

on each cheek, just in the manner a French woman would have done; she

then cried a little more and, at length relieving me, assured me that I

was the ghost of her son who had some time before been killed by a

spear-wound in his breast. The younger female was my sister; but she,

whether from motives of delicacy or from any imagined backwardness on my

part, did not think proper to kiss me.

My new mother expressed almost as much delight at my return to my family

as my real mother would have done had I been unexpectedly restored to

her. As soon as she left me my brothers and father (the old man who had

previously been so frightened) came up and embraced me after their

manner, that is, they threw their arms round my waist, placed their right

knee against my right knee, and their breast against my breast, holding

me in this way for several minutes. During the time that the ceremony

lasted I, according to the native custom, preserved a grave and mournful

expression of countenance.

This belief, that white people are the souls of departed blacks, is by no

means an uncommon superstition amongst them; they themselves, never

having an idea of quitting their own land, cannot imagine others doing

it; and thus, when they see white people suddenly appear in their

country, and settling themselves down in particular spots, they imagine

that they must have formed an attachment for this land in some other

state of existence; and hence conclude the settlers were at one period

black men, and their own relations. Likenesses either real or imagined

complete the delusion; and from the manner of the old woman I have just

alluded to, from her many tears, and from her warm caresses, I feel

firmly convinced that she really believed I was her son, whose first

thought upon his return to earth had been to re-visit his old mother, and

bring her a present. I will go still farther and say that, although I did

not encourage this illusion, I had not the heart to try to undeceive the

old creature and to dispel her dream of happiness. Could I have remained

long enough to have replaced this vain impression by a consoling faith I

would gladly have done it; but I did not like to destroy this belief and

leave her no other in the place of it.

The men next proceeded to embrace their relation Jenna in the same manner

they had before done me; and this part of the ceremony was now concluded.

The women, who had retired after having welcomed me, again came in from

behind some bushes, where the children all yet remained and, bringing

several of them up to me, insisted on my hugging them. The little things

screamed and kicked most lustily, being evidently frightened out of their

wits; but the men seized on and dragged them up. I took the youngest ones

in my arms, and by caresses soon calmed their fears; so that those who

were brought afterwards cried to reach me first, instead of crying to be

taken away.

A POINT OF HONOUR.

A considerable time had been occupied by these various occurrences, which

to me had been most interesting; but one of a more painful character was

now to follow. It appears that a sister of the native Jenna had been

speared and killed by a man who at present was resident with this tribe;

and, although most of them were on friendly terms with this native, they

conceived that Jenna was bound to revenge her death in fair and open

fight. The old lady (my mother) went up to him and, seizing his merro, or

throwing-stick, told him that the man who had killed his sister was at a

little distance; "and if," said she, "you are not a man, and know not how

to use this, let a woman's hand try what it can do," at the same time

trying to force it from him. All the time that she was thus pretending to

wrench his merro away she indulged in a most eloquent speech to endeavour

to rouse his courage. I do not know enough of the language to translate

it with proper spirit or effect, as I only caught the general meaning: it

had however a great effect on Jenna; and some young ladies coming in at

the conclusion, his mind was instantly made up; indeed the certainty that

bright eyes were to look upon his deeds appeared to have much the same

effect upon him that it had upon the knights of old and, jumping up, he

selected three good spears (all the men being willing to lend him theirs)

and hurried off to an open space where his antagonist was waiting for

him.

NATIVE MODE OF COMBAT.

The combats, one of which was now about to take place, much resemble the

ancient tournaments. They are conducted with perfect fairness. The

combatants fight in an open space, their friends all standing by to see

fair play, and all the preliminaries as to what blows are to be

considered foul or fair are arranged beforehand, sometimes with much

ceremony.

Taking into account the fantastic ornaments and paintings of the natives,

the graceful attitudes they throw themselves into either when trying to

avoid the spears of their enemy, or about to throw their own; and the

loud cries and wild motions with which they attempt to confuse and

terrify their adversaries, I must confess that if any exhibition of this

nature can be considered showy or attractive, this has no ordinary claims

to admiration.

NATIVE DUEL. REVENGEFUL COMBAT AND MURDER PREVENTED.

I am however not fond of shows in which the safety of my fellow-creatures

is concerned, and on the present occasion was very anxious that nothing

of the kind should take place; for before I could induce Jenna to come

with me, I had passed my word for his safety, and I could not bear the

thought of his being now either killed or wounded. When therefore the

natives came to request our attendance at this spectacle, which they

evidently expected would afford us great amusement, I intimated my

decided disapproval of it: at first they imagined that this reluctance

arose from some apprehension of a quarrel upon our parts, and to remove

this the greater part of the men, who now amounted to sixteen, laid down

their spears by our stores. I still however would not sanction the combat

and, taking up my gun, intimated my intention of seeing that nothing was

done to injure Jenna; upon this my brothers proceeded in a friendly way

to hold me: which is exactly what one sees in England when two men, who

have not the least intention in the world of hurting one another, declare

in a loud tone their fixed determination of proceeding to the most

desperate extremities; whilst mutual friends stand by and appear with the

utmost difficulty to prevent them from putting their threats in

execution. It was just in this manner that my soi-disant brothers held

me, apparently not entertaining the least doubt but that I would easily

allow myself to be persuaded not to interfere. I had now recourse to

another expedient, and this was to declare to those about me that, if

either of the combatants was wounded, I should instantly pack up the

flour and rice and proceed to the white men's fires. This had the desired

effect: those around me started off and put the holding system so

effectually in force that the other natives and the two combatants soon

came in.

Some of the natives who now approached told Mr. Smith that a cannon had

been heard that morning in the direction of Fremantle; we therefore knew

that a vessel had arrived, and this made me anxious to return to Perth;

for, in the event of our obtaining canvas for the Champion's sails, I

expected that vessel would be ready to take us in a few days to the

north-west coast.

RETURN TO PERTH.

My anxiety to return was also increased by other reasons. Mr. Smith had,

with the exception of the first few miles, walked the whole distance from

Perth in pieces of kangaroo skin, and his feet were now in a dreadful

state from the joint effect of thorns and bruises; he however never

complained, and so much did I admire the quietness and perseverance with

which he had borne up against so serious an inconvenience, that I was the

more anxious to put an end to it as soon as possible. Besides it was

evident that very deadly feelings existed between Jenna and the murderer

of his sister, for he (Jenna) came and requested me to call this native

my friend, at the same time to give him plenty of flour and rice, "And,"

added he, "by-and-bye, ask him to sleep at your fire; then, in the night,

whilst he is asleep, I can easily spear him; and I will off, and walk to

Perth." I however cooled Jenna's ardour by whispering to him that, if any

quarrel was brought about by his attempting to spear this native, I

should instantly shoot him; as I had no idea of running a risk of losing

all our lives through his imprudence. This declaration had a very

salutary effect, and my now giving the promised present of rice and flour

entirely put a stop to all further differences.

The natives I had with me employed themselves in teaching the others, to

whom flour was an unknown commodity, the art of making dampers; whilst

Mr. Smith and myself, having arranged to start for Perth early the next

morning, mixed with the groups and visited their fires; the little

children now crawled to our feet and, all fear being laid aside, regarded

our movements with the greatest curiosity. After various amusing

conversations and recountals of former deeds the natives gradually, one

by one, dropped off to sleep; and we in turn, one always remaining on the

watch, followed their example.

INVITATION TO A NATIVE FEAST.

December 5.

I should have stated, in justice to the natives, that they last night

brought me the head and forequarters of a kangaroo, being the only game

they had with them; and of this they offered to make me a present, which

however I did not accept. They were again this morning very anxious that

we should delay our journey for a day or two, promising upon their part,

if we acceded to the request, to give us a grand entertainment at which

all their young men would dance, and that we should have abundance of

kangaroos if we would give flour in return. I deemed it however most

prudent to hasten my return to Perth to see what vessel had arrived;

therefore, after taking a cordial farewell of our friends, we moved off

on our homeward route and reached Boongarrup about the middle of the day

following, by a route rather to the westward of that by which we had come

out.

December 6.

This morning we started at daybreak and breakfasted at Manbeebee, and

immediately after breakfast resumed our route. I left the main party with

two natives and travelled up a swampy valley running nearly in the same

line as the chain of lakes we had followed in going. The natives insisted

on it that these lakes were all one and the same water; and when, to

prove to the contrary, I pointed to a hill running across the valley,

they took me to a spot in it, called Yundelup, where there was a

limestone cave, on entering which I saw, about ten feet below the level

of the bottom of the valley, a stream of water running strong from south

to north in a channel worn through the limestone. There were several

other remarkable caves about here, one of which was called the Doorda

Mya, or the Dog's House. Probably therefore the drainage of this part of

the country is affected by the chain of lakes, which must afterwards fall

into the river I saw to the northward. We slept at Nowoorgoop.

RETURN TO PERTH.

December 7.

We slept at Mooloore, and on the morning of the 8th we entered Perth and

found that the native's information was true, for the Britomart had

arrived from England.

I have already stated that on the arrival of the Champion her condition

did not enable us to proceed in her, and all prospect of being able to

conduct another expedition to the north-west coast being, for the

present, abandoned, I could only await further instructions from the

Government at home, and in the meantime resolved to employ the interval

in some scheme of exploration from the Swan which did not present the

same obstacles. Having again consulted Sir James Stirling, it was first

arranged that I should endeavour to explore overland in the direction of

Shark Bay; but this was soon abandoned on account of the difficulty of

procuring horses; and, to enable me to attempt this scheme with any hope

of success, I should consequently be obliged to incur a much greater

expense than I felt warranted in doing.

The same objection did not however exist to the plan of exploring the

coast towards Shark Bay in boats; and I imagined, if I could obtain two

good ones qualified for the purpose, that I might at a small expense have

some chance of making a successful trip. But there still existed a

difficulty in getting boats which occasioned a further delay.

Sir James Stirling had now (January 1839) quitted the colony, having been

succeeded in the government by John Hutt, Esquire, and, as no immediate

prospect was apparent of accomplishing my present design, I readily

acceded to a request made to me which led to another excursion to the

southward of Perth, the principal circumstances of which are narrated in

the following short journal.

EXCURSION IN SEARCH OF MR. ELLIOTT. CAUSE OF IT.

In consequence of a conversation I had with his Excellency the Governor

on the morning of the 8th of January I received, in the afternoon of that

day, a letter from the Colonial Secretary stating that:

From accounts which had been received from the Williams and Leschenault,

there appeared every reason to believe that Mr. George Elliott, who left

the former place for the latter on the 17th December, had lost his way,

as no accounts of his arrival have been received from the Leschenault,

the Williams, or any other place.

Under such circumstances His Excellency the Governor is anxious that a

party in search of him should be despatched from Perth, and he has

instructed me to inform you that, if you could form such a party from

your own establishment, you would be rendering a service to the local

government, etc. etc.

...

As I had at this moment no matter of importance to occupy the party I

resolved to follow that course which the calls of humanity pointed out to

me, and within an hour from the receipt of this letter Mr. Walker,

myself, and the two non-commissioned officers of the Sappers and Miners

were ready to proceed. It was found however impossible to procure the

necessary horses for us before the next day, and our departure was

consequently delayed until the morning of the 9th.

Before entering into the details of this expedition it is requisite to

give a short outline of the circumstances under which we started. The

Williams River, from which Mr. Elliott had proceeded, is distant about

seventy miles from Leschenault in a direct line. The Williams is in the

interior, and the Leschenault on the sea-coast, and between the two

places lies the Darling Range, a high chain of mountains which had never

before been crossed at this point. Now, under ordinary circumstances Mr.

Elliott might have been expected to have reached Leschenault in three or

four days. He had therefore only carried with him a supply of provisions

calculated to last for that period. His party consisted of two men

besides himself, and he had with him a mare and filly.

His absence had however now unaccountably extended to a period of twenty

days; and the only rational conclusion that could be arrived at was that

he had either been murdered by the natives or had lost his way.

The Williams is distant from Perth in a direct line about one hundred and

twenty miles, and I had thus a considerable journey to perform before I

could get upon Mr. Elliott's tracks; and as this was the bad season of

the year there was but little hope that we should be able to follow them

for any great distance, if we ever succeeded in finding them.

Notwithstanding these various discouraging circumstances I still however

felt warm hopes for his ultimate safety. He was well acquainted with the

bush, having been ten years in the colony; and the same articles of food

which formed the subsistence of the natives would at least enable him to

maintain life for a considerable period. He had moreover with him two

horses, which past experience had taught me not only to be a nutritious,

but even an agreeable article of food. I imagined therefore that no

immediate danger of starvation need be apprehended; and in order that I

might have the best possible chance of finding his traces three

intelligent natives, Miago, Denmar, and Ninda, were engaged to accompany

me.

On the morning of the 9th however, when the party were all ready to

start, these natives were not forthcoming. The length of the journey and

the danger of falling in with hostile tribes had frightened them, and

they therefore kept themselves aloof from us; but Kaiber, one of the most

intelligent natives of these parts, volunteered to supply their place.

Our three horses were soon swum across the estuary of the Swan; and with

no slight anxiety I started on an expedition upon the proper conduct of

which would probably depend the lives of three of my fellow-creatures.

ROUTE TO THE MURRAY.

Our proceedings until we had reached Pinjarra on the banks of the Murray

offer little or no interesting matter; I shall therefore pass them over

in silence. We arrived in Pinjarra on the morning of the 11th, having

been somewhat delayed by the weakness of a young horse; as there was

however no possibility of obtaining another in its place I was obliged to

take it on with us. On the afternoon of the 11th we made little more than

four miles in a southerly direction along the banks of the Murray.

THE MURRAY RIVER.

On the 12th we started before dawn and travelled about eight miles in a

south by east direction; we then halted for breakfast on the banks of the

same river, which here issues out of the Darling Range after having found

a passage through that chain of mountains. Whilst breakfast was preparing

I walked up into the mouth of the gorge, which was replete with most wild

and beautiful scenery at this point. The river comes streaming out from a

rocky mountain pass, forming in its course a series of small cataracts.

The vale in which it runs offers an interesting specimen of woodland

scenery, and the high, bold, and partially bare granite mountains which

rear their heads above it differ much in character from the tame mountain

scenery that lies between Perth and York: this place is a favourite

resort of the wild cattle, and we saw everywhere numerous recent traces

of them.

WILD CATTLE.

In the afternoon we again started in a south by east direction. About a

mile after leaving the Murray we came suddenly upon four head of wild

cattle; two, which were distant from us, made off to the mountains, but a

noble white bull and a cow followed a line lying exactly in the course we

were pursuing. As we had one saddle-horse, which I was then on, I could

not resist having a gallop after them. I soon brought the bull to bay,

but when he had taken breath he turned and made off again and, as I had

no time to spare, I gave him no further interruption; on however wishing

to ascertain the hour I found that my watch had fallen from my pocket

during the course of the gallop.

NATIVE TRACKING.

I now waited until the party came up, when I requested Kaiber the native

to walk back and find the watch. This he assured me was utterly

impossible, and I really at the time agreed in this opinion; however as

it was a watch I much valued I determined to make one effort. "Well,

Kaiber," I said to him, "your people had told me you could see tracks

well, but I find they are mistaken; you have but one eye, something is

the matter with the other (this was really the case) no young woman will

take you, for if you cannot follow my tracks and find a watch I have just

dropped how can you kill game for her." This speech had the desired

effect, and the promise of a shilling heightened his diligence, and I

returned with him. The ground we had passed over was badly suited for the

purpose of tracking and the scrub was thick; nevertheless, to my delight

and surprise, within the period of half an hour my watch was restored to

my pocket. This feat of Kaiber's surpassed anything of the sort I had

previously seen performed by the natives.

We completed about eight miles and then halted for the night on the banks

of a running stream issuing from a gorge in the hills. There was a

considerable portion of good land in its neighbourhood and the horses

appeared not a little pleased with the excellence of the feed.

The 13th we spent in passing a portion of the Darling Range. After

travelling for eleven miles over a hilly country we came upon a beautiful

valley between two steep and high hills. Two streams poured down into

this valley and there formed a small freshwater lake. The scenery here

was so green and verdant, the tranquil little lake was so covered with

broad-leaved waterlilies, and the whole wore such an air of highland

mountain scenery that I could readily have imagined I was once more in

Scotland. About this lake there was also much good feed.

CROSS THE DARLING RANGE.

In the course of the afternoon we travelled eight miles further in an

easterly direction, and were then obliged to halt without water, which we

did not again succeed in finding after we left the lake.

TO THE HOTHAM RIVER.

On the morning of the 14th we had only travelled six miles in a due

easterly direction when I found we had crossed the Darling Range; our

course now lay along a level fertile plain, well fitted for pastoral

purposes. We travelled across this a distance of about five miles when we

came upon the river Bannister, which here was nothing but a series of

large pools with good feed for cattle about them. We halted for breakfast

and afterwards continued in an easterly direction, when, after travelling

for another six miles, we reached the Hotham. The land we passed over

between the Bannister and Hotham was equal in goodness to any I have seen

in Western Australia.

The circumstance of both water and feed abounding at the Hotham induced

me to halt here for the night, and on the morning of the 15th we

commenced our toilsome march from the Hotham to the Williams; the

distance is about twenty-eight miles in a direct line; the country

consisting of rocky hills, difficult to cross; and throughout the whole

of this distance we could find no water: we were thus for eleven hours

exposed to the sun in one of the hottest days I have ever felt, and we

were not a little glad when just at sunset we found ourselves on the

banks of the Williams.

CONDITION OF DISTANT SETTLERS.

We here found the establishment of an out-settler, of which it would be

difficult to convey an adequate idea: the house consisted of a few

upright poles, one end of each resting on the ground, whilst the other

met a transverse pole, to which they were tied; cross-poles then ran

along these, and to complete the building a sort of rude thatch was tied

on it. It was open at both ends and exposed to the land wind, which, as

the situation was high, I found a very unpleasant visitor during the

night. Here we found a very large flock of sheep in fair condition, also

a well-supplied stockyard, and cattle in beautiful order; upwards of

twenty kangaroo dogs completed the establishment.

These settlers were, at the time I visited the Williams, four in number;

consisting of one young man, two youths, and a little boy. Four soldiers

were quartered about sixteen miles from them, and there was no other

European within fifty miles of the spot. The distance they had to send

for all stores and necessaries was one hundred and twenty miles, and this

through a country untraversed by roads and where they were exposed to the

hostility of the natives in the event of any ill-feeling arising on their

part.

Nothing can give a more lively notion of the difficulties and privations

undergone by first settlers than the fact that, when I left this hut,

they had no flour, tea, sugar, meat, or any provision whatever except

their livestock and the milk of the cattle, their sole dependence for any

other article of food being the kangaroo dogs, and the only thing I was

able to do in order to better their situation was to leave them some

shot.

All other circumstances connected with their position were on the same

scale. They had but one knife, an old clasp one; 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 as necessary attendants upon their situation. Two of

these out-settlers were gentlemen, not only by birth but also in thought

and manner, and, to tell the truth, I believe they were far happier than

many an idle young man I have seen lounging about in England, a burden to

himself and his friends; for it must be borne in mind that they were

realizing a future independence for themselves.

THEIR PRIVATIONS.

Many of the ills and privations which they endured were however

unnecessary, and were entailed upon them by the mistaken system that has

been pursued at Swan River of spreading to the utmost their limited

population. I trust however that a wiser line of policy will now be

pursued, and that settling will consequently become an easier, less

dangerous, and far more agreeable task.

ROUTE ALONG MR. ELLIOTT'S TRACKS. TRACKING MR. ELLIOTT.

On the morning of the 16th Mr. Walker went to the Upper Williams, where

the soldiers were quartered, for a further supply of provisions, whilst

the native and myself tried to make off Mr. Elliott's tracks, in doing

which we were not however successful. The next morning, previously to Mr.

Walker's return, I renewed my search with Kaiber for the tracks with a

little more success, as amidst the numerous traces of cattle and horses

along the bed of the river the native was able by his acute eye to

discover the footsteps of a colt. When Mr. Walker returned the little boy

belonging to the establishment came back with him. He had seen Mr.

Elliott start and assured me that he had heard him express his

determination of keeping the bed of the river for eighteen miles. With

this piece of information we moved on down the river on the tracks which

we were able to distinguish for about two miles and a half, when they

quitted it in a south-south-west direction; and from the hard nature of

the ground the tracking from thence became excessively difficult. If the

colt had traversed this route, its little foot had made no impression on

the soil; and when we got on the ironstone hills, we altogether lost the

traces of the horse. Both the native and myself imagined, from our seeing

no tracks of the colt, from the indistinctness of those of the horse, and

from the circumstance of the boy's telling us that Mr. Elliott intended

to proceed eighteen miles down the river, that we had followed the wrong

marks; just therefore as night began to fall I moved back to the river.

January 18.

We started at dawn, following down the river, but could see nothing of

Mr. Elliott's tracks: and our evening journey was equally unsuccessful. I

now became very anxious and indeed rather alarmed for the safety of the

missing party, but resolved, as the best plan I could pursue, to strike

across the mountains to Leschenault, making a due west course my true

line of route, but constantly diverging two or three miles to the south

of this, and again returning to it by another route. I should thus have

every chance of falling in with the track I wished to find; and in the

event of my not succeeding I should be certain, if on my arrival at

Leschenault no tidings had been received of Mr. Elliott, that his party

must be somewhere to the southward and eastward of the course I had

taken, and that I might still, by the assistance of the Leschenault

natives to whom this country was known, succeed in finding him before

such a period had elapsed as would render assistance useless.

KILLING A KANGAROO.

On the 19th, in pursuance of this determination, we made a rapid push of

nearly twenty miles in a westerly direction without reckoning our

divergencies to the southward. Nothing however but toil and

disappointment rewarded our exertions. We killed a large Boomer, or old

male kangaroo, the largest indeed I had ever seen; the dogs were unable

to master him he fought so desperately, and it was not until after he had

wounded two of them that I succeeded in dispatching it by a sort of

personal encounter in which a club was the weapon I used. The native who

was carrying my gun had dropped it the instant the kangaroo was started,

and I was thus unable to shoot it. We cut off as much of the flesh as the

dogs and ourselves required for two days and left the rest in the forest.

We halted for the night on a small stream, the only one I had seen since

we quitted the Williams.

COUNTRY UPON THE HARVEY RIVER.

Our departure was delayed on the morning of the 20th for about an hour

from being unable to find one of the horses which had strayed away in the

night, but, the fugitive being at length discovered and brought back, we

started and made nine miles before breakfast. We then travelled nine and

a half miles more, when we came upon the river Harvey near its source.

The character of the country we had travelled over since entering the

mountains was monotonous in the extreme. It consisted of an elevated

tableland composed of ironstone and granite occasionally traversed by

veins of whinstone. On this tableland there was little or no herbage; the

lower vegetation consisting principally of a short prickly scrub, in some

places completely destroyed by the native fires; but the whole country

was thickly clothed with mahogany trees, so that in many parts it might

be called a dense forest. These mahogany trees ascended, without a bend

or without throwing off a branch, to the height of from forty to fifty

feet, occasionally much more, and the ground was so encumbered by the

fallen trunks of these forest trees that it was sometimes difficult to

pick a passage between them. Even at midday the forest wore a sombre

aspect, and a stillness and solitude reigned throughout it that was very

striking. Occasionally a timid kangaroo might be seen stealing off in the

distance, or a kangaroo-rat might dart out from a tuft beneath your feet;

but these were rare circumstances. The most usual disturber of these

wooded solitudes were the black cockatoos; but I have never in any part

of the world seen so great a want of animal life as in these mountains.

Upon our gaining the Harvey however the scene somewhat changed; the river

here bore the appearance of a mountain trout-stream, sometimes gurgling

along with a rapid current, and sometimes forming large pools. The

tableland could no longer be distinguished as it here changed to a broken

chain of hills traversed by deep valleys; the scrub was higher and

entwined by a variety of climbing plants, which rendered it very

difficult to traverse; the mahogany trees became less frequent, and

various others were mingled with them, whilst on the banks of the river

good forage abounded. We made about five miles more through a country of

this description and then halted for the night.

LOSE THE TRACKS. NATIVE GRAVE.

January 21.

We did not make more than seven miles before breakfast this morning,

being embarrassed both by high and tangled underwood and rocky hills. We

then halted on the banks of the Harvey, where there was some beautiful

grass. We had still been able to find nothing of Mr. Elliott's tracks,

and had in vain looked for natives: but this evening, soon after starting

again, for the first time signs of them appeared, for we found a

newly-made grave, carefully constructed, with a hut built over it to

protect the now senseless slumberer beneath from the rains of winter. All

that friendship could do to render his future state happy had been done.

His throwing stick was stuck in the ground at his head; his broken spears

rested against the entrance of the hut, the grave was thickly strewed

with wilgey or red earth; and three trees in front of the hut, chopped

with a variety of notches and uncouth figures and then daubed over with

wilgey, bore testimony that his death had been bloodily avenged.

KAIBER'S FEARS.

The native Kaiber gazed with a degree of concern and uneasiness on this

scene. "A man has been slain here," he said. "And what, Kaiber," I asked

him, "is the reason that these spears are broken, that the trees are

notched, and that wilgey is strewed on the grave?" His answer was,

"Neither you nor I know: our people have always done so, and we do so

now." I then said to him, "Kaiber, I intend to stop here for the night,

and sleep." "You are deceiving me," he said: "I cannot rest here, for

there are many spirits in this place." I laughed at his fears, and we

again moved on.

WANT OF WATER.

We now soon got clear of the hills and came out upon a plain of good

land, thickly covered with grass-trees. This plain was about three miles

in width and, having traversed it, we found ourselves in a sandy country

abounding with Banksia trees. We crossed several swamps, now completely

dried up, and having made ten miles halted for the night without water.

Mr. Walker scraped a hole in one of these swamps and obtained a little

putrid and muddy water which, not being very thirsty, I did not drink,

more especially as we had now, or indeed for several days, had no tea or

anything else to mix with it.

January 22.

We started again at dawn this morning and travelled rapidly, for we were

anxious to obtain water. In six miles we came out upon the sea. If my

reckoning was right we ought now to have been about ten miles to the

north of Leschenault; I therefore turned due south. Kaiber however now

came up and remonstrated against this, assuring me that I was wrong and

that we were, at this moment, two or three miles to the south of

Leschenault, and that if I persisted in going on in this direction we

should all die for want of water. As I put great faith in his knowledge

of the country I halted and ascended a hill to try and get a view along

the coast; I could not however succeed on account of the haze; and

believing then that I must be in error I turned north. We trudged on,

hour after hour; the sun got higher and more intensely hot, whilst,

having been four-and-twenty hours without water, the greater part of

which time had been spent in violent exercise under a burning sun, the

pangs of thirst became very annoying. A short period more convinced me

that I was right, and that Kaiber was in error; and, as we soon after

fell in with two native wells now dried up, we dug another in a

promising-looking spot near them, and obtained a little water, very muddy

and stinking; but I never enjoyed a draught more in my life. We here

halted for breakfast and by degrees obtained water enough for the horses

as well as ourselves.

ESTUARY OF THE LESCHENAULT.

The evening was consumed in retracing our steps of the morning, and at

night we halted near the head of the Leschenault estuary, being again

without water.