WITHIN THE BARRIER REEF, THROUGH TORRES' STRAITS TO BATAVIA.
[Illustration]
Queensland, farewell! A hurried breakfast, a hasty departure from
Government House, and we were down at the wharf and on board the tender,
hardly realizing that we were leaving Australia's shores for ever.
It took us nearly two hours to steam the thirty miles down the river,
to get out to the open sea, and the breezes kept ever freshening, and
the tender ever more heavily rolling. The banks grew flatter and uglier,
tapering off to the sandbanks of St. Helena, where the low buildings of
the convict station are seen. The grand circular basin of Moreton Bay
opened out before us.
Two miles out at sea lay the _Merkara_, one of the British India Steam
Navigation Company's ships, seeming steady even in the heavy sea, which
was making our little tug jump about. It was enough to make some of
the friends who had come to see the passengers off suffer for their
devotion. Luncheon was ready for all as we came on board, and when last
farewells and tears had been gone through, and a cheer given by those in
the departing tender, the deck was clear, and we were left to ourselves,
a very small party consisting only of Lord and Lady Henry Phipps, and
their four children, and two other passengers. The Royal Mail steamship
_Merkara_ is intended for, and sacrificed, as far as the comfort of
saloon passengers is concerned, to the emigrant service, bringing out
as she does from 300 to 500 each voyage to Queensland. The saloon is
shortened for the quarters of the single women aft, and narrowed by
having the cabins ranged on either side. On the return voyage, when there
are no emigrants, and the deck is clear, there are plenty of quiet places
for reading and erecting deck tables and chairs, and a camp bed, which we
have brought with us, in the event of sleeping on deck. So smooth was our
passage that we only once had the opportunity of testing the _Merkara's_
sea-going capacities, and that was in the heavy sea now running as we
left Moreton Bay. She was perfectly steady, and, though the measuring
machine in the engine-room told us she could roll eighteen degrees, we
never experienced one severe roll. Her steadiness is attributed to the
extraordinary length, of nearly 400 feet, which enables her to ride on
the top of two or three waves at the same time without pitching up and
down in their troughs.
We had a curious mixture of races on board, with Portuguese stewards
from Goa, converted to Roman Catholics, a deck crew of Hindoos, and
Mohammedans in the engine-rooms. The "boys," or stewards, were most
excellent, and there was nothing to complain of in the _cuisine_. The
exploration of a ship which is to be one's resting-place for three weeks
is always a matter of some interest.
By 4 p.m. we were out of the shelter of Moreton Bay, and Captain Phillips
(who did all in his power for the comfort of the passengers) pointed
out to me the curious low range of conical-shaped hills called the
"Glass-houses," from their sparkling appearance when the sun shines
on them, and which is caused by the mixture of mica with the quartz;
but to-day they were veiled in mist. The last of the sandbanks to our
starboard disappeared, our course was altered, but for the next nine days
we shall still have land on the port side as we coast along, calling at
various ports in Queensland, and waiting for the mails at Cooktown.
_Wednesday, December 3rd._--Everybody felt languid and unsettled on the
first morning. I managed some writing, however, in the course of the
day. We passed the group of Bunker Islands, near one of which there was
a wreck, and by 4 p.m. we were inside the great Barrier Reef.
These detached masses of coral form a gigantic Wall, stretching along the
coast of Queensland for 1300 miles, varying in depth from 600 to 1000
feet.
It has been ascertained and deduced from the depth of the soundings that
originally the Barrier Reef formed part of the coast of Australia. Under
the level of the lowest tide, but exposed to the force of the wave, these
coral polyps and reef-building zoophytes extract by their tentacles the
corpuscules in the surrounding water necessary for their existence, and
separate one by one the atoms of lime, either in the form of sulphate,
chloride, or carbonate, held in solution in the ocean. With these they
hold up their beautiful submerged ocean gardens of trees, and flowers,
and plants, or structures with domes and towers, forming a world within
the world of ocean life. The lifelong struggle between the living mass
of coral and the breakers of the ocean for ever continues; "myriads and
myriads engaged from age to age" in repairing the damage to the outer
wall by the action of the ocean. Each zoophyte possesses tentacle, mouth,
and stomach, but here their individuality ceases, and a calcareous tissue
forms the means of living communication and nutrition to the whole
community, and it is this interior stalk by which they are united, of a
bright red colour, which forms the pink coral. Various swarms of fish or
mollusci, chief among the latter being the Holuthuriæ, or _bêche-de-mer_,
are formidable enemies to the polyps.
As we sat on deck at dusk there was a beautiful effect from the chain
lightning, which was supposed to be either the reflection of a storm
elsewhere or the phosphorescence of the sky, the same as that we were
looking at on the water over the side of the ship. We passed the
revolving lighthouse on Cape Capricorn, just opposite which we were
crossing the line of the Tropic of Capricorn. We had a grand scene here,
for the sea was wild and stormy from the break in the Barrier Reef, and
there were banks of black cloud lying on the horizon, with the frowning
brow of Capricorn coming out into the sea, lighted by the bright spark
from the alternating beacon of the lighthouse.
We hung out a limelight from the bridge as a signal for them to telegraph
our approach to Rockhampton, and then describing a very wide circle
round an unseen reef, and going some nine miles up the Fitzroy River, we
anchored there at 10 p.m.
Rockhampton lies forty-eight miles further up, but the river is
unnavigable for large ships, and the passengers come down in a tender,
and the cargo in lighters.
A terrible night we passed from 3 a.m., when the lighters came alongside,
and the steam-winch worked over our heads; and worse was it when morning
came, and the heat of the sun beat down on the far-extending mangrove
swamps. The last bale of wool was stowed away in the stern hold after
breakfast, and order was restored to our deck, but several hundreds still
remained for the hold forward. Vainly the captain offered the lightermen
two bottles of "grog" to go on working during the dinner hour; they
were proof against the bribe, and it was late in the afternoon before
we weighed anchor and went out to sea again, in a storm of thunder and
lightning. The evening was intensely close and oppressive, for with the
decks and double awning dripping from the deluge of rain, we were all
obliged to crowd into the deck-house. We began to dread the heat of the
Torres' Straits route, of which we had been previously warned.
_Friday, December 5th._--As I awoke at 7 a.m. I found we were going
half-speed, and almost immediately afterwards we stopped and swung round
to our anchor in the Pioneer River, some miles below Port Mackay. How
annoying it was waiting there till twelve for one passenger, because
the tide was too low for the tender to come down! During the afternoon
we were passing a succession of pretty little islands, called the
Blacksmith, Goldsmith, Silversmith, Tinsmith, Bellows, Anvil, Forge, &c.,
all the names connected with the trade, and later on a mountain called
Mount "Merkara," from the _Merkara_ having once sent help and provisions
to some lost surveyors.
Towards evening we went through part of the beautiful Whit-Sunday
passage, but to our disappointment not the most beautiful, because of
the dark clouds and the lateness of the hour. There the channel is so
narrow that you almost touch the wooded banks on either side, but Captain
Hannah, the pilot provided by the Government for the Queensland coast, is
well known for his prudence. The mainland on one side, the long wooded
island of Whit-Sunday with its solitary white lighthouse on the other,
while peninsulas of other islands, meeting in the sea, and forming quiet
backwaters, shut out the ocean. We imagined ourselves for a short time
in a landlocked lake, with beautiful shoal-green water. Further on we
passed the remarkable rock called Pentecost Island, which resembles a
lion couchant, and both this island and Whit-Sunday Passage were named
so by Captain Cook, who probably sighted them on the Day of Pentecost
and Whit-Sunday. We had one of the most gorgeous sunsets I ever remember
after dinner this evening.
A pale blue, melting into opal, when again it merged into pink, and
the pink into purple. Then a delicate saffron suffused the sky, gently
effacing the other pale hues, before becoming a glorious golden red
sky,--a sea of fiery liquid gold, floating over the dark purple range of
hills, flecked with tiny cloudlets, like ships sailing over the moulten
gold. A flat plain of shimmering moonlight blue was the sea, and in
the foreground rose two huge pyramidal islands of rock, densest black,
against the yellow background. We watched it silently, and still sat on
long after it had faded, and the remembrance only remained to us.
_Saturday, December 6th._--We touched at Bowen during the night, and
anchored again at Townsville in the afternoon, about nine miles from
the town, in the open roadstead. Townsville is the most rising place
of the north of Queensland, and, should it secede from the south, will
become the capital. The town lies in the little plain at the foot of the
hills, Castle Hill rising 1000 feet in its rear, and the surroundings
of our anchorage were very pretty, wooded hills and shoal-green water.
The Custom House launch and the lighters came alongside, but no launch
or boat for the passengers to land, and we were all disappointed of our
previous intention. It seems the most shortsighted policy and want of
enterprise on the part of the townspeople providing no facilities or
encouragement to strangers to land. We were again and again disappointed
in this in the Torres' Straits route, for we had hoped to be able to
land and thus see the Queensland towns and ports. The heat was awful,
the saloon for dinner almost unbearable even with the punkahs working
briskly, and we sat on deck gasping and wearily wondering where to sleep,
with the heat in the cabins up to 100 degrees, and the deafening whirring
of the steam-winch on deck.
_Sunday, December 7th._--A fresher morning to my own especial and every
one else's delight. It has often been a hard struggle to persevere with
my writing when the saloon and cabins were out of the question from a
degree of heat indescribable, and when the glare and heat, and frequent
interruptions on deck were very harassing.
Our 800 bales of wool and many little bags of silver ore were shipped,
and we waited only to take on board one passenger, the American lady
doctor, Dr. Anna Potts, M.D., who has been delivering lectures in
Australia to audiences of 6000 with great success. The lightermen at
these ports are well paid, earning from 15_s._ to 1_l._ per day. They get
2_s._ extra for loading on Sunday, or working over hours--after 6 p.m. I
pitied the crew and officers, who were up all night loading without extra
pay, particularly those who were down in the hold. None but a lascar crew
would work as these do all day and all night without complaint.
There was no service on this Sunday, as we were in port in the morning,
but we sung some hymns in the evening.
_Monday, December 5th._--Very early in the morning we passed Cape Weary
and Cape Tribulation, and rounding the hill of granite and sandstone
rock, called Mount Cook, we anchored opposite Cooktown and the celebrated
Endeavour Beach. This part of the coast is fraught with great interest
in the travels of Captain Cook. It was here at Endeavour Beach, in 1769,
that he beached his little vessel, having run on some of the reefs. Again
she stranded at Cape Tribulation, and yet once again at Cape Weary, which
must have seemed to them by this time but too truly named. An obelisk
is to be erected just above the beach to the honour of Captain Cook,
Government having just voted 1000_l_. for this object. It is a tardy
recognition of his indomitable courage and perseverance, but, with the
exception of Sydney, Australia and New Zealand seems to be singularly
ungrateful to the great explorer and founder of their country.
It was curious to remark on the surrounding hills the bare patches of
earth, showing where the violence of the wind destroys all vegetation.
Until 1874 Cooktown remained in the possession of the aboriginals, and
as Cook had found and left it, but gold diggings discovered then on the
Palmer attracted the white man. Thousands of Chinese, as being the first
port of call in Queensland, landed here, there being at one time 20,000
of them at the Palmer Diggings.
A boat took us ashore to Cooktown in the afternoon. There were no
carriages to be had, and after struggling halfway along the dusty road
which forms the town, the heat was so intense that we sunk down on a
bench (I fear it was outside a public-house), the few people about of
the population of 4000 looking indolent and oppressed by the heat, which
is too great for the white man in the north. The few aboriginals that
we saw were repulsive in the extreme, and our sense of smell rendered
it desirable to keep at a distance from them. Strange that they should
say and do the same to all white men. These aboriginals are not allowed
to live in the town, but are turned out at sundown, when they swim two
miles across to the opposite shore to the aboriginal settlement. We
were glad when, after two hours' "tacking" against a contrary wind, we
reached the steamer again, feeling we had had a fruitless and vexatious
afternoon's expedition. Inspector Fitzgerald came off the next morning,
with a sub-inspector of native police and six black trackers in neat blue
and scarlet uniforms. The skill of these trackers in scenting a track
in the bush is marvellous, and where a white man will see nothing they
will be able to tell the mark of a foot, even the colour and sex of the
imprinter. In the settled country they are valueless, but in the wilds of
North Queensland, their powers, which excel those of the bloodhound, are
invaluable in tracing stolen cattle, and tracking and bringing to justice
the wild, intractable natives, thousands of whom still remain, and who
are all of a predatory character.
We tried some shark-fishing, many of the green monsters having being seen
swimming around the ship. One was hooked, but being six feet in length,
we failed to land him on board. It is a curious fact that sharks never
eat the blacks.
Since 2 p.m., the earliest possible date of the arrival of the mails
from Brisbane (which came up in a fast steamer in two days), we had been
constantly on the watch for her rounding the Cape.
It was not till 5 p.m. that we were released from our anchorage, the
little boat in three journeys bringing the mails to us from the steamer,
and as the last bag was thrown on board we steamed away. After dinner we
had another blue and crimson sunset, and when that had died away we saw
the light of two bush fires burning in the darkness along the coast.
The mail boat has brought us most agreeable addition to our party in
the Rev. C. Barton, chaplain to the Bishop of North Queensland, and a
clergyman at Townsville. The Church of England has no dissent to contend
with in Queensland, but we gather that drink is the curse of the country,
sixty per cent. being "hard" drinkers.
_Wednesday, December 10th._--Up on deck at 8 a.m., when the captain
called me up on to the bridge to see some of the coral reefs of the great
Barrier. It was low tide, and we could see the formation of the reef by
the lovely blue-green water inside. How we longed to go and paddle about,
peering down into their wonderful forests! At high-water mark they are
hidden, but the spot is marked by posts.
The passage between these shoals and reefs is so intricate, that the
pilot refused that night to go through them in the dark, and we anchored
at 11 p.m. till the moon rose at two in the morning.
_Thursday, December 11th._--We were summoned hastily on deck, all the
ladies appearing in déshabille, and the gentlemen in their many-coloured
pyjamas, to-see the Albany Pass. The mainland is flat and ugly, as are
the islands which form the pass, but on all there were curious bright
red cones, from four to five feet in height. These are huge ant-hills
raised by the ants in the red earth. We could only judge their size by
comparing them to a white horse which was feeding by them, and which they
completely dwarfed.
Mr. Jardine, one of the partners in the great pearl fisheries, has a
house in this lonely pass; he lives there surrounded by the aboriginals.
He ran up a flag on the flagstaff in front of his house to greet us as we
passed, and we saw his little yacht buoyed in the cove below the house.
Almost immediately afterwards we passed Cape York, the northernmost point
of Queensland. It is only a strip of land, for the Gulf of Carpentaria
describes a deep circle in the coast on the other side, leaving Cape York
jutting out in lonely grandeur into the sea.
It makes us realize the vast size of Australia when we think that, during
the last nine days, it is 1400 miles of the coast of Queensland _alone_
that we have been travelling along, and South Australia and Western
Australia are equally remarkable in their proportions.
At twelve we anchored off Thursday Island, opposite to the three or four
white houses called the village. All round the bay is dotted with small
settlements, and it presented a very bright scene, boats of all kinds
putting off to us; for the arrival of a steamer at Thursday Island is
hailed with peculiar joy; and why? because by begging and praying they
hope to be able to obtain a few pounds of fresh meat. There are 100
English living in Thursday Island; they have no sheep or cattle, for
there is nothing in this sterile spot for them to feed on; no fruit,
no milk, no vegetables. There is neither church nor clergyman; but the
Roman Catholics have founded a convent, testifying to the activity of the
Church of Rome. They have no doctor, and ours from the _Merkara_ went off
to extract a bullet out of a man who had been shot three weeks ago, and
after dinner a lady came on board to have a tooth extracted! The climate
is atrocious,--always the same tropical sun, winter and summer, without
the charms of tropical foliage and life. The children suffer dreadfully
from prickly heat, but indeed all children in Queensland are more or less
disfigured by this rash. There is no water supply, and they are entirely
dependent on the rainfall. A shower sent its blessings on them yesterday
for the first time for six months, and did something towards replenishing
the empty tanks.
We landed at four o'clock, being carried ashore from the boat by the
crew. The sandy beach was over our ankles and there was nothing to be
seen but the wooden pier running into the sea, and a few corrugated zinc
houses belonging to the motley nationality of Thursday Island, Cingalese,
Malays, Kanakas, Chinese, and Japanese. To escape from the intense heat
of the sun we went into Burn Phelps and Co.'s large store. They have a
small schooner, the _Elsie_, which trades between Thursday Island and New
Guinea, and we were fortunate enough to get some New Guinea spears, bow
and arrows, and one of the celebrated New Guinea birds of paradise, with
the long feathery orange tail and blood-red breast.
Thursday Island lies in the midst of the Torres Straits, and is only
distant sixty miles from New Guinea. There exists little doubt that
originally Australia and New Guinea formed one continent, for as it is,
they are now nearly connected by the reefs of the Great Barrier, the
soundings never exceeding sixty feet in depth.
A great trade is carried on in the _bêche-de-mer_ which is found on
the coast of New Guinea and transported to Thursday Island for export
to China. This holuthuriea, or sea-cucumber, trepang or _bêche-de-mer_
(a corruption from the Portuguese _bicho-do-mar_, or sea-worm), is a
slug about six inches long, and "effects its locomotion by rows of
ambulaced-tubed feet, or by the alternate contraction and expansion of
its worm-like body." The natives are employed by the colonists in diving
after these slugs, and after being boiled, they are dried by the heat of
the sun. The _bêche-de-mer_ is considered in China the same luxury as the
edible bird's nest, and 100_l._ to 150_l._ a ton are given for it. I was
shown a piece of it, which looked like black leather, with a disagreeably
strong ozone smell.
Thursday Island is also the centre of a great pearl-fishery. The
pearl-shell, when brought to the surface by divers, is sent to London
to be manufactured. To each ship there is allotted one diver, who can
generally obtain from three to four tons a month, each ton being valued
at 180_l._ These divers go down to a depth of fifteen fathoms; but they
are well paid, often making 500_l._ a year. It is supposed, too, that
they often extract the pearl out of the shell before returning to the
surface.
When in port, ship-life becomes sadly disorganized. Every one had friends
on board to dinner, and the piano was moved out on to the deck for
music afterwards. The steam-winch kept up a running accompaniment. The
culminating point of heat and patient endurance were reached that night.
The saloon _was_ the black hole of Calcutta, all ports in the cabins were
closed, and the smell from the discharging lighter most noxious.
We were gasping and panting on deck, and could hardly manage to stay ten
minutes in the cabin to undress. Of course we all slept on deck; the
skylights and deck were strewn with mattresses and figures lying at full
length. We all suffered and passed a terrible night, sleep being for the
most part out of the question, with the shouts of the lightermen and the
groaning of the winch.
Morning, in the early grey dawn, found us weary and unrefreshed. We
loitered about on deck, not daring to venture downstairs until the ports
were open, when the second officer ordered us down, as "against all
orders," and very much aggrieved we felt as we descended.
Things assumed a brighter aspect when, at 7.30 we steamed out of the bay,
with a refreshing breeze, thankful to see the last of Thursday Island,
and the last of the Queensland ports.
We soon lost sight of land going out into the centre of the Torres
Straits, or Arafura Sea. I cannot help thinking that every one is happier
now that we have entirely lost sight of land, and settles down better to
the routine on board ship.
At noon we stopped opposite the Proud Foot shoal lightship, to send off
provisions to the three men who live here, in the centre of the Torres
Straits, thirty miles away from land.
_Saturday, December 13th._--Dull and threatening, with more swell on the
sea. We have grown so much accustomed to the lake-like aspect of the sea,
that we consider it a hardship now to see a white horse, or feel a little
swell. Our "run" was 317 miles.
_Sunday, December 14th._--A most miserable day. We had no service, though
Mr. Barlow offered to read one with the captain's permission. Tropical
sheets of rain came down, driving the gentlemen into their smoking-room,
and the children to make a pandemonium of the deck-house. To add to the
general depression and misery the sea got up, and all ports had to be
closed, the waves washing over the port side of the deck. There can be
nothing more wretched than being on a ship where there is no quiet or
dry corner to sit in. Though it was such a stormy night we were obliged
to sleep in the music-room: I think we should not have done so if we
had heard the story told the next morning at breakfast, how once on the
_Merkara_, in the Bay of Biscay, this deck-house had been washed bodily
away, and two passengers who were in it drowned.
_Tuesday, December 16th._--Tons of lava ashes have been floating by us
all day, still the remains of the great eruption of Krakatau, eighteen
months ago. Just before dinner we passed the _Roma_, another of the
B.I.S.N. ships, and dipped flags with her. Her decks were black with the
crowd of emigrants.
_Thursday, December 18th._--Yesterday we passed the island of Rotti
(Hindustani for bread) and the islands of Sandal-wood and Timor, a
possession divided between the Dutch and Portuguese, and which supplies
Java with a good breed of small but timid ponies. To-day we seem in
sight of land again from the succession of islands--Sumbawa, Lombok, and
Baly, all belonging to the Dutch. In the two latter we saw very high
mountains, ranging in Lombok to 12,000 feet, and in Baly to 10,000.
It is a continuation of the great volcanic range that runs through
the entire islands of Sumatra and Java. Mr. Alfred Wallace, the great
naturalist, divides the islands of this archipelago into two distinct
divisions--those that from their characteristics and productions are
identified with Australia, and those that may be classed as belonging
to Asia. The line is distinctly drawn between the islands of Lombok and
Baly, which are divided only by the narrow strait of fifteen miles. After
dinner, and against the apple-green sunset, we saw the dark line of the
coast of Java. Night after night we have been having these most glorious
sunsets, gorgeous in their Eastern magnificence of colouring, and the
phosphorescence of the water is far more brilliant than when we were in
the tropics crossing the Pacific. Shoals of flying-fish have kept us
company during the voyage, not counting sharks and porpoises.
At 10 p.m. we sent up a rocket, and waited at the entrance to the narrow
Straits of Baly for the pilot to come off from Banjoewangi. We passed
through the narrow passage at midnight, not seeing the tropical jungle,
which here touches the water's edge, nor hearing the roar of the leopards
and panthers who infest the shores.
_Friday, December 19th._--We are in the Sea of Java. Numerous
kattamarangs and canoes, with their outrigged frames that keep them
steady in the water, tell us we are within reach of busy life again.
Bamboo rods, with several lines attached for fishing, protrude out of the
water, and speak of hungry humanity once more. In the afternoon we lose
sight of Java, going on the outside of the island of Madura, as the water
is not deep enough for us inside.
On the last evening of our voyage we went down to the engine-room. The
two cylinders sliding up and down as fast as the eye can follow them
are wonderful, but more interesting is the tunnel, running quite aft,
containing the revolving cylinder of the screw. None but Orientals could
stand the intense heat of the furnaces, the normal temperature being
never less than 120°.
We went half-speed towards evening, so as not to arrive at Batavia before
daylight to-morrow morning; and we shall be able to leave the ship
immediately after breakfast.
There _are_ voyages in which one is sorry when the journey is nearing an
end, but this may not be counted as one of them.
The advantage of the Torres Straits route is that you may insure a calm
sea usually as far as Aden, whereas in that by South Australia it is
always as rough as in the Bay of Biscay in the Australian Bight; but the
heat in the Torres Straits is intensely great, travelling as you are for
days on a line with the Equator, and but few degrees removed from it.