Volume I Part 11 (1/2)

In the course of the night (2 A.M.) we had one of those sudden heavy squalls from off the land which are so common on this coast. I slept on deck and was called to hear a loud roaring on the sh.o.r.e: this was evidently the noise of a rus.h.i.+ng wind, which gradually drew nearer and nearer and at last reached us, accompanied by lightning, thunder, and heavy rain; it did not however last for more than twenty minutes, and we received no damage from it.

December 8.

Whilst the party continued the pathway I landed on the sandy beach and explored the interior of the country for several miles. We found but very little fresh water and the country was dreadfully burnt up; the heavy rain which had fallen last night however gave signs of the approach of the wet season. We pa.s.sed several dry watercourses, in many of which we dug for it, but all that we obtained was brackish. We had another squall this afternoon, similar to last night's.

LANDING STOCK. LABOUR IN LANDING STORES.

December 9.

This day we pitched the tents, disembarked the sheep and goats, and some of the stores. It was no slight pleasure to see for the first time those animals landed on a new country, and they appeared themselves to rejoice in their escape from the close confinement on s.h.i.+pboard.

We here first hoisted the British flag, and went through the ceremony of taking possession of the territory in the name of Her Majesty and her heirs for ever.

The next few days were pa.s.sed in moving the stores from the landing-place to the tent; as it was necessary that before I allowed the schooner to start we should be amply provided with all necessaries so as to be able to maintain ourselves for some time, in the event of anything happening to the vessel: this was very fatiguing work for the whole party but they all exerted themselves with the most strenuous energy, especially Mr.

Lus.h.i.+ngton; and our labours were varied by several amusing novelties which relieved the monotony of the employment.

REMARKABLE FISHES.

Sometimes as we sat at our dinner near the landing-place we watched a strange species of fish (genus Chironectes, Cuvier). These little animals are provided with arms, at least with members shaped like such as far as the elbow, but the lower part resembles a fin; they are amphibious, living equally well on the mud or in the water; in moving in the mud they walk, as it were, on their elbows, and the lower arm or fin then projects like a great splay foot; but in swimming the whole of this apparatus is used as a fin. They have also the property of being able to bury themselves almost instantaneously in the soft mud when disturbed. The uncouth gambols and leaps of these anomalous creatures were very singular.

Another remarkable fish was a species of mullet which, being left by the retreat of the high tides in the pools beyond the rounded rocks at the head of the landing-place, was obliged to change its element from salt to fresh water, which by a very remarkable habit it appeared to do without suffering any inconvenience. The natural hue of this fish was a very pale red, but when they had been for some time in the fresh water this reddish tinge became much deeper, and when of this colour I have found them in streams a considerable distance from the sea, as if, like our salmon, they had quitted it for the purpose of sp.a.w.ning. Indeed birds, insects, and all things we saw, were so new and singular that our attention was kept constantly excited by the varied objects which pa.s.sed before us.

December 11.

I went on board in the morning for the purpose of preparing my letters, and about 10 A.M. it was reported to me that a party of natives had come down to one of the sandy beaches and were fis.h.i.+ng there. I immediately went upon deck and saw four natives in the sea opposite to the beach, running about and fis.h.i.+ng. Captain Browne went on sh.o.r.e at once with me to try and parley with them, but as we approached the land they ran away; we remained for some time on the beach and tried to follow their tracks up into the country, but could see nothing more of them.

This night at 8 P.M. we had another sudden squall from off the land, accompanied with thunder, lightning, and heavy rain; it blew so hard that we were obliged to let go the best bower anchor, but as usual it only lasted twenty minutes.

PREPARATIONS FOR SENDING THE VESSEL TO TIMOR.

As Mr. Lus.h.i.+ngton was to accompany the schooner to Timor, and I was anxious to ascertain which would be the best direction for us to move off in on his return, I determined to commence my exploring trips as soon as possible. All hands still continued busily engaged in landing the stores and conveying them to the tents; but though the men worked hard our progress was slow. Everything had to be carried on the men's shoulders, for the path, after the great trouble and labour we had bestowed on it, was still so intricate and rocky that it was impossible to use even a hand-barrow. The intense heat of the sun, too, incommoded the men very much at first; but by the 16th of December all the stores were landed, and a considerable supply of water was taken off to the vessel. I determined therefore now to start in my first exploring excursion, leaving to Mr. Lus.h.i.+ngton the task of seeing the watering of the schooner completed before he left for Timor.

CHAPTER 6. HANOVER BAY AND ITS VICINITY.

NATIVES SEEN.

Sunday December 17.

This morning directly after breakfast I read prayers to the men, and then commenced my preparations for the excursion on which I intended to start in the evening. Whilst I was occupied in arranging my papers Mr.

Lus.h.i.+ngton observed two natives sitting on the rocks on the top of the cliffs which overlooked the valley, and gazing down intently on us. The instant that he made friendly signs to them they rose from their seats and began to retreat. Some of the party then called to them and one of the natives answered; but they still moved rapidly away. I would not allow them to be followed for fear of increasing their alarm, and in the hope that they would return, but was disappointed. It must have awakened strange feelings in the breast of these two savages, who could never before have seen civilized man, thus to have sat spectators and overlookers of the every action of such incomprehensible beings as we must have appeared; and the relation to their comrades of the wonders they had witnessed could not have been to them a whit less marvellous than the tales of the grey-headed Irish peasant, when he recounts the freaks of the fairies, ”whose midnight revels by the forest side or fountain” he has watched intently from some shrub-clad hill.

COMMENCEMENT OF FIRST EXCURSION.

I started in the evening, accompanied by Corporal John Coles and Private R. Mustard, both of the corps of Royal Sappers and Miners, and for a short distance by two or three others of the party from the camp. We moved up the ravine in which we were encamped in a nearly due south direction, and after following this course about a mile turned up a branch ravine to the left, bearing 87 degrees from the north.

CHARACTER OF THE SCENERY. GEOLOGICAL PHENOMENA.

The romantic scenery of this narrow glen could not be surpa.s.sed. Its width at bottom was not more than forty or fifty feet, on each side rose cliffs of sandstone between three and four hundred feet high and nearly perpendicular; lofty paper-bark trees grew here and there, and down the middle ran a beautiful stream of clear, cool water, which now gushed along, a murmuring mountain torrent, and anon formed a series of small cascades. As we ascended higher the width contracted; the paper-bark trees disappeared; and the bottom of the valley became thickly wooded with wild nutmeg and other fragrant trees. c.o.c.katoos soared, with hoa.r.s.e screams, above us, many-coloured parakeets darted away, filling the woods with their playful cries, and the large white pigeons which feed on the wild nutmegs cooed loudly to their mates, and battered the boughs with their wings as they flew away.