Volume I Part 35 (2/2)

This order of mine was a perfect thunderbolt to Kaiber. He, in common with all the aboriginal inhabitants of Australia, had an utter aversion to all strange natives; and to this he joined a sort of religious horror of witches, buck-witches, warlocks, and uncanny persons generally. King James the First could never have found a more zealous and partic.i.p.ating partner of his fears than Kaiber; he gave me a blank look of horror and a.s.sured me that these were actual sorcerers, ”northern sorcerers;” and as he repeated these last words there was a mysterious, deep meaning in his tone, as if he expected to see me thrill with terror.

From his earliest infancy he had been accustomed to dread these men; every storm that occurred he had been taught to consider as arising from their incantations: if one of his friends or relatives died a natural death he had attributed that death to the spells and unholy practices of these very people with whom he was now directed to go and hold converse.

I thought of all this and pitied him; for even for a native he was excessively superst.i.tious. But I was extremely anxious to establish friendly relations with them; therefore I was positive and repeated to him my former directions that he should wade ash.o.r.e, coax them up, and speak to them.

In as far as a native can turn white from fear Kaiber did turn white, and then stepping into the water he waded ash.o.r.e and the two natives cautiously approached him. As soon as they were close to him I joined the party with a large piece of damper in one hand and a piece of pork in the other. The natives were dreadfully frightened; they stood in the presence of unknown and mysterious beings. No persuasions could induce them to take my hand or to touch me; and they trembled from head to foot.

FRIENDLY COMMUNICATION ESTABLISHED.

For a time they were nearly unintelligible to Kaiber and myself, but as they gained confidence I found that they spoke a dialect very closely resembling that of the natives to the north of the Swan River. They addressed many questions to us, such as, Whence we had come? where we were going to? was the boat a dead tree? but they evaded giving any direct answers to our questions. Being anxious to start I now left them to bear to their companions the strange food I had bestowed, and to recount to eager listeners the mysterious tale of their interview with beings from another world, and who were of an unknown form and colour.

SAIL FROM THE GASCOYNE.

Whilst they hurried off with some such thoughts pa.s.sing through their minds we pulled down the Gascoyne in search of new lands and new adventures.

AFFINITY OF DIALECTS.

The result of this conference affords an example of the grounds upon which any similarity of the language in different portions of the continent of Australia has been denied. In this instance, had I at first taken the word of Kaiber for it, I should have left the Gascoyne with a firm conviction that the natives of that part of Australia spoke a radically different language from the natives near the Swan River; and this would have been proved by the fact of a native from the south not understanding them: whereas there is a great affinity between the two dialects, to discover which requires however an acquaintance with the general principles of language, some knowledge of the one in question, and due patience. I can only say that wherever I have been in the southern portions of the continent I could soon understand the natives.

CHAPTER 16. TO KOLAINA AND BACK TO THE GASCOYNE.

EXAMINE THE COAST TO THE NORTH OF THE GASCOYNE.

March 7.

When we got outside the mouth of the Gascoyne a fresh breeze was blowing from the south-east. We ran along the sh.o.r.e west by north, keeping about a quarter of a mile from it; and after having made about three miles and a half we reached the southern extremity of the other mouth of the river.

The mean depth in our course along Babbage Island had been from two and a half fathoms to three fathoms; and this opening had a bar which we then conceived to run right across the mouth of the river. The northern extremity of Babbage Island is a very remarkable low point of land which I called Mangrove Point. It cannot fail to be recognised for it is the first point from the northward along the eastern sh.o.r.es of Shark Bay where mangroves are found, and from that point they extend almost uninterruptedly down the eastern coast of this bay to the south, as far as I have seen it.

CONTINUE THE COURSE TO THE NORTHWARD.

The coast now trended north by west and we continued to run along it.

After pa.s.sing Mangrove Point the sandy dunes along the sh.o.r.e ceased, and the land appeared to be scarcely elevated above the level of the sea: not a hill or tree could be perceived, and a low black line almost level with the water's edge was the only indication that we had of being near land.

LYELL'S RANGE.

This kind of sh.o.r.e continues for about nine miles, when low sandhills begin to rise parallel to the coast, and these gradually increase in alt.i.tude until they form that remarkable range of dunes which I have called Lyell's Range. When it wanted about an hour to sunset we had made about twenty-five miles, and then ran in closer along the coast to look either for a boat harbour or some spot at which we could beach them. But nothing suited to our purpose could we see: the coast was straight, sandy, exposed and lashed by a tremendous surf; the wind now freshened considerably and the sky looked very threatening; we had therefore no resource left but either to run to the northward before the breeze or to beach the boats. I chose the first alternative; and we coasted within about a quarter of a mile of the sh.o.r.e, just outside the surf, looking out for any spot which gave us the least hope of beaching in safety.

BEACH THE BOATS.

As the sun sank so freshened the breeze, until it blew a good half gale of wind, and everything gave indications of approaching foul weather.

This was no coast to be on during a stormy night in heavily laden whale-boats; and as it now began to grow dark I determined at all hazards to beach rather than be driven out to sea in a gale of wind. I accordingly ran my boat in through the surf, leaving the other one outside to see what success we had before they made the attempt.

BOAT SWAMPED IN BEACHING.

The surf was very heavy but the men behaved steadily and well; and through it we went, dancing along like a cork in a mill-pond; at last one huge roller caught us, all hands gave way, and we were hurried along on the top of the swelling billow, which then suddenly fell under us and broke; in a moment after we had grounded, and although still upwards of two hundred yards from the sh.o.r.e, we all jumped out to haul the boat up, but ere we could move our heavily laden whaler beyond a few yards breaker after breaker came tumbling in and completely swamped it. We continued to haul away and presently found ourselves swimming. In fact the whole coast hereabouts was fronted by a kind of bar of sand, distant about two hundred yards from the sh.o.r.e, with not more than two feet water on it.

Between this and the sh.o.r.e the water was tolerably smooth and two fathoms deep. It was upon this outer bar that we had struck, and the other boat experienced the same fate as ourselves. We of course pa.s.sed a miserable night in our drenched and wretched state; but it was at all events some comfort, when we heard during the night the boisterous wind blowing outside, to feel that we were safe ash.o.r.e.

DAMAGE TO OUR PROVISIONS.

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