Volume I Part 7 (1/2)
The coast from Valentia Island to our anchorage is princ.i.p.ally formed by sandy beaches, the continuity of which is broken by projecting rocky heads, one of which is Point Coombe. Valentia Island is low and thickly wooded, and partakes of the monotonous appearance of the mainland, which is equally covered with low, small, and apparently-stunted trees.
April 12.
At day-dawn the Malays were observed making a move, and as each proa got under sail, it steered towards us. The anchor was, therefore, immediately weighed, and we prepared to receive them as formidably as our means allowed. Their number was now increased to twenty-one vessels, by their having hoisted out six large canoes; but as they approached there was no appearance of any hostile intention, since some of them steered across the bay, and only a few continued to direct their course towards us. One of the canoes came near with the intention of visiting us, but not liking too intimate an acquaintance with them, we pointed to our carronade, and beckoned to them to go away, which they immediately did. One of the proas soon afterwards pa.s.sed by with Dutch colours displayed, to which its crew repeatedly pointed, at the same time hailing us in an unintelligible jargon, of which Maca.s.sar and Trepang were the only words that were distinguished. They also pointed to the North-West, but whether this was intended to convey to us the direction of the place whence they came, or the course they were about to steer, was not very evident. In a short time the fleet had pa.s.sed by, and as we were under weigh we returned to the examination of Malay Bay, in which nothing worthy of note was found.
It affords good anchorage during the easterly monsoon on a muddy bottom in from four to five fathoms, but its sh.o.r.es are low and its beaches rocky, and so uninteresting, that we returned to our previous anchorage in Mountnorris Bay.
April 13.
The next day we landed on Copeland Island and from its summit obtained extensive bearings for the survey of the bay. The island is surrounded by a coral bank; its north side is formed by a perpendicular argillaceous cliff of a bright yellow colour, and is a conspicuous object to vessels entering the bay. Behind the cliff to the south the land gradually declines and runs off to a low point; the whole surface of the island is covered with trees, among which a beautiful hatchet-shape-leafed acacia in full bloom was very conspicuous. The other trees were princ.i.p.ally of the eucalyptus family; but they were all of small size. On the west side of the island was a dry gully, and a convenient landing-place, near to which a bottle was deposited, containing a parchment record of our visit, and of the names bestowed upon the bays and islands hereabout.
Three natives were observed walking along the sandy beach, at the bottom of the bay; but they pa.s.sed on without taking the least notice of our presence.
We left the anchorage on the 13th, and crossed the bottom of the bay within Copeland Island: then steering up the west side we pa.s.sed a large opening, trending to the North-West. Here we were detained for some time, by grounding upon a sandbank. But by keeping the sails full, the vessel dragged over it, and we resumed our course to the northward, along the west side of Mountnorris Bay; and, at sunset, anch.o.r.ed between it and Darch's Island, which protected us from both the wind and swell, during a very squally night. Darch's Island, so named after my esteemed friend, Thomas Darch, Esquire, of the Admiralty, is, like Valentia Island, very thickly wooded. Its eastern side is a continued bluff cliffy sh.o.r.e, but the north and south ends are low, and terminate with a shoal; which, off the former, is of rocks; and near its extremity is a single mangrove bush, which was seen and set from Copeland Island's summit.
April 14.
The next morning, at daylight, we pa.s.sed round the north extremity of the island, which was named Cape Croker, in compliment to the first secretary of the Admiralty; and anch.o.r.ed on the north side of a bight round the cape, which was subsequently named Palm Bay.
In the afternoon we landed, and ascending the hill or bank behind the beach, obtained a view of the coast of the bay: a distant wooded point, called, from its unusual elevation, High Point, bounded our view to the south; but to the South-West some patches of land were indistinctly visible. Tracks of natives were seen in many places, and the marks of footsteps on the beach had been very recently impressed. On the bank a circular spot of ground, of fifteen yards in diameter, was cleared away, and had very lately been occupied by a tribe of natives. The island is thickly wooded with a dwarf species of eucalyptus, but here and there the fan palm and panda.n.u.s grew in groups, and with the acacia, served to vary the otherwise monotonous appearance of the country. The soil, although it was shallow and poor, was covered with gra.s.s, and a great variety of shrubs and plants in flower, which fully occupied Mr. Cunningham's attention. As we proceeded through the trees, a group of lofty palms attracted our notice, and were at first supposed to be coconut trees that had been planted by the Malays; but on examining them closer, they proved to be the areca, the tree that produces the betel-nut and the toddy, a liquor which the Malays and the inhabitants of all the eastern islands use. Some of these palms were from thirty to forty feet high, and the stem of one of them was bruised and deeply indented by a blunt instrument.
Having spent several hours on sh.o.r.e, without finding anything very interesting or at all useful to us, we returned on board, when we found that we had been watched by three natives, who had walked along the beach, but on coming near us, had concealed themselves among the trees, from which they had, probably, observed all our movements whilst we were on sh.o.r.e. They were perhaps deterred from approaching us from our numbers, and from the muskets which each of us carried; for our experience of the disposition of the natives at Goulburn Island had taught us prudence, and no boat was, after that affair, permitted to leave the vessel without taking a musket for each man. It was, however, fortunate for us that we were not often obliged to resort to them for a defence, for the greater number of the twelve that we possessed were useless, notwithstanding they were the best that could be procured at Port Jackson when the vessel was equipped.
The rocks on the beach and the stones which are scattered about the surface of the ground are all of a ferruginous nature, and appear from their colour and weight to contain a large portion of iron; but the needle of the compa.s.s was in no way affected by being placed near them.
The soil is also highly coloured by the oxide of iron, and it is this that gives the cliffs of this part of the coast, particularly the upper portion of them, the red appearance that they almost universally possess.
April 15.
The next day we went to High Point, which was found to be the east head of a moderate-sized port, affording good anchorage and perfect security during either monsoon. A sufficient inducement to bring the cutter thus far presented itself; and as it was near sunset, our remarks were merely confined to bearings from the point.
April 16.
On preparing to weigh the next morning, four Malay proas were observed steering across the bay out of an opening which trends round the south head of Palm Bay, and which proved to be a strait communicating with Mountnorris Bay. It was named after my friend James Bowen, Esquire, one of the Commissioners of the Navy. As soon as the proas had reached a sufficient distance to leeward, we got under sail; and on rounding the south point of the bay, and opening the strait, the remaining proas of the fleet that we had previously seen, were observed at anchor close to a sandy beach on the north sh.o.r.e, and their canoes to the number of twenty were fis.h.i.+ng on the opposite side of the strait. The latter, on observing us, hoisted their sails, and returned to their proas; but as it was not considered prudent to examine the port until they had pa.s.sed by, its exploration was deferred, and we returned to our anchorage in Palm Bay.
We had not, however, to wait long, for the proas left Bowen's Strait the next morning, and crossed the bay to the westward. Our anchor was weighed immediately, and we steered towards their sternmost vessel, in order to communicate with her, and to show her a letter with which we had been kindly provided by Sir Thomas Stamford Raffles, written in the Malay language, and explanatory of our occupation. On running alongside the proa, the letter was displayed, but they appeared frightened and unwilling to bring to, and repeatedly pointed towards the headmost proa in which their Rajah sailed.
Since our object could not be effected without communicating with their Rajah, and as another opportunity might offer at some future time of communicating with these people, it was abandoned for the present; and we steered into the bay, and anch.o.r.ed within a small island at the entrance, in time to observe the sun's meridional alt.i.tude. The evening was spent in pulling round the bay, the sh.o.r.es of which are low, and so overrun with mangroves, that landing was in most parts impracticable; but a small break in them being observed under a cliff, we put ash.o.r.e to examine the country. Here we found two streams of fresh water, one of which ran over the beach with some force; but they appeared to be only the drainings of the country, and to be merely of temporary duration. The soil was here very good, but the trees and underwood were so thick that we did not venture far from the boat. A native's basket was found, and the usual signs of their having lately been hereabouts. We also landed on a projecting point, at the bottom of the bay, to obtain bearings; and a second time under a remarkable cliffy point on the west side, from the summit of which another set of bearings were obtained, which completed the survey of the port; and we named it Raffles Bay, in compliment to Sir Stamford.
At night, the seine was hauled under High Point, and procured us a good mess of fish.
April 19.
We left Raffles' Bay on the 19th in the morning, and ran along the western sh.o.r.e to the North-West point which we pa.s.sed round; and, steering between it and a low sandy island, entered a bay, at the bottom of which was an opening, but we were prevented from entering it by shoal water.
The next point to the westward is Point Smith, and at the distance of a mile from it, is a ledge of rocks on which the sea constantly breaks. We pa.s.sed close round the reef, and hauled into a very considerable opening about six or seven miles wide, and at least five or six leagues deep. At the bottom of this inlet was some higher land than usual, and among it two flat-topped hills were very conspicuous. The eastern sh.o.r.e of the port, for such it proved to be, is formed by a succession of rocky points, between which were ranges of red cliffs, much higher than any we had yet seen, and, if possible, more thickly wooded. As the day was far spent, we anch.o.r.ed on the east side under one of the cliffs, and during the night, the dismal howling of native dogs was heard close to the vessel, a noise that was very frequently heard by us whenever we anch.o.r.ed, and pa.s.sed a calm night near the sh.o.r.e.
April 20.
The next morning, before we got under weigh, we landed at the mouth of a small salt-water inlet, which trended in among the mangroves: having climbed a hill, we had a distinct view of the bottom of the port, which, at the distance of eight miles higher up, closed to a narrow opening, and then widened to a s.p.a.cious inner harbour. The country is here thickly, and in some parts almost impenetrably, clothed with eucalyptus, acacia, panda.n.u.s, fan palms, and various other trees; whilst the beaches are in some parts studded, and in others thickly lined with mangroves. The soil is chiefly of a gray sandy earth, and in some parts might be called even rich; there were, however, very few places that could bear so favourable a character. The climate seems here to favour vegetation so much that the quality of the soil appears to be of minor importance, for everything thrives and looks verdant.
Having returned on board we got under weigh, and steered for the narrow opening at the bottom of the port. On reaching it, the water deepened, but we were obliged to anchor, and sound the channel, before we succeeded in entering the inner harbour, which we found to be a s.p.a.cious sheet of water, divided into two bays by a projecting cliffy point, which from its situation was called Middle Head. There we remained at anchor until the 23rd, during which time the sh.o.r.es of the inner harbour were examined, and visits made to various parts of it.