Volume I Part 31 (2/2)

At the distance of six miles from the end of the first reach we arrived at the termination of the river where its width was not more than twenty-five yards. Here its bed was blocked up by large water-worn ma.s.ses of sandstone and, as the boat could not proceed farther, we landed to await the turn of the tide.

About a mile below this part we had unexpectedly found a spring of fresh water bubbling up among the mangroves and yielding a very considerable quant.i.ty: whilst we were examining it the tide was nearly up so that we had only time to fill our barica and kettle before the salt water flowed over and mixed with it.

During our detention here we ascended the hills over the landing-place to examine the country; but on reaching the top after a rugged and difficult walk, higher hills obstructed our view in every direction. The bed of the river appeared to continue for some distance through a deep gully formed by precipitous hills. In the wet season this is doubtless a very considerable stream; and then perhaps the water is fresh as low as the upper part of the first reach. At this time the holes in the rocks were filled with fresh water but the tide flowed up as far as it was navigable for our boat. The trees on the tops and sides of the hills had lately been burned: in the shady parts however near the water, the sh.o.r.e was lined with several plants which had escaped destruction; among them was a species of nutmeg (Myristica insipida, Brown), a tree of twenty-five feet high (Maba laurina, Brown), and on the top of the hills and shelving places halfway down were observed several coniferous trees that resembled the Callitris ventenat, or Australian cypress, which grows in the interior of the colony at Port Jackson: they were at this season in fruit.

A steep peaked hill near our landing-place was named Donkin's Hill after the inventor of the preserved meats; upon a canister of which our party dined. This invention is now so generally known that its merits do not require to be recorded here; we had lately used a case that was preserved in 1814 which was equally good with some that had been packed up in 1818.

This was the first time it had been employed upon our boat excursions and the result fully answered every expectation, as it prevented that excessive and distressing thirst from which, in all other previous expeditions, we had suffered very much.

On our return we landed at the spring. The tide had covered it; but upon searching another was found farther back among the mangroves, supplying at the rate of two to three gallons a minute; a discovery so valuable that the river was thought worthy of a name and it was called after my companion Mr. Hunter, who shared my pleasure in the gratification of finding what we had hitherto thought, at this season, totally wanting near the coast.

No signs of natives were observed, unless the country, having been lately fired, might indicate their having been in these parts; but, from the very rugged nature of the hills, it is not probable they frequent the neighbourhood of the river.

Kangaroos' tracks were seen and a small opossum observed skipping about the rocks. On our return down the river we landed on several parts where the depth of the gullies and the verdure of the trees indicated a probability of our finding fresh water, but in vain; not a drop was obtained.

On returning we were left by the ebbing tide upon a bank of mud; being however near low water, we had only to exercise our patience for two hours. We reached the vessel by eleven o'clock at night.

Mr. Roe did not return until sunset of the following day from his examination of the river which falls into the bottom of the port. When he left the cutter he pulled to a hill at the entrance of the river, which had been pointed out to him as probably affording an easy ascent and from which he would obtain a commanding view of the country to guide his proceedings. From this elevation the country around appeared to be very stony and barren, although he fancied there was some approach towards improvement; the banks of the river were low and lined with mangroves and intersected by many small salt.w.a.ter inlets extending through the low country to the foot of the back hills; at low water the sh.o.r.e is fronted by a bank of mud, ten or twelve yards wide, and so soft as to prevent landing. Whilst he was employed at the summit of the hill in taking bearings, twelve natives with two dogs made their appearance on the opposite sh.o.r.e which was separated from the hill on which Mr. Roe landed by a soft mud flat. The natives attempted to cross to him, shouting loudly as they advanced, but when halfway over they desisted and slowly returned. When Mr. Roe descended he perceived several fresh prints of the human foot on the mud, from which he supposed that there were already some natives upon the island. There were several large fires burning in various directions and one was kindled by the natives on the opposite bank.*

(*Footnote. The natives of this part were seen by Tasman, according to the following note of Burgomaster Witsen, as published in Mr. Dalrymple's Papua. ”In 14 degrees 58 minutes South, longitude 138 degrees 59 minutes (about 125 degrees East) the people are savage, and go naked: none can understand them.”)

A snake about seven feet long was the only animal our party saw, but the dung of the kangaroo was as usual plentifully spread in all directions.

From this station, which was seven miles from the mouth, they followed the course of the river, first on an easterly direction for ten miles, and then it took a sudden turn to the southward and trended alternately South by East and South by West for fifteen miles; at this part the river was upwards of seventy yards wide; the banks were lined with mangroves but the rocks rose precipitously behind them to the height of three hundred feet. Here our party landed to pa.s.s the night, and before dark Mr. Roe and his companion Mr. Cunningham with one of the boat's crew climbed the ridge over their heads but encountered much difficulty before they reached the summit, from which they could discover nothing but ridges beyond ridges of rocky wooded hills, precisely similar to what they were upon. One higher than the rest was discerned about ten miles off to the eastward. No signs of human beings were noticed.

The top of the hill was strewed about with ant-hills constructed of dry dusty sand, and this was the only substance that could be called soil; but notwithstanding all this sterility there were trees of the eucalyptus family growing from twenty to forty feet high; and one was measured whose diameter was as much as eighteen inches.

The rocks are of sandstone, in nearly horizontal strata, coated with a crust of crystallized quartz and coloured by a ferruginous oxide.

On their return to the tent they made preparations to pa.s.s the night; and as it was prudent, if possible, to keep the boat afloat, one of the men was stationed in her for that purpose; but, overpowered by fatigue, he fell asleep and the boat in a short time was left dry upon the mud; the party on sh.o.r.e were continually disturbed during the night by what was thought to be the rus.h.i.+ng of alligators into the water beneath them, but the noise was probably occasioned by stones and lumps of mud falling into it as the tide ebbed; a splash, however, that they heard on the opposite side was very likely an alligator, for they had seen one swimming as they pulled up the river. On hearing this Mr. Roe became very much alarmed on account of the boat-keeper, but no pains to apprize him of his danger had any effect: the only reply that could be got from him was, ”d.a.m.n the alligators,” and the next moment he was asleep again; fortunately for him no alligator came near enough to make him repent his foolhardy insensibility.

The width of the stream at low water, which was quite salt, was not more than twenty-five feet. When the flood commenced it came in so rapidly that the water rose five feet in ten minutes: altogether it rose twenty-four feet; but driftwood and dead branches of trees were noticed among the rocks at least fourteen feet above the ordinary high-water mark, indicating, at other seasons, the frequency of strong freshes or floods. One of the pieces of driftwood had been cut by a sharp instrument.

Mr. Roe further says, ”From the appearance of the country and the steep hills, generally about three hundred feet high, among which this river winds, there can be little doubt of its being, during the rainy season, a considerable fresh-water stream; and as I consider the length of its various windings to be twenty-six or twenty-seven miles, there is every prospect of its being navigable for our boat for at least half that distance farther. Fish were plentiful, but princ.i.p.ally of that sort which the sailors call cat fish; of these several were caught. Small birds were numerous, together with white c.o.c.katoos, cuckoos, some birds with very hoa.r.s.e discordant notes, and one whose note resembled the beating of a blacksmith's hammer upon an anvil. At daybreak they all exerted themselves in full chorus, and I should then have proceeded farther, but the tide was half out, and a soft mud-bank forty feet broad fronting the sh.o.r.e cut off our communication with the boat.”

As soon as the ebb-tide began to make Mr. Roe embarked on his return; and during his pa.s.sage down saw as many as twelve alligators. Two were fired at but the b.a.l.l.s glanced off their tough coats of mail without hurting or scarcely frightening them. A small trickling of water was noticed among the rocks, which they found to be fresh but in too small a quant.i.ty to be of any use. The boat was six hours and a half pulling down although for the first five hours the tide was favourable.

The river was named after the rector of Newbury, the reverend father of my zealous and diligent a.s.sistant Mr. Roe. It appears to be a very considerable stream and, as Mr. Roe justly observes, in the rainy season or at any other time of the year than during the months of September and October, which terminate the dry season, will doubtless afford a large quant.i.ty of fresh water.

The opportunity that offered in Hunter's River of filling our water-casks was not to be lost.

September 14.

And the day after the boat returned from the examination of Roe's River the cutter was moved to an anchorage about half way up the first or sea reach of Hunter's River.

September 15.

And the next morning before daylight the boats were despatched; but owing to the darkness of the morning and the ebb-tide having left the sh.o.r.es dry and almost inaccessible, from the quant.i.ty of mud that lined them, they did not reach the spring until late in the day. In the mean time, however, they contrived to wade through the mud to the sh.o.r.e; and then explored the bed of the river for half a mile beyond where our previous examination terminated.

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