Volume I Part 13 (1/2)

Fate of Kennedy's Expedition.

Sail on our Third Northern Cruise.

Excursion on Moreton Island.

History of Discoveries on the South-East Coast of New Guinea and the Louisiade Archipelago, from 1606 to 1846.

Find the Sh.o.r.es of the Louisiade protected by a Barrier Reef.

Beautiful appearances of Rossel Island.

Pa.s.s through an opening in the Reef, and enter Coral Haven.

Interview with Natives on Pig Island.

Find them treacherously disposed.

Their mode of Fis.h.i.+ng on the Reefs.

Establish a system of Barter alongside the s.h.i.+p.

Description of the Louisiade Canoes, and mode of management.

Find a Watering Place on South-East Island.

Its Scenery and Productions.

Suspicious conduct of the Natives.

Their Ornaments, etc. described.

FATE OF KENNEDY'S OVERLAND EXPEDITION.

The most eventful occurrence during our stay in Sydney, was the arrival of the schooner which we had left at Port Albany, awaiting the arrival of Mr. Kennedy. She brought the sad news of the disastrous failure of his expedition, and of the death of all but three composing the overland party, including their brave but ill-fated leader. I was present at the judicial investigation which shortly afterwards took place, and shall briefly relate the particulars. I shall not easily forget the appearance which the survivors presented on this occasion--pale and emaciated, with haggard looks attesting the misery and privations they had undergone, and with low trembling voices, they gave their evidence.

It would appear that their difficulties commenced at the outset, as many weeks pa.s.sed before they got clear of Rockingham Bay, its rivers, swamps, and dense scrubs, fenced in by a mountain chain. Six weeks elapsed before they were enabled to pursue a northerly course, the scrubs or dense brushes still continuing, requiring the party to cut their way. The carts were abandoned on July 18th, and the horses were packed. Sickness early made its appearance, the stock of provisions was getting low, the horses long failing in strength were dying of weakness, and their flesh was used as food.

On November 10th, or upwards of five months after leaving Rockingham Bay, having made less than 400 miles in a direct line towards their destination, and three of the party having been completely knocked up, and the remainder in a feeble state; nineteen of their horses dead, and their provisions reduced to one sheep, forty-six pounds of flour, and less than one pound of tea--Mr. Kennedy resolved to form a light party consisting of himself, three men, and the aboriginal Jackey-Jackey, and push on for Cape York, distant about 150 miles, to procure a.s.sistance for the remainder, and save them from impending death by the combined influences of sickness, exhaustion, and starvation.

On November 13th Kennedy started, leaving eight men at the camp at Weymouth Bay. Near Shelburne Bay one of the party accidentally shot himself, and another was too ill to proceed; consequently, it was determined to leave them behind in charge of the third man, with a horse for food, while Kennedy and the black pushed on for Port Albany. At length near Escape River, within twenty miles of Cape York, a tribe of natives with whom they had had some apparently friendly intercourse, tempted by their forlorn condition and a savage thirst for plunder, attacked them in a scrub and with too fatal success, as the gallant leader of this unfortunate expedition breathed his last after receiving no less than three spear wounds. The affecting narrative of what pa.s.sed during his last moments as related by his faithful companion, is simply as follows: ”Mr. Kennedy, are you going to leave me?” ”Yes, my boy, I am going to leave you,” was the reply of the dying man, ”I am very bad, Jackey; you take the books, Jackey, to the Captain, but not the big ones, the Governor will give anything for them.” ”I then tied up the papers;”

he then said, ”Jackey, give me paper and I will write.” ”I gave him paper and pencil, and he tried to write; and he then fell back and died, and I caught him as he fell back and held him, and I then turned round myself and cried; I was crying a good while until I got well; that was about an hour, and then I buried him; I dug up the ground with a tomahawk, and covered him over with logs, then gra.s.s, and my s.h.i.+rt and trousers; that night I left him near dark.”

About eight days after, Jackey-Jackey, having with wonderful ingenuity succeeded in escaping from his pursuers, contrived to reach Port Albany, and was received on board the vessel, which immediately proceeded to Shelburne Bay to endeavour to rescue the three men left there. The attempt to find the place was unsuccessful, and from the evidence furnished by clothes said by Jackey to belong to them, found in a canoe upon the beach, little doubt seemed to exist as to their fate. They then proceeded to Weymouth Bay, where they arrived just in time to save Mr.

Carron, the botanical collector, and another man, the remaining six having perished. In the words of one of the survivors: ”the men did not seem to suffer pain, but withered into perfect skeletons, and died from utter exhaustion.”

Such was the fate of Kennedy's expedition, and in conclusion, to use the words of the Sydney Morning Herald, ”it would appear that as far as earnestness of purpose, unshrinking endurance of pain and fatigue, and most disinterested self-sacrifice, go, the gallant leader of the party exhibited a model for his subordinates. But the great natural difficulties they had to encounter at the outset of the expedition so severely affected the resources of the adventurers, that they sunk under an acc.u.mulation of sufferings, which have rarely, if ever been equalled, in the most extreme perils of the wilderness.”

SAIL ON OUR SECOND NORTHERN CRUISE.

Our stay in Sydney was protracted to the unusual period of three months and a half, affording ample time for refres.h.i.+ng the crews after their long and arduous labours, thoroughly refitting both vessels, and completing the charts. The object of our next cruise, which was expected to be of equal duration with the last, was to undertake the survey of a portion of the Louisiade Archipelago, and the south-east coast of New Guinea. For this purpose we sailed from Sydney on May 8th, deeply laden, with six months provisions on board, arrangements having also been made for receiving a further supply at Cape York in October following.

The Bramble joined us at Moreton Bay, where we did not arrive until May 17th, our pa.s.sage having been protracted beyond the usual time by the prevalence during the early part of light northerly winds and a strong adverse current, which on one occasion set us fifty-one miles to the southward in twenty-four hours. We took up our former anchorage under Moreton Island, and remained there for nine days, occupied in completing our stock of water, and obtaining a rate for the chronometers--so as to ensure a good meridian distance between this and the Louisiade. Since our last visit, the pilot station had been s.h.i.+fted to this place from Amity Point, the northern entrance to Moreton Bay being now preferred to that formerly in use.

One night while returning from an excursion, I saw some fires behind the beach near c.u.mboyooro Point, and on walking up was glad to find an encampment of about thirty natives, collected there for the purpose of fis.h.i.+ng, this being the sp.a.w.ning season of the mullet, which now frequent the coast in prodigious shoals. Finding among the party an old friend of mine, usually known by the name of Funny-eye, I obtained with some difficulty permission to sleep at his fire, and he gave me a roasted mullet for supper. The party at our bivouac, consisted of my host, his wife and two children, an old man and two wretched dogs. We lay down with our feet towards a large fire of driftwood, partially sheltered from the wind by a semicircular line of branches, stuck in the sand behind us; still, while one part of the body was nearly roasted, the rest s.h.i.+vered with cold. The woman appeared to be busy all night long in scaling and roasting fish, of which, before morning, she had a large pile ready cooked; neither did the men sleep much--for they awoke every hour or so, gorged themselves still further with mullet, took a copious draft of water, and wound up by lighting their pipes before lying down again.

At daylight everyone was up and stirring, and soon afterwards the men and boys went down to the beach to fish. The rollers coming in from seaward broke about one hundred yards from the sh.o.r.e, and in the advancing wave one might see thousands of large mullet keeping together in a shoal with numbers of porpoises playing about, making frequent rushes among the dense ma.s.ses and scattering them in every direction. Such of the men as were furnished with the scoop-net waded out in line, and, waiting until the porpoises had driven the mullet close in sh.o.r.e, rushed among the shoal, and, closing round in a circle with the nets nearly touching, secured a number of fine fish, averaging two and a half pounds weight.

This was repeated at intervals until enough had been procured. Meanwhile others, chiefly boys, were at work with their spears, darting them in every direction among the fish, and on the best possible terms with the porpoises, which were das.h.i.+ng about among their legs, as if fully aware that they would not be molested.