Volume I Part 21 (1/2)

This afternoon, while off the eastern end of the bay called by Bougainville the Cul de sac de l'Orangerie, the Bramble was signalled to lead in towards the land off which we anch.o.r.ed at 9 P.M. in 30 fathoms.

From our anchorage we next morning saw on Dufaure Island, from which we were distant about three miles, a village in a grove of coconut trees behind a sandy beach, and the natives came off in considerable numbers bringing large quant.i.ties of coconuts and breadfruit;* they did not appear however to have any yams. Two or three small pigs, of the same description as that hitherto seen (Sus papuensis) were procured.

(*Footnote. This was of smaller size than it attains in the South Sea Islands; we cooked it in various ways but failed to make it palatable.)

OBTAIN TWO OPOSSUMS.

And we obtained two fine live opossums, of a rare and singular kind (Cuscus maculatus) for an axe apiece. They appeared to be quiet gentle animals, until much irritated, when they bite hard. We fed them at first on ripe coconuts, of which they were very fond; but latterly they became accustomed to pea-soup. They spent most of the day in sleep in a corner of the hen-coop where they were kept, each on its haunches with the tail coiled up in front, the body arched, and the head covered by the fore paws and doubled down between the thighs; at night, however, they were more active and restless, their large reddish-yellow eyes being then obscured by the dilated pupil, which during the day appears as a narrow vertical line. One was frequently taken on deck towards evening and allowed to climb about the rigging, moving very slowly, and endeavouring to get up as high as possible.

The natives resemble those seen at Brumer islands (from which we were distant about thirty-six miles) so closely that I saw no points regarding them deserving of separate notice, and their language is the same, judging from a small vocabulary of about seventy words. The only manufactured article new to us was a small wooden pillow* about a foot long and six inches high, with a slight concavity above to receive the neck of the person using it. Both women and children came off with the men to traffic with us and look at the s.h.i.+p, but none could be tempted to come on board, although they paddled up alongside without the slightest hesitation. We were frequently solicited to accompany them on sh.o.r.e, but no one was allowed to leave the s.h.i.+p.

(*Footnote. Wooden pillows are also in use in some of the islands of Polynesia and in New Caledonia.)

CUL DE SAC DE L'ORANGERIE.

The northern sh.o.r.es of the Cul de Sac are low and wooded, forming an extensive tract of level land stretching backwards towards the mountains, with a large opening at its eastern end, which is probably the mouth of a great river. The Bramble was sent to examine this bay, but the shoalness of the water, and the unfavourable nature of the weather prevented the completion of this work. During her absence a large canoe was seen in the bay, differing from all those hitherto observed in having a triangular or lateen sail set with the apex downwards, thus resembling those in use on the north coast of New Guinea, among some of the Malay Islands, and those of the Viti Archipelago.

The weather, since leaving Brumer Islands, has usually been gloomy, with frequent rain, occasionally very heavy, and a close muggy feeling in the atmosphere as if one were living in a vapour bath; the temperature on board s.h.i.+p ranged between 72 and 83 degrees. During our five days' stay off Dufaure Island we were daily employed in catching rainwater for s.h.i.+p's use, being on reduced allowance of that necessary article. The wind throughout has been steady at South-East, occasionally varying a point or two towards east.

APPEARANCE OF THE COAST.

September 18th.

For the last three days the coast has appeared as a strip of low land, backed by mountain ranges of moderate elevation.* We observed several openings, apparently creeks or mouths of rivers, and saw much smoke and some canoes, but our distance from the sh.o.r.e was too great to allow of communication. In the evening we stood off to seaward, and during the night, while trying to avoid it, probably pa.s.sed over the a.s.signed position of a reef laid down on one of the charts as having been seen in 1804, but without being able to confirm or disprove its existence.**

(*Footnote. From the haze involving distant objects--less frequent (as we afterwards had reason to believe) during the westerly monsoon--the much higher Owen Stanley Range was not then visible; it had also, probably from the same cause, quite escaped the notice of D'Urville who pa.s.sed this portion of the coast at the distance of about eight or nine miles.)

(**Footnote. Although this reef does not exist in the position a.s.signed to it, I may state that its presence upon the charts rests upon the authority of Coutance; Freycinet, rejecting Coutance's longitude of Cape Deliverance and adopting that of D'Entrecasteaux, has laid down the reef in question as bearing West-South-West from Point Hood, at a distance of twelve leagues. Another but smaller reef is stated on the same authority to exist five leagues South-East 1/4 East from Cape Rodney.)

Pa.s.sAGE ALONG THE COAST.

September 19th.

Pa.s.sed Mount Astrolabe, a series of long flat-topped ridges parallel with the coast, but were unable clearly to identify the Cape Pa.s.sy of D'Urville where his running survey terminated, and where the Astrolabe and Zelee bore away to the westward for Torres Strait.

September 20th.

During the forenoon the Bramble was observed to windward, and in the afternoon she was sent insh.o.r.e to look for anchorage. Following her we stood in towards a remarkable headland (365 feet high) which afterwards received the name of Redscar Head, from the reddish colour of its cliffs.

At the distance of six and a half miles from the sh.o.r.e we struck soundings in twenty-seven fathoms, and soon afterwards crossed a narrow ridge of coral, with only five fathoms over it; after this the bottom consisted of tenacious mud, and we carried in from twenty-two to eighteen fathoms, in the last of which we anch.o.r.ed two miles and two-thirds off the point.

BRAMBLE FIRES ON THE NATIVES.

When Lieutenant Yule came on board we heard that since we left the Bramble near Dufaure Island to do the insh.o.r.e work, he had on one occasion an affray with the natives in the neighbourhood of the Toulon Islands. When the Bramble was nearly becalmed close insh.o.r.e, several canoes with about thirty people, including several women and children, came off to barter. A small pig* was handed into the chains, but, owing to an unavoidable occurrence, no return was made for it, upon which the owner s.n.a.t.c.hed the cap from off the head of a marine attending at the gangway. The canoe which had brought the pig then shoved off, and, on being directed by gestures to return the cap, one man stood up and poised his spear, and the others got their arms ready. Several musket shots were fired into the canoe from a distance of six or seven yards, but, regarding the effect, conflicting statements have been made. No resistance was attempted, as, after the first shot, some of the natives jumped into the water and all made off in confusion, which was further increased when a round shot was fired in the direction of a distant canoe coming out from the sh.o.r.e.

(*Footnote. As has often happened the bone of contention did not rest with the belligerents, for the pig was eventually handed over to me and prepared as a specimen, now in the British Museum, the only Sus papuensis in England at the present time.)

PARIWARA ISLANDS.

September 21st.