Volume Ii Part 7 (1/2)
We resumed our homeward voyage on October 5th, and on November 9th, the Rattlesnake was paid off at Chatham, after having been in commission upwards of four years.
ACCOUNT OF MR. E.B. KENNEDY'S EXPEDITION FOR THE EXPLORATION OF THE CAPE YORK PENINSULA, IN TROPICAL AUSTRALIA.
In addition to the brief account which already forms part of the Narrative of the Voyage of H.M.S. Rattlesnake, I have thought it would add to the interest of this work and the gratification of its readers, were I to give under a distinct head a detailed history of the exploring expedition conducted by the late Mr. Edmund B. Kennedy, derived from a pamphlet printed in Sydney, and scarcely procurable in this country. It includes the interesting narrative of Mr. W. Carron, the botanist attached to the expedition in question; also the statements of the aboriginal black who witnessed the death of his gallant master--of Dr.
Vallack who took an active part in rescuing the survivors--and of Mr.
T.B. Simpson who proceeded in search of the remainder of the party, whose fate was still in a measure uncertain, and succeeded in recovering some of Mr. Kennedy's papers.
NARRATIVE OF MR. W. CARRON.
We left Sydney on the 29th of April, 1848, in the barque Tam O'Shanter (Captain Merionberg) in company with H.M.S. Rattlesnake.
Our party consisted of the following persons: Mr. E.B. Kennedy (leader), Mr. W. Carron (botanist), Mr. T. Wall (naturalist), Mr. C. Niblet (storekeeper), James Luff, Edward Taylor, and William Costigan (carters), Edward Carpenter (shepherd), William G.o.ddard, Thomas Mitch.e.l.l, John Douglas, Dennis Dunn (labourers), and Jackey-Jackey, an aboriginal native of the Patrick's Plains tribe, of the Hunter River district.
Our supplies and equipment for the journey had been most fully considered, and were estimated by Mr. Kennedy as amply sufficient for a journey so short as what we then antic.i.p.ated. Our livestock consisted of twenty-eight horses, one hundred sheep, three kangaroo dogs, and one sheep dog. Our dry provisions comprised one ton of flour, ninety pounds of tea, and six hundred pounds of sugar. Besides these necessary supplies for subsistence on the road, we took with us twenty-four pack-saddles, one heavy square cart, two spring carts, with harness for nine horses, four tents, a canvas sheepfold, twenty-two pounds gunpowder, one hundred and thirty pounds shot, a quarter cask of ammunition, twenty-eight tether ropes (each twenty-one yards long) forty hobble chains and straps, together with boxes, paper, etc., for preserving specimens, firearms, cloaks, blankets, tomahawks, and other minor requisites for such an expedition, not forgetting a supply of fish-hooks and other small articles, as presents for the natives.
After a tedious pa.s.sage of twenty-two days, we arrived at Rockingham Bay on the 21st May; and even here, at the very starting point of our journey, those unforeseen difficulties began to arise, which led us subsequently to hards.h.i.+ps so great and calamities so fatal.
On casting anchor, Mr. Kennedy, in company with Captain Merionberg, proceeded in a boat to examine the sh.o.r.es of the Bay, and to determine on a suitable landing-place for the horses, but returned in the evening without having been able to discover one.
The attempt was renewed the next morning, and continued during the entire day; and on the morning of the 23rd of May Mr. Kennedy and Captain Merionberg returned to the s.h.i.+p with the intelligence that they had discovered a spot where the horses might be landed with tolerable safety, and where, too, there was plenty of gra.s.s and water. This was an important desideratum, as we had lost one horse and eleven sheep on the voyage.
The water round the sh.o.r.es of the bay was very shallow, in consequence of which the vessel could not approach close insh.o.r.e, but was compelled to cast anchor about a quarter of a mile off, and this distance the horses had to swim.
In the afternoon the vessel was anch.o.r.ed off the landing-place, and early on the following morning (May 24th) the tents, tether ropes, and sheepfold were taken ash.o.r.e, with a party to take care of the horses when landed. At ten o'clock A.M., slings having been prepared, we commenced hoisting the horses out of the hold, and lowering them into the water alongside a boat, to the stern of which the head of each horse was secured, as it was pulled ash.o.r.e. One horse was drowned in landing, but all the others were safely taken ash.o.r.e during the day. The weather this day was very cold, with occasional showers of rain.
During the time occupied by landing the horses, a number of aboriginal natives a.s.sembled on the beach; they evinced no symptom of hostility, but appeared much surprised at our horses and sheep. White men they had frequently seen before, as parties have landed on the beach from surveying vessels.
We found no difficulty in making them comprehend that we desired to be friendly with them, and they advanced towards us with green boughs in their hands, which they displayed as emblems of peace. We met them with our arms extended and our hands open, indicating that we had no implements of war with us. We made them a present of two circular tin plates, with Mr. Kennedy's initials stamped upon them, and chains to hang them round the neck; we also gave them a few fish-hooks, and they accepted our presents with great demonstrations of pleasure. We made signs for them to sit down about 200 yards from the spot where the horses and sheep were being landed, and marking a line upon the sand we made them understand that they were not to cross it to approach us. One of our party was placed amongst them to enforce this regulation, which he did with little difficulty, although they expressed great curiosity as to various articles brought on sh.o.r.e from the s.h.i.+p.
These natives appeared to be very fine strong men, varying much in intelligence and disposition. I entered into such conversation with them as we were enabled to hold, and I soon found that while some were eagerly anxious to learn the names of different articles and their uses, others were perfectly indifferent about them.
We pitched our tents about two hundred yards from the beach, forming a square, with the sheepfold in the centre. Mr. Kennedy came on sh.o.r.e in the morning to superintend the arrangements, and after giving the necessary directions and instructions, returned to the s.h.i.+p. The party left ash.o.r.e in charge consisted of myself, Wall, Dunn, Carpenter, and Douglas. Our provisions were supplied from the s.h.i.+p, in order that no time might be lost in getting all our stores and implements in proper order for starting.
A few yards from our camp was a freshwater creek, from which, although the tide ran into it about one hundred yards--where it was stopped by a small bank--we could obtain excellent water. The gra.s.s around was very long, and mostly of very coa.r.s.e descriptions, consisting chiefly of a species of Uniola growing in tufts, and an Agrostis with creeping roots and broad blades; the horses seemed to like the Uniola best. A little to the northward of our camp were very high and almost perpendicular rocks, composed mostly of micaceous schist, covered with various epiphytal orchides and ferns.
The labour of the day being ended, and most of our stores landed, the greater number of our party came ash.o.r.e to pa.s.s the night; and after having tethered the horses in fresh places, we a.s.sembled at supper, the materiel of which (beef and biscuit) was sent from the s.h.i.+p. We then took possession of our tents, one square tent being allotted to Mr. Kennedy; Niblet, Wall, and myself occupied a small round one; Taylor, Douglas, Carpenter, Mitch.e.l.l, and Jackey, a large round tent; and Luff, Dunn, G.o.ddard, and Costigan, the other.
Mr. Kennedy's tent was 8 feet long, by 6 feet, and 8 feet high, and in it were placed a compact table, constructed with joints so as to fold up, a light camp stool, his books and instruments. The two larger round tents were pyramidal in shape, seven feet in diameter at the least, and nine feet high. The small tent was six feet in diameter, and eight feet high.
Every man was then supplied with one pair of blankets, one cloak, a double-barrelled gun or carbine, a brace of pistols, cartridge box, small percussion-cap pouch, and six rounds of ammunition. The arrangement for preserving the safety of the camp from attack was, that every man, with the exception of Mr. Kennedy, should take his turn to watch through the night--two hours being the duration of each man's watch--the watch extending from 8 P.M. till 6 A.M. During the night the kangaroo-dogs were kept chained up, but the sheepdog was at large.
The position of this our first encampment was near the northern extremity of Rockingham Bay, being in lat.i.tude 17 degrees 58 minutes 10 seconds south, longitude 146 degrees 8 minutes east. The soil, where our cattle and sheep were feeding, was sandy and very wet. The land, from the beach to the scrub in the swamp beyond, was slightly undulating, and very thickly strewed with sh.e.l.ls, princ.i.p.ally bivalves.
On the morning of the 25th May, a party commenced landing the remainder of our stores; and it being a fine morning, I went out to collect specimens and seeds of any new and interesting plants I might find. On leaving the camp I proceeded through a small belt of scrub to the rocks on the north; the scrub was composed of the genera Flagellaria, Kennedya, Bambusa (bamboo), Smilax, Cissus, Mucuna, and various climbing plants unknown to me: the trees consisted princ.i.p.ally of Eugenia, Anacardium, Castanospermum (Moreton Bay chestnut), a fine species of Sarcocephalus, and a large spreading tree belonging to the natural order Rutaceae, with ternate leaves, axillary panicles of white flowers, about the size of those of Boronia pinnata. At the edge of the rocks were some fine treeferns (d.i.c.ksonia) with the genera Xiphopteris, and Polypodium; also some beautiful epiphytal Orchideae; among others a beautiful Dendrobium (rock lily,) with the habit of D. speciosum, but of stronger growth, bearing long spikes of bright yellow flowers, the sepals spotted with rich purple. I found also another species with smaller leaves, and more slender habit, with spikes of dull green flowers, the column and tips of the sepals purple: and a very fine Cymbidium, much larger than C. suave, with brown blossoms, having a yellow column.
I proceeded along the edge of a mangrove swamp for a short distance, and entered a freshwater swamp about a mile from the beach, covered with very thick scrub, composed of large trees of the genus Melaleuca, running for the most part from forty to fifty feet high. Here also I first found a strong-growing climbing palm (Calamus australis) throwing up a number of shoots from its roots, many of them 100 feet long, and about the thickness of a man's finger, with long pinnatifid leaves, covered with sharp spines--and long tendrils growing out of the stem alternately with the leaves, many of them twenty feet long, covered with strong spines slightly curved downward, by which the shoots are supported in their rambling growth. They lay hold of the surrounding bushes and branches of trees, often covering the tops of the tallest, and turning in all directions. The seed is a small hard nut, with a thin scaly covering, and is produced in great abundance.
The shoots, which are remarkably tough, I afterwards found were used by the natives in making their canoes. These canoes are small, and constructed of bark, with a small sapling on each side to strengthen them, the ends of which are tied together with these shoots.