Nothing now remained but to retrace our steps and try the other branch; and as our want of success in this case rather heightened our expectation we hurried back with some rapidity. It was dark before we reached the point of separation, where the boat's crew regaled themselves on some large brown hawks, in the absence of better fowl. There was this evening a beautiful eclipse of the moon. The temperature had again fallen to 60 degrees; at noon it was 87 degrees; and at four A.M. 52 degrees.

August 1.

As time and tide wait for no man we were obliged to move off at one in the morning. The earth's shadow having passed over the moon, the pale light of her full orb fell in a silvery stream on the tortuous reaches, as the waters swelled in silence between the growth of mangroves fringing the banks.

DISCOVERY OF THE ALBERT.

At the end of three miles in a West by South direction, nearly double by the windings, we passed an island on the left. The depth at low-water, so far, being nearly 2 fathoms, and the width about 250 yards, promised well. Water-tasting had now become rather out of fashion. However, it so happened that one of the whaler's crew put his hand over, and gave us the delightful news that the stream was quite fresh! A general tasting followed, each being anxious to get the first draught of the water of our new-found river; and the agreeable intelligence was confirmed. Of the importance of our discovery there could now no longer be any doubt, and the exhilarating effect it produced on all was quite magical, every arm stretching out as if the fatigue they had experienced had suddenly passed away.

There could be little difficulty in finding a name for our new discovery. We had already called two rivers, explored by the Beagle's officers, the Victoria and the Adelaide; and we were glad of such an opportunity of again showing our loyalty to Her Majesty, by conferring the name of her noble consort upon this important stream; it was accordingly christened The Albert.

The boats now glided rapidly onwards, and West by North another mile brought us to three islands, which we passed on the right; after landing for observations, with the stars Achernar and Aldebaran, at some earthy cliffs ten feet high on the left bank. The river now wound round a point to the westward, three-quarters of a mile wide; in the first bend we passed four islands on the right, with a creek on either side, and towards the end of the next, two more on the left.

CHANGE IN THE VEGETATION.

August 2.

Daylight now burst upon us with tropical rapidity. The banks had assumed a very different appearance; the monotonous mangroves had given place to gumtrees and acacias, which drooped over the stream, partly concealing a rich growth of large flags. This change in the character of the foliage was not only in itself a relief, but evinced that we had at length, in some sort, escaped the influence of the sea, and that we were in reality penetrating towards the interior of the continent.

Our course was now North-West 1/2 West for a mile and a half, with an increase in the width, and a depth of nine feet. Here we found the river suddenly turn round to the southward and eastward, bringing us back within five hundred yards of where we started from, which was one mile West by South 1/2 South from the morning's observation spot. Brown whistling wood-ducks now made their appearance, and being unaccustomed to man and his destructive weapons, allowed us to revel in wildfowl for some days afterwards.

PROCEED UP THE ALBERT.

The morning sun was hailed with delight, as sitting cramped up in a boat, with the unusually low temperature of 53 degrees made us very chilly, and brought flushing jackets and trousers into great request, whilst in midday the light clothing natural to the latitude was sufficient. We found the tides rise here four feet, and both flood and ebb ran from one to two knots. After following a reach, trending South-East 1/2 East a mile, with a string of islets in the upper part, our westerly progress became more rapid and direct, and with the exception of one bend to the northward we made three miles in a West-South-West direction.

But we were once more doomed to be interrupted by the sudden turning of the river short off to the northward, when it wound round a point a mile long, and a quarter wide, the extremity of which is low and sandy, a character only this once observed in the Albert; on the opposite side were cliffs thirty feet high.

NATIVES.

Near the sandy point we observed some fires; and on our return, by crawling up the bank, I got a peep at a small party of natives engaged intently in digging for the esculent called warran. As they were few in numbers our abrupt appearance would have too much terrified them to leave any chance of an interview; and we accordingly did not disturb them, but contented ourselves with watching their movements for a while. The spectacle was an interesting one. Both men and women were engaged in delving for their food, whilst a little beyond a few more were burning the bush, and looking out for game and snakes. It does not often fall to the lot of the white man to behold the wild people of the earth, engaged in their daily avocations, completely unconscious that the gaze of a superior class of beings is upon them. We have seen savages exhibited to us professedly in all the simplicity of the woods; but how can the children of nature retain their freedom of action and manners under the curious gaze of a civilized multitude? We may depend upon it that we gather nothing but erroneous ideas from such a display. If we would understand, truly, what our savage brethren are like, we must penetrate into the woods and the wilds where they are to be found; we must mingle with them in the exercise of their domestic avocations; we must see them as they are, in all their excusable degradation; and not invested with a fictitious dignity, or a theatrical simplicity; we must observe them, also, unawares, and see how they conduct themselves under the ordinary influences that beset them.

It was with great reluctance that I departed without making our presence known; but I could not refrain from leaving, at the place where we landed, the perplexing legacy of a few presents. With what curious anxiety must these people have traced our footmarks, from which alone they could gather evidence that we belonged to a different race!

After making two miles in a south and nearly three in a west direction, with but few interruptions from windings, we opened a splendid sheet of water, trending South-West 1/2 South. A mile back I had found, in a crooked reach, some native huts, built of sticks and neatly plastered over, with doors so narrow that none of our broad-shouldered fellows could enter.

At this place we saw the last whistling-ducks on our way up; further on, other species, to be hereafter mentioned, were found. A large alligator also afforded us sport, although we did not secure him.

PICTURESQUE SCENERY.

The country was gradually becoming perceptibly higher, and the scenery extremely picturesque. Tall palm-trees and bamboos were now to be seen among the rich foliage on the lower slope of the banks, that rose here to an elevation of fifty feet, and were much intersected with watercourses. Onwards we hurried; the influence of the tide being scarcely felt, and the river preserving its South-West 1/2 South direction, with a width of two hundred yards, and a depth of two fathoms and a half. At the end of three miles no change was perceptible, and we began to congratulate ourselves on, at last, having found a stream that would carry the boats far towards the point it was always the height of my ambition to reach, the centre of the continent.

HOPE REACH.

To this part of the Albert that had given rise to such expectations we gave the name of Hope Reach. A little higher up we landed on the right bank to cook a meal and examine the country. I shall here attempt, with the aid of Lieutenant Gore's sketch,* to give the reader some idea of the beauty of the scene that now presented itself to our anxious gaze.

(*Footnote. See the view annexed.)

It was in truth as glorious a prospect as could greet the eye. A magnificent sheet of water lay before us in one unbroken expanse, resembling a smooth translucent lake. Its gentle repose harmonized exquisitely with the slender motionless boughs of the drooping gums, palms, and acacias, that clustered on the banks, and dipped their feathery foliage in the limpid stream, that like a polished mirror bore, within its bosom, the image of the graceful vegetation by which it was bordered. The report of our guns, as they dealt destruction among the quails that here abounded, rolled for the first time along the waters of the Albert, breaking in on the hush of stillness that appeared to reign over all like the presence of a spirit. The country that stretched away from either bank was an extensive plain, covered with long coarse grass, above which was occasionally seen the head of a kangaroo, listening, with its acute ear, for our approach.

No high land presented itself in any direction, and the eye was only relieved by the growth of trees and shrubs that marked the line of the watercourses, the natural drains of the country, which had formed deep channels through the banks. The gumtrees, near the river, were of considerable size, though small on the plains. A light kind of mould of great depth, without a particle of stone of any kind, was the character of the soil.

BIRDS AND FISHES.

One of the boats tried the hooks and lines during our rambles over the country, and from the number of catfish and a dark kind of bream that was caught, we are enabled to state that this part of the Albert abounds with them. Besides quails, pigeons and a beautiful finch, before seen on the Victoria, are to be numbered among the land birds. Those of the water consisted of large brown, and small grey ducks, spoonbills, black and white geese, and a dark blue kind of rail, bearing a great resemblance to the English moor-fowl, that afforded us excellent sport, as they flew out in great numbers from the long flags that border the banks on the upper part of Hope Reach. We did not see any black swans, neither were they noticed by us on the north-west coast. I, myself, believe they are not to be found to the northward of latitude 27 degrees 0 minutes South. This part of the river is subject to a tidal influence, producing a slight rise, which takes place about four hours after the time of high-water at the mouth.

In our eagerness to proceed we moved off rapidly up the river, after a hasty meal. All beyond was mystery; and it seemed that we were destined to remain long in suspense; for the day soon closed in, leaving only the pale light of the moon to guide us. The depth continued regular, at two and a half fathoms, and the width two hundred yards. We hastened onwards; the night scenery being almost more beautiful than the day. The heavens seemed more deep, the water more glittering, the trees more graceful and feathery; and here and there a tall palm reared its thin and spectral form above the dense foliage through which the moonlight broke at intervals, and fell, as it were, in showers of silver on the placid waters.

Nearly seven miles had been traversed in the same South-West 1/2 South direction, when our hopes of proceeding further were suddenly for a time destroyed, by the appearance of a dense woody mass ahead. A little further on, the moon peering through the matted foliage showed one branch of the river turning off to the southward, whilst another, in the mouth of which we found ourselves, trended west. The lead giving the great depth of six fathoms, we were induced to follow the latter. Utter darkness soon surrounded us; the trees, on either side, over-shadowing the river, which in this branch was not eighty yards wide.

PROGRESS IMPEDED.

Our progress, also, at length began to be impeded by fallen or sunken trees, which not only rendered the ascent dangerous, but at the end of about two miles fairly brought us to a standstill, and forbade our further advance. This detention was a bitter disappointment to us all, and we crept into our blanket-bags with disgust, but with the hope that in the morning a passage might still be found.

August 4.

Daylight brought no better hopes of our taking the boats higher up by this branch, as a succession of large trees lay across it a quarter of a mile above. It was a gloomy corner we had got into, and so sheltered that it seemed as though a breath of wind had never swept through it; the leaves of the low-spreading palms that drooped over the water, damp with the morning dew, had unbroken edges, as if an eternal quietude had pervaded the spot.

BEAUTY OF THE LANDSCAPE.

This triste appearance wore off as the sun rose, and the scenery under his smiles was soon clothed with beauty. Trees with every variety of foliage overhung each other, connected, as it were, by bowers of creepers depending in festoons and concealing odd-shaped fragments of fallen timber, which here and there reared their blackened heads out of the water, the unruffled smoothness of which was occasionally disturbed by the splash of some wildfowl, and chequered with alternate spots of gold and gloom by the sun's rays, as they pierced through the dense surrounding foliage.

Returning, we entered the south branch; the opening of which was almost equal in beauty, as the reader will perceive from the view in the beginning of the first volume; but we were again stopped by fallen trees after proceeding about a mile and a half.

Here we observed driftwood and rushes in the trees, fifteen feet above our heads. It was now quite clear that all hopes of water carriage towards the interior were at an end. The boats were at this time above fifty miles from the entrance, and our provisions only admitting of the remainder of this day being spent in land exploration, a party was immediately selected for this service.

LAND EXCURSION.

Following up a short woody valley, on reaching the summit of the level a view burst upon me, the nature of which the reader may learn from the accompanying plate. A vast boundless plain lay before us, here and there dotted over with woodland isles. Whilst taking the bearings of one of these to guide us in the direction we were to steer, I sent a man up a tree to have a further view; but nothing beyond an extension of the plain was to be seen. The river could be traced to the southward by a waving line of green trees; the latter were larger at this spot than in any other part, and consisted of tall palms, and three kinds of gums. No trace of the western branch could be discovered.

Time being, as I have before said, very precious, we moved off in a South-South-East direction, at the rate of almost four miles an hour, in spite of the long coarse grass lying on the ground and entangling our legs.

THE PLAINS OF PROMISE.

The soil* was still a light-coloured mould of great depth, and according to one so well qualified to judge as Sir W. Hooker, who kindly examined some that I brought to England, is of a rich quality, confirming the opinion I entertained of it, which suggested for this part of the continent, the name of The Plains of Promise.

(*Footnote. My immediate visit to Port Essington afforded me an opportunity of comparing the qualities of the two soils; and the result was that the richest land I saw there, in spite of the aid of manure, etc. was very inferior to that on the Plains of Promise.)

We were now once more stepping out over a terra incognita; and though no alpine features greeted our eyes as they wandered eagerly over the vast level, all was clothed with the charm of novelty. The feelings of delight which are naturally aroused in those whose feet for the first time press a new and rich country, and which I have so often before endeavoured in vain to express, burst forth on this occasion with renewed intensity.

At the end of nearly four miles we turned off to the westward for a rise at a short distance, concealing the line of trees that marked the course of the river, from which we had been gradually receding. We found it to be on the opposite side of a watercourse twenty-five feet deep. From its summit we got a view of the country to the south-west, over the growth of trees at the margin of the river.*

(*Footnote. See the view annexed. )

On this rise we met an emu, which, after several bad shots, got away from the whole of us. This, in some measure was owing to our over-eagerness, as the bird was at first inclined to approach. Proceeding a little farther we observed a small lake bearing north half a mile. Attracted by the beauty of the vernal tints on its borders we went to taste the waters. On the same refreshing errand was a luckless beautiful slate-coloured egret, which Mr. Gore shot. Holding our west course we made the river at the end of another mile. Its size was reduced to a mere rivulet; being scarcely fifteen yards wide, with a depth of five feet. Yet it had greater velocity than we had before observed, running at the rate of a mile an hour, a clear babbling brook, over which, acacias and drooping gums formed a leafy tunnel; its course was still from the south.

HALT THE PARTY AND PROCEED ALONE.

Whilst the rest of the party halted I proceeded, with the freshest man,* in a southerly direction; urged on by what was, perhaps, now the unjustifiable hope of discovering some distant point rising above the far horizon as a definite result and reward of my exploration. It seemed, however, almost impossible that this same wearisome monotony could long continue; and I experienced much of that painful depressing excitement which is created by a series of similar impressions when we are longing for variety.

(*Footnote. A marine, of the name of John Brown, possessing great powers of endurance. He died in 1845, in a situation I got him under the Trinity House, on his obtaining a pension for long servitude.)

We soon gained almost another two miles, when I availed myself of the opportunity to satisfy a second time my ambition of outstripping my companions in approaching towards that land of mystery, Central Australia. Desiring Brown to make the river abreast, I ran a short distance further, when I again met the Albert, flowing on as before, with undiminished size. Even this short distance was something to gain in a new and untrodden country.

The line of verdure still pointed out the southerly course of the river across the endless plain; and it became natural to speculate on its source or origin; whether it was the drainage of a swamp, or the outlet of some lagoon, fed by the Cordillera to the eastward. But to speculation alone was I reduced, it not being permitted me to clear up this point. All I could do was to give one long lingering look to the southward before I returned. In that direction, however, no curling smoke denoted the presence of the savage; all was lonely and still; and yet even in these deserted plains, equally wanting in the redundance of animal, as in the luxuriance of vegetable life, I could discover the rudiments of future prosperity, and ample justification of the name which I had bestowed upon them. I gazed around, despite my personal disappointment, with feelings of hopeful gratitude to Him who had spread out so fair a dwelling place for his creatures; and could not refrain from breathing a prayer that ere long the now level horizon would be broken by a succession of tapering spires rising from the many christian hamlets that must ultimately stud this country, and pointing through the calm depths of the intensely blue and gloriously bright skies of Tropical Australia, to a still calmer and brighter and more glorious region beyond, to which all our sublimest aspirations tend, and where all our holiest desires may be satisfied.

The recent formation of this part of the country was very striking. We met no rocks during our walk; a porphyritic pebble or two being the only stones noticed; they were flattened, evidently showing that the water by which they were carried had a slow motion, which supports the view I have put forward in an early page of this volume, with reference to the gradual northerly discharge of the accumulated waters of Central Australia.

EXPLORATION OF THE INTERIOR.

My position was in latitude 17 degrees 58 1/2 minutes South longitude 7 degrees 12 1/2 East of Port Essington, or 139 degrees 25 minutes East of Greenwich; and within four hundred miles from the centre of the continent. What an admirable point of departure for exploring the interior! A few camels, with skins for conveying water, would be the means of effecting this great end in a very short time. In one month these ships of the desert, as they have been appropriately called, might accomplish, at a trifling expense, that which has been attempted in vain by the outlay of so much money. When we consider that Australia is our own continent, and that now, after sixty years of occupation, we are in total ignorance of the interior, though thousands are annually spent in geographical research, it seems not unreasonable to expect that so important a question should at length be set at rest.

RETURN DOWN THE ALBERT.

In the whole continent there exists no point of departure to be compared with the head of the Albert. The expedition should, as I have before remarked, go to Investigator Road, fulfilling my prediction of the ultimate importance of that port, which lies only twenty-seven miles North-North-West from the entrance. Here the flat-bottomed boats, taken out in frame, for the purpose of carrying up the camels, should be put together, and towed from thence to the river.

A shout from Brown, who, alarmed at my lengthened absence, had come in search of me, roused me from the reverie in which I was indulging, and which had carried me rolling along on the back of a camel, girded round with an anti-pleurisy belt, over many miles of the new lands of Australia. Returning with him I rejoined the rest of the party, and we all moved back in the silence that usually succeeds great excitement, towards the boats. Mr. Forsyth having made the necessary observations for latitude, we were soon following the downward course of the Albert.

KANGAROO POINT.

We reached the mouth before daylight on the 6th. This was the coldest morning we had experienced; the thermometer being at 51 degrees with a strong breeze from South-South-East, which rendered somewhat dangerous the task of collecting the requisite soundings on the bar at the mouth; the gig being once or twice nearly half filled in doing so. Behind the eastern entrance point, was seen a large light-coloured kangaroo, which, for want of a better, afforded us a name. Our observations refer to this spot, Kangaroo Point, which they place in latitude 17 degrees 35 minutes 10 seconds South and longitude 7 degrees 35 minutes 50 seconds East of Port Essington. Instead of the usual mangrove shore, the coast to the eastward was sandy; but the most remarkable feature, hereabouts, is a clump of tall mangroves, towering over their fellow evergreens, close to the western entrance point. They are called in the chart the High Trees of Flinders, having been noticed by that celebrated navigator whilst passing at a distance from the coast. Bearing South-West 1/2 South they guide a ship to the bar, which can only be taken at high-water springs, when the depth averages eleven feet.* When the eastern part of this clump of trees bears South 45 degrees West, and Kangaroo Point South 10 degrees West the bar will have been passed, and the depth, at the same time of tide, will be seventeen feet; when the bearing of Kangaroo Point, given, leads up the channel, which deepens in a quarter of a mile to twenty-three and soon after to thirty feet. The impetus given to the water, from the first reach of the Albert, being straight, forces a channel of two miles in extent; with a width of nearly a quarter of a mile, growing gradually shallower towards the outer part, and, ultimately, becoming lost in the great flat fronting the shore, which is thrown out in proportion to the length of the channel, beyond which the bar extends for above a mile. Part of its inner side, however, is intersected by a narrow channel of thirteen and seventeen feet; the guide through which, is the eastern edge of the clump of trees before mentioned, bearing South 45 degrees West. The Albert is navigable, for vessels of a draught suited to the bar, thirteen miles; and within five of where the water is fresh.

(*Footnote. The tides in the head of the Gulf of Carpentaria appear to be a compound of many others, obliterating the common daily difference, and producing only one tide in 24 hours. The direction of the flood stream commences at South-South-East, changing gradually to South-South-West as it terminates; that of the ebb changes from North-West to North-North-East. The strength of each is from a quarter to one knot. The rise at springs is from 9 to 12 feet, and at neaps from 3 to 8 feet.)

After observing the latitude, we took advantage of the afternoon's lull to make the best of our way to the ship, which we met underweigh, running down towards us; Mr. Parker, the master, having become anxious at our lengthened absence.

In the evening and next morning, we got more soundings off the mouth of the river; and found that there was only six feet at low-water springs, a mile and a quarter outside the bar. We afterwards carried a line along the south-eastern shore of the gulf; and at noon, on the 9th, anchored off Van Diemen's Inlet, where I had arranged to meet Mr. Fitzmaurice's party.

ACCIDENT TO MR. FITZMAURICE.

The whaleboat was soon seen hastening from the shore without the yawl, which made us suspect all was not right; and I was much distressed to hear that Mr. Fitzmaurice had been seriously wounded in the ankle by the discharge of a gun which had gone off within a few yards of it. Mr. Bynoe went on shore immediately to assist in bringing him on board. The accident having happened several days ago, and the whole charge of shot being buried in his foot, his sufferings were intense. It was thought for some time that amputation would be necessary; but though this was not the case, he was maimed for life; for which, in some measure, he has been compensated by promotion and a pension. By this melancholy accident the service sustained a great loss, which was at no time felt more than when it occurred.

COMPLETION OF THE SURVEY OF SOUTH SHORE OF THE GULF.

Mr. Fitzmaurice had fortunately, before he was disabled, completed his examination of the coast between the Flinders and Van Diemen's Inlet, with his usual praiseworthy activity. On leaving the former he found that the shore trended North 47 degrees East, with a large inlet at the end of ten miles. This was only examined a short distance in a south direction; but from the bank being thrown out six miles from its mouth, with a channel nearly halfway through, it evidently disembogues a large volume of water, and we may reasonably infer it to be a river. It is named in the chart Bynoe's Inlet. Seven miles beyond was another inlet, with a sandy beach extending for two miles to the south-west of it. Five miles further, the trend of the coast changed to North 4 degrees East, continuing almost straight in that direction to Van Diemen's Inlet, distant twenty-five miles; and, with the exception of the first five, is sandy throughout. Thirteen miles from Van Diemen's Inlet is an opening of some magnitude, near the south entrance point of which are ponds of fresh water. Two and four miles south of it were small openings; and two and seven miles north of it, two others.

During his excursion Mr. Fitzmaurice had killed one of the rare species of kangaroo, seen for the first time by us at King Sound, called Macropus unguifer; this was a somewhat important discovery, as it showed the extent to which the animal is diffused over the continent. I may here mention, that the night before we reached Van Diemen's Inlet a flight of rose-coloured cockatoos,* several of which were caught and kept alive for some time, alighted on the rigging.

(*Footnote. Cacatua eos.)

Thus terminated our exploration of the southern shores of the Gulf of Carpentaria, nearly two hundred miles of which had been minutely examined in the boats.* Twenty-six inlets had been discovered, of which two proved to be rivers, whilst three more were nearly as promising. That all the others may contain fresh water in the rainy season there is every reason for supposing, from the fact of deep channels being found in their banks; from what I have already observed regarding the water being less salt towards the heads at low tides; and from the report we afterwards heard at Port Essington that Malay proas occasionally visit the southern shores of the Gulf, and fill fresh water from alongside, some distance off the land. If we receive this statement as correct, we must suppose that at certain seasons the discharge from the various inlets and rivers we discovered is sufficiently powerful to force back the great body of seawater, as is the case at the embouchures of many large rivers.

(*Footnote. As the reader will perceive by a glance at the chart accompanying this work.)

The general appearance of the head of the Gulf is that of a low mangrove shore, between ten and thirty feet high, over which the interior is not visible from the offing.

OBSERVATIONS ON THE CLIMATE AND WINDS IN THE GULF.

During our visit to this part of the continent we found the climate well suited for Europeans; but what it might be in the middle of the north-west monsoon we had no opportunity of ascertaining. At its commencement in the month of November, Flinders found the thermometer to range on board between 81 and 90 degrees; but on shore, he says, that in the course of the day it might have been about seven degrees higher; the temperature, however, being alleviated by constant breezes either from sea or land, it was seldom oppressive. In July, as I have already stated, the thermometer, on one occasion, at 5 A.M., was down to 51 degrees; and on another, at noon, up to 87 degrees, being, in the first instance, six degrees lower than it was on board, and in the second, seven degrees higher, which gave an excess in the shore range of thirteen degrees. Generally on the land it was below 62 degrees before 7 A.M. and after 6 P.M. The range of the barometer in November was from 29.70 to 30.06; whilst with us, in July, its maximum height was 30.08, and minimum 30.02; the lowest being in both seasons with winds from the land, coinciding with what had been observed on other parts of the continent, that winds from the sea raise the mercury, and those from the land depress it.

The winds in July were fresh from South to South-East for about two days before and after the change in the moon. They began at midnight, increasing to almost a strong breeze between five and six in the morning, and dying away again towards noon, when a calm of five hours duration succeeded; at other times light land and seabreezes prevailed.

It will appear from this description of the winds in the Gulf of Carpentaria that they bear a great similarity to those experienced at the same season on the North-West coast, near Depuch Island; and the circumstance of the temperature being lowest when they were strongest from the land is also the same. This was there supposed to have been occasioned by the great radiation of heat from the land over which they blew; but as the country at the head of the Gulf of Carpentaria is not of a cold clayey nature, the idea is naturally suggested that there must be a great extent of swampy ground in the interior, which strengthens the opinion I have before expressed.

SUPPOSED ISLANDS.

After hoisting in the boats we shaped a course along the eastern shore of the Gulf towards Booby Island. Our being obliged to return thither, for a chronometric departure prevented our examining the middle of the upper part of the Gulf, where, according to certain vague reports, there exist islands. It is stated, for example, that after the south-west monsoon has set in strongly, numbers of coconuts are thrown on the north-west shore of the Gulf of Carpentaria. In the year 1839, moreover, a small proa was driven off the coast of Timor Laut during the north-west monsoon. The wind blowing hard drifted them to the South-East for three days and three nights, when they came to a low island, with no traces of inhabitants, and abounding in coconut trees, upon the fruit of which they lived until the monsoon changed, when they sailed back to Timor Laut. Flinders, when off Batavia River, on the North-East side of the Gulf, was led to suppose that an island existed to seaward of him, from seeing some flocks of geese coming from that direction one morning. Wilson, also, in his Voyage round the World, speaks of the Macassar people reporting an island in the Gulf of Carpentaria, with sandalwood growing on it.

EXAMINE ENDEAVOUR STRAIT.

Soon after daylight on the 13th, we anchored under Booby Island,* the flagstaff bearing East-South-East half a mile to the south. The weather looked unusually threatening the previous night. Between the observations for rating the chronometers I fulfilled my intention of making a cursory examination of the entrance of Endeavour Strait, and anchored a mile and three quarters off the North Wallis Island, bearing South 23 degrees East. It is a conical rocky isle, upwards of 70 feet high, of a coarse sandstone formation; an extensive coral reef fronts it on all sides, except the north. The result of a night's observations on shore placed the summit in latitude 10 degrees 51 minutes 25 seconds South; the true bearing of Booby Island was North 22 degrees 13 minutes West. The natives appear to make a cemetery of this island; for on a small sandy point on the north side we found a large grave, covered with turtle backs, and containing several skeletons. This is a very different mode of burial from that noticed in Flinders River.

(*Footnote. The result of the whole of our observations at this island are as follows: Latitude of the west point 10 degrees 36 minutes 42 seconds South, longitude, 141 degrees 57 minutes 45 seconds East; variation, 7 degrees 0 minutes East. The tides are equally strange here and in Endeavour Strait; the stream setting to the westward (West-South-West to West-North-West) from nineteen to twenty hours, and to the northward and eastward (North to North-East) only from four to five hours. The latter stream commences about an hour before high-water, which takes place at 4.30, on the full and change days, when the rise at springs is 12 feet, and at neaps 7; the length of flood and ebb is nearly six hours.)

Leaving our anchorage, we steered West 1/4 North, six miles, in soundings of 6 and 7 fathoms. We then crossed in 4 1/2 and 5 fathoms, North Wallis Island bearing South 75 minutes East, a ridge which appeared to be an elbow of the spit extending off the latter, and forming the south side of the channel. Continuing the same course, the depth soon increased to 6 and 7 fathoms. This was highly satisfactory, as it proved there was water for the largest vessels.* In the afternoon we anchored again under Booby Island.**

(*Footnote. Captain Blackwood's recent survey of this Strait confirms my opinion of its being the best passage through this part of Torres Strait.)

(**Footnote. The following is the extract from the game book referred to in a former page: Booby Island (June and August) 145 quails, 18 pigeons, 12 rails, of two kinds, 3 doves; Van Diemen's Inlet (July) 14 doves, 6 pigeons, 1 native companion; Bountiful Island (July) 8 quails, 11 doves, 1 pheasant, 3 plovers, 4 white cockatoos; Sweers Island (July) 151 quails, 87 doves, 20 pigeons, 3 pheasants, 8 white and 2 black cockatoos, 5 spurwing plovers; Disaster Inlet (July) 36 ducks, 9 white cockatoos, 2 native companions, 1 green ibis; on the coast (July) 10 curlews and plovers; Flinders River (July) 10 ducks, 5 rose-coloured cockatoos, 4 pigeons, 3 spurwing plovers, 1 rail of a new species, 1 white ibis, 1 spoonbill; Albert River (August) 20 ducks, 4 large water rails, 2 pheasants; between Van Diemen's Inlet and Flinders' River (August) 12 cockatoos, 1 kangaroo (Macropus unguifer); Wallis Isles (August) 6 quails, 6 doves, 1 pigeon.)

LOOK FOR CAPE WESSEL.

On the evening of the next day, the 17th, we weighed, and steered West by South across the Gulf; and in the afternoon of the 18th passed eleven miles from Cape Wessel, according to the position assigned to it in the chart: but as the weather was tolerably clear, and nothing was seen of it, there appeared to be some truth in the report I had previously heard of its being to the southward of the position given to it.

The wind freshened by midnight, and, as usual, became more southerly, that is to say, South-South-East, whilst during the day it was generally East-South-East and East, and very much lighter. The current was steady at North-West by West from half a knot to three-quarters per hour, maintaining about the same direction and strength as in 1839. On the evening of the 19th we crossed the meridian of the centre of New Year Island, which our observations placed in 8 degrees 52 minutes west of Booby Island, one mile less than Flinders.

RETURN TO PORT ESSINGTON.

It was late in the afternoon of the 20th before we reached an anchorage off the settlement of Victoria, where we met Captain Stanley, who had just returned in the Britomart from a cruise in the Arafura Sea, of which the reader will find an interesting account, from his own pen, in the following chapter.

CHAPTER 2.10. INDIAN ARCHIPELAGO.

Leave Port Essington. Dobbo Island. Visit from the Schoolmaster. Church. Trade of the Arrou Islands. Their productions. Visit from Natives. The Banda Group. Penal Settlement. Adventures of a Javanese. Captain de Stuers. Native dance and sports. Nutmeg Plantations. Mode of preserving the fruit. Amboyna. Visit a natural grotto. Sail from Amboyna. Island of Kissa. Village of Wauriti. Missionary establishment. Serwatty Group. Return to Port Essington.

SAIL FOR DOBBO.

We sailed from Port Essington on the 19th of June, and found a very heavy confused sea running outside, which made the topsides leak so much that we were obliged to have recourse to the pump every hour. On the second day we made the south end of the Arrou Islands, the latitude of which agrees with the position assigned to it in the Admiralty Chart. On attempting to close the land, which is very low, we shoaled the water suddenly from 15 to 6 fathoms, when at some distance from the shore, and from the heavy sea running, and the appearance of the land, I did not think it prudent to stand in closer, but steered to the northward towards Dobbo. At sunset we anchored off the village of Maykor, situated at the entrance of a small inlet, and had a visit from an old man who had been lately appointed Orangtua by the Captain of a Dutch frigate, that had touched on the coast. He was very dirty, talked a great deal, and imbibed a considerable quantity of brandy and arrack. We allowed him to remain on board till daylight, when he returned to his village, leaving one of his boat's crew behind to pilot us round to Dobbo.

After leaving Maykor, we had very deep water until we came abreast the island of Babi, off which a shoal extends to the eastward two miles. We crossed the end of it in 8 fathoms, and immediately afterwards deepened our water to 15; and did not again strike soundings until we were close off the old Dutch fort, at the entrance of Dobbo harbour. Here we anchored, as I wished to see the native village close to it.

The anchor was hardly let go, when the monotonous sound of a tom-tom gave notice of the approach of some chief; and shortly afterwards, a boat, carrying a huge Dutch flag, was seen pulling towards the brig, with a great many round-bladed paddles.

VISIT FROM THE SCHOOLMASTER.

Seated in state, in the stern sheets, was an old man dressed in a long black serge coat and trousers, with a white shirt and handkerchief. His servant who sat behind him, attempted to protect him from a heavy shower by holding over his head, with very great care, an old Chinese umbrella that leaked like a sieve.

The old man, on coming on board, introduced himself as the schoolmaster of the village, and gave us a pressing invitation to land and inspect the church, of which he seemed to be very proud. A younger man, who accompanied him, he introduced as the Orang kaya of the village. As the rain still continued, I invited them into the cabin, where they were much delighted at all they saw; and, during the conference, they expressed much surprise at being told that all Englishmen were Christians. The chief of Wakan, an island which forms the other side of the entrance to Dobbo harbour, also favoured us with a visit. He came to request us to assist him in waging war against the chief of a neighbouring island, and did not at all understand our refusing his petition.

CHURCH AT DOBBO.

As soon as the rain cleared off, our visitors landed, and Mr. Earl and myself soon followed them to their village, where they were all drawn up to receive us, and saluted us with one musket. We were conducted to the village in state, and immediately taken to see the church, which had been a nice building, capable of holding all the inhabitants of the place; but it had latterly been allowed to get very much out of repair. In the font they had placed a saucer containing a small coin, as a hint that we should contribute something towards the restoration of the church, which was not thrown away, and most probably led to the largest donation the church had received for some time. After inspecting the church and village, we walked for some distance along the beach, and saw a great many parrots, parakeets, and large wood-pigeons, of varied and beautiful plumage, flying amongst the splendid kanari* trees, which, from all accounts, afford most valuable timber for ship-building.

(*Footnote. Cannarium commune.)

June 23.

Mr. Earl and myself visited the village of Dobbo. We found it very little changed since our last visit. The trading vessels had all sailed, but the village was occupied by a few Dutch traders from Macassar, some dozen Chinese, and about 300 Bughis and Macassars; the greater portion of whom were preparing to visit the eastern side of the group to collect the produce for the vessels expected to arrive at the setting-in of the westerly monsoon.

The only sea-going vessels in the harbour were two large Macassar proas and a Ceramese junk; which were to sail in a few days.

Whilst I was employed, making astronomical observations to determine the position of the point, Mr. Earl obtained considerable information from the traders.

TRADE OF THE ARROU ISLANDS.

The commerce of these islands appears to have increased considerably of late years, four or five ships and brigs, with a number of Macassar and Bughis proas, whose united crews were said to have amounted to 5,000 persons, having sailed with cargoes about two months previous to our visit.

The produce of the Arrou Islands consists chiefly of pearls, mother-of-pearl shell, tortoise-shell, birds of paradise, and Trepang; but the trade of Dobbo is not dependent on the productions of the Arrou Islands alone. The Bughis proas import large quantities of British calico, iron, hardware, muskets, gunpowder, etc. from Singapore, to obtain which Dobbo is visited by the natives of Ceram, Buru, New Guinea, and of all the adjacent islands, it being the only spot in this part of the world where British manufactures can at present be procured. The articles brought for sale from New Guinea consist of nutmegs, tortoise and mother-of-pearl shell, ambergris, birds-of-paradise, ebony, clove, and Massay bark, rosamala (an odoriferous wood) and Kayu-buku, a wood much prized for cabinet-work. British calicoes and iron are the principal articles taken in exchange for these by the proas from New Guinea.

The closeness with which the native traders conceal their commercial transactions, even from each other, rendered it impossible for me to learn the amount of exports and imports. Each Bughis proa imports to the amount of from 10,000 to 30,000 dollars, and at least one half of her cargo consists of British goods. Taking the yearly average of thirty proas, and the amount of her import cargo at the lowest above stated, this will give 150,000 dollars, or 32,500 pounds sterling, as the amount of British goods imported annually into Dobbo. This appears a large amount; but it will be found, upon examination, that it is rather under than above the actual value. In fact, the greater portion of our cotton manufactures sold at Singapore is consumed in the less civilized parts of the Indian Archipelago, where the natives prefer cheap goods and gaudy patterns; while the people of Java, Celebes, etc. prefer their own or Indian manufactures, which, although dearer, are far more durable than ours.

The value of a return cargo of a Bughis proa at Singapore is about 200 per cent on the outlay. Of the timber of the Arrou Islands there are several varieties, highly spoken of by the Bughis (who build and repair their proas there) for their durability, and the ease with which they are worked. Although of immense size, the trees are almost invariably sound; and as they can be felled within a few yards of the beach, it is not impossible that at some future period timber may form a valuable article of export.

The western islands of this group are very thinly inhabited. Wamma, though nearly forty miles in circumference, contains only between 200 and 300 inhabitants, who are scattered along the coast in little villages, each containing about half a dozen houses. The eastern islands are said to be more thickly inhabited. The natives appear to be a harmless race; and though their country is so rich in produce, the greater portion are in a state of poverty. This is to be attributed to the immoderate use of spirituous liquors, large quantities of which are brought by the traders from Java and Macassar. From their language and personal appearance, the natives appear to be a mixture between the Malayan race and the Polynesian negro.

PRODUCTIONS OF THE ISLANDS.

We also learnt that the emu and a small species of the kangaroo are found in the islands. From the varieties of birds, insects, butterflies, and parasitical plants, etc. that we saw, these islands promise a rich field to the naturalist and botanist.

We were shown some of the pearls that had been collected, some of which were very large, and highly prized by the Chinese; though from their irregular form and golden hue, they would not suit the European market. The smaller pearls, about the size of Number 1 shot, were very perfect in figure but tinged with colour.

As soon as the observations were concluded we returned on board, and got underway to proceed to the Ki Islands. On the 25th we passed the north end of the Great Ki, and along its western side, which appeared to be as steep as the eastern, and to afford no anchorage whatever. At 2 P.M. we were off the Lesser Ki, and anchored nearly in our old berth, in 14 fathoms. As soon as the brig was secured, Mr. Hill and myself commenced a survey of the harbour, with which we were rather disappointed, as on further examination the water proved to be too deep for convenient anchorage.

NATIVES ON BOARD.

June 27.

The natives came on board in great numbers, bringing abundance of yams, coconuts, bananas, pumpkins, and a few fowls. As our usual hour for divine service approached, Mr. Earl explained to them what we were going to do, and that they must go on shore till we had finished; but the chiefs requested so earnestly to be allowed to remain, that I permitted them to do so, upon the condition that they would be quite silent during the service. This they promised, and seating themselves on the hammock nettings all round the ship, remained the whole time most quiet and attentive spectators of the scene before them, which they seemed to understand and appreciate perfectly.

In the afternoon we landed, and accompanied by one of the chiefs, walked into the interior of the island for some distance. The country was very low, and covered with an impenetrable jungle, through which a path had been cut with considerable care; on each side, we noticed some patches of ground surrounded by stone walls, very neatly constructed. Our guide informed us that they had been farms, but the soil was exhausted. As only the underwood had been cleared away, the crop must have been produced beneath the shade of the large trees, through which the rays of the sun could scarcely penetrate. At Ki Doulan we saw nothing new. The inhabitants had sold nearly all their canoes to the Bughis, who had touched here on their return from Arrou to their own country.

THE BANDA GROUP.

June 29.

As soon as our survey was finished, we sailed for Banda, where I hoped to find some vessel in which our shipwrecked passengers* might find their way to a more civilized part of the world.

(*Footnote. Crew of the Montreal, lost in Torres Strait, who reached Port Essington in their boats.)

June 30.

At 8 A.M. we saw Banda, and at 11 entered the harbour; which is formed between the two islands of Great Banda and Banda Neira; and were here advised by the Resident to take the seamen on to Amboyna; where the papers requisite for their embarkation, in a Dutch merchant vessel, could be procured with less difficulty.

The Banda group consists of three large islands and two smaller ones. The nutmegs, which form the only export of the place, are all grown upon Great Banda, the largest of the three islands. It averages 500 feet in height, and is luxuriantly wooded.

BANDA NEIRA.

Banda Neira, the next in point of size, is the residence of the government officers, the troops, and the convicts. It is not so high as Great Banda, and does not produce a single nutmeg. The third island is called the Gounung Api, or Burning Mountain; and is, as its name implies, a volcano, from which more or less smoke, impregnated with sulphur, is constantly issuing; during the westerly monsoon, this smoke is blown over the town, which it renders very unhealthy. One of the small islands is inhabited entirely by lepers, who are sent there to prevent the disease from spreading among the inhabitants.

Banda is used as a penal settlement by the Dutch Government, and, at the period of our visit, there were from 3000 to 4000 convicts, guarded by about 300 soldiers, most of whom were natives of Celebes and Amboyna, being commanded by European officers. The town of Banda is clean, and contains, besides the houses of the Government officers, ample storehouses for the reception of the nutmegs grown upon Great Banda; together with very commodious barracks for the troops, and an airy and well appointed hospital. In addition to the Government officers and troops, a considerable number of Chinese have settled in Banda Neira. They reside in a part of the town by themselves; and some of them, judging from the appearance of their houses, seem to be prospering in the world.

The harbour is well sheltered in both monsoons, and is easy of access, but it is closed against foreign merchant vessels.* We found two merchant vessels under Dutch colours, at anchor; one was commanded by an Englishman, and the other, the property of a rich Chinaman living in Banda, by an old friend, who piloted us last year into Dobbo Harbour.

(*Footnote. A shoal extends from Great Banda towards the Gounung Api, leaving a deep passage of not more than a quarter of a mile wide. Upon this shoal, a considerable portion of which is dry at low-water, extensive bamboo fish-weirs are erected, which seem to be very productive. The natives also use fish-pots formed of bamboo, resembling in principle the common drum-net, which they leave down in shoal water during the night, and generally find a good supply in the morning. On another part of the shoal we observed a number of large stones, which are said to have been projected from the volcano, during a violent eruption some years ago.)

ADVENTURES OF A JAVANESE.

His history was a strange one. He was a half-caste, born in Java, who, after various adventures in different parts of the world, had been pressed into our naval service, and served some time on board a man-of-war, where he learned the English language. On his discharge from her, he was for some time in distress in London, and eventually he found his way back to his native country, where his enterprise, knowledge of seamanship, and facility in acquiring languages, of which he spoke seven or eight, soon got him employment.

The commandant of the troops, Captain De Stuers, nephew to the Governor-General of the Moluccas, who had very civilly pointed out the best anchorage to us, and given us every information in his power, on our first arrival, finding that we were interested in the manners and customs of the natives, very kindly invited us to see a menado dance performed by some of the native soldiers of the garrison. We landed with him in his Oram-bay, a large native boat, pulled by twelve men, who kept time by striking their round-bladed paddles against the gunwale between every stroke.

NATIVE DANCE.

On landing, the prettiest sight possible awaited us. The barrack-square, a green grass field of considerable extent, was covered with the native soldiers, all dressed in their gayest holiday costume, and decorated with scarves and handkerchiefs of the brightest colours, which streamed loosely from their elbows. Some of the men were armed with narrow bamboo shields, others with wooden swords, and the remainder with the light stems of the sago-palm, which were to be used as javelins. Each of these warriors came dancing up to us in turn, to make his obeisance, as we advanced to the spot where seats had been prepared for us. As soon as we were all seated the dance commenced. At first the spear-men advanced towards each other, holding the spear in the right hand, and the bamboo shields in the left, keeping time to the rude music of a couple of drums with very great accuracy, and dancing quite as much with their arms as their legs, in the most graceful manner possible. When they had approached sufficiently near to each other, one threw his spear with great force and dexterity, still keeping time to the music, and the other parried the weapon with his bamboo shield. I only saw one instance of failure, and then the unfortunate man received the blunt spear full on his breast with such force that it sent him rolling head-over-heels, much to the amusement of the spectators, and equally to his own discomfiture.

As one of the Port Essington natives, a very fine active man, had accompanied us on shore, we persuaded him, with some difficulty, to join in the dance, thinking that the quickness of eye, so common to all savages, would enable him to avoid the spear; but in this we were all disappointed, as he was struck nearly every time the spear was thrown.

NATIVE SPORTS.

After the dance was over sundry gymnastics followed, and the evening was wound up by an exhibition of the Ombres Chinoises, in which the soldiers seemed to take very great delight. The moving figures were very cleverly managed; and, to judge from the shouts of laughter which accompanied the storyteller in his tale, it must have been a very amusing one.

July 5.

The Resident having invited us to visit the nutmeg plantations on Great Banda, we accompanied him to the landing-place at Lontar, where we found chairs waiting for us, fitted with long poles, like those of a sedan, and were carried by eight men, who placed the poles on their shoulders, thus raising the chair, with its occupant, above their heads, a position which we found at first anything but pleasant.

In these conveyances we ascended to the summit of the island by a broad flight of stone steps, leading up from the landing-place, at the top of which we saw a ruined fort, and a church, that still retains traces of having been a fine building, though it had been much shaken by an earthquake. After passing the church, we entered the nutmeg plantations.

NUTMEG PLANTATIONS.

The scenery was most beautiful. Under the shade of large kanari trees, whose luxuriant foliage most effectually excluded the sun's rays, were thousands of nutmeg trees loaded with blossom and fruit in every stage of development. After passing through above a mile of these, we arrived at a house belonging to one of the planters, where we saw the process of curing the nutmeg.

In nine months from the opening of the blossom, the fruit, which resembles in appearance and shape an unripe peach, is gathered from the tree, by means of a long stick with an iron hook at the end. The outer covering, a tough fleshy skin which being opened divides in two halves, is then pulled off, and the mace, which is found partly enveloping the nut, is carefully separated and dried for two or three days in the sun. The nutmegs are then placed on long bamboo platforms, under sheds built for the purpose, where they are dried by means of wood fires. When sufficiently dry, they are handed over to the Government (who monopolize the whole produce of the island) and are then placed in the Government stores, where they are heated with quick-lime, which has the effect of preserving them from insects: they are then ready for exportation.

The annual produce of the island is said to average from 300,000 to 400,000 pounds of nutmegs; and about one-fourth that quantity of mace. Nutmegs are the only produce of Banda. Cloves are grown upon the island, but are considered to be so much inferior in quality to those produced at Amboyna, that they are not exported.

In returning to the ship, the bearers amused themselves by racing with each other, a proceeding far from agreeable to us who were carried, particularly when we came to the flight of steps, which they descended at full speed, shaking the chairs to such a degree that we had some trouble in keeping our seats. On arriving at the bottom we were most hospitably received by one of the nutmeg planters.

On the 6th July we sailed from Banda, passing out through the western entrance, between the shoal extending from Great Banda and the Gounung Api; though very narrow, it is quite safe, and by keeping over on the Gounung Api shore, which is very steep, we found plenty of water.

BAY OF AMBOYNA.

July 7.

We entered the bay of Amboyna; but light winds prevented our reaching the anchorage till noon on the 8th. We found a Dutch frigate, the Bellona, a 14-gun brig, and several merchant vessels under Dutch colours lying in the roads.

On landing, I was most kindly received by the Governor-General of the Moluccas, Colonel de Stuers, who gave me a most pressing invitation to take up my abode at his delightful residence a short distance out of the town, which was gladly accepted. During our stay at Amboyna the rain was almost incessant. This prevented our seeing the clove plantations, which were described as being very beautiful, and the cloves of Amboyna are as much prized as the nutmegs of Banda.

VISIT A NATURAL GROTTO.

The only fine day was devoted to an excursion some miles inland to visit a curious natural grotto. We started in chairs, borne on men's shoulders, similar to those at Banda, and which seem to be the usual conveyance of the country. Our party consisted of more than 100 natives, preceded by drums, gongs, and two large Dutch flags. The men who were not employed in carrying the chairs, ran by our side, and amused us by their songs and war-cry, which was the most thrilling yell I ever heard. The grotto itself, prettily situated on the side of a well wooded hill, was of considerable length but not otherwise curious.

July 20.

Having at last succeeded in getting a rate for the chronometers, which the unsettled state of the weather had rendered a matter of some difficulty, we sailed from Amboyna, much delighted with the kindness and attention we had all received. During the night we passed a small insulated volcano that was emitting a faint smoke, and in the morning made the north side of Wetter, which ranges from 3000 to 4000 feet in height, is very barren, and apparently thinly inhabited.

ISLAND OF KISSA.

We were beating to the eastward against a strong breeze and heavy swell from the south-east till the 25th, when we reached the small island of Kissa, off which we anchored, in 30 fathoms, a quarter of a mile from the shore, to the great delight of Mr. Earl's servant, who was a native of this place. His countrymen, on coming on board, received him with the most extravagant expressions of joy; and kept him up all night, relating the wonders he had seen since he left them; in doing which he talked to such a degree that when he came on board in the morning he could hardly speak from hoarseness. We found the natives had been suffering most severely from famine, occasioned by a long-continued drought that had dried up everything on the island, to such an extent, that the rice crops, upon which they chiefly depend for food, had entirely failed; but of livestock we found no difficulty in obtaining an abundant supply, and at a very moderate price. A couple of fowls were purchased for two feet of thin brass wire, highly prized by the natives for making fishhooks (which they prefer to our steel ones) and bracelets. A large pig was obtained for two fathoms of white calico, and everything else in proportion.

VILLAGE OF WAURITI.

On landing, we were met by a chief who had seen Mr. Earl on a previous visit. He promised to procure chairs to carry us up to Wauriti, the principal village on the island; and, while waiting for them, came on board and dined with us, behaving with great decorum, and appearing much interested in all he saw. After dinner we found the chairs waiting for us on the beach, and proceeded to the village, ascending a deep ravine with a streamlet running down the centre, overshadowed by the most luxuriant foliage.

After emerging from this ravine we found ourselves near the highest point of the island, of which we had a good view. Every part exhibited abundant signs of industry and cultivation, although parched up from want of rain. The chief of Wauriti received us with great hospitality, and offered refreshments of tea, rice cake, and a sort of beer, made from the Sago palm.

MISSIONARY ESTABLISHMENT.

He then escorted us round the village, which contains a very good church and schoolhouse, constructed under the direction of a Dutch Missionary, who had been for some years a resident on the island, with his family, and who appeared to have been very successful in converting the natives; but the distress occasioned by the want of rain was too great a trial of their faith; they declared that their old gods had sent the drought upon them as a punishment for deserting them, for they had never had such a visitation before Christianity had been introduced into the island. The poor Missionary's influence was over; he was obliged to quit the island, and went to Amboyna. A mile north of Wauriti we visited a smaller village inhabited by the descendants of some Dutch families, who had lived upon the island many years ago. They were quite different in appearance from the natives, and some of the women were very goodlooking. In returning to the ship, we examined an old Dutch fort built on the beach, but now in a very dilapidated state. It consisted simply of a square building, with bastions at the opposite angles. At sunset we made sail for Letti, off which we anchored the next day, in 13 fathoms; half a mile north of the Missionary establishment; where we found a resident minister and his family, and two others from another part of the island staying with them. A visit from Europeans was, to them, an event of rare occurrence, and must have been an interesting break in their monotonous lives; they had been very successful in their labours, and had converted many of the natives. They had several establishments on the island; the one we visited consisted of a church, schoolhouse, and house for the missionary; the church had been built more than 100 years, and was a very substantial edifice. The school appeared to be well attended by the native children.

The island of Letti, which is about 10 miles in extent, had also suffered much from the want of rain, but was fast recovering its green appearance. A high ridge of hills extends along the centre of the island from east to west; the sides of which, sloping gradually towards the sea, are covered with trees, and the whole island presents an appearance of great fertility. The anchorage off Letti, which we surveyed, is very good during the south-east monsoon, but affords no shelter when the wind blows in an opposite direction. There may be an anchorage on the south side of the island, which we did not visit, that would be available during the North-West monsoon.

SERWATTY GROUP.

After completing our survey at Letti we worked to the eastward, against the monsoon, keeping as close as possible under the lee of the Serwatty group, which enabled us to make a rough survey of the islands composing it. These proved to be very incorrectly laid down in the only chart we had, and from what we saw they require a far more detailed examination than we had time to devote to them; this would, I have no doubt, lead to the discovery of many anchoring-places, where vessels might carry on trade with the natives, with much greater ease and safety than they can do when obliged to stand off and on with the vessel while the boats are sent in to trade; since, by these means, the crew are necessarily divided, are liable to fall an easy prey to the natives, should the latter be inclined to treachery.

The various traders we met with, during this, as well as on our former visit to the islands, all agreed in warning us against the inhabitants of Timor Laut and Baba, as people not at all to be trusted. It is much to be hoped that if Port Essington should ever become a place of much trade, that these people will be more civilized, as from the easy communication, in either monsoon, Timor Laut will be much frequented by the settlers at Port Essington, in order to procure the tropical productions abounding there, which they would not find on the Australian coasts. The Arrou islands, for the same reason, will hold out great inducements to traders, as the timber found there is infinitely superior, for most purposes, to any found on the Cobourg peninsula.

RETURN TO PORT ESSINGTON.

As our provisions were running short, and the time had arrived when we were expected to return to the settlement, I had not time to stop to examine several places I wished to see, particularly the southern part of the island of Timor Laut, where from information we received at Banda, a very large and secure harbour is said to exist, available in both monsoons. The island of Serra was another point, as it is stated to be a very good place for obtaining supplies.

In crossing over to Australia we saw Timor Laut, off which we experienced a very fresh South-East breeze and a heavy sea, which continuing to prevail with a strong current setting to leeward, we were in consequence eight days reaching Port Essington, where we found that all had gone on well during our absence.

CHAPTER 2.11. PORT ESSINGTON AND THE NORTH-WEST COAST.

Appearance of Settlement. Effects of climate. Native mother. Trade in teeth. Macassar Proas. Lieutenant Vallack visits the Alligator Rivers. Interview with Natives. Prospects of Port Essington. Lieutenant Stewart's Route. Climate. Remarks of Mr. Bynoe. Harbour of refuge. Sail from Port Essington. Sahul Shoal. Arrive at Coepang. Timorees. Sail for North-west Coast. Strong winds. Cape Bossut. Exploration of North-west Coast. View of Interior. Birds. Solitary Island. Visit the Shore. Amphinome Shoals. Bedout Island. Breaker Inlet. Exmouth Gulf. Arrive at Swan River.

PORT ESSINGTON.

The period of our arrival at Port Essington had been looked forward to by all with deep interest, and, I may say, some anxiety. Two years had elapsed since our last visit, and various and contradictory were the reports in circulation respecting the welfare of the settlement. We were accordingly truly rejoiced to find it in a state of prosperity that will ever reflect the highest credit on the hardy few who have laboured so earnestly for its welfare. It was an emblem of the rapidity with which, in young countries, it is possible to recover from any disaster, that the trees which had been uprooted, shattered, and riven in fragments by the hurricane of 1839, were for the most part concealed by the fresh foliage of the year; there was scarcely anything left to commemorate that dreadful visitation, but the tombs of twelve brave fellows, of the Pelorus, who lost their lives at the time.

There was a care-worn, jaundiced appearance about the settlers, that plainly revealed how little suited was the climate for Europeans to labour in; and yet there had been, I was told, no positive sickness. The hospital, however, had been enlarged, and rendered a very substantial building. Captain Macarthur had built a strong and well-contrived blockhouse, of the excellent kind of wood, a species of teak, before alluded to. A new garden also had been laid out, in which the banana and pine, besides many other tropical fruits, were flourishing. The arrow-root and sugar-cane grown here are allowed by those who have seen these plants in the West Indies not to be surpassed in excellence; and the cotton from Pernambuco, and Bourbon seed, has been valued in England at sixpence-halfpenny a pound. The colonists were beginning to understand the seasons; they had taken out of the ground sweet potatoes nearly sufficient to last them until the next crop. This was the first time they had been tried. I have never seen any in South America half the size. In short, I may say that the settlement was fast approaching the state in which was that at Raffles Bay when it was abandoned.

Considering the few days given to sporting, our game-book contains a very tolerable list, comprising seven kangaroos, twenty quails, ten ducks, seven pigeons, two pheasants, and two ibises.

The natives in the neighbourhood of Port Essington are, like all others on the continent, very superstitious; they fancy that a large kind of tree, called the Imburra-burra, resembling the Adansonia, contains evil spirits. Here, also, as I have elsewhere observed, they fancy that after death they reappear as whites; the bones of the dead are frequently carried from place to place.

The reader will remember the native named Alligator, whom I have mentioned on a previous visit to Port Essington. I witnessed in his family an instance of affection for a departed child, which, though it exhibited itself in this peculiar manner, was extremely touching. The wife had treasured up the bones of the little one, and constantly carried them about with her, not as a memento mori, but as an object whereon to expend her tenderest emotions, whenever they swelled within her breast. At such times she would put together these bones with a rapidity that supposed a wonderful knowledge of osteology, and set them up that she might weep over them. Perhaps, in her imagination, as she performed this melancholy rite, the ghastly framework before her became indued with the comely form of infancy; bright eyes once more sparkled in those hollow cells, and a smile of ineffable delight hung where, in reality, was naught but the hideous grin of death. I exceedingly regret that the mother who could feel so finely was some time afterwards over-persuaded to part with the bones of her child.

I may here mention that the medical officer of the settlement was in the habit of extracting teeth for the natives, who found the European method much more easy than their own mode of knocking them out. The supercargo of a vessel, learning this fact, was anxious to become a purchaser of teeth to some extent for the London market, being persuaded that they would find a ready sale among the dentists; and it is more than probable that many of our fair ladies at home are indebted for the pearls on which the poets exhaust so much of their fancy to the rude natives of Australia.

Among the information I gained during this stay at Port Essington respecting the Macassar people, who periodically visit the coast, was that of their discovering a strait leading into the Gulf of Carpentaria, behind English Company's Islands. Passing Cape Wilberforce, called Udjung Turu, or Bearaway Point, they continue their course down the Gulf to the Wellesley Islands, named by them Pulo Tiga, or The Three Islands; this is the usual southern limit of their voyage. The Macassar proas that visit Port Essington, amounting in one season to fourteen, usually brought for barter tea, sugar, cloths, salt-fish, rice, etc. Several of the nakodhas, or masters, have expressed a wish to abandon fishing, and occupy themselves only in trade, if there is sufficient encouragement held out to them.

During our stay a report was brought into the settlement by the natives that there was a large vessel wrecked on the mainland, near the Alligator Rivers, which was accompanied by so many details of place and circumstance that Captain Stanley was induced to send Lieutenant Vallack, of the Britomart, away in the decked tender to procure information, and to render all assistance in his power. He was accompanied by several of the Port Essington natives; and on arriving at the Eastern River, found that there was no foundation for the report. But having got so far away from the settlement, he ascended the river some little distance, and towards sunset came on a tribe of natives. The anchor was let go, and signs were made to induce them to approach, for some time without success. At last, however, encouraged by seeing so many of their own countrymen, two or three of the more courageous ventured to draw near. The scene that followed was a curious illustration of the slight communication that exists between natives of different tribes, and also of the great difference in their language, as the strangers could hold no conversation with the people from Port Essington, who, when they found their own dialect was not understood, tried to explain themselves in such few words of broken English as were then used at the colony, and seemed very much surprised at their want of success. A large mess of boiled rice, which had been prepared by way of a feast for the newcomers, was then produced; but it was not before they saw their countrymen eagerly devouring it that they could be induced to eat, as they evidently did not know what it was. The result of Lieutenant Vallack's visit is hostile to the idea entertained that clothes given to natives at Port Essington pass into the interior, which I always much doubted. Had the fence before alluded to by me been run across the neck, and an out-station formed there, we should have had further acquaintance with the natives of the main, besides other advantages that would necessarily have accrued.

As it seemed extremely probable that the course of events would not again permit the Beagle to visit Port Essington, we naturally experienced some regret on our departure, and were led to speculate, with interest, on its future destiny. A young settlement, so remote and solitary, cannot fail to awaken the liveliest sympathy in the voyager. How small soever may be the circle of its present influence, the experience of the past teaches us confidently to expect that wherever a knot of Englishmen locate themselves, there are deposited the germs of future greatness. For Port Essington, a sphere of action, of great extent and importance, appears marked out by the hand of nature; though, to a careless observer, unskilled in discerning the undeveloped capabilities of geographical positions, it may appear in the light simply of an isolated military post. And, certainly, whatever may be its actual resources, little or nothing has, as yet, been done to ascertain them. We are still reduced to base our opinions on conjecture and hypothesis; we know nothing of the amount of commerce that might be carried on with the islands of the Indian Archipelago—nothing of the productions of the mainland—nothing of the extent to which colonization might be carried in the neighbourhood. Without data of this kind it is impossible, with any pretensions to accuracy, to estimate the probable future importance of our settlement at Port Essington, the value of which does not depend on the fertility of Cobourg Peninsula, any more than that of Gibraltar on the productiveness of the land within the Spanish lines. Victoria, if we regard its own intrinsic worth, might be blotted out of the list of our possessions without any material detriment to our interests; but its importance, as a commercial station, is incalculable. It is, indeed, to the country behind—at present unvisited, unexplored, a complete terra incognita—and to the islands within a radius of five hundred miles, that we must look if we would form a correct idea of the value of Port Essington to the Crown. At present it may seem idle, to some, to introduce these distant places as elements in the discussion of such a question; but no one who reflects on the power of trade to knit together even more distant points of the earth, will think it visionary to suppose that Victoria must one day—insignificant as may be the value of the districts in its immediate neighbourhood—be the centre of a vast system of commerce, the emporium, in fact, where will take place the exchange of the products of the Indian Archipelago for those of the vast plains of Australia. It may require some effort of the imagination, certainly, to discover the precursor of such a state of things in the miserable traffic now carried on by the Macassar proas; but still, I think, we possess some data on which to found such an opinion, and I am persuaded that Port Essington will ultimately hold the proud position I predict for it.

As steam communication, moreover, must soon be established between Singapore and our colonies on the south-eastern shores of Australia,* this port, the only really good one on the north coast, will be of vast importance as a coal depot.

(*Footnote. By this arrangement Sydney could be brought within nearly sixty days of England.)

As I have already observed, however, little pains have been taken to ascertain all the capabilities of the place, and to extend our acquaintance with the country behind. No European has ever yet penetrated any great distance beyond the neck that connects Cobourg Peninsula with the mainland; and even the report of the existence of the settlement has scarcely travelled farther. At least in 1841, when Lieutenant Vallack visited one of the Alligator rivers he found the natives completely ignorant that we had established ourselves in their neighbourhood.

From the account of Lieutenant P.B. Stewart,* of which I have given a brief abstract above, it appears that there is some good land on the Peninsula, though such is decidedly not the case near the settlement.

(*Footnote. This officer has since forwarded me his route. It appears that on leaving Victoria he proceeded to the south-west side of the Peninsula, and followed the shore to the neck, when taking an east direction he crossed it, and then pursuing a northerly course made his way to Middle Head, on the side of the harbour opposite the settlement. The frequent opportunities Lieutenant Stewart had of determining his positions by cross-bearings of the islands, leave no doubt as to the correctness of his route.)

The reports of late sent in respecting the climate have, in some measure, been unfavourable; and, as I have observed, the appearance of the garrison was rather sickly; but may not this arise partly from the indifferent manner in which they are housed? Small, low, thatched cottages, in a temperature much too warm for Europeans to labour in constantly, are apt to engender disease. There is, besides, a mangrove swamp immediately behind the settlement, which at present decreases its salubrity. With regard to the range of the thermometer, it has been known as low as 62 degrees, and it is never so high, by ten or twenty degrees, as I have seen it in South Australia during the hot winds: the average, however, is about 83 degrees. The fact that the site of Victoria lies so far from the entrance of the harbour is injurious to its prosperity, as it prevents many vessels from calling, and deprives it of the breezes that constantly prevail on the coast, and would of course conduce to its healthiness.*

(*Footnote. The following remarks from Mr. Bynoe, on the climate of Northern Australia, corroborate the views put forward in the text:

I find on a reference to the Medical Journals, as well as to a Meteorological table kept by me during a period of six years, on the coasts of Australia, and under every variety of climate, that we had no diseases peculiar to that continent, and I am led to believe it a remarkably healthy country. On the North and North-west coasts, where you find every bight and indentation of land fringed with mangroves, bordering mud flats, and ledges formed by corallines in every stage of decomposition, with a high temperature, no fevers or dysenteries were engendered.

Our ship's company were constantly exposed, in boats, to all the vicissitudes from wet to dry weather, sleeping in mangrove creeks for many months in succession, pestered by mosquitoes during the hours of repose, yet they still remained very healthy; and the only instance where the climate was at all prejudicial (if such a term can be applied) was in the Victoria River, on the north coast, where the heat was, at one period, very great, and the unavoidable exposure caused two of the crew to be attacked with Coup de Soleil.

Our casualties consisted of two deaths during our stay on the Australian coast, one from old age; and the other, a case of dysentery, contracted at Coepang.

It may not be uninteresting to state, that from the time that Port Essington was settled in 1838, up to the period of our last visit to that military post, and for some time after, no endemial form of disease had manifested itself, and the only complaints that the men had been suffering from were diseases such as were usually to be met with in a more temperate clime, and those were few. But we must take into consideration their isolated position, the constant sameness of their life, their small low thatched cottages, mostly with earthen floors; their inferior diet, and also the absence or scantiness of vegetables. Most of the men, moreover, experience a constant yearning for home, which, yearly increasing, terminates in despondency, and leaves them open to the attacks of disease. Scorbutic symptoms were at one period very prevalent, arising principally from the poor form of diet; similar cases occurred in a former settlement on that part of the coast, from the same causes; but although Port Essington has been of late visited by sickness, I do not consider it by any means an unhealthy spot.)

Considering Port Essington as a harbour of refuge for the crews of ships wrecked in Torres Strait, it is certainly far removed from the scene of distress; and looking upon it in this light only, a military station at Cape York would probably be attended with greater benefit and less expense, though, as it might be expected to meet with annoyance from the natives of the islands in Torres Strait, who are badly disposed and wander over a great space in search of plunder, the party should not be very small. There is, moreover, no real harbour; but, at the same time, as the post would be on a low narrow projection, with a seabreeze sweeping over it in either monsoon, it would doubtless be cooler than at Port Essington.

I may observe that the only instance that came under my immediate notice of the benefit of a harbour of refuge on the north coast, was that of a vessel wrecked too far to the westward to reach Cape York, the crew of which arrived at Port Essington in their boats.

It was in some measure at the request of the surgeon, in order to alleviate Mr. Fitzmaurice's great sufferings by a little rest, that our stay was lengthened to September 7th, when we left in the morning.*

(*Footnote. While steering North by East 1/2 East for Point Record, we discovered a bank of 4 1/2 fathoms, with 7 and 8 on each side. When just off it, to the northward, in 7 fathoms, the west extreme of Point Record bore North 19 1/4 East, and its east extreme North 35 1/4 East, and the north-east end of Spear Point North 59 degrees West.)

SAHUL SHOAL.

By noon we had cleared the heads of Port Essington, and a course was then shaped for the supposed Sahul Shoal, the northern and central parts of which we passed over without finding any remarkable decrease in the soundings.*

(*Footnote. This clearly proved that our knowledge of the extent of the Sahul Bank was very imperfect. It appears that between the latitudes 11 degrees 0 minutes South and 11 degrees 25 minutes South, and the longitudes 125 degrees 20 minutes East and 125 degrees 50 minutes East, there are no less than six patches of coral known, of 12 and 16 fathoms. It is my belief that the whole of this shoal, if it merit the name, lies between the latitudes of 11 degrees 15 minutes South and 11 degrees 35 minutes South, and the longitudes of 123 degrees 35 minutes East and 124 degrees 15 minutes East.)