King found that former navigators had taken that part of the coast he named Point Cloates for an island, calling it Cloates Island; the next day Vlaming Head, of the North-West Cape, came in sight, and a north course bore him to Rowley Shoals, wishing to fix their position with greater correctness, and to examine the extent of the bight round Cape Leveque, which during the earlier part of their voyage they were obliged to leave unexplored. Landing next at Point Cunningham, Mr. Cunningham botanized with great success; a fresh stream was running down the rocks into the sea, and at the back of the beach was a hollow full of sweet water; the heat was terrible, and the soil of a red coloured earth of a very sandy nature.

Another anchor lost, in a bay they afterwards called Disaster Bay. The succession of bad weather, and only one anchor left, made it desirable to go to Port George the Fourth, as they wanted both food and water; and during the delay here, a part of the crew in the boats could examine the islands in Rogers Strait, and trace the continuation of the mainland, behind the islands, that forms the south-east coast of Camden Bay, of which nothing was known; also continuing the examination of the deep bay behind Montgomery's Islands, and connect that part with the gulf or strait behind Buccaneers' Archipelago, which King felt sure existed. Here they had a most amazing escape, that reads more like fiction than sober fact. The astonishing influx and reflux of the tides amongst these islands had been noticed by Dampier, and had led that navigator to conclude that a strait or large river must be situated near this part of the coast. Whilst among these islands, King was caught in one of these tidal draughts during a dead calm. The following is his description of the position. He was at the mast-head—his usual position for conning the ship when near the land—but seeing his vessel carried swiftly and, as he thought, inevitably on the rocks, he descended to the deck:—

"Happily, however, the stream of the tide swept us past the rocks without accident, and after carrying us about half-a-mile farther, changed its direction to south-east, and drifted us towards a narrow strait separating two rocky islands, in the centre of which was a large insulated rock, that seemed to divide the stream. The boat was now hoisted out to tow, but we could not succeed in getting the vessel's head round. As she approached the strait the channel became much narrower, and several islands were passed at not more than thirty yards from her course. The voices of natives were now heard, and soon afterwards some were seen on either side of the strait, hallooing and waving their arms. We were so near to one party that they might have thrown their spears on board. BY this time we were flying past the shore with such velocity that it made us quite giddy; and our situation was too awful to give us time to observe the motions of the Indians; for we were entering the narrowest part of the strait, and the next moment were close to the rock, which it appeared almost impossible to avoid, and it was more than probable that the stream it divided would carry us broadside upon it, when the consequences would have been dreadful. The current, or sluice, was setting past the rock at the rate of eight or nine knots, and the water being confined by its intervention, fell at least six or seven feet; at the moment, however, when we were upon the point of being dashed to pieces, a sudden breeze providentially sprang up, and filling our sails, impelled the vessel forward three or four yards. This was enough, but only just sufficient, for the rudder was not more than six yards from the rock. No sooner had we passed this frightful danger than the breeze fell again, and was succeeded by a dead calm; the tide, however, continued to carry us on with a gradually decreasing strength until one o'clock, when we felt very little effects from it."

This was the last danger that King was to escape on the north-west coast, as after a little more examination of the neighbourhood of this dangerous archipelago, the thick weather and easterly winds compelled him to relinquish his work and sail for Sydney.

King left the coast thoroughly impressed with the idea that behind Buccaneers' Archipelago there was, if anywhere, an opening into the interior of New Holland; the constant loss' of his anchors had prevented him from confirming his conjecture; but he had good reason for then thinking so. In these days of strong, well-found surveying steamers, it is wonderful to recall the work that King did in the MERMAID, amongst all the dangers of unknown seas, and constantly having to get his wood and water in the face of hostile savages.

It was not long after his return to England, and whilst engaged preparing his journal for publication, that he heard a settlement had been founded on Melville Island, one of his discoveries. As this settlement was in accordance with his recommendation, and a detailed account of its foundation has not been given in these pages, the present may be a fitting time to do so.

It must be remembered that this settlement was finally, after many removals, abandoned, and the one established at Port Essington, when Leichhardt arrived there, was a second attempt at colonisation.

The TAMAR, under captain Bremer, left Sydney in August, 1824, having with her the COUNTESS OF HARCOURT, and that ever useful colonial brig, the LADY NELSON.

Arrived at Port Essington, the little fleet anchored off Table Point, the marines landed, the Union Jack was hoisted, and formal possession taken of the north coast of Australia, between the meridians of 129 deg. and 136 deg. east of Greenwich. After the TAMAR had fired a royal salute, and the marines three volleys, the business of finding a site commenced.

This was no such easy matter, the first object being to find fresh water; parties were despatched in all directions, but for a long time unsuccessfully; at last some was obtained at a sandy point, where there was an old Malay encampment, but it was a deficient supply, only to be got by digging holes in the sand, and the inducements for remaining were not considered sufficiently attractive. An examination of St. Asaph Bay, in Melville Island, was next made, and possession taken in like manner; but no fresh water was forthcoming there, and at last, after much searching, a small river and plenty of water were found in another part of Melville Island, opposite Harris Island. A point of the land for the town was fixed upon, and named Point Barlow, after the commandant. The cove where the ship anchored was called King's Cove, and the entrance to Apsley Strait, Port Cockburn.

A redoubt was built of logs, seventy-five feet long by fifty broad, and a ditch dug surrounding it; the quarter-deck guns were mounted, the colours hoisted, and it was formally christened Fort Dundas, under a royal salute from itself.

After all this display of enthusiasm and gunpowder, work commenced in earnest, quarters were built inside the stockade, a deep well sunk, a wharf constructed, and gardens laid out.

As might have been reasonably supposed, the evil-disposed natives of the island soon got over their first scare at this invasion of their territory. At first they came into the fort in friendly guise.

"I was greatly astonished to see amongst them," says Lieutenant Roe, "a young man of about twenty years of age, not darker in colour than a Chinese, but with perfect Malay features, and like all the rest, entirely naked; he had daubed himself all over with soot and grease to appear like the others, but the difference was plainly perceptible. On observing that he was the object of our conversation, a certain archness and lively expression came over his countenance, which a native Australian would have strained his features in vain to produce. It seems probable that he must have been kidnapped when very young, or found while astray in the woods."

All this friendliness soon disappeared, the aborigines took to robbing the working parties of their tools, and spear and musket soon came to be used on either side. Up to the time the TAMAR left, however, no harm had been done. In all, the settlement consisted of one hundred and twenty-six individuals, of whom four were women, and forty-five convicts.

The fortunes of this little colony, and even its existence, being almost forgotten, it may be interesting to the reader to follow them to the end. After the TAMAR left for India, and the COUNTESS OF HARCOURT proceeded on her voyage, the settlement was left with the colonial brig, the LADY NELSON, as the nucleus of a fleet, but she sailed for Timor, and was never heard of again. The hostility of the natives increased, and the Malays, who were expected to visit and trade with the English, did not put in an appearance, it being out of the track of their proas; and of Fort Dundas, of which such high hopes were entertained, in a few short years not a vestige remained.

At last, what with scurvy amongst the garrison (which, considering the amount of vegetables grown, should not have been the case), the incessant feud with the natives, the most gloomy reports were sent down at every opportunity afforded by a vessel calling. Latterly, it was unsafe to venture out of the camp unarmed, and the surgeon and commissariat officer were murdered only a few yards from the stockade. The public policy pursued was not of a liberal nature, and it was decided to try the experiment of a settlement on the mainland.

As it was considered that Port Essington was deficient in fresh water, Raffles Bay was selected, and two years before Melville Island was finally abandoned, Captain Stirling, of the SUCCESS, was ordered to proceed there. The settlement was formed on the 18th June, and in honour of the date, was called Fort Wellington.

The usual scene of activity ensued, the erection of a house, the formation of a garden, and finally, the old routine of commencing intercourse with the natives; then the thieving and the usual retaliation.

Two shipwrecked men were picked up during the early days of the settlement, one a Portuguese sailor belonging to the FREDERICK, wrecked on the east coast, so often mentioned by King. This man, in company with two others, had escaped in a small boat, and reached Port Essington, where his two companions had died. The other was a Lascar belonging to the ship FAME, that had been wrecked in the straits. He had been with the blacks six or seven years.

On the final abandonment of Melville Island, in 1829, the live animals, stores, plants, etc., were transferred to Raffles Bay, but although such doleful accounts of the island had been sent down, Captain Lawes, who visited it only a few months before the removal, gives a favourable report of its healthiness, and of the success attending the growth of vegetables and tropical fruits. The same dismal reports concerning the unhealthiness of the climate were reported about Raffles Bay, and, much to the surprise of the commandant, Captain Barker, orders were received to abandon that place, too, in the same year.

On the 28th of August the abandonment took place. The principal natives, who had been admitted near the settlement, were taken over the stockade and garden, and an attempt made to teach them the value of the fruits.

The whites left behind them orange, lime, and lemon trees, bananas, in abundance, shaddocks, citrons, pine-apples, figs, custard apples, cocoa-nuts, sugar-cane, and many other plants. In addition, paw-paws, bananas, and cocoa-nuts were planted in many other places where it was thought they would thrive.

Poultry, pigs, a bull and three cows (buffaloes), a Timor horse, and mare in foal, were also left, in the hope of their increasing. An old Union Jack was then nailed on the deserted fort, and the garrison went on board the brig. On notice being given of the intended removal, a disposition to abscond had been evinced by many of the prisoners. Some succeeded; the idea being to hide until the departure of the commandant, and then live with the natives until the arrival of the Malay proas. All returned and gave themselves up with the exception of two, and these two were left behind. Their fate is of course unknown. This was the end of the first attempt at colonisation of the north coast.



CHAPTER XIX.



Cruise of H.M.S. BEAGLE—Passengers Grey and Lushington—Swan River—Northern coast survey commenced—Supposed channel at Dampier's Land non-existent—Lieutenant Usborne accidentally shot—King's Sound—Effects of a rainy season—Point Cunningham—Skeleton of a native found—New discoveries—Fitzroy River explored—Exciting incident—Boat excursion to Collier Bay—Swan River—Native steward "Miago"—Amusing inspection—Meeting with the explorers at Hanover Bay—Lieutenant Grey's description of native tribes—Miago's memory—Fremantle—Needed communication—BEAGLE at Hobart Town—Survey work at Cape Otway—Exploration of northwest coast—Reminiscences of colonisation—Discovery of the Adelaide River—A serious comedy—Port Essington and Clarence Straits—Harbour of Port Darwin named—The Victoria River—Extravagant hopes—Land party organized—Captain Stokes speared—Return to Swan River—BEAGLE again North—Examination of Sweer's Island—Flinders and Albert Rivers discovered—Inland navigation—Gun accident—Native mode of burial—Fallacious Theorising—The BEAGLE'S surveying concluded—Maritime exploration closes.

The next voyage of importance in these waters was conducted by Captains Wickham and Stokes. Few narratives of the survey of our coasts have read with so much interest as that of the cruise of the BEAGLE. Partly is this owing to the intense love of exploration and discovery that seems to have animated the spirit of her commander, Captain Lort Stokes, throughout whose journal there breathes the very essence of genuine enthusiasm. In addition, the incidents and results of the survey added so much to our knowledge of Australia, that one can look upon him as a most worthy successor to Flinders and King.

The BEAGLE was an old surveying vessel, and Captain Stokes had served on board of her for nearly eighteen years, passing through all the grades, from midshipman upwards, in many parts of the world. She left Plymouth on the 5th July, 1837, under the command of John Clements Wickham, who invalided in March, 1841, when John Lort Stokes, lieutenant and assistant surveyor, was appointed to the vacant command.

On board the BEAGLE, at her departure from Plymouth, were Lieutenants Grey and Lushington, on their way to explore the interior of Western Australia. These gentlemen parted company from the BEAGLE at the Cape of Good Hope, the sloop proceeding to the Swan River. In January, 1838, the BEAGLE left Swan River, and sailed north, where, on the 15th, they anchored in Roebuck Bay, and commenced a search for the much talked of channel supposed to exist by Captains King and Dampier—a channel that would connect Roebuck Bay with an opening behind Buccaneer's Archipelago, thus making Dampier's Land an island. As was anticipated by Stokes, this proved unsuccessful, but the stay there was terminated by an unfortunate but, luckily, not fatal accident, Lieutenant Usborne being accidentally shot.

"At the time this unlucky accident occurred, some twenty natives rushed from the concealment, whence they had been, doubtless, watching all the proceedings of the party, as though they, designed to bear a part in what probably seemed to them, as poor Usborne went down, an approaching fray; however, the sight of the two boats in the distance, which, upon deploying, they had full in view, deterred them from acting upon any hostile intentions, supposing such to have existed in their minds. The accident, however, and their sudden appearance could only serve additionally to flurry the little party, who had to convey their disabled officer to a place of safety, and Mr. Helpman, who may well be pardoned the want of his usual self-possession at such a moment, left behind a pair of loaded pistols. They would puzzle the savages greatly, of course, but I hope no ill consequences ensued; if they began pulling them about, or put them in the fire, the better to separate the wood and iron, two or three poor wretches might be killed or maimed for life, and their first recollections of the 'Quibra men,' as Miago calls us, would naturally be anything but favourable.

"Thus disastrously terminated our examination of Roebuck Bay, in which the cheering reports of former navigators had induced us to anticipate the discovery of some great water communication with the interior of this vast continent. A most thorough and careful search had clearly demonstrated that the hoped-for river must be sought elsewhere."

Touching here and there along the coast, and having occasional communication with the natives, which Stokes amusingly describes, they finally anchored in, and christened King's Sound after the narrow escape that King experienced there from the tidal race. The point had now been reached where they expected to carry on their most important operations, and the first question to settle was if they could rely on fresh water. The delightful verdure that clothed the country after the long ranges of sandhills, and shores covered with mangroves, also the fact of many natives living here, would on any other coast have been looked upon favourably, but upon the coasts, and in the heart of Australia nature seems to delight in contradiction.

Heavy rains provided them with an abundance of rain water, and they collected in the hollows of the rocks several boat loads, so preventing a more distant search.

"While waiting here a party was made up for the purpose of penetrating a little way into the interior. Everything wore a green and most delightful appearance, but the reader must bear in mind how vegetation had just been forced by heavy rains upon a light, heated soil, and also recollect that to one who has been pent up for some time on board ship a very barren prospect may seem delightful. The country was more open in character than I had before noticed it, and the numerous traces of native fires which we found in the course of the excursion seemed readily to account for this. Indeed, during dry seasons it not infrequently happens that an immense tract of land is desolated with fire, communicated either by the design or carelessness of the natives, to the dry herbage on the surface. The moment the flame has been kindled, it only waits for the first breath of air to spread it far and wide; then, on the wings of the wind, the fiery tempest streams over the hillsides and through the vast plains. Brushwood and herbage, the dry grass, the tall reed, the twining parasite, or the giant of the forest, charred and blackened, but still proudly erect-alike attest and bewail the conquering fire's onward march; and the bleak desert, silent, waste, and lifeless, which it leaves behind, seems for ever doomed to desolation. Vain fear! The rain descends once more upon the dry and thirsty soil, and, from that very hour which seemed the date of cureless ruin, Nature puts forth her wondrous power with increased effort, and again her green and flower-embroidered mantle decks the earth with a new beauty."

Leaving this anchorage, another was found in a bay on the mainland, eleven miles N.W. from a remarkable headland, named by Captain King Point Cunningham, and remained here a week, by which time the coast, as far as Point Cunningham, was carefully examined.

"We named this Skeleton Point, from our finding here the remains of a native, placed in a semi-recumbent position under a wide-spreading gum-tree, enveloped, or, more properly, shrouded, in the bark of the papyrus. All the bones were closely packed together, the larger being placed outside, and the general mass, surmounted by the head, resting on its base; the fleshless, eyeless skull 'grinning horribly' over the right side. The removal of the skeleton was effected, and presented by Captain Grey to the Royal College of Surgeons, in whose museum it is now to be found."

From the summit of Point Cunningham a fine view of the opposite shore of the sound was obtained. It appeared very rugged and broken, and from the geological formation of the country, and no land to the south-cast or south, Captain Stokes' hopes were again raised of finding the long and anxiously expected river. A singular cliff on the south-east side of the point is called by King, "Carlisle Head." Rounding Point Cunningham, they anchored near a red cliffy head, called by Captain King "Foul Point." It was here King was compelled to leave the coast, and Foul Point marks the limit of his survey on the northern shore.

On the 23rd February they crossed the limit of King's Sound, and entered unknown waters. Here, at Disaster Bay, Stokes was sent in command of the whaleboat and yawl, to inspect the coast ahead, whilst the survey of the bay proceeded. On the 26th, Stokes discovered a new river, which he named the Fitzroy, after his former commander. Whilst exploring this river, Stokes and his companions, Helpmann and a sailor, had a most narrow escape. They had left the boat, and were making their way through the mangrove-fringed banks on foot to a certain point where they were to meet the boat again; but rising tide proved so strong that the boat could not reach them, and although Stokes and Helpman could swim, the sailor could not, and they would not desert him. There they had to stand with the tide creeping up their bodies, and watch the desperate efforts of the crew to contend against its force. Only when the water was high enough to allow the boat to creep along the shelter of the mangroves, and they were shoulder deep, were they rescued.

On the return to the ship, a fresh expedition was immediately despatched, Captain Wickharn himself taking command, and they pulled up the Fitzroy a distance of twenty-two miles in a straight direction, and ninety miles following the bend of the river. Returning, Stokes had the satisfaction of seeing a monster alligator reposing on the mud-bank, where he had such a near escape from drowning.

After a lengthened survey of the sound, the BEAGLE returned to Port George the Fourth, where she arrived on the 7th of April, from whence they made a boat excursion to Collier Bay. Many natives were seen on the shore, evidently wanting to be friendly. On board the BEAGLE, the party had a native of Swan River—Miago. He turned out an excellent gun room waiter, and they hoped that in any communication with the natives he might prove useful. When off Point Swan, Stokes says:—

"They closely examined the heroic Miago, who submitted to be handled by these much-dreaded 'northern men' with a very rueful countenance, and afterwards construed the way in which one of them had gently stroked his beard, into an attempt to take him by the throat and strangle him—an injury and indignity which, when safe on board, he resented by repeated threats, uttered in a sort of wild chant, of spearing their thighs, back, loins, and, indeed, every individual portion of the frame.

"When Captain Wickharn and myself left the ship at Point Cunningham, in the hope of inducing the natives to return with us, Miago, hearing of the expected visit, immediately went below and dressed himself to the best possible advantage. No sooner did the boat come alongside, than he appeared at the gangway, inquiring, with the utmost possible dignity, 'Where blackfellas?' and was evidently deeply mortified that he had no opportunity of 'astonishing the natives.'"

On their return to the ship, from the examination of Collier Bay, they found the exploring party, under Grey and Lushington, had arrived on the coast at Hanover Bay, twelve miles away.

"From Lieutenant Grey's description of the tribes his party had encountered, he must have been among a people more advanced in civilization than any me had hitherto seen upon this coast. He found several curious figures, images, and drawings, generally in colours, upon the sides of caves in the sandstone rock, which, notwithstanding their rude style, yet evince a greater degree of advancement and intelligence than we have been able to find any traces of; at the same time, it must be remembered that no certain date absolutely connects these works with the present generation; the dryness of the natural walls upon which they are executed, and the absence of any atmospheric moisture may have, and may yet preserve them for an indefinite period, and their history, read aright, may testify-not the present condition of the Australian School of Design, but the perfection which it had formerly attained. Lieutenant Grey, too, like ourselves, had seen certain individuals, in company with the natives, much lighter in colour, and widely differing in figure and physiognomy from the savages by whom they were surrounded, and was inclined to believe that they are descended from Dutch sailors who, at different times suffering shipwreck upon the coast, have intermarried with its native inhabitants; but as no authentic records can be produced to prove that this portion of the coast was ever visited by Dutch navigators at all, I am still more disposed to believe that these lighter coloured people are Malays captured from the trepang fishers, or, perhaps, voluntarily associating with the Australians, as we know that the Australian not unfrequently abandons his country and his mode of life to visit the Indian Archipelago with them."

From Port George the Fourth the BEAGLE sailed for Swan River, where she arrived on the 25th of May. Her most important discovery during this cruise was King's Sound and the Fitzroy River. As they neared Miago's birthplace, Stokes says he questioned him upon the account he intended giving his friends of the scenes he had witnessed.

"I was quite astonished at the accuracy with which he remembered the various places we had visited during the voyage. He seemed to carry the ship's track in his memory with the most careful accuracy. His description of the ship's sailing and anchoring was most amusing. He used to say: 'Ship walk—walk—all night—hard walk—then, by-and-by, anchor tumble down.' His manner of describing, his interviews with the wicked 'northern men' was most graphic. His countenance and figure became at once instinct with animation and energy, and no doubt he was then influenced by feelings of baffled hatred and revenge, from having failed in his much-vaunted determination to carry off in triumph one of their gins. I would sometimes amuse myself by asking him how he was to excuse himself to his friends for having failed in the promised exploit, but the subject was evidently a very unpleasant one, and he was always anxious to escape it.

"We were considerably amused with the consequential air Miago assumed towards his countrymen on our arrival, which afforded us a not uninstructive instance of the prevalence of the ordinary infirmities of our common human nature, whether of pride or vanity, universally to be met with, both in the civilised man and the uncultivated savage. He declared that he would not land until they first came off to wait on him. Decorated with an old full-dress lieutenant's coat, white trousers, and a cap with a tall feather, he looked upon himself as a most exalted personage, and for the whole of the first day remained on board, impatiently, but in vain, prying into each boat that left the shore for the dusky forms of some of his quondam friends. His pride, however, could not long withstand the desire of display. Yielding to the impulse of vanity he, early the following morning, took his departure from the ship. Those who witnessed the meeting described it as cool on both sides, arising on the part of his friends from jealousy; they, perhaps, judging from his costume that he had abandoned his bush life."

The BEAGLE had arrived at Fremantle just in time to allow her company to share in the annual festivities with which the inhabitants celebrate the formation of the colony. It may give some idea of the neglected state of this then infant colony to mention that during the six months' absence of the BEAGLE, only one boat had arrived there, and that, H.M.S. PELORUS from the Indian station. Communication with the home country was sadly needed, apart from the wish for news. Necessary articles of home manufacture or importation were becoming unattainable.

From the Swan River settlement, the BEAGLE proceeded to Sydney, passing Cape Leeuwin on the 23rd June, the south-western extremity of the continent named by the first discoverer in 1622, "Landt van de Lewin," or the Land of Lions. It was their intention to pass through Bass's Strait, but the weather had been extreme on rounding Cape Leeuwin, making that impossible.

On the morning of the 8th, the south-western extremity of Van Dieman's Land was seen. Van Dieman's Land, as before noted, was discovered in 1633 by Abel Janz Tasman, the Dutch navigator, and so named by him after the Governor of Batavia, under whose authority his voyage had been performed, but the insularity of the island was not fully proved until Bass passed through the Strait in 1798.

The bad state of weather detained the BEAGLE in Hobart Town for some time, reaching Port Jackson on July 24th.

It was not until the 11th of November that the BEAGLE left Port Jackson, and anchored close to the southern shore of Port Phillip. Surveying operations were set to work in good earnest, chiefly in determining the position of the mouths of the various channels intersecting the bank that extended across the entire bay, three miles from the entrance, then continuing the examination to the westward. Passing the mouth of the Barwon, the nature of the country begins to change, and high grassy downs, with rare patches of woodland, present themselves; then, as they near Cape Otway, a steep rocky coast, with dense woodland rising abruptly over it. Cape Otway, being the northern point of the western extremity of Bass's Strait, is swept by all the winds that blow into that end of the funnel, and this is the cause of the stunted appearance of the trees in that neighbourhood.

Having coasted the northern side of the strait, they cross to Tasmania to examine the south side.

Again, in May 1840, the BEAGLE left Sydney to cruise on the north coast, and explore the north-western part of the continent, this time taking the inside passage between the east coast and the Barrier Reef to reach her destination, and after discovering the mouth of a river near Cape Upstart (the present Burdekin), and making other minor corrections and additions in King's chart, the vessel anchored at the new settlement of Port Essington. In 1829, it will be remembered that Fort Dundas and Fort Wellington had been abandoned, and it was not until the year 1829 that any fresh attempt was made. The ships ALLIGATOR and BRITOMART, under Sir Gordon Bremer and Lieutenant Owen Stanley, were then despatched to Port Essington; but the new settlement to be formed was intended to be a purely military one, and although many intending settlers volunteered and sought permission to try their fortunes, no inducement was held out to them.

The township (destined to follow the date of its predecessors) received the imposing name of Victoria. Not long after the arrival of M. D'Urville with the ASTROLABE and ZELIE in Raffles Bay, Lieutenant Stewart, when visiting that bay to invite the French officers to the new settlement, found nothing remaining of the old one, but the graves of those buried there; the garden and stockade had totally disappeared.

Leaving Port Essington, the BEAGLE discovered a river at the head of Adam Bay, which was explored for eighty miles, and called the Adelaide. Here occurred the trago-comic episode that gave the name of Escape Cliffs to the neighbourhood.

"Messrs. Fitzmaurice and Keys went ashore to compare the compasses. From the quantity of iron contained in the rocks it was necessary to select a spot free from their influence. A sandy beach at the foot of Escape Cliffs was accordingly chosen. The observations had been commenced and were about half completed, when on the summit of the cliffs, which rose about twenty feet above their heads, suddenly appeared a large party of natives with poised and quivering spears, as if about immediately to deliver them. Stamping on the ground and shaking their heads too and fro, they threw out their long shaggy locks in a circle, whilst their glaring eyes flashed with fury as they champed and spit out the ends of their long beards (a custom with Australian natives when in a state of violent excitement). They were evidently in earnest, and bent on mischief. It was therefore not a little surprising to behold this paroxysm of rage evaporate before the happy presence of mind displayed by Mr. Fitzmaurice, in immediately beginning to dance and shout, though in momentary expectation of being pierced by a dozen spears. In this he was imitated by Mr. Keys, and they succeeded in diverting them from their bad designs until a boat landing in a bay drew off their attention.

"Messrs. Fitzmaurice and Keys had fire-arms lying on the ground within reach of their hands, the instant, however, they ceased dancing, and attempted to touch them, a dozen spears were pointed at their breasts. Their lives hung upon a thread, and their escape must be regarded as truly wonderful, and only to be attributed to the happy readiness with which they adapted themselves to the perils of their situation. This was the last we saw of the natives in Adam Bay, and the meeting is likely to be long remembered by some and not without pleasant recollections, for although at the time it was justly looked upon as a serious affair, it afterwards proved a great source of mirth. No one could recall to mind, without laughing, the ludicrous figure necessarily cut by our shipmates, when to amuse the natives they figured on the light fantastic toe; they literally danced for their lives."

The BEAGLE now returned to Port Essington, first examining the southern shore of Melville Island. It was a visit not soon to be forgotten. Here they encountered their first experience of the green ants. Standing under a tree, whilst taking some observations, they found themselves covered, and nothing but undressing, at least tearing off their clothes, relieved them of the torture. The name of Ant Cliffs records this visit on the south shore of Melville Island.

Leaving Port Essington for the second time on September 4th, 1839, the BEAGLE threaded her way through Clarence Straits, to examine the western entrance, and on the 7th came in sight of the mouth of an opening not examined by Captain King. The next morning, with the boat provisioned for four days, they started on their exploring trip, and named the opening Hope Inlet, to commemorate the feelings it excited on its first discovery, and the bay in which it lies, Shoal Bay, it being very shallow at the head. Another wide opening, some fifteen miles ahead, having a more favourable appearance, they pulled for it, and reached the entrance at dark. In the morning, they found themselves at the entrance of a large and promising harbour, which they at once proceeded to investigate, and Stokes gave it the name of Port Darwin. Stokes seems to have been far more anxious to discover a river than a harbour; the discovery of the Adelaide elated him far more than did the finding of Port Darwin, and he does not seem to have at all anticipated finding the site of the future capital of the north, that was to take the place of all the former settlements. Stokes returned to the ship, and the BEAGLE entered the new found port, and a thorough survey was made. Resuming her voyage, the BEAGLE, after examining Port Patterson and Bynoe Harbour, sailed for a large opening one hundred and forty miles to the westward.

"Captain King's visit to this part of the coast was in 1819, and under very adverse circumstances; his vessel had but one anchor left, and the strong easterly winds then prevailing, with thick hazy weather, rendered his progress into the opening both difficult and hazardous. After a trial of two days, and having several narrow escapes from getting on shore, he bore away to examine the coast to the south-west, where he was repaid for his disappointment by the discovery of Cambridge Gulf. Thus did the exploration of this wide and interesting opening fall to our good fortune."

The explorers had great hopes of finding the mouth of an important river. These hopes were rewarded by the discovery of the Victoria, which Stokes, in his extravagant joy, deemed equal in importance to the Murray. Captain Wickharn bestowed the present name on it, and the delighted explorers proceeded to trace their new found stream, and pulled up it thirty miles. After their return, Lieutenant Fitzmaurice returned, having also discovered a river more to the eastward, which received the name of Fitzmaurice, after its discoverer. A long and interesting task now commenced—the examination of the new river, and the process of taking the vessel up as far as possible. After this had been successfully accomplished, Captain Wickharn being unwell, Stokes was put in charge of a boat party to follow the river up as far as possible. Taking the boats as far as practicable, and then forming a land party, they managed to reach a distance of one hundred and forty miles from the sea, and finding the river still of considerable size, and full of large freshwater reaches, Stokes hugged the belief that at last the highway to the interior was discovered.

His raptures on this point led to a much higher estimate of the value of this river being entertained than it deserved; and until its exploration by Gregory, many shared Stokes' opinion as to its future importance. The party returned in safety, and on going to weigh the anchors found them so firmly embedded in the bottom, which must have been a quicksand, that they had to slip both.

While anchored at the mouth of this river, Stokes went on shore to take observations, and, when ahead of his companions, was suddenly surprised and speared by the natives; the wound narrowly escaped being a fatal one. By December 12th he was sufficiently recovered to bear the motion of the ship, and sail was made for Swan River, where they arrived safely, having made some most important discoveries. A cruise on the west coast, and to Coepang, followed, and thence they returned by way of the west coast and Cape Leeuwin to Adelaide.

In the beginning of June, 1841, the BEAGLE, now in charge of Captain Stokes, Captain Wickharn having gone home on sick leave, left Sydney for another northern cruise. On the way up the ship fell in with four merchant vessels, which she convoyed as far as Booby Island, she herself pursuing her way down the Gulf of Carpentaria. Their first stay of any length was at Sweer's Island, and all the coastal inlets in the neighbourhood were well examined, resulting in the discovery of the Flinders River, on the 20th July, and of the Albert on the 1st of August. On the merits of this river Stokes waxes nearly as eloquent as he did over the Victoria, and once more indulges in excited hopes of reaching the centre of the continent. At fifty miles from the mouth the fallen logs stayed the progress of the boats, and the party landed and made an excursion on foot. Stokes now saw the plains to which he gave the name of the Plains of Promise, the position of which gave rise to so much discussion amongst the land explorers in after years. As may be imagined, the extent of level country, and its apparent richness, gave rise to much enthusiastic speculation on his part, and he returned to his ship well satisfied with his work.

During the discovery and examination of the Albert, Mr. Fitzmaurice had been engaged to the eastward, where he found the other mouth of the Flinders River, known as Bynoe Inlet. Unfortunately, another gun accident resulted in his being lamed for life, a charge of shot having entered his foot. This was the second accident while in the Gulf, a gun having burst with Lieutenant Gore, and badly lacerated his hand.

On the banks of the Flinders a native burial tree was found:—

"On the eastern bank rose a tree, the branches of which were laden with a most singular looking bundle or roll of pieces of wood. Struck with its appearance, we rested our oars to observe it. Landing, I advanced for nearer inspection towards the huge bundle of sticks before mentioned. It seemed almost like the nest of some new bird, and greatly excited my curiosity. As I approached a most unpleasant smell assailed me, and on climbing up to examine it narrowly I found that it contained the decaying body of a native.

"Within the outer covering of sticks was one of net, with an inner one of the bark of the papyrus tree enveloping the corpse. According to the singular practice of uncivilised peoples of providing for the wants of those who have nothing more to do with earthly things, some weapons were deposited with the deceased in this novel kind of mortuary habitation, and a little beyond was a rill of water."

The BEAGLE then sailed to Booby Island, and from there to Victoria—the settlement at Port Essington—which they found in a comparatively flourishing state. Strange to say, Stokes, the discoverer of Port Darwin, says of Port Essington:

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

Another of the many instances of the hasty and fallacious deductions of first discovery, a second proof of which was afforded on the arrival of the BEAGLE at Swan River, whither, after calling at Coepang, they directed her course. Here they found the colonists in a state of doubt as to the existence of an inlet called Port Grey. A large number of immigrants had arrived from England, with the intention of settling there, but owing to the rumours of its non-existence, the name was changed to Leschenault Inlet. Captain Stokes was asked to settle the question, which he did by confirming the rumour that there was no Port Grey, and that the fertile country at the back of the spot indicated had likewise no existence. Grey, it will be remembered, reported seeing this available country when on his return from the hair-brained expedition to Sharks' Bay, and called it the Province of Victoria, but no subsequent exploration ever confirmed its existence.

The work of exploration by the BEAGLE now came to an end. Her remaining cruises in Australian waters were in the neighbourhood of the south coast and Tasmania. The work performed by her was more intimately connected with land exploration than that done by any other survey ship, and her close examination of the north coast resulted in the discovery of many important rivers. The Flinders, the Albert, the Adelaide, Victoria, and Fitzroy, all owe their names to the commander of the BEAGLE, and with her last cruise the maritime explorations of Australia may be said to close.



CHAPTER XX.



Nationality of the first finders of Australia—Knowledge of the Malays—The bamboo introduced—Traces of smallpox amongst the natives in the north-west—Tribal rites—Antipathy to pork—Evidence of admixture in origin—Influence of Asiatic civilisation partly visible—Coast appearance repelling—Want of indigenous food plants—Lack of intercourse with other nations—Little now left of unexplored country—Conclusions respecting various geological formations—Extent of continental divisions—Development of coastal towns—Inducements for population—Necessity of the first explorings—Pioneer squatters' efforts—First Australian-born explorer—Desert theory exploded—Fertile downs everywhere—Want of water apparently insurmountable—Heroism of explorers—Inexperience of the early settlers—Grazing possible—Rapid stocking of country—The barrenness of the "Great Bight"—Sturt, the PENN of Australia—Results—Mitchell's work—Baron von Mueller's researches—A salt lake—Stuart first man across the continent—Burke and Wills' heroism—Services of McKinlay and Landsborough—John Forrest's journeys—Camel expedition by Giles—The BRISBANE COURIER expedition—Further explorations—Stockdale at Cambridge Gulf—Carr-Boyd and O'Donnell open good country in Western Australia—Work done by explorers—Their characteristics—Conclusion.

By common consent the nationality of the first navigators who landed on our shores is awarded to the Spanish. Following them came the Dutch, and, finally, the French and English. And, although the record of the Spanish visit to our northern coast is but vague, the fact of their being the first to acquaint the Western nations with the undoubted existence of a far southern land is generally allowed. Amongst the people inhabiting the many islands of the Malay Archipelago and portions of the mainland of Asia, there can be little doubt that our continent was known, and intercourse of an occasional kind carried on with its natives. That no permanent settlement was ever formed, or probably attempted, we may ascribe to the unpromising nature of the soil, compared to the fertile islands left by the visitors, and the fact that the products of which they came in search were mostly found in the sea itself, the shore only being at times visited for obtaining fresh water or seeking shelter.

During these visits no inducements would be forthcoming for undertaking an excursion inland. The monotonous character of the country would not excite curiosity, and the absence of all temptation in the way of articles of barter and traffic likely to be found, would confine their investigations chiefly to the sea shore. A temporary camp for drying the sea-slugs of commerce, a refuge for their crafts when the sudden storms of the tropics broke loose, met all their requirements. It is to the Malay ancestors of the men whose proas are still to be found fishing among the outlying reefs of the north, that we must look for the first discoverers of our island continent, and failing all written record or existing monument of their doings, search amongst the natives themselves for confirmation of the fact.

The presence of the bamboo in Arnheim's Land only, and its indigenous nature, is strong evidence of its Malay origin. It is found in abundance over this large promontory, and on the banks of the different rivers and creeks. Its extensive spread and thick growth point to many centuries of introduction, and that the Australians first obtained it from their northern visitors is almost certain. In abandoned camps pieces of bamboo would be left sticking in the ground, and formed, as most of their camps are, on the sandy banks of a creek, their growth would be under favourable circumstances, and their spread down the watercourses rapid.

Amongst all the tribes whose hunting grounds are between Cape Arnheim, and Cambridge Gulf, the traces of small-pox can be seen unmistakeably on many of the old men. Some are blind, and deeply pitted, others but lightly marked. Apparently the disease has worn itself out, for only the oldest members of the tribes have suffered. None seem to have it now, nor are the marks of the disease to be seen on the middle-aged men. The ravages of this scourge must have been confined to the coast tribes, as no evidence of its having been amongst the natives of the interior is to be found. The belt of dry country separating the aborigines of the plain from those of the sea may have saved the former, as this belt is often left uncrossed for years. This disease must have been brought from the north, and the date of its introduction would probably lie many centuries back.

Many of their customs and tribal rites bear a close resemblance to some that may be found in the New Testament, and are foreign to the usual habits of the Australian blackfellow. Add to this an innate antipathy to the flesh of swine when tasted for the first time, and it seems evident that some of the laws and traditions of more civilised nations have drifted down and been partly appropriated by the Australians.

In many of the sea-coast blacks of the north, sleepy eyes and straight-cut noses are often prominent, and render some of them especially remarkable; these features giving their faces an entirely different aspect to the common blackfellow type adjoining them inland. That, in the event of the wreck of a proa on the coast, some intermixture of the races would take place, and the survivors, perhaps, pass the remainder of their lives amongst the blacks, is quite possible, seeing that to many of our countrymen it has happened.

The close acquaintanceship shown by the Malay beche-de-mer fishers with the nooks and inlets that are so thickly strewn along the coast, west of Cape Wessell, appears to be the result of much old-world seafaring lore, handed down from father to son. Whether the Chinese ever ventured so far south as Australia cannot be affirmed with certainty. Accident may have led them to our shores, but it is scarcely probable that the love of adventure would have tempted them so far.

Taking, then, the exceptional customs common to the natives of that portion 'of Australia still visited by the Malays, and seeing that these customs would only be the outcome of some centuries of intercourse, it is reasonable to suppose that from these outposts of Asiatic civilisation came the first adventurous traders to the lone land of the south. The distinct type of the Australian, while showing in exceptional cases the signs of foreign blood, precludes the idea that the continent was peopled from the north; but, at the same time, it is evident that some rudimentary forms of a higher development drifted down in after ages from that source.

The effect that the repellant nature of the Australian coast has had upon the southern progress of semi-civilisation is remarkably distinct. Each successive wave of improvement from the Asiatic continent seems to grow weaker and weaker as it travels south, until it breaks hopelessly on Australia. Nor is it hard to find the reason. The savage, coming from islands where a rude cultivation of indigenous fruits, valuable in their nature, had induced primitive land laws, and consequently settled habitations and a defined code of laws concerning tribal rights and boundaries, found himself amongst a nomadic race, trusting to hunting and fishing solely for the means of existence. The soil, formed of the denudation of the sandstone rocks, scantily fertilised here and there by the decaying jungle, presented no field for rude agriculture, even had the dry seasons permitted; and gave forth no native fruits, save tasteless berries and half-poisonous roots. No knowledge of minerals would tempt him into the semi-scorched ranges inland; he would simply see that life after the old fashion of village existence was no longer for him, and would become a hunter and fisher like his fellows.

It would have been of inestimable benefit to the Australians, had tribes from the northern countries, only slightly higher than themselves in the scale, established a permanent footing on the mainland, and gradually worked their way throughout the land, carrying their superior knowledge with them, and having in the extended area before them a wide field for future development. Intermixing socially with the aborigines, they would have in a few generations made an indelible mark upon their mental capacity, which, after all, is only dormant; and the march of improvement once set in motion, centuries of confirmed intercourse with races of greater culture, and the consequent spread of new ideas would have peopled our continent with a different race to the improvident native of the present.

But the force of nature was against it; the new land of the south held forth no inducements even for the pirate or marauder. In the hand to mouth struggle for existence, not even a supply of food would be found in a ransacked camp; no land seen tempting settlement by its luxuriant vegetation and produce. The visitors of the straits scorned the inhospitable coast, and returned north. Only those whom ill-fate had deprived of the means of return stayed perforce, and lost their identity amongst the aborigines.

The white man, when he came, looked upon the country as he would upon an uninhabited land; the native was too far beneath him to profit by his coming, no inter-mixture of races could take place, the difference was too widely marked; and the aborigines of Australia were from the first numbered amongst the doomed tribes of the earth. An earlier introduction of the spirit of progress, however meagre in form, might have saved them. Had our northern coasts but possessed some lure for Asiatic nations, the story would have travelled and brought their overflowing population down to settle the continent long before the advent of our countrymen.

It is an accepted fact that on the continent of Australia proper there is very little unexplored territory left, and that we pretty well know what resources, in the way of land, we have still to fall back upon. This acceptance of our knowledge of the unsettled regions of our country is both right and wrong. Right, inasmuch that in a general sense, arguing from our knowledge of climatic influences in different latitudes, we can infer the particular nature of a particular district, although untrodden as yet by any one capable of giving us information. Wrong, in that the geographical formations of Australia are so persistently antagonistic that no true nor reliable deduction can always be arrived at. When I say persistently antagonistic, I mean that the two formations common to the interior, namely, sandstone and limestone, produce either a desert or a rich prairie. As a rule, in the vast interior, still unvisited and unsettled, the conditions are that the soil either grows grasses and herbs of the most nutritive character, or such as are totally unfitted to support graminivorous animal life. And these two conditions we may call antagonistic, as far as our efforts at practical settlement are concerned. When the outcrop is limestone, we may reckon on good pastoral country, and a fair water supply. When the outcrop is the pure red sandstone, we can hope for little else but the desert spinifex.

The distinction between these two formations is so strongly marked that it almost seems that a hard and fast line had, in places, been drawn between the productive and unproductive portions of Australia. That these strange and sudden alterations occur right through the continent, we have the evidence in the diaries of Giles and Forrest; and although we cannot doubt that a great portion of unexplored Australia consists of country that will never support population, we have as yet no valid reason for condemning the whole.

The continent of Australia contains, roughly speaking, three millions of square miles less about thirty-five thousand square miles. It may be summarised as follows: that New South Wales contains no unexplored country; Victoria, none; Queensland, a small portion of Cape York Peninsula; South Australia, a considerable area; and Western Australia, a very great deal. All the important explorations of late years have been in the last two mentioned colonies, for the very reason that in these colonies only the unknown exists. South Australia has at least 300,000 square miles of unexplored and partly explored country, and Western Australia can claim more than half a million of miles just touched here and there by the tracks of Eyre, Gregory, Giles, Forrest, and Warburton.

In speculating upon the future capabilities of this great expanse, we must fairly weigh the testimony of these men, and, by comparison, see what chance we have in the future of finding fresh pasture lands for the next generation. On the whole the testimony is unfavourable, but, on close inspection, there are strange coincidences in their diaries which would lead one to think that, perhaps, after all the "hopeless desert" that witnessed both their struggles and successes may yet hold secrets worth knowing and worth seeking for. In our time we have seen how the desert theory has been exploded in New South Wales—forced, as it were, outside our boundaries by the mere expansion of settlement. It is but a question of time for the mysteries of the yet unknown interior to share the same fate, and in the solution of the unknown great possibilities exist.

The development of the towns along the northern sea-board must necessarily be rapid. From the sheep-growing downs of the inland plateau, to the sugar and coffee-growing flats of the coast, the exports will be ever on the increase, and the wants of a growing people will necessitate ports in places that are now uninhabited. That the north will become one of the richest portions of our continent there is no doubt; its immense mineral wealth stands but partially revealed, while its adaptability for settlement is practically unbounded. The progress and utilisation of the waste lands of the north will be an interesting experiment to watch. Nature has, to a great extent, indicated the laws of settlement that will dominate the territory. To the capitalist she has given the rich wool-growing slopes of the inland country, where the expenditure of money is necessary, in order that the full value may be reaped from the land leased; money expended in water-storage, that repays the owner in a hundred ways. To the man of humbler means the well-watered coast districts offer facilities for small cattle stations and selections, and on the banks of some of the rivers the planter will soon be making a home, whilst for the miners are the broken ranges and gullies of the Dividing Range.

A settled Australia—that is, comparatively settled-this century may not witness, but that it will be a fact of the future, few, who have lived in the colonies during the last two decades, can doubt.

We may look forward to the crowning work of the future, when we shall no longer be altogether dependent upon the caprices of climate; nor sit idly by whilst our heritage of rainfall rushes past us into the ocean.

From the arrival of Governor Phillip with the first fleet, 1789, to the year 1813, when Wentworth, Lawson, and Blaxland succeeded in crossing the main range—the Blue Mountains—all attempts at exploration into the interior had been limited, the main range proving an impenetrable barrier. For the wants of the colony, the country up to that time found had proved sufficient. In the neighbourhood of Sydney, the Nepean, Grose, and Hawkesbury; to the north, the River Hunter; and to the south, the district known now as the Illawarra. But combined with the severe drought of 18 13, and the increase of stock, it was necessary to seek pastures new.

Their hopes of finding a navigable river flowing west into the sea were never realised, although for years it was each explorer's dream. On following a stream, they invariably found it run out into a shallow swamp, and then thought the continent possessed an inland sea or lake. Oxley pronounced this portion desert, and to them it then was; no thought could enter their minds of how after years of stocking, the entire country would change; how time and labour alone could make that vast waste profitable.

Directly the pass of the Blue Mountains had been won, and a public road made across the range, settlers with their stock steadily flowed west; the township of Bathurst sprang up, and settlement was made south towards the Shoalhaven River. The first large expedition into the interior was undertaken by Oxley, and he again comes to the conclusion that "the interior westward of a certain meridian is uninhabitable, deprived, as it is, of wood, water, and grass . . . that the interior of this vast country is a marsh, and uninhabitable." Only the edge of the interior crossed, it was early to come to this conclusion. But we must remember that the party were weary and disgusted with their want of success-the barren country, with no variety of trees, or soil; everything always the same. Eventually they reached good, well-watered country, and turning back from the Macquarie, delighted with the river, believed that the high road to the interior had been found.

This trip successful, he again left to follow the Macquarie, and although the inland sea remained undiscovered, large tracts of fertile country were opened for settlement; moreover, he had crossed the coast range to the north, and discovered that Port Macquarie (which, on following down the River Hastings, he had found and named) proved a practicable route to the interior.

About this time the pioneer squatter took share with the explorer, and settlement quickly advanced. Lawson and Scott were disappointed in their attempt to reach Oxley's discovery of Liverpool Plains; unable to penetrate the southern boundary of the plains, they discovered the Goulburn River. The year 1823 found Oxley, Cunningham, and Currie, all out in different directions; Currie to the south of Lake George, Cunningham engaged north of Bathurst, first in his capacity of botanist, and the discovery of a pass through the northern range on Liverpool Plains, which Lawson and Scott had sought in vain. He found and named the Pandora Pass, it proving practicable as a stock route.

Oxley then left Sydney in the MERMAID, to examine the inlets of Port Curtis, Moreton Bay, and Port Bowen, with a view to forming a penal settlement there. It was on this trip, while at Moreton Bay, that they rescued from the blacks the two men Pamphlet and Finnigan, who had been wrecked at Moreton Island seven months before. Oxley named the Brisbane River. This was his last work, and he died near Sydney in 1828. His career as an explorer was very successful. He had done much to aid the new colony, but was ever disappointed in his hopes of reaching the inland sea or lake, and of proving, except to his own satisfaction, whether any large rivers entered the sea between Cape Otway and Spencer's Gulf. Then Sir Thomas Brisbane thought of landing a party of prisoners near Wilson's Promontory, and by offer of a free pardon and a land grant, to find their way back to Sydney.

Mr. Hume, the first Australian-born explorer, and Mr. Hovell, took a party from Lake George, at that time the most outside station, to Western Port, and they were the first to see the Australian Alps. This trip helped to prove the hasty condemnation of Oxley's "desert" theory, and besides giving to the colony millions of acres of well-watered fertile country, and adding another large and important river—the Murray—it also held out far higher hopes for the future of the interior. During this time a settlement was formed at Moreton Bay, and subsequently removed to a better site on the Brisbane River. Cunningham, in 1827, left on a trip destined materially to effect the immediate progress of this new colony. Crossing Oxley's track, and entering the unexplored region, after naming the Gwydir and Dumaresque Rivers, he finally emerged on the Darling Downs. He was in raptures at the inexhaustible range of cattle pasture, the permanent water, and the grass and herbage generally. Then a passage across the range to Moreton Bay was found by way of Cunningham's Gap, but it was not used until the next year, when, accompanied by Mr. Frazer, colonial botanist, they proceeded by sea to Moreton Bay, and connected the settlement with the Darling Downs. How easy was the main range crossed here, and the fertile downs laid open, compared to the years of labour spent on the pass of the Blue Mountains. In the year following Cunningham made his last expedition, closing ten years of unceasing work in the cause of exploration.

Sturt followed Oxley's tracks. He exposed some of Oxley's mistakes, but only to make others as great; for the land was smitten with drought, and the rivers that Oxley had followed were now mere creeks, and in passing judgment no allowance was made for the seasons, and the country was valued according to the standard of other countries. His descriptions of the interior are wonderful pictures of the desolate, waterless, abandoned desert, "I scorched beneath a lurid sun of burning fire." His mission was to ascertain what lay beyond the shallow bed of reeds to the westward, in which Oxley lost the Macquarie; but as suddenly and as mysteriously the river ran out, and they were as completely baffled as Oxley had been. Dry on all sides, nothing was found but stony ridges or open forest, the country was monotonously level, and no sign of a river. Creek after creek they followed, only to lose it in a marsh. Suddenly they found themselves on the banks of a noble river, and from its size and saltness, Sturt conjectured he was near its confluence with an inland sea; but to be convinced in a few more days that the saltness was of local origin, fed by saline springs. This river Sturt called the Darling. The homeward march began, and the same harassing hunt for water; no break in the country, or change in the vegetation; all brown, blank, and desolate; not even inhabited by a bird-the drought had so long continued. Sturt had found the Darling, and he it was who eventually traced its course and outlet. Starting for that purpose the next year, they sailed down the Murray, proving its confluence with the Darling, and on down the united streams of the Murray and Darling with boundless flats on each side. The river widened day by day; the flight of sea-gulls, and the chopping sea caused by the wind, surely showed they were near the ocean. Still, Sturt had reached his goal—the Murray ended in a lake. They had hoped that succour would have waited them, had the ocean been reached. Now they must re-enter the Murray while the weary party had still strength to face each day's never-ending toil, and return to the camp on the Murrumbidgee. The great satisfaction of having successfully followed the course of the Murray was damped by the apparently valueless nature of the country passed through. And this trip, while adding greatly to Australian geography, gave a proof of the most patient endurance and courage—even to heroism—not excelled in the many records of bravery and dangers undergone by other explorers.

We have now looked through the reports of the country given by many men, and become familiar with their opinions of the future of the interior; they are almost unanimous in pronouncing it barren and uninhabitable. We must remember it was not their want of ability, but their inexperience of the value of the native grasses and herbs. In comparison with other countries, they appeared worthless. They did not realize that stocking would force the waters into natural channels, and that the stock would bring fresh grasses in their train, getting accustomed to and, after a while, fattening on the despised bushes and herbs. To them it was the embodiment of a desert—irreclaimable.

During the time these explorations were in progress, a settlement had been formed in Western Australia, and some attempt at exploration made, but for a few years not to any great distance. No difficulties here presented themselves to a passage through the coast range, and the country discovered seemed fitted both for pasture and agriculture.

For many years little was done in the way of fresh expeditions, until the year 1831. Major Mitchell in charge of a party traced the rivers, discovered by Oxley and Cunningham; his explorations were also surveys and the river system of the continent was partially worked out, but the hope of a river running through the interior to the north-west coast bad to be finally abandoned. His report of the country was also more favourable, and his after expeditions, merely connecting surveys, confirming and verifying previous discoveries, rather than an exploration into the unknown. His reports were glowing of the country passed through generally; from snow-topped mountains to level plains, watered with permanent streams and rivers, fitted for immediate occupation of the grazier or farmer.

Now it may be said the difficulties were overcome of entering the interior, for it was assailed from three points; Perth on the west, Port Phillip and St. Vincent's Gulf on the south, and from the settled parts of New South Wales and Moreton Bay on the east. Henceforth the settler so promptly followed the explorer, that the country became settled and stocked almost as quickly as known, and, foot by foot, the desert driven back.

Grey and Lushington wishing to verify the existence or not of a large river supposed to empty itself into the sea, at Dampier's Archipelago, endured great hardships. They were without experience of the colonies, or of the capabilities of the country; but as far as they could judge, pronounced the country well grassed and timbered. Their second trip resulted in the discovery of the Gascoigne, but little else; no great results to compensate for their terrible suffering and privation.

Small explorations were rapidly carried on to provide for the number of stock imported and the best stock routes; and now it was time to turn north, to look for the inland sea and the chain of mountains—Australia's backbone—that was supposed to exist. E. J. Eyre's discovery of Lake Torrens turned the colonists' attention north as a practicable stock route to Western Australia. From the sterile nature of the coast of the bight, and the absence of any rivers emptying into the sea, it was useless to seek in that direction. His march round the Great Bight was a journey of terrible suffering; it certainly proved that no water flowed into the south coast, and gave us our knowledge of the barren country shut in by the impenetrable, monotonous cliff line that closed its secrets against our mariners, but it gave no knowledge of the interior. After some of his men had deserted, and the one that remained murdered, Eyre, alone, on foot, with his stubborn courage, wearied out and starving, followed the coast line for numberless miles. Any errors of judgment leading to the tragic end of his expedition must needs be overlooked in the face of the great dangers and the perseverance that carried him through.

Sturt has been called the father of Australian exploration, and may well be held as one of our greatest scientific explorers—his object always to solve the mystery of the great interior; its strange peculiarity and physical formation. He returned disappointed, baffled. But was he in reality beaten? He was exceptionally unlucky in his seasons, and the report of the land he brought back caused settlement to progress slowly; only after years, when men had grown accustomed to the terrors of the desert, and knew that experience robbed them of their effect, Sturt found, but unwittingly, the outflow of the second river system. He longed to be the first to reach the centre of Australia, and hoped that once past the southern zone of the tropics he would reach a country blessed with a heavy and constant rainfall. Always he looked back with pleasure upon his travels, and said: "My path amongst savage tribes has been a bloodless one."

Next among our explorers comes Dr. Ludwig Leichhardt, and his trip from Fort Burke, on the Darling, to the Gulf of Carpentaria, which opened up so much well-watered country and attracted universal attention; but, unlike Sturt, he had exceptional good fortune, travelling always through country easy to penetrate and well watered—not one night had the party to camp without water.

During this expedition, Sir Thomas Mitchell started with one having almost the same end in view as Dr. Leichhardt's. He did not reach the Gulf, but threw open our wonderful western prairies, and found the upper tributaries of the second great river system. This was his last expedition, and it fully confirmed his reputation. More fortunate than Sturt, he had been favoured in having plentiful and bountiful seasons of water and vegetation; but both men had done wonders in the cause of exploration. Mitchell's discovery of the Victoria, along the banks of which river he felt the high road to the north coast was found, was continued by Kennedy, who had been second in command during the first expedition of Sir Thomas Mitchell.

With a lightly equipped party Kennedy started to follow the course of the Victoria. Finally the river led them into the desert described by Sturt: "Plains gaping with fissures, grassless and waterless," and he turned back satisfied that the Victoria had not its outflow in the Gulf of Carpentaria, as hoped for by Sir Thomas Mitchell, but lost itself in Cooper's Creek. The loss of flour, through the natives, prevented Kennedy from extending his explorations towards the Gulf.

Kennedy's second trip, to examine Cape York Peninsula, ended most disastrously. Out of his party of thirteen only two men and a black boy were rescued. Through marshes and scrubs—seemingly the one monotonous entry in their journal being, "Cutting scrub all day"—they endeavoured to push their way to Port Albany, the extreme north of the Peninsula, where a ship would meet them. Saltwater creeks and marshy ground, with the ranges inhabited by hostile natives, was their prospect, while their horses were rapidly failing on the sour coast grasses. From first to last this was a most unfortunate expedition-the awful and impassable nature of the country travelled through, the hostile blacks and loss of the horses, and then, when sickness came upon the little band, it was doomed.

In the south, Baron von Mueller was busy exploring some of the unknown portion of South Australia and the Australian Alps-botanical and geographical researches combined. The heights of several of the highest mountains in Australia were fixed, and geographical positions accurately placed.

Leichhardt, encouraged by his successes, makes his final venture, but what befel his party—shall we ever know? It is so late now that we can entertain little hope of ever elucidating his fate.

In 1846, the Gregory brothers are in the west, led by A. C. Gregory, who so distinguished himself afterwards as a scientific explorer, and in 1855 he was in command of the North Australian Expedition; with him his brother and the celebrated botanist Baron Von Mueller. Captain Stokes reported the Victoria as an important stream, and the probable means of gaining access to the interior, upon which Gregory traced its course. He professed great disappointment at the reality of Captain Stokes' "Plains of Promise," compared to what he had been led to expect. The successful conclusion of this expedition, which had covered nearly five thousand miles, proves Gregory an explorer of undoubted qualifications, and it is to he regretted that so scanty a record of his travels has been published.

Lake Torrens still occupied the attention of the South Australian colonists, its probable extent and direction, and several expeditions were undertaken to solve the question. To the south-east fresh water and well grassed pastoral country, but Lake Torrens still remained as on its first discovery by Eyre—a dry bed covered with a thick incrustation of salt, and far away surrounded on all sides by barren country. Goyder found fresh water in the lake, but its unavailability was confirmed.

M'Dowall Stuart has been recognised as the man who first crossed from sea to sea, from the south to the north coast, and now on Stuart's track is built the overland telegraph line, a lasting witness of his indomitable perseverance. In his subsequent expeditions following his old tracks, he was destined to meet success, and come to the sea near the mouth of the Adelaide River. Stuart dipped his hands and feet in the sea, and his initials were cut on the largest tree they could find. This was his last trip, and he never recovered from the great suffering of his return journey.

The expedition under Burke and Wills left amid great celebration; in fact, it was a gala day in Melbourne, and their journey through the settled districts one triumphant march. Their purpose was to cross to Carpentaria. Fate seemed so propitious that one would think in irony she laughed, as she thought of their return.

They accomplished their task; they reached the Gulf; but did not know their exact position; and when they turned back it became a terrible struggle for existence. In spite of the princely outfit with which they started, short rations and great hardships was their lot, and the men tried to live like the blacks, on fish and nardoo, and an occasional crow or hawk which they shot. Wills met his death alone, while Burke and King were searching for food, and to him, suffering from such extreme exhaustion, death must have come as the "comforter." He met it as a gallant man would, without fear. From his last entries he had given up hope and waited calmly. Burke died the second day; when King looked at him in the dawning light, he saw that he was really, alone. Meantime, the rest of the party were left on Cooper's Creek, and were slowly starving to death. Parties from all sides were now being equipped to go in search of them.

M'Kinlay's trip across the continent did great service. It verified Stuart's report that the country always considered as a terrible desert was not unfit for all pastoral occupation, and, being an experienced man, his report carried conviction.

One of the search parties for Burke and Wills was under William Landsborough, having, through previous explorations, good knowledge of the country; and another, in charge of Frederick Walker, composed of native troopers. Now the eastern half of Australia was nearly all known; it had been crossed and re-crossed from south to north; still, the distinctive value of the country had yet to be learned, and the delusion that the sheeps' wool would turn to hair in the torrid north to be given up. All around the coast settlement was surely and steadily creeping, and unoccupied country going further back every day.

On the north coast, Burketown, under the care of William Landsbrough, was growing up, and in the north of Arnheim's Land, M'Kinlay was looking for a suitable site to establish a port for the South Australian Government. Somerset was formed on the mainland of Cape York Peninsula, and the formation of this led to the expedition of the Jardine brothers. The successful termination of their journey, when we look at the difficulties through which they passed, and the misfortunes they had to encounter, merits our greatest admiration; and although it did not result in the discovery of good pastoral country, still they accomplished their object.

The overland telegraph line, and the small explorations made on either side of it, led greatly to our knowledge of the interior.

John Forrest made his first important journey in 1869, but found no great results in good country to the eastward of Perth. Then a journey was made from Perth to Adelaide by way of the Great Bight—never traversed since Eyre's journey. Owing to a better equipment, he was able to give a more impartial report of the country passed through; for Eyre was struggling for life, and it was natural that nature to him would then look at her blackest.

Warburton and Giles now occupied attention, and their great hope, the country between the overland telegraph line and the western settlements.

Warburton's expedition led to the western half of the continent being condemned as a hopeless desert. He no doubt got into a strip of barren country, and being so occupied in pressing straight through, devoted no time to the examination of country on either side.

Giles was twice driven back in his attempts to reach Western Australia. Then, with an equipment of camels, made a third, and successful, attempt. No discoveries of any importance were made; the country was suffering from severe drought.

William Hann, one of the pioneer squatters of the North of Queensland, took charge of a party sent by the Queensland Government to investigate the tract of country at the base of Cape York Peninsula, both for its mineral and other resources. Naming the Palmer, and finding here prospects of gold, the further examination of the river resulted in the discovery of what turned out to be one of the richest goldfields in Queensland.

Again the Queensland Government sent out an expedition, under charge of W. 0. Hodgkinson, to determine the amount of pastoral country to the west of the Diamantina River.

Buchanan and F. Scarr next attacked the country between the overland telegraph line and the Queensland border, and in 1878, Mr Lukin, proprietor of the COURIER, in Brisbane, organised an expedition for the purpose of exploring the country in the neighbourhood of a proposed railway line, which had been inaugurated in Port Darwin, and to find the nature, value, and geographical features of the unexplored portions. Under the leadership of Ernest Favenc, the party started from Blackall. This expedition had the effect of opening up a great area of good pastoral country, nearly all of which is now stocked.

In 1883, Favenc traced the heads of the rivers running into the Gulf of Carpentaria, near the Queensland border, and in the year following, crossed from the Queensland border to the telegraph line, and across the coast range to the mouth of the Macarthur River. Soon after, the South Australian Government surveyed this river, and opened it as a port; a good road was formed from the interior to the coast, and the settlement of the country followed.

In Western Australia, Alexander Forrest led an expedition from the De Grey River to the telegraph line, which they reached after a great struggle. It was a most successful trip, and the district found contains some of the best country in Western Australia, both for pastoral and mineral purposes.

Stockdale, with a view to settlement, explored the country in the neighbourhood of Cambridge Gulf. Landing there by steamer, he began the journey, which ended in a tragedy. After a hard struggle, he reached the telegraph line.

McPhee's exploration east of Daly Waters may be said to conclude the expeditions between the Queensland border and the overland line.

To complete the exploration of Arnheim's Land, the South Australian Government fitted out an expedition under the guidance of Mr. David Lindsay, but the country passed over was not available for pastoral settlement, some of it being good sugar country. Messrs. Carr Boyd and O'Donnell, undertaking another trip from the Katherine River to Western Australia, were more fortunate in finding good country, but no geographical discovery resulted.

Thus our island continent has been opened to us by the indomitable courage and endurance of navigators and explorers. Can we look for instances of greater bravery in the exploration of any other portion of the globe? Our old navigators, with their meagre equipment, searched minutely every portion of the coast, until the termination of the survey of the BEAGLE, for the mouth of some river that would communicate with the interior, as our earlier explorers hoped to find a waterway in the wilderness through which they travelled.

The idea of the work they did, being verified as it now is, could never have been dreamt of. Think of Flinders, in the old INVESTIGATOR, as he. sailed from group to group of islands, and from point to point of reefs; when he got at last through Torres Straits, and stood down the Gulf, looking up the old land marks of the early Dutch visitors to our shores—Duyfhen Point, the Van Alphen River, GROOTE EYLANDT, and the rest—names still preserved, that bear witness to the brave old navigator who visited these shores before we did. Many an anxious day and night, doubtless, he had. Now, with steam at our command, the straits have become the safe highway of traffic to all the leading marts of the world.

It is well for us to bear in mind that, as a rule, experienced bushmen do find the best points of new country, and not the worst. The after result generally is that the discoveries of the first explorers are extended, but not improved on. Therefore, in comparing the different routes that traverse the western half of our continent, we can safely allow that each man found, and noted, the most promising features on his line of travel.

By close comparison of the work done by the men who have laid bare so many of the secrets of the interior, and by deductions to be drawn from the physical conformation and climatic peculiarities already revealed, we may, to some extent, conjecture the possibilities of the future. With every variety of climate between temperate and tropical, with enormous mineral treasures—the extent of which, even at the present time, can only be conjectured—boundless areas of virgin soils, and a coastline dotted with good harbours and navigable rivers, we have all the elements of a nation yet to take rank among the recognised powers of the world. But in the interim there is much to be done. The flat and monotonous nature of most of the continent, which is at present to a certain extent our bane, will, when the principles of water storage, and its distributation are fully understood, be of wonderful assistance. The physical formation of the interior lends itself to the creation of artificial channels, and the work of leading waterways through the great areas of unwatered country, that for months lie useless and unproductive, will be comparatively easy. We have always, or nearly always, our annual floods to depend upon, and the supply furnished by them should be amply sufficient for use. Flood water is surplus water, and its conservation should be the thing aimed at. Many a dry watercourse, that is now but a slight depression, could be utilised as a channel for conducting the flood waters to the back country. What would be impossible in an island of bold mountain ranges, becomes easy in the flats of our dry interior.

In the dry inland plains, a water supply that will relieve the frontage from overstocking during the droughty months, means the preservation of some of our most valuable indigenous fodder plants. The overcrowding of stock on the natural permanent waters during dry periods, has often been the cause of a depreciation in the natural grasses on some of our principal rivers. And whilst this has been going on, sun-cracked lagoons and lakes, surrounded by good, if dry, feed have been lying unnoticed and useless, waiting for the time to come when they would be turned to account.

Back from the main watercourses are countless natural reservoirs, that lie for years dry, and drought-smitten, save in an exceptional flood. They are never filled, and the fact of supplying them with water is practicably feasible.

In many districts of the inland slope, the rivers have sandy beds, incapable of retaining the water for more than a few months; whilst running parallel with them on either side, are chains of lagoons that often run dry through the floods not being excessive enough to overflow the banks. These lagoons are, as a rule, well calculated to hold water, and could be brought under the influence of ordinary floods, instead of being, as now, dependent upon extraordinary ones; thus atoning for the insufficient retaining power of the river bed.

The present great need of Australia is the conservation of water, and the irrigation works which have been already commenced on the banks of the Murray River, coupled with the recent discoveries of an apparently unlimited artesian supply on the and plains of Western Queensland, testify alike to the recognition of the want, and to the ease with which it may be met. One inevitable rule of settlement is that population follows water; present prospects therefore amply justify the hope that at no very distant date the one-time "central desert" of the first explorers will be the centre of attraction for the fast-growing population of the coast line; and that in the merging together of the peoples of the colonies, now separated by merely imaginary boundary lines, will be found the one great help to the fulfilment of the desire of every true Australiana Federated Australia—a grand result of the indomitable courage, heroic self-sacrifice, and dogged perseverance of the men of all nationalities, who have established a claim to the proud title of "Australian Explorer."



APPENDIX.



THE PANDORA PASS.

The following memorandum, written on parchment, was enclosed in a bottle, and buried under a marked tree in the Pandora Pass:

"MEMORANDUM.

"After a very laborious and harassing journey from Bathurst, since April last, a party, consisting of five persons, under the direction of Allan Cunningham, H.M. Botanist (making the sixth individual), having failed of finding a route to Liverpool Plains, whilst tracing the south base of the Barrier Mountains (before us north), so far as fifty miles to the eastward of this spot, at length upon prosecuting their research under this great mountain belt, in a westerly direction, reached this valley, and discovered a practicable and easy passage through a low part of the mountain belt, north by west from this tree, to the very extensive levels connected with the abovementioned plains, of which the southernmost of the chain is distant about eleven or twelve miles (by estimation), N.N.W. from this valley, and to which a line of trees has been carefully marked, thus opening an unlimited, unbounded, seemingly well-watered country, N.N.W., to call forth the exertions of the industrious agriculturist and grazier, for whose benefit the present labours of the party have been extended. This valley, which extends to the S.W. and W.S.W., has been named 'Hawkesbury Vale,' and the highest point of the range, bearing N.W. by W. from this tree, was called 'Mount Jenkinson,' the one a former title, and the other the family name of the noble earl whose present title the plains bear, and which, from the southern country, this gap affords the only passage likely to be discovered. The party in the earlier and middle stages of their expedition encountered many privations and local difficulties of travelling to, and in their return from the eastward; in spite, however, of these little evils, 'a HOPE at the bottom,' or, at this almost close of their journey, an encouragement induced them to persevere westerly a limited distance, and thus it was this passage was discovered. It has therefore been named 'Pandora's Pass.' Due east and west by compass from this tree, in a direct line (by odometrical admeasurement) were planted the fresh stones of peaches, brought from the colony in April last, with every good hope that their produce will one day or other afford some refreshment to the weary farmer, whilst on his route beyond the bourne of the desirable country north of Pandora's Pass. A like planting took place on the plains, twelve miles distance north at the last marked trees, with similar good wishes for their growth. A remarkably high mount above the pass east, being a guide to the traveller advancing south from the plains, has been named 'Direction Head.' The situation of this tree is as follows:—Latitude, observed on the 7th and 8th of June, 1832, 32 deg. 15 min. 19 sec. S; its longitude being presumed about 149 deg. 30 min. E. The party now proceed with the utmost despatch south for Bathurst.

"ALLAN CUNNINGHAM.

"June 9th, 1823.

"Buried for the information of the first farmer who may venture to advance so far to the northwards as this vale, of whom it is requested this document may not be destroyed, but carried to the settlement of Bathurst, after opening the bottle."

(See page 72.—Chapter II.)

* * * * *

DEATH OF SURVEYOR-GENERAL OXLEY.

ABSTRACT FROM THE "GOVERNMENT GAZETTE" OF MAY 27TH, 1828.

"It would be impossible for his Excellency, consistently with his feelings, to announce the decease of the late Surveyor-General without endeavouring to express the sense he entertains of Mr. Oxley's services, though he cannot do justice to them.

"From the nature of this colony, the office of Surveyor-General is amongst the most important under Government, and to perform its duties in a manner Mr. Oxley has done for a long series of years is as honourable to his zeal and abilities as it is painful for the Government to be deprived of them.

"Mr. Oxley entered the public service at an early period of his life and has filled the important situation of Surveyor-General for the last sixteen years.

"His exertions in the public service have been unwearied, as has been proved by his several expeditions to explore the interior. The public have reaped the benefit, while it is to be apprehended that the event, which they cannot fail to lament, has been accelerated by the privations and fatigue he endured during the performance of these arduous services. Mr. Oxley eminently assisted in unfolding the advantages of this highly-favoured colony from an early stage of its existence, and his name will ever be associated with the dawn of its advancement. It is always gratifying to the Government to record its approbation of the services of meritorious public officers, and in assigning to Mr. Oxley's name a distinguished place in that class to which his devotion to the interests of the colony has so justly entitled him, the Government would do honour to his memory in the same degree as it feels the loss it has sustained in his death."