Journals Of Two Expeditions Of Discovery In North West And Western Australia Volume 1 (Of 2) - George Grey (best free e book reader txt) 📗

Australia,  Had An Utter Aversion

To All Strange Natives; And To This He Joined A Sort Of Religious Horror

Of Witches,  Buck-Witches,  Warlocks,  And Uncanny Persons Generally. King

James The First Could Never Have Found A More Zealous And Participating

Partner Of His Fears Than Kaiber; He Gave Me A Blank Look Of Horror And

Assured Me That These Were Actual Sorcerers,  "Northern Sorcerers;" And As

He Repeated These Last Words There Was A Mysterious,  Deep Meaning In His

Tone,  As If He Expected To See Me Thrill With Terror.

 

From His Earliest Infancy He Had Been Accustomed To Dread These Men;

Every Storm That Occurred He Had Been Taught To Consider As Arising From

Their Incantations: If One Of His Friends Or Relatives Died A Natural

Death He Had Attributed That Death To The Spells And Unholy Practices Of

These Very People With Whom He Was Now Directed To Go And Hold Converse.

I Thought Of All This And Pitied Him; For Even For A Native He Was

Excessively Superstitious. But I Was Extremely Anxious To Establish

Friendly Relations With Them; Therefore I Was Positive And Repeated To

Him My Former Directions That He Should Wade Ashore,  Coax Them Up,  And

Speak To Them.

 

Volume 1 Chapter 15 (The Gascoyne River Reach And Enter A Mangrove Creek) Pg 225

In As Far As A Native Can Turn White From Fear Kaiber Did Turn White,  And

Then Stepping Into The Water He Waded Ashore And The Two Natives

Cautiously Approached Him. As Soon As They Were Close To Him I Joined The

Party With A Large Piece Of Damper In One Hand And A Piece Of Pork In The

Other. The Natives Were Dreadfully Frightened; They Stood In The Presence

Of Unknown And Mysterious Beings. No Persuasions Could Induce Them To

Take My Hand Or To Touch Me; And They Trembled From Head To Foot.

 

Friendly Communication Established.

 

For A Time They Were Nearly Unintelligible To Kaiber And Myself,  But As

They Gained Confidence I Found That They Spoke A Dialect Very Closely

Resembling That Of The Natives To The North Of The Swan River. They

Addressed Many Questions To Us,  Such As,  Whence We Had Come? Where We

Were Going To? Was The Boat A Dead Tree? But They Evaded Giving Any

Direct Answers To Our Questions. Being Anxious To Start I Now Left Them

To Bear To Their Companions The Strange Food I Had Bestowed,  And To

Recount To Eager Listeners The Mysterious Tale Of Their Interview With

Beings From Another World,  And Who Were Of An Unknown Form And Colour.

 

Sail From The Gascoyne.

 

Whilst They Hurried Off With Some Such Thoughts Passing Through Their

Minds We Pulled Down The Gascoyne In Search Of New Lands And New

Adventures.

 

Affinity Of Dialects.

 

The Result Of This Conference Affords An Example Of The Grounds Upon

Which Any Similarity Of The Language In Different Portions Of The

Continent Of Australia Has Been Denied. In This Instance,  Had I At First

Taken The Word Of Kaiber For It,  I Should Have Left The Gascoyne With A

Firm Conviction That The Natives Of That Part Of Australia Spoke A

Radically Different Language From The Natives Near The Swan River; And

This Would Have Been Proved By The Fact Of A Native From The South Not

Understanding Them: Whereas There Is A Great Affinity Between The Two

Dialects,  To Discover Which Requires However An Acquaintance With The

General Principles Of Language,  Some Knowledge Of The One In Question,

And Due Patience. I Can Only Say That Wherever I Have Been In The

Southern Portions Of The Continent I Could Soon Understand The Natives.

 

 

 

Volume 1 Chapter 16 (To Kolaina And Back To The Gascoyne Examine The Coast To The North Of The Gascoyne) Pg 226

March 7.

 

When We Got Outside The Mouth Of The Gascoyne A Fresh Breeze Was Blowing

From The South-East. We Ran Along The Shore West By North,  Keeping About

A Quarter Of A Mile From It; And After Having Made About Three Miles And

Volume 1 Chapter 16 (To Kolaina And Back To The Gascoyne Examine The Coast To The North Of The Gascoyne) Pg 227

A Half We Reached The Southern Extremity Of The Other Mouth Of The River.

The Mean Depth In Our Course Along Babbage Island Had Been From Two And A

Half Fathoms To Three Fathoms; And This Opening Had A Bar Which We Then

Conceived To Run Right Across The Mouth Of The River. The Northern

Extremity Of Babbage Island Is A Very Remarkable Low Point Of Land Which

I Called Mangrove Point. It Cannot Fail To Be Recognised For It Is The

First Point From The Northward Along The Eastern Shores Of Shark Bay

Where Mangroves Are Found,  And From That Point They Extend Almost

Uninterruptedly Down The Eastern Coast Of This Bay To The South,  As Far

As I Have Seen It.

 

Continue The Course To The Northward.

 

The Coast Now Trended North By West And We Continued To Run Along It.

After Passing Mangrove Point The Sandy Dunes Along The Shore Ceased,  And

The Land Appeared To Be Scarcely Elevated Above The Level Of The Sea: Not

A Hill Or Tree Could Be Perceived,  And A Low Black Line Almost Level With

The Water's Edge Was The Only Indication That We Had Of Being Near Land.

 

Lyell's Range.

 

This Kind Of Shore Continues For About Nine Miles,  When Low Sandhills

Begin To Rise Parallel To The Coast,  And These Gradually Increase In

Altitude Until They Form That Remarkable Range Of Dunes Which I Have

Called Lyell's Range. When It Wanted About An Hour To Sunset We Had Made

About Twenty-Five Miles,  And Then Ran In Closer Along The Coast To Look

Either For A Boat Harbour Or Some Spot At Which We Could Beach Them. But

Nothing Suited To Our Purpose Could We See: The Coast Was Straight,

Sandy,  Exposed And Lashed By A Tremendous Surf; The Wind Now Freshened

Considerably And The Sky Looked Very Threatening; We Had Therefore No

Resource Left But Either To Run To The Northward Before The Breeze Or To

Beach The Boats. I Chose The First Alternative; And We Coasted Within

About A Quarter Of A Mile Of The Shore,  Just Outside The Surf,  Looking

Out For Any Spot Which Gave Us The Least Hope Of Beaching In Safety.

 

Beach The Boats.

 

As The Sun Sank So Freshened The Breeze,  Until It Blew A Good Half Gale

Of Wind,  And Everything Gave Indications Of Approaching Foul Weather.

This Was No Coast To Be On During A Stormy Night In Heavily Laden

Whale-Boats; And As It Now Began To Grow Dark I Determined At All Hazards

To Beach Rather Than Be Driven Out To Sea In A Gale Of Wind. I

Accordingly Ran My Boat In Through The Surf,  Leaving The Other One

Outside To See What Success We Had Before They Made The Attempt.

 

Boat Swamped In Beaching.

 

The Surf Was Very Heavy But The Men Behaved Steadily And Well; And

Through It We Went,  Dancing Along Like A Cork In A Mill-Pond; At Last One

Huge Roller Caught Us,  All Hands Gave Way,  And We Were Hurried Along On

The Top Of The Swelling Billow,  Which Then Suddenly Fell Under Us And

Broke; In A Moment After We Had Grounded,  And Although Still Upwards Of

Volume 1 Chapter 16 (To Kolaina And Back To The Gascoyne Examine The Coast To The North Of The Gascoyne) Pg 228

Two Hundred Yards From The Shore,  We All Jumped Out To Haul The Boat Up,

But Ere We Could Move Our Heavily Laden Whaler Beyond A Few Yards Breaker

After Breaker Came Tumbling In And Completely Swamped It. We Continued To

Haul Away And Presently Found Ourselves Swimming. In Fact The Whole Coast

Hereabouts Was Fronted By A Kind Of Bar Of Sand,  Distant About Two

Hundred Yards From The Shore,  With Not More Than Two Feet Water On It.

Between This And The Shore The Water Was Tolerably Smooth And Two Fathoms

Deep. It Was Upon This Outer Bar That We Had Struck,  And The Other Boat

Experienced The Same Fate As Ourselves. We Of Course Passed A Miserable

Night In Our Drenched And Wretched State; But It Was At All Events Some

Comfort,  When We Heard During The Night The Boisterous Wind Blowing

Outside,  To Feel That We Were Safe Ashore.

 

Damage To Our Provisions.

 

March 8.

 

As Soon As We Had Sufficient Light For The Purpose I Proceeded To Examine

The Stores. The Flour Was Not Very Good At Starting; It Had Been Packed

In Small Bags,  That Being The Most Convenient Form To Have It In Both For

Stowing And Transporting It On Men's Shoulders; And In The Hurricane

Which We Had Experienced On Dorre Island This Flour Had Got Thoroughly

Soaked: From That Period To The Present Time It Had Been Constantly Wet

With Salt Water; Last Night's Adventures Completed Its Disasters And It

Was Now Quite Spoilt And An Unwholesome Article Of Food; But Having

Nothing Else To Eat We Were Forced To Satisfy Ourselves With It,  And I

Directed It To Be Dried In The Sun And Then Carefully Repacked. The Wind

Was From The South-South-West,  About Half A Gale,  And There Was Such A

Tremendous Surf On The Shore That To Launch The Boats Was Impossible. I

Therefore Started To Look For Water And To Explore The Country.

 

Search For Water.

 

The Point We Had Landed At Was Immediately At The Base Of Some Bare

Sandhills,  About Four Hundred Feet High. These Are The Hills Which Are

Visible From The High Land Of Dorre Island On The Opposite Side Of The

Bay: It Struck Me That From Their Great Height And Their