Narrative of the Voyage of H.M.S. Rattlesnake, Commanded By the Late Captain Owen Stanley - Volume 2 - John MacGillivray (best novels of all time .txt) 📗

scrub, the trees principally consisting of iron-bark, box, and the leguminous tree, with bi-pinnate leaves, and dark fissured bark I have before alluded to. We saw here a great many pigeons of various kinds; Mr. Wall shot one pair of Geophaps plumifera, which he preserved; also a pair of small pigeons of a greyish colour, with red round the eyes, which he considered new. I also saw a large tree and obtained specimens of it, belonging to the natural order Bignoniaceae, with terminal spikes of yellow flowers, and rough cordate leaves; and a Proteaceous plant with long compound racemes of white flowers, and deeply cut leaves, resembling a tree with true pinnate leaves. The large-seeded Angophora mentioned by me before, also grew in this district.

About ten o'clock we came upon the banks of a very fine river, with a very broad bed, and steep banks on both sides. No doubt this was the river we had seen to the eastward from our camp on the 9th instant. Mr. Kennedy considered this stream to rise somewhere near Cape Tribulation, and after running northward about thirty miles, to turn to the south-west, the way it was running when we came upon it. In this place it appeared a fine deep river, and we followed it in its south-west course, at a short distance from its banks, for six or seven miles. The south-east bank was, for the last three or four miles we traced it, covered with a narrow belt of scrub, composed of Flagellaria, Jasminum, Phyllanthus, and a rambling plant, belonging to the natural order Verbenaceae, with terminal spikes of white, sweet-scented flowers. The trees were principally Castanospermum, Melia, Rulingia, and Sarcocephalus, and a beautiful tree belonging to the natural order Bombaceae, probably to the genus Eriodendron, with large spreading branches, which, as well as the trunk, were covered with spines. These trees are from thirty to fifty feet in height, and produce large crimson campanulate flowers, composed of five large stiff petals, about two inches long; stamens numerous, all joining at the base, and divided again into five parcels; the filaments are the same length as the petals; five cleft stigma; large five-celled capsule, many-seeded cells, the seeds being wrapped in a white silky cotton. This tree was deciduous, the leaves being palmate, and grew on stiff soil: its large crimson flowers attracted universal admiration.

We crossed the river at a spot where its banks were not so steep, and where there was but from one to three feet of water; in some places the bottom was sandy and in others rocky, but we could see rock only in the bed of the river. We camped on the side of the river, on some recently burned grass; five of the party went fishing a short distance up the river, and caught a few fish. The country here to the west and the south-west was open undulating forest land, which had been burned some short time before, and the grass just growing again, formed beautiful feed for our horses and sheep.

Towards evening about six or eight natives made their appearance, on the same side of the river as our camp; when about two hundred yards from us they shipped their spears in their throwing-sticks, and with other warlike gestures gradually drew near to us, making a great noise, doubtless thinking to frighten us. There being a wide deep gully between the natives and our camp, we drew up along the edge of it, with our firearms all ready to give them a warm reception should they endeavour to approach to closer hostilities. We endeavoured to make them understand that our intentions were friendly, and that we wished them to be peaceable; but they seemed to construe our signals to make them comprehend this, into indications of fear on our part; this increased their courage, and strengthened their determination to drive us away if possible, although they would not come within reach of our guns. We however fired at them, and although none were hurt, they appeared much frightened at the report of the firearms. They left us and went in the direction taken by the five of our party who had gone fishing, and for the safety of whom we began to be alarmed; our fears were increased, by hearing the report of a gun a few minutes afterwards. It seemed they had seen our party fishing by the side of the river, and instantly ran at them, to attack them; but one of the party placed on the bank as a lookout, fired at them as they came up, just as they were preparing to throw their spears, on which they turned their backs, and took to flight as fast as they could.

September 16.

This morning after breakfast, Mitchell and myself took two horses and re-crossed the river. We went about two miles back to a spot where I had seen some Portulaca, intending to bring some of it back to the camp to boil as a vegetable, it being the only description of food of the kind that we had been able to obtain throughout our journey. We filled a bag with it and returned to the camp, when I found half a damper, one meal's bread had been stolen from the stores during my absence. This was not the first theft of the kind that had been committed, and it was found necessary to watch the provisions night and day. Mr. Kennedy was anxious to discover the thief in this instance, as it was stolen in open daylight while Mr. Kennedy himself was keeping a lookout in his tent, not twenty yards from where the provisions were stolen; every man's load was searched, but in vain, and Mr. Kennedy, knowing that a party left the camp for the purpose of fishing a short distance up the river, and another party a few yards down the river to wash some clothes-took Jackey with him, who, by detecting some crumbs on the ground, discovered that the damper had been eaten at the place where the clothes were washed.

So careless were some of the party of the fatal consequences of our provisions being consumed before we arrived at Cape York, that as soon as we camped and the horses were unpacked, it was necessary that all the provisions should be deposited together on a tarpaulin, and that I should be near them by day and by night, so that I could not leave the camp at all, unless Mr. Kennedy and Mr. Wall undertook to watch the stores. I was obliged to watch the food whilst cooking; it was taken out of the boiler in the presence of myself and two or three others, and placed in the stores till morning.

It was seldom that I could go to bed before nine or ten o'clock at night, and I had to be up at four in the morning to see our tea made and sweetened, and our breakfast served out by daylight. The meals we cut up in thirteen parts, as nearly equal as possible, and one person touched each part in succession; whilst another person, with his back turned, called out the names of the party, the person named taking the part touched. The scrupulous exactness we were obliged to practise with respect to our provisions was increased by our misfortune in getting next to nothing to assist our scanty ration; while the extreme labour to which we were subjected increased our appetites. Two of the party always went out at daylight to fetch the horses in, and it was necessary we should start at early morning on account of the great heat in the middle of the day. We always endeavoured to make a fair stage by ten o'clock, and then, if in a convenient place, to halt: sometimes we were obliged to halt at nine o'clock, but we started again generally about three or four o'clock P.M., and travelled on till six.

Twelve or fourteen natives made their appearance at the camp this evening, in the same direction as on the previous day. Each one was armed with a large bundle of spears, and with boomerangs. Their bodies were painted with a yellowish earth, which with their warlike gestures, made them look very ferocious. The grass in the position they had taken up was very long and very dry, quite up to the edge of the gully; they set it on fire in three or four places, and the wind blowing from them to us, it burned very rapidly. Thinking we should be frightened at this display they followed the fire with their spears shipped, making a most hideous noise, and with the most savage gestures. Knowing the fire could not reach us, as there was nothing to burn on our side the gully, we drew up towards them with our firearms prepared. They approached near enough to throw three spears into our camp, one of which went quite through one of our tents. No one was hurt, but a few of our party fired at them; we could not tell whether any were wounded, as they disappeared almost immediately. We kept three on watch this night for fear of the natives.

September 17 to 21.

Leaving the river, we turned north-west, and had occasionally fair travelling over stiff soil, intersected by many creeks, most of them dry, but were everywhere able to find water at intervals of a few miles. We passed over some ironstone ridges, and rocky hills, covered with Callitris, Cochlospermum, and Sterculias. On the stiff soil the trees were ironbark, box, apple-gum, and some large acacias, with long lanceolate phyllodia, and large spikes of golden-coloured flowers. The grass here in the valleys between the hills had been burned, and was grown up again about eight or ten inches high.

September 22.

We crossed a creek running eastward, overhung by Melaleucas and arborescent callistemons, with plenty of grass on both sides; the soil appeared to become more sandy than that over which we had hitherto passed.

September 23.

We proceeded in our course, travelling over sandy ridges covered with Eugenia, Exocarpus, and a very pretty Eucalyptus, with rose-coloured flowers and obcordate leaves, and yellow soft bark, also a dwarfish tree with dark green leaves, and axillary racemes of round monospermons, fruit of a purple colour, with a thin rind of a bitter flavour; also a great many trees of moderate size, from fifteen to twenty feet high, of rather pendulous habit, oval lanceolate exstipulate leaves, loaded with an oblong yellow fruit, having a rough stone inside; the part covering the stone has, when ripe, a mealy appearance, and very good flavour. I considered from its appearance it was the fruit which Leichhardt called the nonda, which we always afterwards called it; we all ate plentifully of it.

The weather for the last few days had been very hot, the thermometer ranging in the shade from 95 to 100 degrees at noon; still there was generally a breeze in the morning from the eastward, and in the evening from the west. We camped by the same creek as on the previous day, but in our present position it was running South-West, with several lagoons in the valley, full of Nymphaea and Villarsia; our latitude here was 15 degrees 33 minutes south.

September 24.

We crossed the creek and proceeded northward, till we camped by a dry creek, from the bed of which we obtained water by digging. During the day's journey, we passed over some flats of rotten honeycomb ground, on which nothing was growing but a few stunted shrubs, and a blue herbaceous plant belonging to the order Boragineae. We also passed over other sandy flats covered with broad-leafed Melaleucas and Grevillias, and a few Banksias. On these flats ant-hills occurred, and in their