Discoveries in Australia (Vol. 1&2). John Lort Stokes

Perth men say, Miago, you go on shore very little, plenty Quibra men* go, you go." These instructions appear to have been very carefully pressed upon him by his associates, and certainly they had succeeded in inspiring him with the utmost dread of this division of his fellow countrymen, which all his boasting about killing some of them and taking one of their women as proof of his prowess, back to Perth, failed to concern.

      (*Footnote. i.e. Men of the ship.)

      CLOUDS OF MAGELLAN.

      He gave me this evening a new reason to account for the appearance of the two small clouds called after the celebrated Magellan, in the following words: "You see," said he, pointing up to the sky, "little smoke." I assented at once; for certainly the clouds have very much the appearance of that to which he compared them: he then continued: "Perth man tell me, long, long time back, he make fire, smoke go far away up, far away, stop and never go away more." Miago evidently believed that his friend at Perth had really lighted the fire, the smoke of which had thus gone up "far away, far away," to "stop and never go away more." I can easily enough comprehend why the assertion might be made, and possibly without any intention to deceive upon the part of the asserter, who may first have seen the clouds after watching the ascent of his own fire smoke through the still air, in the same direction; but that it should be implicitly believed, as it evidently was by Miago, upon the mere word of his fellow countryman, did, I own, astonish me; and seems to indicate that, in their social intercourse with each other, they may have more regard for truth than I was at first inclined to give them credit for.

      USELESS BAY.

      Mr. Usborne was away to-day in one of the boats, seeking a berth for the ship higher up the bay: upon his return he reported that he had been over the banks before mentioned, upon which he found the water very shoal: the face of the country he described as exceedingly low, with mud lumps not unlike ant-hills,* scattered here and there over the face of it, and several clusters of small trees. Natives also had been seen, though no opportunity of approaching them had occurred, as the moment their restless eyes, or quick ears, detected our approach, they most rapidly retreated.

      (*Footnote. Subsequent experience literally verified this opinion.)

      HEAT AND SICKNESS.

      January 19.

      Two boats were despatched this morning, under Mr. Usborne's command, to examine the eastern part of what I think may be named very properly Useless Bay. This would have been my duty, had I not unfortunately been taken ill in the evening of the preceding day: the symptoms were violent headache, and a disordered state of the stomach, caused, the surgeon says, by the oppressive and overpowering heat which we have experienced for the last few days, and the general effects of which seem more distressing to the ship's company than is often experienced under a higher range of the thermometer; the deprivation of all power, or energy, is one of its most unpleasant consequences. I am inclined to think that one reason for its great and wearying effect upon most of us--indeed, more or less, all are suffering from it--is that there is hardly any variation in temperature during the whole twenty-four hours: it sometimes does not amount to more than two or three degrees. Captain Wickham and the surgeon visited an inlet near the ship to-day, which had indeed been looked into, but not explored before. They proceeded to the south-west for about three miles, through a very tortuous channel, dry in many parts at low-water, thickly studded with mangrove bushes, over and through which the tide made its way at high-water, giving to that part of the country the appearance of an extensive morass. A slightly elevated table-topped range of land was seen from time to time, some eight or nine miles to the south-east, but in its highest elevation did not reach 200 feet. The apparent width of the inlet in no way diminished so far as the exploring party examined it; and this fact, coupled with the general character of the country hereabouts, induces me to suppose that the periodical return of the spring tide, floods the greater part of the coast between the sea shore and the base of the range I have alluded to. Vampires of a very large kind were here met with, the furthest south we had seen them.

      MIAGO ON SHORE.

      Miago had accompanied this party on shore, though he evidently showed no great devotion to the deed. They said he watched everything, aye, every bush, with the most scrutinizing gaze: his head appeared to turn upon a pivot, so constantly was it in motion, with all that restless watchfulness for which the savage is ever remarkable. The heat to-day either exceeded an average, or else perhaps, as an invalid, I noticed it more closely:

      On shore, it was 98 degrees in the shade. On board, it was 90 degrees in the shade. Pulling off in the boats 118. During the day, it fluctuated, between 88 and 94.

      A breeze from seaward blew the greater part of each night from West-South-West, hauling round to south in the morning.

      January 20.

      Our noon observation to-day enabled us to fix the latitude of Cape Villaret 18 degrees 18 minutes 50 seconds, which precisely agrees with that assigned to it by Captain King.

      MR. USBORNE WOUNDED.

      In the afternoon the boats returned with Mr. Usborne, who had been unfortunately very severely wounded by the accidental discharge of a musket. It appeared that after a careful examination of the bay, which ended as I had anticipated, in proving that no opening to the interior would be found in it, the party were returning to the boats, when, from the accidental explosion of a musket in the hand of one of the party, a ball entered Mr. Usborne's right side, near the spine, between the lower rib and hip bone, making an exit in a line with the navel. This truly unfortunate circumstance--which for some weeks deprived the expedition of the services of a most valuable officer--occurred about 10 o'clock A.M., but the time and trouble of carrying the sufferer through the mud to the boats, and then pulling some 15 miles, made it near 6 o'clock before he was on board and under the charge of Mr. Bynoe: we were all shocked to see our companion lifted apparently lifeless into the vessel he had so recently quitted full of health, and animated by an anxious desire to do all in his power to conduce to the general success; but were ere long assured by Mr. Bynoe, whose personal or professional merits need no eulogium from me--and who immediately and most carefully attended our wounded messmate--that the best results might be reasonably hoped for: a prediction shortly afterwards happily verified. 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.

      LOADED PISTOLS LEFT BEHIND.

      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, no less than the tenor of our hydrographical instructions 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--in which everyone seemed animated by one common and universal sentiment, prompting all to a zealous discharge of duty--had clearly demonstrated that the hoped-for river must be sought elsewhere: and that very fact which at first seemed to lessen the probabilities of ultimate success, served rather to inspire than to daunt; since while it could not shake our reliance upon the opinions of those best qualified to decide, that such a river must ultimately be discovered, it only narrowed the ground upon which energy, knowledge, and perseverance had yet to undergo their probation, ere they enjoyed their reward!

      THE BOYL-YAS.

      Our intercourse with the natives had been necessarily of the most limited character, hardly amounting