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

explorers might yet further improve: while in many minor yet important matters, much had been done, and much seen, to more than compensate for the disappointments and annoyances inseparable from the pursuits of the adventurer.

      LEAVING PORT USBORNE.

      March 30.

      The morning was unusually stormy, dark clouds rested upon the adjacent high land, while others no less portentous hurried past us on the wings of the tempest. Soon after breakfast, we bade adieu to the wild scenery of Port Usborne, and stood across the Sound, for our old anchorage on the north side of Point Cunningham, distant one and twenty miles. In the mouth of the harbour we passed over a coral knoll, having five fathoms on it. We did not, however, reach our destination till nearly 6 P.m., having been taken some distance up the Sound, by the flood-tide. Our soundings in crossing varied from fifteen to twenty fathoms, chiefly over rocky ground. It rained almost all the day, and we had several sudden shifts of wind, from South-East to North-West. Our first view of the western shore of the Sound was singular; Point Cunningham, and Carlisle Head, appeared like two high square-looking islands. We anchored soon after high-water, which appeared to be about a quarter of an hour earlier than at Port Usborne. We remained at this anchorage till the 3rd of April, during which time several unsuccessful hauls were made with the seine, but some additions were made to the collection of Natural History, particularly in the ornithological branch. It is not a little remarkable, that fish should be so scarce on this part of the coast, a fact also noticed by Captain King.

      INTERVIEW WITH NATIVES.

      April 1.

      This morning five natives made their appearance on the beach. Captain Wickham and myself went on shore, in order if possible to induce them to visit the ship: on landing he recognised them for old acquaintances, and I gave the eldest of the party, a handkerchief upon which he seemed to have set his affections; however when he understood our wish for the company of himself and friends on board, he was with difficulty induced to retain it. None but those who have made the experiment, are aware of what has to be overcome before any sort of intercourse can be carried on by signs; or how often, among the most intelligent, the greatest mistakes must of necessity occur. I have since thought, remembering what passed during this interview, that while we were making signs to them that on board they would find something to eat, each man's fears suggested the probability of a certain convocation, not where he eats, but where he is eaten, and induced him to decline standing treat upon the occasion.

      The singular manner these men had also of holding the face turned upwards, in order to escape the plague of flies, fully confirmed the truth of old Dampier's account of the manners of these people when he first discovered this part of the world. The eldest was the spokesman, or rather the signsman of the party, and this is always the custom, so far as we have had an opportunity of judging. The word they make use of in bowing (which they did quite in an Eastern style) appeared to be irru irru: their breasts were scarred with deep horizontal cuts, such as we had previously noticed on the natives in Roebuck Bay. I was so much struck with the resemblance between these people and the natives of Tierra del Fuego, that I have been tempted to believe that the stream of population flowed thitherward from the continent of America.

      I ought to mention that when Captain Wickham and myself left the ship, 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 and deeply mortified that he had no opportunity of astonishing the natives.

      There has been a marked change in the weather, since the sun crossed the equator: we have had no repetitions of the easterly squalls, before so prevalent, and the winds have been almost regular in the following order. From 3 P.m. to 1 A.m. a light breeze from South-South-West which freshening alters to South-East where it remains till 8 A.m., from that hour gradually decreasing, and at the same time changing to North-East and North. The thermometer, for some days past has ranged from 72 to 89 degrees; a temperature which we thought a few months ago intolerable, was now quite agreeable.

      We looked forward with the utmost anxiety to the result of our arrival at Port George the Fourth, as there, or at least in that neighbourhood, we hoped to hear some tidings of our friends Grey and Lushington, who, when we separated from them at the Cape, intended to land in Hanover Bay, establish a depot for stores, and from thence penetrate if possible into the interior.

      THEIR PEACEABLE DISPOSITION.

      I had no fear on the subject of any hostility from the natives, for in our own experience, we had as yet always found them inoffensive and peaceable; while should they prove otherwise, I was satisfied that a very slight acquaintance with the effects of gunpowder would be quite sufficient to quell their warlike propensities, but I did fear that they had chosen a very unfavourable point for debarkation, and that many causes would combine to arrest their progress into the interior. How unhappily my anticipations were verified, will be seen hereafter.

      Early on the morning of the 3rd, we left our anchorage under Point Cunningham, and by two o'clock P.M., had worked through Sunday Strait, where we encountered its usual heavy tide-races. At four o'clock in the afternoon, Caffarelli Island bore East-South-East, 9 miles distant: and about six, the wind, which through the day had been light and variable quite deserted us, when to avoid drifting back into the strait we anchored in 29 fathoms; Caffarelli Island bearing South-South-East 5 miles. The tide here appeared to be one hour earlier than in Sunday Strait: the flood set in a south-easterly, and the ebb in an opposite direction, at the rate of from half to one mile per hour.

      The 24th saw us again underweigh, by the light of the stars, but the wind being variable and against us, we did not get beyond Adele Island, where we anchored in 14 fathoms: the nearest part of it bearing North 75 degrees East 3 miles.

      ADELE ISLAND.

      Brue Reef was seen in the course of the day, and appeared to be correctly laid down by Captain King: there appeared, however, some discrepancy in the position of Adele Island, the southern extremity of which we found to be in latitude 15 degrees 32 minutes 30 seconds South, which is one mile and a half to the southward of the place assigned to it in his chart. The sea was breaking heavily on the reef, which fronts the island for a distance of two miles. The island itself is low, desolate and barren. We noticed there was scarcely any set of tide at this anchorage. During the day's progress we found several coral ledges, in from 11 to 13 fathoms, and trending North-East by East, and with from 25 to 35 fathoms between them. The specimens of this beautiful submarine production brought up by the lead, were of the most delicate kind, nor on any occasion did the lead present any appearance to indicate that it had fallen among a coarser sort. One beautiful fragment was obtained in Sunday Strait in 30 fathoms, a depth at which living coral is rarely found.

      BEAGLE BANK.

      April 5.

      Daylight on the 5th found us standing to the eastward--East-North-East--with a light northerly wind, in soundings ranging from 14 to 40 fathoms, and over a bottom of white and brown sand in the deep, and coral rock in the shoal water. In the afternoon we had the good fortune to discover one of the reefs, which render the navigation of this part of the coast rather hazardous. The position of this danger, is however well marked by a bank of very white sand and dead coral, from which the reef extends two miles and a half, in a North-North-West and one mile in a South-South-East direction; and which rising some 15 feet above the mean level of the blue surrounding water, became a conspicuous object from our deck, even at the distance of six miles. We gave our discovery the name of Beagle Bank, as another memorial of the useful services in which our little vessel had been so frequently engaged, and our observations enabled us to fix the centre of it in latitude 15 degrees 20 minutes South, longitude 123 degrees 36 minutes East.

      SHOAL SOUNDINGS.

      We anchored in the evening in 16 fathoms, the bank distant 3½ miles in a South by East direction: half a mile nearer to it, we found only 4 fathoms. The tide rose at this anchorage 12 feet. The flood stream began by setting to the South-South-West, and ended at South-east by East. The ebb set West by North, and the utmost strength of stream never exceeded one mile per hour.

      It