REACH AND ENTER A MANGROVE CREEK.

March 4.

Early in the morning I had a good lookout kept for the other boat, which I was very anxious to see in order that I might have a sufficiently numerous party for the purpose of landing and looking for water; as I always held it to be better, upon first appearing amongst natives who had never before seen Europeans, to show such strength as might impress them with a certainty that we were well able to resist any attack which they might naturally feel inclined to make on such strange and incomprehensible intruders as white men must necessarily appear to them. Soon after the sun rose we descried the other boat about three miles to the southward of us; and I despatched two men to wade along the flats and communicate with Mr. Walker: they were to direct him to get under weigh and to make the best of his course, either by tracking, pulling, or sailing, until he reached the point where I might land.

The men whom I sent quickly made his boat, which I perceived moving slowly up the flats; and as soon as the men rejoined me we started. The wind was fair, being from the southward, and I wished to reach some gently elevated hills which I saw about eight miles to the north by east of our present position.

SEARCH FOR AND COMPLETE OUR WATER.

We soon came to a very promising opening which proved to be a creek, with a mouth of about two hundred yards wide, running up in a north-east direction, and having five fathoms of water inside, but with a bar entrance. When we had proceeded up it about two miles it became so narrow that there was not sufficient space left for the men to use their oars; therefore, making fast the two boats, I landed with a party to look for water.

I stepped very gingerly and cautiously on the mud, for shore there was none; and I had the satisfaction of descending at once, mid-leg deep in the odious slime; but this being endured the worst was over, and, at the head of my sticking and floundering party, I waded on, putting to flight whole armies of crabs who had taken up their abode in these umbrageous groves, for such they certainly were. The life of a crab in these undisturbed solitudes must be sweet in the extreme; they have plenty of water, mud, and shade; their abodes are scarcely approachable by the feet of men, and they can have but little to disturb their monotonous existence save the turmoils of love and domestic war.

After about two miles of wading of this description, which we considerably increased by turning and winding about to avoid soft places, we at length fairly stepped on terra firma and found ourselves at the base of some almost imperceptibly-sloping ground which gradually rose into low, red, sandy, loamy hills, thinly covered with grass, bushes, and stunted trees. Across these we bent our steps in a south-east direction, no change whatever taking place in the character of the country as far as we went or as far as we could see. But our travels in this line only extended for about three miles, when we suddenly came upon a lagoon of fresh water lying between two of the hills. All bent the knee at once, at this discovery, to plunge their faces deep in the pool, and, presently raising them up again, a black watery line, extending round the countenance, showed plainly how deeply each one had dipped.

Mr. Smith and myself laughed heartily at our dirty-faced companions, who knelt on their hands and knees round the pool; and whilst they were filling the beakers with water we rested under the shade of the bush for a few minutes, and then walked off towards the interior; but from the undulating low nature of the ground our view was very limited, and as far as we could see there was no sign whatever of any change in the character of the country. On returning again to the party we found the beakers and men equally full of water and ready for a start to the boats.

WADING THROUGH THE MUD.

When we reached again the mangrove flats a most amusing scene commenced; wading through the mud was bad enough before, but now that each man had a heavy keg of water upon his shoulders the movements became truly ludicrous, more especially as both landsmen and sailors were equally out of their element. Each desperate plunge elicited from the sufferers oaths and expressions which only those who have seen sailors completely at a nonplus on shore can conceive. They were half humorous, half pathetic, and never did I see men more thoroughly woebegone and bedaubed with mud than the party when we made the boats again.

Those whom I had left behind now greedily drank the water of which they were so much in want, and, as it was necessary to complete our stock of it here, after we had dined I despatched all hands but Mr. Smith and one man back to the lagoon. Mr. Smith was too unwell to go again and I remained with him. This party took their rations with them as they were to remain by the lagoon all night in order, as they termed it, “to have a good bouse out of water, and a good wash,” and were to return to the boats as soon after daylight as possible.

We had remarked tracks of natives on shore but, as I saw by their fires that they were now at least eight or ten miles from us, I was under no apprehension of an attack from them. The mosquitoes however threatened to be very troublesome, and when I say that just about sunset we were completely blackened from the numbers that covered us I do not in the least exaggerate; we could not make a fire to keep them away, and I therefore quietly resigned myself to my fate. Poor Smith, who was already very feverish, passed a night of perfect torment, and awoke in the morning seriously ill. We soon heard the voices of the party returning and, having helped them and their loads of water out of the mud, we returned down the creek.

COAST THE LAND TO THE NORTHWARD.

March 5.

On standing out there was a fresh breeze blowing from the south-east, and when we were about half a mile from the shore the water to the northward deepened a great deal, for although it was now nearly low tide we had here two and a half fathoms with sandy bottom. All along the shoals we had met with abundance of shell and other fish, and the pearl oyster was very abundant; indeed the shellfish along these banks were more numerous and varied than I had ever before found them. I saw but few shells which I recognised as belonging to the southern portions of Australia, whilst many were identical with those which occur to the north-west.

EXAMINE ANOTHER MANGROVE CREEK. CHARACTER OF THEIR SCENERY.

There was no high land whatever in sight; but one low hill, which just appeared above the mangrove tops, bore north by east. After running north-east for about two miles with the same depth of water we came to another opening in the mangroves of a more promising character than several small ones which we had previously passed, and as, from the greater depth of the water, the extraordinary low character of the coast, and the circumstance of the driftwood upon Dorre Island, I expected to find a large river hereabouts, I determined to examine even the smallest openings most narrowly; we therefore ran straight for this one, and found that it had a shoal mouth with only four feet water at the entrance. The opening ran east 1/2 north, and after we had followed it up for about half a mile it became very narrow and shoaled to two feet, so we turned about and again pulled away to sea. This opening, as well as the first we had entered, appeared rather like a canal running through a woody grove than an arm of the sea; the mangrove trees afforded an agreeable shade, and were of the most brilliant green, whilst the blue placid water not only washed their roots but meandered through the sinuosities of the forest like a quiet lake till sight of it was lost in the distance.

We now stood north-north-west parallel to the shore, which was fronted by mangroves; and here we again had only two and a half feet of water. A very low chain of hills extended parallel to the shore and about two miles behind the mangroves. We thus continued running along the coast until we made a large opening which was about three-quarters of a mile across at the mouth. On either side of the entrance was a sandy point, covered with pelicans and wild-fowl who seemed to view our approach with no slight degree of surprise. As yet we did not know the proper entrance to the river (for such it was) so that where we ran into it we had only two feet of water. Three low hills were immediately in front of us, and I afterwards ascertained that the proper course for entering was to steer so as to keep the centre of the opening and the middle hill in the same line.

DISCOVER ONE MOUTH OF THE GASCOYNE RIVER, AND EXPLORE THE COUNTRY IN ITS VICINITY.

The opening now widened into a very fine reach, out of which the water was running rapidly, and when we had ascended about a mile I saw large trees, or snags (as they are called by the Americans) sticking up in the bed of the river; as these trees were of a very large size, and evidently had come from a different country to the one we saw upon the river banks, I felt assured that we had now discovered a stream of magnitude, and, the eager expectations which these thoughts awoke in our breasts rendering us all impatient, we hauled down our sail and took to the oars. The bed of the river however became choked with shallows and sandbanks, and when we had ascended it about three miles, the water having shoaled to about six inches, I selected a suitable place for our encampment and prepared to start and explore the country on foot.

SURVEY OF MOUTHS OF THIS RIVER AND BABBAGE ISLAND.

As soon as all had been made snug I moved up the river with three men. Its banks were here about five feet high; the bed of white sand, and about half a mile across; the centre of the channel was full of salt water, and in breadth about a quarter of a mile. We had not proceeded more than a few hundred yards when we unexpectedly came upon another mouth of the river as large as that upon which we stood, and which ran off nearly west. The river itself appeared to come from the north-east, and we saw salt water still further up than where we were.

NATIVES AND A SHARK.

Just on the eastern bank of the stream was a clump of small trees and reeds which I walked up to examine with a desire to recognise any trees belonging to known species, but to my horror, on looking into the reeds, I saw what appeared to be a huge alligator fast asleep. The men now peeped at it and all agreed that it was an alligator. I therefore retreated to a respectful and suitable distance and let fly at it with a rifle; it gave, as we thought, a kind of shake, and then took no further notice of us. I therefore took a double-barrelled gun from one of the men and drove two balls through the beast, and now feeling sure it must be dead (for it never moved) I walked up to it, when, upon examination, it turned out to be a huge shark, of a totally new species, which had been left in some hole by the tide where the natives had found and killed it, and, being disturbed by our approach, had run away, first hiding it in this clump of reeds. There were two natives and they had made off right up the bed of the river, taking the precaution to step in one another’s tracks so as to conceal if possible their number.

CHARACTER OF THE RIVER.

To those who have never seen a river similar to the one we were now upon it is difficult to convey a true idea of its character. It consisted of several channels or beds divided from each other by long strips of land, which, in times of flood, become islands; the main channel had an average breadth of about two hundred and seventy yards; the average height of the bank at the edge of it was about fifteen feet, and the bed of the river was composed of porous red sand apparently incapable of containing water unless when previously saturated with it. After passing the highest point reached by the sea this huge river bed was perfectly dry, and looked the most mournful, deserted spot imaginable. Occasionally we found in this bare sandy channel waterholes of eighteen or twenty feet in depth, surrounded with tea trees and vegetation, and the driftwood, washed high up into these trees, sufficiently attested what rapid currents sometimes swept along the now dry channel. Even the waterholes were nearly all dried up, and in the bottom of these the natives had scooped their little wells.

The river channel ran up in a due north-east direction for about four miles without in the least altering its character. It was in vain that we walked over the intervening slips of land into the side channels; these in all respects except in being narrower exactly resembled the main one; and, after ranging across from bank to bank in this way, the only general conclusion I could arrive at was that the country upon the northern bank of the river appeared scrubby and covered with samphire swamps, whilst that upon its southern bank seemed rich and promising.

EXPLORE THE COUNTRY INLAND TO THE NORTH OF THE RIVER.

The river now made a sudden turn to the east by north, and we followed it in this direction for three miles and a half without finding the slightest change in its character or appearance. No high land whatever was in sight, and from a low rounded hill, which was the highest point we could see, the rise of the country towards the interior was scarcely perceptible; indeed it presented the appearance of being a vast delta; and such I then and subsequently conjectured it to be.

During our walk up the bed of the river we had seen many cockatoos, some wildfowl, and numerous tracks of natives; these all appeared to me to be indications of a well watered and fertile tract of country.

I now turned off west by south, quitting the bed of the river, which I named the Gascoyne in compliment to my friend, Captain Gascoyne, and found that we were in a very fertile district, being one of those splendid exceptions to the general sterility of Australia which are only occasionally met with: it apparently was one immense delta of alluvial soil covered with gently sloping grassy rises, for they could scarcely be called hills; and in the valleys between these lay many freshwater lagoons which rested upon a red clay soil that tinged the water of its own colour and gave it an earthy taste.

The country here was but very lightly timbered and well adapted for either agricultural or pastoral purposes, but especially for the growth of cotton and sugar, should the climate be sufficiently warm; and of this I think there can be no doubt whatever. I was so won by the discovery of this rich district that I wandered on unconscious of the fatigue of the party, roaming from rising ground to rising ground, and hoping from each eminence to gain a view of high land to the eastward, but on all sides I could see nothing but the same low fertile country. I however felt conscious that within a few years of the moment at which I stood there a British population, rich in civilization and the means of transforming an unoccupied country to one teeming with inhabitants and produce, would have followed my steps and be eagerly and anxiously examining my charts; and this reflection imparted a high degree of interest and importance to our present position and operations.

RETURN TO THE RIVER.

The darkness of night was now closing round us and Kaiber the native, with his long thin legs, put himself at the head of the party and, taking a star for his guide, led us with rapid and lengthy paces across the plains to the encampment, where we found the party anxiously waiting to hear what success we had met with. Poor Mr. Smith was very unwell tonight with a feverish attack. Mr. Walker had prescribed for him and ordered him to be kept quiet. I got a meridian altitude of Procyon which put us in 24 degrees 56 minutes 57 seconds south latitude.

March 6.

Mr. Smith was if anything worse this morning, and I learned from some of the men that he had been wandering about all night, and had bathed several times in the river. I remonstrated with him about having done so, but he excused himself, and I determined to remain stationary at this point for a day or two to give him plenty of rest before we again started on our cruise along the coast.

PLAN OF FUTURE PROCEEDINGS.

After the discovery of the Gascoyne the plan I made up my mind to follow was to examine rapidly the coast as far as Cape Cuvier, to return from that point to Bernier Island and refit; then once more to visit the Gascoyne properly equipped, and thoroughly explore the adjacent district to the distance of fifty or sixty miles inland; and lastly to examine the unknown portion of Shark Bay which lay to the southward of us.

At 6 A.M. the thermometer stood at 76 degrees Fahrenheit in the shade, and this and the temperature during our stay in Shark Bay proves that the climate there is very warm. Before breakfast I had wells sunk in several places at some little distance inland in order to ascertain the nature of the subsoil, for we were abundantly supplied with water from the lagoons. In every instance, after digging down to the depth of from six to seven feet through a rich loam, we reached a regular sandy sea beach and salt water (it must however be recollected that we dug in the deepest hollows) so that it appeared as if the whole of this flat country was a formation left upon the shoals with which the coast is bounded; and it almost seemed as if the sea still flowed in upon its old bed and under this recent freshwater deposit.

Directly after breakfast I got ferried across the river to the island lying between its two mouths, which I called Babbage Island after C. Babbage, Esquire. This island is low and sandy in all parts except where it fronts the sea; but on that side a row of high sandy dunes have been thrown up. There is no very good land on it, it being almost covered with samphire swamps and intersected by deep channels into which the sea runs; these are nearly concealed in some places by the vegetation, which rendered it impossible to avoid sundry falls and wettings in crossing it. It bears a few mangroves but I saw no other trees.

The men throughout the day were occupied in watering and in making canvas cloths for my boats to prevent the water from pouring in over the gunwales, which were very low; and my own time was sufficiently occupied in surveying. On my return in the evening I found Mr. Smith so much wore cheerful and so much better that I determined to start about noon the next day for the northward.

EXCURSION TO THE NORTH OF THE RIVER.

March 7.

I went off with a party before dawn to explore the country to the northward of the Gascoyne. We crossed the river just above the point where it separates into two mouths, and then struck off in a north by east direction. Travelling about a mile after we had crossed the river we came to seven native huts, built of large-sized logs, much higher and altogether of a very superior description to those made by the natives on the south-western coast. Kaiber examined them very carefully and then proposed that we should go no farther, as he thought that the natives must be very large men from their having such large huts. We however pushed forward and, as I had none but good walkers with me, we made about nine miles in two hours and a half: throughout the whole of this distance we saw nothing that could be called a hill, the whole country being evidently at times flooded up to the foot of a gently-rising land which we distinguished to the eastward. We did not notice a single tree but plenty of low prickly bushes, samphire, and a small plant somewhat resembling the English heath. The weather was very hot, and at the end of the nine miles we reached a saltwater inlet so broad and deep that we could not cross it. We here halted and rested a little and then made our way back to the boats.

APPROACH OF NATIVES.

I found Mr. Smith much better and, there being now nothing to delay us, we started. When we had got about half a mile down the river we saw two natives following us along the shore, jumping about in the most extraordinary way, and, from their gesticulations and manner, evidently ordering us to quit the coast. From the mountebank actions of these fellows I guessed that they were two of the native sorcerers, who were charming us away but, as I was not disposed to be so easily got rid of, we pulled near the shore and lay upon our oars to give them an opportunity of coming up to us.

ATTEMPT AT A CONFERENCE. INTERVIEW WITH NATIVES.

Upon this they mounted a little eminence, blew most furiously at us, and performed other equally efficacious ceremonies. I however felt just as well after we had been subjected to this dire sorcery as I did before; and we continued to pull gently along the shore, still trying to induce them to approach, which they at last did, having nothing but a fishing-spear in their hands. To entice them towards us I had made Kaiber strip himself and stand up in the boat; and now that they were near enough to us I told him to call out to them and say that we were friends. He hereupon shouted out, “Come in, come in; Mr. Grey sulky yu-a-da;” by which he intended to say, “Come here, come here; Mr. Grey is not angry with you.” The two sorcerers, utterly confused by this mode of address, committed more overt acts of witchcraft towards us than they had even hitherto done; and Kaiber, turning round to me, said, “Weak ears have they and wooden foreheads; they do not understand the southern language.” But as I was dissatisfied with his proof of their knowledge of the southern language I desired him to wade ashore and speak to them.

KAIBER’S DREAD OF THEM.

This order of mine was a perfect thunderbolt to Kaiber. He, in common with all the aboriginal inhabitants of 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.

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.