Narrative of a Visit to the Australian Colonies/Chapter 7
CHAPTER VII.
Van Diemens Land was discovered by Abel Jansen Tasman, in 1842; he supposed it to be a part of the Australian Continent, and named it in honour of Anthony Van Diemen, at that time Governor General of the Dutch possessions in the East Indies. It was ascertained to be an island in 1798, by Dr. Bass, and taken possession of by the English in 1803, by Lieutenant Bowen. The first Lieutenant Governor arrived in 1804, and removed the seat of Government from the original settlement at Risdon, or Rest-down, on the east bank of the Derwent, to the present site, which he named Hobart Town, after Lord Hobart.
The island lies between 41° 20' and 43° 40' south latitude, and between 144° 40' and 148° 20' east longitude: its length is about 210 miles, from north to south, and its breadth 150 from east to west; it is very mountainous and covered with forest, which in many parts is extremely thick, but in others open and grassy. The original inhabitants, whose forefathers had occupied it from time immemorial, were of the Negro race. They were of moderate stature, dark olive colour, and had black, curly, woolly hair. They were few in number, probably never more than from 700 to 1,000, their habits of life being unfriendly to increase. Excepting on the west coast, they had no houses, but in inclement weather took shelter in the thicker parts of the forest, in the vallies or near the sea. They wore no clothes, but sometimes ornamented themselves by strips of skin with the fur on, which they wore around the body, arms, or legs. To enable them to resist the changes of the weather, they smeared themselves from head to foot with red ochre and grease. The men also clotted their hair with these articles, and had the ringlets drawn out like rat-tails. The women cropped their hair as close as they could with sharp stones or shells.
These people formed a few tribes, differing a little in dialect and habits; they were destitute of any traces of civilization; their food consisted of roots and some species of fungus, with shell-fish, grubs, birds, and other wild animals. The latter they took by means of the simplest missiles, or by climbing trees; they cooked them by roasting, and daily removed to a fresh place, to avoid the offal and filth that accumulated about the little fires which they kindled daily, and around which they slept. In this state, the first European visitants of their island, found them, and mistaking some peculiarities in their manners for stupidity, set them down as lower in intellect than other human beings. In the early days of the Settlement of V. D. Land by the English, a party of the Aborigines made their appearance near Risden, carrying boughs of trees in token of peace, and were fired at by order of a timid officer, who became alarmed at their visit. Several of them were killed, and the rest fled in alarm. Though they did not forget this act of outrage, they were long before they became hostile.
The opinion seems general that the misconduct of Europeans gave rise to the aggressions of the Aborigines. These aggressions, however, produced retaliation on the part of the Whites, who shot many of the Aborigines, sometimes through fear, and there is reason to apprehend, sometimes through recklessness. At length, the Aborigines finding themselves in danger, and their hunting grounds occupied by the intruders into their country, determined to attempt to expel them. For this purpose they set fire to houses, and speared persons at unawares, until there were few families in the Island, who had not sustained some injury, or lost some member by them: the woody nature of the country afforded them ready concealment in thus carrying forward their attacks.
About 1828, a part of the Colony, was declared to be under martial law, as regarded the Aborigines, and about two years after, a military expedition was undertaken, with the intention of driving all those in the south-east part of the island, to Tasmans Peninsula. This project, which a better knowledge of the country and the people, proved a most absurd one, happily ended in no greater evil than the expenditure of a considerable sum of money, and the sojourn of a large proportion of the male, white inhabitants, for a few weeks, in "the bush," with little or no loss of life on either side. A "cordon" was formed across the country, but it was found impossible to keep the people in a line among the rocks, ravines and thickets, with which the island abounds, and the Aborigines stole through the ranks in the night, and escaped safely into the rear of their pursuers.
At length George Augustus Robinson, a benevolent individual, professing to be actuated by a sense of religious duty, offered to go into the woods, attended only by a few of the native Blacks, who had become domesticated, and had lived with him for a time on Bruny Island, and from whom he had acquired some knowledge of their language, and to endeavour to conciliate the Aborigines, and to persuade them to give themselves up to the protection of the Government, on condition of being well provided for, on an island in Bass's Straits. This project was considered by most, as one of madness, but it met the patronage of the Lieutenant Governor, and the Senior Colonial Chaplain, as well as of a few others, and Robinson set forth on his mission of mercy, and succeeded in his object. He was sometimes exposed to considerable danger, and had difficulty in obtaining interviews with the alarmed natives; but in order to inspire them with confidence, he put away every thing that they could mistake for weapons, and approached them with extended hands, even when the Blacks who accompanied him, shrunk back through fear.
The first of these people who became conciliated, were placed on Swan Island, which, being bare of wood and much exposed, was soon found unsuitable. They were therefore removed to Guncarriage Island, but this was also found too small, and it did not afford wild animals for their support, in case of need. They were at one time in danger of starvation from the failure of their provisions, which were irregularly supplied from the colony, but they were relieved by a small quantity of potatoes obtained from some sealers. Their next removal was to a place on Flinders Island, where their wants were better attended to, and where we found them in 1832. And here, their number received accessions from various parties successively conciliated, but it never became large, as few of them had children, and many of them, before being removed hither, had attained to the average period of the duration of their lives.
Flinders Island is of granite, and is about 130 miles in circumference; mountainous and rocky. The lofty parts are sterile, but the lower hills are covered with timber, chiefly Blue Gum. The lower grounds in various places are clothed with tall scrub, intermixed with She-oak and other trees. The open, grassy parts are not numerous, but some portions are capable of cultivation. The Wallaby, a small species of Kangaroo, abounds here, as do also various kinds of wildfowl.
A considerable number of the Aborigines were upon the beach when we landed, close by the Settlement, but they took no notice of us until requested to do so by W. J. Darling; they then shook hands with us very affably. It does not accord with their ideas of proper manners to appear to notice strangers, or to be surprised at any novelty. On learning that plenty of provisions had arrived by the cutter, they shouted for joy. After sunset they had a "corrobery" or dance around a fire, which they kept up till after midnight, in testimony of their pleasure.
In these dances the Aborigines represented certain events, or the manners of different animals: they had a horse dance, an emu dance, a thunder and lightning dance, and many others. In their horse dance, they formed a string, moving in a circle, in a half stooping posture, holding by each others loins, one man at the same time going along, as if reining in the others, and a woman as driver, striking them gently as they passed. Sometimes their motions were extremely rapid, but they carefully avoided treading one upon another. In the emu dance, they placed one hand behind them, and alternately put the other to the ground and raised it above their heads, as they passed slowly round the fire, imitating the motion of the head of the emu when feeding. In the thunder and lightning dance, they moved their feet rapidly, bringing them to the ground with great force, so as to produce a loud noise, and make such a dust as rendered it necessary for spectators to keep to windward of the group. Each dance ended with a loud shout, like a last effort of exhausted breath. The exertion used, made them very warm, and occasionally one or other plunged into the adjacent lagoon. One of their chiefs stood by to direct them, and now and then turned to the bystanders and said, "Narra, coopa corrobery"—very good dance—evidently courting applause.
10 mo. 10th. Several of the Aborigines came into the Commandants hut, when we were at breakfast, and seated themselves quietly on stools, or on the floor; they did not offer to touch anything, but expressed pleasure on receiving a little tea or bread. They have a great dislike to butter or anything fat. At their own meals, they have learned to use tin cans and dishes, of which they take some care. On their first settlement, they threw away these articles as soon as their meals were over, and it was a matter of no small trouble, and exercise of patience to gather them together again. Fuel was at first collected by their white attendants, to boil the water for their tea, but when their taste for this article became strong, they were told, that they must either bring fuel for themselves or go without tea; and by means of this kind they were led to exertion in supplying their own wants. They now collect fuel cheerfully, and assist in cooking, making bread, &c, and a soldier's wife teaches the women to wash.—In the course of the day a sealer from Guncarriage Island, came and took away a child that he had had by a native woman, now married to a man of her own nation, on the Settlement: he would not be persuaded to leave the little girl under the care of its mother, who was greatly distressed at parting with it.
Late in the evening we visited the Aborigines in the three huts or "breakwinds " that have been erected for them; these are built of spars, and thatched with rushes: they resemble roofs, and have an aperture along the ridge, for the escape of smoke. These, with a few cottages of similar materials, for the soldiers and prisoner boats-crew, and some weather-board huts, occupied by the Commandant, Surgeon, &c, and a tent used by a Surveyor, form the Settlement at this place, which is called The Lagoons. In each of the huts of the natives, there were tires along the centre, around which they were lying, in company with their dogs, which are good tempered like themselves. On our entering the people sat up, and began to sing their native songs—sometimes the men, at others the women—with much animation of countenance and gesture. This they kept up to a late hour: they are said often to continue their singing till midnight. To me, their songs were not unpleasing: persons skilled in music consider them harmonious.
11th. The men having been requested to cease from wearing "bal-de-winny," that is red ochre and grease, in their hair, they had signified a willingness to do so, if they might have some other covering for their heads; and to-day, according to a previous agreement, Scotch Caps were distributed among them, with which they were much delighted. In these they seemed to perceive a similarity to the headdress of the military, and they immediately arranged themselves in a rank! They are very docile, and having noticed that the soldiers always went to inform the Commandant when going off the Settlement, they have adopted a similar practice, of their own accord. They neither exhibit the intellectual nor the physical degradation, that have been attributed to them. Naked human beings, when in a lean condition, are forlorn looking creatures; but many of these people have become plump, and are partially clothed, and these circumstances have removed much of what was forbidding to a civilized eve.
The Blacks make symmetrical cuttings on their bodies and limbs, for ornament. They keep the cuts open by fining them with grease, until the flesh becomes elevated. Rows of these marks, resembling necklaces around the neck, and similar ones on the shoulders, representing epaulets, are frequent. Rings representing eyes are occasionally seen on the body, producing a rude similitude of a face. They also wear necklaces formed of Kangaroo-sinews rolled in red ochre, and others of small spiral shells. They likewise wear the bones of deceased relatives around their necks, perhaps more as tokens of affection than for ornament; and these are also used as charms. They are commonly leg or jaw bones, wrapped with strings rolled in grease and ochre, the ends only protruding; but there is a couple here who lost their only child in infancy, and its skull is generally to be seen suspended on the breast either of its father or its mother. A man who had a head-ache to-day, had three leg bones fixed on his head, in the form of a triangle, for a charm. The shells for necklaces are of a brilliant, pearly blue: they are perforated by means of the eye-teeth, and are strung on a kangaroo-sinnew; they are then exposed to the action of pyroligneous acid, in the smoke of brushwood covered up with grass; and in this smoke they are turned and rubbed till the external coat comes off, after which, they are polished with oil obtained from the penguin or the mutton-bird.
When any of these people fall sick, in their native state, so as to be unable to accompany the others in their daily removals, they are furnished with a supply of such food as the party happens to have, and a bundle of the leaves of Mesembryanthemum equilaterale— a plant known in the Colony by the name of Pig-faces—which the natives use as a purgative; and they are left to perish, unless they recover in time to follow the others. This is done as a matter of necessity, and does not appear to arise out of a nature more cruel than is common to mankind generally.
In the course of a walk, along the margin of the woody land, adjoining the beach, we saw a Black Swan and some Ducks, upon a lagoon: several Spur-winged Plovers were feeding among the rocks on the coast, and we observed a number of interesting shells on the shore.
12th. The present site of the Settlement, being unfit for agriculture, and in other respects unfavourable for advancement in civilization, a project has been formed for removing it about 15 miles northward, to a place named by the sealers Pea Jacket Point. For this place, we set out in the afternoon, the weather having become fine after a wet morning. The company consisted of W. J. Darling, G. W. Walker, and myself, attended by four native men and two of their wives, with eight dogs. We had not proceeded far before a duck flew off her nest, and her numerous eggs quickly became the spoil of some of our attendants, who rushed to the spot, and each, seized as many as he could, but without quarrelling as to the division of them. Our way was sometimes along the beach, at others on the adjacent land, and sometimes through the scrub, in crossing projecting points. The dogs killed a Kangaroo Rat and some mice, rather larger than English Field-mice. The Kangaroo Rat was cooked during a halt, made till the tide ebbed sufficiently to allow us to cross a creek. The animal was thrown into the ashes till the hair was well singed off, and it became a little distended by the heat; it was then scraped, and cleared of the entrails, after which it was returned to the fire till roasted enough. This is the common mode of cooking practiced by the Aborigines, who find that, by thus roasting the meat in the skin, the gravy is more abundant. In eating, they reject the skin, and it forms the portion of their numerous dogs. These are generally very lean, but they are highly valued by their owners, who obtained them from Europeans, there being originally no wild dogs in V. D. Land. The flesh of the Kangaroo Rat is much like that of a rabbit. Near this creek some fine bushes of Myoporum serratum were beautifully in blossom. This shrub is like a laurel, in size and general aspect, and is common along the coasts of V. D. Land, where it bears the name of Mangrove, which, in Australia, is given very promiscuously to shrubs and trees growing within the reach of salt-water. On the ebb of the tide, we crossed the creek, and proceeded till near dark. The dogs killed a Bandicoot. This animal like most other quadrupeds in this part of the world, carries its young in a pouch. The Bandicoot of V. D. Land, feeds chiefly on ants, but it gets the blame of much of the mischief done in gardens by the Kangaroo Rat. After passing over a remarkable, sloping point of granite, by following a projecting vein of quartz, that afforded hold for our feet, and collecting some limpets from the adjoining rocks, where four fine Pelicans passed over our heads, we turned into a well sheltered place, by a small streamlet, to remain for the night. A fire was quickly kindled, and the tea-kettle, which one of women brought suspended round her neck by a string, was set upon it. The Bandicoot and limpets were cooked, the latter being pitched by the natives, with great dexterity, into the glowing embers, with the points of the shells downward: their contents, when cooked enough, were taken out by means of a pointed stick. These, with provisions from the settlement, formed an ample meal, after which we laid down by the fire, in blankets, &c, brought by one of the men, and rested till morning.
13th. On the way to the place of our destination, the dogs killed a Wallaby, about the size of a lamb of three months old. Here we found two huts built of wattles and lined with grass, by an industrious soldier, who had also brought a plot of ground into cultivation. The site appeared much preferable for a settlement to the Lagoons, being a promontory with a considerable quantity of grassland, sheltered by thick scrub toward the sea, and having access to the mountains behind; nevertheless fresh water was not so plentiful as was desirable, but sufficient for necessary purposes. Having surveyed the place, we returned to the Lagoons, with the addition to our company of a man carrying two young Cape Barren Geese, one of which died on the way, from the effect of cold and rain.
The Aborigines retained their cheerfulness all the way, and laughed when looked at, as the storm beat against them, notwithstanding, at first, they wished to stop when it rained. On being informed that people stopping in wet clothes would take cold, they Mere satisfied, and travelled on till the rain abated, when they dried their garments by holding them separately to the fire—a much safer and more expeditious plan, than drying them upon their backs.
We reached the Settlement again about six in the evening, well pleased with our excursion, but heartily tired; and had, as before, visits from some of the Aborigines; to whom both W. J. Darling and A. Mc'Lachlan are liberal, often encouraging good feeling, by giving them out of their own supplies, a panakin of tea, and a piece of biscuit or damper, which is a kind of bread made of flour, water and salt, and baked in the ashes, with which they are much pleased. They were also highly gratified by some coloured cotton handkerchiefs, which we distributed amongst them.
14th. This morning, the white population assembled in a place formed of branches, and used as a chapel: several of the Blacks were also present. I was particularly desirous of this opportunity, to point out to the Europeans, their responsibility to God, for being blessed with the knowledge of the Gospel, especially as it regarded their influence and example among these unenlightened people. By a paraphrase upon Romans 2nd, beginning with the 17th verse, and some comments upon the other parts of the same chapter, with the 1st and 3rd, which were also read, I endeavoured to point out the danger to some of them, through neglecting these things, of the unenlightened Blacks rising up with them in the judgment and condemning them; seeing that these people, like the Gentiles of old, having not the law, are a law unto themselves, when they do by nature the things contained in the law, showing the work of the law written in their hearts; their consciences also bearing witness, and their thoughts meanwhile accusing, or else excusing, one another.
Though able to understand little more than the general object for which we were assembled, and having scarcely any ideas of a Deity, or a future state, the Aborigines behaved with great reverence and attention.—It was affecting and humiliating to be cut off from communication with them on these subjects, by the want of a knowledge of their language; but there was a comfort in knowing, that "where there is no law, there is no transgression;" and that "sin is not imputed where there is no law;" and that they will be judged only according to the measure of light, they have received.
I am persuaded that this doctrine, which is held up in the Holy Scriptures, in no way invalidates that of salvation through Jesus Christ, nor diminishes the force of his injunction to his disciples, "Go ye into all the world and preach the Gospel to every creature." The sins of those who attain to peace with God, through attention to the law written in their hearts by the Holy Spirit, are blotted out through the blood of Christ, whether they know it or not; for they are baptized by the Spirit unto him, and accepted in him, the Beloved. Nevertheless, it is an unspeakable blessing and comfort to have the understanding enlightened upon this all-important subject, and to know Him in whom we have believed, and to have this knowledge as a powerful motive to induce us to comply with those indispensable proofs of discipleship, self-denial and the bearing of the cross daily. I cannot but fear that many who are great sticklers for this knowledge, and are ready to limit salvation to the possession of it, are so far from living in accordance with it, as to fall under the condemnation spoken of by the Apostle, when he says: "Shall not uncircumcision which is by nature, if it fulfil the law, judge thee, who by the letter and circumcision dost transgress the law?"
In the evening, a number of the Aborigines joined us, when we were seated around some charcoal embers, contained in an old iron pot, by which the Commandant's hut is warmed, and which might endanger the lives of the inhabitants, were it not for the free admission of air through the crevices of the weatherboard walls. An elderly woman, named Boatswain, by the sealers, to whom she had long been in bondage, informed us, by means of signs, and a few words in broken English, of the manner in which these men flogged the women who did not pluck Mutton-birds, or do other work to their satisfaction. She spread her hands to the wall, to shew the manner in which they were tied up, said a rope was used to flog them with, and cried out with a failing voice till she sank upon the ground, as if exhausted. The statements of this woman were confirmed by others, several of whom have escaped to the settlement. A M'Lachlan fell in with Boatswain and a New Holland woman, when they had been left on a distant part of the island to hunt, and they gladly availed themselves of the opportunity to obtain their liberty. The sealers got them back by false pretences, but Boatswain was afterwards found early in the morning, by the Commandant, on Guncarriage Island, where she stated, that herself and another woman were hid by the sealers, at a former time when one of these men assured him they were not there. The cutter's boat happened to go to Green Island about a year since, when two women, called Isaac and Judy, took the opportunity of escaping by it, while the sealers were asleep.—Two other women waded and swam from Green Island to the Settlement—a distance of three miles. Most of these women were originally kidnapped. Boatswain says, she got into a boat when a girl, and the sealers rowed away with her. These men teach the women to manage their boats, and often give them names ordinarily belonging the male sex—a circumstance small in itself, but connected with reckless depravity.
15th. Old Boatswain having understood that we wished to taste the inner portion of the upper part of the stem of the tree-fern, which is used by the natives as an article of diet, went several miles for some. It is in substance like a Swedish-turnip, but is too astringent in taste to be agreeable, and it is not much altered by cooking. They also use the root of Pteris esculenta—a fern, much like the common Brake of England, which they call Tara—a name given to other esculent roots, and to rice in the southern hemisphere. In hunting to-day, the people took several Wallabies, Porcupines, and Kangaroo-rats. The Porcupine of this land, Echnida Hystrix, is a squat species of ant-eater, with short quills among its hair: it conceals itself in the day-time among dead timber in the hilly forests.—An eruptive disease prevailed among the Aborigines at this period: it was attended with fever for about four days, and was supposed to have arisen from feeding too freely on young Mutton-birds. One of the men suffering under it, and covered with sores as large as a shilling, lay by a fire in one of the breakwinds, and was literally "wallowing in ashes," having covered himself with them from head to foot. This, we were informed, was one of their common remedies.
There being no hospital here, the surgeon took some of the sick people into his hut: one of them who recovered after being very ill, has shewn many demonstrations of gratitude. This virtue is often exhibited among these people. A romantic instance of it occurred in one of them, named Roomtya or Bet; she was addressed by a young man, named Trigoomipoonenah or Jackey, who received a refusal; but on a certain occasion, the young woman was taken so ill when crossing a river, as to be in danger; Jackey was present, and availed himself of the opportunity of proving his attachment, he carried her out of the water, and thus saved her life. After this, she accepted his addresses and became his wife, and in her turn, she nursed him carefully when he was sick.—This woman excels in the chase; and once when the Commandant was detained for some days, in Kents Bay, by a storm, she and her husband, left a Wallaby at his house daily lest he should come home and not find a supply of food.
The chief instrument used in the chase by these people, is a Waddy, a short stick about an inch in thickness, brought suddenly to a conical point at each end, and at one end a little roughened, to keep it from slipping out of the hand. This, they throw with a rotatory motion, and with great precision. They also use spears made of simple sticks, having the thicker end sharpened, and hardened in the fire.
16th. After receiving a few waddies and some shell necklaces from the natives, and making them presents in return, we took leave of them, and went back to the cutter, at Green Island, where we went on shore. This island, like most, if not all others in this part of the straits, is of granite, and like the majority of them, it is low. Its circumference may be about three miles, and most of its surface is covered with thick grass, which is knee-deep, and with nettles, sow-thistles, and tree-mallows, breast high, or with spreading barilla-bushes of three feet. There are also upon it Yellow Everlastings, which attain to a large size. This luxuriance of vegetation is attributable to the accumulation of the dung of the Mutton-birds, which is mixed with the light soil that is perforated in every direction by their burrows.
Where the barilla affords sufficient shelter, these birds do not seem to consider it necessary to form holes, but they deposit their single eggs under the bushes, in hollows on the bare ground. Perhaps no bird, except the American Migratory Pigeon, is to be met with in flocks equal in magnitude to those of the Mutton-bird; and the latter, like the former, lays only a single egg. The Mutton-birds, or Sooty Petrels, are about the size of the Wood Pigeon of England; they are of a dark colour, and are called "Yola" by the natives. These birds are often to be seen ranging over the surface of the Southern Ocean, far from land: they visit several of the islands in Bass's Straits, in the latter part of the 9th month, when they scratch out their holes: they leave again in the beginning of the 11th month, and return to lay near the end of the same. Each burrow is occupied by a single pair: their egg is as large as that of a duck, and is incubated in about a month. They leave the islands with their young early in 5th month. During the period of their resort to land, they become the prey of men and of hawks, of crows and other ravenous birds, and of black-snakes.
But notwithstanding the wholesale carnage committed among the Mutton-birds, their number is not perceptibly lessened. The greatest quantities are destroyed for the sake of their feathers; two tons and a half of which are said to have been sent from this part of the straits in a season: these would be the produce of 112,000 birds, twenty yielding one pound of feathers. From the great length of their wings, these birds cannot rise from a level surface. The sealers take advantage of this, and enclose certain portions of the islands at night, with converging lines of bushes terminating at a pit, 6 feet long, 4 feet broad, and 3 feet deep, lined with boards or bark, and having a fence 2 feet, high at the further side, to prevent the birds taking flight, when they come to the edge of the pit. At sunrise, when the birds come out of their holes, they are driven toward the pit, into which they fall till it is full: a sail or thatched hurdle is then thrown over them, and the fences are removed, to allow the remainder of the birds to pass off to the sea. The birds in the pit are suffocated in a few minutes, and the native women are set to strip off their feathers, which are put into bags for exportation. The feathers have an unpleasant smell, but they bring about 6d. per pound, in Launceston.
When fresh, these birds are pretty good eating, at least as a substitute for salt meat. Great numbers of young ones are salted and dried, in which state they taste much like red-herrings. The eggs are also collected in great quantities; the Aborigines at the settlement have been supplied at the rate of six eggs a day, each, for upwards of two months together: as the young birds all leave the islands at the same time, it is not probable that the robbed birds lay a second time. The sealers make the young birds disgorge oil, by pressing their craws: this they use for their lamps, and for various other purposes.
We remained on the island till dusk, when the air seemed alive, with myriads of these birds returning to roost, so that in looking up, we were reminded of a shower of large flakes of snow. When once on the ground, they tried in vain to fly again: when alarmed they shuffled along, by the combined effort of their feet and wings, and tried to bite. They were easily taken by the point of the wing, being unable with their beaks to reach the hand that held them by that part. It was difficult to avoid treading upon them, and they were clucking in all directions among the Barilla, &c. W. J. Darling once laid down on his back when they were returning to roost, and killed twelve with a waddy, without moving from the spot. Flinders computed one of the flocks that he saw in these seas, to be forty miles long, and to contain as many birds as would require an area of sixteen square miles for their nests, at a yard asunder. From what is now known of their breeding places, they probably occupy a much larger extent of ground than sixteen square miles, in the various places of their resort.
18th. Yesterday was stormy, and the wind adverse: W. J. Darling brought four Aborigines on board, to accompany him to the Hunter Islands. The vessel remaining at anchor to-day, we went again upon Green Island, which has several small sandy bays.—When the Mutton-birds take flight, they either rise from elevated places, or from the edge of the cliff, or they run over the beach and upon the water, flapping their wings, till at length, after passing two or three considerable waves, they succeed in gaining sufficient elevation to enable them to mount into the air.
The four Aborigines took tea with us in the cabin: they were very cheerful, and used cups and saucers with dexterity.—When Jumbo first came on board, she was shown a musical box, constructed like a musical snuff-box. Having been brought up among Europeans, she did not feign inattention to novelties, as is common with her country people, but showed pleasure and astonishment, in a remarkable degree. Listening with intensity, her ears moved like those of a dog or horse, to catch the sound (a circumstance that J. Munro, with whom she had lived from childhood, said he had not before noticed) and at intervals she laughed immoderately.—When on the island one of the women threw some sticks at J. Thornloe, on his mentioning her son, who is at school at Newtown. The mention of an absent relative is considered offensive by them, and especially if deceased.
19th. We sailed from Green Island, and put J. Munro on shore on Preservation Island. The tide-ripple, which is occasioned by the meeting of different currents, is very strong in many parts of the straits; it threatened to swallow up the boat in returning from Preservation. Many voices called to the man who was in it, not to be afraid, saying there was no danger, while the faces of the same parties betrayed their own fears: he, however, succeeded in reaching the vessel, amidst tremendous billows, which were so high that a green light shone through them in a remarkable manner.—Some Pelicans and a flock of Cape Barren Geese were on a rock called Rum Island, near which we passed.
20th. The night was boisterous, and many scenes occurred in it, calculated to excite laughter, even in the midst of much that was uncomfortable, and that would have been very trying, but for hope of a speedy change. At day light, we stood for the land, and soon descried it, near the heads of the Tamar or Port Dalrymple,—an estuary extending to Launceston,—and near to the mouth of which, George Town is situated. On reaching this place we "brought up," to take in some stores, and were kindly received by the Port Officer, Matthew Curling Friend, late of the Norval, in which vessel he brought us some boxes of clothing and tracts to Launceston, free of charge, on his own part, as a token of his approval of the cause in which we are engaged.