Narrative of a Visit to the Australian Colonies/Chapter 8
CHAPTER VIII.
George Town is a small assemblage of scattered houses, a few of which are of stone, and the rest of weather-board. This place was originally intended to be the chief port in the north of V. D. Land; but Launceston took the precedence, having greater advantages, notwithstanding its distance is forty miles from the sea; and the police, and other establishments were removed thither. In the afternoon, the wind and tide serving, we proceeded up the Tamar, which is devious in its course, and opens out into many pretty bays. The shores present traces of basalt. The adjacent country is hilly, and wooded down to the water, except in places where the land has been cleared; on which corn and grass are verdant. Some of the habitations of the settlers look comfortable. We completed the last few miles of our voyage in the dark, in a boat, and met a hearty welcome at Launceston, from Isaac and Katharine Sherwin, a thoughtful young couple from whom we had received a previous invitation.
21st. We visited a school that does not belong to any particular denomination of Christians, but is supported by several, and is in a thriving condition: we also had a meeting in a small court-house, at which two hundred persons might be present. I went to this meeting feeling poor and empty, but deriving some comfort from the expressions of the apostle Paul: "I was with you in weakness and in fear, and in much trembling." In this state. I found it my duty to attend to the injunction: "Thou, when thou fastest, anoint thine head, and wash thy face," and to put my trust in the Lord.—I had not sat long, before I apprehended it to be right for me to stand up, and explain briefly our views of worship, and to point out the necessity of sincerity, and of the sacrifice of our own wills, in order to being prepared to obtain the blessings of the Gospel. I was led also to speak on other points, connected with the glorious plan of redemption through faith in Jesus Christ, and on the necessity of good works, as the fruit of this faith; and on the benefit of frequent and fervent prayer, as well as on communing with our own hearts before the Lord, in order to feel our spiritual necessities, and to know what to pray for, &c. Thus, in condescending mercy, help was afforded to the weak, and the grain of faith that was exercised, was strengthened. There seemed to be an open ear in the congregation.
22nd. The population of Launceston is about 2,000. The streets are regularly laid out. Most of the houses are weather-boarded, but there are a few substantial ones, of brick. The Episcopal place of worship—the only one here—is a neat edifice of stone. The town is situated at the confluence of the North and South Esk, which here discharge themselves into the head of the Tamar. The South Esk rushes through a deep, narrow, picturesque, basaltic gorge, called The Cataract, distant about half a mile from the town, which is pleasantly situated, and has anchorage for ships of considerable burden near its quay.
W. J. Darling had the four natives that he brought with him from Flinders Island, dressed in decent clothes, and he took them into the town, where their cheerful, intelligent appearance excited a favourable impression in the minds of many who had known little of the Aborigines but as exasperated enemies, charged with treachery and implacable cruelty.—We called on Major Fairtlough, the Commandant, who received us politely. At his house we learned that the cutter was going to sail immediately; we therefore proceeded to the jetty, where we were requested to take seats in the Port Officer's boat. A dispute arose between the cockswain and the harbour-master, both of whom, we soon discovered, were intoxicated, and this proved also to be the case with several of the crew. The harbour-master remonstrated against the boat proceeding, but the cockswain persisted in putting off: he soon brought us alongside of a ship lying at anchor, where he took in two prisoners to assist in pulling the boat: they were not very expert hands; and when the cockswain recovered from the effects of his intemperance, he desired to know who they were, and from whence they came, and he turned them both on shore! Committing the steering of the boat to G. W. Walker, and himself taking an oar with the men, they brought us in safety to the cutter, which had proceeded some miles down the Tamar.—When the tide was spent, we dropped anchor and went on shore. The natives pursued some kangaroos, casting off all their clothes in the chase.—We supped at a public-house by the water-side, where we had some conversation with a settler, respecting the atrocities committed by some reckless individuals upon the Aborigines; these were of such character, as to remove any wonder at the determination of these injured people, to try to drive from their land a race of men, among whom were persons guilty of such deeds.—In our ramble this evening, as well as in one at the Cataract, this morning, we noticed several striking shrubs in blossom; among them were a Prostanthera, with long spike-like branches of beautiful, purple flowers. Veronica formosa—a myrtle-like bush with lovely, blue blossoms, and Clematis blanda, with a profusion of fragrant, white flowers, an inch across.—When out this evening, Jumbo turned up her heel, and with a laugh, asked what that was, pointing to a leech as large as a black snail, that was biting her: she plucked it off and threw it away. One of the men pointed to the ground, and said in broken English, "Two more crackne here," i. e. rest, remain, or are here. One of the Blacks got the Commandant's hat and decorated it with the twining branches of Comesperma volubilis, covered with bright blue flowers resembling those of Milkwort.
23rd. The tide not serving till noon, I took a walk alone, and saw some Forester Kangaroos; these are a large species, which is gregarious. The Brush Kangaroo, the commonest kind in this island, is rather solitary in its habits.—In the evening we reached George Town, where we again received much kindness from M. C. Friend and his wife, and from a magistrate named John Clark, whose guest I became till the 29th.
In this interval we put to sea, but were driven back. This gave me an opportunity of speaking to the inhabitants of George Town, on their religious state. I also visited some prisoners, employed in quarrying and burning lime, up a branch of the Tamar, called Middle Arm. The limestone is accompanied by silicious sandstone, which, as well as the limestone, contains marine fossils, and is in connexion with micacious veins of a silvery appearance.
On the 29th, we got to sea, with a light breeze. At the mouth of the Tamar there was a tremendous tide-ripple, that occasioned the cutter to pitch violently, and seemed ready to swamp the pilot's boat; the men who were in it cried out through fear, notwithstanding the boat was made fast to the vessel by a rope.—The country on the north coast, between Port Dalrymple and Port Sorell is mountainous, that between Port Sorell and Port Frederick is low toward the shore, and has a gentle rise further inland, where there is some fine pasture.—On passing one part of the coast, two of the Aborigines shewed some uneasiness and fear. This, we afterwards found, resulted from circumstances connected with the destruction of two settlers, on account of which one of these men had been in prison, but had been discharged. The other had actually been of the party, who put the settlers to death; but it appeared, that their misconduct had been such as, in a civilized country, would have rendered the case one of what is termed in law, "Justifiable homicide:" but notwithstanding this, and without further evidence than that the parties had been killed by Blacks, a verdict of wilful murder was given at the inquest, and the whole Colony was thrown into excitement through fear of the barbarous Aborigines, so that few people thought of going from home without guns or pistols. This occurred about the time of our arrival in the Colony, when many persons expressed apprehension at our travelling without fire-arms.
30th. Some person having suggested that Proper—a native of the country near Circular Head—would probably run away if we put in there, W. J. Darling, who at the time was lying on a bed on the cabin floor, inquired what was his intention. Proper, with characteristic cheerfulness, answered this question by slipping into bed to Darling, and thus assuring him that he would not forsake him.—From this man, I learned, that the Aborigines of V. D. Land had no artificial method of obtaining fire, before their acquaintance with Europeans: they say, they obtained it first from the sky—probably meaning by lightning. They preserved fire by carrying ignited sticks, or bark, with them, and if these went out, they looked for the smoke of the fire of some other party, or of one of the fires that they had left, as these often continued to burn for several days.—In the afternoon we brought up under Circular-head, where a whale-boat belonging a sealer, residing on Stack Island, came along side the cutter. Seated at the stern, was a native young woman, of interesting appearance, neatly dressed, and having her hair cut off, according to the common custom among her sex in this Land. The mild expression of her features was beclouded by sadness. When she spoke, which was rarely, it was in a low tone. The sealers appeared to treat her kindly, but there was something in their manners that excited suspicion. On being asked, if she would like some soup, she replied in the affirmative, and was requested to come on board for it. Having finished the soup, she sat in silence: Jumbo was asked, if she knew the woman. She replied, Yes, she is my country woman. Jumbo was then inquired of, why she did not talk to her. She replied, She wont speak to me. W. J. Darling ordered the two women into the cabin, and desired Jumbo to ask Jackey—for this was the name that the sealers had given this woman—if she would go to Flinders Island, and live with her own people there. No, was her answer. He then requested, she might be informed, that if she wished to go, he had power to take her, and that the sealers should not hurt her. Her countenance at once lost its gloom, and with a burst of joy, she said she would go. She now laughed heartily, and entered freely into conversation with Jumbo, and said the sealers had told her not to speak, and that she was afraid of them.—Another native woman, named Maria, was on the jetty much of the day, growling (as they term expressing displeasure) toward the cutter; but this also proved to be assumed by the direction of the sealers; and she likewise, with her baby, was rescued from them.
On landing at Circular Head, we met with G. A. Robinson, returning from a visit to the west coast, in which he had prevailed on more of the natives to join those on Flinders Island. We walked with him to the house of Edward Curr, the Superintendent of the V. D. Land Company's concerns; where we were received with much hospitality. At this place, the large garden, with a fine crop of vegetables, the well fenced fields, with luxuriant herbage of rye-grass and white-clover, and the beautiful cattle and horses, and almost every other object but the Gum-trees, resemble England.
31st. While W. J. Darling and myself were on shore this morning, the cutter broke from her mooring. By getting promptly under sail, those on board were able to beat off from the shore, and by the admonition of one of the rescued women, they escaped running on a reef. We joined them in the West Bay, where they brought up under the lee of the land, and where the luggage of G. W. Walker and myself, was speedily transferred into the Company's Cutter, the Fanny, which immediately sailed for Woolnorth, in company with the Charlotte. We passed northward of Robbin Island, and of the small islands between it and Three Hummock, or the East Hunter Island, and anchored on the west of Stack Island, upon which we heard some dogs, but saw no person. We afterwards learned, however, that a native woman was there, who had concealed herself by order of the sealers, notwithstanding she would have been glad to have escaped from them: they subsequently carried her off to Kangaroo Island.
11th mo. 1st. Leaving the Charlotte at anchor, to take the natives, collected by G. A. Robinson, from Barren Island, where he had left them, we proceeded by an intricate channel, to Woolnorth, where we became the guests of Samuel Reeves, the Superintendent of this part of the establishment of the V. D. Land Company. Here we were welcomed also by their surgeon, James Richardson, who studied his profession under a friend of mine in Leeds; and who frequently accompanied us in our walks in this neighbourhood.
There are only a few weather-boarded buildings at Woolnorth, which is on the north coast, near Moandas Point, and not far from Cape Grim. Much of the country in this neighbourhood is basaltic, and some of the soil is a fine red loam. To the west, the land is low and swampy, but a considerable, grassy marsh is under drainage.—While walking over this marsh, a large leech crawled up my clothes, and bled me so quietly, that I was unconscious of its intrusion until it droped off. These animals live among the roots of long grass, &c. in moist ground: their mouths are oval, and they give much less pain in biting than the leeches of Europe.—There are some large rocks of white quartz in this direction; and on the coast, the clay-slate formation emerges in a form resembling Turkey-stone, and is useful for hones. The low ground near the coast is open, grassy forest, of small Gum-trees, Honey-suckles, &c. and on the sand-banks, there are large round bushes of a remarkable, oval-leaved Corroea.—Short bushes cover some parts of the interior land, and the hills of the west coast are grassy. On these some Merino sheep are fed, but the climate is rather too moist for them.
At Cape Grim, some of the upper portions of the cliffs, are soft sandstone, but their most striking portions are basalt, some of which is columnar. In these cliffs there are caves, formed of slender columns of basalt, of a bluish colour, converging to a sort of keel above and below.—At the foot of the cliff, there is a rugged flat, over which the sea breaks furiously, when the wind lays strong on the shore, which is often the case. The whole scenery is in harmony with the name of the place.
The Islands at this extremity of Bass's Straits are numerous, but I only visited two, named Trefoil Island, and Pelican Island, both of which are small. The V. D. Land Company have some fine Merino sheep upon the former, on which there are breeding places of the Mutton-bird. Pelicans are said to breed on the latter, as well as some smaller birds. The Stormy Petrel and the Blue Petrel, colonize the Petrel Islands, and the Wandering Albatross rears its young on Albatross Island, where it sits on its eggs till knocked down by the sealers for the sake of its feathers, which are sold for about 9d. a pound. A single bird will yield about a pound of feathers. Nearly 1,000 Albatrosses are said to have been killed on this island, last year. Sometimes the birds are stunned, plucked, and cruelly left to linger; but often, the skin of the neck is taken, as well as the feathers; the down on this part being nearly equal to that of the swan. The colonization of many of the Islands in Bass's Straits, by different kinds of sea-fowl, is a curious subject, probably dependent upon circumstances of peculiar character. One of these, is the absence of the carnivorous quadrupeds of the larger islands, which, though not destructive to man, are so to birds. Another is the structure of the coast. The Albatross and Mutton-bird requiring a cliff, or sudden rise, to fly from, cannot take up with a low, sloping shore. The Penguin, which cannot fly, requires an easy ascent from the beach. Perhaps some of the other species take up with islands that are unoccupied by the myriads of those already named, merely because these Islands are left vacant.
Some of the kelp or sea-weed, washed up on this shore, is of gigantic magnitude; a palmate species has a stem thicker than a man's arm, and proportionately long. The flat portion between the stem and the ribbon-like appendages, is so large as to be converted by the Blacks, into vessels for carrying water. For this purpose, they either open an oblong piece, so as to form a flat bag, or run a string through holes in the margin of a circular piece, so as to form a round one. There is also much kelp of smaller dimensions, near the shore: among this, there are shells, in considerable variety; and adhering to the rocks, Haliotis tuberculata and levigata, called in this country Mutton-fish, are met with abundantly. These are often taken in deep water by the native women, who dive for them, and force them from the rocks by means of a wooden chisel. They put them into an oval bag, and bring them up suspended round their necks.
While we were at Woolnorth, a party of the domesticated Blacks, who had been with G. A. Robinson, on the west coast, arrived from Barren Island, under charge of Anthony Cottrell, G. A. Robinson's assistant. A woman of this party was the sole relick of a tribe that inhabited the western side of the Huon River, on the south coast. I enquired of her what became of the people of her country. She answered, They all died. I then asked what killed them. An aged man of the Bruny Island tribe, who is one of their doctors, and was sitting by, replied, The Devil. I desired to know how he managed. The woman began to cough violently, to show me how they were affected, and she said, that when the rest were all dead, she made a "catamoran," a sort of raft, and crossed D'Entrecasteaux Channel to Bruny Island, and joined a tribe there.
The old Doctor was smeared and streaked with red ochre and grease, with which his beard was also dressed: he is affected with fits of spasmodic contraction of the muscles of one breast, which he attributes, as they do all other diseases, to the devil; and he is cunning enough to avail himself of the singular effect produced upon him by this malady, to impose upon his country people, under the idea of satanic inspiration. When it comes on, he seizes a stick out of the fire, and brandishes it about him, in the manner that is common under circumstances of rage among this people. The Doctor had his instruments lying by him, consisting of pieces of broken glass, picked up on the shore; with these he cuts deep gashes in any part affected with pain.
One day, when sitting by the fire of the natives, watching a woman making the oval bags of open work, used in fishing, &c. of the leaves of a sedgy plant, which she split with great dexterity, and after having divided them into strips of proper width, softened by drawing through the fire, I observed another woman looking carefully about among the grass, and enquired what she was seeking. Her companions replied, to my surprise, A needle. To this I answered, that I had often heard hopeless search compared to "seeking a needle in a bottle of hay," and A. Cottrell, who sat by, said, You will see she will find it: you have no idea how keen sighted and persevering they are; and after some time she picked up her needle, which was one of English manufacture, and not of large size!
These people not only smear their bodies with red ochre and grease, but sometimes rouge the prominent parts tastefully with the former article, and they draw lines, that by no means improve their appearance, with a black, glittering, mineral, probably an ore of antimony, above and below their eyes.—One day we noticed a woman arranging several stones that were flat, oval, and about two inches wide, and marked in various directions with black and red lines. These we learned represented absent friends, and. one larger than the rest, a corpulent woman on Flinders Island, known by the name of Mother Brown.—The arithmetic of the Aborigines is very limited, amounting only to one, two, plenty. As they cannot state in numbers the amount of persons present on any occasion, they give their names.—The west coast being very humid, those inhabiting it make huts for winter habitations, by clearing a circular area in a thicket of slender, young, Tea-tree, and drawing the tops of the surrounding bushes together, and thatching these with branches and grass. Sometimes for temporary shelter, they use large slabs of bark, from some of the Gum-trees.
Each tribe of the Aborigines is divided into several families, and each family, consisting of a few individuals, occupies its own fire. Though they rarely remain two days in a place, they seldom travel far at a time. Each tribe keeps much to its own district—a circumstance that may in some measure account for the variety of dialect. The tribe called by the settlers, the Ben Lomond tribe, occupied the north-east portion of V. D. Land; that called, the Oyster Bay tribe, the south-east; the Stony Creek tribe, the middle portion of the country; and the Western tribe, the west coast. Besides these, there were also a few smaller sections. Those on the west coast differed from those on the east, in some of their customs. The former did not mark their bodies with the same regularity as the latter: the scars upon those of the west coast appeared to have proceeded from irregular surgical cuts, and were principally upon the chest, which is very liable to be affected by inflammation, that often speedily issues in death. A large proportion of these people died from this cause, in the course of the late inclement season.
Lately, several of these people were sick upon the West Hunter or Barren Island, and one of the women died. The men formed a pile of logs, and at sunset, placed the body of the woman upon it, supported by small wood, which concealed her, and formed a pyramid. They then placed their sick people around the pile, at a short distance. On A. Cottrel, our informant, enquiring the reason of this, they told him that the dead woman would come in the night and take the devil out of them. At daybreak the pile was set on fire, and fresh wood added as any part of the body became exposed, till the whole was consumed. The ashes of the dead were collected in a piece of Kangaroo-skin, and every morning, before sunrise, till they were consumed, a portion of them was smeared over the faces of the survivors, and a death song sung, with great emotion, tears clearing away lines among the ashes. The store of ashes, in the mean time, was suspended about one of their necks. The child of the deceased was carefully nursed.
A few days after the decease of this woman, a man, who was ill at the time, stated, that he should die when the sun went down, and requested the other men would bring wood and form a pile. "While the work was going forward, he rested against some logs that were to form part of it, to see them execute the work: he became worse as the day progressed, and died before night.
The practice of burning the dead, is said to have extended to the natives of Bruny Island; but those of the east coast put the deceased into hollow trees, and fenced them in with bushes.—They do not consider a person completely dead till the sun goes down!
The chiefs among these tribes are merely heads of families of extraordinary prowess. One of these now here, belonging an eastern tribe, has not the flattened nose common to his countrymen, but is much more like a European in features.
In the course of our tarriance at Woolnorth, we twice had meetings with such of the people as could be assembled. These, with a few Aborigines, amounted to forty-five, on one occasion, and to fifty-eight on another. The company were reverent in their deportment, while we read to them from the Scriptures, and spoke to them respecting the way of salvation. This was strikingly the case with a few of the natives who could understand a little English. The solemn feeling that pervaded the mind, especially during intervals of silence, was very comforting. The state of the people at this settlement was such as greatly needed religious instruction.
We returned to Circular Head on the 13th of 11th mo. by the Fanny, which had on board forty-eight young Merino Rams, designed for sale at Launceston, and which had been fed upon Trefoil Island.