Narrative of the Voyage of H.M.S. Rattlesnake, Commanded By the Late Captain Owe - Volume 1 by John MacGillivray (recommended reading txt) 📖

slender, black spines, has the power of giving an exceedingly painful puncture, if carelessly handled-for a few minutes the sensation is similar to that caused by the sting of a wasp; of the others, a fine Ophiura is remarkable for its great size and grass-green colour, and an Ophiocoma for the prodigious length of its arms.

HOPE ISLANDS.

July 19th.

Six days ago we anchored under the lee of the reef on which the Hope Islands are situated, but in a position which afforded little shelter. While off Cape Tribulation, a remarkable hill in the background so strongly reminded us of the Peter Botte at Mauritius, that it was so named upon our chart-it is 3,311 feet in height, the Cape itself being 1,454 feet. For about six days lately the weather has been very boisterous, blowing hard from East-South-East with a considerable sea.

The weather having at length moderated, I yesterday and today visited the islands composing the group. A deep and clear channel of a mile in width separates these islands, the larger of which is surrounded completely, and the smaller partially, by an extensive reef. The former, or western one, is merely a long strip of heaped-up coral and shells, with a little sand and some driftwood running parallel to the outer edge of the reef, in the direction of the prevailing wind. It is overrun with low bushes, and a few other plants, such as the large purple-flowered Bossioea, and Ipomoea maritima. A long bank of dead coral only a few feet above high-water mark, with an intervening ditch-like hollow, separates it from the sea to the eastward; while on the other side, towards the reef, it is margined with tall mangroves. Small and barren though this spot be, it is yet inhabited by lizards and a species of rat. Besides the usual waders on the reef, I found great numbers of doves and honeysuckers, and, among the mangroves, fell in with and procured specimens of a very rare kingfisher, Halcyon sordida. Among the mangroves a rare shell, a species of Quoyia, occurred.

The eastern and northern islet is nearly circular, half a mile in circumference-formed of coral and shell-sand, covered with bushes and small trees. The most conspicuous plant is the prickly Guilandina bonduc, the long briar-like trailing and climbing shoots of which impede one while traversing the thickets. A pair of white-headed sea-eagles had established their aerie in a tree not more than twenty feet from the ground, and I could not resist the temptation of robbing them of their eggs.

THREE ISLES.

July 28th.

Anchored under the Three Isles, between Capes Bedford and Flattery. The principal one of the group, situated to leeward of an extensive reef, is margined towards the reef by beds of coral-conglomerate, and elsewhere by a sandy beach-it is half a mile in length, composed of coral sand, the highest part not more than twelve feet above high-water mark, with several groves of low trees, and is overrun with tall sedge-like grass; the second is composed of a strip of heaped-up fragments of coral, to windward covered with bushes, and to leeward separated from the reef by a belt of mangroves; the third is a mere clump of mangroves not deserving of further notice. The botany of an island of this class, of which there are many on the North-east coast of Australia, may serve as a specimen, as the plants are few. Mimusops kaukii constituted the principal part of the arboreal vegetation, Clerodendrum inerme and Premna obtusifolia form low straggling thickets-scattered bushes of Suriana maritima and Pemphis acida fringe the sandy margin of the island, and behind these the beautiful Josephinia grandiflora, a large white-flowered Calyptranthus, Vitex ovata and a Tribulus creep along the sand, or spread out their procumbent branches.

Traces of natives, but not very recent, were met with in a dried-up well dug to a great depth, and several low, dome-shaped huts, and numerous fireplaces, around which remains of shellfish and turtles were profusely scattered. Many of the heads of these last animals were here and elsewhere seen stuck upon branches of trees, sometimes a dozen together.

July 31st.

I landed this morning with Mr. Obree, on one of the Two Isles off Cape Flattery, and we were picked up by the ship in passing. It is well-wooded, chiefly with the Mimusops kaukii, trees of which are here often sixty feet high and 3 in diameter. Under the bark I found two new land-shells (to be described in the Appendix) one of them a flattish Helix, in prodigious numbers-and this more than ever satisfied me that even the smallest islands and detached reefs of the north-east coast may have species peculiar to themselves, nor did I ever return from any one of the 37 upon which I landed without some acquisitions to the collection.

STAY AT LIZARD ISLAND.

We remained a fortnight at Lizard Island, at the usual anchorage, off a sandy beach on its north-western side. Lizard Island is conspicuous from a distance, on account of its peak*-the central part of a mountainous ridge running across the island, and dividing it into two portions, of which the eastern is hilly and the western low, and intersected by small ridges of slight elevation. The island is about 2 1/2 miles in greatest diameter; the rock is a coarse grey granite, easily decomposable. A large grassy plain enters westward from the central ridge-a portion of this, half a mile from the beach, densely covered with coarse grass and reeds and scattered over with Pandanus trees, is usually a marsh. At present it is dry, with a few pools of fresh water, connected below with a mangrove swamp opening upon the beach by a narrow creek. Formerly boats could ascend this a little way, but now the entrance dries across at low-water-nor could the fresh water conveniently be conducted to the beach by the hose and engine, as I had seen done in the Fly in the month of May. Fortunately, however, we found a small stream in a valley on the northern corner of the island, which supplied our wants.

(*Footnote. Captain Stanley's azimuth and altitude observations, taken at two stations at the base, the distance between having been measured by the micrometer, give its height as 1,161 feet; and Lieutenant Dayman's barometrical measurement makes it 1,151 feet, above the sea level.)

Although the dry barren nature of the soil-varying from coarse quartzose sand (from the disintegrated granite) to reddish clay-is not favourable to the growth of luxuriant vegetation, still several interesting plants were added to the herbarium. Of these the finest is a new Cochlospermum, a low-spreading tree, nearly leafless at this time, but covered with clusters of very large and showy golden blossoms. A heath-like shrub (Chamaelaucium) common here, was remarkable for existing on the open plains as a weak prostrate plant, while in the scrub it formed a handsome bush 10 feet high, with a stem 6 inches in diameter.

Of quail, which in 1844 were very abundant, I saw not more than one or two-probably the burning of the grass during the breeding season had effected this partial clearance. Snakes appear to be numerous-two out of three which I examined were poisonous-the other was the diamond snake of New South Wales. A very fine land shell, Helix bipartita, was found in colonies at the roots of the trees and bushes. A large and handsome cowrie, Cypraea mauritiana, generally distributed among the islands of the Pacific, was here found for the first time in Australia.

EAGLE ISLAND.

August 1st.

I crossed over to Eagle Island with Mr. Brown, and spent a day and night there. This place was so named by Cook, who states in explanation of the name-"We found here the nest of some other bird, we know not what, of a most enormous size. It was built with sticks upon the ground, and was no less than 26 feet in circumference, and two feet eight inches high."* An American professor** conjectures the above nest to have possibly been that of the Dinornis, the gigantic New Zealand bird, known only by its fossil remains. A very slight knowledge, however, of ornithology, would be sufficient to confute the notion of any struthious bird constructing a nest of this kind, or of a wingless land bird of great size inhabiting an islet only a quarter of a mile in length. Both Mr. Gould and myself have seen nests of the same construction, the work of the large fishing-eagle of Australia.

(*Footnote. Hawkesworth's Voyages volume 2 page 599.)

(**Footnote. In Silliman's Journal for July 1844.)

This island is low and sandy, with a few casuarinas, or she-oaks, a fringe of Suriana maritima, some Tournefortiae, and thickets of Clerodendrum inerme. Landrail and other birds were numerous. The reef, which is very extensive, did not dry throughout at low-water, but some sandbanks along its lee margin were exposed, and upon them I found the greatest assemblage of pretty shells that I ever met with at one place. What would not many an amateur collector have given to spend an hour here? There were fine Terebrae in abundance, orange-spotted mitres, minutely-dotted cones, red-mouthed Strombi, glossy olives, and magnificent Naticae, all ploughing up the wet sand in every direction-yet, with two exceptions, they are to be seen in every collection in Europe.

FIND A HUMAN SKULL.

As usual we found plentiful remains of recent turtle feasts. One of the boat's crew, not over-stocked with brains, during his rambles picked up a human skull with portions of the flesh adhering. Accidentally learning this from the conversation of the men at our bivouac during supper, inquiry was made, when we found that he had foolishly thrown it into the sea, nor could it be found during a subsequent search. I was anxious to determine whether it was aboriginal or not. On the one hand, the natives of all parts of Australia usually evince the strongest desire to bury or conceal their own dead; on the other, there might have been some connection between the skull and the remains of a hut of European construction, portions of clothing, a pair of shoes, some tobacco, and fragments of a whaleboat seen here. But all is mere conjecture.

HOWICK ISLES.

August 14th.

After leaving Lizard Island, we passed to the southward of Number 3 of the Howick Isles, and anchored off the North-West extremity of Number 1 in 6 1/2 fathoms, mud. This is the largest of a group of about ten islands, which agree in being low, and covered for the most part with mangroves. Number 1, however, is distinguished by having three bare hillocks at its south-eastern end, the central one of which forms a rather conspicuous peak. A party of natives was there seen watching our movements, but no communication with them was attempted. Opposite the ship we landed on a small sandy, bushy portion of the island, slightly elevated, fronted by the reef, and backed by mangroves. We found here the usual indications of occasional visits of the natives in a pit dug as a well, and numerous remains of turtle and fish about the fireplaces. A few quails, doves, and other common birds were met with.

On August 18th we removed to an anchorage under Number 6, the second largest of the group. With the exception of a sandy, grassy plain, half a mile in length, the whole of the island is densely covered with mangroves, and fringed with a reef of coral, chiefly dead. Great numbers of large turtle-shells were scattered about, showing the periodical abundance of these animals. Another large vampire-bat, Pteropus funereus, differing from that of Fitzroy Island, was met with in great numbers among the mangroves-a very large assemblage of these animals on the wing, seen from