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

feet in length, much clumsier than those seen in other parts of New Guinea, and without the carving on the handle, the blade also differed slightly in shape, being more elliptical. After paddling inshore a short distance they made sail and landed near the point. The sail resembled the common one of the Louisiade, being long, narrow, square at the ends, and stretched between two yards or masts, and in setting was merely stuck upon end and supported by guys fore and aft.

During our stay at this anchorage we had fine weather, with light variable winds of short duration, generally from the westward, but sometimes from the northward, and the thermometer ranged between 77 and 84 degrees.

September 25th.

Weighed in the afternoon with a very light air from South-West, and stood to the North-West, but by sunset, when we anchored in 27 fathoms mud, we had made only about eight miles. The weather was very sultry all day with the thermometer from 82 to 84 degrees in the shade. In the evening we got a land breeze from about east, which lasted most of the night.

MORE NATIVES VISIT US.

September 26th.

Soon after daylight we were visited by a party of natives who came from an opening in the low land at the north-east corner of the bay-apparently the mouth of a large river. They were in three canoes carrying respectively, seven, four, and three people, and paddled up alongside without hesitation, appearing anxious to be admitted on board, holding on by the chains and peeping into the ports in a most inquisitive manner. With the exception of two or three coconuts nothing was brought to barter with, but they readily parted with bows and arrows, of which they had a very large supply. These bows appear to be made of the hard heavy wood of the coconut-tree, pointed at each end, and varying in length from five to six feet, with a greatest width of an inch and a quarter and thickness of five-eighths. The string is a strip of rattan three-eighths of an inch wide. The arrows are precisely similar to those used by the Torres Strait Islanders, consisting of a head of coconut wood, nine to eighteen inches in length, shipped into a light reed 2 1/2 to 3 1/2 feet in length, and secured by a neat cane plaiting. They are variously barbed on the edges in one or more series, or furnished with constrictions at short intervals which would cause a piece readily to break off in a wound and remain there. Some were headed with a piece of bamboo shaped like a gouge or scoop, and several other varieties were observed. This is the first occasion of our meeting with these weapons, which appear almost completely to have superseded the spear of which only a few small ones were seen in the canoes. In exchange for their bows and arrows the natives attached most value to articles of clothing of every description. Glass bottles were also eagerly sought after-but iron was not prized-indeed its use appeared to be unknown, nor had they any name for it.

BAMBOO KNIFE.

While leaning out of one of the wardroom ports, and getting words from a very intelligent native whose attention I secured by giving him various little presents from time to time, I had occasion to point to a bamboo scoop* lying in the canoe in order to get its name. The man, to my surprise, immediately bit off a narrow strip from one side, as if to sharpen the edge, and taking up a piece of stick, showed me that this scoop was used as a knife. Not to be outdone I took one of our common knives and cut away vigorously at a piece of wood to show the superiority of our knives over his one; he appeared suddenly to become terrified, talked vehemently to the others, drew their attention to me, and repeated my motions of cutting the wood, after which his canoe pushed off from the ship's side. My friend refused to accept of the knife-as I afterwards found the natives had also done to other people when iron implements were offered them-nor would he pay any further attention to my attempts to effect a reconciliation.

(*Footnote. Resembling that figured in Jukes' Voyage of the Fly volume 1 page 277, but smaller.)

NATIVE HAIR-DRESSING.

The greatest peculiarity among these people is their mode of dressing the hair; it is usually shaved off the temples and occasionally a little way up the forehead, then combed out at length, and tied midway with a string, leaving one part straight, and the remainder frizzled out into a mop projecting horizontally backwards. Some also had a long pigtail hanging down behind, in one case decorated with a bunch of dogs' teeth at the end. Across the forehead they wore fillets of small shells strung together over a broad white band of some leafy substance. The septum of the nose was perforated, and some wore a long straight nose-stick of bone with black bands. All our visitors had their teeth darkened with the practice of betel chewing-we saw them use the leaf of the betel pepper, the green areca nut, and lime, the last carried in a small calabash with a spatula.

LEAVE NEW GUINEA.

We had been becalmed all the morning, but before noon the seabreeze set in from the South-South-East, and we got underweigh, ran past South-west Cape, and anchored in 22 fathoms mud, off a large island afterwards named in honour of Lieutenant Yule.

September 27th.

This has proved a very uneasy anchorage under the combined influence of a strong breeze from the south-east and a heavy sea. At one P.M. we got underweigh in company with the Bramble, and left the coast of New Guinea, running to the westward for Cape York, in order to meet the vessel with our supplies from Sydney.

Next evening Bramble Cay was seen on our weather beam; being so low and so small an object, we had nearly missed it. We hauled upon a wind immediately but could not fetch its lee, so anchored two and a half miles North-west by West from it. Great numbers of boobies and noddies came about us, but our distance from the shore was too great and our stay too short to send on shore for birds' eggs.

September 29th.

With a strong south-easterly breeze we passed to the westward of Campbell and Stephens Islands, the Bramble leading, and anchored in the evening near Marsden Island. On Campbell Island, numbers of the natives came down to the edge of the reef, waving to us as we passed by, and inviting us to land. There were many coconut-trees, and we saw a village on the north-west side of the island, beautifully situated on the shady skirts of the wood. The huts resemble those of Darnley Island, being shaped like a haycock or beehive, with a projecting central pole ornamented with a large shell or two attached to it. Most of the huts were situated in small enclosures, and there were other portions of ground fenced in with tall bamboo paling.

On the following day the Bramble* left us for Booby Island, to call at the post office there, and rejoin company at Cape York, and we reached as far as the neighbourhood of Coconut Island at noon, passing close to Arden Island, then covered with prodigious numbers of blue and white herons, small terns, curlews, and other waders.

(*Footnote. On his return, Lieutenant Yule reported that the boats of an American whaler, lost on the Alert Reef (outside the Barrier) had reached Booby Island, and the crews had been saved from starvation by the depot of provisions there. That this supply will be renewed from time to time is most likely, as the Legislative Council of New South Wales, last year, voted the sum of 50 pounds for provisions to be left on Booby Island for the use of shipwrecked people.)

October 1st.

We had a fine breeze and pleasant weather, and in the afternoon reached our former anchorage in Evans Bay, Cape York, and moored ship in seven fathoms. A party was immediately sent to examine the waterholes, which promised, after a little clearing out, as abundant a supply as they afforded us last year. We met some of the natives who came down to the rocks as the boat landed, and among them I saw many old acquaintances who joyfully greeted us.


CHAPTER 1.8.

Rescue a white Woman from Captivity among the Natives. Her History. Bramble and boats complete the Survey of Torres Strait. Wini and the Mulgrave Islanders. Intercourse with the Cape York Natives. Nearly quarrel with them at a night dance. Witness a Native fight. Discover some fine country. Incidents of our stay. Many new Birds found. Remarks on the Climate, etc. of Cape York.

On the day after our arrival at Cape York the vessel from Sydney with our supplies anchored beside us, and besides provisions and stores, we had the additional pleasure of receiving five months' news from home.

HISTORY OF A WHITE WOMAN TAKEN BY THE BLACKS.

On October 16th, a startling incident occurred to break the monotony of our stay. In the afternoon some of our people on shore were surprised to see a young white woman come up to claim their protection from a party of natives from whom she had recently made her escape, and who, she thought, would otherwise bring her back. Of course she received every attention, and was taken on board the ship by the first boat, when she told her story, which is briefly as follows. Her name is Barbara Thomson: she was born at Aberdeen in Scotland, and along with her parents, emigrated to New South Wales. About four years and a half ago she left Moreton Bay with her husband in a small cutter (called the America) of which he was owner, for the purpose of picking up some of the oil from the wreck of a whaler, lost on the Bampton Shoal, to which place one of her late crew undertook to guide them; their ultimate intention was to go on to Port Essington. The man who acted as pilot was unable to find the wreck, and after much quarrelling on board in consequence, and the loss of two men by drowning, and of another who was left upon a small uninhabited island, they made their way up to Torres Strait, where, during a gale of wind, their vessel struck upon a reef on the Eastern Prince of Wales Island. The two remaining men were lost in attempting to swim on shore through the surf, but the woman was afterwards rescued by a party of natives on a turtling excursion, who, when the gale subsided, swam on board, and supported her on shore between two of their number. One of these blacks, Boroto by name, took possession of the woman as his share of the plunder; she was compelled to live with him, but was well treated by all the men, although many of the women, jealous of the attention shown her, for a long time evinced anything but kindness. A curious circumstance secured for her the protection of one of the principal men of the tribe a party from which had been the fortunate means of rescuing her, and which she afterwards found to be the Kowrarega, chiefly inhabiting Muralug, or the Western Prince of Wales Island. This person, named Piaquai, acting upon the belief (universal throughout Australia and the Islands of Torres Strait so far as hitherto known) that white people are the ghosts of the aborigines, fancied that in the stranger he recognised a long-lost daughter of the name of Giaom, and