A gale.
Anchor in Simon's Bay.
H.M.S. Thalia.
Captain Harris, and his Adventures in Southern Africa.
Proceedings of the Land Party.
Leave Simon's Bay.
An overloaded ship.
Heavy weather and wet decks.
Island of Amsterdam.
Its true longitude.
St. Paul's.
Water.
Westerly variation.
Rottnest Island.
Gage's Road.
Swan River Settlement.
Fremantle.
An inland lake.
Plans for the future.
Illness of Captain Wickham.
Tidal Phenomena.
Perth.
Approach to it.
Narrow escape of the first settlers.
The Darling Range.
Abundant Harvest.
Singular flight of strange birds.
Curious Cliff near Swan River.
Bald Head.
Mr. Darwin's Theory.
The Natives.
Miago.
Anecdotes of Natives.
Their Superstitions.
Barbarous traditions, their uses and their lessons.

We had, upon the whole, a favourable passage across to the Cape; but on the 17th of September, when distant from it about 500 miles, we encountered a moderate gale from the north. As this was the first heavy weather we had experienced since our departure from England, I was curious to see what effect such a strange scene would have on our passengers. Wrapt in mute astonishment, they stood gazing with admiration and awe on the huge waves as they rolled past, occasionally immersing our little vessel in their white crests--and listening, with emotions not wholly devoid of fear, to the wild screams of the seabirds as they skimmed o'er the steep acclivities of these moving masses. The landsmen were evidently deeply impressed with the grandeur of a storm at sea; nor can the hardiest seaman look with unconcern on such an exhibition of the majesty of Him, whose will the winds and waves obey. Not more poetically beautiful than literally true are the words of the Psalmist, so appropriately introduced into the Form of Prayers at Sea--"They that go down to the sea in ships, and occupy their business in great waters: these men see the works of the Lord, and his wonders in the deep: for at his word the stormy wind ariseth, which lifteth up the waves thereof." My own experience has over and over again satisfied me, that, mingled with many a dim superstition, a deep religious sentiment--a conviction of the might and mercy of Heaven--often rests on the heart of the most reckless seaman, himself all unconscious of its existence, yet strangely influenced by its operations!

ANCHOR AT SIMON'S BAY.

We sighted land on the evening of the 20th of September, rounded the Cape the next morning, and in the afternoon anchored in Simon's Bay. We found here H.M.S. Thalia, bearing the flag of Admiral Sir Patrick Campbell, Commander-in-chief of the Cape station: and during our subsequent stay received every attention which kindness and courtesy could suggest, from himself and his officers.

We were glad to ascertain that our chronometers had been performing admirably. They gave the longitude of Simon's Bay, within a few seconds of our homeward determination during the last voyage. Mr. Maclear, of the Royal Observatory, and Captain Wauchope, of the flagship, had been measuring the difference of longitude between Simon's Bay dockyard and Cape Town Observatory, by flashing lights upon the summit of a mountain midway between those two places. Their trials gave a greater difference, by a half second, between the two meridians, than we had obtained on a former visit by carrying chronometers to and fro. The results stand as follow:

Mr. Maclear and Captain Wauchope: 11.5 seconds South.

H.M. Sloop Beagle: 11.0 seconds South.

ADVENTURES OF CAPTAIN HARRIS.

We found at the Cape the renowned Captain Harris, H.E.I. Company's Bombay Engineers, who had just returned from his sporting expedition into the interior of Southern Africa, having made his way through every obstacle, from the frontier of the Cape Colony, through the territories of the chief Moselekatse, to the Tropic of Capricorn. With his spirit-stirring accounts of hunting adventure and savage manners we were all most highly gratified. What he had seen, where he had been, and what he had performed "by flood and field," have since been told to the world by himself, and therefore need not be repeated here: but it would be unpardonable not to do justice to his energy, his perseverance, and his success. He had collected quite a museum of the Natural History of the wild beasts against whom his crusade had been directed; while his collection of drawings, both as regarded the animals delineated, and the appearance of the country in which they were found, was really most beautiful: and many a pleasant hour was spent in viewing the various specimens and illustrations, each one of which testified the intrepidity and skill of himself or his no less adventurous companion, William Richardson, Esquire, B.C.S. It will readily be believed that these two gentlemen were then, themselves, the great Lions of that part of Africa.

SAIL FOR SWAN RIVER.

Having completed our observations, and crammed every available square inch of the Beagle with various stores--a proceeding rendered absolutely necessary by the unsatisfactory accounts we received of the state of affairs at Swan River--we sailed for that place on the morning of the 12th of October.

It should be mentioned, that Lieutenant Grey, hearing it would be impossible for him to obtain a suitable vessel at Swan River, hired a small schooner from this port, and sailed, with his party, for Hanover Bay, on the north-west coast of Australia, the day after our departure. His subsequent perils, wanderings, and adventures having been fully described in his own published account, I need do no more here than allude to them.

We encountered a good deal of heavy weather, shifting winds, and consequently irregular seas, during our run to Swan River; and owing to the deep state of our loaded little vessel, her decks were almost constantly flooded. For many days we had never less than an inch and a half of water on them all over; and this extra weight, in our already overburdened craft, did not, of course, add to her liveliness; however, she struggled on.

ISLAND OF AMSTERDAM.

And on the 1st of November bore us in sight of the Island of Amsterdam, and in the afternoon passed to the southward of it, sufficiently near to determine its position. The summit of the Island, which has rather a peaked appearance, we found to be 2,760 feet high, in latitude 38 degrees 53 minutes South, longitude 77 degrees 37 minutes East of Greenwich. It is singular that though this Island, which is almost a finger-post for ships bound from the Cape either to New Holland or India, has been so long known to all navigators of these seas, its true longitude should have been till now unascertained. The western side presented the appearance of a broken-down crater, nor indeed can there be any reason to doubt its volcanic origin. Light brown was the pervading colour upon the sides of the island, and appeared to be caused by stunted bushes and grass. The southern island, St. Paul's, affords a good anchorage in 21 fathoms, about midway on its eastern side, latitude 38 degrees 42 minutes, and is in every way preferable to the spot chosen for that purpose by Vlaming in 1764, on the south-east side of Amsterdam, where landing is never very easy, and generally quite impracticable.

ST. PAUL'S.

The well ascertained fact, that water is found in abundance at St. Paul's, leads to a very fair inference, that in this humid atmosphere, and with a much greater elevation, the same essential commodity may be met with at Amsterdam; but certainly at St. Paul's, and most probably at Amsterdam, the rugged nature of the travelling over these volcanic islands, would render useless any attempt to water a ship.

The following table, though it may not possess much interest for the general reader, will not be without its value in the eyes of my nautical brethren: it shows the increase of variation since 1747:

COLUMN 1: SOURCE. COLUMN 2: DATE A.D. COLUMN 3: WESTERLY VARIATION.

From Horsburg's Directory : 1747 : 17 1/2. From Horsburg's Directory : 1764 : 18 3/4. From Horsburg's Directory : 1793: 20. H.M.S. Beagle : 1837 : 21.

As these islands lie in the same meridian, the longitude given above of Amsterdam, will equally apply to St. Paul's: they are admirably situated for connecting the meridians of Africa and Australia. We lost sight of Amsterdam towards evening, and flattered ourselves that we were also leaving the bad weather behind. The sky more settled; the sea less high; and the barometer rising: such indications, however, cannot be implicitly trusted in this boisterous climate; and shortly after dark, having shipped a very heavy sea, we rounded too for the night. The constant set of the huge following seas, carried our little vessel much faster to the eastward than could be easily credited, till proved by actual observation. During the last three or four days, we had run upwards of 195 miles daily by the observations, being from twenty to thirty more each day than appeared from the reckoning.

ROTTNEST ISLAND.

We made Rottnest Island on the morning of Wednesday, November 15th; and in the afternoon of the same day, anchored in Gage's Road, Swan River. Our position at midnight, the night before, made us about 30 miles from the mainland, when we had the wind from the eastward, getting round again towards noon to south and by west. This may be some guide to the limit of the land wind, and as such I record the fact. During the three days previous to our making the land, we experienced a northerly current of one knot per hour. We tried during the same period for soundings, with nearly 200 fathoms, but in vain.

We passed along the north shore of Rottnest at the distance of a mile and a half, closing with it as we got to the eastward, where it is not so rocky. The north shore should not be approached within a mile. As we were opening out the bay on the north-east end of the island, we passed over a rocky patch, with, from appearance, not more than three fathoms on it, it is small, and we had 14 fathoms close to it. This patch is about one mile North by West from the north-west point of the bay. Off this point is a low rocky islet; and when on the shoal, we could just make out the white sandy beach in the bay open between it and the point. The western points of the island are all shut in by the north point; therefore, keeping them open, will always enable the navigator to give this dangerous rock* a wide berth.

(*Footnote. Now called Roe's Patch.)

SWAN RIVER SETTLEMENT.

The Swan River Settlement, which is a portion of the colony of Western Australia, was founded in August 1829, under the auspices of the Colonial Office, Captain Stirling being the first Lieutenant-Governor.

FREMANTLE.

Fremantle, at the entrance of Swan River, is the sea port; and Perth, situate about nine miles inland, the seat of Government: Guildford and York are the other chief places in the colony.

There is nothing very particularly inviting in the first appearance of Western Australia; dull-green-looking downs, backed by a slightly undulating range of hills, rising to nearly 2,000 feet high, are the chief natural features of the prospect. Fremantle, of which it was wittily said by the quartermaster of one of His Majesty's ships who visited the place, "You might run it through an hourglass in a day," is but a collection of low white houses scattered over the scarce whiter sand. The only conspicuous landmark visible in approaching the anchorage is the Jail: rather a singular pharos for a settlement in Australia, which boasts its uncontaminated state. This building I afterwards induced the Governor to have white-washed, and it now forms an excellent mark to point out the river, as well as the town.*

(*Footnote. A large patch of white sand, on the coast, about three miles to the northward of Swan River, also serves as a landmark.)

Shortly after our arrival, I was introduced to the Governor, Sir James Stirling; he, and all those here best qualified to judge, joined in regretting that Lieutenant Grey had not decided to come on with us. The accounts we heard of the country and the natives gave us every reason to entertain but slender hopes of his success.

AN INLAND LAKE.

Sir James and Mr. Roe, the Surveyor-General, appeared to coincide with the general opinion that a large inland lake will ultimately be discovered. They had questioned many of the natives about it, who all asserted its existence, and pointed in a south-easterly direction to indicate its position. Their notions of distance are, to say the least, exceedingly rude; with them everything is "far away, far away." The size of this water the natives describe by saying, that if a boy commenced walking round it, by the time he finished his task he would have become an old man! After all may not this be the great Australian Bight that these natives have heard of, for none we met in Western Australia pretended to have seen it? They derive their information from the eastern tribes, and under such circumstances it must at least be considered extremely vague.*

(*Footnote. This much-talked-of lake, which it was the assumed labour of a life to circumambulate, was discovered in January 1843, by Messrs. Landor and Lefroy, who found it about 100 miles South-South-East from Beverley. It is quite salt, called Dambeling, and about fifteen miles long by seven and a half broad!)

The Surveyor-General had lately returned from an exploring journey to the eastward of the capital, and reported that there existed no reasonable probability of extending the colony in that direction: he strongly recommended us to proceed at once to the north-west coast, and return again to Swan River to recruit; saying that we should find the heat there too great to remain for a longer period. This course Captain Wickham, after due deliberation, resolved to adopt, and accordingly all the stores, not absolutely required, were forthwith landed, and the ship made in every respect as airy as possible. The 25th November was fixed for our departure, when most unfortunately Captain Wickham, while on his way to Perth, was attacked with a severe dysentery, and continued so ill that he could not be brought to the ship till the end of December. The most that could be effected was done to improve this unavoidable delay; and our tidal observations, before commenced, were more diligently pursued. We found the greatest rise only thirty-one inches, and here, as elsewhere on the Australian coast, we observed the remarkable phenomenon of only one tide in the twenty-four hours! Surveying operations were also entered on, connecting Rottnest Island with the mainland; the dangers which surround it, as well as those which lie between its shores and the coast, were discovered and laid down: this survey, of great importance to the interests of shipping in these waters, was ultimately completed on our subsequent visits to Swan River.

That arid appearance which first meets the settler on his arrival, and to which allusion has already been made, cannot but prove disheartening to him: particularly if, as is generally the case, his own sanguine expectations of a second Paradise have been heightened by the interested descriptions of land jobbers and emigration agents.

APPROACH TO PERTH.

However, when he ascends the river towards the capital, this feeling of despondency will gradually wear away; its various windings bring, to his eager and anxious eye, many a bright patch of park-like woodland; while the river, expanding as he proceeds, till the beautiful estuary of Melville water opens out before him, becomes really a magnificent feature in the landscape; and the boats, passing and repassing upon its smooth and glassy bosom, give the animation of industry, and suggest all the cheerful anticipations of ultimate success to the resolute adventurer. From about the centre of this lake-like piece of water, the eye first rests upon the capital of Western Australia, a large straggling village, partly concealed by the abrupt termination of a woody ridge, and standing upon a picturesque slope on the right bank of the river, thirteen miles from its mouth. The distant range of the Darling mountains supplies a splendid background to the picture, and the refreshing seabreeze which curls the surface of Melville water every afternoon, adds to the health, no less than comfort, of the inhabitants. The former inconvenience, caused by the shoal approach, and which rendered landing at low-water a most uncomfortable operation, has now been remedied by the construction of a jetty.

Like all the Australian rivers with which we are yet acquainted, the Swan is subject to sudden and tremendous floods, which inundate the corn lands in its vicinity, and sweep away all opposing obstacles with irresistible impetuosity.

NARROW ESCAPE OF THE FIRST SETTLERS.

The first settlers had a most providential escape from a calamity of this kind: they had originally selected for the site of their new city, a low-lying piece of land, which, during the first winter after their arrival, was visited with one of these strange and unexplained invasions from the swelling stream: had the deluge been delayed for another year, these luckless inhabitants of a new world would have shared the fate of those to whom Noah preached in vain; but, warned in time, they chose some safer spot, from whence, in future, they and their descendants may safely contemplate the awful grandeur of similar occurrences, and thankfully profit by the fertility and abundance which succeed to such wholesale irrigation. During this, our first visit, I had no opportunity of penetrating into the country further than the Darling range: in journeying thither, we passed through Guildford, a township on the banks of the Swan, about seven miles north-east from Perth, and four from the foot of the mountains. It stands upon a high part of the alluvial flat fringing the river, and which extends from half to one mile from it on either side. The rich quality of the soil may be imagined from the fact, that, in 1843, after thirteen years of successive cropping, it produced a more abundant harvest than it had done at first, without any artificial aid from manures.

SINGULAR FLIGHT OF STRANGE BIRDS.

A singular flight of strange birds, was noticed at Guildford about the year 1833, during the time when the corn was green: they arrived in an innumerable host, and were so tame as to be easily taken by hand. In general appearance they resembled the land-rail, but were larger, and quite as heavy on the wing. They disappeared in the same mysterious manner as they arrived, and have never since repeated their visit. Were these birds visitors from the interior, or had they just arrived at the end of a migratory journey from some distant country? It is to be regretted that no specimen of them was to be obtained, as it might have helped to clear an interesting subject from doubt.

THE DARLING RANGE.

The change in ascending this range, from the alluvium near its base, to the primitive formation of which it is itself composed, is very remarkable. Shells still common on the adjacent coasts were met with 14 feet below the surface, near the foot of the range, by one of the colonists when sinking a well. In the same locality deposits of sand may be seen, having that particular wavy appearance which is always noticed upon the sea beach. These appearances, as well as the general aspect of the adjacent country, seem to justify the conclusion I arrived at while on the spot, that the land which now intervenes between the mountains and the shore, is a comparatively recent conquest from the sea. The character of this land may be thus described: The first three miles from the coast is occupied with ridges of hills, from 100 to 200 feet high, of calcareous limestone formation, cropping out in such innumerable points and odd shapes as to be almost impassable. Some of these lumps resemble a large barnacle; both lumps and points are covered with long, coarse grass, and thus concealed, become a great hindrance to the pedestrian, who is constantly wounded by them. To these ridges succeed sandy forest land and low hills, except on the banks of the rivulets, where a belt of alluvial soil is to be found. The Darling range traverses the whole of Western Australia in a direction, generally speaking, north and south. It appears to subside towards the north, and its greatest elevation is nearly 2,000 feet. The cliffs of the coast at the mouth of Swan River, have a most singular appearance, as though covered with thousands of roots, twisted together into a species of network.

A SINGULAR CLIFF.

A similar curiosity is to be seen on Bald Head, in King George's Sound, so often alluded to by former navigators, and by them mistaken either for coral, or petrified trees standing where they originally grew. Bald Head was visited by Mr. Darwin, in company with Captain Fitzroy, in February 1836, and his opinions upon the agencies of formation, so exactly coincide with those to which I attribute the appearances at Arthur's Head, that I cannot do better than borrow his words. He says--page 537, volume 3, "According to our views, the rock was formed by the wind heaping up calcareous sand, during which process, branches and roots of trees, and land-shells were enclosed, the mass being afterwards consolidated by the percolation of rain water. When the wood had decayed, lime was washed into the cylindrical cavities, and became hard, sometimes even like that in a stalactite. The weather is now wearing away the softer rock, and in consequence the casts of roots and branches project above the surface: their resemblance to the stumps of a dead shrubbery was so exact, that, before touching them, we were sometimes at a loss to know which were composed of wood, and which of calcareous matter."*

(*Footnote. For more exact details the reader should consult Mr. Darwin's volume on Volcanic Islands.)

THE NATIVES.

We were much struck during our stay by the contrast between the natives here, and those we had seen on the Beagle's former voyage at King George's Sound. The comparison was wholly in favour of those living within the influence of their civilized fellow-men: a fact which may surprise some of my readers, but for which, notwithstanding, I am quite prepared to vouch. A better quality, and more certain supply of food, are the causes to which this superiority ought to be attributed: they are indeed exceedingly fond of wheaten bread, and work hard for the settlers, in cutting wood and carrying water, in order to obtain it. Individually they appear peaceable, inoffensive, and well-disposed, and, under proper management, make very good servants; but when they congregate together for any length of time, they are too apt to relapse into the vices of savage life. Among the many useful hints, for which we were indebted to Mr. Roe, was that of taking a native with us to the northward; and, accordingly, after some trouble, we shipped an intelligent young man, named Miago; he proved, in some respects, exceedingly useful, and made an excellent gun-room waiter. We noticed that, like most of the natives, he was deeply scarred, and I learned from him that this is done to recommend them to the notice of the ladies. Like all savages, they are treacherous--for uncivilized man has no abstract respect for truth, and consequently deceit, whether spoken or acted, seems no baseness in his eyes.

ANECDOTES OF THE NATIVES.

I heard an anecdote at Perth that bears upon this subject: A native of the name of Tonquin asked a settler, who lived some distance in the interior, permission to spend the night in his kitchen, of which that evening another native was also an inmate. It seems that some hate, either personal, or the consequences of a quarrel between their different tribes, existed in the mind of Tonquin towards his hapless fellow lodger; and in the night he speared him through the heart, AND THEN VERY QUIETLY LAID DOWN TO SLEEP! Of course in the morning no little stir took place. Tonquin was accused, but stoutly denied the charge. So satisfied, however, was the owner of the house of the guilt of the real culprit, that had he not made his escape, he would have been executed red hand--as the border wardens used to say--by the man, the sanctity of whose roof-tree he had thus profaned. Tonquin afterwards declared that he NEVER SLEPT FOR NEARLY A FORTNIGHT, being dogged from place to place by the footsteps of the avengers of blood. He escaped, however, with his life, though worn almost to a shadow by constant anxiety. When I saw him some years afterwards, I thought him the finest looking native I had ever seen, but he was apparently, as those who knew him best reported him to be, insane. If not the memory of his crime, and the consequent remorse which it entailed upon him, perhaps the fugitive life he was compelled to lead in order to avoid the wrath of human retribution, had been used to make manifest the anger of Heaven for this breach of one of those first great laws of human society, which are almost as much instincts of our nature as revelations from the Creator to the creatures of his will!

SUPERSTITIONS.

The natives have a superstitious horror of approaching the graves of the dead, of whom they never like to speak, and when induced to do so, always whisper. A settler, residing in a dangerous part of the colony, had two soldiers stationed with him as a guard: upon one occasion five natives rushed in at a moment when the soldiers were unprepared for their reception, and a terrible struggle ensued: the soldiers, however, managed, while on the ground, to shoot two of them, and bayonetted the remaining three. The five were afterwards buried before the door, nor could a more perfect safeguard have been devised; no thought even of revenge for their comrades would afterwards induce any of the tribe to pass that fearful boundary.

Their most curious superstition, however, remains to be recorded; it is the opinion they confidently entertain, and which seems universally diffused among them, that the white people are their former fellow countrymen, who in such altered guise revisit the world after death. Miago assured me that this was the current opinion, and my own personal observation subsequently confirmed his statement. At Perth, one of the settlers, from his presumed likeness to a defunct member of the tribe of the Murray River, was visited by his supposed kindred twice every year, though in so doing they passed through sixty miles of what was not unfrequently an enemy's country.

Their religious opinions, so far as I have been able to obtain any information on the subject, are exceedingly vague and indefinite. That they do not regard the grave as man's final resting place, may, however, be fairly concluded, from the superstition I have just alluded to, and that they believe in invisible and superior powers--objects of dread and fear, rather than veneration or love--has been testified in Captain Grey's most interesting chapter upon Native Customs, and confirmed by my own experience.

THE EVIL SPIRIT.

I used sometimes to question Miago upon this point, and from him I learned their belief in the existence of an evil spirit, haunting dark caverns, wells, and places of mystery and gloom, and called Jinga. I heard from a settler that upon one occasion, a native travelling with him, refused to go to the well at night from fear of this malevolent being; supposed to keep an especial guardianship over fresh water, and to be most terrible and most potent in the hours of darkness. Miago had never seen this object of his fears, but upon the authority of the elders of his tribe, he described its visible presence as that of a huge many-folded serpent; and in the night, when the tall forest trees moaned and creaked in the fitful wind, he would shrink terrified by the solemn and mysterious sounds, which then do predispose the mind to superstitious fears, and tell how, at such a time, his countrymen kindle a fire to avert the actual presence of the evil spirit, and wait around it--chanting their uncouth and rhythmical incantations--with fear and trembling, for the coming dawn.

I have preserved these anecdotes here, because I can vouch for their authenticity, and though individually unimportant, they may serve to throw additional light upon the manners, customs, and traditions of the Aborigines of Australia; but to all really interested in the subject, I would recommend a perusal of Captain Grey's second volume. I have as yet neither space nor materials to attempt any detailed account of the customs, superstitions, or condition of this strange people; but it would be impossible to pass them by quite unnoticed: nor can the voyager, whose chief object is to make their native land a field for the exertions of British enterprise, be wholly indifferent to the manner in which our dominion may affect them. The history of almost every colony, founded by European energy, has been one fearful catalogue of crime; and though by the side of the Spanish, Dutch, and Portuguese, English adventurers seem gentle and benevolent, still cruelty and oppression have too often disgraced our name and faith.

FUTURE PROSPECTS.

Thank Heaven, with many a doubt as to the time that must elapse ere that glad day shall come, I can look onward with confidence to a period--I trust not far remote--when throughout the length and breadth of Australia, Christian civilization shall attest that the claims upon England's benevolence have been nobly acknowledged!

Sail from Gage's Road.
Search for a bank.
Currents and soundings.
Houtman's Abrolhos.
Fruitless search for Ritchie's Reef.
Indications of a squall.
Deep sea soundings.
Atmospheric Temperature.
Fish.
A squall.
Anchor off the mouth of Roebuck Bay.
A heavy squall.
Driven from our anchorage.
Cape Villaret.
Anchor in Roebuck Bay.
Excursion on shore.
Visit from the Natives.
Mr. Bynoe's account of them.
A stranger among them.
Captain Grey's account of an almost white race in Australia.
Birds, Snakes, and Turtle.
Move the Ship.
Miago, and the Black Fellows.
The wicked men of the North.
Clouds of Magellan.
Face of the Country.
Natives.
Heat and Sickness.
Miago on shore.
Mr. Usborne wounded.
Failure in Roebuck Bay.
Native notions.

CURRENTS AND SOUNDINGS.

The solemnities of Christmas, and the festal celebration of the New Year, beneath a cloudless sky, and with the thermometer at 90, concluded our first visit to Swan River. We left our anchorage in Gage's Road on Thursday, January 4th, devoting several hours to sounding between Rottnest and the main. We bore away at 4 P.M. to search for a bank said to exist about fifteen miles north from the middle of Rottnest Island, having from twenty to twenty-two fathoms over it. Near the position assigned we certainly shoaled our water from twenty-eight to twenty-four fathoms, but no other indication of a bank was to be found.

Satisfied that we had now no further reason for delay, we kept away North-West with a fresh southerly wind, and the glad omen of a brilliant sunset.

January 5.

We were rather surprised to find by our observation at noon, no indication of a northerly current, though yesterday when becalmed between Rottnest and the main we were drifted to the northward at the rate of nearly two knots per hour. We sounded regularly every four hours, but found no bottom at 200 fathoms: the wind during the morning was light from South-South-West but during the night we had it fresh from South-East.

January 6.

We passed, at midnight, within 60 miles of the position assigned in the chart to the low coral group known as Houtman's Abrolhos,* and again sounded unsuccessfully with 200 fathoms.

(*Footnote. Subsequent observations placed these islands 30 miles more to the eastward than the position there assigned them. Our track, therefore, was really 90 miles from them.)

We continued steering a northerly course up to the 9th, keeping within from 60 to 80 miles distance of the coast, and repeating our deep-sea soundings every six hours without success.

INDICATIONS OF A SQUALL.

The wind during each day was moderate from the South-South-West and South by West, freshening during the night from South, and South by East; a heavy swell was its constant companion, and the barometer fell to 29.75. On the morning of the 9th, being in the parallel of North-west Cape, our course was altered to North-East by East; it blew hard during the night, and we had a disagreeable sea; but, as usual, it moderated again towards the morning.

We had shaped a course to make a reef in latitude 20 degrees 17 minutes, and named after its discoverer, Lieutenant Ritchie, R.N.; but owing to its being situated, as we afterwards found, half a degree to the eastward of its assigned position in the charts, we did not see it.

At 4 A.M., and with 195 fathoms, we reached a bottom of sand, broken shells, and coral, being then about 80 miles North-North-East from Tremouille Island, the nearest land. Steering East by North 1/2 North for 31 miles, brought us to our noon position in latitude 19 degrees 20 minutes South, longitude 116 degrees 16 minutes East, and into a depth of 120 fathoms, with the same kind of bottoms. South-South-West, 17 miles from our morning position, Captain King had 83 and 85 fathoms; from this we may suppose the edge of the bank of soundings, extending off this part of the coast, to be very steep. These soundings, together with those of Captain King, as above, may give some idea of the nature and extent of this bank, which seems to be a continuation of the flat extending North-North-East 40 miles, connecting Barrow and Tremouille Islands with the main: its outer edge being kept heaped up thus steeply by the constant action of the current sweeping round the North-west Cape.

DEEP SEA SOUNDINGS.

We continued steering East and by North 1/2 North, and at sunset, 14 miles from our noon position, the water had deepened to 145 fathoms, bottom a fine white sand and powdered shells. Before we were 50 miles from our noon position, we could find no bottom with 200 fathoms.

January 12.

We made but slow progress during the night, and felt delay the more tedious from the eager anxiety with which we desired sight of the land where our duties were to begin in earnest. We were not successful with our soundings till 6 P.M., when we had the same kind of bottom as before described, with 117 fathoms: 15 miles East by North 1/2 North from our noon position, which was 220 miles West by South from Roebuck Bay: 30 miles in the same direction from our noon position, we shoaled our water to 85 fathoms, the ground retaining the same distinctive character. We had the wind from South-West to South-East during the afternoon, but at 6 P.M. it chopped round to North-North-West, when, too, for the first time, we perceived lightning to the South-East--Barometer 29.92; thermometer 85.

January 13.

The preceding indications of the coming squall, which had given us full time for preparation, were realized about one o'clock this morning, when it reached us, though only moderately, from South-East. It was preceded by the rise and rapid advance of a black cloud in that quarter, just as Captain King has described.

ATMOSPHERIC TEMPERATURE.

At noon we were in latitude 18 degrees 26 minutes South, longitude 119 degrees 18 minutes East, and in soundings of 75 fathoms, fine white sand, broken shells, and fragments of dead coral. There was only a slight variation in the atmospheric temperature of two degrees during the twenty-four hours, the highest in the day being 85, and the lowest at night 83. The water was very smooth, but as night approached it thundered and lightened heavily and vividly, and most of us noticed and suffered from a particularly oppressive and overpowering state of the atmosphere, which the heat indicated by the thermometer was by no means sufficiently intense to account for.

January 14.

During the last twenty-four hours we had made but 51 miles progress in the direction of Roebuck Bay; our noon observations placed us in latitude 18 degrees 25 minutes South, longitude 120 degrees 13 minutes East, being about 80 miles from the nearest land. We obtained soundings at 72 fathoms, yellow sand and broken shells. During the afternoon, it being nearly a calm, we found ourselves surrounded by quantities of fish, about the size of the mackerel, and apparently in pursuit of a number of small and almost transparent members of the finny tribe, not larger than the minnow.

We sounded at sunset, and found bottom at 52 fathoms, which shoaled by half-past ten to 39. The circumstance, however, occasioned no surprise, as we had run South-South-East 25 miles, in a direct line for that low portion of the coast from which the flat we were running over extends.

The first part of the night we had the wind at North-North-East, the breeze steady, and the water as smooth as glass; but as the watch wore on, quick flashes of forked lightning, and the suspicious appearance of gathering clouds in the South-East, gave warning of the unwelcome approach of a heavy squall.

HEAVY SQUALL.

At eleven we lay becalmed for ten minutes between two contending winds; that from the South, however, presently prevailed, and shifting to the South-East, blew hard: meantime, a dark mass of clouds in the East-South-East appeared suddenly to assume the form of a deep-caverned archway, and moved rapidly towards us; in a few minutes, the ship was heeling majestically to the passing gust, the lightning flashed vividly and rapidly around us, alternately concealing and revealing the troubled surface of the foam-covered sea, while the thunder rolled heavily over our heads.

The squall was heavy while it lasted, commencing at East-South-East and ending at East-North-East. It was accompanied by heavy rain. Towards the end of the middle watch, the weather began to assume a more settled appearance, and we had a moderate breeze from the north; but between five and six o'clock A.M., it shifted suddenly by the West to South-South-East, and became light. We sounded repeatedly during the night in from 32 to 35 fathoms, the same kind of bottom as before; which we found agree very well with those reported in the account of the French expedition under Captain Baudin.

From the specimens of the squalls we experienced the last two nights, and which appear to be pretty regular in their visitation, I am inclined to believe they do not extend any considerable distance from the land. They give the seaman ample warning of their approach; yet, since they always come on in the night, when their violence cannot be properly estimated, the ship's head should (if circumstances permit) be kept to the westward (West-North-West) until the short-lived fury of the storm has exhausted itself.

January 15.

We progressed with light and variable airs through the day, gradually shoaling our water till nine P.M., when the anchor was dropped in 14 fathoms, having previously passed over a rocky ledge of apparently coral formation, in 13 1/2 fathoms. The land over the south point of Roebuck Bay bore East-South-East, about 17 miles distant; but we did not see it till the following morning.

DRIVEN FROM THE ANCHORAGE.

The evening wore a threatening aspect, though not apparently so much to be dreaded as that of yesterday; however, we were disagreeably out in our anticipations, for about three o'clock A.M. (January 16) a heavy squall burst on us, veering from East-South-East to East-North-East, broke our best bower anchor, and drove us half a mile out to sea, when the remaining fluke hooked a rock and brought us up. It rained and blew till daylight, then we were again favoured with fine weather, and light westerly winds. The land was now in sight, Cape Villaret being the most northerly point, and bearing East-South-East some 16 or 17 miles. The hillock upon this cape, and two other hummocks, lying to the southward, formed the only prominent features of the low land in sight.

CAPE VILLARET.

At this anchorage the flood-tide set East and by North, from one to one and a half knots per hour. Before weighing I procured a specimen of live coral from the depth of 11 fathoms.

Light airs, and the aid of the flood-tide, carried us into the centre of Roebuck Bay, where we came to an anchor in 7 fathoms, Cape Villaret bearing South by West 1/2 West about 10 miles. The fall of the tide here was no less than 18 feet.

As we closed with the land, I had a good opportunity of speculating upon its appearance, and the probability of our investigation confirming or contradicting the opinion entertained by Captains King and Dampier, that a channel would be found to connect Roebuck Bay with an opening behind Buccaneers Archipelago, thus making Dampier's Land an island. I confess, my own impressions at first sight differed from that of those high authorities, nor did a nearer examination shake my opinion. Cape Villaret, a short ridge lying East and West, and about 150 feet high, was still the most remarkable object; the sand on its side having a curious red appearance. From the masthead the land was not visible to the eastward for the space of one point of the compass; yet its level character, and the shoalness of the water, led alike to the opinion that no such communication as supposed would be found to exist.

January 17.

Collecting materials for the chart was the chief occupation of the day. Mr. Usborne discovered a high-water inlet in the south shore of the bay, five miles east of Cape Villaret, having a dry bank of sand before it at low-water.

VISIT FROM THE NATIVES.

While the party were on shore, they were visited by six of the natives, a larger race of men than those on the south coast, naked, with the exception of a grass mat round the waist, and the hair straight and tied up behind, seemingly ignorant of the use of the throwing stick, but carrying spears ill-shapen and unbarbed. One of them had a kiley, or boomerang, and each carried a rude hatchet of stone. None of them had suffered the loss of the front tooth, which, with some tribes, is a distinction of manhood. When asked by signs for fresh water, of which our party saw no traces, they pointed to the South-East; a circumstance which I record, as it may possibly be of some service to future explorers. As the boat was leaving, one of them, supposing, I presume, that they were out of our reach, and might therefore attack us with impunity, threw a stone at the boat, which luckily did no harm, though hurled with great dexterity and force. Upon this, a pistol was discharged over their heads, when they retired with far greater rapidity than they had advanced.

AN ALMOST WHITE RACE.

Mr. Usborne mentions, in an account of this interview (published in the Nautical Magazine for 1840, page 576) that one of the party differed in several physical characteristics from the rest. After describing them in general terms as being from five feet six, to five feet nine inches tall, broad shoulders, long and slight legs, large heads, and overhanging brows--he continues, "There was an exception in the youngest, who appeared of an entirely different race: his skin was a copper colour, while the others were black; his head was not so large, and more rounded; the overhanging brow was lost; the shoulders more of a European turn; and the body and legs much better proportioned; in fact, he might be considered a well-made man, at our standard of figure." A similar instance of meeting with one of a tribe, not apparently belonging to the same subdivision of the human family as those by whom he was surrounded, is recorded by Captain Grey, who speaks indeed of the existence of a distinct race, totally different (i.e. from the other aborigines) and almost white. I cannot say that I have myself encountered any of these almost white men, whose existence, as a distinct race, Captain Grey appears to have rather hastily admitted; such variation in form and colour as Mr. Usborne alludes to, may, however, be accounted for by the intercourse which the natives on the north coast hold from time to time with the Malays.

Several very large black martins, with white or grey heads, were hovering over the ship this morning; and many flights of small white tern, and a bird, commonly called the razor-bill, passed and re-passed the ship every morning and evening, flying from the bay to seaward, and returning at sunset. Two water snakes were shot alongside the ship during the day; the largest measured four feet, and was of a dirty yellow colour. A good-sized fish was taken from the stomach of one of them. Their fangs were particularly long, and very much flattened, having no cutting edge whatever.

Some turtle also passed the ship to-day, and a day or two afterwards we were fortunate enough to shoot one which weighed 160 pounds: he had ample justice done to his merits. It was high-water at 1.50 P.M., and the stream changed at the same time, a circumstance conclusively demonstrating that we were not anchored in a strait.

January 18.

We got underweigh in the morning, but from the shallowness of the water anchored within a mile east of our former position.

THE NATIVE MIAGO.

The native Miago, who had accompanied us from Swan River, was most earnest in his inquiries about the savages, as soon as he understood that some of them had been seen. He appeared delighted that these blackfellows, as he calls them, have no throwing sticks; for though at times exceedingly valiant in conversation, and very anxious to kill one of the men, and carry off one of their gins, or wives--the great end, aim, and ambition of all Australian force or policy--he yet evidently holds these northmen in great dread. They are, according to his account, "Bad men--eat men--Perth men tell me so: Perth men say, Miago, you go on shore very little, plenty Quibra men* go, you go." These instructions appear to have been very carefully pressed upon him by his associates, and certainly they had succeeded in inspiring him with the utmost dread of this division of his fellow countrymen, which all his boasting about killing some of them and taking one of their women as proof of his prowess, back to Perth, failed to concern.

(*Footnote. i.e. Men of the ship.)

CLOUDS OF MAGELLAN.

He gave me this evening a new reason to account for the appearance of the two small clouds called after the celebrated Magellan, in the following words: "You see," said he, pointing up to the sky, "little smoke." I assented at once; for certainly the clouds have very much the appearance of that to which he compared them: he then continued: "Perth man tell me, long, long time back, he make fire, smoke go far away up, far away, stop and never go away more." Miago evidently believed that his friend at Perth had really lighted the fire, the smoke of which had thus gone up "far away, far away," to "stop and never go away more." I can easily enough comprehend why the assertion might be made, and possibly without any intention to deceive upon the part of the asserter, who may first have seen the clouds after watching the ascent of his own fire smoke through the still air, in the same direction; but that it should be implicitly believed, as it evidently was by Miago, upon the mere word of his fellow countryman, did, I own, astonish me; and seems to indicate that, in their social intercourse with each other, they may have more regard for truth than I was at first inclined to give them credit for.

USELESS BAY.

Mr. Usborne was away to-day in one of the boats, seeking a berth for the ship higher up the bay: upon his return he reported that he had been over the banks before mentioned, upon which he found the water very shoal: the face of the country he described as exceedingly low, with mud lumps not unlike ant-hills,* scattered here and there over the face of it, and several clusters of small trees. Natives also had been seen, though no opportunity of approaching them had occurred, as the moment their restless eyes, or quick ears, detected our approach, they most rapidly retreated.

(*Footnote. Subsequent experience literally verified this opinion.)

HEAT AND SICKNESS.

January 19.

Two boats were despatched this morning, under Mr. Usborne's command, to examine the eastern part of what I think may be named very properly Useless Bay. This would have been my duty, had I not unfortunately been taken ill in the evening of the preceding day: the symptoms were violent headache, and a disordered state of the stomach, caused, the surgeon says, by the oppressive and overpowering heat which we have experienced for the last few days, and the general effects of which seem more distressing to the ship's company than is often experienced under a higher range of the thermometer; the deprivation of all power, or energy, is one of its most unpleasant consequences. I am inclined to think that one reason for its great and wearying effect upon most of us--indeed, more or less, all are suffering from it--is that there is hardly any variation in temperature during the whole twenty-four hours: it sometimes does not amount to more than two or three degrees. Captain Wickham and the surgeon visited an inlet near the ship to-day, which had indeed been looked into, but not explored before. They proceeded to the south-west for about three miles, through a very tortuous channel, dry in many parts at low-water, thickly studded with mangrove bushes, over and through which the tide made its way at high-water, giving to that part of the country the appearance of an extensive morass. A slightly elevated table-topped range of land was seen from time to time, some eight or nine miles to the south-east, but in its highest elevation did not reach 200 feet. The apparent width of the inlet in no way diminished so far as the exploring party examined it; and this fact, coupled with the general character of the country hereabouts, induces me to suppose that the periodical return of the spring tide, floods the greater part of the coast between the sea shore and the base of the range I have alluded to. Vampires of a very large kind were here met with, the furthest south we had seen them.

MIAGO ON SHORE.

Miago had accompanied this party on shore, though he evidently showed no great devotion to the deed. They said he watched everything, aye, every bush, with the most scrutinizing gaze: his head appeared to turn upon a pivot, so constantly was it in motion, with all that restless watchfulness for which the savage is ever remarkable. The heat to-day either exceeded an average, or else perhaps, as an invalid, I noticed it more closely:

On shore, it was 98 degrees in the shade. On board, it was 90 degrees in the shade. Pulling off in the boats 118. During the day, it fluctuated, between 88 and 94.

A breeze from seaward blew the greater part of each night from West-South-West, hauling round to south in the morning.

January 20.

Our noon observation to-day enabled us to fix the latitude of Cape Villaret 18 degrees 18 minutes 50 seconds, which precisely agrees with that assigned to it by Captain King.

MR. USBORNE WOUNDED.

In the afternoon the boats returned with Mr. Usborne, who had been unfortunately very severely wounded by the accidental discharge of a musket. It appeared that after a careful examination of the bay, which ended as I had anticipated, in proving that no opening to the interior would be found in it, the party were returning to the boats, when, from the accidental explosion of a musket in the hand of one of the party, a ball entered Mr. Usborne's right side, near the spine, between the lower rib and hip bone, making an exit in a line with the navel. This truly unfortunate circumstance--which for some weeks deprived the expedition of the services of a most valuable officer--occurred about 10 o'clock A.M., but the time and trouble of carrying the sufferer through the mud to the boats, and then pulling some 15 miles, made it near 6 o'clock before he was on board and under the charge of Mr. Bynoe: we were all shocked to see our companion lifted apparently lifeless into the vessel he had so recently quitted full of health, and animated by an anxious desire to do all in his power to conduce to the general success; but were ere long assured by Mr. Bynoe, whose personal or professional merits need no eulogium from me--and who immediately and most carefully attended our wounded messmate--that the best results might be reasonably hoped for: a prediction shortly afterwards happily verified. At the time this unlucky accident occurred, some twenty natives rushed from the concealment whence they had been doubtless watching all the proceedings of the party, as though they designed to bear a part in what probably seemed to them, as poor Usborne went down, an approaching fray: however, the sight of the two boats in the distance, which upon deploying they had full in view, deterred them from acting upon any hostile intentions, supposing such to have existed in their minds.

LOADED PISTOLS LEFT BEHIND.

The accident, however, and their sudden appearance, could only serve additionally to flurry the little party who had to convey their disabled officer to a place of safety, and Mr. Helpman, who may well be pardoned the want of his usual self-possession at such a moment, left behind a pair of loaded pistols. They would puzzle the savages greatly of course, but I hope no ill consequences ensued: if they began pulling them about, or put them in the fire, the better to separate the wood and iron, two or three poor wretches might be killed or maimed for life, and their first recollections of the Quibra men, as Miago calls us, would naturally be anything but favourable.

Thus disastrously terminated our examination of Roebuck Bay, in which the cheering reports of former navigators, no less than the tenor of our hydrographical instructions had induced us to anticipate the discovery of some great water-communication with the interior of this vast Continent. A most thorough and careful search--in which everyone seemed animated by one common and universal sentiment, prompting all to a zealous discharge of duty--had clearly demonstrated that the hoped-for river must be sought elsewhere: and that very fact which at first seemed to lessen the probabilities of ultimate success, served rather to inspire than to daunt; since while it could not shake our reliance upon the opinions of those best qualified to decide, that such a river must ultimately be discovered, it only narrowed the ground upon which energy, knowledge, and perseverance had yet to undergo their probation, ere they enjoyed their reward!

THE BOYL-YAS.

Our intercourse with the natives had been necessarily of the most limited character, hardly amounting to anything beyond indulging them with the sight of a new people, whose very existence, notwithstanding the apathetic indifference with which they regarded us, must have appeared a prodigy. What tradition may serve to hand down the memory of our visit to the third generation, should no newer arrival correct its gathering errors, and again restore some vestige of the truth, it is hardly possible to imagine; but should any misfortune follow their possession of Mr. Helpman's pistols, that in particular will be narrated as the motive for the visit of those white men who came flying upon the water, and left some of the secret fire upon the peaceful coast: and when again the white sails of the explorer glisten in the distant horizon, all the imaginary terrors of the Boyl-yas,* will be invoked to avert the coming of those who bring with them the unspeakable blessings of Christian civilization.

(*Footnote. The natives in the neighbourhood of Swan River give this name to their Sorcerers.)