A General History and Collection of Voyages and Travels, Vol. 13 by Robert Kerr

R >> Robert Kerr >> A General History and Collection of Voyages and Travels, Vol. 13

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The weapons of these people are spears or lances, and these are or
different kinds: Some that we saw upon the southern part of the coast
had four prongs, pointed with bone, and barbed; the points were also
smeared with a hard resin, which gave them a polish, and made them enter
deeper into what they struck. To the northward, the lance has but one
point: The shaft is made of cane, or the stalk of a plant somewhat
resembling a bulrush, very straight and light, and from eight to
fourteen feet long, consisting of several joints, where the pieces are
let into each other, and bound together; to this are fitted points of
different kinds; some are of hard heavy wood, and some are the bones of
fish: We saw several that were pointed with the stings of the sting-ray,
the largest that they could procure, and barbed with several that were
smaller, fastened on in a contrary direction; the points of wood were
also sometimes armed with sharp pieces of broken shells, which were
stuck in, and at the junctures covered with resin: The lances that are
thus barbed, are indeed dreadful weapons, for when once they have taken
place, they can never be drawn back without tearing away the flesh, or
leaving the sharp ragged splinters of the bone or shell which forms the
beard, behind them in the wound. These weapons are thrown with great
force and dexterity; if intended to wound at a short distance, between
ten and twenty yards, simply with the hand, but if at the distance of
forty or fifty, with an instrument which we called a throwing-stick.
This is a plain smooth piece of a hard reddish wood, very highly
polished, about two inches broad, half an inch thick, and three feet
long, with a small knob, or hook at one end, and a cross piece about
three or four inches long at the other: The knob at one end is received
in a small dent or hollow, which is made for that purpose in the shaft
of the lance near the point, but from which it easily slips, upon being
impelled forward: When the lance is laid along upon this machine, and
secured in a proper position by the knob, the person that is to throw
it holds it over his shoulder, and after shaking it, delivers both the
throwing-stick and lance with all his force; but the stick being stopped
by the cross piece which comes against the shoulder, with a sudden jerk,
the lance flies forward with incredible swiftness, and with so good an
aim, that at the distance of fifty yards these Indians were more sure of
their mark than we could be with a single bullet. Besides these lances,
we saw no offensive weapon upon this coast, except when we took our last
view of it with our glasses, and then we thought we saw a man with a bow
and arrows, in which it is possible we might be mistaken. We saw,
however, at Botany Bay, a shield or target of an oblong shape, about
three feet long, and eighteen inches broad, which was made of the bark
of a tree: This was fetched out of a hut by one of the men that opposed
our landing, who, when he ran away, left it behind him, and upon taking
it up, we found that it had been pierced through with a single pointed
lance near the center. These shields are certainly in frequent use among
the people here; for though this was the only one that we saw in their
possession, we frequently found trees from which they appeared
manifestly to have been cut, the marks being easily distinguished from
those that were made by cutting buckets: Sometimes also we found the
shields cut out, but not yet taken off from the tree, the edges of the
bark only being a little raised by wedges, so that these people appear
to have discovered that the bark of a tree becomes thicker and stronger
by being suffered to remain upon the trunk after it has been cut round.

The canoes of New Holland are as mean and rude as the houses. Those on
the southern part of the coast are nothing more than a piece of bark,
about twelve feet long, tied together at the ends, and kept open in the
middle by small bows of wood: Yet in a vessel of this construction we
once saw three people. In shallow water they are set forward by a pole,
and in deeper by paddles, about eighteen inches long, one of which the
boatman holds in each hand; mean as they are, they have many
conveniencies; they draw but little water, and they are very light, so
that they go upon mud banks to pick up shell-fish, the most important
use to which they can be applied, better perhaps than vessels of any
other construction. We observed, that in the middle of these canoes
there was a heap of sea-weed, and upon that a small fire; probably that
the fish may be broiled and eaten the moment it is caught.

The canoes that we saw when we advanced farther to the northward, are
not made of bark, but of the trunk of a tree hollowed, perhaps by fire.
They are about fourteen feet long, and, being very narrow, are fitted
with an outrigger to prevent their oversetting. These are worked with
paddles, that are so large as to require both hands to manage one of
them: The outside is wholly unmarked by any tool, but at each end the
wood is left longer at the top than at the bottom, so that there is a
projection beyond the hollow part resembling the end of a plank; the
sides are tolerably thin, but how the tree is felled and fashioned, we
had no opportunity to learn. The only tools that we saw among them are
an adze, wretchedly made of stone, some small pieces of the same
substance in form of a wedge, a wooden mallet, and some shells and
fragments of coral. For polishing their throwing-sticks, and the points
of their lances, they use the leaves of a kind of wild fig-tree, which
bites upon wood almost as keenly as the shave-grass of Europe, which is
used by our joiners: With such tools, the making even such a canoe as I
have described, must be a most difficult and tedious labour: To those
who have been accustomed to the use of metal, it appears altogether
impracticable; but there are few difficulties that will not yield to
patient perseverance, and he who does all he can, will certainly produce
effects that greatly exceed his apparent power.[94]

[Footnote 94: This very just observation cannot be too forcibly urged,
or too frequently recollected. The deficiency of which most men have
reason to complain, is not that of ability, but of industry and
application. Genius is pursued and coveted, because it is imagined to be
a sort of creating energy which produces at will, and without
labour.--It is therefore desirable to indolent minds. But this is a
mistake of no small detriment, though of very common occurrence. Few
people perhaps discover it to be so, till they have to condemn
themselves for the loss of much of their best time, spent in idly
wishing for the inspiration which is to do such wonders, for them
without exertion on their part. Reader, in place of this, fix on some
useful or laudable work, and set about _doing_ it.--E.]

The utmost freight of these canoes is four people, and if more at any
time wanted to come over the river, one of those who came first was
obliged to go back for the rest: From this circumstance we conjectured
that the boat we saw, when we were lying in Endeavour River, was the
only one in the neighbourhood: We have however some reason to believe
that the bark canoes are also used where the wooden ones are
constructed, for upon one of the small islands where the natives had
been fishing for turtle, we found one of the little paddles which had
belonged to such a boat, and would have been useless on board any other.

By what means the inhabitants of this country are reduced to such a
number as it can subsist, is not perhaps very easy to guess; whether,
like the inhabitants of New Zealand, they are destroyed by the hands of
each other in contests for food; whether they are swept off by
accidental famine, or whether there is any cause which prevents the
increase of the species, must be left for future adventurers to
determine.[95] That they have wars, appears by their weapons; for
supposing the lances to serve merely for the striking of fish, the
shield could be intended for nothing but a defence against men; the only
mark of hostility, however, which we saw among them, was the perforation
of the shield by a spear, which has been just mentioned, for none of
them appeared to have been wounded by an enemy. Neither can we determine
whether they are pusillanimous or brave; the resolution with which two
of them attempted to prevent our landing, when we had two boats full of
men, in Botany Bay, even after one of them was wounded with small shot,
gave us reason to conclude that they were not only naturally courageous,
but that they had acquired a familiarity with the dangers of hostility,
and were, by habit as well as nature, a daring and warlike people; but
their precipitate flight from every other place that we approached,
without even a menace, while they were out of our reach, was an
indication of uncommon tameness and timidity, such as those who had only
been occasionally warriors must be supposed to have shaken off, whatever
might have been their natural disposition. I have faithfully related
facts, the reader must judge of the people for himself.[96]

[Footnote 95: Some remarks on this very interesting subject will be
given hereafter.--E.]

[Footnote 96: The reader may wait a little till he has received some
information destined to his use. What has been now given is too scanty
evidence to justify a final decision in the matter.--E.]

From the account that has been given of our commerce with them, it
cannot be supposed that we should know much of their language; yet as
this is an object of great curiosity, especially to the learned, and of
great importance in their researches into the origin of the various
nations that have been discovered, we took some pains to bring away such
a specimen of it as might, in a certain degree, answer the purpose, and
I shall now give an account how it was procured. If we wanted to know
the name of a stone, we took a stone up into our hands, and, as well as
we could, intimated by signs that we wished they should name it: The
word that they pronounced upon the occasion, we immediately wrote down.
This method, though it was the best we could contrive, might certainly
lead us into many mistakes; for if an Indian was to take up a stone, and
ask us the name of it, we might answer a pebble or a flint; so when we
took up a stone and asked an Indian the name of it, he might pronounce a
word that distinguished the species, and not the genus, or that instead
of signifying stone simply, might signify a rough stone, or a smooth
stone: However, as much as possible to avoid mistakes of this kind,
several of us contrived, at different times, to get from them as many
words as we could, and having noted them down, compared our lists; those
which were the same in all, and which, according to every one's account,
signified the same thing, we ventured to record, with a very few others,
which, from the simplicity of the subject, and the ease of expressing
our question with plainness and precision by a sign, have acquired equal
authority.

English. New Holland.

_The head_, Wageegee.
_Hair_, Morye.
_Eyes_, Meul.
_Ears_, Melea.
_Lips_, Yembe.
_Nose_, Bonjoo.
_Tongue_, Unjar.
_Nails_, Kulke.
_Sun_, Gallan.
_Fire_, Meanang.
_A stone_, Walba.
_Sand_, Yowall.
_A rope_, Gurka.
_A man_, Bama.
_Beard_, Wallar.
_Neck_, Doomboo.
_Nipples_, Cayo.
_Hands_, Marigal.
_Thighs_, Coman.
_Navel_, Toolpoor.
_Knees_, Pongo.
_Feet_, Edamal.
_Heel_, Kniorror.
_Cockatoo_, Wanda.
_The soal of the foot_ Chumal.
_Ankle_, Chongurn.
_Arms_, Aco, or Acol.
_Thumb_, Eboorbalga.
_The fore, middle, and ring fingers_, Egalbaiga.
_The little finger_, Nakil, or Ebornakil.
_The Sky_, Kere, or Kearre.
_A father_, Dunjo.
_A Son_, Jumurre.
_A male turtle_, Poinga.
_A female_, Mameingo.
_A canoe_, Marigan.
_To paddle_, Pelenyo.
_Sit down_, Takai.
_Smooth_, Mier Carrar.
_A dog_, Cotta, or Kota.
_A loriquet_. Perpere, or pier-pier.
_Blood_, Yarmbe.
_Wood_, Yocou.
_The bone in the nose_, Tapool.
_A bag_, Charngala.
_A great cockle_, Moingo.
_Cocos, Yams_, Maracatou.

New Holland. English

Cherr, } _Expressions, as we supposed, of_
Cherco, } _admiration, which they continually_
Yarcaw, } _used when they were_
Tut, tut, tut, tut, } _in company with us_.[97]

[Footnote 97: This table is exceedingly scanty and imperfect, and would
not have been given were it not thought proper, for a reason already
assigned, to preserve entire this early account of New Holland.--E.]

I shall now quit this country with a few observations relative to the
currents and tides upon the coast. From latitude 32 deg., and somewhat
higher, down to Sandy Cape, in latitude 24 deg. 46', we constantly found a
current setting to the southward, at the rate of about ten or fifteen
miles a-day, being more or less, according to our distance from the
land, for it always ran with more force in-shore than in the offing; but
I could never satisfy myself whether the flood-tide came from the
southward, the eastward, or the northward; I inclined to the opinion
that it came from the southeast; but the first time we anchored off the
coast, which was in latitude 24 deg. 30', about ten leagues to the
south-east of Bustard Bay, I found it came from the north-west; on the
contrary, thirty leagues farther to the north-west, on the south side of
Keppel Bay, I found that it came from the east, and at the northern part
of that bay it came from the northward, but with a much slower motion
than it had come from the east: On the east side of the Bay of Inlets,
it set strongly to the westward, as far as the opening of Broad Sound;
but on the north side of that sound it came with a very slow motion from
the north-west; and when we lay at anchor before Repulse Bay, it came
from the northward: To account for its course in all this variety of
directions, we need only admit that the flood-tide comes from the east
or south-east. It is well known, that where there are deep inlets, and
large creeks into low lands running up from the sea, and not occasioned
by rivers of fresh water, there will always be a great indraught of the
flood-tide, the direction of which will be determined by the position or
direction of the coast which forms the entrance of such inlet, whatever
be its course at sea; and where the tides are weak, which upon this
coast is generally the case, a large inlet will, if I may be allowed the
expression, attract the flood-tide for many leagues.

A view of the chart will at once illustrate this position. To the
northward of Whitsunday's Passage there is no large inlet, consequently
the flood sets to the northward, or northwestward, according to the
direction of the coast, and the ebb to the south, or south-eastward, at
least such is their course at a little distance from the land, for very
near it they will be influenced by small inlets. I also observed that we
had only one high tide in twenty-four hours, which happened in the
night. The difference between the perpendicular rise of the water in the
day and the night, when there is a spring-tide, is no less than three
feet, which, where the tides are so inconsiderable as they are here, is
a great proportion of the whole difference between high and low water.
This irregularity of the tides, which is worthy of notice, we did not
discover till we were ran ashore, and perhaps farther to the northward
it is still greater. After we got within the reef the second time, we
found the tides more considerable than we had ever done before, except
in the Bay of Inlets, and possibly this may be owing to the water being
more confined between the shoals; here also the flood sets to the
north-west, and continues in the same direction to the extremity of New
Wales, from whence its direction is west and south-west into the Indian
sea.

SECTION XXXIV.

_The Passage from New South Wales to New Guinea, with an Account of what
happened upon landing there_.

In the afternoon of Thursday, August the 23d, after leaving Booby
Island, we steered W.N.W. with light airs from the S.S.W. till five
o'clock, when it fell calm, and the tide of ebb soon after setting to
the N.E., we came to an anchor in eight fathom water, with a soft sandy
bottom. Booby Island bore S. 50 E., distant five miles, and the Prince
of Wales's Isles extended from N.E. by N. to S. 55 E.; between these
there appeared to be a clear open passage, extending from N. 46 E. to E.
by N.

At half an hour after five in the morning of the 24th, as we were
purchasing the anchor, the cable parted at about eight or ten fathom
from the ring: The ship then began to drive, but I immediately dropped
another anchor, which brought her up before she got more than a cable's
length from the buoy; the boats were then sent to sweep for the anchor,
but could not succeed. At noon our latitude by observation was 10 deg. 30'
S. As I was resolved not to leave the anchor behind, while there
remained a possibility of recovering it, I sent the boats again after
dinner with a small line, to discover where it lay; this being happily
effected, we swept for it with a hawser, and by the same hawser hove the
ship up to it: We proceeded to weigh it, but just as we were about to
ship it, the hawser slipped, and we had all our labour to repeat: By
this time it was dark, and we were obliged to suspend our operations
till the morning.

As soon as it was light, we sweeped it again, and heaved it to the bows:
By eight o'clock we weighed the other anchor, got under sail, and, with
a fine breeze at E.N.E. stood to the north-west. At noon, our latitude,
by observation, was 10 deg. 18' S., longitude 219 deg. 39' W. At this time we
had no land in sight, but about two miles to the southward of us lay a
large shoal, upon which the sea broke with great violence, and part of
which, I believe, is dry at low water. It extends N.W. and S.E., and is
about five leagues in circuit. Our depth of water, from the time we
weighed till now, was nine fathom, but it soon shallowed to seven
fathom; and at half an hour after one, having run eleven miles between
noon and that time, the boat which was a-head made the signal for shoal
water; we immediately let go an anchor, and brought the ship up with all
the sails standing, for the boat, having just been relieved, was at but
a little distance: Upon looking out from the ship, we saw shoal water
almost all round us, both wind and tide at the same time setting upon
it. The ship was in six fathom, but upon sounding round her, at the
distance of half a cable's length, we found scarcely two. This shoal
reached from the east, round by the north and west, as far as the
south-west, so that there was no way for us to get clear but that which
we came. This was another hair's-breadth escape, for it was near high
water, and there run a short cockling sea, which must very soon have
bulged the ship if she had struck; and if her direction had been half a
cable's length more either to the right or left, she must have struck
before the signal for the shoal was made. The shoals which, like these,
lie a fathom or two under water, are the most dangerous of any, for they
do not discover themselves till the vessel is just upon them, and then
indeed the water looks brown, as if it reflected a dark cloud. Between
three and four o'clock the tide of ebb began to make, and I sent the
master to sound to the southward and south-westward, and in the mean
time, as the ship tended, I weighed anchor, and with a little sail stood
first to the southward, and after edging away to the westward, got once
more out of danger. At sun-set we anchored in ten fathom, with a sandy
bottom, having a fresh gale at E.S.E.

At six in the morning we weighed again and stood west, having, as usual,
first sent a boat a-head to sound. I had intended to steer N.W. till I
had made the south coast of New Guinea, designing, if possible, to touch
upon it; but upon meeting with these shoals, I altered my course, in
hopes of finding a clearer channel, and deeper water. In this I
succeeded, for by noon our depth of water was gradually increased to
seventeen fathom. Our latitude was now, by observation, 10 deg. 10' S., and
our longitude 220 deg. 12' W. No land was in sight. We continued to steer W.
till sun-set, our depth of water being from twenty-seven to twenty-three
fathom: We then shortened sail, and kept upon a wind all night; four
hours on one tack and four on another. At day-light we made all the sail
we could, and steered W.N.W. till eight o'clock, and then N.W. At noon
our latitude, by observation, was 9 deg. 56' S., longitude 221 deg. W.;
variation 2 deg. 30' E. We continued our N.W. course till sun-set, when we
again shortened sail, and hauled close upon a wind to the northward:
Our depth of water was twenty-one fathom. At eight, we tacked and stood
to the southward till twelve; then stood to the northward, with little
sail, till day-light: Our soundings were from twenty-five to seventeen
fathom, the water growing gradually shallow as we stood to the
northward. At this time we made sail and stood to the north, in order to
make the land of New Guinea: From the time of our making sail, till
noon, the depth of water gradually decreased from seventeen to twelve
fathom, with a stoney and shelly bottom. Our latitude, by observation,
was now 8 deg. 52' S, which is in the same parallel as that in which the
southern parts of New Guinea are laid down in the charts; but there are
only two points so far to the south, and I reckoned that we were a
degree to the westward of them both, and therefore did not see the land,
which trends more to the northward. We found the sea here to be in many
parts covered with a brown scum, such as sailors generally call spawn.
When I first saw it, I was alarmed, fearing that we were among shoals;
but upon sounding, we found the same depth of water as in other places.
This scum was examined both by Mr Banks and Dr Solander, but they could
not determine what it was: It was formed of innumerable small particles,
not more than half a line in length, each of which in the microscope
appeared to consist of thirty or forty tubes; and each tube was divided
through its whole length by small partitions into many cells, like the
tubes of the conferva: They were supposed to belong to the vegetable
kingdom, because, upon burning them, they produced no smell like that of
an animal substance. The same appearance had been observed upon the
coast of Brazil and New Holland, but never at any considerable distance
from the shore. In the evening a small bird hovered about the ship, and
at night, settling among the rigging, was taken. It proved to be exactly
the same bird which Dampier has described, and of which he has given a
rude figure, by the name of a Noddy, from New Holland. [See his Voyages,
vol. iii. p. 98, Tab. of Birds, fig. 5.][98]

[Footnote 98: Additional information on this subject remains for a
subsequent part of our work.--E.]

We continued standing to the northward with a fresh gale at E. by S. and
S.E., till six in the evening, having very irregular soundings, the
depth changing at once from twenty-four fathom to seven. At four we had
seen the land from the mast-head, bearing N.W. by N.; it appeared to be
very low, and to stretch from W.N.W. to N.N.E., distant four or five
leagues. We now hauled close upon a wind till seven, then tacked and
stood to the southward till twelve, at which time we wore and stood to
the northward till four in the morning, then laid the head of the vessel
off till daylight, when we again saw the land, and stood in N.N.W.,
directly for it, with a fresh gale at E. by S. Our soundings during the
night were very irregular, from seven to five fathom, suddenly changing
from deep to shallow, and from shallow to deep, without in the least
corresponding with our distance from the land. At half an hour after six
in the morning, a small low island, which lay at the distance of about a
league from the main, bore N. by W. distant five miles: This island lies
in latitude 8 deg. 13' S., longitude 231 deg. 25' W.; and I find it laid down in
the charts by the names of Bartholomew and Whermoysen. We now steered
N.W. by W.W.N.W., W. by N.W. by S., and S.W. by W., as we found the
land lie, with from five to nine fathom; and though we reckoned we were
not more than four leagues from it, yet it was so low and level that we
could but just see it from the deck. It appeared, however, to be well
covered with wood, and, among other trees, we thought we could
distinguish the cocoa-nut. We saw smoke in several places, and therefore
knew there were inhabitants. At noon we were about three leagues from
the land; the westermost part of which that was in sight bore S. 79 deg. W.
Our latitude, by observation, was 8 deg. 19' S., and longitude 221 deg. 44' W.
The island of St Bartholomew bore N. 74 E. distant 20 miles.