Narrative of a Survey of the Intertropical and Western Coasts of Australia — Vol. 1: Performed between the years 1818 and 1822King, Philip Parker
History
Narrative of a Survey of the Intertropical and Western Coasts of Australia — Vol. 1: Performed between the years 1818 and 1822
King, Philip Parker
Australia -- Description and travel; Natural history -- Australia
Upon mentioning the natives of the coast and showing them the
stone-headed spear that we had found, they evinced their dislike to them
very plainly, they called them Maregas, Marega being, as we afterwards
found, their appellation for this part of the coast.
It was now growing late, and as the canoe had not returned, they hailed
their companions several times, but not being answered, they asked for a
musket, and fired it in the direction of their boat; this had the desired
effect, and it very shortly came alongside, but the crew had not been
successful, for they had caught only two small fishes which were
presented to us: they then took leave, repeatedly assuring us that the
next morning they would pay us another visit.
April 26.
But, without waiting for the honour they intended us, we got under weigh
early and left them to comment as they pleased upon our disappointing
them of the gunpowder, which, to get rid of them, we had promised to give
them the next morning.
Being under sail, we steered to the West-South-West, until the land
opened round Cape Don in an east-northerly direction for eight miles, and
then the coast trended to the south-eastward under Mounts Bedwell and
Roe, where the land was lost to view. To the westward the land was
observed trending in a north and south direction, and bore the appearance
of being an island.
The ebb now commenced setting out, and although we were going three knots
through the water, we made no progress over the ground. Seven miles West
by South from Cape Don we sounded in fifty fathoms on a bottom of
branch-coral, and four miles more to the westward we had but nineteen
fathoms. When the flood commenced, it was too dark to profit by it.
April 27.
And no progress was made until the next morning, when, having a fresh
breeze, we reached an anchorage in a bay on the north side, and close
under the base of Mount Bedwell. On our way we steered through strong
tide-ripplings in which, at times, notwithstanding the strength of the
breeze, the cutter was quite ungovernable. Off the bay is a low mangrove
island which I had the pleasure to name after the Reverend James W.
Burford, of Stratford, Essex, and the bay in which we had anchored was
called after W. Aiton, Esquire, of the Royal Gardens at Kew.
The bottom of Aiton Bay is shoal and apparently terminates in an inlet or
creek; at low water the tide left a considerable space dry that appeared
to extend from shore to shore.
Our distance from the beach was so short that the howlings of dogs were
distinctly heard, and other noises were distinguished which some of us
thought were made by natives, but they were more probably the screams of
birds.
April 28.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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