The Explorers (13 page)

Impressed with this idea, we tacked to work up for the road and, our pendant and ensign being hoisted, each of them hung out a small white flag. On approaching, I sent Lieutenant Flinders in an armed boat to learn who they were; and soon afterward we came to an anchor in twelve fathoms, within musket shot, having a spring on the cable, and all hands at quarters.
^††

Every motion in the whale boat, and in the vessel alongside which she was lying, was closely watched with our glasses, but all seemed to pass quietly; and on the return of Lieutenant Flinders we learned that they were prows from Macassar, and the six Malay commanders shortly afterwards came on board in a canoe. It happened fortunately that my cook was a Malay, and through his means I was able to communicate with them. The chief of the six prows was a short, elderly man named Pobassoo; he said there were upon the coast, in different divisions, sixty prows, and that Salloo was the commander-in-chief. These people were Mahometans, and on looking into the launch expressed great horror to see hogs there; nevertheless they had no objection to port wine, and even requested a bottle to carry away with them at sunset…

My desire to learn everything concerning these people, and the strict look-out which it had been necessary to keep upon them, prevented me attending to any other business during their stay. According to Pobassoo, from whom my information was principally obtained, sixty prows belonging to the Rajah of Boni, and carrying one thousand men, had left Macassar with the north-west monsoon, two months before, upon an expedition to this coast; and the fleet was then lying in different places to the westward, five or six together, Pobassoo's division being the foremost. These prows seemed to be about twenty-five tons, and to have twenty or twenty-five men in each; that of Pobassoo carried two small brass guns, obtained from the Dutch, but the others had only muskets; besides which, every Malay wears a cress or dagger, either secretly or openly. I inquired after bows and arrows, and the
ippo
poison, but they had none of them; and it was with difficulty they could understand what was meant by the
ippo
.

The object of their expedition was a certain marine animal, called
trepang
. Of this they gave me two dried specimens; and it proved to be the
bêche-de-mer
or sea cucumber which we had first seen on the reefs of the east coast, and had afterwards hauled on shore so plentifully with the seine, especially in Caledon Bay. They get the
trepang
by diving in from three to eight fathoms water; and where it is abundant a man will bring up eight or ten at a time. The mode of preserving it is this: the animal is split down one side, boiled and pressed with a weight of stones, then stretched open by slips of bamboo, dried in the sun and afterwards in smoke, when it is fit to be put away in bags, but requires frequent exposure to the sun. A thousand
trepang
make a
picol
, of about 125 Dutch pounds; and one hundred
picols
are a cargo for a prow. It is carried to Timor and sold to the Chinese, who meet them there; and when all the prows are assembled the fleet returns to Macassar. By Timor seemed to be meant Timor-laoet; for when I inquired concerning the English, Dutch and Portuguese there, Pobassoo knew nothing of them: he had heard of Coepang, a Dutch settlement, but said it was upon another island…
^†

Pobassoo had made six or seven voyages from Macassar to this coast within the preceding twenty years, and he was one of the first who came; but had never seen any ship here before. This road was the first rendezvous for his division, to take in water previously to going into the Gulf. One of their prows had been lost the year before, and much inquiry was made concerning the pieces of wreck we had seen; and, a canoe's rudder being produced, it was recognised as having belonged to her.

They sometimes had skirmishes with the native inhabitants of the coast; Pobassoo himself had been formerly speared in the knee, and a man had been slightly wounded since their arrival in this road: they cautioned us much to beware of the natives.
^*

They had no knowledge of any European settlement in this country and, on learning the name Port Jackson, the son of Pobassoo made a memorandum of it as thus,
writing from left to right. Until this time, that some nutmegs were shown to them, they did not know of their being produced here, nor had they ever met with coconuts; bananas or other edible fruits or vegetables, fish and sometimes turtle being all they procured.

I inquired after if they knew of any rivers or openings leading far inland, if they made charts of what they saw, or used any charts. To all of which Pobassoo answered in the negative…I could find no other nautical instrument amongst them than a very small pocket compass, apparently of Dutch manufacture; by this their course is directed at sea without the aid of any chart or astronomical observation…

My numberless questions were answered patiently, and with apparent sincerity; Pobassoo even stopped one day longer, at my desire, than he had intended, for the north-west monsoon, he said, would not blow quite a month longer, and he was rather late. I rewarded his trouble and that of his companions with several presents, principally iron tools, which they seemed anxious to possess; and he begged of me an English jack, which he afterwards carried at the head of his squadron. He also expressed a desire for a letter, to show to any other ship he might meet; and I accordingly wrote him a note to Captain Baudin, whom it seemed probable he might encounter in the Gulf, either going or returning.

25 February 1803—At daylight, I took bearings from the low south-west point whilst Bongaree speared a few fish…Bongaree was busily employed preparing his fish when my bearings were concluded. The natives of Port Jackson have a prejudice against all fish of the ray kind, as well as against sharks and, whilst they devour with eager avidity the blubber of a whale or porpoise, a piece of skate would excite disgust.

Our good-natured Indian had been ridiculed by the sailors for this unaccountable whim, but he had not been cured; and it so happened that the fish he had speared this morning were three small rays and a mullet. This last, being the most delicate, he presented to Mr Westall and me, so soon as it was cooked; and then went to saunter by the water side, whilst the boats' crew should cook and eat the rays, although, having had nothing since the morning before, it may be supposed he did not want appetite.

I noticed this in silence till the whole were prepared, and then had him called up to take his portion of the mullet; but it was with much difficulty that his modesty and forbearance could be overcome, for these qualities, so seldom expected in a savage, formed leading features in the character of my humble friend. But there was one of the sailors also, who preferred hunger to ray-eating! It might be supposed he had an eye to the mullet; but this was not the case. He had been seven or eight years with me, mostly in New South Wales, had learned many of the native habits, and even imbibed this ridiculous notion respecting rays and sharks; though he could not allege, as Bongaree did, that ‘they might be very good for white men, but would kill him'.

The mullet accordingly underwent a further division; and Mr Westall and myself, having no prejudice against rays, made up our proportion of this scanty repast from one of them.

F
RANÇOIS
P
ÉRON

Terre Napoleon, 1802

Napoleon Bonaparte had a special fascination with Australia. In 1801 he equipped and despatched the Baudin expedition, probably the most magnificent scientific expedition ever to visit the region. For three years the French scientists probed, measured and charted every aspect of the new continent, naming its southern coast
Terre Napoleon
in honour of their emperor.

Following many deaths and desertions François Péron was to become scientific leader of the expedition. He was the first person ever to revel in the title of Field Anthropologist. He was also an experienced soldier, who knew that peace between the French and English was fragile. In April and May of 1802 Péron saw Sydney, somewhat improbably, as a model city, inhabited by model citizens universally improving their morals and manners in their new land. His careful observations of the nascent city and of its fortifications suggest that Péron felt that one day he might return to Port Jackson—this time to fight a war.

Our arrival at Port Jackson did not excite so much surprise amongst the colonists as might have been expected; but for ourselves, we were completely astonished at the flourishing state in which we found this singular and distant establishment. The beauty of the port at first attracted our whole attention. From an entrance, says Commodore Phillip (whose description is not in the least exaggerated), of not more than two miles across, Port Jackson gradually opens till it forms a spacious harbour, with sufficient depth of water for the largest ships, and room enough to contain, in perfect safety, all that could on any occasion be collected. Even a thousand ships of the line might manœuvre here with ease. The bay takes a western direction, extends to the distance of thirteen miles inland, and has at least a hundred little creeks, formed by very narrow tongues of land, which afford excellent shelter against winds, from any point of the compass.

Towards the middle of this magnificent port, and on its southern bank, in one of the principal creeks, rises Sydney Town, the capital of the county of Cumberland, and of all the English colonies in this part of the world. Seated at the base of two hills—they are contiguous to each other—and having the advantage of a rivulet which runs completely through it, this infant town affords a view at once agreeable and picturesque.

To the right, and at the north point of Sydney Cove, you perceive the signal battery, which is built upon a rock difficult of access: six pieces of cannon, protected by a turf entrenchment, cross their fire with that of another battery, which I shall presently mention, and thus defend, in the most effectual manner, the approach to the harbour and the town. Farther on appear the large buildings that form the hospital and which are capable of containing two or three hundred sick. Amongst these buildings there is one particularly worthy of notice, as all the parts of it were prepared in Europe and brought out in Commodore Phillip's squadron, so that, in a few days after its arrival, there was an hospital ready to receive such of the crews as were sick.

On the same side of the town, at the seashore, you observe a very fine magazine to which the largest ships can come up and discharge their cargoes. In the same direction are several private docks in which are built brigs and cutters, of different sizes, for the purpose of trading, either inland or beyond the colony. These vessels, which are from fifty to three hundred tons burthen, are built entirely with the native wood; even their masts are obtained from the forests of the colony.

The discovery of the strait which separates New Holland from Van Diemen's Land was made in a simple whale sloop commanded by Mr Bass, the surgeon of the
Reliance
. This vessel may be said to have been consecrated to that great discovery and hazardous navigation, for it is preserved in the harbour, with a sort of religious veneration. Some snuff boxes have been made out of its keel, of which the possessors are both proud and jealous; and the governor himself thought he could not make a more acceptable present to our chief than a piece of the wood of this sloop, encased in a large silver toothpick box, round which were engraved the principal particulars of the discovery of Bass's Straits.

It is at the spot called Hospital Creek that the ships of individuals unload their cargoes. Beyond the hospital, in the same line, is the prison, which has several dungeons capable of holding from an hundred and fifty to two hundred prisoners; it is surrounded by a high and strong wall and has a numerous guard on duty, both by day and night. A short distance from the prison is the storehouse, for the reception of wines, spirituous liquors, salt provisions etc. In the front of it is the armoury, where the garrison is drawn up every morning, accompanied by a numerous and well-composed band, belonging to the New South Wales regiment. The whole western part of this spot is occupied by the house of the lieutenant-governor-general, behind which is a vast garden which is worth the attention both of the philosopher and the naturalist, on account of the great number of useful vegetables which are cultivated in it, and which have been procured from every part of the world by its present respectable possessor, Mr Paterson, a distinguished traveller, and member of the Royal Society of London.