The Explorers (29 page)

The woman said they were there and dispatched to tell them, while the man and I hurried on, telling me he would assist me.

On coming in sight of the camp, I watched the woman going to the south side where I supposed my friends were. I made there. She was telling them I was making onward but, surrounded by numbers, I was forced to stand. Black and savage as they were, no horror struck me as the sight of that unhappy lady, who caught my eye as it wandered round their huts.

Could I then have armed myself with vengeance would I have been detained from giving the cannibal race any account of my demands? Courage flushed to me and I feared no fate. Hearing the sound of Mamba, which the woman had told she was, and my sons amongst the crowd, to whom I said: ‘Is your eyes blind, don't you know your mother?' upon whose neck I fell, fancying to cry. My father-in-law jumped to his knife, saying, ‘No crying, go and take her.' (This man's name is Mootemu.)

Upwards of400 blacks had seized their spears when Mothervane came forward, to whom I said, ‘Do you claim a spirit? And she my wife. She can't speak to tell having lost her speech, and I who have got sense do tell the truth and here are her two sons and father,' pointing to the people above-named.

A dead silence was here and all eyes were on me whilst I told them how she was along with me in a canoe after turtle, and being cast away she swam amongst the north men, who gave her nothing to eat. She being a stranger could not tell who were her friends, having lost her tongue, and if Mothervane would [be] cross I would call a challenge. Here throwing off my trousers, to make fresh friends, I impeached them with being stupid in not knowing her.

All the coast blacks here stood on my side, and said I always told the truth. Saying, ‘Give her,' ‘She is his,' being now satisfied that she was Mamba. As they wanted me to go along with them into the mountains as their friends had heard of that spirit and their hearts would be glad at seeing her.

I here said, ‘You see she is near dead with hunger, let your friends wait till she is recovered and then I will go a season to the mountains.'

Mothervane said it was a pity to let that spirit go, but here Mootemu said, ‘They are two ghosts and no men has any right to separate them. Moilow* has good sense and knows how to live as well as us, he must have his wife.'

The father of the child to whom I gave the skirt coming forward, telling him what I had done for his girl, and where I left her with a full belly, not as my wife was, starving among them. He said in an angry voice, ‘You people hear that, he is coming with good fingers and why be cross?'

They began to retire to their respective huts, and a black man sitting opposite her hut, and again I seen the face of a Christian woman, and a black man sitting opposite her hut with a spear in his hand as a sentinel. On looking I recognised him to be a nephew of mine who has four wives, by name Dapen (left-handed man)—and coming to me said, ‘Come uncle, I was watching my aunt, that the mountain blacks should not come near, whilst you were talking. I fear none. I'll give her to you.'

On approaching to the hut, could I believe—I lost my sense of surprise and joy, and a sense of gratitude to the most of those savages who stood my friend. With a heartfelt sorrow for her then before me, I sunk to the ground. When roused by the voice of Dapen saying, ‘The sun is going round uncle, you have far to go.'

Roused to a sense of my situation I rose, reached my hand, saying, ‘Come with me. God has made me your deliverer.'

Fortitude was what I now called from heaven to assist me in seeing a woman survive in the most distressed state than can be painted, and one but a few months rolled in the affluence of plenty, doomed to subsist on the husks of the earth, and forced to bear the wood on them sunburnt shoulders where the tender skin hung in scales, ordered to hop on lacerated feet to fetch them water, and for what reward? The entrails of a snake or that of a fish, the body being devoured in her absence, caused to come forth as a show in their mock fights and sports. What but heaven could have prolonged a life of such misery for a deliverance? Or what could have given a fortitude but a patience which Job never experienced?

This lady rising and taking my hand, I proceeded through a camp of some hundreds of blacks. On the most judicious plan I asked four of those men to come with me to Nemberthan. Taking my leave of my friends, Mootemu wanted me to take some
bungwal
(a root), which I refused. Having come to the canoes, two were brought—three in each we crossed the lake. On her head was a south-wester, the smell of paint kept the blacks from taking it. Around her loins were part of the legs and waistband of a pair of trousers, which covered part of her thighs, wound round with vines twentyfold as well for delicacy as the preservation of her marriage and earrings which she concealed under the vines, and the only articles that were saved from those savage hands.

In ascending the forest ground I caused the blacks to follow my example which they did to the rocks, where arriving I saw that relief was come. Leaving the lady at the waterhole telling her to remain a few minutes, I took the blacks with me to the beach where was Lieutenant Otter, who came to meet me in such haste that almost frightened the blacks, enquiring where she was. I told him all was right, asking him for some clothes for her, at which he clasped his hands and thanked his God, going to his bag.

I seated the blacks along with corporals McGuire and Campbell of the 4th Regiment and Nathaniel Mitchell who came with Mr Otter, to whom I went and got a boat cloak and some other articles of dress and returned to prepare the lady for his reception, and for the first time them vines were pulled off which the hands of her dear and much lamented husband had put on.

I beg leave to omit several distressing incidents in regard to this surprising unhappy lady whose history of woes is unparalleled as also in passing any encomiums in behalf of myself through the many acts I was destined to fulfil under the providence of God.

Your Honour best can judge the situation of her mind, being about to enter into society, and the distress which attended this meeting when, assisting her forth, I gave her hand to that gentleman Mr Otter about one o'clock on Wednesday the 17th of August.

G
EORGE
G
REY

A Horrid Dream, 1838

Sir George Grey: now there was a man destined for greatness. One day he would be governor of South Australia, then of New Zealand, then of
_D
the Cape. But here we see a younger George Grey at the beginning of his career: an English officer of twenty-five who disliked military life, still wet behind the ears, attempting to explore the Prince Regent River region in the Kimberley—some of the most difficult terrain in Australia.

The thing that I love most about Grey is that, despite incidents like the one related here, he had a gift for getting on with the Aborigines. He learned their language and understood them, and he never saw them as second-class. Later, he was to sum up the cause of their lack of progress in white society in one word: prejudice.

11 February—On quitting the camp in the morning, I and my two companions traversed for some time portions of the elevated sandstone plains which I had passed on a former occasion; and after an hour's walking through the gloomy stringybark forest which covered them we reached a stream of water running in a shallow valley; and as there was a bad route down to this I halted to make a road which the ponies could traverse. There was plenty of water and forage hereabouts, and a fine level country for our proceedings, so that we were all in high hopes and spirits and, as I then believed, our principal difficulties were at an end.

Whilst at work at the road we all thought that we heard a native call and that others answered him; having listened for a repetition of these sounds, we again heard them, but they were so indistinct in character that none of us this time agreed as to what they were—I imagined that it was the call of a bird, and when I again heard the same sound very faintly in the distance, I felt convinced it was not a human voice, and proceeded on my way perfectly at ease.

My attention was soon occupied by other objects. I saw from a hill I ascended some remarkable blue peaks to the south. This gave us fresh hopes, and nothing occurred till about three-quarters of an hour after we had first heard the native call, when we arrived at a short descent covered with rocks, from which started a large kangaroo; I got a fair shot at and knocked it over, but it sprang up again and hopped away. We then tried to track it, but soon lost its footsteps in the scrubby vegetation of the gloomy forest.

It was the duty of the Cape man who accompanied me to mark a tree every here and there by chipping the bark, so that the party might the next day easily recognise the route which they had to pursue; upon looking back I now perceived that he had neglected a very remarkable tree about twenty or thirty yards behind us, and which stood close to the spot where I had fired at the kangaroo. I desired him to go back and chip it, and then to rejoin us; in the meantime I stood musing as to the best means of avoiding the little rocky ravine in our front.

Finding that the man remained absent longer than I had expected, I called loudly to him but received no answer, and therefore passed round some rocks which hid the tree from my view to look after him. Suddenly I saw him close to me, breathless and speechless with terror, and a native with his spear fixed in a throwing-stick, in full pursuit of him; immediately numbers of other natives burst upon my sight; each tree, each rock seemed to give forth its black denizen, as if by enchantment.

A moment before, the most solemn silence pervaded these woods, we deemed that not a human being moved within miles of us, and now they rang with savage and ferocious yells, and fierce armed men crowded round us on every side, bent on our destruction.

There was something very terrible in so complete and sudden a surprise. Certain death appeared to stare us in the face, and from the determined and resolute air of our opponents I immediately guessed that the man who had first seen them, instead of boldly standing his ground, and calling to Coles and myself for assistance, had at once, like a coward, run away; thus giving the natives confidence in themselves, and a contempt for us—and this conjecture I afterwards ascertained was perfectly true.

We were now fairly engaged for our lives; escape was impossible and surrender to such enemies out of the question.

As soon as I saw the natives around me, I fired one barrel of my gun over the head of him who was pursuing my dismayed attendant, hoping the report would have checked his further career. He proved to be the tall man seen at the camp, painted with white. My shot stopped him not; he still closed on us, and his spear whistled by my head but, whilst he was fixing another in his throwing stick, a ball from my second barrel struck him in the arm, and it fell powerless by his side. He now retired behind a rock, but the others still pressed on.

I now made the two men retire behind some neighbouring rocks which formed a kind of protecting parapet along our front and right flank, whilst I took post on the left. Both my barrels were now exhausted; and I desired the other two to fire separately whilst I was reloading; but to my horror Coles, who was armed with my rifle, reported hurriedly that the cloth case with which he had covered it for protection against rain had become entangled. His services were thus lost at a most critical moment, whilst trying to tear off the lock cover; and the other man was so paralysed with fear that he could do nothing but cry out, ‘Oh, God! Sir, look at them; look at them!'

In the meantime, our opponents pressed more closely round; their spears kept whistling by us, and our fate seemed inevitable. The light-coloured man, spoken of at the camp, now appeared to direct their movements. He sprang forward to a rock not more than thirty yards from us and, posting himself behind it, threw a spear with such deadly force and aim that had I not drawn myself forward by a sudden jerk it must have gone through my body and, as it was, it touched my back in flying by. Another well-directed spear, from a different hand, would have pierced me in the breast but, in the motion I made to avoid it, it struck upon the stock of my gun, of which it carried away a portion by its force.

All this took place in a few seconds of time, and no shot had been fired but by me. I now recognized in the light-coloured man an old enemy who had led on the former attack against me on the 22nd of December. By his cries and gestures he now appeared to be urging the others to surround and press on us, which they were rapidly doing.

I saw now that but one thing could be done to save our lives, so I gave Coles my gun to complete the reloading, and took the rifle which he had not yet disengaged from the cover. I tore it off and, stepping out from behind our parapet, advanced to the rock which covered my light-coloured opponent. I had not made two steps in advance when three spears struck me nearly at the same moment, one of which was thrown by him. I felt severely wounded in the hip, but knew not exactly where the others had struck me. The force of all knocked me down, and made me very giddy and faint, but as I fell I heard the savage yells of the natives' delight and triumph; these recalled me to myself and, roused by momentary rage and indignation, I made a strong effort, rallied, and in a moment was on my legs; the spear was wrenched from my wound, and my haversack drawn closely over it, that neither my own party nor the natives might see it, and I advanced again steadily to the rock.