CHAPTER XVII.
Arrive at Wombat Brush—Animals called Wombat—Parched country—Road-side houses—Colonial English—Column to the memory of La Perouse—Death of Le Receveur—Sydney police-office—The Bustard—Botanic garden—The aborigines—King Dungaree—The castor-oil shrub—Diseases of Australia—New Zealanders—Australian ladies—Prejudice against travellers from Botany Bay—Anecdote—A fishing excursion—Cephalopodous animals—Conclusion of the author’s researches in this colony.
On the 30th of December I left Goulburn Plains, and arrived the same evening at Arthursleigh. On the day following I crossed the “Uringalle,” (more commonly known by the name of “Paddy’s river,”) and arrived at “Wombat Brush.” This tract of forest land was so named from being formerly frequented by a number of the animals called “Wombat,” but which are now rarely or never seen in the vicinity of the settlement, the whole having been nearly destroyed. About the Tumat and Murrumbidgee country I witnessed numerous burrows; and certain marks of the animals indicative of their presence; but they can but seldom be seen, as they remain in the burrows during the day, coming out to feed at night.
One of these animals kept at “Been,” in the Tumat country, alive and in a tame state, would remain in its habitation until dark; it would then come out, and seek for the keelers or milk vessels; and should none be uncovered, would contrive to get off the covers, bathe itself in the milk, drinking at the same time. It would also enter the little vegetable garden attached to the station, in search of lettuces, to which it evinced much partiality; if none could be found, it would gnaw the cabbage-stalks, without touching the foliage. Although numerous in the more distant parts of the colony, they are difficult to procure, from the great depth to which they burrow.
Having passed the “ploughed ground,” Bong Bong, Mittagong range, &c. I continued, through a country parched by the summer heats, or having a burnt aspect, from the custom among the settlers or natives, of setting fire to the dried grass. The scorched and arid appearance of the land, as my journey led towards Sydney, was wretched, compared with the beautiful verdant plains and ranges I had left in the Tumat, Murrumbidgee, and Yas countries. The harvest was for the most part reaped; a few scattered patches animated by the verdure of the young maize springing up, and the yellow flowers of the native “Jibbong,” (Persoonia sp.,) with a few other flowering shrubs, scattered about, was all that cheered the eye of the traveller on the journey. I arrived at Sydney on the 2nd of Jan. 1833.
The houses by the road side, on the approach to Sydney from Liverpool, or Paramatta, are very neat in their construction. A bark-hut near the “metropolis” is daily becoming rarer; they are speedily giving place to neat and even elegant verandah cottages. There are certainly an abundance of public-houses in the colony, and the neat, clean appearance of the attendants, as well as the interior of the inns, may vie with those in the mother-country. The signs of the taverns assume every variety, all but that of Temperance.
It has often been mentioned by writers upon the United States of America, that a purer and more correct English is spoken in that country than in the “old country,” where it is corrupted by so many different provincial dialects. The remark respecting the United States of America will equally apply to Australia; for among the native-born Australians, (descended from European parents,) the English spoken is very pure; and it is easy to recognize a person from home or one born in the colony, no matter of what class of society, from this circumstance.
On a spot near the entrance to Botany Bay, (so named by Sir Joseph Banks, and “Sting Ray Bay,” from the number of that fish captured there by Captain Cook,) a neat column has been erected by Mr. Joshua Thorp, (at that time the government architect,) from a design by Mr. Cookney, to the memory of La Perouse; the expense of its erection being paid by a subscription from the officers of the French discovery ships, which visited the colony in 1824; the colonial government supplying convict labourers. It is situated on a little elevation not far from the place at which Captain Cook landed. The column is circular, standing on a pedestal, and surmounted by a sphere. Its elevation may be about fifteen feet. This was the last place whence intelligence was received from the indefatigable but unfortunate navigator. The inscriptions on the pedestal are in English and French, and as follow:—“This place, visited by Mons. de la Perouse in 1788, is the last whence any accounts of him were received. Erected in the name of France by M.M. de Bougainville and Ducampier, commanding the frigate La Thetis and the corvette L’Esperance, lying in Port Jackson. An. 1825.” About one hundred yards distant, inland from this column, near a red gum tree, are interred the remains of Pere le Receveur, one of the naturalists attached to Perouse’s expedition, who died at Botany Bay, in 1788. On the red-gum tree was the following inscription, carved by one of the officers attached to Bougainville’s expedition:—“Prés de cet arbre. Reposent les restes, Du P. Le Receveur. Visité en Mars, 1824.”
During the time that the French discovery ships, La Thetis and L’Esperance, lay at Port Jackson, this place was also visited by their commanders and officers; and search having been made for the exact spot where the remains of the naturalist were deposited, some of his bones were found, and over that spot a plain monument has been erected to his memory: on it was placed the following inscription:—“Hic jacet, Le Receveur, Ex. F. F. Minoribus, Galliæ Sacerdos, Physicus in Circumnavigatione Mundi Duce de la Perouse. Obiit die 17 Feb. Anno 1788.”
The following account of the death of Le Receveur is given in Philipp’s Voyage to Botany Bay, &c. “During the stay of M. de la Perouse in Botany Bay, Father Le Receveur, who came out in the Astrolabe as a naturalist, died. His death was occasioned by wounds, which he received in the unfortunate rencontre at the Navigator’s Island.” A slight monument was erected to his memory. An inscription was placed on it similar to the preceding.
The Sydney police office daily produces a strange compound of characters; ludicrous scenes and incidents furnish abundance of aliment for the newspapers, who decorate many of the cases brought before the magistrate in so facetious a manner as to amuse their readers and sell the papers. The number of newspapers published in Sydney is very great, considering the small town, and many of them are well and ably conducted. The “Sydney Herald” is published twice a week; the “Sydney Gazette” three times; the “Sydney Monitor” twice; and there are other smaller papers published weekly.
At Paramatta I saw two tame specimens of the lesser Otis, or Bustard, the “Curlew” of the colony, which is abundant in this country; they were familiar with the man who was in the habit of feeding them, but averse to approach strangers. It is principally during the stillness of night that the peculiar melancholy cry and whistle of these birds are heard, seeming like the harbinger of death. While sitting one night by the bed-side of a young man, expiring from a decline, I heard the note of the bird, unbroken by any other sound; it came over my senses like a knell summoning the departing spirit to its last long home.[125]
Among the attractions which Sydney presents to the visitor is the Botanic Garden, with its neat and tastefully arranged walks; it is, however, to be regretted, that this establishment, as a “botanic garden,” is not encouraged, it being, in fact, merely a government vegetable and fruit garden. Such an establishment would be most valuable as a nursery for the introduction of trees, shrubs, or plants, estimable either for timber, fruits, flowers, or dyes, and thus add to the resources of the colony; by its means how many valuable productions might be introduced: at present exotics are almost entirely confined to the gardens of a few intelligent settlers. Still there are several trees and plants introduced from New Zealand, the north-west, and other parts of Australia, Cape, &c. A fine healthy specimen of the “Adenanthos sericea” has been successfully introduced, (which is correctly figured in Labillardiere’s Plant. Nov. Holl. Tab. 38,) which shows that shrubs, &c. from King George’s Sound (to which place this one is indigenous,) can be grown in perfection at Port Jackson.
In a pond the pretty white flowers and dark leaves of Damasonium ovatifolium were floating, and may be often seen swimming on the surface of the more tardy streams in the colony. The New Zealand flax plant does not appear to thrive well, nor has it yet flowered; the best plants I have seen were at the “Vineyard,” the residence of H. M’Arthur, Esq., who has planted it in a moister soil. The Karaka tree, (Corynocarpus lævigata,) of New Zealand, was in thriving condition, having reached the elevation of from six to nearly fourteen feet, and borne fruit.
The New Zealand species of Dracæna, (or Tee of the natives of that country,) grows and flowers well not only in these gardens, but is frequently seen planted in front of the dwelling houses in and about Sydney; as also that lofty species of Araucaria, (A. excelsa,) commonly known by the name of Norfolk Island pine.[126] The Indian bamboo also grows very luxuriantly in the gardens, and in that part of the domain near the government house. The Callistachys ovata, from King George’s Sound, was also in flower; it is an elegant shrub, having a silvery pubescence over the leaves, and bears handsome clusters of yellow flowers. The Hibiscus splendens, from Moreton Bay, was also in full bloom; its large and elegant pink flowers being full five inches in diameter. Numerous species of Eucalypti, Banksia, &c. from the interior of the colony, as also from Moreton Bay, and other portions of the Australian coast, were in a thriving state; and a species of Dracæna, bearing purple flowers, and brought from Moreton Bay, was in blossom.
About Sydney, however, in January, the beauty of the floral kingdom had in some degree passed away: Melaleuca myrtifolia, Leptospermum, Xanthorrea hastile, and other species; Calicoma serratifolia; Gompholobium; Lambertia formosa; Isopogon anethifolius; Enokelia major and minor; Billardieria scandens; and a few others still remaining, covered with blossoms, to animate the scene with their varied tints and brilliancy of appearance. The shrubs of the Staphelia viridiflora were now in fruit; which, when ripe, is of a purplish black colour, having a sweetish taste, and is gathered and sold in the shops under the popular name of “five corners:” this name, no doubt, was applied to it on account of the calyx projecting in five points above the fruit. The gardens are laid out in very neat order, and Mr. Richard Cunningham having arrived from England with an appointment as colonial botanist, it may be hoped from his known talent and assiduity that the colony will soon have a “Botanic Garden,” in lieu of a repository for turnips and carrots.
The aborigines are often seen about Sydney; but to me they appear, probably from their vicious habits, a far worse-looking race than those I had seen in the interior. The celebrated King Bungaree had recently ended his mortal career, as well as most of his tribe, none of them ever having been induced to settle and cultivate the soil for subsistence. It is related, that in the time of the government of General Macquarie there was an attempt made, by distributing seeds among them, to induce the natives to cultivate the ground: among the packets of seed sent for distribution were some which contained fish-hooks; these, together with the seeds, were given by the governor to the sable monarch, King Bungaree. Some time after the governor inquired of him whether the seeds had yet come up—“Oh berry well, berry well,” exclaimed Bungaree, “all make come up berry well, except dem fish-hooks, them no come up yet.”
The castor oil shrub (Ricinus communis) abounds in the colony both in a wild and cultivated state, thriving even in the most arid soils; yet the oil is still imported and sold in the colony at a high price, when by very little attention any quantity could be expressed from the seeds, not only for medicinal, but likewise for domestic purposes; such as burning in lamps; for which latter purpose it is used in some parts of South America, as well as by the Javanese and others. There are two methods employed to extract the oil—coction and expression; the first is performed by tying the seeds, previously decorticated and bruised, in a bag, and then suspending in boiling water until all the oil is extracted, and, rising to the surface of the water, is skimmed off.
This mode of preparation is still preferred by many of the West Indian practitioners; but as the oil is apt to get rancid when thus prepared, it is now obtained, both at home and abroad, by subjecting the seeds to the press in the same manner as the almond. The oil obtained is equal to one-fourth of the weight of the seeds employed. The acrid principle is contained in the cotyledons, and not in the embryon, nor in the testa. It is of a volatile nature. Good expressed castor oil is nearly inodorous and insipid; but the best leaves a slight sensation of acrimony in the throat after it is swallowed. It is thick, viscid, transparent, and colourless, or of a pale straw colour: that which is obtained by coction has a brownish hue; and both kinds, when they become rancid, thicken, deepen in colour to reddish brown, and acquire a hot, nauseous taste. It has all the chemical characters of the other expressed oils, except that it is heavier, and is very soluble in alcohol, and also in sulphuric ether.[127]
Few diseases can be said to be produced by the climate of Australia: dissipation and numerous vices introduced from home have caused some to prevail extensively in the populous town of Sydney, but in the interior they are comparatively few. A number of persons perish from that fatal disease consumption; but I do not regard it as produced by the climate, as it invariably attacks persons from England, of dissipated habits, or of employments uncongenial to health. The vice of intemperance prevails extensively, and renders the bills of mortality much greater than could be supposed from the population and acknowledged salubrity of the climate.
New Zealanders are now employed at Sydney as labourers, and are much esteemed for their steady and sober habits: they are also careful of the money they earn:—as an instance, one of them, who had just returned to Sydney from a whaling voyage, on receiving his wages, placed the amount in the hands of a gentleman, from whom he drew occasionally, about ten shillings at a time, to purchase clothes, or any other necessary article.
The Australian ladies may compete for personal beauty and elegance with any European, although satirized as “corn-stalks” from the slenderness of their forms. It is true their reserve is great, but it proceeds from diffidence, for in family intercourse they are both animated and communicative. Their education, from a deficiency of good schools, was formerly much neglected, except they were sent to Europe for that purpose; but now that cause of complaint is removed by the establishment of several respectable seminaries and teachers; so the high degree of natural talent the Australian females really possess may now be improved by proper cultivation. Even among the male Australians there is a taciturnity proceeding from natural diffidence and reserve, not from any want of mental resources: this led one of their more lively countrymen to observe, “that they could do every thing but speak.”
It has been said that formerly it was dangerous in England to inform a fellow-traveller of having just arrived from Botany Bay, as he will soon shun your acquaintance; but visitors from that country must, after the following anecdote, stand a worse chance in the celestial empire. A ship arriving at China from Australia, the commander, when asked by the Chinese where the ship came from, jocosely answered, “From New South Wales, where all the English thieves are sent.” The inhabitants of the empire, taking the joke seriously, reported this and every other ship which arrived from that country to the mandarin as “ship from thiefo country: one thiefo captain, three thiefo officers, twenty-five thiefo crew.” And when the Hooghly arrived with the late governor of New South Wales, it was—“One thiefo viceroy of thiefo country, with several thiefo attendants.” The thiefo viceroy’s lady landing at Macao, was not reported to the mandarin.
One afternoon, a party was formed for a fishing excursion in Port Jackson: we took a seine with us, and pulled out to a fine bay or cove, called “Chowder Bay,” a picturesque little spot, and not far distant in the harbour from the north head at the entrance of Port Jackson. On the seine being hauled, immense numbers of the Balistes, more commonly known by the name of “Leather Jackets,” from the great toughness of their skins, of various sizes were obtained. This fish is troublesome to hook-and-line fishermen, from biting their hook into two parts. It was probably this circumstance that caused the name of File-fish to be conferred upon them. Their flesh is not used by Europeans; but the blacks eat them. Several sting-rays (Trygon pastinaca? of Cuvier) were also caught, together with numerous specimens of Diodon; Sygnathus, and two species of Mullus; one was the Mullus barbatus, Linn., of a bright-red colour, “Le Rouget” of the French: this is the species said to be so celebrated for the excellence of its flavour, as well as the pleasure the Romans took in contemplating the changes of colour it experienced while dying.
The “Cat-fish,” (Silurus,) said to have the power of stinging with the tentaculæ or feelers, which pend from about the external part of the mouth, large quantities of the Chœtodon fasciata, or Banded Chœtodon, and several species of bream, were caught in this and other coves so numerous in the splendid harbour of Port Jackson.
Several large cephalopodous animals, Loligo of Lamarck, Les Calmars of Cuvier, were frequently taken in the seine. If taken in the hand alive, they would, with the succulent tentaculæ, draw the fingers of the person holding them towards their parrot-beaked mouths, and inflict a severe bite: they also discharge, when captured, a large quantity of thick black fluid, a very minute proportion of which suffices to render turbid a large quantity of water. Should this black liquid fall upon linen clothes, it produces a stain difficult, if at all possible, to be removed. It is from this fluid that the material known by the name of China or Indian ink, is manufactured. The ancients were also accustomed to use it as a writing ink, and esteemed the flesh as a delicacy. Most of the eastern natives, and those among the Polynesian islands, partake of it, and esteem it as food: they may be seen exposed for sale in the bazaars throughout India.
Having brought my researches in this colony to a conclusion for the present, I have to regret the limited portion of time I was able to devote to the investigation of its various natural productions, &c., so numerous and interesting in all portions of the great continent of Australia. The discoveries already made have been numerous; and, when it is considered that an immense tract of country still remains unexplored, many treasures in every department of natural history may yet be looked for from this comparatively new and extraordinary portion of the globe.
To the botanist and zoologist, objects of peculiar interest are continually presenting themselves, not previously described, or indeed known in Europe. While a field of investigation might be opened by the geologist, the cultivation of which may be expected to repay his labours a thousand fold.