Here another party visited the shore, and those whose occupation did not render their presence necessary near the water, strolled into the country, penetrating about four or five miles inland, but they were rewarded by the sight of no novelty, or even variety in the scenery, beyond what was presented to our view on the visit to Cape Hotham, which it will readily be allowed was little enough. Indeed it will in general be found, that in Australia, a change of formation is necessary to produce any of the scenery, which otherwise exhibits a most monotonous sameness.
A coarse kind of ironstone gravel was (if I may use the term) scattered over the face of the country; some of it had a glazed appearance on the surface, being hollow within, and about the size of a musket ball. Properly speaking they are composed of a ferruginous sandstone, but they have been already more fully alluded to when first met with at Point Cunningham, near King's Sound, on the North-West coast. The general formation is the same as at Cape Hotham, itself almost identical with the rocks at Port Essington. A few traces of small kangaroos were seen; but not a bird or any other living thing two miles from the beach. This peculiarity the reader will remember was also noticed in the neighbourhood of King's Sound.
DISCOVERY OF ADELAIDE RIVER.
On returning to the ship we found that Mr. Fitzmaurice had arrived, bringing the expected, and very gratifying intelligence, that a large river with two branches, running South-East and South, with a depth of four fathoms, emptied itself into the head of the bay. The joy a discovery of this nature imparts to the explorer, when examining a country so proverbially destitute of rivers as Australia, is much more easily imagined than described. It formed a species of oasis amid the ordinary routine of surveying, rousing our energies, and giving universal delight. The castle-builders were immediately at work, with expectations beyond the pale of reason.
EXPLORING PARTY.
An exploring party, however, was at once formed, consisting of Captain Wickham, Lieutenant Emery, and Mr. Helpman, who--the next day being Sunday--did not leave before the morning of the 29th, with two boats and four days' provisions.
Many were the anxious and envious looks bestowed on the party as they left the ship on the deeply interesting service of exploring the new river. So strong and native is man's desire for the unknown, that his feelings are never more tried than when on the brink of a discovery, while those who are in presence of the novelty, and cannot enjoy the satisfaction of tasting that pleasure, must ever experience somewhat acute emotions of regret.
There was no difficulty in finding a name for a river which fell into Clarence Strait; it was at once, therefore, honoured with that of Adelaide, after her most gracious Majesty the Queen Dowager. The bay that receives its waters was called after Vice-Admiral Sir Charles Adam. The remaining part of the south side of Clarence Strait, together with the islands in the western entrance of it, gave ample, though not such interesting employment as the exploration of the Adelaide, to those who were left behind. Several unsuccessful hauls were made with the seine, fish in Adam Bay being very scarce.
NATIVE FAMILY.
Near Escape Cliffs I met a small family of natives, consisting of an elderly man, his wife, and four children; by degrees, advancing alone, I contrived to get near enough to make the woman a present of a handkerchief, in return for which she gave me a large leaf of the cabbage palm, that was slung across her back. I at length drew all the family around me, the eldest child, a youth of about 15, being the most timid. He had a small piece of wood two feet long, sticking through the cartilage of his nose. His teeth and those of the other children were quite perfect, but in the father and mother two of the upper front ones were gone, as we before noticed was the case with the natives at Port Essington, where this ceremony is performed after marriage. The hair of these people was neither curly nor straight, but what I have before called crisp, being of that wavy nature sometimes noticed in Europeans.