PASSAGE ALONG THE COAST.
September 19th.
Passed Mount Astrolabe, a series of long flat-topped ridges parallel with the coast, but were unable clearly to identify the Cape Passy of D'Urville where his running survey terminated, and where the Astrolabe and Zelee bore away to the westward for Torres Strait.
September 20th.
During the forenoon the Bramble was observed to windward, and in the afternoon she was sent inshore to look for anchorage. Following her we stood in towards a remarkable headland (365 feet high) which afterwards received the name of Redscar Head, from the reddish colour of its cliffs. At the distance of six and a half miles from the shore we struck soundings in twenty-seven fathoms, and soon afterwards crossed a narrow ridge of coral, with only five fathoms over it; after this the bottom consisted of tenacious mud, and we carried in from twenty-two to eighteen fathoms, in the last of which we anchored two miles and two-thirds off the point.
BRAMBLE FIRES ON THE NATIVES.
When Lieutenant Yule came on board we heard that since we left the Bramble near Dufaure Island to do the inshore work, he had on one occasion an affray with the natives in the neighbourhood of the Toulon Islands. When the Bramble was nearly becalmed close inshore, several canoes with about thirty people, including several women and children, came off to barter. A small pig* was handed into the chains, but, owing to an unavoidable occurrence, no return was made for it, upon which the owner snatched the cap from off the head of a marine attending at the gangway. The canoe which had brought the pig then shoved off, and, on being directed by gestures to return the cap, one man stood up and poised his spear, and the others got their arms ready. Several musket shots were fired into the canoe from a distance of six or seven yards, but, regarding the effect, conflicting statements have been made. No resistance was attempted, as, after the first shot, some of the natives jumped into the water and all made off in confusion, which was further increased when a round shot was fired in the direction of a distant canoe coming out from the shore.
(*Footnote. As has often happened the bone of contention did not rest with the belligerents, for the pig was eventually handed over to me and prepared as a specimen, now in the British Museum, the only Sus papuensis in England at the present time.)
PARIWARA ISLANDS.
September 21st.