On several occasions I landed on Albany Island, and walked over the place. It is three miles in length, and one in greatest breadth, its outline irregular from the number of bays and small rocky headlands. On its western side the bays are small, and the shores generally steep and rocky, with sandy intervals, the banks being covered with brush of the usual Australian intertropical character. The rock here is either a stratum of ironstone in irregular masses and nodules cemented together by a ferruginous base, or a very coarse sandstone, almost a quartzose conglomerate, forming cliffs, occasionally thirty feet or more in height. The latter stone is suitable for rough building purposes, such as the construction of a pier, but is much acted on by the weather. On the northern and eastern sides the bays are large and generally sandy, with the land sloping down towards them from the low undulating hills, which compose the rest of the island. These hills are either sandy or covered with ironstone gravel* over red clay. They are thinly covered with a sprinkling of Grevillea, Boronia, and Leucopogon bushes, with occasional tufts of the coarsest grass. There must always be, however, sufficient pasturage for such cattle and sheep as a small party in charge of a coaling depot would require. There is also sufficient water in the island for their support, and by digging wells, no doubt the quantity would be greatly increased. In addition there are several small spots where the soil is suitable for gardening purposes, thus ensuring a supply of vegetables during the greater part, perhaps the whole of the year.
(*Footnote. A sample of this ironstone picked up from the surface has furnished materials for the following remarks, for which I am indebted to the politeness of Warrington W. Smyth, Esquire, of the Museum of Practical Geology.
On examining the specimens which you presented to our Museum, I see that they consist for the most part of the red or anhydrous peroxide of iron--similar in chemical character to the celebrated haematite ore of Ulverstone and Whitehaven. It is, however, less rich in iron than would be inferred from its outward appearance, since the pebbles on being broken, exhibit interiorly a loose and cellular structure, where grains of quartz and plates of mica are interspersed with the ore, and of course reduce its specific gravity and value.
Such an ore, if occurring in great quantity, and at no great distance from abundant fuel and from a supply of limestone for flux, may prove to be very valuable; but I should fear that your suggestion of employing the coral and shells of the coast, for the last-mentioned purpose, might impair the quality of an iron thus produced, for the phosphoric acid present in them would give one of the constituents most troublesome to the iron-master, who wishes to produce a strong and tough iron.)
SAIL FROM CAPE YORK.
On November 2nd we sailed from Cape York on our way to Port Essington and Sydney, but owing to the prevalence of light airs, chiefly from the eastward, and calms, we did not reach Booby Island until the 4th, having passed out of Torres Strait by the Prince of Wales Channel. The Bramble was left to perform some work in Endeavour Strait* and elsewhere along the Inner Passage, and after its completion to make the best of her way to Sydney down the eastern coast of Australia against the trade-wind, before successfully accomplished by only two other vessels besides herself. Of course a considerable degree of interest has been excited by this intended procedure, as the two vessels start under pretty equal circumstances to reach the same place by two very different routes, of the merits of one of which comparatively little is known.
(*Footnote. Since the survey of Endeavour Strait in 1844 by Lieutenant Yule in the Bramble (then attached to the Fly under Captain F.P. Blackwood) several sunken rocks have been discovered, thereby lessening the value of the passage through the Strait, as others, yet undetected, to be found only by sweeping for them, may be presumed to exist. Captain Stanley was strongly of opinion that the Prince of Wales Channel was far preferable, especially for large ships, to Endeavour Strait.)
ARRIVE AT PORT ESSINGTON.
November 9th.
Since leaving Booby Island, the weather has been fine with light easterly winds, the westerly monsoon in these seas not usually setting in until the month of December. We first made the land in the neighbourhood of Cape Croker, and soon afterwards saw the beacon on Point Smith. Entering Port Essington we ran up the harbour, and anchored off the settlement of Victoria early in the afternoon.
On landing and walking over the place after an absence of more than three years, I might naturally have looked for some signs of improvement in the appearance of the settlement and condition of the unfortunate residents, had I not been aware of the non-progressive nature of the system which had long been established there. I saw no such indications of prosperity except in the flourishing and improved appearance of the coconut-trees now in full bearing, as if nature boldly asserted her rights in opposition to the dormant or even retrograde condition of everything else in the place.
CONDITION OF THE SETTLEMENT. ITS UNHEALTHINESS.