On my return to the ship, the master's mate and seaman were on board. The officer had very incautiously strayed away from his party, after natives had been seen; and at sunset, when he should have been at the beach, he and the man he had taken with him were entangled in a muddy swamp amongst mangroves, several miles distant; in which uncomfortable situation, and persecuted by clouds of musketoes, they passed the night. Next morning they got out of the swamp; but fell in with about twenty-five Indians, who surrounded and took them to a fire place. A couple of ducks were broiled; and after the wanderers had satisfied their hunger, and undergone a personal examination, they were conducted back to the ship in safety. Some of the gentlemen went to meet the natives with presents, and an interview took place, highly satisfactory to both parties; the Indians then returned to the woods, and our people were brought on board.
TUESDAY 17 AUGUST 1802
The anchor was weighed at daylight of the 17th, but the wind and tide being unfavourable, it took the whole day to get into the offing; at dusk we came to, in 9 fathoms, mud and sand, having the centre of the hummocky island bearing S. 72° E. two leagues. A sketch of the island and of Cape Keppel was taken by Mr. Westall (Atlas, Plate XVIII. View 5.) whilst beating out of the bay.
Keppel Bay was discovered and named by captain Cook, who sailed past it in 1770. A ship going in will be much deceived by the colour of the water; for the shores of the bay being soft and muddy, the water running out by the deep channels with the latter part of the ebb, is thick; whilst the more shallow parts, over which the tide does not then set, are covered with sea water, which is clear. Not only are the shores for the most part muddy, but a large portion of the bay itself is occupied by shoals of mud and sand. The deep water is in the channels made by the tides, setting in and out of the different arms; and the best information I can give of them, will be found by referring to the plan. The broadest of these channels is about two miles wide, on the east side of the bay; and our anchorage there near Sea Hill, just within the entrance, seems to be the best for a ship purposing to make but a short stay. Wood is easily procured; and fresh water was found in small ponds and swamps, at a little distance behind the beach. This is also the best, if not the sole place in the bay for hauling the seine; and a fresh meal of good fish was there several times procured for all the ship's company.
The country round Keppel Bay mostly consists either of stony hills, or of very low land covered with salt swamps and mangroves. Almost all the borders of the bay, and of the several arms into which it branches, are of this latter description; so that there are few places where it was not necessary to wade some distance in soft mud, and afterwards to cut through a barrier of mangroves, before reaching the solid land.
Mention has been made of the ridge of hills by which the low land on the south side of the bay is bounded. The upper parts of it are steep and rocky, and may be a thousand, or perhaps fifteen hundred feet high, but the lower sloping sides are covered with wood; Mount Larcom and the hills within the ridge, are clothed with trees nearly to the top; yet the aspect of the whole is sterile. The high land near the western arm, though stony and shallow in soil, is covered with grass, and trees of moderate growth; but the best part of the country was that near Cape Keppel; hill and valley are there well proportioned, the grass is of a better kind and more abundant, the trees are thinly scattered, and there is very little underwood. The lowest parts are not mangrove swamps, as elsewhere, but pleasant looking vallies, at the bottom of which are ponds of fresh water frequented by flocks of ducks. Cattle would find here a tolerable abundance of nutritive food, though the soil may perhaps be no where sufficiently deep and good to afford a productive return to the husbandman.
After the mangrove, the most common trees round Keppel Bay are different kinds of eucalyptus, fit for the ordinary purposes of building. A species of Cycas, described by captain Cook (Hawkesworth, III. 220, 221) as a third kind of palm found by him on this coast, and bearing poisonous nuts, was not scarce in the neighbourhood of West-arm Hill. We found three kinds of stone here: a greyish slate, quartz and various granitic combinations, and a soft, whitish stone, saponaceous to the touch; the two first were often found intermixed, and the last generally, if not always lying above them. The quartz was of various colours, and sometimes pure; but never in a state of crystallisation.
Wherever we landed there had been Indians; but it was near the ship only, that any of them made their appearance. They were described by the gentlemen who saw them, as stout, muscular men, who seemed to understand bartering better than most, or perhaps any people we had hitherto seen in this country. Upon the outer bone of the wrist they had the same hard tumour as the people of Hervey's Bay, and the cause of it was attempted, ineffectually, to be explained to one of the gentlemen; but as cast nets were seen in the neighbourhood, there seems little doubt that the manner of throwing them produces the tumours. These people were not devoid of curiosity; but several things which might have been supposed most likely to excite it, passed without notice. Of their dispositions we had every reason to speak highly, from their conduct to our sailors; but particularly to the master's mate and seaman who had lost themselves, and were absolutely in their power. On the morning we quitted the bay, a large party was again seen, coming down to the usual place; which seemed to imply that our conduct and presents had conciliated their good will, and that they would be glad to have communication with another vessel.
It is scarcely necessary to say, that these people are almost black, and go entirely naked, since none of any other colour, or regularly wearing clothes, have been seen in any part of Terra Australis. About their fire places were usually scattered the shells of large crabs, the bones of turtle, and the remains of a parsnip-like root, apparently of fern; and once the bones of a porpoise were found; besides these, they doubtless procure fish, and wild ducks were seen in their possession. There are kangaroos in the woods, and several bustards were seen near Cape Keppel. The mud banks are frequented by curlews, gulls, and some lesser birds. Oysters of a small, crumply kind, are tolerably plentiful; they do not adhere to the rocks, but stick to each other in large masses on the banks; here are also pearl oysters, but not so abundantly as in Port Curtis.
The latitude of our anchorage, from the mean of three meridian altitudes to the north, was 23° 29' 34" south.