Discoveries in Australia with an Account of the Coasts and Rivers Explored and Surveyed During the Voyage of H.M.S. Beagle in The Years 1837-38-39-40-41-42-43.
9781465544841
pages
Library of Alexandria
Overview
Leave Port Essington. Clarence Strait. Hope Inlet. Shoal Bay. Land for Observations. Explore a new Opening. Talc Head. Port Darwin. Continue Exploration. Mosquitoes and Sandflies. Nature of the Country. Its parched appearance. Large ant’s nest. Return to Shoal Bay. Visit from the Natives. Remarks. Their teeth perfect. Rite of Circumcision. Observations on the Migrations of the Natives. Theory of an Inland Sea. Central Desert. Salt water drunk by Natives. Modes of procuring water. Survey the harbour. Natives on a raft. Anecdote. Bynoe Harbour. Well. Brilliant Meteors. Natives on Point Emery. Their surprise at the well. Importance of water. Anecdote. Languages of Australia. Specimens. Remarks. Leave Port Darwin. Tides. Squall. Visit Port Patterson. Leave. Examine opening to the south-west. Table Hill. McAdam Range. Adventure with an Alligator. Exploring party. Discovery of the Victoria. Ascend the river. Appearance of the Country. Fitzmaurice River. Indian Hill. The Beagle taken up the river. LEAVE PORT ESSINGTON. Early on the morning of the 4th of September, 1839, the Beagle was once more slipping out of Port Essington before a light land wind. We had taken a hearty farewell of our friends at Victoria, in whose prosperity we felt all the interest that is due to those who pioneer the way for others in the formation of a new settlement. No doubt the hope that our discoveries might open a new field for British enterprise, and contribute to extend still more widely the blessings of civilization, increased the sympathy we felt for the young colony at Victoria. There is always a feeling of pride and pleasure engendered by the thought that we are in any way instrumental to the extension of man’s influence over the world which has been given him to subdue. In the present instance, the success of our last cruise and the state of preparation in which we were now in for a longer one, caused us to take our departure from Port Essington in far higher spirits than on the former occasion
