Travelling About over New and Old Ground, etc

Preface

. Travelling About needs but the shortest of prefaces — merely a few words to stand on the threshold and explain to its readers, as they enter, that the author leaves it entirely to themselves to consider her book either an introduction to other books, or a book in itself. This they will do as their haste or leisure, their taste or distaste, may lead them ; but she ventures to hope that, in either case, her labour will not be lost. While she will be the better pleased should these necessarily short and imperfect accounts of the travels of such men as Livingstone, Burton, and Baker, induce her readers to read the books written by the travellers them selves, she confesses that she will be very much mistaken and disappointed if an abstract and brief chronicle of some chapters of modern travel be not found to possess some interest of its own for young people.

So far as she is aware, she is not doing over again a task — or rather a pleasure — which has been done before ; for, though unnumbered epitomes of travel have been compiled, their editors seem invariably

PREFACE.

. VI to have begun with Marco Polo and to have left off somewhere about Mungo Park, whereas her most ancient author wore his " sandal shoon and scallop shell " no more than forty years ago, while the majority wear them still ; and may they wear them long. If, in the intervals of their pilgrimages, any of them should find time to trouble themselves with such a little thing as her book, she trusts they will own she has not been a mere copyist from theirs ; trusts they also will wish her well in her endeavour to diffuse the knowledge of a world so much of which they may call their own — a world the wonders of which were in old time seven, but, through their achievements and the achievements of enthusiastic and gallant men who lived before them, are now seventy times seven, and its beauties ten thousand times ten thousand.

A list of the books consulted is added on the next page. F. N. B. LIST OF BOOKS CONSULTED. Wills' Exploration of Australia. Sturt's Narrative. Polack's New Zealand. Dilke's Greater Britain. Meade's Ride through New Zealand. Stephens' and Catherwood's Central America. Lord Milton's North West Passage. Pumpelly's Travels. Captain Townshend's Travels. Burton's Highlands of Brazil. Hinchcliff's South America. Head's Pampas. Smith's Peru. Burton's Abeokuta and Camaroons. Livingstone's South Africa. Speke and Grant's Victoria N'yanza. Baker's Albert N'yanza. Rajah Brooke's Journals. Charles Brooke's Sarawak. Keppel's Travels. McLeod's Peeps at the Far East. Sherrard Osborn's Japan. Steinmetz's Japan. CONTENTS.

Chapter I. The Exploring Expedition

When I was in Melbourne five years ago, the first thing I went to see was the beautiful statue at the upper end of Collins Street, to the memory of Burke and Wills, the unfortunate explorers of the interior of Australia. No one can look at that statue, at least I could not, without grieving at the recollection of these two lives sacrificed to carelessness and neglect of orders. If one quarter of the money which was expended, and the trouble which was taken to collect their scattered bones, and to do honour to their memories, had been bestowed on them whilst they yet survived, there is little doubt but that they would have been alive now. There lies before me at this moment a photograph of Mr. Burke, taken on the eve of his journey. It represents a tall vigorous man in perfect health, with a handsome, resolute countenance.

At his feet a camel is crouching, and its pack-saddle is also B TRA VELS RE-TRA VELLED. 4 visible. Vast treeless plains stretch away in the din\ background ; and a faintly delineated camel proces sion occupies the middle distance. I see by reference to Dr. Wills' account of the Expedition, that this portrait must have been taken at the end of the first day's march out of Melbourne — which, by the way, was only a seven-miles stage. Mr. Wills, whose name is so closely associated with his leader's throughout, refused to be photographed, alleging that his father already possessed a satisfactory likeness of him. This likeness is the frontispiece of Dr. Wills' book ; it shows us a gentle pensive face, with a broad thought ful brow : such a good countenance, that we can easily believe the fond father's declaration of the worth and depth of William John Wills' character.

We do not know much about these two brave self sacrificing men here in England ; but I can testify that they are remembered with gratitude and deep pity by their fellow-colonists in Victoria. I asked and heard a great deal about them myself, but I shall found the account of their Expedition on a book called " Successful Exploration of Australia." It is that written by the father of the explorer, and contains all the particulars which could be obtained on the spot by a careful collector and sifter of the scanty evidence which was all that seems to have been forthcoming. The first part of the volume is occupied by a memoir of William John Wills. From it we learn to love and respect the man for his unselfishness, his perseverance, and his devotion to the welfare and im provement of his adopted country.

He went out to Melbourne in 1853, twelve years and more before I saw that wonderful city ; but if a century had passed since he wrote his first impressions of the wooden and canvas town which then bore the name of Melbourne, the progress in all the arts and refinements of civiliza tion could scarcely have been more striking. But it is not with beautiful Acclimatization Gar dens, with magnificent Houses of Legislature, with a Free Library which is unequalled in the world, that this story has now to do. We must resolutely turn our back on the Melbourne of to-day, with its hotels, its theatres, its clubs, its shops, its railway stations, its banks, and its fine houses, and stand with the little band of pioneers in the Royal Park just outside Melbourne, on the 20th August, 1 860. I stood there myself five years later, and sadly thought of that Monday morning, with all its gay bustle, the tents disappearing, as they were struck and packed one after the other ; the long procession of waggons, of pack-horses, of drays, and lastly of camels.

We learn from Dr. Wills' book to hate and distrust those camels at the very outset of the journey. They were brought over from India by one Mr. Landells expressly for this Expedition ; wonders were antici pated from them as beasts of burden, but they appear to have signally failed to realize any of the many sanguine expectations of the explorers. Every one who knows anything about camels knows that they are, in Scotch phraseology, " vara kittle cattle " to have anything to do with. Their patience is very much exaggerated ; they cannot carry any weight proportionate to their size, and their long sprawling legs soon fail them, except on absolutely dry level ground. Why then were they selected to carry the necessaries of existence for these poor brave men over a country of which nothing was known, and which turned out to be perfectly unsuitable for them ?

However, it is only too easy to be wise now ; and instead of railing at the camels, let us come back to the morning of the start, with its sunshine and its warm soft breeze. Nearly the whole population, as Dr. Wills tells us, turned out to witness the imposing spectacle. He copies the account which appeared in the Melbourne Herald of the 2 1st August, and I cannot do better than transcribe a portion of the newspaper narrative for you. I may skip a few resonant preliminary blasts of the Herald's trumpet, and come at once to the enu meration of the " ten thousand or more of our good citizens, who there assembled to witness the departure of the Exploring Expedition. Never have we seen such a manifestation of heartfelt interest in any public undertaking of the kind as on this occasion. The oldest dwellers in Australia have experienced nothing equal to it. '•' At an early hour crowds of eager holiday folks, pedestrian and equestrian, were to be seen hieing along the dusty ways to the pleasant glades and umbrageous shade of the Royal Park.

A busy scene was there presented. Men, horses, camels, drays, and goods, were scattered here and there amongst the tents, in the sheds, and on the greensward, in pic turesque confusion ; everything premised a departure — the caravansery was to be deserted. Hour after hour passed in the preparations for starting. By and by, however, the drays were loaded — though not be fore a burden of 3 cwt. for each camel at starting was objected to ; and extra vehicles had to be procured. The horses and camels were securely packed, and their loads properly adjusted. "It was exactly a quarter to four o'clock when the Expedition got into marching order. A lane was opened through the crowd, and in this the line was formed ; Mr. Burke on his pretty little grey at the head. The Exploration Committee of the Royal Society took up a position in front.

" The Mayor of Melbourne then mounted one of the drays, and said : ' Mr. Burke, I am fully aware that the grand assemblage, this day, while it has impeded your movements in starting, is at the same time a source of much gratification to you. It assures you of the sincere sympathy of the citizens. I will not detain you ; but for this great crowd, and on behalf of the colony at large, I say, God speed you.' " Mr. Burke (uncovered) said, in a clear earnest voice that was heard all over the crowd : ' Mr. Mayor, on behalf of myself and the Expedition I beg to return you my most sincere thanks. No Expedition has ever started under such favourable circumstances as this. The people, the Government, the Committee — all have done heartily what they could do. It is now our turn; and we shall never do well till we justify what you have done in showing what we can do ' (loud and prolonged cheering)."

Then they started, and our hearts sink within us from the very first. In vain we learn that the Expe dition had been carefully organized by a practical and talented man, that the arrangement of its details had occupied more than two years, and that over £9,000 had been subscribed in Victoria alone, a large sum for the undeveloped resources of the colony to furnish. There were divisions in the camp even before it became a camp, and doubts and misgivings sprang up at the beginning. Looking at it dispassionately, and with the most earnest wish not to depreciate Mr. Burke's character or services, I cannot make myself think he was fitted to be the head of such an Expedition. He must have been from all accounts absolutely fearless of danger, of great physical strength, generous, loyal, and noble as any Paladin of old.

But, alas ! there is something more required for a leader of men. There is fore thought, decision, clearness, and conciseness in giving orders, and much more which cannot be set down here. These poor Burke, sine fellow as he was, does not appear to have possessed ; and yet it seems hard and cruel to cast now even one reproachful glance at his lowly grave under the box-tree in the pathless rolling plains which lie between New South Wales and the Gulf of Carpentaria. Mr. Wills was nearly perfect as a second in com mand. Possessing the strictest sense of discipline and unquestioning obedience, unflagging cheerfulness^ and endurance, he would have been the most trusty weapon which ever came to a commander's hand ; but instead of this, he found himself in positions where his life at last paid the forfeit of vacillating ideas, based on miserably slender information, and where self-will and opposition to his chief could alone have saved them both.

We must remember that the eyes of all the in habitants of the Australian colonies were turned upon this Expedition ; and to account for and appreciate the breathless interest which attended its progress we must recollect that the colonists were waiting for news of what sort of country lay beyond the com paratively narrow strip between the sea-shore and the River Murray, with which they were familiar. They knew that between the Australian Alps and the great Pacific Ocean lay hundreds and hundreds of miles of inland country, but that was all they knew. Whether it was fitted for the habitation of man and beast, whether it was deserted or fertile, well watered or THE EXPLORING EXPEDIIION. 9 barren, rich in minerals or poor and thankless — all this they longed to hear. The prosperity of their children, the growth of the beloved new land and its resources — all hung on what the Expedition should discover and report.

They must have felt that it was not a question of personal wealth or benefit to either Burke or Wills, for the salaries accepted by them appear to us but scanty recompense for months, and perhaps years, of incessant exposure to wind and weather. It is impossible to doubt that, in undertak ing the charge and conduct of the Victorian Exploring Expedition, both Burke and Wills had a single eye to the development and improvement of the colony with which they had cast in their lot, and never a thought of their own personal advancement. Now we shall start afresh with the little party of adventurous men, and shake off the straggling crowd of idle hangers-on. I must notice that my information is chiefly drawn from Mr. Wills' Diary and Letters. Few papers of poor Robert Burke's were found : it is supposed that they were wilfully lost or destroyed, but my own impression, founded on what I gather of his unpractical habits, is that he trusted chiefly to young Wills' notes for the necessary aids to his memory.

At all events, the volume before me naturally bases most of its information on the letters and field-journals of Mr. Wills. The first note from him to his father breathes the same wonderfully hopeful contented spirit in which his last almost illegible words are traced precisely ten months afterwards. Dissensions and difficulties date from the first day's journey, but there is no trace of either in Wills' letters. A month after the Expedi tion started Mr. Burke found it necessary to dismiss his foreman, Fergusson, who, we are told, was of so unprepossessing an exterior and address, that Mr. Burke was warned that he would probably find it necessary to shoot him ! Under these circumstances, we feel quite thankful when he is safely packed off with only hard words on both sides. No sooner was this individual disposed of than the original second in command, Mr. Landells (Wills was third in power at the outset), began to make difficulties on behalf of his camels.

Amongst other perquisites and comforts necessary for the well-being of these animals, it appears that rum is included, and passing over young Wills' temperate and straightforward letter to Pro fessor Neumayer on the subject of the grand quarrel, we will copy from the Argus what the Melbourne press thought of the affair three months after the Expedition had started. After touching on Mr. Landells' conduct, and speaking in high terms of the letter from Mr. Wills, alluded to above, the Argus goes on to say : — " These camels, under Mr. Landells' spoiling, appear to have become the plague of the Expedition. They were to have rum solely, as it now appears, because Mr. Landells knew of an officer who took two camels through a two years' campaign in Cabul, the Punjab, and Scinde, by allowing them arrack.

They were to carry more stores for themselves than they were worth ; they were not to make long journeys, nor to travel in bad weather, nor to be subject to any one's direction, or opinion, or advice. In fine, the chief difficulty of exploring Australia seemed to consist in humouring the camels. We may imagine the feelings of a leader with such a drag as this encumbering him. Mr. Pickwick could never have viewed with such disgust the horse which he was obliged to lead about as Mr. Burke must have regarded his camels." We do not know how many animals originally started with the travellers : we hear of one camel, with only 4 cwt. on its back, tumbling down and dis locating its shoulder; but Mr. Burke's first and most business-like despatch tells us, that after Mr. Landells' departure there were sixteen available camels and fifteen horses left.

This report gives also the names of the diminished party. They consisted of seven Europeans and a Sepoy. Dr. Beckler, the botanist and medical adviser to the Expedition, and Dr. Becker, its naturalist and artist, had both by this time resigned their appointments, and our only won der is that they ever accepted them, as they were evi dently poor weak creatures, quite unfit for hardships. This despatch of Mr. Burke's is dated Torowoto, October 29, 1860, and is full of hope and courage. The proposed route of the Expedition was due north, straight across the vast unexplored continent, and through a great part of it now known as Queens land. I may mention here that Victoria has bene fited very little by the pecuniary sacrifices she then made. To her, however, belongs the honour and glory of having found the men and the money, and she honours the names of her brave adopted sons as much as if they had brought her news of thousands of added acres.

But it is a fact that "all the land dis covered by the Burke and Wills Expedition, now called Burke's Land, has been handed over to Queensland by the Home Government. It extends up to Cape York on the extreme north, in Torres Straits." According to a rough calculation, they must have travelled some 400 miles by the time they had reached Torowoto. Burke describes the country as very well grassed, and forming splendid sheep-grazing land, with a sufficient supply of creeks and water-holes. He is, in the same document, full of praise of Mr. Wright, in whom he had a totally misplaced confidence, and declares with greater truth that he feels himself most fortunate in having Mr. Wills as his second officer. I next turn to Mr. Wills' official report of the same country under the same date, and find it not nearly so encouraging as Mr. Burke's. He, Mr. Wills, writes in his official character as Surveyor to the Expedition, and enters into minute details of the nature of the soil, its dryness, the drifting sand, and the poisonous " Darling Pea," which grows on the river of that name, and which, when eaten in any quantity, drives horses mad.

He considers the land about Torowoto more fitted for cattle than sheep, as it is swampy. Altogether these two despatches, read in the order they are printed, teach us the character of the men — Robert Burke, hasty in his judgments, sanguine, warm, and impulsive, a man to love, but not to follow ; John Wills, sober, prudent, observing and cautious, a man who would follow where he loved, all over the world. At this point the party split up again. Wright went back to Menindie, where he lingered for months instead of following the explorers ; whilst Burke and Wills, with only five men, set out from Torowoto on the 29th September, and reached Cooper's Creek, as nearly as possible half-way across the continent, on the nth November, having travelled 250 miles in about six weeks. Here the Expedition halted for a short time.

A depot of clothing and stores was formed, and many consultations were held on the subject of the shortest route to the Gulf of Carpentaria. The explorers knew that Mr. Douall Stuart was on the point of starting from Adelaide with the hope of arriving at the Gulf by a different route, so, as Dr. Wills' remarks, it became a rival race as to who should reach the goal first. We are given about this time a charming little letter from Mr. Wills to his sister, in which he tells her that they had then halted at Cooper's Creek for three weeks, and intended to linger there a fortnight longer. He makes light of all the discomforts and fatigues they had hitherto experienced, and declares it has been more like a pic-nic than an Expedition. One little episode which he mentions does not sound very alluring.

He and a comrade, McDonough by name, started from the Creek on a reconnoitring expe dition, taking three camels with them. They found no water, and at the end of the third day the animals escaped, whilst Mr. Wills had gone to a rising ground at a little distance to make some observations. He had left them in charge of McDonough, desiring him not to lose sight of them for a moment ; but this man set to work to light a fire and boil his pannikin, neglecting to watch the camels. When Wills returned and inquired where they were, McDonough pointed to some stunted bushes in the distance, and said they were the camels. Of course they were nothing of the sort, and after a fruitless search the travellers " concluded," as our Yankee cousins would say, to start homewards. But Cooper's Creek was at least ninety miles away, and they had so little water left that it was necessary to walk fast and steadily.

With this terrible fear of thirst before them, they stepped out, and actually reached the depot with its welcome deep water-holes in forty-eight hours. Young Wills describes the forced march as if it were a holiday ramble; but even his calm composure cannot lessen the hardship of such a journey, with, as he states, the thermometer at 1050 in the shade and 1400 in the sun, and a hot wind blowing. They had not half a pint of water left when they reached the camp. No wonder that he speaks of " smacking their lips over a drink of cold water with as much relish as ever any one did over the best sherry or champagne." Cooper's Creek could not have been a very inviting place, with its myriads of flies, and its flat extensive plains covered with herbs dried like hay, and its water the colour of " flood water in the Dart ; " but such as it was, we read of their leaving it as if it were a home to which they bade farewell when they started for Eyre's Creek on the 16th December, 1860.

Again the small party divided : a man called Brahe remained at the depot with two Europeans, Dost Mahomet (the Sepoy before mentioned), six camels, and twelve horses. This only left King and Charley to accom pany Burke and Wills, and they took with them six camels, one horse, and three months' provisions. Before concluding my chapter I must pause for a word about this unhappy man Brahe. After reading both sides of the story, it seems hard to know whether he is most to be blamed or pitied. Here are the op posing statements. Dr. Wills declares that Brahe, who seems to have been a good sort of man in the main, " received most positive orders to remain at Cooper's Creek until the return of the exploring party from the Gulf of Carpentaria." He did not do so ; he waited for four months, and then went away, taking all tlie stores of clothing with him, and leaving a very small proportion of the provision deposited in a cache.

On the other hand, it is hard to imagine a more trying position than poor Brahe's. Expecting every day to be relieved by Mr. Wright, who he understood was to join him immediately, he remained in that desolate spot for four months and five days, without word or token from any living creature. He had to listen to the daily heart-rending appeals of one of his companions who was sick unto death, and who prayed him to set out homewards. At last he yielded, and, twenty-four hours after he and his party had started, Burke and Wills and King arrived to find themselves deserted and forsaken. But this is antici pating, and therefore we will return and follow the explorers step by step to the bitter end.

Chapter II. The Explorers' Fate

Almost the first entry in Mr. Wills' field-book num bered " one," refers to some friendly blacks whom they met, at a point where the sandstone range crosses the creek. Of these natives Mr. Wills writes, " They pestered us to go to their camp and have a dance, which we declined. They were very troublesome, and nothing but the threat to shoot them will keep them away. They are, however, easily frightened ; and although fine-looking men, decidedly not of a warlike disposition. They show the greatest inclination to take whatever they can, but will run no unnecessary risk in so doing. They seldom carry any weapon except a shield and a large kind of bomerang, which I believe they use for killing rats, &c. Sometimes, but very seldom, they have a large spear ; reed-spears seem to be quite unknown to them.

They are, un doubtedly, a finer and better-looking race of men than the blacks on the Murray and Darling, and more peaceful ; but in other respects I believe they will not compare favourably with them. They appear to be mean-spirited and contemptible in every respect." It was close upon the Australian Midsummer when the little band started for the sea-shore, so many hundred miles away. From the first, their steps lay due north, slightly trending to the west, and Mr. Wills mentions passing through lovely valleys covered with fresh green plants, and gay with red-breasted cockatoos, pigeons, and other birds. In every page of the journal we find careful observations about water recorded, as, of course, in a new country everything depends upon that necessary. At one camp we are amused to come across a notice of an exceptionally good water-hole, and of the night being so calm and bright that Mr. Wills was able to secure an observa tion of the eclipse of Jupiter's satellite, using the water as an horizon.

All through the Expedition the blacks proved most friendly ; and we find more than one notice of an interchange of civilities, fish fried in their own fat being bartered by the natives for beads and matches. Up to latitude 27° 25!' South, the country is described as being of the finest description for pas toral purposes, but the region beyond was sandy and arid, and very bad for travelling. However, they pushed on, only halting for one day at a spot named by them " Gray's Creek," to celebrate Christmas. We can imagine the four Englishmen trying hard, like Mark Tapley, to be jolly under adverse circum stances. Disagreeables we may be sure there were, enough and to spare, but brave John Wills does not mention them ; he only tells us of the advantages attending the situation of that lonely Christmas camp, the abundance of water, the shade of the timber, the sufficiency of food, and the absence of vermin.

At half-past four on the following morning they started afresh to pursue their way over the " earthy, rotten plains," in the direction of Eyre's Creek. The c TRAVELS RE-TRAVELLED. 18 record of each day's journey is deeply interesting, but we cannot linger by the way : we must march rapidly from camp to camp, over country which improved as soon as they got into the tropic of Capricorn, and which not only furnished excellent feed for the horses, but flocks of ducks and wild pigeons to improve the travellers' fare. It is hardly possible to imagine any thing more exciting than this rapid dash through such a virgin country, rich with its treasures of food and water, all waiting, as it had been waiting since the creation, for Man to come and take possession of his splendid inheritance. Let us think for an instant of Burke's and Wills' feelings as they marched hopefully and steadily on, disregarding everything except their goal, the sea-shore.

They had both believed that these rich lands lay useless here, and now their belief was turned into knowledge, and they must have proudly thought that thousands of human creatures in the coming generations would remember their names as we remember the names of those who bring us good news. Is it any wonder that even the rough hasty notes, which are all the record we possess of this part of the Expedition, breathe a spirit of joy and hope which should make the colour mount in your cheek, and the true adventure-light shine in your eyes, as you read the soul-stirring words ? And now they are nearing the desired sea-coast ; the water begins to taste salt, they strike on the course of the Flinders River, and they get upon the country which had before been traversed by Mr. Gregory and other previous explorers.

I confess this part of the narrative disappoints me greatly. In Mr. Wills' journal there is absolutely no mention made of Mr. Burke and himself actually standing on the sea shore, and yet the tone of the report assumes that they did so. We are told in one place, that they left Gray and King behind at the camp marked "i 19 " in charge of the camels, and pushed on alone for the shore. The next field-journal, numbered 9, takes up the narrative from the day — the 13th February, 1861 — when "the party turned their faces to the south, and commenced their long and toilsome march in return." But there is no actual statement of the when and the how they saw the ocean, and knew that their mission was ended, their brightest hopes fulfilled, and that their names were even then written down on the list of those who deserve well of their country.