High Hills Rose To The
Northward, Openly Timbered, But At Their Base With Patches Of Scrub, And
Very Stony.
Here we heard the distant cooees of natives, which we
answered, going in their direction, until we came to
A camp, in which we
found an old lame man, "Baki Baki," and a short sturdy fellow, "Rambo
Rambo;" both of whom knew a great number of English words, and were quite
familiar with the settlement, and knew the Commandant, Mr. Macarthur.
They promised the guide us the next morning to Balanda, after having made
many inquiries about our stock of provisions and of tobacco. I made my
latitude 11 degrees 26 minutes 18 seconds, by an observation of Regulus;
which, allowing a possible error of a few miles, confirmed me in my
belief, that we were at the head of the harbour; particularly as Baki
Baki had told me that he had come this very morning from the settlement.
Dec. 16. - When we arrived with our whole train at the camp of the
natives, their behaviour was quite altered, and they now showed as little
inclination to guide us to the settlement, as they had been eager last
night to do so. I persuaded Baki Baki, however, to go, at least part of
the way; and, when we saw that he became tired, we mounted him on one of
the horses, and led it by the bridle. He pointed to the W.N.W. as the
direction in which the settlement lay. We travelled about five miles over
stony ironstone ridges, with extensive groves of Livistona palm covering
their slopes. Here Baki Baki desired to dismount; and, telling us that it
was a very good road to Balanda, took his leave and returned. Soon after
we came to a large creek full of water, running to the eastward, which we
followed up for a long distance, before we were able to cross. Our
pack-horse became bogged, and as it was so weak that it would not even
make an effort to extricate itself, and as I supposed that we were near
the settlement, we took off its pack-saddle and load, and left it behind.
We crossed two or three more watercourses; and continued the course
pointed out by the native, until it became very late, and I found myself
compelled to look for water; particularly as our bullock showed evident
symptoms of becoming knocked up. I therefore followed the fall of the
country to the north-east; and, in a short time, came to the sea-side. We
compared our little map of the harbour of Port Essington with the
configuration of the bay before us, but nothing would agree exactly,
although it bore a general resemblance to Raffles Bay.
A narrow belt of brush covered the approaches to the water; but the
scarlet Eugenia grew on the sandy flats towards the hilly forest; where
we also found a new tree, a species of Anacardium, which the natives
called "Lugula;" it bore a red succulent fruit, formed by the enlargement
of the stalk, with a greyish one-seeded nut outside, like Exocarpus.
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