When Brought To Him, He Drank Largely
At Intervals Of It.
He was equally importunate for fire, being seized
with shivering fits; and one was kindled.
Fish were produced, to tempt him
to eat; but he turned away his head, with signs of loathing.
Nanbaree (the boy), on the contrary, no sooner saw them than he leaped
from his cradle, and eagerly seizing them, began to cook them. A warm bath
being prepared, they were immersed in it; and after being thoroughly cleansed,
they had clean shirts put on them, and were again laid in bed.
The old man lived but a few hours. He bore the pangs of dissolution
with patient composure; and though he was sensible to the last moment,
expired almost without a groan. Nanbaree appeared quite unmoved at the event;
and surveyed the corpse of his father without emotion, simply exclaiming,
'boee' (dead). This surprised us; as the tenderness and anxiety of the old man
about the boy had been very moving. Although barely able to raise his head,
while so much strength was left to him, he kept looking into
his child's cradle; he patted him gently on the bosom; and, with dying eyes,
seemed to recommend him to our humanity and protection. Nanbaree was adopted
by Mr. White, surgeon-general of the settlement, and became henceforth
one of his family.
Arabanoo had no sooner heard of the death of his countryman, than he hastened
to inter him. I was present at the ceremony, in company with the governor,
captain Ball, and two or three other persons. It differed, by the accounts
of those who were present at the funeral of the girl, in no respect
from what had passed there in the morning, except that the grave was dug
by a convict. But I was informed, that when intelligence of the death
reached Arabanoo, he expressed himself with doubt whether he should bury,
or burn the body; and seemed solicitous to ascertain which ceremony
would be most gratifying to the governor.
Indeed, Arabanoo's behaviour, during the whole of the transactions of this day,
was so strongly marked by affection to his countryman, and by confidence in us,
that the governor resolved to free him from all farther restraint,
and at once to trust to his generosity, and the impression which our treatment
of him might have made, for his future residence among us: the fetter
was accordingly taken off his leg.
In the evening, captain Ball and I crossed the harbour, and buried the corpse
of the woman before mentioned.
Distress continued to drive them in upon us. Two more natives, one of them
a young man, and the other his sister, a girl of fourteen years old,
were brought in by the governor's boat, in a most deplorable state
of wretchedness from the smallpox. The sympathy and affection of Arabanoo,
which had appeared languid in the instance of Nanbaree and his father,
here manifested themselves immediately. We conjectured that a difference
of the tribes to which they belonged might cause the preference; but nothing
afterwards happened to strengthen or confirm such a supposition.
The young man died at the end of three days: the girl recovered,
and was received as an inmate, with great kindness, in the family
of Mrs Johnson, the clergyman's wife. Her name was Booron; but from
our mistake of pronunciation she acquired that of Abaroo, by which
she was generally known, and by which she will always be called in this work.
She shewed, at the death of her brother more feeling than Nanbaree
had witnessed for the loss of his father. When she found him dying,
she crept to his side, and lay by him until forced by the cold to retire.
No exclamation, or other sign of grief, however, escaped her
for what had happened.
May 1789. At sunset, on the evening of the 2d instant, the arrival
the 'Sirius', Captain Hunter, from the Cape of Good Hope, was proclaimed,
and diffused universal joy and congratulation. The day of famine was at least
procrastinated by the supply of flour and salt provisions she brought us.
The 'Sirius' had made her passage to the Cape of Good Hope, by the route of
Cape Horn, in exactly thirteen weeks. Her highest latitude was
57 degrees 10 minutes south, where the weather proved intolerably cold. Ice,
in great quantity, was seen for many days; and in the middle of December
(which is correspondent to the middle of June, in our hemisphere),
water froze in open casks upon deck, in the moderate latitude of 44 degrees.
They were very kindly treated by the Dutch governor, and amply supplied
by the merchants at the Cape, where they remained seven weeks. Their passage
back was effected by Van Diemen's Land, near which, and close under
Tasman's Head, they were in the utmost peril of being wrecked.
In this long run, which had extended round the circle, they had always
determined their longitude, to the greatest nicety, by distances taken
between the sun and moon, or between the moon and a star. But it falls
to the lot of very few ships to possess such indefatigable and accurate
observers as Captain Hunter, and Mr. (now Captain) Bradley,
the first lieutenant of the 'Sirius'.
I feel assured, that I have no reader who will not join in regretting
the premature loss of Arabanoo, who died of the smallpox on the 18th instant,
after languishing in it six days. From some imperfect marks and indents
on his face, we were inclined to believe that he had passed this dreaded
disorder. Even when the first symptoms of sickness seized him,
we continued willing to hope that they proceeded from a different cause.
But at length the disease burst forth with irresistible fury.
It were superfluous to say, that nothing which medical skill and unremitting
attention could perform, were left unexerted to mitigate his sufferings,
and prolong a life, which humanity and affectionate concern towards
his sick compatriots, unfortunately shortened.
Enter page number
PreviousNext
Page 7 of 66
Words from 6082 to 7083
of 66960
