AUSTRALIAN SEARCH PARTY
BY
CHARLES HENRY EDEN
FROM
ILLUSTRATED TRAVELS:
A RECORD OF
DISCOVERY, GEOGRAPHY, AND ADVENTURE.
EDITED BY
H.W. BATES,
ASSISTANT-SECRETARY OF THE ROYAL GEOGRAPHICAL SOCIETY.
AN AUSTRALIAN SEARCH PARTY—I.
BY CHARLES H. EDEN.
IN a former narrative, published in the preceding volume of theILLUSTRATED TRAVELS, I gave an account of a terrible cyclone whichvisited the north-eastern coast of Queensland in the autumn of 1866,nearly destroying the small settlements of Cardwell and Townsville, anddoing an infinity of damage by uprooting heavy timber, blocking up thebush roads, etc. Amongst other calamities attendant on this visitationwas the loss of a small coasting schooner, named the 'Eva', bound fromCleveland to Rockingham Bay, with cargo and passengers. Only those whohave visited Australia can picture to themselves the full horror of acaptivity amongst the degraded blacks with whom this unexploreddistrict abounds; and a report of white men having been seen amongstthe wild tribes in the neighbourhood of the Herbert River induced theinhabitants of Cardwell to institute a search party to rescue the crewof the unhappy schooner, should they still be alive; or to gain somecertain clue to their fate, should they have perished.
In my former narrative I described our exploration of the HerbertRiver, lying at the south end of Rockingham Channel, with its fruitlessissue; and I now take up the thread of my story from that point,thinking it can hardly fail to be of interest to the reader, not onlyas regards the wild nature of the country traversed, but also asshowing the anxiety manifested by the inhabitants of these remotedistricts to clear up the fate of their unhappy brethren. I may alsohere mention, for the information of such of my readers as may not haveread the preceding portions of the narrative, that Cardwell is the nameof a small township situated on the shores of Rockingham Bay; and thatTownsville is a settlement some hundred miles further south, known alsoas Cleveland Bay.
HOW WE EXPLORED GOULD AND GARDEN ISLANDS.
We were all much pleased at a piece of intelligence brought up by the'Daylight', to the effect that a party of volunteers had been assembledat Cleveland Bay, and intended coming up in a small steamer to thesouth end of Hinchinbrook, to assist in the search for the missingcrew. As it would be of the utmost importance that both parties shouldco-operate, I sent my boat down to the mouth of the channel, with anote to the leader of the expedition announcing our intention oflanding on the north end of the island and working towards the centre;and requesting them to scour their end, and then push northward, whenwe should most probably meet in the middle of the island. The boat hadorders to wait at the bar until the arrival of the steamer, and then toreturn with all speed. In the meanwhile, the 'Daylight' wasdischarging her cargo, and we were making preparations for what we wellknew would prove a most arduous undertaking; the sequel will show thatwe did not overrate the difficulties before us.
At the risk of being tedious, I must explain to the reader some of thepeculiarities of Hinchinbrook Island. Its length is a