SPECTATOR'S LIBRARY.

TRAVELS,

Journals of Expeditions of Discovc7, into Central Australia, and Over-land from Ade- laide to Xing Georges Sound, in the years 1840-1, sent by the Colonists of South Australia, with the sanction and support of the Government : including an Ac- count of the Manners and Customs of the Aborigines and the State of their Rela- tions with Europeans. By Edward John Eyre, Resident Magistrate, Murray River. T. and W. Boone.

BtOokAmv, A Memoir of the Honourable and Most Reverend Power Le Peer Trench, last Archbishop of roam. By the Reverend Joseph D'Arcy Sire, D.D., Vicar of Vox-

ford, Suffolk Longman and Co.; Curry junior, POLITICAL ECONOMY,

Four Lectures on the Organization of Industry ; being part of a Course delivered in the University of Cambridge in Easter Term 1814. By T. C. Winfield, Esq. Richard and John E. Taylor, London ; Deighton, Cambridge. B

TEE' JOURNALS OF EXPEDITIONS OF DISCOVERY IN AUSTRALIA.

THERE are, correctly speaking, two works in these volumes. The Jour- nals of the Expeditions and the notes on the Manners and Customs of the Aborigines treat of different subjects, and in a different manner : the chapters are also separately numbered. They require to be considered apart.

The Journals of the Expeditions possess a human interest, in which the works of recent travellers, overlaid with an ostentatious display of learning or science, are rather deficient. The author tells a plain unvar- nished tale : he does not seek to obtrude his own person or to magnify or embellish his exploits and adventures. But his narrative of what he did and overcame is more like the stirring stories of Park and Bruce than the tame and bookish diffuseness of modern travellers.

Mr. Eyre, as the titlepage informs us, was sent out by his fellow-colo- nists with the sanction of the local Government. But the direction of the expedition was fixed in accordance with his representations. Having travelled repeatedly over-land from Liverpool Plains to Adelaide and from Sydney to Port Philip and Adelaide, penetrated further North from Ade- laide in a direct line than any previous explorer, and examined a consi- derable part of Western Australia, Mr. Eyre had come to the conclusion that most light would be thrown on the conformation of the Australian continent by a journey to its centre, and that Adelaide was the most favourable starting-point for an expedition having that object in view. His energetic advocacy of such an enterprise diverted the attention of the colonists from another expedition on which they were earnestly bent. He was appointed to command a party despatched to plant the British flag in•the centre of Australia, and if possible to cross thence to Port Essington. Mr. Eyre devoted himself and his property to the task. He broke up his station; and of the whole money raised to fit out the ex- pedition—a large sum for so young a settlement—one half was paid out of his own pocket.

In the prosecution of the enterprise, Mr. Eyre showed that the enthu- siasm which had spurred him on to undertake it was combined with judi- lions foresight, and with an impassioned perseverance, which grew more earnest and resolute as obstacles and hinderances gathered round him. It is from his simple, unostentatious statement of what was done and suffered, that we gather this. He turned his steps at first to the North. The country immediately to the North of the head of Spencer's Gulf he found even more desolate than was anticipated ; and his progress in that di- rection was effectually checked at six degrees of latitude North from Adelaide, by the anomalous crescent-formed depression of the earth's surface, filled apparently with sludge, to which the name of Lake Torrens has been given. The peninsula hemmed in by this Syrtis of modern Australia was explored by Mr. Eyre with patient energy. Moving his party successively to those points where water and grass could be ob- tained, he took upon himself the part of pioneer; and, accompanied only by a Native boy, explored the waste hundreds of miles ahead of him on every side, being sometimes weeks away from his companions. Finding advance in this direction impossible, he crossed the peninsula behind Port Lincoln, with a view to advance Westward along the coast and penetrate inland at the first practicable opening. As he held on this course, the information of the Natives that no water or trees were to be found inland, corroborated by the burning winds that came from the North-east, con- vinced him that an Australian Sahara was interposed between him and the point he wished to reach. Thrice he attempted to turn the head of the great Australian Bight; and thrice the desert and sultry region drove him back, with the loss of his best horses. At last he succeeded ; but, from the character of the country beyond him, it was evident that the party With its drays could not penetrate it. Determined not to return to Adelaide a baffled man, yet equally resolute not to endanger others unne- cessarily, he sent back to the colony the whole of his companions except three Native lads who might be supposed familiar with such a country, and his faithful overseer, and prepared to push onwards to Xing George's Sound. It is obvious that when his companions carried this intelligence to Adelaide, the Governor and all the colonists regarded the project as conceived in the phrensy of disappointed ambition. With the generous humanity which animates Governor Gawler, Mr. Scott was despatched in :the Government cutter to convey to Mr. Eyre expressions of his fellow- ' colonists' conviction that he had done all that man could do, and to en- treat him not to throw away his life. But it is characteristic of Mr. Eyre, that resolutions of which most men would only be capable under strong excitement, are with him adopted in cool blood and by calculation. He had made an estimate of his own forces and of the obstacles in the way ; and the event proved, that in wining to the conclusion he could overcome them he had not overvalued himself. With his reduced train he pushed onwards. They had to pass over tracts in which no water and only scanty supplies of dry withered grass were to be found for hundreds of miles —and the season was midsummer, within six degrees of the Tropic. His Werseer wavered, but Mr. Eyre never quailed. Unwholesome food brought on alarming sickness ; his only civilized attendant was murdered by two of his Native attendants, and they carried off most of the fire-arms; the faith of the remaining Native was more than questionable : still Mr. Eyre held on undaunted. His courage and self-possession commanded secede. In Rossiter Bay, he was received with disinterested and unbounded hos- pitality by the captain of a French whaler ; who, apprehensive of a war between his country and ours—for even to those distant regions the reckless intrigues of Thiers and Palmerston had carried alarm—entreated, as the sole expression of Mr. Eyre's gratitude, that when he reached the English settlements he would not mention that there was a French whaler off the coast. Reinvigorated by the kindness and liberality of Captain Rossiter, Mr. Eyre, with his Native attendant, reached King George's Sound with comparative ease, and there terminated a journey of a thou- sand miles along an inhospitable and almost inaccessible coast—the last perilous adventure, the climax of the privations of a year's wandering in the deserts of Australia.

The observations made by Mr. Eyre in the daring journey afford grounds for hope that the interior of the mysterious continent he skirted will soon be unveiled. The joumies of Oxley, Start, Cunningham, and Mitchell, have made us familiar with the South-east corner of Australia, and the edges of the desert which seems to separate it from the interior. Governor Grey's examination of the West and North-west coasts has re- vealed the almost impossibility of penetrating from that side. The want of a settlement as a point d'appui on the North or North-east coast forbids the hope of anything being speedily accomplished from that quarter. In so far as mere .distance is concerned, Adelaide is unquestionably the most favourable starting-point for an advance into the interior ; and Mr. Eyre, by his pertinacious efforts to penetrate to the Northward, and by the perseverance with which he has prowled along the edge of the desert to the East and to the West in search of an opening, has collected such in- dications as denote almost with certainty the points whence it is possible to advance, and the character of the country beyond. Lake Torrens appears to be impassable ; and thus five degrees of latitude are hermeti- cally sealed. Between the Darling and the Eastern extremity of this mass of sludge, there appears the apex of a rising country, over which it may be possible to pass Northward ; and this route is at present ex- plored by Captain Sturt, the father of Australian discovery, the generous promoter of the views of Mr. Eyre. From the Western extremity of Lake Torrens to the Western side of the Great Bight—a distance of eight degrees of longitude—the reports of the Natives, and the hot suf- focating North-east winds, indicate a belt of low arid desert between the coast and the interior. But to the Westward of this unpromising region, the appearance of flocks of fat parrots, the direction of the storms and cold breezes from the North-east, indicate an elevated and not unfertile region. Expeditions landing on the neighbourhood of Cape Arid would have a fair prospect of being able to turn the flank of the desert on the West; as Captain Start, by the latest intelligence appears to be in a fair way of turning it on the East ; and thus reasonable hopes are held out that an available interior will be discovered. Any vessel employed to land this exploring party about Cape Arid would find anchorage, plenty of fish, fresh water, and fire-wood, with a soil and climate fitvoumble to the formation of gardens about Rossiter Bay. By an exhaustive process Mr. Eyre has shown ;II the points at which the continent cannot be pe- netrated; a most important though too often an undervalued service.

The interest of Mr. Eyre's book is not exclusively derived from the personal adventures of which it is a narrative. The same charm Cer- tainly does not attach to the deserts of Australia as tothe deserts of Africa and Asia, in themselves equally repulsive. There is no human interest attaching to Australia. The hearsay notices by Herodotus and the Arabs of the middle ages' of cities and wealth lying beyond the Sahara, lent to the exploration of that waste the charm of solving a riddle; and every baffled traveller lost in the desert, or returning successless, heightened the eagerness to unriddle it. The remains of pillared temples and cities On the edges of the deserts of Ideroe and Persia, the history of Cyrus and Alexander the Great, nay, the legends of Mandeville and the Arabian Nights' Entertainments, threw the colour of imagination over the wastes of Eastern Africa., the high arid salt-plains of Media, and the low sultry salt-plains of Turkistan. But Australia has for us no histeay and no traditions, and its few straggling aboriginal tribes are in too low a stage of civilization to awaken spontaneous sympathy. Still, natural phmnomena and traits of human character did present themselves to our traveller, which heighten the interest of his pages.

But the striking scenery and natural phtenomena of the country traversed, it must be confessed, are more interesting than the inhabitants. Mr. Eyre, who for old acquaintance-sake is attached to the latter, argues hard to raise them in our estimation : and it must be admitted that he makes out an ingenious case for them ; as also that his views respect- ing the most just and humane method of dealing with them are eminently practical as well as humane. Still there is no denying that it costs us an effort to take an interest in those imperfect specimens of humanity—that they are rather objects of curious and pitying inquiry than of sympathy. In his notes on the Manners and Customs of the Aborigines, Mr. Eyre has ably though rather diffusely pleaded their cause. In all that he says of them he has our hearty concurrence : the only defect of this part of his work is, that, concentrating his attention on the Natives, he scarcely makes the same liberal and philosophical allowance for the shorteamin' gs of the uneducated class of settlers.

A few specimens may help to realize the character and contents of this book still more to our readers ; but nothing short of a perusal of the volumes can enable them fully to appretiate it.

A ROBINSON CRUSOE ADVENTURE.

I occupied myself in writing and charting during the day, and at night amused myself in taking stellar observations for latitude. I had alreadytaken the alti- tude of Vega, and deduced the latitude to be 32° 8' 23" S.• leaving my artificial horizon on the ground outside whilst I remained in the tea waiting until Altair came to the meridian, I then took my sextant and wentrent to observe this star Also; but upon putting down my hand to take hold of the horizon-glass in order to wipe the dew off, my fingers went into the quicksilver—the horizon-glass was gone, and also the piece of canvass I had put on the ground to lie down upon whilst observing so low an altitude as that of N'ega. Searching a little more, I missed a spade, a parcel of horse-shoes, an axe, a tin dish, some ropes, a grabbing-hoe' and several smaller things which had been left outside the tent, as not being likely to take any injury from the damp: It was evident I was surrounded by Natives, who had stolen all these things during the short time I had been in my tent, certainly not exceeding half an hour. The night was very windy, and I had heard nothing; besides, I was encamped in the midst of a very dense brush of large wide-spread- ing tea-trees and other bashes, any of which would afford a screen for a con-

siderable number of natives. •

As soon as I missed my horizon-glass, and entertained the suspicion of Natives being about, I hurried into the tent, and lighting a large blue light, run with it rapidly through the bushes around me. The effect of this was very beautiful amidst the darkness and gloom of the woods, and for a great distance in every direction objects could be seen as well as by day: the Natives, however, were gone; -rind I could only console myself by firing a couple of balls after them through the underwood, to warn them of the danger of intruding upon me again. I then put every thing which had been left outside into the tent, and kept watch for an hour or two; but my visiters came no more.

Rising very early, I set to work with an axe to clear away the bushes from around my tent. I now discovered that the Natives had been concealed behind a large tea-tree not twenty yards from the tent: there were numerous foot-marks there, and the remains of fire-sticks which they had brought with them, for a Native rarely moves at night without fire.

THE SYRTIS OF AUSTRALIA.

I penetrated into the basin of the lake for about six miles, and found it so far without surface-water. On entering at first, the horses sunk a little in a stiff mud, after breaking through a white crust of salt, which everywhere coated the surface, and was about one-eighth of an inch in thickness: as we advanced, the mad became much softer, and greatly mixed with salt-water below the surface, until at last we found it impossible to advance a step further, as the horses had already sunk up to their bellies in the bog, and I was afraid we never should be able to extricate them and get them safely back to the shore. Could we have gone on for some distance, I have no doubt that we should have found the bed of the lake occupied by water, as there was every appearance of a large body of it at a few miles to the West. As we advanced, a great alteration had taken place in the aspect of the Western shores. The bluff rocky banks were no longer visible, but a low level country appeared to the view at seemingly about fifteen or twenty miles distance. From the extraordinary and deceptive appearances, caused by mirage and refraction, however, it was impossible to tell what to make of sensible objects, or what to believe on the evidence of vision; for upon turning back to re- trace our steps to the Eastward, a vast sheet of water appeared to intervene be- tween us and the shore, whilst the Mount Deception ranges, which I knew to be at least thirty-five miles distant, seemed to rise out of the bed of the lake itself, the mock waters of which were laving their base, and reflecting the inverted out- line of their rugged summits. The whole scene partook more of enchantment than reality; and as the eye wandered over the smooth and unbroken crust of pure white salt which glazed the basin of the lake, and which was lit up by the daz- zling rays of a noonday sun, the effect was glittering and brilliant beyond con- ception.

UNDITM;TIONAL PROVOCATION OF THE NATIVES.

the Natives been away, we could have buried the baggage, and left the dray; but as it was, we had only to wait patiently, hoping they would soon de-

Such, however, was not their intention: there they sat, coolly and calmly, rer.Ling and watching us, as if determined to sit us out. It was most provoking to see the careless indifference with which they did this, sheltering themselves under the shade of a few shrubs, or lounging about the slopes near us, to gather the berries of the mesembryanthemum. I was vexed and irritated beyond measure, as hour after hour passed away and our unconscious tormentors still remained. Every moment as it flew lessened the chance of saving the lives of our horses; and yet I could not bring myself to abandon so many things that we could not do without, and which we could not in any way replace. What made the circum- stances, too, so much worse, was that we had last night given to our horses every drop of water, except the small quantity put apart for our breakfasts. * * * A movement was now observed among the Natives; and, gathering up their spears, they all went off. Raving placed the Native boy upon an eminence to watch them, the man and I at once set to work to carry our baggage to the top of a sand-hill, that it might be buried at some distance from the dray. We had hardly commenced our labours, however, before the boy called out that the Natives were returning; and in a little time they all occupied their former position. * * *

Strongly as our patience had been exercised in the morning, it was still more severely tested in the afternoon: for eight long hours had those Natives sat oppo- site to us watching. From eight in the morning until four in the afternoon, we had been doomed to disappointment. About this time, however, a general move- ment again took place: once more they collected their spears, shouldered their wallets, and moved off rapidly and steadily towards the South-east. It was evi- dent they had many miles to go to their encampment; and I now knew we should be troubled with them no more.

THOUGHTLESS PROVOCATION BY THE WHITES.

At the time when I left the deplit on the 11th August, in giving the over- seer general directions for hisguidance, I had among other matters requested him, if he found any Natives in the neighbourhood, to try and get one up to the camp and induce him to remain until my return, that we might, if possible, gain some information as to the nature of the country or the direction of the waters. In endeavouring to carry out my wishes, it seems he had one day conic across two or three Natives in the plain; to whom lie gave chase when they ran away. The men escaped; but he came up with one of the females, and took her a prisoner to the camp, where he kept her for a couple of days, but could gain no information from her: she either could not be understood, or would not tell where there was water, although when signs were made to her on the subject she pointed to the East and to the North-west. After keeping her for two days, during which, with the exception of being a prisoner, she had been kindly treated, she was let go, with the present of a shirt and handkerchief. It was to revenge this aggression that the Natives had now assembled. • * -

The number of Natives said to have been seen altogether, including women and children, was between fifty and sixty; and though they had yet actually commit- ted no overt act against us, with the exception of trying to steal upon myself and the Native boy as we returned, yet they had established themselves in the close vicinity of our encampment, and repeatedly exhibited signs of defiance,.such al throwing dust in the air, shouting and threatening with their weapons, and once or twice, the evening before my arrival, crossing within a very short distance of the tents, as if for the purpose of reconnoitering our position and strength. I determined, however, nothing but the last extremity should ever induce me to act on the offensive.

FAMILY AFFECTION OF TIIE NATIVES.

Not far from the spring, I discovered a poor emaciated Native, entirely alone, Without either food or fire, and evidently left by his tribe to perish there: he was a very aged man, anti from hardship and want was reduced to a mere skeleton. How long he had been on the spot, where we found him I had no means of ascer- taining, but probably for some time, as life appeared to be fast ebbing away; be seemed almost unconscious of our presence, and stared upon us with a vacant Um-

meaning gaze. The pleasures orsorrows of life were for ever over with him: his case was far beyond the reach of human aid, and the probability is that he died a very few hours after we left him. Such is the fate of the aged and helpless in savage life: nor can we wonder that it should be so, since self-preservation is the first law of nature, and the wandering Native, who has to travel always over a great extent of ground to seek for his daily food, could not obtain enough to support his existence if obliged to remain with the old or the sick, or if impeded by the incumbranee of carrying them with him. Still I felt grieved for the poor old man we had left behind us; and it was long be- fore I could drive away his image from my mind, or repress the melancholy train of thoughts that the circumstance had called forth.

NATIVE GRATITUDE.

During the day, Wylie had caught two opossums; and as these were entirely the fruit of his own labour and skill, I did not interfere in their disposal: I was curious, moreover, to see how far I could rely upon his kindness and generosity, should circumstances ever compel me to depend upon him for a share of what he might procure. At night, therefore, I sat philosophically watching him whilst he proceeded to get supper ready, as yet ignorant whether I was to partake of it or not. After selecting the largest of the two animals, he prepared and cooked it, and then put away the other where be intended to sleep. I now saw that he had not the remotest intention of giving any to me, and asked him what he intended to do with the other one. He replied, that he should be hungry in the morning, and meant to keep it until then. Upon hearing this, I told him that his arrange- ments were very good; and that for the future I would follow the same system also and that each should depend upon his own exertions in procuring food; hinting to him, that as be was so much more skilful than I was, and as we had so very little flour left, I should be obliged to reserve this entirely for myself, but that I hoped he would have no difficulty in procuring as much food as he required. I was then about to open the flour-bag and take a little out for my supper; when he became alarmed at the idea of getting no more, and stopped me, offering the other opossum, and volunteering to cook it properly for me. Trifling as this little occurrence was, it read me a lesson of caution, and taught me what value was to be placed upon the assistance or kindness of my companion, should circumstances ever place me in a situation to be dependent upon him. I felt a little hurt, too, at experiencing so little consideration from one whom I had treated with the greatest kindness, and who had been clothed and fed upon my bounty for the last fifteen months.

NATIVE DELICACIES.

I persuaded one of the Natives, named " Wilg,uldy,* an intelligent cheerful old man, to accompany us as a guide; and as an inducement, had him mounted on a horse, to the great admiration and envy of his fellows, all of whom followed us on foot, keeping up in a line with the dray through the scrub, and procuring their food as they went along,—which consisted of snakes, lizards, gnanas, bandicoots, rats, wallabies, &c., &c.: and it was surprising to see the apparent ease with which, in merely walking across the country, they each procured an abundant supply for the day. In one place in the scrub we came to a large circular mound of sand, about two feet high and several yards in circumference: this they imme- diately began to explore, carefully throwing away the sand with their hands from the centre, until they had worked down to a deep narrow hole, round the sides of which, and embedded in the sand, were four fine large eggs of a delicate pink colour, and fully the size of a goose-egg. I had often seen these hills efore, but did not know that they were nests, and that they contained so valuable a prize to a traveller in the desert. The eggs were presented to me by the Natives; and when cooked were of a very rich and delicate flavour. The nest was that of a wild pheasant, (Leipoa,) a bird of the size of a hen-pheasant of England, and greatly resembling it in appearance and plumage. These birds are very cautions and shy, and run rapidly through the underwood, rarely flying unless when closely pursued. The shell of the egg is thin and fragile; and the young are hatehe.d entirely by the heat of the sun, scratching their way out as soon as they are born; at which time they are able to shift for themselves.