, 



THE " HORMUZEER " AND "CHESTERFIELD" 119 



passage via Murray Island ; but if so, the Boot and Portlock Reefs 

 no doubt forced them to alter their plans. At noon on the 22nd, 

 they were in 8 48' S., and land (NEW GUINEA) was seen an hour 

 later. An attempt was made to follow the New Guinea coast 

 and to get away to the north between New Guinea and the 

 Louisiade Archipelago. 



No such passage, however, having been found, and following the 

 coast of the Gulf of Papua having carried the ships too far east, 

 it was determined once more to seek a passage through TORRES 

 STRAIT. From 7 55' S., 1 therefore, the ships turned southward 

 on 26th June. At dawn on ist July., Bligh's DARN LEY ISLAND was 

 in sight, bearing W. by N.iN., at an estimated distance of 5 leagues. 

 Next day, the boats were employed in sounding, and NATIVES from 

 Darnley Island (to which the ships were near enough for coco-nut 

 trees to be seen) approached in canoes and exchanged bows and 

 arrows for knives, etc. 



The following quotations are from Terra Australis (I, xxxiii 

 et seq.}. 



" yd July. Mi. Shaw, Chief Mate of the ' Chesterfield,'' Mr. Carter, and Captain 

 Hill, of the New South Wales Corps, who was a passenger, went away armed, with 

 five seamen, in a whaleboat, and were expected to return on the following day ; but 

 the 4th, 5th and 6th passed, without any tidings of them. . . . 



" 7*k 7 u fy" Two boats, manned and armed, under the command of Mr. Dell, 

 Chief Mate of the ' Hormuzeer,' were sent in search of the whaleboat. On reaching 

 the island, Mr. Dell heard conch-shells sounding in various parts, and saw eighty or 

 ninety armed NATIVES upon the shore. To the inquiries, by signs, after the missing 

 boat, they answered that she was gone to the westward ; but none of them would 

 venture near ; nor did they pay attention to a white handkerchief, which was held up, 

 and had before been considered a signal of peace. 



" As the boats proceeded on their search round the island, the natives followed 

 along the shore, with increasing numbers. One man, who was rubbed with something 

 blue, and appeared to be a chief, had a small axe in his hand, which was known, from 

 the red helve, to have belonged to Mr. Shaw. On reaching the bay in the north-west 

 side of the island, Mr. Dell remarked that the natives disappeared, all except about 

 thirty, who were very anxious in persuading him to land. They brought down women, 

 and made signs that the boat and people whom he sought were a little way up in the 

 island. He, however, rowed onward, when the beach was immediately crowded with 

 people who had been lying in ambush expecting him to land. 



" After having gone entirely round the island and seen nothing of the objects 

 of his research, Mr. Dell returned to the first cove, where a great number of natives 

 armed with bows, arrows, clubs and lances, were assembled at the outskirt of the 

 wood. By offering knives and other things, a few were induced to approach the 

 boat, and the coxswain seized one of them by the hair and neck, with the intention of 

 his being taken off to the ships to give an account of the missing boat and people. 

 A shower of arrows instantly came out of the wood, and a firing was commenced, 

 which killed one Indian and wounded some others. In the meantime, the coxswain 

 found it impossible to keep the man, from his hair and body being greased, and the 

 boat's crew was too much occupied to assist him. 



" 8tb July. The two Commanders, having heard the report of Mr. Dell, proceeded 



1 This latitude is only attainable at the very head of the Gulf of Papua, between 

 longitudes 144 E. (eastern mouth of Aird River) and 145 15' E. (mouth of Alele River. 

 New Guinea) . R. L. J. 



