82 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



[Aug. 26, 1886. 



TRAVELS IN BOON GAH ARRAHBIGGEE. 



from: the diary of Joseph goater, 



EDITED BY I". H. TEMPLE BEIiLBW. 



Editor Forest and Stream: 



In the fall of 1882, on my voyage home from England on 

 board the Cunaxd steamer Oregon, I had for one of my fel- 

 low passengers a very eccentric and interesting gentleman 

 who strangely attracted me toward him. He in turn took a 

 great liking to me, as he frankly confessed, and on all occa- 

 sions sought my society, which I only too willingly granted, 

 as he, having been a great traveler, had an endless store of 

 anecdote of adventure to communicate. 



_ That, however, which interested me most of all his narra- 

 tives was the relation of his explorations in an utterly un- 

 knovpn country, situated in an inland sea in the very heart 

 of Australia. He often complained of an internal disorder, 

 the result of one of his many encounters with -wild beasts in 

 that unknown land. Before the voyage was half over we 

 became very intimate and he very confidential, the result of 

 which was, to come to the point, as I have not space to dwell 

 on this part of his history at present, that one dav he called 

 me into his stateroom, where he was lying in his " berth very 

 pale and haggard, and told me that he felt certain symptoms 

 which he feared augured the worst; and he begged me in 

 case of his death to take charge of his effects, particularly 

 his diary and sketch books, and give their contents to the 

 world in any sha,pe I might deem best for the interests 

 of mankind and his own reputation. He told me that 

 he had no family nor any rtdatives about whom he cared 

 two straws, though he had some distant relations li\dng in 

 his native State of Ohio. He said I was one of the very few 

 men for whom he had formed a real attachment, and he 

 wished me to be his sole legatee. He did not desire his real 

 name to be kno%vn in connection with his writings at present, 

 for some private reason, which he communicated to me, and 

 also because the distant relations of whom he had spoken 

 might embarrass me about what little property he would 

 leave behind him. 



A few mornings after the steward knocked early at my 

 stateroom door, telling me that Mr. Goater was too ill to 

 leave his berth and desired to see me. Hastily pulling on a 

 pair of pantaloons and covering the rest of my body with a 

 large overcoat, T hurried to his stateroom. A glance made 

 it evident that he had not long to live, still he was collected 

 and calm. 



"My dear boy," he said, in a whistling whisper, "hold my 

 hand, hold it tight. I am off for the happy hunting ground. 

 Wait a, — wait a — just one minute, till I— draw my— my— 

 breath — ^then send for— the— the Captain and the — Doctor. 

 All right. Now some papers there, in that— small box." 



I opened the box he indicated with his thin hand, and took 

 out several written sheets of letter paper. 



"All — right — wait a minute, hold my hand — ^hold me tight 

 — I must not go yet — do not leave me — call the steward." 



I summoned an attendent and bade him go and call the 

 captain and doctor. Both these gentlemen presently com- 

 ing, the latter administered some stimulant, under the influ- 

 ence of which my poor fellow passenger rallied for a short 

 time. Then in a few faint words he explained the object of 

 the summons, which was to witness his last will and testa- 

 ment, and also a bill of sale of all his effects made out to me, 

 added to which was another paper, signed by himselfj 

 authorizing the captain to make over to me all his baggage 

 and possessions on board. To attend to these matters did 

 not take a very long time. When done the captain left. At 

 my request the doctor remained for some time, until Mr. 

 Goater, making it manifest by signs that he wished to be 

 alone with me, he also retired. 



Aft.er this the djdng man spoke no more articulate words, 

 but held mj-^ hand firmly in his own for more than an hour. 

 Then came two or three convulsive struggles, and then the 

 end. 



The following day we buried him in the deep green waters. 

 To the present day the whole occurrence seems less real to 

 me than many a dream I have knovsm. The intimacy was so 

 sudden, so quickly ended, and I left with a man's life's labor 

 full of marvellous and mysterious revelations, as a solemn 

 and onerous trust. 



For a long time after landing, owing to a press of business 

 and ill health, I was unable to thoroughly examine the 

 cargo of baggage he had left behind him, and have now, I 

 fear, executed ray task, with reference to his diary, in but a 

 slovenly way. But I feel the matter therein of so startling 

 a nature that I can no longer justify myself in delaying their 

 presentation to the public, or at least some portions of them, 

 simply to inform the world, as it were, of their existence. 

 If I find that these narrations excite as much interest as 1 

 think they deserve, I shall then set myself to the by no means 

 easy task of arranging the rest of his travels and adventures 

 in proper order and so give them to the public in more ex- 

 tended and orderly form. 



I must here state that this gentleman, whom I shall call 

 Joseph Goater. a 7io?7i de plume of his own, started out 

 from Melbourne, Australia, with athoroughly equipped party 

 for the purpose of exploring the heart of the fifth quarter of 

 the globe. After six months of traveling, adventure and 

 hardship, he reached a large lake or inland sea, in the 

 center of which he discovered an island, which he estimated 

 to be as large as Great Britain. This island himself and 

 followers reached by means of large rafts made of a peculiar 

 light timber indigenous to the country. It is his journeyiugs 

 in this island that are described in the following chapter, 

 which I take at verv little more than random from a moun- 

 tain of MS. that 1 have not by any possibility been able to 

 find time to examine. The dra^vings that accompany the 

 text are copied from, or I should rather say compiled, as 

 faithfully as it has been in my power to do it, from the rough 

 sketches and memoranda in Mr. Goater's collection. A few 

 of the more perfect sketches I give in fac-simile, deeming 

 that, where at all intelligible, they will have more interest 

 than any copies could possibly possess. 



F. H. Temple Bellew. 



New York, June, 1886. 



EXPLOEATIONS IN BOON GAH ARRAHBIGGEE. 



* * * WJ ^ ''^^^ proceeded nearly sixty miles up the 

 V T right fork of the Yacka Eiver, which my 

 guides called the Boochtee or Yacka Bochtee, though they 

 had evidently never explored it, being as unfamiliar with 

 many of its f eatui-es as myself. The river had become so 

 shallow that we found it impossible to proceed with our 

 large thatched boat. We therefore resolved to leave it be- 

 hind in charge of the faithful Dope Yenkta and push on 

 with one of the lighter canoes. Taking three of the emaU- 

 bore rifles and two of the dogs, with a suitable supply of 

 ammunition and other necessaries, we started early in the 

 morning of the 13th, with a small sail set and two pad- 

 dles, hoping to get over a good deal of space before noon, 

 as we contemplated going ashore and resting during the 

 liottest hours of the day. The country was becoming now 

 more and more lovely as we advanced. From the dense 

 forest and tangled jtmgie intermixed with swamp and 

 marsh at our place of starting, neai- Pluckella, 100 miles 

 below, the landscape had been gradually opening up, until 

 now the banks resembled an English park, with fine 

 lawns sloping down to the water's edge, with here and 



there clnjnjas and groves of the majestic Mosomeatree, its 

 graceful branches bending down and almost touching the 

 ground. These, interspersed with the towering spires of 

 Phitka, produced a most illusive resemblance to English 

 rural scenery, with numerous Gothic coimtry chm'ches 

 pointing their fingers heavenward. 



After sailing and paddling until 11 o'clock, and finding 

 the sun had grown excessively hot, we made a lauding 

 under a grand old tree Avhose dense foliage effectually 

 excluded the rays of the sun. Here we gave the dogs a 

 run, as they had grown restive under the restraint of the 

 small canoe, and set ourselves to preparing our noonday 

 meal of dried deer meat, wodda peas and rice. While so 

 engaged we were surprised by a great commotion and 

 barking in some bushes not far off. Seizing my lightest 

 rifle and signing to Poptie to take another and follow me, 

 I nished over the open plain to the scene of the disturb- 

 ance. Here I found the dogs had got hold of a strange 

 animal, somewhat resembling a raccoon, only larger and 

 with much longer legs. It had backed up against a tree, 

 sho"wing vigorous fight, and was obviously well qualified to 

 take care of itself in a fair encounter, taking an ugly gash 

 in Juno's left cheek, from which theblood was flowing 

 l>rofusely, as prima facie evidence. Bringing my rifle to 

 bear, I despatched the creature with a shot in the fore- 

 head. When brought to our temporary camp the natives 

 evinced the most unwonted delight, rubbing their stom- 

 achs and pointing to their mouths to signify that we had 

 captured a great gastronomic delicacy. They set to work 

 to skin and prepare it for cooking, filling the inside with 

 savory grasses, and swathing the whole in the broad 

 leaves of the mayaya, and then covering it up with hot 

 ashes and brushwood. It was truly a delicious morsel, 

 with whose equal I think I have scarcely ever met, being 

 in flavor and texture something between grouse and 

 mountain mutton. The natives gave the name of this 

 animal with a peculiar click of the tongue impossible to 

 convey by any European alphabet, but clucktcluck is as 

 near as I can come to it. 



After our meal, a siesta, and a pipe, we again took to 

 oui" canoe, and before sundown had covered twenty-five 

 miles of our voyage, and were in the most enchanting 

 country I ever beheld. We chose for om- bivouac tlie 

 bank of a certain part of the river where it broadened out 

 into the i)roportions of a lake. This lake was filled with 

 small islands so close together that the limbs of the 

 majestic Mosomea trees growing upon them interlaced 

 overhead, making the most exquisite winding corridors 

 and chancels of foliage. Here we found innumerable 

 wdldfowl, many of them entirely new to me and of great 

 beauty. One particularly struck me, a small scarlet 

 duck, so tame that it allowed us to stroke its back as it 

 sat on its nest by the water's edge. Another was a mon- 

 strous heron of snowy whiteness with jet-black head and 

 ■wings. We found a most delightful camping gromid, in 

 a very cloister of foliage, where, after an excellent repast 

 off the remaias of the cold clucktcluck, we passed a com- 

 fortable night, entu'ely free from any annoyance from the 

 marsh gnats that had troubled us so lower down. 



Early on the following morning, when the bosom of the 

 lake was dotted with the plumage of the scarlet ducks, like 

 red bei'ries on a silver salver, and the little bays and inlets 

 were fau'ly alive -with vari-hued waterfowl, above all 

 towering in solenxn silence small groups of the black 

 and white heron, when the sun was just beginning to 

 stain the eastern sky of the pale hue of some Rhenish 

 wine, when the woods were filled with strange cries and 

 song of bu'ds, and all nature seemed to be awakened to 

 the glory of a new day, we started off inland to reconnoiter. 

 Nothing ever impressed me so much as the beauty of that 

 morning, with its adjuncts of scenery and animal life, 

 and to this day I can never recall it without feelings of 

 emotion. Accompanied by two attendants with rifles, and 

 the two dogs I strode across a velvet turf with the elastic 

 step of a young doe. The landscape was slightly undulat- 

 ing, and dotted with clumps of trees and shrubs, some of 

 the latter loaded with tempting crimson berries which at 

 that time I did not dare to touch, though I afterward 

 learned to fully appreciate their gustable virtues. 



Having walked I should judge about four miles we 

 come to a gentle declivity, where my attention was at- 

 tracted by seeing some strange-looking objects of about 

 the size and shape of a football rolling' and ricochetfing 

 with great velocity down the incline, and as they went 

 scattering smaU particles of something like the sparks 

 from a Catherine wheel, or drops of water from a mop 

 twirled by a scullion. My first momentary thought was that 

 they were boulders that had become in some way loosened 

 and were being canied along by theii- own momentum, 

 or it might be some light substance blown by the wind; 

 but before I had time to form a second tliought, to my 

 great surprise they turned back and rolled up the hill AAdth 

 almost, equal velocity. I Avas at once satisfied that there 

 must be animal life, as certainly nothing vegetable could 

 propel itself in that way. 



I called Juno and pointed out the quarry. She pricked 

 up her ears and eyed the strange game for a moment with 

 a look of sm-prise, and then her lithe form laid itself along 

 the gromid in gi-eat undulating leaps. In a few moments 

 her nose had touched the object; and the next she was 

 flying in the au- as though blown up by dynamite. Then 

 coming doAA-n all of a heap she sti'uggled conArulsively. 

 Tavo or three times she attempted to rise. At last suc- 

 ceeding, she staggered and reeled as though in a state 

 of intoxication, and with an unsteady gait slunk back to 

 my heel Avith her tail betAveen her legs. My curiosity 

 was now fairly aroused by this anomolous production of 

 nature, and I resolved to solve the mystery if a solution 

 were possible. So taking a rifle from one of the servants 

 I Avaited patiently until these balls ricochetted past again, 

 when with a AA'^ell directed shot I had the satisfaction of 

 seeing one of them apparently explode and then fall a 

 helpless mass to the ground. 



I approached it Avith some caution, having Juno's 

 experience fresh in my memory. Getting close, I per- 

 ceived a strong pungent, smarting or stinging odor, some- 

 wliat of the qualitj^ of hartshorn and red pepper combined, 

 though not at all nauseating, as I had half expected, for I 

 did not know whether to attribute the shock Juno had 

 evidently received to some overpowering stench or to 

 electricity. NotMng could induce Jimo or any of the 

 natives to approach the thing, and I must confess I had no 

 great fancy to touch it myself, but it would never do to 

 evince any signs of timidity before any of my f oUoAvers or 

 I should lose that full control OA^er them so necessary to the 

 successful carrying out of exploration. So calling one of 

 the men to brmg a basket, I boldly seized the creature 



Avith my hand and threw it in. There was only the 

 faintest shock and slight discharge of air, and had I 



Fig. 1. In Motion. 

 Avaited until the body had become cold there would have 

 been none at all. I discovered subsequently that electricity 

 was the chief force brought to bear by these animals as a 



Fig. 3. At Rest. 



weapon of defense. I found tliis creature to be in its dead 

 state no longer a ball, but a long object like a Avood louse, 

 flat underneath AA-ith a rectangular head, having tAvo small 

 eyes, one at each corner, after the manner of some insects. 

 Its mouth Avas nnderneath like that of a shark. It had no 

 legs, but the abdomen Avas corrugated and its mode of 

 progression (when in search of food) like that of a worm. 

 When moA'ing this Avay its pace is exceeding sIoav, but 

 fast enough for the pui-pose of grazing. The drawings I 

 annex (Figs. 1, 2, 3) Avill probably give a better idea of it 

 than any amount of description. The length of the body 

 of this specimen measured by my rifle barrel that I had 

 regularly marked in feet and inches, I found to be 13iin. 



Fig. 3. Abdomen. 



It was covered ali over Avith long, flexible, hollow 

 spines, through which it had the pOAver, owing to a pecu- 

 liar arrangement of muscular sacks under the skin, of 

 ejecting poAverful puffs of air AAdiich, Avith a certain mo- 

 tion of the spines acting on the groimd, caused it to rotate, 

 and so progress with the velority I had seen. And I now 

 discoA^ered that the particles thi-o\vn off by the animal when 

 in motion, of which I have spoken, were seeds, sand, and 

 minute pieces of grass and eai-th sucked into the tubes 

 during the act of insijiration, and then ejected by expira- 

 tion. It had, too, the power of giving Aiolent electi% 

 shocks, but Avliether this aided its loco- 

 motion or not is more than I can determine, 

 probably yes. All these facts I di«covered by 

 subser|uent ( )bsei-va.tion and dissection. I 

 also discovered that the animal to be very 

 gentle and easily tamed. When kindly 

 treated it aa^ouM emit no electric shocks, re- 

 serving those only as a w eapon of dcfon.se 

 against enemies. l\ly eflortB to catch one 

 alive Avere attended Avith a great deal of 

 difficulty, and it was not until I had caused 

 the natives to cojisti-uct a long net of the 

 gobwich plant and ritako it down in the 

 form of the letter V and drive the animals 

 into it that I succeeded. My first attempt to 

 stop them Avith a cloth held in the hands I 

 found entirely abortive. Tlrey seemed to 

 possess some poAver, akm to that of the bats 

 to detect the presence of an obstacle in then- 

 path Avlien five or sis feet off, Avith the 

 power of changing then- com'se instantane- 

 ously, no matter at what speed they might 

 be going. 



It was now time to retmn to our camp 

 for a repast. On reaching it I found that 

 my men had not been idle. They had 

 caught a number of fish from the lake, 

 Avhich they were noAv engaged in cooking, 

 among others a sijecies of long, flat eel 

 about four inches wide and from tlu-ee feet 

 six to five feet in length, with a broad, flat 

 tail, larger than. a man's hand and resem- 

 bling it very much in appearance, and hav- 

 ing the power to grasp objects Avith great 

 force. This I christened the fist fish (Fig. 4). 

 Fig. 4. They had also discovered a peculiai- kind of 

 biped cru3tacean,that had the power of Avalk- 

 ingat the bottom of the lake, and as I afterward learned, 

 of traveling considerable distances on land. TJiese Avere 



Fig. 5 Biped Crustacean. 

 quite palatable, and contributed toward making a very 

 satisfactory repast. 



