Australian Search Party | Page 6

proper
appliances for extracting the oil, could not fail to return a large profit to
the proprietors, and every now and then they could kill a whale, one or
more of which could be frequently seen disporting themselves in the
waters of the bay.
[Illustration -- BAY ON HINCHINBROOK ISLAND, WITH
NATIVES.]
By ten o'clock we had reached Garden Island, and beached the boat on
a long sandy spit that stretched into the sea. Leaving one man as
boat-keeper, we spread ourselves into line, and regularly beat the little
island from end to end, but without finding a single black; we could,
however, see their smoke-signals arising from Gould Island, and

observed several heavily-laden canoes making the best of their way
towards Hinchinbrook. Our search having been unsuccessful, we
hurried down to the boat, with the intention of cutting the fugitives off,
but found to our disgust that the tide had fallen so low during our
absence that our united strength was insufficient to move the boat, so
we were perforce compelled to remain until the return of the water.
This did not in reality so much signify, indeed, some of the party were
rather averse to our plan of intercepting the canoes, arguing that if
closely pressed, the blacks might make an end of their captives.
However this might be, there was no help for it, we were stuck fast
until the afternoon, so had to summon such philosophy as we possessed,
and while away the time as best we could. The boat's sail, spread under
the shade of a tree, kept the intense heat a little at bay until after dinner,
and this most essential part of the day's programme have been done
ample justice to, and the pipes lighted and smoked out, we wandered
about the long space left bare by the tide, amusing ourselves by
collecting oysters, cowrie shells, and periwinkles.
The way we captured the two latter was by turning over the rocks, to
the under sides of which we found them adhering in great numbers,
sticking on like snails to a garden wall. Some of the cowries were very
beautiful, particularly those of a deep brown colour approaching to
black. This kind, however, were rather rare, and the lucky finder of a
large one excited some envy. These beautiful little shells are of all sizes,
from half an inch to two inches in length. When the stone is first turned
over, the fish is almost out of its home, and the bright colour of the
shell is hidden by a fleshy integument, but a few seconds suffice for it
to withdraw within doors, and then the mottled pattern is seen in its full
beauty. The best way to get the shell without injury to its gloss, is to
keep the fish alive in a bucket of salt water, until you reach home, and
then to dig a hole a couple of feet deep, and bury them. In a month or
so, they may be taken up, and will be found quite clean, free from smell,
and as bright in hue as during life. I have tried boiling them, heaping
them in the sun, and various other methods, but this is undoubtedly the
best.
[Illustration -- SATIN BOWER-BIRDS]
Should it ever fall to the lot of any of my readers to have to cook
periwinkles -- and there are many worse things, when you are certain of

their freshness -- let them remember that they should be boiled in 'salt
water'. This is to give them toughness; if fresh water is used, however
expert the operator may be with his pin, he will fail to extract more
than a moiety of the curly delicacy. These little facts, though
extraneous to our subject, are always worth knowing.
At one end of Garden Island, and distant from it about 200 yards,
stands a very singular rock, of a whitish hue, and when struck at a
certain angle by the sun, so much resembling the canvas of a vessel,
that it was named the "Sail Rock." At low tide this could be reached by
wading, the water being little more than knee-deep. Its base was
literally covered with oysters of the finest quality. The mere task of
getting there was one of considerable difficulty, for the rock was as
slippery as glass, and whenever you got a fall -- which happened on an
average every five minutes -- bleeding hands and jagged knees bore
testimony to a couch of growing bivalves being anything but as soft as
a feather bed; also the oysters cling so fast that they might be taken for
component parts of the rock, and only a cold chisel and mallet will
induce them to relinquish their firm embrace. Three or four of the party
had ventured