SYDNEY.

Wellington Independent, Volume II, Issue 60, 22 April 1846, Page 3

SYDNEY.

FAMILIES aad single gentlemen can be accommodated with apartmeuts, genteelj furnished, with or without board, on moderate terms, at Mrs. Ward's, Wallace's Buildings, Kent Street Soeth; corner of Druitt Street, Sydney. February 3, 1810.

themselves, and a contempt for us: and this conjecture, I afterwars ascertained, was perfectly trueWe were now fairly engaged for our lives; escape : was impossible, and surrender to such enemies out of the question. Aβ soon as I saw the natives around me, I fired one barrel of my gun over the head of him who was pursuing my dismayed attendant, hoping the report would have checked his further career. He proved to be the tall man seen at the camp painted white. My shot stopped him not: he still closed on us, and his spear whistled past my head ; but ■whilst he was fixing another in his throwing-stick, a ball from my second barrel struck him in the arm, and it fell powerless by his side. He now retired behind a rock, but the others still pressed on. I now made the two men retire behind some neighbouring: rocks, which formed a kind of para* pet along our front and right flank, whilst I took po>t on the left. Both my barrels were now exhausted ; and I desired the other two to fire separately, whilst I was reloading ; but, to my horr.or, Coles, who was armed with my rifle, reported l\urriedly that the cloth case, with which he had covered it for protection against rajn, had become entangled. His services were,.thus lost at a most critical moment, whilst trying to tear off the lock-cover; and the other nian was so paralized with fear, that he could do nothing but cry out, " Oh, God 1 sir, loo.k at them ; look at them i" In the mean time, our opponents pressed more closely round; their spears kept whistling by us, and our fate seemed inevitable. The light coloured man spoken of at the pimp, now appeared to direct their movements. Hβ sprang forward to a rock not more than thirty yards from us, and, posting himself behind it, threw a spear with such deadly force and aim, that had I not drawn myself forward by a eudden.jerk, it must have gone through my body, and, as it was, it touched my back in flying by. Another well-.directed spear, from a different hand, would have pierced me in the breast, but, in the motion I made to avoid it, it struck upon the stock of my gun, of. which it carried away a portion by it 3 force. AH thjs t'jok place in a few seconds of time, and no shot had been, fired but by me. I now recognised in the light colored man an old enemy, who had led on the former attack against me on the ?2nd of December. J3y his cries and gestures, he now appeared; to be urging the others to surround and press on us, which they W-Te rapidly doing. I saw now that but one thing could be done to save our lives, so I gave .Coles my gun tp complete the reloading, and took the rifle which he had not yet disengaged from the cover. I tore it off, and stepping out from behind our parapet, advanced to the rock which covered my light colored opponent. I had not made two steps in advance when three spears struck me at the same moment, one of which was thrown, by him. I felt severely wounded, in the hip, hnfc knew not exaqtly wljere.the others had struck me. The force of ajl knocked me down, and made me very giddy and faint, but, as I fell, I heard the savage yells of the natives' delight and triumph ; these recalled me to myself, and, roused by momentary rage and indignation, I made a strong effort, rallied, and in a moment was on my legs; ,the spear was trenched from the wound, and my haversaqk closely ever it, that neither my own parly nor the natives might see it, and -I advanced steadily to the rock. The man became alarmed, and threatened me with his .club, yelling most furiously; but,as 1 neared the rock, behind which all his head and arm was covered, he fled towards an adjoining one, dodging dexterously, according to the native manner of confusing an assailant and avoiding the cast of his spear; but he was scarcely uncovered in his flight, when my rifle ball pierced him through the back, between the Bhoulijers, and he fell heavily oo his face 4 with a deep groan, The effect was electrical. The tumult of the combat had ceased: not another .spear was.-thrown, not another yell was uttered. Native after native dropped away, and noiselessly disappeared. I stood filone with the wretched .savsge dying before me, and my two men cjose to me behind the racks, in the attitude of deep attention j and as J looked round upon the dark rocks and forests, suddenly silpnt and lifeless, but : for the sight of the unhappy being wholayonithe ground before me, I could have thought that the whole affair had been a horrid dream. For a second or two J gazed on the scene, and then returned to my former position. 1.-took my gun from Cojes, which he had not finished loading, and gaye him the rifle. J then went up to the other man, and gave him two bajls to hold, but when I placed them ip his hands they rolled upon the earth, —he could not hold v them, for he jyas conipletely paralysed with terror, arid they fell through his fingers ; the perspiration streamed from every pore ; he was ghastly pale, and trembled from head to foot; his limbs refusedjthejr,-functions ; his eyes were so fixed in the direction jin which the natives had disappeared that I could draw his attention to nothing else; and he still continued repeating, 41 Good God, sir i look at them ; look at them!" The natjves had all now concealed themselves, but they were not far off. Presently the wounded man made an effort to raise himse'f slowly from the ground: some of them instantly came from behind the rocks and trees, without their spears, crowding round him with the greatest .tenderness and solicitude j two passed thejr arras round him,.his head drooped senselessly upon his chest, and with hurried steps the whole party wound their way through th,e forest, their black forms being scarcely distinguish able from the charred trunks of th.c' trees, as they receded in the distance. To have fired upon the other natives, when they returned for the wounded man, would in my belief, have been an unnecessary piece of barbarity. I already felt deeply the death of him I had been compelled to shoot: and I believe that when a fellow.creature falls by one's hand, even in single combat rendered unavoidable in self-defence, it is impossible not sincerely to regret the force of so cnjel a necessity. • I had now time to attend to my own state and that of my men, and found that they were uninjured. I had be«n severely wounded in the hip; another spear had cut my right arm, and a third had deeply indented my powder-flask, whilst lying in a haversack, immediately over my stomach. The men were not, up to this moment, aware of my being jyfunded, as I had thought it better to conceal this circumstance from them as long as I rould. The natives had gone off in the direction of the tents;

and as I felt doubtful whether they might seize upon a favourable opportunity to surprise the party there and thus revenge their defeat, I was anxious to reach the camp as soon as possible. We, therefore, bound up my wound as well as we could, picked up the gpear. which 1 had drawn out from ray hip, and started homewards. HURRICANE ON DORKE ISLAND. It was nearly three, p.m., when we reached the north-eastern extremity of Dorre Island, and found a very convenient little boat harbour, sheltered by a reef from all winds. We, therefore, stepped out from the boats upon the reef, and left them lying comfortably at anchor; a search for water was instantly commenced; Mr. Walker's party brought some in, and we were not a little glad to get it although we heard that it had been collected by suction from small boles in the rock, and then spitting it into the keg. I laid up in 6tore this precious draught, and those wlio had been otherwise employed ncjw accompanied me, in order that each might suck from the holes in the rock his own supply of water. The point .on which we had landed was a flat piece of land, covered with sandy dunes, which had beee recently gained from the sea, and on all the landward sides of the .flat steep, cliffs, which .is the character of the shores of this island.

About eleven o'clock \I heard a cry of one in great distress. " Mr. Grey, Mr. Grey !" I instantly sprung up and answered the call, when Uuston, the boat-keeper in my boat, said, "I must heave all overboaid, air, or the boat will be swamped." ■'■' Hold on for a minute or two," was my answer, whilst I stripped my clothes off. I found that it was blowing a terrific gale of y/ind. which increased every moment in a most extraordinary manner; the wind was from the S.E., and the breakers canoe pouring over the reef, as if the bay was going to empty bodily all its waters into the little cove in which the boats were anchored. I now called Mr. Walker and Mr. Smith, and desired them to follow me off to the boats with two or three hands, and then swam out to my own, which I found neaijy full of water, and it was all that the boat-keeper,could do to keep her head on to the sea. .In a minute or two Mr. Walker and Mr. Smith, who were ever foremost in difficulties and dangers, swam off to assist me, but they could not induce any of the men to face the sea and storm, which was now so terrible that they were all quite bewildered. Mr. Walker swam to his own boat; Mr. Smith came to mine. We made fast a line to all the stores, &c, and Mr. Smiih boldly plunged in again amongst the breakers, and returned ashore with it,— a eerviGe of no ordinary danger, for the shore was. fronted with a sharp coral ree.f, against which he was certain to be dashed by the waves, and after having got on it, the breakers would keep knocking him down, and .thus, cutting his le»s to j pieces against the rocks. Mr, Smith, however, reached the shore with the line, receiving sundry severe cuts ,#nd bruises ; and, to my great surprise, in a few minutes more he was again by my side in ,the boat, baling away : it was still, however, all we could do tOjkeep the boat afloat. Mr. Walker now,called out to me that his boat was drifting, and in a moment more.she went ashore, For one. second we saw her dancing wildly in over the breakers, and then she disappeared from us, and we were left in uncertainty as to her .fate; for, although we were close to the beach, it was impossible, amidst the din of elements, to hear what w£s r .taking place the.re. An occasional vivid ,43ash of lightning showed us dark figures hauling about some huge object, and then again all was wrapped in roar arid darkness. Mr. Smith and myself in the meapwhile were baling away, and Rust.on was striving with the steer oar to keep her Jiead to sea, for the instant she got the least broadside on, the w£ves broke over her jand she filled agaip. Mr. Walker, nothing daunted by the condubt of the men, having had his own boat hauled up, again swam off to us, jand for the next hour or two we kept the other one not more than half full j but the gale, which had b-enjjradually increasing, now became a .perfect hprricane, and it was evident that this boat also must go ashore. We imagined that Mr. Walker's must be stove in several places ; and as to have been left without a boat would have been certain destruction to us, I swam ashore to hays the party rejidy to try and save mine, by hauling her aver the reef the instant .she grounded. I arrived there wjth a few cuts and brpises, and fpund the men .onshore in a most miserable state; many of them were perfectly appalled by the hurricane, never having seen anything of the kind before, and were lying under the lee of the bow of Mr. Walker's boat, which, although he had drawn up high and dry upon the sand-hills, fer above the usual high-water mark, was again more than half full of water and sea-weed, from the waves every now and then breaking over her stern. It was with great difficulty I roused the men and got them to clear out the sea-;weed, which lightened her somewhat; wjs then .hauled herjipa little, at a favourable opportunity, and advanced her so far that we rather gained upon the water by bailing, and j;hus, by degrees, got her quite on land. But as the stojm continued, the waves still continued to encroach upon the shore, and we were obliged ,to repeat this operation,pf hauling up.thre,e successive times in the night, which was one of the most fearful 1 have ever passed. | lay drenched through, nay wet shirt sticking close to me, and my blanket soaked with L could not find my clothes again after I came ashore. Whenever a flash of lighting broke, I looked if the boat was drifting in, and there I saw it still dancing about upon the waves, whilst (the elements were so mighty jn their power that I felt shrunk up to nothing, and .tremulous in my own irisignificence. The grey dawn stole on, and.the boat gradually became visit) c ; she had drifted somewhat nearer shore, but there t,till were the three figures dis.cemib.le ,in her,—Ruston working away at the steer oar, aud Mr. Smith and Mr. Walker alternately bailing. The storm now appeared to lull a little, and in a few minutes (about half-past five, a.m.) it suddenly dropped. The men now looked out again, and I could hear Ruston saying, *' I believe we are now safe, sir," and I immediately ordered that two men should go off and relieve Mr. Smith aid Mr. Walker. They evidently feared to make the attempt, and said they could not swim, which was true as far as some of them were concerned. I then ordered successively three men, who I knew could swim, to take advantage of the lull and

moment -in the next, she cauie,dancing>viluiy in ZZ shore The men reached her as well as hey couS and We dragged her up The storm now became so violent that even Jtf r. Walker, who a a heavy man, was blown about by .it like a child , he» a tree ou the island, *»}*• £** were strippedfrom the ground, and I found it impossible to keep my legs. . , The sea, all this time, kept rising, being heaped up by the wind against the shore, but whenever a momentary lull came.,we took advantage of it to drag the boat a little further up ; indeed, the sea gained on us ao much that I had made up my mind it would sweep away the intervening sand-hills, ana once more wash the face of the cliff*. In case, we should, to a certainty, have all perished. ! At two, p.m.. the storm lulled considerably, and I immediately despatched men in all directions ,to collect water from holes in .the .rocks,. gnd made the native und an old busbmap try to light a fire ; for those of ..us who had been all lb.e night and morning in the pelting rain, with nothiu fe but our shirts on, w,ere benumbed and miserable from cold-