The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1838-09-25 00:00:00

FAILURE OF THE EXPEDITION OF DISCOVERY
TO THE NORTH-WEST COAST OF AUSTRALIA.

( From a correspondent of the Times.)

Letters were received on. Saturday by the council of the
Royal Geographical society from Messrs. Grey and Lushing-
ton, who, it will be remembered, sailed from the Cape in
October last, with the design of penetrating from the north-
west coast of New Holland to the interior. The letter of the
last-named gentleman, which is dated Cape-town, June 30,
simply announces the tact of the failure of thc(expedition, and
of his intending to sail as soon as he can procure a passage
homewards. He also states that Mr. Grey was waiting at
Port Louis with the same intentions. But the communica-
tion from Mr. Grey, which bears tb's earlier date of June 3,
and is written from Port Louis, enters into some interesting
particulars. It appears that the adventurers met with decided
hostility on the part of the natives, almost from their landing.
The utmost extent they reached inland was about seventy
miles, and from this point they were obliged to retrace their
steps in consequence of a severe spear wound received by Mr.
Grey. Upwards of thirty natives, headed by a chief from
whom they had uniformly encountered every opposition,
there attacked that gentleman, who had only two companions
with him; but it would seem that no aim was taken by any
of the adventuring party until Mr. Grey was wounded, when,
in self defence, he was obliged to shoot the poor savage, on
whose fall his followers immediately- ceased front further
hostilities. Mr. Grey speaks sufferingly of the unerring pre-
cision with which the natives throw their spears, having been
struck three times successively by the chief, although danger-
ously wounded by the third spear only. He states this chief
to have been a half-caste, and that he saw several whites, or
who seemed such, in the course of his wanderings, but that
they could never be induced to approach, taking at once to
flight, For twenty miles from the coast he found the country
a sterile desert; but here its face changed to a verdant land-
scape, and rich, generous soil. A noble river, about 200
yards broad, was observed here; however, the letter makes
no mention of further particulars concerning it, or of the di-
rection in which it flowed. The most curious circumstance
mentioned by Mr. Grey is the discovery of several troglydy-
tal paintings, presumed to he the work of the aborigines,
which evince considerable knowledge of effect. As an in-
stance of this he adduces some representations of the human
hand, made, apparently, in'the manner of a cast on the sur-
face of the rock, and painted black, whilst the surrounding
part is coloured white. From these paintings, and a variety
of collateral proofs, which he says he has collected, Mr.
Grey is led to infer that the natives on this part of the coast
are of Asiatic descent—a conjecture, indeed, rendered ex-
tremely probable when we consider that the islands of the
East Indian archipelago form a series of steps,'as it were,
from the eastern continent to Australia. Mr. Grey concludes
his letter by expressing his satisfaction at having been en-
abled to introduce various useful animals into this part of
New Holland. with different seeds and plants, all of which,
more especially the bread:ruit tree, he left evidently thriving.
The expedition was five months in the country, and the
furthest point reached by it from Hanover-bay, the landing-
place, 15 36 S. lat. Contrary to the statement of Mr. Lush-
ington, that both were about to return home, Mr. Grey
states that he is resolved to start on another attempt, but to
make it further to the southward.