Produced by Amy E Zelmer and Sue Asscher  HTML version by Al HainesAUSTRALIAN SEARCH PARTYBYCHARLES HENRY EDENFROMILLUSTRATED TRAVELSA RECORD OFDISCOVERY GEOGRAPHY AND ADVENTUREEDITED BYHW BATESASSISTANTSECRETARY OF THE ROYAL GEOGRAPHICAL SOCIETYAN AUSTRALIAN SEARCH PARTYIBY CHARLES H EDENIN a former narrative published in the preceding volume of theILLUSTRATED TRAVELS I gave an account of a terrible cyclone whichvisited the northeastern coast of Queensland in the autumn of 1866nearly destroying the small settlements of Cardwell and Townsville anddoing an infinity of damage by uprooting heavy timber blocking up thebush roads etc  Amongst other calamities attendant on this visitationwas the loss of a small coasting schooner named the Eva bound fromCleveland to Rockingham Bay with cargo and passengers  Only those whohave visited Australia can picture to themselves the full horror of acaptivity amongst the degraded blacks with whom this unexploreddistrict abounds and a report of white men having been seen amongstthe wild tribes in the neighbourhood of the Herbert River induced theinhabitants of Cardwell to institute a search party to rescue the crewof the unhappy schooner should they still be alive or to gain somecertain clue to their fate should they have perishedIn my former narrative I described our exploration of the HerbertRiver lying at the south end of Rockingham Channel with its fruitlessissue and I now take up the thread of my story from that pointthinking it can hardly fail to be of interest to the reader not onlyas regards the wild nature of the country traversed but also asshowing the anxiety manifested by the inhabitants of these remotedistricts to clear up the fate of their unhappy brethren  I may alsohere mention for the information of such of my readers as may not haveread the preceding portions of the narrative that Cardwell is the nameof a small township situated on the shores of Rockingham Bay and thatTownsville is a settlement some hundred miles further south known alsoas Cleveland BayHOW WE EXPLORED GOULD AND GARDEN ISLANDSWe were all much pleased at a piece of intelligence brought up by theDaylight to the effect that a party of volunteers had been assembledat Cleveland Bay and intended coming up in a small steamer to thesouth end of Hinchinbrook to assist in the search for the missingcrew  As it would be of the utmost importance that both parties shouldcooperate I sent my boat down to the mouth of the channel with anote to the leader of the expedition announcing our intention oflanding on the north end of the island and working towards the centreand requesting them to scour their end and then push northward whenwe should most probably meet in the middle of the island  The boat hadorders to wait at the bar until the arrival of the steamer and then toreturn with all speed  In the meanwhile the Daylight wasdischarging her cargo and we were making preparations for what we wellknew would prove a most arduous undertaking the sequel will show thatwe did not overrate the difficulties before usAt the risk of being tedious I must explain to the reader some of thepeculiarities of Hinchinbrook Island  Its length is a little short offorty miles and its shape a rude triangle the apex of which is at thesouth and the north side forming the southern portion of RockinghamBay Now this north side is by no means straight but is curved outinto two or three bays of considerable extent and in one of them standtwo islands named Gould and Garden Islands  The latter of these wasour favourite resort for picnics for the dense foliage afforded goodshade and when the tide was low we were enabled to gather mostdelicious oysters from some detached rocks  Gould Island isconsiderably larger but rising in a pyramid from the sea and beingcovered with loose boulders it was most tedious climbing  From thetownship we could with our glasses see canoes constantly passing andrepassing between these two islands and as the Daylight had aparticularly heavy cargo this trip and would not be clear for the nexttwo days we made up our minds to search the islands and drive theblacks on to Hinchinbrook so that one of our parties must stumbleacross them when we swept it  This may seem to the reader unnecessarytrouble but most of our party were conversant with the habits of theblacks and their limited method of reasoning and we judged it probablethat the Herbert River gins would have at once acquainted theHinchinbrook blacks with our unceremonious visit and warned them thatwe should probably soon look them up also  Now on the receipt of thisunwelcome intelligence the first thing that would strike the blackswould be the facilities for concealment afforded by Gould or GardenIslands more particularly had they any captives and they would say tothemselves that we should certainly overlook these two outofthewaylittle spots and when we were busy on Hinchinbrook they could easilypaddle themselves and their prisoners to some of the more distant chainof islands where they could lie by until all fear of pursuit was pastSuch was the opinion both of the troopers and of the experiencedbushmen and as we were fully resolved to leave them no loophole forescape we jumped into our boat and pulled gently over to Garden IslandIt was about seven oclock in the morning when we started sixstrongfour whites and Cato and Ferdinandwell armed and with agood supply of provisions  The sun was already very hot and the watersmooth as glass save where the prow of the boat broke the stillsurface into a tiny ripple which continued plainly visible half a mileastern  I find it difficult to bring before the reader the thousandcurious objects that met us on our way  The sullen crocodile baskingin the sun sank noiselessly a splash would be heard and a four feetalbicore would fling himself madly into the air striving vainly toelude the ominous black triangle that cut the water like a knife closein his rear  Small chance for the poor fugitive with the ravenousshark following