Arthur Phillip

“ From an entrance not more than two miles across, Port Jackson gradually extends into a noble and capacious bason; having soundings sufficient for the largest vessels, and space to accommodate, in perfect security, any number that could be assembled. It runs chiefly in a western direction, about thirteen miles into the country, and contains not less than an hundred small coves, formed by narrow necks of land, whose projections afford admirable shelter from all winds. Sydney Cove lies on the South side of the harbour, between five and six miles from the entrance. ”

“ The chief disadvantage experienced by those who are sent to Norfolk Island, is the want of a good landing place. The bay which has been used for this purpose is inclosed by a reef of coral rock, through which there is a passage only for a boat; and during the tide of flood, when the wind is westerly, the landing is rather dangerous. In one of the debarkations a midshipman, who was ordered to lie within the reef, that he might attend the boats coming to shore, imprudently suffered his own boat to drive into the surf, and was lost, with four men. ”

“ It may, indeed, admit of a doubt whether many of the accommodations of civilized life, be not more than counterbalanced by the artificial wants to which they give birth; but it is undeniably certain that to teach the shivering savage how to clothe his body, and to shelter himself completely from the cold and wet, and to put into the hands of men, ready to perish for one half of the year with hunger, the means of procuring constant and abundant provision, must be to confer upon them benefits of the highest value and importance. ”

“ The natives of New South Wales, though in so rude and uncivilized a state as not even to have made an attempt towards clothing themselves, notwithstanding that at times they evidently suffer from the cold and wet, are not without notions of sculpture. In all these excursions of Governor Phillip, and in the neighbourhood of Botany Bay and Port Jackson, the figures of animals, of shields, and weapons, and even of men, have been seen carved upon the rocks, roughly indeed, but sufficiently well to ascertain very fully what was the the object intended. ”

“ The female is now discovered to be entirely destitute of all the fine blue colours, both pale and dark, by which the male is adorned, except that there is a very narrow circle of azure round each eye, apparently on the skin only: all the upper feathers consist of shades of brown, and the whole throat and belly is pure white. Except from the shape and size, this bird would not be suspected at first sight to belong to the same species as the male: the epithet of superb applies very ill to the female. ”

“ There is, indeed, an island of Georgia, to the east of Staten Land, so named by Captain Cook in 1775: but between these, it seems to be a sufficient distinction to call the one the Isle of Georgia, and the other New Georgia. The land on the western side of Shortland's Straits, continued to be very high, and extended as far as the eye could reach; from these circumstances, and from the direction in which it trended, no doubt was entertained of its joining that which was called by Captain Carteret, Lord Anson's Isle. ”

“ A Canoe and Natives of Mulgrave's Range
If we may judge of these people from the construction of their canoes, they certainly possess a considerable share of contrivance and ingenuity: many of them are large enough to contain sixteen or twenty people; they are narrow, and built to sail very fast, yet there is not the least danger of their oversetting, as they are steadied with an out-rigger resembling a ladder on the weather side, to one end of which a log of wood is fastened, cut sharp at each end in the form of a boat ”

“ The great advantage of a scientific eye over that of the unlearned observer, in viewing the productions of nature, cannot be more strongly exemplified than by the present state of the natural history of Botany Bay, and its vicinity. The English who first visited this part of the coast, staid there only a week, but having among them persons deeply versed in the study of nature, produced an account, to which the present settlers, after a residence of near eleven months when the last dispatches were dated, have been able to add but very little of importance. ”

“ At five o'clock in the morning of Wednesday, August 6th, they made sail again to the north-west; and at eight discerned a rock which had exactly the appearance of a ship under sail, with her top-gallant sails flying. So strongly were all the Alexander's people prepossessed with this imagination, that the private signal was made, under the supposition that it might be either the Boussole or Astrolabe, or one of the two transports which had parted from them on the coast of New South Wales. ”

“ A rising government could not easily be committed to better hands. Governor Phillip appears to have every requisite to ensure the success of the undertaking intrusted to him, as far as the qualities of one man can ensure it. Intelligent, active, persevering with firmness to make his authority respected, and mildness to render it pleasing, he was determined, if possible, to bring even the native inhabitants of New South Wales into a voluntary subjection ”

“ It is to be lamented that Captain Marshall had not an opportunity of surveying these islands more minutely, as there is scarcely a doubt of their affording a variety of refreshments; for though nothing of the kind was seen in the canoes, yet the natives were plump and fleshy, and seemed to live at their ease: there is also an appearance of a most excellent harbour at Hopper's Island.
The inhabitants seem to be a fine set of people; they are of a copper colour, stout and well made; their hair is long and black, with black eyes and eye brows, and they seem to have very fine teeth. ”

“ When we consider the vast advantages derived by the Dutch colonists from this traffic, and the almost indispensible necessity by which navigators of all nations are driven to seek refreshment there, it cannot but appear extraordinary, that from the discovery of the Cape in 1493, by Barthelemi Diaz, to the year 1650, when, at the suggestion of John Van Riebeck, the first Dutch colony was sent, a spot so very favourable to commerce and navigation should have remained unoccupied by Europeans. ”

“ In consequence of the very extraordinary shyness of these people since the arrival of our settlement, little addition has been made to the knowledge of their manners attained by Captain Cook: but most of his observations have been confirmed. The whole, indeed, that can be known of a people, among whom civilization and the arts of life have made so small a progress, must amount to very little. The assertion that they have no nets*, is amongst the very few that have been found erroneous. Some small nets have been brought over, the manufacture of which is very curious. ”

“ They anchored at nine o'clock in eight fathoms water, over a soft bottom, Point Venus bearing north-north-east, and One Tree Hill south by east, half east, distant from shore about half a mile. On approaching the bay, they could perceive a prodigious number of the natives on Point Venus, and round the beach, and several canoes put off from the shore, the Indians waving pieces of white cloth and making signs for them to come into the bay. ”

“ When the latest accounts arrived from Port Jackson, the natives still avoided all intercourse with our settlement, whether from dislike or from contempt is not perfectly clear: They think perhaps that we cannot teach them any thing of sufficient value to make them amends for our encroachments upon their fishing places. They seem to be among themselves perfectly honest, and often leave their spears and other implements upon the beach, in full confidence of finding them untouched. ”

“ At six in the morning, September 11th, a small island not seen before, bore west south-west, distant five leagues; and the wind coming round to the south south-west, Lieutenant Shortland bore away for the passage between the two islands. At nine, having entered the passage, he founded and found thirteen fathoms, with a fine sandy bottom, and a strong current setting through very rapidly. Many cocoa-palms were seen on the shore, and excited an earnest expectation of procuring effectual refreshment for the sick: a boat from each of the ships was therefore manned and sent out. ”

“ Kanguroo Rat
THE LACED LIZARD. Genus CXXII. Lacerta.--Lin. Sist. Nat.
This most elegant species is in length, from the nose to the end of the tail, about forty inches: in the mouth are a few weak teeth, though rather sharp, at about a quarter of an inch distance one from another: the tongue is long and forked: the general shape is slender; and the ground colour of the skin, on the upper parts, a brownish or bluish black, whimsically marked with golden yellow; in some parts this colour is beautifully mottled or freckled, like some kinds of lace-work ”

“ The length of this beautiful species is five inches and a half: the bill black: the feathers of the head are long, and stand erect like a full crest; from the forehead to the crown they are of a bright blue; from thence to the nape, black like velvet: through the eyes from the bill, a line of black; beneath the eye springs a tuft of the same blue feathers ”

“ On the 19th of this month, Lieutenant Ball arrived in the Supply from Norfolk Island. He had made that island on the 29th of February, but was five days off the coast before a place could be found at which it was possible to land the stores and provisions. So completely do the rocks surround the island, that it was not easy to find a place even to land a man. At length, however, they succeeded, having discovered at the south-west end, a small opening in a reef that runs across a bay. Here the people, provisions and stores were all put on shore in perfect safety. ”

“ A transient visit to the coast of a great continent cannot, in the nature of things, produce a complete information respecting its inhabitants, productions, soil, or climate: all which when contemplated by resident observers, in every possible circumstance of variation, though they should be viewed with less philosophical acuteness, must yet gradually become more fully known: Errors, sometimes inseparable from hasty observation, will then be corrected by infallible experience ”

“ The gusts which descend from the summit of Table Mountain are sufficient to force ships from their anchors, and even violently to annoy persons on the shore, by destroying any tents or other temporary edifices which may be erected, and raising clouds of fine dust, which produce very troublesome effects. A gale of this kind, from the south-east, blew for three days successively when Capt. Cook lay here in his first voyage, at which time, he informs us, the Resolution was the only ship in the harbour that had not dragged her anchors. The storms from the sea are still more formidable ”

“ Not meeting with a harbour at Sapan, the Captain determined to make the best of his way to Tinian, where he might come to anchor and get his sick people on shore, having no less than fifteen men laid up with the scurvy, and the rest of his crew were so weak that they could scarcely work the ship: the wind, however, was so variable, that they did not reach the south-west side of that island till afternoon on the 4th, when they anchored in twenty-five fathoms water, and soon afterwards the Charlotte came to anchor a small distance from the Scarborough. ”

“ Whenever it shall be practicable, by any means, to explain to them the friendly disposition of Governor Phillip and his people towards them, and to make them understand, that the men from whom they receive occasional injuries, are already a disgraced class, and liable to severe punishment for such proceedings, they will then perhaps acquire sufficient confidence in their new countrymen to mix with them, to enrich themselves with some of their implements, and to learn and adopt some of the most useful and necessary of their arts. ”

“ The orange trees flourish, and the fig trees and vines are improving still more rapidly. In a climate so favourable, the cultivation of the vine may doubtless be carried to any degree of perfection; and should not other articles of commerce divert the attention of the settlers from this point, the wines of New South Wales may, perhaps, hereafter be sought with avidity, and become an indispensable part of the luxury of European tables. ”

“ The reef on the west side extends nearly to both extremes with breaks in it, through which boats may pass with safety, but within the reef it is in general very shoaly. The island is tolerably broad at each end, and very narrow, with low land in the center, forming two bays, that should the wind be from south-east to north-east, or south-west to north-west, a ship may always be secure by running to the leeward of the island. There are regular soundings on the west side, but the ground is too hard for holding well, being coral rocks. ”

“ A kanguroo, so much above the usual size, would have been an extraordinary phaenomenon, though no larger animal has yet been seen, and the limits of growth in that species are not ascertained. The tail of the kanguroo, which is very large, is found to be used as a weapon of offence, and has given such severe blows to dogs as to oblige them to desist from pursuit. Its flesh is coarse and lean, nor would it probably be used for food, where there was not a scarcity of fresh provisions. ”

“ Toward evening the wind came round to south south-west blowing very strong, which sent a heavy sea rolling into the bay, and occasioned the Scarborough to pitch very much. The wind still blowing strongly into the bay, Captain Marshall sent his boat on shore on the 7th, to bring off the sick people, which they accomplished with much danger and difficulty; in the mean time, every thing was got ready for sea, the Captain being determined to get away the moment the wind shifted to south or south by east, so that they could clear the west part of the island. ”