 Section 7 of a narrative of the expedition to Botany Bay by Watkin Trench, this LibriVox recording is in the public domain. Chapter 15 The Face of the Country, Its Productions, Climate, etc. To the geographical knowledge of this country, supplied by Captain Cook and Captain Furno, we are able to add nothing. The latter explored the coast from Van Diemen's land to the latitude of thirty-nine degrees south and Cook from Point Hicks, which lies in thirty-seven degrees fifty-eight minutes, to endeavour straits. The intermediate space between the end of Furno's discovery and Point Hicks is therefore the only part of the southeast coast unknown, and it so happened on our passage-thither owing to the weather which forbade any part of the ships engaging with the shore, that we are unable to pronounce whether or not a straight intersects the continents hereabouts, though I beg leave to say that I have been informed by a naval friend that when the fleet was off this part of the coast a strong set-off shore was plainly felt. At the distance of sixty miles inland a prodigious chain of lofty mountains runs nearly in a north and south direction, further than the eye can trace them. Should nothing intervene to prevent it, the Governor intends shortly to explore their summits, and I think there can be little doubt that his curiosity will not go unrewarded. If large rivers do exist in the country, which some of us are almost sceptical enough to doubt, their sources must arise submits these hills, and the direction they run in for a considerable distance must be either due north or due south, for it is strikingly singular that three such noble harbours as Botany Bay, Port Jackson and Broken Bay alike end in shallows and swamps filled with mangroves. The general face of the country is certainly pleasing, being diversified with gentler scents and little winding valleys, covered for the most part with large spreading trees which afford a succession of leaves in all seasons. In those places where trees are scarce a variety of flowering shrubs abound, most of them entirely new to a European and surpassing in beauty fragrance and number all I ever saw in an uncultivated state. Among these a tall shrub bearing an elegant white flower which smells like English May is particularly delightful and perfumes the air around to a great distance. The species of trees are few, and I am concerned to add the wood universally of so bad a grain as almost to preclude a possibility of using it. The increase of labour occasioned by this in our buildings has been such as nearly to exceed belief. These trees yield a profusion of thick red gum, not unlike the sanguous draconis, which is found serviceable in medicine, particularly in dysentery complaints where it has sometimes succeeded when all other preparations have failed. To blunt its acrid qualities it is usual to combine it with opiates. The nature of the soil is various. That immediately around Sidney Cove is sandy, with here and there a stratum of clay. From the sand we have yet been able to draw very little, but there seems no reason to doubt that many large tracts of land around us will bring to perfection whatever shall be sown in them. To give this matter a fair trial some practical farmers capable of such an undertaking should be sent out, for the spots we have chosen for experiments in agriculture in which we can scarce be supposed adepts, have hitherto bedille repaid our toil which may be imputable to our having chosen such as our unfavourable for our purpose. Except from the size of the trees the difficulties of clearing the land are not numerous, underwood being rarely found, though the country is not absolutely without it. Of the natural meadows which Mr Cook mentions near Botany Bay we can give no account, none such exist about Port Jackson. Grass, however, grows in every place but the swamps with the greatest vigor and luxuriancy, though it is not of the finest quality, and is found to agree better with horses and cows than sheep. A few wild fruits are sometimes procured, among which is the small purple apple mentioned by Cook, and a fruit which has the appearance of a grape, though in taste more like a green gooseberry being excessively sour. Probably were it millerated by cultivation it would become more palatable. Fresh water, as I have said before, is found but in inconsiderable quantities. For the common purposes of life there is generally enough, but we know of no stream in the country capable of turning a mill, and the remark made by Mr Anderson of the dryness of the country round Adventure Bay extends without exception to every part of it which we have penetrated. Previous to leaving England I remember to have frequently heard it asserted that the discovery of mines was one of the secondary objects of the expedition. Perhaps there are mines, but as no person competent to form a decision is to be found among us, I wish no one to adopt an idea that I mean to impress him with such a belief, when I state that individuals whose judgments are not despicable are willing to think favourably of this conjecture from specimens of all seen in many of the stones picked up here. I cannot quit this subject without regretting that someone capable of throwing a better light on it is not in the colony, nor can I help being equally concerned that an experienced botanist was not sent out for the purpose of collecting and describing the rare and beautiful plants with which the country abounds. Indeed we flattered ourselves when at the Cape of Good Hope that Mason the king's botanical gardener who was employed there in collecting for the royal nursery at Q would have joined us, but it seems his orders and engagements prevented him from quitting that beaten track to enter on this scene of novelty and variety. To the naturalists this country holds out many invitations. Birds, though not remarkably numerous, are in great variety in of the most exquisite beauty of plumage, among which are the cockatoo, lorry and parakeet, but the bird which principally claims attention is a species of ostrich approaching nearer to the emu of South America than any other we know of. One of them was shot at a considerable distance with a single ball by a convict employed for that purpose by the governor. Its weight, when complete, was seventy pounds and its length from the end of the toe to the tip of the beak, seven feet, two inches, though there was reason to believe it had not attained its full growth. Under section many anatomical singularities were observed. The gallbladder was remarkably large, the liver not larger than that of a barn door fowl, and after the strictest search no gizzard could be found. The legs, which were of a vast length, were covered with thick strong scales, plainly indicating the animal to be formed for living amidst deserts, and the foot differed from an ostriches by forming a triangle instead of being cloven. Goldsmith, whose account of the emu is the only one I can refer to, says that it is covered from the back and rump with long feathers which fall backward and cover the anus. These feathers are grey on the back and white on the belly. The wings are so small as hardly to deserve the name, and are unfurnished with those beautiful ornaments which adorn the wings of the ostrich. All the feathers are extremely coarse, but the construction of them deserves notice. They grow in pairs from a single shaft, a singularity which the author I have quoted has omitted to remark. It may be presumed that these birds are not very scarce, as several have been seen, some of them immensely large, but they are so wild as to make shooting them a matter of great difficulty, though incapable of flying they run with such swiftness that our fleet as greyhounds are left far behind in every attempt to catch them. The flesh was eaten and tasted like beef. Besides the emu many birds of prodigious size have been seen which promise to increase the number of those described by naturalists whenever we shall be fortunate enough to obtain them, but among these the bat of the Endeavour River is not to be found. In the woods are various little songsters whose notes are equally sweet and plaintive. Of quadrupeds except the kangaroo I have little to say. The few met with are almost invariably of the opossum tribe, but even these do not abound. To beasts of prey we are utter strangers, nor have we yet any cause to believe that they exist in the country. And happy it is for us that they do not, as their presence would deprive us of the only fresh meals the settlement affords, the flesh of the kangaroo. This singular animal is already known in Europe by the drawing and description of Mr Cook. To the drawing nothing can be objected but the position of the claws of the hind leg which are mixed together like those of a dog, whereas no such indistinctness is to be found in the animal I am describing. It was the Chevalier de Peruse who pointed out this to me while we were comparing a kangaroo with a plate, which, as he justly observed, is correct enough to give the world in general a good idea of the animal but not sufficiently accurate for the man of science. Of the natural history of the kangaroo we are still very ignorant. We may, however, venture to pronounce this animal a new species of opossum, the female being furnished with a bag in which the young is contained and in which the teats are found. These last are only two in number, a strong presumptive proof, had we no other evidence, that the kangaroo brings forth rarely more than one at a birth. But this is settled beyond a doubt from more than a dozen females having been killed which had invariably but one formed in the pouch. Notwithstanding this the animal may be looked on as prolific from the early age it begins to breed at, kangaroos with young having been taken of not more than thirty pounds weight, and there is room to believe that when at their utmost growth they weigh not less than one hundred and fifty pounds. A male of one hundred and thirty pounds weight has been killed whose dimensions were as follows, extreme length seven feet three inches, ditto of the tail three feet four and a half inches, ditto of the hind legs three feet two inches, ditto of the forepaws one foot seven and a half inches, circumference of the tail at the root one foot five inches. After this perhaps I shall hardly be credited when I affirm that the kangaroo on being brought forth is not larger than an English mouse. It is, however, in my power to speak positively on this head as I have seen more than one instance of it. In running this animal confines himself entirely to his hind legs which are possessed with an extraordinary muscular power. Their speed is very great though not in general quite equal to that of a greyhound, but when the greyhounds are so fortunate as to seize them they are incapable of retaining their hold from the amazing struggles of the animal. The bound of the kangaroo when not hard pressed has been measured and found to exceed twenty feet. At what time of the year they copulate and in what manner we know not the testicles of the male are placed contrary to the usual order of nature. When young the kangaroo eats tender and well-flavored tasting like veal but the old ones are more tough and stringy than bull-beef. They are not carnivorous and subsist altogether on particular flowers and grass. Their bleat is mournful and very different from that of any other animal. It is, however, seldom heard but in the young ones. Fish which are sanguine hopes led us to expect in great quantities to not abound. In summer they are tolerably plentiful but for some months past very few have been taken. Botany bay in this respect exceeds Port Jackson. The French once caught near two thousand fish in one day of a species of groper to which from the form of a bone in the head resembling a helmet we have given the name of light horseman. To this may be added bass, mullards, skates, souls, leather jackets and many other species. Also good in their kind is to double our regret at there not being more numerous. Sharks of an enormous size are found here. One of these was caught by the people on board the Sirius which measured at the shoulders six feet and a half in circumference. His liver yielded twenty-four gallons of oil and in his stomach was found the head of a shark which had been thrown overboard from the same ship. The Indians, probably from having felt the effects of their voracious fury, testify the utmost horror on seeing these terrible fish. Venomous animals and reptiles are rarely seen. Large snakes, beautifully variegated, have been killed, but of the effect of their bites we are happily ignorant. Insects, though numerous, are by no means even in summer so troublesome as I have found them in America, the West Indies and other countries. The climate is undoubtedly very desirable to live in. In summer the heats are usually moderated by the sea breeze which sets in early, and in winter the degree of cold is so slight as to occasion no inconvenience. Once or twice we have had whorefrosts and hail, but no appearance of snow. The thermometer has never risen beyond eighty-four nor fallen lower than thirty-five. In general it stood at the beginning of February at between seventy-eight and seventy-four at noon. Nor is the temperature of the air less healthy than pleasant. Those dreadful putrid fevers by which new countries are so often ravaged are unknown to us, and accepting a slight diarrhea which prevailed soon after we had landed and was fatal in very few instances, we are strangers to epidemic diseases. On the whole, thunderstorms in the hot months accepted, I know not any climate equal to this I write in. Air we had been a fortnight on shore, we experienced some storms of thunder accompanied with rain, than which nothing can be conceived more violent and tremendous, and their repetition for several days joined to the damage they did by killing several of our sheep, led us to draw presages of an unpleasant nature. Happily, however, for many months we have escaped any similar visitations. CHAPTER XVI The progress made in the settlement and the situation of affairs at the time of the ship, which conveys this account, sailing for England. For the purpose of expediting the public work, the male convicts have been divided into gangs over each of which a person selected from among themselves is placed. It is to be regretted that government did not take this matter into consideration before we left England and appoint proper persons with reasonable salaries to execute the office of overseers, as the consequence of our present imperfect plan is such as to defeat in a great measure the purposes for which the prisoners were sent out. The female convicts have hitherto lived in a state of total idleness except a few who have kept at work in making pegs for tiles and picking up shells for burning into lime. For the last time I repeat that the behaviour of all classes of these people since our arrival in the settlement has been better than could, I think, have been expected from them. Temporary wooden storehouses covered with thatch or shingles in which the cargoes of all the ships have been lodged are completed and a hospital is erected. Barracks for the military are considerably advanced and little huts to serve until something more permanent can be finished have been raised on all sides. Notwithstanding this the encampments of the marines and convicts are still kept up and to secure their owners from the coldness of the nights are covered in with butchers and thatched over. The plan of a town I have already said is marked out and as fee-stone of an excellent quality abounds one requisite toward the completion of it is attained. Only two houses of stone are yet begun which are intended for the governor and lieutenant governor. One of the greatest impediments we meet with is a want of limestone of which no signs appear. Clay for making bricks is in plenty and a considerable quantity of them burned and ready for use. In enumerating the public buildings I find I have been so remiss as to omit an observatory which is erected at a small distance from the encampments. It is nearly completed and when fitted up with the telescopes and other astronomical instruments sent out by the Board of Longitude will afford a desirable retreat from the listlessness of a camp evening at Port Jackson. One of the principal reasons which induced the Board to grant this apparatus was for the purpose of enabling lieutenant doors of the marines to whose care it is entrusted to make observations on a comet which is shortly expected to appear in the southern hemisphere. The latitude of the observatory from the result of more than 300 observations is fixed at 33 degrees 52 minutes 30 seconds south and the longitude at 151 degrees 16 minutes 30 seconds east of Greenwich. The latitude of the south head which forms the entrance of the harbour 33 degrees 51 minutes and that of the north head opposite to it at 33 degrees 49 minutes 45 seconds south. Since landing here our military forces suffered a diminution of only three persons, a sergeant and two privates. Of the convicts 54 have perished including the executions. Amidst the causes of this mortality excessive toil and scarcity of food are not to be numbered as the reader will easily conceive when informed that they have the same allowance of provisions as every officer and soldier in the garrison and are indulged by being exempted from labour every Saturday afternoon and Sunday. On the latter of these days they are expected to attend divine service which is performed either within one of the storehouses or under a great tree in the open air until a church can be built. Amidst our public labours that no fortified post or place of security is yet begun may be a matter of surprise. Were an emergency in the night to happen it is not easy to say what might not take place before troops scattered about in an extensive encampment could be formed so as to act. An event that happened a few evenings since may perhaps be the means of forwarding this necessary work. In the dead of night the sentinels on the eastern side of the Cove were alarmed by the voices of the Indians talking near their posts. The soldiers on this occasion acted with their usual firmness and without creating a disturbance acquainted the officer of the guard with the circumstance who immediately took every precaution to prevent an attack and at the same time gave orders that no molestation while they continued peaceable should be offered them. From the darkness of the night and the distance they kept at it was not easy to ascertain their number but from the sound of the voices and other circumstances it was calculated at near thirty. To their intentions in honouring us with this visit the only one we have had from them in the last five months were strangers though most probably it was either with a view to pilfer or to ascertain in what security we slept and the precautions we used in the night. When the bells of the ships in the harbour struck the hour of the night and the sentinels called out on their posts all's well they observed a dead silence and continued it for some minutes though talking with the greatest earnestness and vociferation but the moment before. After having remained a considerable time they departed without interchanging a syllable with our people. Some thoughts on the advantages which may arise to the mother country from forming the colony. The author of these sheets would subject himself to the charge of presumption where he'd aim at developing the intentions of government in forming this settlement but without giving offence or incurring reproach he hopes his opinion on the probability of advantage to be drawn from hence by Great Britain may be fairly made known. If only a receptacle for convicts be intended this place stands unequal from the situation, extent and nature of the country. When viewed in a commercial light I fear its insignificance will appear very striking. The New Zealand hemp of which so many sanguine expectations were formed is not a native of the soil and Norfolk Island where we made sure to find this article is also without it. So that the scheme of being able to assist the East Indies with naval stores in case of a war must fall to the ground both from this deficiency and the quality of the timber growing here. Where it indeed possible to transport that of Norfolk Island its value would be found very great but the difficulty from the serve fine well-informed is so insuperable as to forbid the attempt. Lord Howe Island, discovered by Lieutenant Paul though an inis to mobile acquisition to our colony produces little else than the mountain cabbage tree. Should a sufficient military force be sent out to those employed in cultivating the ground I see no room to doubt that in the course of a few years the country will be able to yield grain enough for the support of its new possessors. But to effect this our present limits must be greatly extended which will require detachments of troops not to be spared from the present establishment and admitting the position the parent country will still have to supply us for a much longer time with every other necessary of life. For after what we have seen the idea of being soon able to breed cattle sufficient for our consumption must appear chimerical and absurd. From all which it is evident that should Great Britain neglect to send out regular supplies the most fatal consequences will ensue. Speculators who may feel inclined to try their fortunes here will do well to weigh what I have said. If golden dreams of commerce and wealth flatter their imaginations disappointment will follow. The remoteness of situation, productions of the country and want of connection with other parts of the world justify me in the assertion. But to men of small property unambitious of trade and wishing for retirement I think the continent of New South Wales not without inducements. One of this description with letters of recommendation and a sufficient capital after having provided for his passage hither to furnish him with an assortment of tools for clearing land, agricultural and domestic purposes possessed also of a few household utensils a cow, a few sheep and breeding sows would, I am of opinion, with proper protection and encouragement succeed in obtaining a comfortable livelihood where he well assured before he quitted his native country that a provision for him until he might be settled should be secured and that a grant of land on his arrival would be allotted him that this adventurer, if of a persevering character and competent knowledge might in the course of ten years bring matters into such a train as to render himself comfortable and independent I think highly probable. The superfluities of his farm would enable him to purchase European commodities from the masters of ships which will arrive on government account sufficient to supply his wants. But beyond this he ought not to reckon for admitting that he might meet with success in raising tobacco, rice, indigo or vineyards for which last I think the soil and climate admirably adapted the distance of a mat to vind them at would make the expensive transportation so excessive as to cut off all hopes of a reasonable profit nor can there be consumers enough here to take them off his hands for so great a length of time to come as I shall not be at the trouble of computing. Should then anyone induced by this account demigrate hither, let him, before he quits England provide all his wearing apparel for himself, family and servants his furniture, tools of every kind and implements of husbandry among which a plow need not be included as we make use of the whole for he will touch at no place where there can be purchased to advantage. If his sheep and hogs are English also it will be better. For wine, spirits, tobacco, sugar, coffee, tea, rice, poultry and many other articles he may venture to rely on at Tenerife or Madeira the Brazils and Cape of Good Hope. It will not be his interest to draw bills on his voyage out as the exchange of money will be found invariably against him and a large discount also deducted. Drafts on the place he is to touch at or cash, dollars if possible will best answer his end. To men of desperate fortune and the lowest classes of the people unless they can procure a passage as indented servants similar to the custom practice of emigrating to America this part of the world offers no temptation for it can hardly be supposed that government will be fond of maintaining them here until they can be settled and without such support they must starve. Of the governor's instructions and intentions relative to the disposal of the convicts when the term of their transportation shall be expired, I am ignorant. They will then be free men and at liberty I apprehend either to settle in the country or to return to Europe. They will be attended with some public expense and the latter, except in particular cases will be difficult to accomplish from the numberless causes which prevent a frequent communication between England and this continent. END OF CHAPTER 17 Postscript Sydney Cove, Port Jackson, New South Wales October 1, 1788 Little material has occurred in this colony at the departure of the ships for England on the 14th of July last. On the 20th of that month His Majesty's ship Supply, Captain Ball sailed for Norfolk Island and returned on the 26th of August. Our accounts from then are more favourable than were expected. The soil proves admirably adapted to produce all kinds of grain and European vegetables but the discovery which constitutes its value is the New Zealand Flax plants of which are found growing on the island in the utmost luxurancy and abundance. This will, beyond doubt, appear strange to the reader after what has been related in the former part of my work and in future let the credit of the testimony be as high as it may I shall never without diffidence and hesitation presume to contradict the narrations of Mr. Cooke. The truth is that those sent to settle and explore the island knew not the form in which the plant grows and were unfurnished with every particular which could lead to a knowledge of it. Unaccountable as this may sound it is nevertheless incontestably true. Captain Ball brought away with him several specimens for inspection and on trial by some flax-dressers among us the threads produced from them though coarse are pronounced to be stronger more likely to be durable and fitter for every purpose of manufacturing cordage than any they ever before dressed. Every research has been made in the island to find a landing-place whence it might be practicable to ship off the timber growing there but hitherto none has been discovered a plan however for making one has been laid before the governor and is at present under consideration though in the opinion of many here it is not such a one as will be found to answer the end proposed. Lieutenant King and his little garrison were well when the supply left them but I am sorry to add that from casualties their number was already five less than it originally was a ship from hence is ready to sail with an increase of force besides many convicts for the purpose of sawing up timber and turning the flax-plant to advantage. So much for Norfolk in Port Jackson all is quiet and stupid as could be wished we generally hear the lie of the day as soon as the beating of the Reveille announces the return of it find it contradicted by breakfast time and pursue a second through all its varieties until night welcome as to a lover gives us to sleep and dream ourselves transported to happier climbs. Let me not however neglect telling you the little news which presents itself all descriptions of men enjoy the higher state of health and the convicts continue to behave extremely well a gang of one hundred of them guarded by a captain two subletons and twenty marines is about to be sent up to the head of the harbour at the distance of three leagues in a westerly direction from Sydney Cove for the purpose of establishing a settlement there the convicts are to be employed in putting the land around into cultivation as it appears to be of a more promising nature than that near the encampment indeed this last hither too succeeds but very indifferently though I do not yet despair that when good seeds can be procured our toil will be better rewarded but as this is an event at a distance of self very precarious Governor Phillip has determined on procuring a supply of flour and other necessaries from the Cape of Good Hope as our stock on hand is found to be on examination not quite so ample as had been reckoned upon to execute this purpose His Excellency has ordered the Sirius to prepare for the voyage by which conveyance the opportunity of writing to you is afforded me it was at first intended to dispatch the Sirius to some of the neighbouring islands in the entirety in the Pacific Ocean to procure stock there but the uselessness of the scheme joined to the situation of matters here has happily for us prevented its being put into execution End of Post Script End of Section 8 This is also the end of a narrative of the expedition to Botany Bay by What Can Tench