178
Rewl. not have performed in three months. This fpot, where
immenfe numbers of plants left to themfelves lived and decayed
by turns, in one confufed inanimated heap; this fpot,
we had converted into an a (Stive fcene, where a hundred and
twenty men purfued various branches of employment with
unremitted ardour :
ghiales apes a fla te nova per florea rura
E x ercetfu b fo ie labor* V irgil.»
Such was their toil, and fuch their bufy pains.
A s exercife the bees in flowery plains*
When winter paft and fummer fcarce begun,
Invites them forth to labour in the fun. D ryd en .
We felled tall timber-trees, which, but for ourfelves, had
crumbled to dull with age ; our fawyers' cut them into
planks, or we fplit them into billets for fuel. By the fide
of a murmuring rivulet, whofe paffage into the fea we facilitated,
a long range of calks, which had been prepared
by our coopers for that purpofe, flood ready to be filled
with water. Here afcended the fleam! of a large cauldron,
in which we brewed, from neglefted indigenous-
plants, a falutary and palatable potion, for the ufe of our
labourers. In the offing, fome of our crew appeared providing
a meal of delicious fifh for the refrefhment of their
fellows. Our caulkers and riggers were ftationed on the
fides and mafts of the vefTel, and their occupations gave
life
life to the fcene, and ftruck the ear with various noifes,
whilft the anvil on the hill refounded with the ftrokes of the
weighty hammer. Already the polite arts began to flourifh in
this new fettlement; the various tribes of animals and vegetables,
which dwelt in the unfrequented woods, were imitated
by an artift in his noviciate; and the romantic profpeCts of
this fhaggy country, lived on the canvas in the glowing tints
of nature, who was amazed to fee herfelf fo clofely copied.
Nor had fcience difdained to vifit us in this folitary fpot: an
obfervatory arofe in the centre 8 of our works, filled with
the moft accurate inflruments, where the attentive eye of
the aftronOmer contemplated the motions of the celeftial
bodies. The plants which clothed the ground, and the
wonders of the animal creation, both in the forefis and the
Leas,, likewife attra&ed the notice of philofophers, whofe
time was devoted to mark their differences and ufes. In a
word, all around us We perceived the rife of arts, and the
dawn of fcience, in a country which had hitherto lain plunged
in one long night of ignorance and barbarifm ! But this pleaf-
ing picture of improvement Was not tolaft, and like a meteor,
vanifhed as fuddenly as it was formed. We re-imbarked
all our inflruments and utenfils, and left no other veftiges
of our refidence, than a piece of ground, from whence we
had cleared the wood. We flowed indeed a quantity of European
garden feeds'of the beft kinds'; but it is obvious
that the fhoots of the furrounding weeds Will fhortly ftifld
A a 2
' 773-
A pril.
every