P o r t J a c k son.
S y d n e y
C o v e .
ment, would have confirmed or refuted the report, efpecially as
one o f them pretended to give an account o f the expences; but
the detail is fo very imperfedt, that I am not able to fatisfy either
my own or the reader’s curiofity.
Mr. Phillip had previoufly taken a moil exadl furvey o f
every part o f the propofed place of fettlement; he found it
bad as a port, and from the wet nature of the environs, fuf-
pedled that the air would affecl the health o f the new co-
loniils. He obferved that Captain Cook mentioned a bay, in
Lat. 330 s' fouth, very little diftant from the other, which he
had named Port Jack/on, and where he thought there was good
anchorage. Mr. Phillip loft no time, but made a thorough examination
o f that alfo; he found it equal at leaft to our celebrated
harbor, Milford Haven, in old South Wales. It opens with an
ample mouth, and after fome fpace, divides into two moft exten-
live meandering branches, with numbers o f other fmali bays,
creeks, or coves, pointing again to the right and to the left, fo as.
to form the fineft and moft fecure harbor in the world, capable
o f containing the navies o f Europe itfelf.
H e re Mr. Phillip determined to eftabliih his colony ; and
fixing on a place which he named Sydney Cove, began immedi- j
ately to trace the outlines o f the firft fir jet o f his intended town.
The officers live in huts, but houfes are building of brick and
ftone; the governor is very moderate in that defigned for him-
felf, which contains only fix rooms. The land allotted for cultivation
has been found to be very good, and to return on
the firft trial two hundred buihels of wheat, and fixty o f
# barley.
barley *. The deftruilion made by rats was very great; in a
ihort time they deftroyed not lefs than twelve thoufand pounds
o f flour and rice, brought over with the firft traniportation.
There are alfo vegetables in plenty, from feeds brought from
England. I cannot enter into the account o f the wholfe proceedings
; by the detail given in the two pamphlets publiihed by
y. Hebrett, imperfect as they are, may be feen the humanity of
government in providing every neceffary for the u feo f the con-
vi&s, yet I fear it has been difappointed in its hopes. The im-
menfe expence we have been at in fending provifions from hence,
from the cape o f Good Hope, and from China (notwithftanding
the gloffing over feveral particulars) gives reafon to imagine that
our colony has been at the point of ftarving.
T h e Kangaroo, and others o f the Opofium tribe, may be
eaten,but thofe animals, which never were numerous, willfoon
become cxtiiift in the neighborhood o f the colony, and we dare
* The following ftate of Agriculture, and the amount o f Lice Stock, belonging to the G o vernor
and to the fettlers, at the .colony of New South Wales, 23d Auguft 1798, is extraiteA
from a news-paper of Q&ober 1799. E -
Gov. Settlersw. Total.
Acres in W heat - . - 450 - 4,209 - - 4,659
B a r l e y -------------- 57| - T p v . 5 ? |
' .Potatoes - - - - —' - 14 - - 14
. Maize - - - - - 150 - - 1,303 - - 1,453
!--------- vines - - - - - --------- - - 9 - - 9
Mares - , 6 _ _ _ _
* 4 - - 40 - - 44
Cows - - - - - - _ ,40- , . n 8 . . 2Jg
Bulls and Oxen - - - - - 118 - - 45 - -
Sheep, Male - - - - - - 147 _ _ 1,312 - - 1,459
“ Female - - - - - 269 - - 2,174 - - 2,443
Goats, Male - - - - - - 3.7 - - 730 - - 787
“ F e m a l e 86 - 1,794 - - 1,880
Swrne 44 . - 2*823. - - 2,867