A Complete Account of the Settlement [60]
(a few official ones for the governor excepted) to any person in the colony! Nor had they a single newspaper or magazine in their possession; nor could they conceive that any person wished to hear news; being as ignorant of everything which had passed in Europe for the last two years as ourselves, at the distance of half the circle. "No war--the fleet's dismantled," was the whole that we could learn. When I asked whether a new parliament had been called, they stared at me in stupid wonder, not seeming to comprehend that such a body either suffered renovation or needed it.
"Have the French settled their government?"
"As to that matter I can't say; I never heard; but, damn them, they were ready enough to join the Spaniards against us."
"Are Russia and Turkey at peace?"
"That you see does not lie in my way; I have heard talk about it, but don't remember what passed."
"For heaven's sake, why did you not bring out a bundle of newspapers? You might have procured a file at any coffee house, which would have amused you, and instructed us?"
"Why, really, I never thought about the matter until we were off the Cape of Good Hope, when we spoke a man of war, who asked us the same question, and then I wished I had."
To have prosecuted inquiry farther would have only served to increase disappointment and chagrin. We therefore quitted the ship, wondering and lamenting that so large a portion of plain undisguised honesty should be so totally unconnected with a common share of intelligence, and acquaintance with the feelings and habits of other men.
By the governor's letters we learned that a large fleet of transports, with convicts on board, and His Majesty's ship Gorgon, (Captain Parker) might soon be expected to arrive. The following intelligence which they contained, was also made public.
That such convicts as had served their period of transportation, were not to be compelled to remain in the colony; but that no temptation should be offered to induce them to quit it, as there existed but too much reason to believe, that they would return to former practices; that those who might choose to settle in the country should have portions of land, subject to stipulated restrictions, and a portion of provisions assigned to them on signifying their inclinations; and that it was expected, that those convicts who might be possessed of means to transport themselves from the country, would leave it free of all incumbrances of a public nature.
The rest of the fleet continued to drop in, in this and the two succeeding months. The state of the convicts whom they brought out, though infinitely preferable to what the fleet of last year had landed, was not unexceptionable. Three of the ships had naval agents on board to control them. Consequently, if complaint had existed there, it would have been immediately redressed. Exclusive of these, the 'Salamander', (Captain Nichols) who, of 155 men lost only five; and the 'William and Anne' (Captain Buncker) who of 187 men lost only seven, I find most worthy of honourable mention. In the list of convicts brought out was Barrington, of famous memory.
Two of these ships also added to our geographic knowledge of the country. The 'Atlantic', under the direction of Lieutenant Bowen, a naval agent, ran into a harbour between Van Diemen's land, and Port Jackson, in latitude 35 degrees 12 minutes south, longitude 151 degrees east, to which, in honour of Sir John Jervis, Knight of the Bath, Mr. Bowen gave the name of Port Jervis. Here was found good anchoring ground with a fine depth of water, within a harbour about a mile and a quarter broad at its entrance, which afterwards opens into a basin five miles wide and of considerable length. They found no fresh water, but as their want of this article was not urgent, they did not make sufficient researches to pronounce that none existed there.* They saw, during the short time they stayed, two kangaroos and many traces of inhabitants. The country at a little distance to the southward of the harbour is hilly, but that contiguous
"Have the French settled their government?"
"As to that matter I can't say; I never heard; but, damn them, they were ready enough to join the Spaniards against us."
"Are Russia and Turkey at peace?"
"That you see does not lie in my way; I have heard talk about it, but don't remember what passed."
"For heaven's sake, why did you not bring out a bundle of newspapers? You might have procured a file at any coffee house, which would have amused you, and instructed us?"
"Why, really, I never thought about the matter until we were off the Cape of Good Hope, when we spoke a man of war, who asked us the same question, and then I wished I had."
To have prosecuted inquiry farther would have only served to increase disappointment and chagrin. We therefore quitted the ship, wondering and lamenting that so large a portion of plain undisguised honesty should be so totally unconnected with a common share of intelligence, and acquaintance with the feelings and habits of other men.
By the governor's letters we learned that a large fleet of transports, with convicts on board, and His Majesty's ship Gorgon, (Captain Parker) might soon be expected to arrive. The following intelligence which they contained, was also made public.
That such convicts as had served their period of transportation, were not to be compelled to remain in the colony; but that no temptation should be offered to induce them to quit it, as there existed but too much reason to believe, that they would return to former practices; that those who might choose to settle in the country should have portions of land, subject to stipulated restrictions, and a portion of provisions assigned to them on signifying their inclinations; and that it was expected, that those convicts who might be possessed of means to transport themselves from the country, would leave it free of all incumbrances of a public nature.
The rest of the fleet continued to drop in, in this and the two succeeding months. The state of the convicts whom they brought out, though infinitely preferable to what the fleet of last year had landed, was not unexceptionable. Three of the ships had naval agents on board to control them. Consequently, if complaint had existed there, it would have been immediately redressed. Exclusive of these, the 'Salamander', (Captain Nichols) who, of 155 men lost only five; and the 'William and Anne' (Captain Buncker) who of 187 men lost only seven, I find most worthy of honourable mention. In the list of convicts brought out was Barrington, of famous memory.
Two of these ships also added to our geographic knowledge of the country. The 'Atlantic', under the direction of Lieutenant Bowen, a naval agent, ran into a harbour between Van Diemen's land, and Port Jackson, in latitude 35 degrees 12 minutes south, longitude 151 degrees east, to which, in honour of Sir John Jervis, Knight of the Bath, Mr. Bowen gave the name of Port Jervis. Here was found good anchoring ground with a fine depth of water, within a harbour about a mile and a quarter broad at its entrance, which afterwards opens into a basin five miles wide and of considerable length. They found no fresh water, but as their want of this article was not urgent, they did not make sufficient researches to pronounce that none existed there.* They saw, during the short time they stayed, two kangaroos and many traces of inhabitants. The country at a little distance to the southward of the harbour is hilly, but that contiguous