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V-iBOTANY BAY;Y „ ■%s everjy piece of authentic and unhackneyed information relative to our infant Colony in the Southern Hemisphere, cannot fail of being acceptable to ■' the Public,, n.ve lay before our readers the substanf of several Letters received from a P erson on Board oiie of His Majesty’s Ships on that station,. Many of the circumstances possess art originality, that.will, voe dcubt ngt, xeccommend them to at ten^ tian. ~LETTER. I.Port Jackson, Nevj South Wales,February g:k, i 73STbe -whole fleet arrived at Bor my Pay on th.e .20th of last montl\, all well. We, however, staid ■there bur a few days ; the place v-here we now are, which lies but about 15 or 20 miles'from it, being thought much more convenient for the purpose of our voyage, rhan that of our destination : it indeed far surpasses it in every re-speft. The harbour is one of the finest in the world, though it is not above half a mile wide at its entrance, it is sufficiently capacious to coM rain the Navies oi all the Maritime Powers of Europe. It extends above 20 miles into the country, with depth of water sufficient for the largest ship to ride in, and at the same time is perfectly secure, I t the. wind blow from what point of the compass it Will,In the harbour are a great number of islands covered with trees, which afford one of the most pleasing prospects I ever beheld. The land lying round the harbour appears to be extremely fertile ; and with little trouble, sorne of the completes!: farms in the universe^ may .be formed onft.‘ Thq people are got on shore, and afe.all but ^iy’ -eifipfcyed in establishing the settlement, “he Coitvifts behave ver.y well as yet, and un-StgQ 'nomore confinement than the.labouring ijfeple in England. Should they continue to _ jhaye' with the same propriety they have hitherto dcWel fhe greater part of them will be far better off than ever they could have been had they remained in their native country.The natives do not appear to be numerous and’, as far as we can at present judge, are a quiet inoffensive people -. They are of a dark copper-colour, with thick short hair, and do not wear the slightest covering. Their food consists entirely of fish, of which there is the greatest abundance here, and that of an excellent qoa-i|y'’I’ The procuring of these fish falls to the lot of the p-..men, andis their chief employment; and this ftcy do in little canoes made of the bark of a The lines they make use of ate formed of the inner bark of one of their trees, very.ne3tly twisted, and are very strong. Their hooks consist of a bit-of shell, or the claw of a parrot, The fish,however, that they get by angling, seem not to be equal to their wants ; theli* chief depend-ance is on the shell fish they take by diving in the deep water; a method in which the men art very dexterous, and by which they procure great abundance. Their oysters are uncommonly large.; one of them is enough fox a meal for a moderate person.The natives will not eat any of our provisions; though, in order to please us, the? endeavour to make you believe that they do : as Soon, however, as they think you do not observe them, they throw it slily away. Even fish they will not eat toiled. I offered one 6f them some which was dressed that way, but he would not touch it and yet he ate very readily of some roasted on the coals, that being their usual method of dress ing every thing they eat.They will nor suffer any of 1 heir women to come near us ; whether out of fear or jealousy, I c.trmof pretend to sly. Their houses are the most wretched h vels that can be conceived They are nof much laVger than a baker’s oven and nearly of the same shape. They are cover, ed with grass and pieces ot bark, and are open at one end, where there is generally a fire. Into these wretched abodes five or six of them betake themselves, and make a shift to sleep, coiled up with-their nose and knees together, like so many dogs in a kennel.There appear to be but few animals here of aby spr|. The natives are accompanied by dogs of the Yox kind, but they are very shy of coming near au European. Some of the officers have seen the animal which Captain Cook describes, called a Kangooroo ; and some Guanas have been taken, but those of this country are somewhat different from those in the West Indies. They are shaped, like a lizard, live upon ants, and are effieemfd very-good .eating. The Governor has png that.is near .five feet long. 'Snakes, nor any species of venomous creatures, have yet been met with, either here or at Botany Bay. But there are plenty of Musketoes, and likewise a few large ants* which sting pretty sharply, Of birds, thereare great numbers of large parrots, cockatoos, parroqueis, and niaccaws ; all. of very beautiful plumage ; together with a kind of wild duck; and a variety of small birds. Since my being here I have seen one partridge, but it was less than those in Europe; I rather ! think it was of -.he quail kind.The trees of fhis country are in- general very large; their wood is hard and heavy, and they grow pretty thick near the water side ; but far-‘ ther in land there are spates of several huudre’d acres in circumference, where the trees are not thicker than they usually are in a gentleman’s park, and where the ground is covered with fine grass, without either bush or shrub upon it.• (To be continued.)
Newspaper Details
London Oracle
London, Middlesex, GB
Mon, Jun 22, 1789
Page 3
Full Page
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Laura D.
AU 14 Mar 2024
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