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THE  LIBRARY 
OF 

THE  UNIVERSITY 

OF  CALIFORNIA 

LOS  ANGELES 


UM'.. . 

-Jll 


HISTORY 


BRITISH    COLONIES. 


R.  MONTGOMERY  MARTIN,  F.S.S. 


AIEMBKR   OF   THE    *  ASIATIC*  AND    OP  THE    '  MEDICAL   AND    PHTSICAl'   SOCIETIES    OP   BEr^GAL. 

APTHOR    OP     '  TAXATION'   OF    THE    BRITISH     EMPIRE  ;'    OF    THE     '  POLITICAL, 

FIJJANXIAL,  AXD   COMMEaClAI.  COVDITIO.V  OF  THE  ANGLO-EASTERN' 

EMPIRE  ;''  IRELAND  AS  IT  WAS — IS — ANDOCCHTTO    BE.' 

&C.  &C. 


IN  FIVE  VOLUMES. 

VOLUME  IV. 
POSSESSIONS  IN  AFRICA  AND  AUSTRAL-ASIA. 


*  Far  as  the  breeze  can  bear — the  bil'iows  foam- 

SURVEY  OUR  E.MPIKE  I' 


LONDON: 
JAMES  COCHRANE  AND  CO. 

11,  WATERLOO  PLACE,  PALL  MALT>. 

MDCCCXXXV. 


/ 


PftlNTCU  BT  W.  NICOL,  51,  PAI,L  M/^LL. 


HISTORY 


BRITISH   COLONIES. 


VOLUME  IV. 

POSSESSIONS  IN   AFRICA  AND  AUSTRAI-'ASIA. 


(J:3'  In  order  to  render  tlie  '  History  of  the  British  Colonies^  fully  worthy 
of  pu'olic  support,  no  pains  or  expense  liave  been  spared  in  the  prepara- 
tion of  the  present  volume,  and  upwards  of  0)ie  hmdrcd  additional  pages 
have  been  given  without  any  increased  charge.  Several  document?  bear- 
ing on  Emigration,  Trade,  &c.  as. regards  the  Colonies  generally,  will  be 
appended  to  that  portion  of  the  work  which  treats  of  the  British  Colonial 
policy,  and  as  compared  with  ancient  and  modern  systems  of  colonization, 
particularly  in  reference  to  the  causes  which  influence  the  rise  and  fall  of 
Empires :  any  facts  forwarded  to  the  Publishers,  relative  to  this  highly 
important,  but  hitherto  uninvestigated  section  of  the  history  of  civilized 
man,  will  be  duly  appreciated. 

*#*  The  Author  has  much  pleasuie  in  gratefully  acknowledging  the  re- 
ceipt of  several  valuable  manuscripts,  statistical  and  historical,  relative  to 
our  Possessions  in  the  Mediterranean,  from  Sir  Frederick  Ponsouby, 
(Governor  of  Malta,)  and  Doctors  Davy  and  Gilchrist,  (of  Gibraltar)  which 
will  appear  in  the  forthcoming  volume  (No.  V.) 


Errata. — There  are  several  typographical  errors  in  the  following  pages,  ■which  it  has  been 
scarcely  possible  to  avoid  in  the  preparation  of  an  elaborate  work,  requiring  considerable 
revision  ;  where  these  eri^rs  assume  a  grammatical  form  (as  in  line  1  of  p.  461,  for  bhcres 
read  shore)  the  reader  wiix  of  course  attribute  the  mistake  to  accident ;  after  p.  399,  for 
496  read  400  j  in  the  second  table  at  p.  209,  for  acres  of  wool  read  wood ;  and  in  Mr. 
Forster's  letter  to  Lord  Goderich,  for  styritie  read  xtearine.  The  general  correctness  of 
the  work,  comparatively  speaking,  is  due  to  the  excellent  typographer,  whose  varied 
knowledge  has  been  of  considerable  assistance  to  the  author. 


/ 


V  4 


TABLE    OF  CONTENTS 

TO  THE 

FOURTPJ  VOLUME 

OF  THE 

HISTORY  OF  THE  BRITISH  COLONIES. 


Chapter  I. — The  Cape  of  Good  Hope. — Geography;  Area;  General  His- 
tory ;  Physical  Aspect ;  Geology  and  Climate ;  Territorial  Divisions, 
aud  Population ;  Animal  and  Vegetable  Kingdoms  ;  Staple  Produce ; 
Wine,  Corn,  Oil,  and  Wool ;  Forai  of  Government ;  Military  Defence ; 
La^vs,  Religion,  Education,  aud  the  Press  ;  Finance  ;  Monetary  System  ; 
Commerce,  Shipping,  Imports  and  Exports ;  Weights  and  Measures  ; 
Value  of  Property ;  Emigration ;  Prices ;  Social  View,  and  General 
Reflections  on  the  Value  of  the  Colony,  &c.       -  -  p.  1 

Chapteu  n. — Mauritius,  or  the  Isle  of  France. — Locality ;  Area  ;  His- 
tory ;  Physical  Aspect;  ^Mountains  and  Rivers;  Geology;  Climate; 
Animal  and  Vegetable  Kingdoms  ;  Territorial  Divisions  and  Population  j 
Form  of  Government ;  Military  Defence  ;  Religion,  Education,  and  the 
Press;  Finances;  Monetary  System  ;  Monies  ;  Weights  and  Measures  ; 
Staple  Products ;  Commerce;  Shipping;  Value  of  Property;  &c. ;  the 
Seychelles  Islands,  Madagascar,  &c.  &c.  -  -  p.  161 

Chapter  III. — New  South  Wales. — Discovery  of  New  Holland,  and  De- 
scription of  the  Coast ;  Formation  of  the  Settlement  of  New  South 
Wales  ;  its  early  History  ;  Physical  Aspect ;  Mountains,  Rivers,  aud 
Lakes  ;  Geology,  Wineralogy,  and  Soil ;  Climate  ;  Vegetable  and  Animal 
Kingdoms  ;  Population,  Free,  Convict,  and  Aboriginal  or  Black  ;  Terri- 
torial Divisions  and  Staple  Products;  Government;  Laws;  Religion, 
Education,  and  the  Press  ;  Fmance  and  Monetary  System  ;  Commerce, 
Shipping,  &c. ;  Value  of  Property  j  Social  State  and  Future  Prospects. 

p.  213 

Chapter  IV. — Van  Diemen's  Island,  or  Tasmania. — Discovery  of  its 
Insularity;  Locality  and  Area;  Formation  of  the  Settlement ;  its  Early 
I  History;  Physical  Aspect,  and  Territorial  Divisions,  and  Agricultural 
i  Pi-oduce;  Mountains,  Rivers,  and  Lakes;  Geology,  Minerdogy,  and 
Soil;  Climate;  Vegetable  and  Animal  Kingdoms;  Population,  Free, 
Convict,  and  Aboriginal  or  Black ;  Government ;  Laws ;  Religion,  Edu- 
cation, and  the  Press  ;  Finance  and  Monetary  System ;  Commerce, 
Shipping,  &c.  ;  Value  of  Property  ;  Sotial  State  and  Future  Prospects. 

p.  377 

718541 


CONTEXTS. 

Chaptkr  V. — Western  Austral'ui,  compris'ina;  Swan  River  and  King 
George's  Sound. — Locality  ;  Physical  Aspect ;  Geology  ;  Soil  ;  Climate  ; 
Productions;   Colonization;   Population;   Government;  Finances,  &c. 

p.  465 

Chapter  VI. — South  Australia. — Its  site  and  adaptation  for  a  Colony; 
projected  establishment  of  such,  and  principle  on  which  its  foundation 
is  proposed,  &c.  -  -  -  -  -    p.  481 

Ch.\pter  VII.— The  Falkland  Islands.— Locality ;  E.xtent;  Climate;  Soil; 
Harbours  ;  Productions,  and  advantage  to  Great  Britain.     -     -    p.  504 

Chapter  VIII. — St.  Helena  and  Ascension  Islands. — Locality;  Area; 
History;  Physical  Aspect;  Climate,  Geology,  and  Soil;  Vegetation; 
Population;  Produce;  Revenue  and  Expenditure,  Shipping,  &c.  p.  514 

Chapter  IX.— British  Settlements  in  Western  Africa,  including  Sierra 
Leone,  the  Gambia,  and  Cape  Coast  Castle.— Locality ;  Area  ;  History  ; 
Physical  Aspect;  Rivers;  Geology;  Climate;  Vegetable  and  Animal 
Kingdoms  ;  Population  ;  Government ;  Finances  ;  Commerce  ;  Social 
State  and  Future  Pros p_     ,  &c.  &c,  _  .  -        p.  535 

Appendix. — Australian  Agricultural  Company,  -  -  -  p.  617 
Van  Diemen's  Land  Company,  -  -        -        -        -         p.  622 

Secondary  Punishments,  illustrated  in  a  Letter  to  the  Right  Honourable 
(now  Lord)  Edward  G.  Stanley. 


INTRODUCTION 

TO  THE 

FOURTH  VOLUME 

OF  THE 

HISTORY  OF  THE  BRITISH  COLONIES. 


In  placing  before  my  gracious  and  paternal  Sovereign  the 
Fourth  Volume  of  the  *  History  of  the  British  Colonies,'  I 
cannot  forbear  entreating  for  a  moment*  the  attention  of  the 
Public  to  the  vastness  and  importance  of  the  Imperial  interests 
which  we  are  now  engaged  in  investigating. 

We  have  traversed  the  boundless  plains  of  the  Eastern 
Hemisphei.-,  peopled  with  myriads  of  British  subjects, — the 
beautiful  isles  of  the  West  have  occupied  our  attentive  scru- 
tiny,— the  fertile  prairies  of  Northern  America  demanded  and 
obtained  minute  examination, — and  we  now  approach  the 
(almost)  terra  incognitce  of  Africa  and  Australasia. 

When,  or  by  whom,  the  Western  and  Southern  portion  of 
the  Continent  of  Africa  were  discovered,  it  is  difficult,  if  not 
impossible,  to  state  ;f  this  much,  however,  is  unfortunately 

*  Our  past  and  present  colonial  policy,  compared  also  with  that  of  ancient 
and  modern  nations,  will  be  developed  when  I  have  placed  the  whole  of  my 
facts  before  the  public  ;  it  will  then  be  seen  whether  the  inductions  I  pur- 
pose making  as  regards  the  existing  colonial  system,  are  justified  from  the 
facts  previously  adduced. 

t  Herodotus  (book  4,)  gives  an  account  of  an  expedition  being  des- 
patched by  Neco,  King  of  Egypt,  who  sent  out  some  Phoenician  ships, 
with  orders  to  go  down  to  the  Red  Sea,  and  having  gone  round  thence  to 
the  North  Sea,  to  return  home  through  the  Pillars  of  Hercules.     They 

vc      IV.  b 


VI  INTRODUCTION. 

beyond  all  doubt,  that  since  the  discovery  of  these  shores 
by  the  Portuguese,  Spanish,  Dutch,  English,  French,  &c., 
crime  and  wretchedness  have  predominated.     For  three  cen- 
turies, the  most  civilized  of  the  European  nations  have  prose- 
cuted a  sanguinary  and  accursed  traffic  in  human  beings  on 
the  coasts  of  Western  Africa,  and  dragged  into  cruel  bondage 
upwards  of  twenty-five  million*  of  her  unfortunate  children  ; 
thus  giving  a  stimulus  to  the  naturally  savage  heart  of  man — 
exciting  to  a  state  of  intestine  warfare,  which  was  without  ces- 
sation,— ^breaking  violently  asunder  the  sacred  links  of  con- 
sanguinity,— setting  parent  against  child,  and  friend  against 
friend ;  in  fine,  promoting  an  almost  incredible  sacrifice  of  hu- 
man life  as  an  appeasement  to  the  manes  of  deceasedf  despots, 
or  at  the  caprice  of  every  petty  ruler  who  chose  to  desolate 
the  land; — such  have  been  the  results  of  slavery  in  Africa  ! 

landed  in  Africa,  sowed  corn,  waited  the  harvest,  and  then  re-embarked ; 
they  did  the  like  the  year  following,  and  in  the  course  of  the  third  year 
landed  in  Egypt,  having  passed  as  directed,  between  the  Herculean  Columns, 
and  through  the  Mediterranean  Sea.  Herodotus  says,  *  on  their  return 
they  related,  wliat,  if  others  give  credit  to,  I  confess  I  cannot,  that  in 
their  way  round  Africa  the  sun  was  on  their  right  hand.''  [See  also  Herod. 
Book  4,  for  an  account  of  another  expedition  undertaken  by  command 
of  Xerxes.]  Pliny  says,  that  Hanno  went  round  from  the  sea  of  Spain  as 
far  as  Arabia,  as  may  be  seen  '  by  the  memoirs  he  has  left  of  that  voyage 
in  writing.'  Cornelius  Nepos  declares  he  had  seen  a  captain  of  a  ship,  who, 
flying  from  the  anger  of  King  Lathyrus,  went  from  the  Red  Sea  to  Spain ; 
and  long  before  this,  Cselius  Antipater  affirmed,  that  he  had  known  a 
merchant  who  traded  by  sea  to  ^Ethiopia. 

*  The  very  lowest  average,  namely  84,000  per  annum  for  three  centuries, 
will  give  this  amount. 

f  Every  man  of  note  in  many  parts  of  Africa  sacrifices  yearly  several 
human  beings  as  a  propitiation  to  the  manes  of  his  deceased  relatives  ;  on 
the  death  of  a  king  or  chief,  thousands  have  been  known  to  be  slain,  in 
order  that  he  might  be  suitably  attended  in  another  world  ;  and  in  many 
parts  a  virgin  is  impaled  alive  at  every  spring  festival,  in  the  hope  of  gain- 
ing the  favour  of  a  fertile  season. 


INTRODUCTION.  VII 

It  would  be  impious  to  suppose  that  the  authors  and  pro- 
moters of  such  misery  were  permitted  to  escape  unpunished 
by  the  Being  who  declares  he  '  will  visit  the  sins  of  the  fore- 
fathers upon  their  children  unto  the  third  and  fourth  gener- 
ation.' It  should  be  our  serious  duty,  therefore,  to  endeavour 
to  atone  for  the  past  while  yet  time  is  left  unto  us  for  re- 
pentance ;  England  has  now  only  commenced  a  national  expia- 
tion— the  abolition  of  the  maritime  trade  in  mental  and  phy- 
sical agony  was  but  the  prelude  to  the  glorious  abolition  of 
domestic  slavery  throughout  the  British  Empire.  But  let  us 
not  suppose  that  by  this  last  act  of  retributive  justice  to  the 
Majesty  of  Nature,  that  our  past  offences  have  been  suffi- 
ciently atoned  for  : — No,  our  task  is  scarcely  more  than  begun ; 
it  is  our  duty  as  Christians  (and,  as  may  be  inferred,  our 
immediate  and  also  remote  interest  as  merchants,)  to  prose- 
cute with  unceasing  energy  1st.  the  total,  unreserved,  uncon- 
ditional abolition  of  all  maritime  traffic  in  slaves  carried  on  by 
any  nation  in  alliance  with  the  British  Crown :  and  Sndly,  to 
promote  by  every  peaceful  and  lawful  measure  the  emanci- 
pation of  every  slave  in  the  United  States,  and  throughout 
the  colonies  of  European  nations.  I  have  no  hesitation  in 
saying,  that  it  is  the  bounden  duty  of  the  Ministers  of  England 
to  notify  to  Spain  and  Portugal  that  unless  the  maritime 
traffic  in  slaves  be  declared  an  act  of  piracy,  the  representa- 
tives of  England  must  be  withdrawn  from  their  respective 
Courts.  Worldly  and  shallow  politicians  might  condemn  so 
prompt  an  act,  but  Heaven  ever  defends  the  just,  and  our 
reward  would  be  as  certain  as  it  would  be  great ;  for,  by  this 
crowning  measure,  internal  tranquillity  would  be  restored  to 
Africa, — its  one  hundred  and  fifty  million  of  people,  of  various 
languages,  habits,  creeds  and  colours,  would  turn  to  pursuits  of 


viii  INTRODUCTION. 

useful  industry ;  war,  and  its  concomitant,  slavery,  would  cease, 
and  the  products  of  a  vast  and  fertile  territory,  abounding  in 
gold,  ivory,  timber,  corn,  and  oil ;  in  cotton  and  in  silk,  in 
spices  and  in  fruits,  in  gums,  drugs,  and  dyes, — would  be 
abundantly  poured  forth  in  exchange  for  the  manipulations 
and  exercise  of  British  skill  and  capital.  Were  it  even  for 
no  higher  considerations  than  these,  I  would  earnestly  urge 
on  our  Government  the  necessity  and  advantage  of  putting 
an  end  to  the  extensive  slave  trade  now  carried  on  by  Spain 
and  Portugal ;  the  deportation  from  Africa  amounting  at 
this  moment  to  upwards  of  50,000  negroes  per  annum  ! 
The  West  India  proprietors  are  called  on,  for  their  own 
sakes,  to  aid  in  accomplishing  the  termination  of  this  infernal 
traffic ;  and  I  trust  that  Parliament  will  not  allow  the  session 
to  close  without  measures  being  taken  at  once,  and  without 
years  of  delay,  to  prohibit  all  carrying  of  slaves  from  Africa 
by  any  nation  in  amity  with  England. 

For  the  reasons  set  forth  I  estimate  highly  the  importance 
of  our  forts  on  the  coast  of  Western  Africa ;  they  are  neces- 
sary to  prevent  the  carrying  on  of  the  slave  trade  ;  and.they  are 
indispensably  necessary  to  the  safe  prosecution  of  our  traffic, 
already  amounting  in  imports  and  exports,  to  a  million  ster- 
ling annually,  a  trade  but  yet  in  its  infancy,  and  capable  of 
incalculable  increase.  For  the  sake  of  this  commerce,  for  the 
more  efficient  abolition  of  slave  exportation,  and  with  a  view 
to  the  introduction  of  our  language,  laws,  and  religion  into 
Africa,  I  entreat  public  attention  to  the  British  Colonies  on 
its  western,  as  also  southern  shores,*'  and  hasten  to  observe, 

•  Since  the  History  of  South  Africa  went  to  press,  intelligence  Las 
reached  Enj^hmd  of  a  desolating  irruption  of  the  Caflfres  into  the  eastern 
districts  of  the  colony  ;  this  is  another  of  the  many  instances  daily  occur- 


INTRODUCTION.  IX 

that  Australasia,  for  other  but  equally  important  reasons, 
claims  our  anxious  attention. 

The  discovery  and  colonization  of  the  vast  island  of  New 
Holland,  will  be  found  fully  treated  in  the  subsequent  pages, 
and  the  extraordinarily  rapid  progress  of  our  settlements  in 
that  part  of  the  globe,  detailed  so  far  as  is  necessary  to  the 
objects  I  have  in  view  ;  if  Africa  have  traced  on  its  records  in 
characters  of  blood  the  errors  of  England,  Australasia,  on  the 
the  other  hand,  is  one  of  the  proudest  monuments  of  her  glory  ; 
— she  found  it  at  the  extremity  of  the  earth,  an  apparently  in- 
fertile and  inhospitable  shore — peopled  it  with  her  own 
erring  and  unfortunate  sons, — fostered  it  as  a  mother  does 
an  untoward  child,  when  alluring  it  from  the  glittering  paths 
of  vice  towards  the  far  brighter  realms  of  virtue, — and,  wash- 
ing away  its  crimes  with  her  tears,  converted  nature's  stub- 
born soil  into  a  comparative  Eden,  by  a  moral  reformation 
almost  as  hopeless  as  it  was  hallowed.  No  man  who  has  a 
heart  to  feel,  and  a  mind  to  think,  can  visit  Australia  without 
experiencing  the  deepest  emotions  ;  he  sees  around  him  nu- 
merous individuals  actively  and  usefully  employed  in  minister- 
ing to  the  happiness  and  comfort  of  their  fellow  creatures, 
setting  a  good  example  in  deeds  of  Christian  charity,  and 
extending  by  their  wealth  and  enterprise  the  power  and  glory 
of  the  British  name.  Many  of  those  individuals  were  the  out- 
casts of  the  mother  country,  banished  from  its  shores,  and 
doomed  to   an  ignominious  punishment ;    happily,  however, 

ring  of  a  'penny  wise  and  pound  foolish'  economy  ;  had  we  occupied  Port 
Natal,  as  has  long  been  urged  on  our  Government,  the  Cafifres  would  have 
been  taken  in  the  rear,  and  held  in  security  for  their  good  behaviour,  and 
the  establishment  of  a  Lieutenant  Governor  at  Graham's  Town  would  have 
prevented  the  colonists  being  left  in  the  defenceless  state  in  which  they 
seem  to  have  been. 


X  INTRODUCTION. 

for  them — happily  for  England — happily  for  the  sacred  cause 
of  Christianity, — Reformation  and  Punishment  went  hand 
in  hand  ;  the  weakness  of  our  fallen  nature  was  not  forgotten, 
the  soothing  spirit  of  charity  shed  her  mild  influence  over  the 
judgment  seat,  and  the  young  and  the  aged  were  equally  told 
to  *  go^  and  sin  no  more.''  The  fondest,  the  most  sanguine 
expectations,  could  not  have  anticipated  the  result; — a 
generation  of  our  race  has  not  passed  from  this  earth  and 
England's  prison  houses  on  the  shores  of  the  distant  Pacific 
have  become  virtuous  and  happy  colonies,  tenanted  by  thou- 
sands of  Britons,  and  affording  an  imperishable  monument  of 
the  wisdom  and  humanity  of  our  government. 

Deeply  does  it  grieve  me  to  hear  that  it  is  contemplated  to 
change  a  system  productive  of  such  beneficial  results.  Who 
are  they  that  propose  to  inflict  unceasing  punishment  on 
errors — it  may  be  crimes — too  often  made  venial  by  the  poverty 
around  us,  by  the  unequal  distribution  of  wealth,  and  by  the 
Draconian  laws  enacted  for  its  preservation?  They  may, 
perhaps,  not  have  legally  erred,  but  have  they  ever  been 
tempted  ?  Have  they  ever  felt  the  proud  man's  contumely, 
the  rich  man's  scorn  ?  Have  the  winds  of  Heaven  ever  visited 
them  roughly,  has  hunger  ever  paralysed  their  frame?  Or 
have  they  beheld  parent  or  child,  wife  or  friend,  pining  in 
sickness  and  in  sorrow,  and  passing  to  the  grave  for  want  of 
the  bare  necessaries  of  existence?  If  they  have,  then  let 
them  *  cast  the  first  stone,'— let  them  declare  that  the  faults 
(too  often  only  deemed  so  by  harsh  laws)  of  Englishmen 
shall  be  visited  with  the  most  severe  earthly  punishment, 
without  a  hope  of  reformation  being  shadowed  forth ! 

What  cold-blooded  and  unchristian  spirit  must  be  hovering 
over   this    once   charitable  nation  when   such  selfish   ideas 


i 


INTRODUCTION.  XI 

are  not  scouted  from  every  society.  From  the  cradle  to  the 
grave  the  most  virtuous  human  being  is  committing  sin  in 
thought,  word,  or  deed ;  were  we  to  be  summarily  punished, 
what  what  would  become  of  the  inhabitants  of  this  earth  ? 
But,  I  cannot  bring  myself  to  believe  that  such  Anti-Christian 
doctrines  have  made  much  progress  in  England ;  and  that  it 
has  been  determined  to  make  transportation  for  offences 
against  the  temporary  laws  of  the  country  '  worse  than 
death  /'*  Worse  than  Death  !  Then,  in  Mercy's  name, 
shoot,  hang,  guillotine  the  culprit  at  once ;  do  not,  by  a 
refinement  of  cruelty,  torture  him  as  long  as  his  life  will 
sustain  the  punishment. 

Are  these  the  fruits  of  education,  of  civilization,  of  power? 
Has  the  desire  to  acquire  wealth,  or  to  retain  it,  blunted  the 
finer  moral  feelings  of  our  nature,  and  deadened  them  to  the 
humanizing  influence  of  the  Gospel  ?  If  such  were  the  pros- 
pects of  England  under  our  present  policy,  then  welcome 
Despotism  or  Democracy — any  thing,  in  short,  is  preferable 
to  a  pestilential  influence  which,  like  a  moral  upas,  blights  all 
within  its  reach.  It  is  the  duty  of  every  citizen  to  use  his 
efforts,  however  humble,  in  guarding  against  the  Satanic 
power  of  large  masses  of  wealth.  Our  Colonies  will  aid  us  in 
preventing  its  lethiferous  effects,  by  affording  a  vast  field  for 
the  dispersion  of  capital  and  a  profitable  arena  for  its  acquire- 
ment by  the  poor  and  industrious.  For  this  reason  I  am 
anxiously  desirous  of  bringing  the  Colonies  of  this  vast 
Empire  into  notice ;  and  I  would  that  I  possessed  the  pen  of 

*  This  expression  has  been  attributed  to  Lord  Stanley  (see  letter  from 
New  South  Wales,  in  the  Appendix.)  I  do  not,  however,  believe,  that  if 
Lord  Stanley  ever  used  the  expression,  he  intended  the  meaning  which  has 
been  attributed  to  it,  as  his  Lordship  is  well  known  to  be  a  man  of  humane 
and  Christian  spirit 


xii  IIsTRODUCTION. 

the  inspired  Psalmist  to  awaken  attention  to  them  at  a 
crisis  in  our  history  when  they  are,  under  the  auspices  of 
Providence,  the  main  hope  of  our  existence  as  a  nation. 
Indeed,  while  prosecuting  my  arduous  task,  I  am  cheered  on 
by  an  increasing  conviction,  which  investigation  strengthens 
as  I  proceed,  that  each  succeeding  year  that  sball  pass  over, 
the  history  of  my  country  will  prove  more  and  more  the  use- 
fulness of  a  work  presenting  a  connected  and  tangible  view 
of  our  Colonial  Possessions.*  Contemplating  England  in 
relation  to  her  Colonies,  we  may  consider  her  as  standing 
among  the  older  nations  like  the  venerable  and  majestic  oak 
of  the  forest,  while  her  transmarine  possessions  may  be 
regarded  as  the  roots  by  which  she  draws  nourishment  from 
the  distant  soil,  enabling  her  to  withstand  alike  the  rude 
assaults  of  the  winter's  tempest,  and  the  more  insidious 
attacks  of  time. 

*  I  cannot  here  avoid  adverting  to  a  fact  passing  before  the  eyes  of  the 
public,  the  rather  so,  as  it  will  form  a  distinguishing  feature  when  pro- 
ceeding to  develope  our  Colonial  Policy.  Within  little  more  than  two 
years  there  have  been  four  colonial  secretaries  and  four  under  ditto, — 
namely,  Lord  Goderich,  Lord  Stanley,  Mr.  Spring  Rice,  and  Lord  Aber- 
deen : — Lord  Howick,  Mr.  Lefevre,  Sir  George  Grey,  and  Mr.  Gladstone 
(a  fifth  is  now  appointed) ;  with  the  exception  of  Lord  Stanley  (who  was 
in  Canada  only)  none  of  these  gentlemen  have  ever  visited  the  colonies, 
and,  from  the  widely  scattered  information  that  existed  previous  to  this 
History,  their  condition  (even  had  it  been  studied)  must  have  been  but 
imperfectly  known  to  them.  Mr.  Hay,  the  intelligent,  patriotic,  and 
urbane  under  secretary,  has  not,  I  believe,  ever  been  in  the  colonies, 
nor  am  I  aware  of  any  clerk  in  the  Colonial  OfBce  who  has  ever  been  out 
of  Europe;  nay  more,  the  very  agents  appointed  by  the  Secretary  of 
State  to  represent  the  colonists  in  England,  have  never,  so  far  as  I  can 
ascertain,  with  very  few  exceptions,  crossed  the  channel !  Let  any  un- 
prejudiced man  ask  himself  how  can  our  colonies  be  well  managed  under 
such  a  system. 


ILLUSTRATIONS. 

General  Map        .         .         .         .         .to  face  title  page. 

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New  South  Wales     .         .         ...         .         .         .     213 

Van  Diemen's  Land    .......     377 


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HISTORY 


BRITISH    COLONIES. 


POSSESSIONS  IN  AFRICA  AND  AUSTRALASIA. 


CHAPTER  I. 

THE  CAPE  OF  GOOD  HOPE, 

GEOGRAPHY — AREA — GENERAL  HISTORY — PHYSICAL  ASPECT — GEOLOGY 
AND  CLIMATE — TERRITORIAL  DIVISIONS,  AND  POPULATION — ANIMAL 
AND  VEGETABLE  KINGDOMS — STAPLE  PRODUCE — WINE,  CORN,  OIL,  AND 

WOOL — FORM  OF  GOVERNMENT MILITARY  DEFENCE LAWS — RELIGION, 

EDUCATION,    AND     THE      PRESS — FINANCE — MONETARY     SYSTEM — COM- 
MERCE, SHIPPING,  IMPORTS  AND  EXPORTS — WEIGHTS    AND  MEASURES 

VALUE    OF    PROPERTY — EMIGRATION — PRICES — SOCIAL   VIEW,    AND    GE- 
NERAL REFLECTIONS  ON  THE  VALUE  OF  THE  COLONY,  &C. 

Africa's  southern  extremity,  termed  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope, 
is  politically,  as  also  commercially,  speaking,  one  of  the 
most  valuable  sections  of  the  British  empire.  Territorially 
united  with  Europe  arid  Asia,  the  peninsula  stretches  far  into 
the  great  Austral  ocean,  and  by  reason  of  its  singular 
locality*  forms  the  maritime  key  to  the  Anglo-Indian  Empire, 
and  our  Eastern  dominions. 

*  The  geographical  resemblancebetween  the  southern  peninsulas  of  Africa 

and  America  is  very  striking;  while  it  is  not  a  little  remarkable  that  the 

great  continents  of  Europe  and  Asia  both  terminate  in  peninsulas,  which 

have  few  features  in  common  ;  the  peninsula  of  Hindostan  bearing  a  more 

VOL.  IV.  B 


»  GEOGRAPHY  AND  AREA  OF    SOUTH  AFRICA. 

On  the  S.  this  important  colony  is  bounded  by  the  vast 
southern  ocean,  on  the  W.  by  the  Atlantic,  on  the  E.  by  the 
Indian  ocean,  and  on  the  N.  by  the  Gariep  or  Orange  River, 
and  by  unexplored  territories. 

Area. — It  is  difficult  to  state  the  exact  area  of  South 
Africa,  extending  from  Cape  Point,  in  S.  Latitude  34.23  to 
Delagoa  Bay,  a  Portuguese  settlement,  on  the  E.  coast,  in 
in  Lat.  26 ;  in  order,  however,  to  explain  the  nature  of  the 
country,  it  will  be  necessary  to  consider  the  British  located 
territory,  which  after  its  conquest  from  the  Dutch  was  thus 
defined  :* — length  of  the  colony,  from  W.  to  E.  Cape  Point 
to  KafFerland,  580  miles ;  from  River  Koussie  to  Zuureberg, 
520;  breadth  from  S.  to  N.  river  Koussie  to  Cape  Point, 
315  miles;  Nieuwveld  mountains  to  Plettenburg's  Bay,  160; 
mouth  of  the  Tush  River  to  Plettenburg's  baaken,  225  miles ; 
which  gives  a  parallelogram,  whose  mean  length  is  550,  and 
mean  breadth  233  English  miles,  comprising  an  area  of 
128,150  square  miles. 

The  present  boundaries  should  however  be  considered  as 
the  Keiskamma  River  on  the  E.,  and  the  Gariep  or  Orange 
River  on  the  N.,  and  may  now  be  stated  at  600  miles  from 
E.  to  W.,  and  330  miles  from  N.  to  S.,  comprising  an  area 
of  about  200,000  square  miles,  with  a  sea  coast  of  upwards  of 
1,200  miles,  from  the  Gariep  on  the  western  or  Atlantic  shore 
to  the  Keiskamma,  on  the  eastern  or  Indian  Ocean  coast. 

General  History. — The  spirit  of  enterprize  which  was 
excited  by  the  re-discovery  of  the  Canary  Islands  in  the  14th 
century,  and  the  attention  thus  drawn  towards  the  adjacent 
African  shores,  stimulated  bold  mariners  to  prosecute  their 
voyages  along  the  land  to  the  southward,  to  which  a  further 
impulse  was  given  by  Prince  Henry  of  Portugal,f  who,  re- 
decided  analogy  to  Cape  Horn,  both  as  regards  the  range  of  mountains 
along  the  western  coast  of  each,  and  the  large  island  at  either  extremity, 
viz.  Ceylon  and  Tierra  del  Fuego. 

*  By  Mr.  Barrow,  in  his  va]ual)le  view  of  the  Cape,  published  in  1801. 

t  Son  of  John  the  first,  surnamed  the  avenger,  and  Phillippa  of  Lancaster, 
sister  of  Henry  IV.  of  England. 


EARLY   HISTORY  OF  SOUTH  AFRICA.  3 

ceiving  much  information  at  Ceuta  respecting  the  coast  of 
Guinea,  (while  accompanying  his  warUke  father  in  an  expedi- 
tion against  the  Moors),  directed  all  his  energies  to  the 
possibility  of  circumnavigating  Africa ;  and  thus  open  a 
maritime  route  to  the  rich  nations  of  the  East,  whose  valuable 
commerce  was  then  monopolised  by  the  haughty  republics  of 
Venice  and  Genoa,  and  who  had  rapidly  risen  into  extraor- 
dinary 6pulence  from  comparative  insignificance. 

Although  the  thirst  for  gain  is,  in  every  age  and  nation,  a 
strong  excitement  to  enterprize,  and  the  Portuguese  at  the 
period  referred  to,  were  distinguished  in  Europe  for  their 
high  and  gallant  bearing,  yet  Prince  Henry  had  to  struggle 
much  (as  all  men  who  are  before  their  fellows  in  thought  have 
to  do),  in  his  exertions  against  the  ignorance  and  prejudices 
of  the  age  in  which  he  lived.  The  mariner's  compass,  then 
but  recently  introduced  into  Europe  from  Asia,  by  the 
Venetians,  and  little  understood ;  together  with  the  infant 
state  to  which  the  important  science  of  navigation  remained, 
made  mariners  fearful  of  venturing  out  of  sight  of  land ;  added 
to  which,  the  unknown  expanse  of  the  Atlantic  was  contem- 
plated with  mysterious  awe ;  and  an  old  belief  was  still 
cherished  that  the  earth  was  girdled  at  the  equator  by  a  torrid 
zone  or  region  of  impassable  heat,  which  separated  the  two 
hemispheres ; — a  superstitious  opinion  also  existed  that  who- 
ever doubled  Cape  Bojador  would  never  return.  Henry,  by 
the  aid  of  science,  dispelled  these  delusions :  Cape  Bojador 
was  doubled;  the  Azores  and  Cape  Verd Islands  discovered, 
and  the  African  coast  traversed  beyond  the  tropics,  so  as  to 
divest  the  torrid  zone  of  its  fanciful  terrors. 

Henry  died  in  1473,  without  the  gratification  of  witnessing 
the  atchievement  of  that  which  his  daring  genius  contemplated; 
his  example  and  spirit  continued  nevertheless  to  actuate  the 
Portuguese  under  the  government  of  John  II.  who  had  imbibed 
a  passion  for  discovery  from  his  grand  uncle.  Prince  Henry; 
suffice  it  however  to  say,  that  after  numerous  discouragements, 
owing  to  the  terrors  of  the  crew  at  the  storms  encountered, 
the  lofty  promontory  of  southern  Africa  was  discovered  by 


4  DISCOVERY  OF  THE  CAPE  OF  GOOD  HOPE  ;  — 

Bartholomew  Diaz,  in  1487,  and  called  by  him  Cabo  dos  Tor- 
me.'itos,  in  consequence  of  the  tempestuous  weather  expe- 
rienced.* The  mutinous  state  of  his  crews,  and  the  shattered 
condition  of  his  ships,  prevented  Diaz  touching  at  the  Cape, 
and  on  his  return  to  Portugal  John  II.  directed  the  Promon- 
tory to  be  called  Cabo  de  bonne  JLsperanza,  (Cape  of  Good 
Hope),  in  expectation  of  future  beneficial  results.  In  the  con- 
fident expectation  of  discovering  the  long-desired  passage  to 
India,  another  fleet  was  fitted  out  by  John  II.,  and  the  com- 
mand given  to  the  justly  celebrated  Vasco  de  Gama,  who, 
after  contending  with  the  fury  of  the  elements,  and  the  des- 
pairing, almost  mutinous,  conduct  of  his  companions,  doubled 
the  Cape  of  Good  Hope,  (ten  years  after  its  discovery),  on 
the  20th  November,  1497,  touched  on  the  coast,  and  stood 
away  to  the  northward  and  eastward,  and  had  his  skill  and 
perseverance  ultimately  rewarded  by  the  discovery  of  the 
coastof  Malabar,  &c. ;  the  details  of  which  would  be  foreign 
to  this  work. 

The  next  navigator  who  doubled  the  Cape  was  the  Portu- 
guese Admiral,  Rio  d'  Infante,  who  strongly  recommended 
his  government  to  establish  a  colony  at  the  river  named  after 
him,  (now  Great  Fish  River).  Several  attempts  were  subse- 
quently made  by  Portuguese  navigators  to  colonize  the 
country,  but  they  all  failed. 

After  this  the  Dutch  and  English  East  India  Companies' 
ships  were  occasional  visitors  in  their  voyages  to  and  from 
India,  and  dispatches  for  the  Directors  of  the  respective 
Nations  were  buried  by  the  commanders  of  the  outward- 
bound  ships,  with  instructions  cut  on  stone  or  wood,  indi- 
cating where  letters  and  the  ship  and  cargo  registers  were  to 
be  found  by  the  homeward-ho\xndi  vessels.  The  Cape  of 
Good  Hope  continued  thus  as  a  temporary  rendezvous 
for  European  mariners  for  more  than  a  century.  In  1620, 
two  of  the  East  India  Company's  commandersf  took  formal 

♦  It  is  denied  that  Biirlliolomew  then  saw  Cape  Point, 
t  Humphrey  Fitzherbert  and  Andrew  Shillinge;  their  proclamation  is 
dated  "  Bay  of  Saldanha,  3rd  Jnly,  1620." 


ITS  FIRST  OCCUPATION  BY  THE  ENGLISH.  5 

possession  of  the  Cape,  in  the  name  of  King  James,  thirty 
years  prior  to  the  Dutch  estabhshment  of  the  colony;  no  set- 
tlement was,  however,  formed,  and  the  English,  Portuguese, 
and  Dutch  continued  indiscriminately  to  resort  thither  for 
shelter  and  refreshments;  but  in  1650  the  Netherlands'  go- 
vernment, at  the  suggestion  of  a  surgeon  of  one  of  their  East 
India  ships  (Van  Riebeck)  who  viewed  the  station  as  an  admi- 
rable rendezvous,  and  also  with  a  desire  to  form  a  barrier 
to  their  Indian  dominions,  resolved  to  colonise  the  Cape,  a 
determination  which  was  shortly  after  put  in  execution  with 
100  males,  to  whom  were  subsequently  added  100  females, 
from  the  houses  of  industry  in  Amsterdam,  &c.,  and  from  this 
period,  for  180  years,  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope  remained  in 
the  possession  of  Holland. 

Although  the  territory  was  then  rather  numerously  inha- 
bited by  native  Hottentots,  yet,  after  a  few  trifling  contests, 
little  interruption  was  experienced  by  the  settlers,  who  with 
some  iron,  tobacco,  beads,  and  brandy  bought  whole  tracts  of 
territory  from  the  simple  and  peaceable  aborigines. 

The  edict  of  Nantes,  and  persecution  of  the  Protestants  in 
Europe,  benefitted  the  Cape  by  the  introduction  of  settlers 
who  began  the  cultivation  of  the  vine,  &c. ;  but  the  Dutch 
seem  to  have  paid  little  attention  to  its  internal  resources ; 
they  looked  at  the  colony  as  a  mere  refreshing  station  for  their 
Indian  ships,  and  by  leasing  it  out  to  jobbers  and  contractors, 
— the  revenues  were  inadequate  to  the  charges,  and  it  be- 
came a  heavy  expense  to  the  Dutch  East  India  Company. 

The  effects  of  the  French  revolution  were  felt  in  the  eastern 
as  well  as  in  the  western  world. 

The  British  government  resolved  in  1795  to  take  possession 
of  the  colony  for  the  Prince  of  Orange,  and  our  fleet  ap- 
peared off  the  Cape  at  the  moment  when  the  inhabitants  were 
about  to  declare  themselves,  after  the  manner  of  the  Pari- 
sians, a  free  and  independent  republic.  The  British  troops 
consisted  of  the  78th  Reg.,  some  marines,  and  two  battalions 
of  seamen,  amounting  in  all  to  1,600  men.  The  Dutch  were 
more  numerous,  and  well  suppHed  with  artillery.     Some  inef- 


6  BRITISH  CONQUEST  FROM  THE  DUTCH. 

fectual  attempts  were  made  to  oppose  the  march  of  the  British 
troops  on  Cape  Town,  at  the  Muy  senbergh  Pass,  where  a  hand- 
ful of  men  with  artillery  might  have  kept  a  large  force  at  bay, 
but  after  the  Dutch  had  been  driven  from  their  advanced  posts, 
the  appearance  in  Table  Bay  of  reinforcements,  under  Sir 
Alured  Clarke,  led  to  the  accepting  terms  of  capitulation,  and 
this  important  possession  became,  for  the  first  time,  a  colony  of 
England.  The  Cape  remained  in  our  occupation  for  seven 
years,  until  the  peace  of  Amiens,  when,  after  various  improve- 
ments, &c.,  it  was  most  injudiciously  restored  to  the  Dutch 
nominally,  but  really  to  the  French,  who  made  use  of  the 
Hollanders  as  suited  their  convenience.  The  mischievous  and 
impolitic  results  of  so  unnational  a  cession  were  ably  and  tri- 
umphantly exposed  by  Mr.  Barrow  in  1803.  On  the  renewal 
of  the  war  with  France,  and  its  dependencies,  it  was  wisely 
determined  by  our  Government  to  recapture  the  Cape  of 
Good  Hope :  a  well  appointed  force  of  5,000  men,  under 
Sir  David  Baird  and  Sir  Home  Popham,  appeared  off  the 
Cape  in  January,  1806.  The  English  and  Dutch  armies 
met  on  the  plain,  at  the  foot  of  Tabl?  Mountain,  but  scarcely 
had  the  action  been  commenced  by  General  Ferguson,  at  the 
head  of  the  Highland  Brigade,  than  the  enemy  retreated,  and 
soon  after  offered  terms  of  surrender.  The  Cape  colony  has 
ever  since  continued  (and  I  hope  will  long  remain)  an  integral 
part  of  the  British  Empire. 

The  reader  will  have  perceived  in  the  preceding  volumes, 
that  local  details  of  government  are  unsuited  to  the  present 
work,  the  main  object  of  which  is  to  place  the  importance  and 
actual  state  of  our  colonies  in  a  fair  and  full  view  before  the 
public  ;*  nevertheless,  I  cannot  pass  over  the  list  of  governors 
of  South  Africaf  without  adverting  to  the  administration  of 

•  I  would  beg  to  impress  on  the  mind  of  the  reader  the  apology  made 
to  the  King  in  the  first  volume,  for  the  brevity  necessary  to  this  work. 

t  Names  of  the  governors  of  the  colony  since  its  establishment  in  1652 
— Joan  Anthony  van  Riebeck,  8th  April,  1652  ;  Zacharias  Wagenaar,  9th 
May,  1662;  Cornelius  van  Gualberg,  24th  October,  1666;  Jacob  Borg- 
horst,  18th  June,  1668;  Picter  Hackins,  2nd  June,  1670;  Coenraad  van 
Breilenbacb,  1st  December,  1671 ;  Albert  van  Breugel,  23rd  March,  1672; 


GOVERNORS  AT  THE  CAPE  SINCE  1652.  7 

the  Right  Honourable  the  Earl  of  Caledon,  whose  wise,  benefi- 
cent, and  philanthropic  exertions  have  been  successively  the 
theme  of  every  one  who  has  written  on  the  subject  of  the 
Cape:  His  Lordship's  impartial  and  firm  administration  of 
the  laws — his  Christian-like  conduct,  as  exhibited  towards 
the  dark  and  benighted  brethren — and  the  numerous  efforts  to 
ameliorate  the  social  condition  of  a  people  entrusted  to  his 
sway,  all  evince  the  workings  of  no  ordinary  mind ;   indeed 
when  I  consider    the  age  at  which  His  Lordship  held   the 
government  of  the  Cape  {viz  from  1807  to  1811),  and  reflect 
that  he  is  still  in  the  prime  of  life,  and  devoting  his  benevo- 
lent principles  towards  alleviating  the  miseries  and  wr^tch- 
Ysbrand  Goske,  2nd,  October,  1672  ;  Johan  Bat  (van  Herentals),  2nd  Ja- 
nuary, 1676;  Hencbrik  Crudat,  29th  June,  1678;  Simon  van  der  Stell, 
14th  October,  1679;  Willem  Adriaaii  van  der  Stell,  Uth  February,  1699; 
Johan  Cornelis  d'Ablemg,  3rd  June,  1707;  Louis  van  Assemburg,  1st  Feb- 
ruary, I7O8;  Maurits  Posques  de  Chavornues,  28th  March,  1714  ;  Jan  de 
la  Fontaine  (Actinor),  8th  September,  1724;  Picter  Gisbert  Nood,  25th 
February,  1727;  Jan  de  la  Fontaine  (Acting),  24th  April,  1729;  Ditto 
(Effective),  8th  March,  1730;  Adraan  van  Rervel,  14th  November,  1736; 
Daniel  van  den  Hengel,  20th  September,   1737 ;  Hendrik  Swellengrebel, 
14th  April,  1739;  Ryk  Tulbagh,  30th  March,  1751 ;  Joachim  van  Pletten- 
burg,  12th  August,  1771;   Pieter  van  Reede  van  Oudtshoorn  (died  on 
his   passage  to  the  colony,    on    board   the   ship  Jsia),    23rd   January, 
1773;   Cornelis  Jacob  van   de   Graaff,  14th  February,   1785;    Johannes 
Isaak  Rhenius,  29th  June,  1791  ;  Abr,  J.  Sluysken  (Commissioner),  2nd 
September,  1793.     Under  the  British  government — J,  H,  Craig,  1st  Sep- 
tember,  1795;  Earl  Macartney,  23rd  May,   1797;    Sir  Francis  Dundas, 
(Lieutenant-Governor),  22nd  November,  1798;  Sir  George  Young,  18th 
December,  1793;  Sir  Francis  Dundas  (Lieutenant-Governor),  20th  April, 
1801;  Jan  Willem  Jassens  (Batavian  Governor),  1st  March,   1803;   Sir 
David  Baird,  10th  January,   1806  ;    Hon.  H.  G.  Grey  (Lieutenant-Go- 
vernor), 17th  January,  1807;  Du  Pre,  Earl  of  Caledon,  22nd  May,  1807; 
Hon.  H.  G.  Grey  (Lieutenant-Governor),  5th  July,  1811  ;  Sir  John  Fran- 
cis  Cradock,  6th  September,   1811  ;   Hon.   R.  Meade   (Lieutenant-Go- 
vernor), 13th  December,  1813  ;  Lord  Charles  Henry  Somerset,  6th  April, 
1814  ;  Sir  Rufane  Shavve  Donkin  (Acting  during  the  absence  of  Lord  C. 
Somerset),  13th  January,  1820:   Lord  Charles  H.  Somerset  (Returned), 
1st  Decemljer,  1821 ;  Richard  Bourke  (Lieutenant-Governor),  8th  Febru- 
ary, 1828;   Sir  Galbraith  Lowry  Cole  (Governor),  G.C.B.,  6th  August, 
1828;  SirB.  D'Urban  (Governor)  1833. 


8    THE  EARL  OF  CALEDOn's  GOVERNMENT  AT  THE  CAPE. 

edness  of  his  native  land,  I  am  at  a  loss,  whether  to  admire 
most  the  comprehensive  views  developed  in  His  Lordship's 
government  of  the  Cape,  or  the  attention  paid  to  minute 
points  of  domestic  interests,  as  Lord  Lieutenant  of  the  county 
of  Tyrone.* 

I  wish  I  could  report  as  favourably  of  the  Government  of 
Lord  Charles  Somerset  as  the  universal  voice  of  the  colonists 
has  proclaimed  that  of  Lord  Caledon  to  be ;  I  was  several 
times  at  the  Cape  during  the  administration  of  Lord  Charles, 
and  I  must  confess  that  few  persons  spoke  well  of  his  Lord- 
ship ;  it  is  nevertheless  probable  that  Lord  Charles  was 
attached  to  the  colony,  and  although  some  of  his  proceed- 
ings, particularly  as  regards  the  press,  were  undoubtedly 
despotic,  yet  he  may  have  had  the  welfare  of  the  inhabitants 
at  heart.  It  would,  however,  be  quite  uninteresting  to  the 
British  public,  were  I  to  enter  into  a  history  of  the  local 
disputes  prevailing  in  each  of  our  colonies,  where  so  much 
personality,  and  private  matters,  are  mixed  up  with  official 
circumstances ;  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope  is  an  unfortunate 
illustration  of  the  latter,  and  the  revival  of  the  past  in  these 
pages  could  be  productive  of  no  good,  either  to  Sir  Rufane 
Donkin  (whose  exertions  for  the  welfare  of  South  Africa  is 
held  in  grateful  remembrance  by  the  colonists  in  general,  and 
the  English  settlers  in  Albany  in  particular,  as  well  by  the 
CaiFre  tribes),  or  his  opponent,  Lord  Charles  Somerset :  the 
Cape  colonists  have  no  reason  to  fear  a  return  of  those  times, 
when  their  freedom  or  slavery  shall  be  at  the  mercy  of  any 
one  individual,  and  I  trust  that  the  period  is  not  far  distant, 
when  the  epoch  of  an  elective  Legislative  Assembly  will 
furnish  to  the  future  historian  more  ample  and  interesting 
domestic  details  than  a  pure,  or  mixed  despotism,  however 
enlightened,  can  ever  yield. 

*  After  ten  years'  absence  from  Europe  I  returned  to  my  native  country, 
and  visited  the  town  of  Caledon;  in  the  midst  of  Irish  wretchedness,  it 
was  indeed  (particularly  as  regards  the  S.  of  Ireland)  an  oasis  in  the 
desert, — its  mills,  the  busy  hum  of  industry,  its  cleanliness  and  happiness 
will  remind  some  of  my  (lape  of  Good  Hope  friends  of  the  sweet  and 
happy  villages  which  l)or(kr  on  some  of  the  desarts  South  Africa. 


MOUNTAIN  RANGES  OF  SOUTH  AFRICA.  9 

Physical  Aspect. — Southern  Africa  is  generally  composed 
of  chains  of  lofty  mountains  and  intervening  plains  and  vallies", 
extending  east  and  west,  excepting  one  range  beginning  at 
Table  Bay,  opposite  to  Cape  Point,  and  stretching  to  the 
northward  along  the  western  coast  about  200  miles,  which  is 
as  far  as  Olifant's  River. 

The  first  great  chain  running  east  and  west  has,  along  the 
southern  coast,  a  belt  of  undulating  land,  varying  from  10  to 
30  miles  in  width,  indented  by  several  bays,  and  intersected 
by  numerous  streamlets,  the  soil  rich — the  hills  well  wooded, 
and  the  climate  equable  and  mild  from  its  proximity  to  the 
ocean. 

The  next  great  chain  is  the  Zwaarte  Bergen*  or  Blaclc 
Mountains ;  more  lofty  and  rugged  than  the  coast  chain,  (in 
some  places  consisting  of  double  and  treble  ranges)  and  di- 
vided from  thence  by  an  interval  from  10  to  20  miles  wide — 
the  surface  very  varied,  in  some  places  barren  hills  predomi- 
nate, in  others  naked  and  arid  plains  of  clay,  termed  by  the 
colonists  the  karroo,  while  widely  interspersed  are  patches  of 
well  watered,  fertile  and  beautiful  grounds. 

The  third  range  is  the  Nieuwveld's  Bergen  :  between 
these  mountains  and  the  second  range  is  the  Great  Karroo, 
or  Desert,  an  elevated  steppe  or  terrace,  nearly  SCO  miles  in 
length  from  E.  toW.  80  in  breadth,  and  1000  feet  above 
the  sea,  exhibiting  a  clayey  surface  thinly  sprinkled  over  with 
sand,  with  here  and  there  a  few  stunted  shrubs  which  seldom 
receive  a  friendly  shower,  and  studded  with  occasional  iso- 
lated hills.f 

Along  the  western  coast  of  South  Africa,  the  country  also 
ascends  in  successive  terraces,  the  most  elevated  of  which  (the 
Roggeveldt)  unites  with  the  last  mentioned  chain  of  mountains, 
(the  Nieuwveldt).  Indeed  the  Roggeveldt  Bergen  i-ange  may 
be  said  to  commence  in  nearly  30  S.  latitude,  running  nearly 
south  for  two  and  a  half  degrees,  when  its  course  is  bent  to 
the  E.  and  subsequently  to  the  N.E.   until  the  range  reaches 

*  Berg,  the  Dutch  for  mountain,  is  almost  invariably  attached  to  the 
name.  f  For  a  description  see  Geology  section. 


10  ELEVATION  OF  THE  MOUNTAINS. 

Delagoa  Bay,  that  part  of  it  forming  the  north  boundary  of 
the  Great  Karroo,  being  termed  Nieuwvelds  Bergen. 

At  the  most  southern  extremity  there  are  several  eminences 
the  heights  and  names  of  which  are — Table  Mountain,  feet 
3,582;  Devil's  Peak,  3,315;  Lion's  Head,  2,760;  Lion's 
Rump,  1,143;  Muyzenberg,  about  2,000;  Elsey  Peak,  1,200; 
Simon's  Berg,  or  signal  hill,  2,500;  Paulusberg,  1,200;  Con- 
stantia,  3,200;  Cape  Peak,  1,000;  Hanglip  Cape,  1,800  feet. 

I  rode  to  the  summit  of  the  Cape  Peak  in  1825  ;  the  sur- 
face was  covered  with  piles  of  huge  stones  loosely  thrown  to- 
gether as  if  giants  had  been  at  play  ;  the  cliff  was  so  perpen- 
dicular as  to  prevent  my  descent,  except  at  some  dis- 
tance from  the  point,  but  I  had  an  opportunity  of  sailing 
almost  underneath  this  singular  promontory  in  his  Majesty's 
schooner  Albatross,  in  1823,  when  we  ran  inside  the  "  Bellows 
rock"  on  our  passage  from  Table  to  Simon's  Bay  ;  I  scarcely 
know  whether  my  feelings  were  most  excited  in  the  latter 
situation,  or  when  viewing  the  vast  expanse  of  the  Indian  and 
Atlantic  Oceans  from  the  wild  and  desolate  extremity  of 
Southern  Africa. 

But  the  most  conspicuous  feature  of  these  lofty  ranges  is 
Table  Mountain,  the  north  front  of  which,  directly  facing 
Cape  Town,  presents  nearly  a  horizontal  line  of  two  miles  in 
length,  rising  to  the  height  of  3,582  feet  above  the  level  of 
Table  Bay,  with  a  plain  at  the  summit  of  about  ten  acres 
in  extent.  In  front  are  two  wings — the  Devil's  Mountain, 
3,315,  and  the  Lion's  Head,  2,760  feet,  which  evidently  at  one 
time  formed  a  continuation  of  the  table, — the  summits  being 
washed  away  by  torrents  and  the  crumbling  hand  of  time ; 
the  base  is  still  attached  to  the  '  Table'  at  a  considerable  ele- 
vation. The  Devil's  Mountain  is  broken  into  irregular  points, 
but  the  upper  part  of  the  Lion's  Head  is  a  solid  mass  of  stone, 
rounded  and  fashioned  like  a  work  of  art;  and  resembling,  it 
is  thought,  in  some  points  of  view,  the  dome  of  St.  Paul's, 
placed  on  a  high  cone-shaped  hill. 

This  is  Mr.  Barrow's  opinion, — but  though  I  visited  Table 
Bay  several  times,  and  rode  on  horseback  to  the  summit  of 


RIDE  TO  THE  SUMMIT  OF  TABLE  MOUNTAIN.  11 

the  '  Table',  I  could  not  see  the  resemblance  alluded  to.  The 
ascent  on  horseback  I  was  stimulated  to  attempt  from  hear- 
ing so  much  of  the  difficulty,  and  that  Lieut.  Rainsford  of 
the  Artillery  was  killed  on  the  occasion  of  descending,  after 
riding  to  the  summit.  Owing  to  the  kindness  of  a  Dutch 
gentleman,  who  lent  me  one  of  his  best  trained  horses  and 
accompanied  me,  I  safely  accomplished  the  undertaking ; 
sometimes  the  road  or  path  wound  round  a  shelving  moun- 
tain or  along  the  verge  of  a  precipice  where  there  was 
not  room  for  two  animals  to  pass,  and  down  whose  fearful 
chasms  I  dare  not  look, — at  other  times  it  lay  across  huge 
loose  rocks,  adown  and  up  whose  steep  and  slippery  sides  my 
noble  steed  trod  with  the  steadiness  and  security  of  a  Cha- 
mois goat ; — frequently  was  I  obliged  to  grasp  with  my  arms 
round  his  neck  when  clambering  up  these  dangerous  preci- 
pices, where  a  false  step  would  have  been  the  cause  of  hurl- 
ing horse  and  rider  to  the  bottom  of  yawning  ravines  if  per- 
chance they  had  not  been  caught  midway  by  some  impending 
rock  and  dashed  into  atoms  in  descending  from  ledge  to  ledge 
during  the  fall ; — but  when  I  gained  the  summit,  and  sat 
astride  on  my  horse  nearly  4,000  feet  above  Cape  Town,  the 
perils  of  the  ascent  were  forgotten — well  might  I  exclaim  with 
the  immortal  bard — 

"  How  fearful 

And  dizzy  'tis  to  cast  one's  eyes  so  low ! 

The  fishermen,  that  walk  upon  the  beach. 

Appear  like  mice  ;  and  yon  tall  anchoring  bark 

Diminish'd  to  her  cock. 

The  murmuring  surge. 

That  on  the  unnumbered  idle  peebles  chafes, 

Cannot  be  heard  so  high." 

In  fact  the  fishermen  did  not  appear  so  large  as  mice — they 
were  mere  black  dots  on  the  minute  tracery  of  lines  which 
Cape  Town  exhibited.  The  descent  was  more  perilous  than 
the  ascent,  as  the  '  table  cloth'  (see  Climate)  was  spreading 
rapidly.  Ladies  have  ascended  to  the  top  of  the  mountain 
from  the  cleft  or  gorge  at  Cape  Town. 

The  bold  face  of  Table  Mountain  is  supported  by  a  number 


12  APPEARANCE  OF  TABLE  MOUNTAIN. 

of  projecting  buttresses  that  rise  out  of  the  plains  and  fall  in 
with  the  front  a  little  higher  than  midway  from  the  base. 
The  east  side  is  the  most  elevated,  and  some  points  are  esti- 
mated at  4,000  feet ;  the  west  side,  along  the  sea  shore,  is 
rent  into  deep  chasms,  topped  by  many  pointed  masses. 
About  four  miles  to  the  southward,  the  elevation  of  the  moun- 
tain is  diminished  by  terraces,*  the  lowest  of  which  communi- 
cates with  the  chain  that  extends  the  whole  length  of  the 
peninsula. 

On  first  viewing  this  singular-looking  mountain  from  the 
bay,  it  appears  like  the  ruined  walls  of  a  gigantic  fortress — 
the  front  divided  into  three  sections,  a  curtain  flanked  by 
two  bastions  ;  the  former  is  separated  from  the  left  bastion  by 
a  deep  chasm,  which  is  about  three  quarters  of  a  mile  in 
length  ;  the  perpendicular  cheeks  at  the  foot  1 ,000  feet  high, 
and  the  angle  of  descent  45  degrees.  At  the  entrance  the 
chasm  is  about  80  feet  wide  ;  but  it  gradually  converges  until 
it  is  not  more  than  a  few  feet  at  the  portal,  which  opens  on 
the  extensive  flat  summit. 

Cape  Town,  built  immediately  at  the  foot  of  Table  Moun- 
tain, along  the  shores  of  Table  Bay,  on  a  plain  which  rises 
with  an  easy  ascent  towards  the  mountain,  is  regularly  con- 
structed, with  straight  and  parallel  streets  intersecting  each 
other  at  right  angles,  and  shaded  with  elm  or  oak  trees  ;  the 
houses  chiefly  of  red  brick  or  stone,  of  a  good  size,  and 
genei'ally  with  a  stoup,  or  veranda,  before  the  door,  shaded 
with  trees,  beneath  which  the  English  as  well  as  Dutch  in- 
habitants delight  to  lounge  by  day,  sheltered  from  the  fervid 
rays  of  the  sun,  or  to  inhale  the  freshness  of  the  evening 
breeze. 

The  population  of  the  metropolis  of  South  Africa  is  at 
present  more  than  20,000,f  of  whom  upwards  of  10,000  are 
white  inhabitants — the  majority  being  Dutch,  or  of  Dutch 

*  It  was  along  these  terraces  I  ascended  to  the  summit. 

t  In  1831-2  the  census  was,  oi  free  persons,  white  or  coloured,  males 
fi,410,  females  r).!)4!);  oi  slaves,  males  2,921,  females  2,906 ;  total  males 
9,331,  females  9,855 ;  grand  total  19,186. 


CAPE  TOWN,  SOUTH  AFRICA.  13 

descent.  With  the  exception  of  Sydney,  New  South  Wales, 
there  is  a  more  English  appearance  about  Cape  Town  than 
any  colonial  station  I  have  visited.  The  squares  are  well 
laid  out,  the  streets  extremely  clean,  the  public  edifices 
numerous  and  substantial.  Throughout  the  week  there  is  a 
continued  busy  hum  of  industry,  and,  on  the  Sabbath  morn, 
the  melody  of  the  church  going  bell,  and  the  groups  of  well- 
dressed  individuals  flocking  to  their  respective  places  of  wor- 
ship, may  readily  induce  the  traveller  to  forget  that  he  is 
amidst  a  thriving  and  happy  people  on  the  southern  ex- 
tremity of  Africa. 

The  Castle,  situate  on  the  left  of  the  town  (entering  from 
Table  Bay),  is  a  strong  fortification  commanding  the  an- 
chorage, and,  if  well  defended,  capable  of  complete  resistance 
against  any  force  which  may  be  brought  against  it.  The 
fortress  is  pentagonal,  with  a  broad  fosse  and  regular  out- 
works. It  contains  within  its  walls  most  of  the  public  offices, 
and  barracks  for  1,000  men.  There  are  other  works  de- 
fending Cape  Town.  Fort  Knokke,  on  the  east,  is  connected 
with  the  castle  by  a  rampart  called  the  sea-lines  ;  and  farther 
east  is  Craig's  tower  and  battery.  On  the  west  side,  and 
surrounding  the  Lion's  Rump,  are  Rogge,  Amsterdam,  and 
Chavonne  batteries,  all  bearing  upon  the  anchorage.  The 
entrance  of  the  bay  is  commanded  by  a  battery,  called  the 
Moiiille. 

The  colonists  are  indebted  to  the  paternal  sway  of  the  Earl 
of  Caledon  for  the  laying  down  of  hydraulic  pipes,  by  means 
of  which  a  plentiful  supply  of  excellent  water  is  furnished  to 
every  part  of  the  town,  and  ships'  boats  are  supplied  at  the 
landing  place  with  a  beverage  which,  even  after  many  months 
keeping  at  sea,  I  found  equal  to  that  of  the  justly  celebrated 
Thames. 

The  colony  being  divided  into  districts,  its  description  and 
condition  will  be  more  clearly  conveyed  by  a  separate  account 
of  each  division. 

Cape  District.  This  district,  formerly  bounded  to  the  N. 
by  the  Berg  River,  but  now  extended  to  the  Verloren  valley, 


14  ASPECT  OF  THE  PENINSULA. 

which  is  distant  from  Cape  Point  about  190  miles,  has  a 
breadth  nowhere  exceeding  30  miles,  the  superficial  area 
being  3,700  square  miles.  A  range  of  lofty  mountains  rise, 
like  an  immense  wall,  forming  the  E.  boundary  of  the  valley 
of  the  Cape  district,  shutting  it  out  so  entirely  from  the 
country  beyond  it,  that  a  few  men  in  possession  of  the  passes 
would  always  be  able  to  cut  off  any  communication  between 
the  sea  coast  and  the  interior.  There  are  three  passes,  or 
kloofs,  generally  used  by  wheel  carriages ;  viz.  Hottentot 
Hollands'  Kloof,  near  False  Bay,  opening  a  communication 
with  the  districts  of  Swellendam  and  the  E.  parts  of  the 
colony  along  the  sea  coast ; 

Roode  Land  (Red  Land)  Kloof,  opposite  to  Saldanha  Bay, 
leading  to  Graaff  Reinet,  and  the  remotest  parts  of  the 
colony,  and — Elands'  Kloof,  still  farther  N.,  opening  into  a 
wild  country.  As  if  in  contrast  to  the  barren  mountain  range, 
the  valley  which  they  inclose  is  exceedingly  beautiful,  rich, 
and  well-watered,  containing  the  Paarl,  Great  and  Little 
Drakenstein,  and  Fransche  Hoek,  or  French  Corner,  &c. 
The  Cape  peninsula  is  about  thirty-six  miles  long  and  eight 
broad,  composed  of  a  broken  series  of  mountains,  either  with 
horizontal  or  cone-shaped  summits,  and  connected  by  inferior 
gorges.  The  N.  tract  is  composed  of  the  famed  Table 
Mountain,  that  of  Constantia,  and  several  others  of  less  note, 
and  containing  many  valuable  estates ;  the  Southern  range 
extends  from  Haut  Bay  on  the  W.  and  Fish-Hook  Bay  on  the 
E.  to  Cape  Point.  This  peninsula  is  joined  to  the  continent 
by  a  low,  flat,  and  narrow  sandy  isthmus,  the  S.E.  shore  of 
which  is  washed  by  False  Bay,  and  the  N.W.  by  Table  Bay  ; 
the  latter  affording  secure  shelter  from  September  to  May, 
and  the  former  for  the  remainder  of  the  year. 

Simon's  Bay,  situate  in  False  Bay,  is  the  chief  naval  station 
at  the  Cape  for  half  the  year,  and  Table  Bay  for  the  other 
half;  the  latter  is  not  so  dangerous  as  has  been  represented  ;* 

*  Instructiom  for  entering  Tal)le  Bay  by  night,  by  the  plan  constructed 
on  the  ol)servations  made  by  Capt.  Owen,  of  H.  M.  S.  Leven,  November, 
1825),     The  bearings  contained  in  these  instructions  are  all  by  compass  or 


INSTRUCTIONS  FOR  ENTERING  TABLE  BAY.  15 

if  good  ground  tackle  were  always  used,  there  would  not  be 
so  many  shipwrecks.  It  is  to  be  hoped  that  the  long  pro- 
jected plan  of  a  breakwater  will  yet  be  adopted  ;  by  this 
means  the  heavy  surf  that  rolls  in  with  a  S.  E.  wind  would  be 

magnetic.  [The  Cape  of  Good  Hope  is  in  S.  Lat.  34.22,  E.  Lon.  18.24-4, 
with  a  Avesterly  variation  of  28.2.]  1st.  To  enter  Table  Bay  from  the 
northward,  meaning  to  pass  np  Robben  Island,  a  ship  should  keep  the 
light  to  the  eastward  of  S.  9  degrees  E.,  or  about  S.  and  by  E.,  until  she 
get  soundings  under  20  fathoms,  at  a  little  more  than  a  mile  from  the  light- 
house; she  may  then  steer  E.S.E.  or  E.  and  by  S.,  not  to  come  under  10 
or  12  fathoms  until  the  light  bears  W.  S.  W. ;  she  may  then  steer  for  the 
anchorage,  and  may  anchor  in  from  7  to  6  fathoms,  as  soon  as  the  lights 
are  shutting  in  behind  the  Lion's  Tail.  This  track  leads  about  a  mile 
clear  of  danger  on  Green  Point ;  but  a  ship  need  not  approach  it  so  near, 
if  she  have,  by  seeing  Robben  Island,  ascertained  by  its  bearings  she 
is  clear  of  the  Whale  Rock,  in  wliich  case  she  may  round  it  at  a  greater 
distance  from  Green  Point,  if  desirable ;  but  the  soundings  in  that  case 
will  not  alone  be  a  sure  guide.  2nd.  In  coming  from  the  S.W.  a  ship 
should  not  get  less  than  40  fathoms  before  the  light  bears  S.  E.  or 
E.  S.E.,  nor  less  than  20  fathoms  before  it  bears  S.  and  by  E.,  when  the 
preceding  directions  may  be  followed.  From  the  northward,  inside  of 
Robben  Island,  the  light  should  be  kept  about  S.W.  and  by  S.  until  a  ship 
has  passed  that  island,  in  doing  which  she  may  have  some  casts  from  8  to  6 
fathoms;  and  when  on  that  course  the  water  deepens  to  11  or  12  fathoms, 
she  may  steer  for  the  anchorage  by  the  plan  as  before  directed.  In  beating 
round  Green  Point,  a  ship  should  never  shoal  her  water  under  11  or  12 
fathoms  imtil  she  have  brought  the  light  to  bear  W.  S.W.,  as  before 
directed.  In  beating  between  Robben  Island  and  the  main,  to  enter  Table 
Bay,  the  soundings  may  be  taken  from  the  island,  as  it  shoals-to  very 
regularly.  In  standing  towards  the  main,  it  appears  prudent  to  tack  at 
the  first  cast  of  the  lead  after  the  water  shoals.  In  these  directions  it  is 
taken  for  granted  that  a  ship  will  always  keep  her  leads  going.  By  day, 
or  when  the  shores  or  surf  can  be  seen,  or  indeed  under  any  circumstances, 
the  plan  ought  to  be  a  sufficient  guide.  There  are  two  lights  at  the  light- 
house, which  are  in  one  about  S.W.  and  by  W. ;  these  appear  to  be  of  no 
other  use  than  to  assure  the  navigator  which  is  the  lighthouse,  if  he  should 
see  other  lights.  We  have  seen  the  lights  clearly  off  deck  at  16  miles 
distant ;  but  they  will  not  make  clear  as  two  lights  until  within  6  or  7 
miles  to  the  westward  of  them,  and  from  the  northward  one  light  only  will 
be  seen.  On  the  1st  of  September,  1821,  a  flag-staff  was  erected  on  the 
Lion's  Rump,  for  the  purpose  of  communicating  with  ships  entering  Table 


16  EXCELLENT  HAVEN  OF  SALDANHA  BAY. 

prevented  injuring  ships  at  the  anchorage.  This  measure, 
and  a  lighthouse  at  Cape  Lagullas,  the  expense  of  which 
should  be  defrayed  by  a  farthing  or  a  half-penny  per  ton 
levied  on  all  vessels  doubhng  the  Cape,  would  render  Table 
Bay  a  haven  of  general  resort  in  all  weathers. 

There  are  also  two  small  bays  on  the  W.  side  of  the  Cape 
peninsula,  viz.  Haiit,  or  Woodman's,  and  Chapman's  Bays ; 
the  latter  exposed  to  the  N.  and  N.W.,  but  the  former  shel- 
tered from  all  winds,  but  with  confined  anchorage. 

Saldanha  Bay,  one  of  the  best  and  most  commodious  harbours  in  the 
world,  is  in  Lat.  38.8  S.,  and  Lon.  17-55  E.,  variation  24  W.  The  distance 
from  the  head  of  the  bay  to  the  S.  E.  to  Hootge's  Bay,  may  be  calculated 
at  little  short  of  25  miles.  On  the  S.W.  side  of  the  entrance  is  a  small 
island,  having  a  hill  in  its  centre  forming  two  small  peaks,  called  Dassen 
Island  ;  opposite  to  which,  on  the  northern  shore,  is  Madagas  Island,  on 
which  is  a  flag-staff,  erected  by  persons  frequenting  the  island  for  eggs,  to 
denote  where  it  is  safe  to  land.  After  passing  these  islands,  in  the  centre 
of  the  entrance  is  Marcus  Island,  by  which  it  is  divided  into  two  channels, 
by  either  of  which  the  bay  may  be  safely  entered ;  the  southern  channel 
leading  to  the  anchorage  on  the  western  side  of  the  bay,  and  the  northern 
to  that  in  Hootges  Bay.  Round  the  promontory  to  the  S.  of  Marcus  Isle, 
are  two  small  bays  —  the  first  Salamandre,  the  next  Charonante  Bay;  in 
either  of  which  there  is  a  good  anchorage  in  three  to  seven  fathoms, 
having  Neeuwen  and  Schaapen  Islands  to  the  S.  E.  Off  Meurven  Island 
the  water  is  deep,  and  vessels  may  be  anchored  tolerably  close  in  out  of 
the  tide-way,  which  runs  rapidly  between  the  islands;  but  from  the  northern 
shore  of  Schaapen  Island  a  bank  projects,  on  which  there  are  but  two 
fathoms  water.  During  gales  of  wind  from  the  westward,  a  very  heavy 
sea  falls  into  the  bay,  and  breaks  far  out  from  its  eastern  shore,  which 
makes  it  desirable  for  ships,  when  at  this  anchorage,  to  be  well  covered 
\iudor  the  land  to  the  westward.      In  Hootges  Bay  vessels  can  anchor  in 

Bay,  by  means  of  Captain  Marryat's  Code  of  Signals,  now  in  general  use 
in  the  merchant  service.  Vessels  approaching  the  land  have,  therefore,  only 
to  make  use  of  that  code,  as  directed,  for  the  purpose  of  either  conveying 
or  receiving  communications  to  or  from  the  signal  post  on  the  Lion's 
Rump.  It  is  to  be  recollected  that,  at  i\\\?,  flag -staff,  a  colonial  telegraph 
is  also  in  use ;  but  no  mistake  can  arise  therefrom,  if  the  ships  in  the 
offing  pay  attention  to  Captain  Marryat's  Code,  the  flags  of  which  are 
entirely  different  from  those  of  the  colonial  telegraph. 


VISITED  BY  AMERICAN   SCHOONERS.  17 

three  to  seven  fathoms  close  in,  and  are  perfectly  safe  at  all  seasons. 
Within  this  bay  is  Sinit's  Winkel,  or  Smith's  Shop  Bay,  where  vessels 
have  been  brought  from  Table  Bay  to  be  hove  down.  It  is  to  be  regretted 
that  fresh  water  is  not  to  be  had  along  this  shore  in  sufBcient  quantity  for 
the  supply  of  ships,  as  the  anchorage  is  superior  to  that  on  the  opposite 
side  of  the  bay.  After  passing  Neeuwen  and  Schaapen  Islands,  that  part  of 
the  bay  opens  which  is  commonly  called  the  river,  and  which  extends  about 
seven  miles  in  a  S.E.  direction  to  a  place  called  Geelbeck,  where  there  are 
salt-pans,  and  good  salt  may  be  procured  at  a  reasonable  price.  The 
sand-banks  and  the  narrowness  of  the  channel  make  the  navigation  of  this 
part  of  the  l>ay  difficult,  excepting  for  boats,  the  depth  of  water  in  the 
main  channel  to  the  head  of  the  bay  being  from  four  to  two  fathoms.  The 
old  post  which  is  on  the  southern  shore  of  the  river,  and  now  in  a  very 
dilapidated  state,  was  the  former  presidency;  it  is  occupied  by  a  Hottentot 
and  his  family,  in  the  employ  of  the  present  proprietors,  and  is  used 
merely  as  a  cattle  place.  There  is  a  spring  of  fresh  water  to  the  right  of 
the  house  ;  but  the  supply  is  not  sufficient  for  shipping.  The  present 
station  of  the  Government  Resident  is  on  the  eastern  shore  of  this  part  of 
the  bay,  whence  it  derives  its  name  Oostwal,  and  is  about  a  mile  and  a  half 
from  Schaapen  Island.  In  April,  1829,  the  American  schooner  Antarctic, 
of  150  tons,  passed  up  the  channel  to  the  E.  of  Schaapen  Island,  and 
anchored  round  the  point  of  land  called  Stoinpe  Hock,  of  a  small  bay 
called  Sandy  Bay,  where  the  grain  from  the  neighbouring  farms  is  shipped 
for  the  Cape  market ;  and  in  February,  1830,  the  American  schooners 
Spark  and  General  Putnam,  the  latter  of  1 14  tons  burthen,  and  drawing 
ten  feet  water,  came  up  the  same  channel,  and  anchored  in  five  fathoms, 
opposite  the  Residency,  where  they  took  in  their  supply  of  water.  These 
vessels  were  sealing  to  the  northward  off  Cape  Voltos.  As  the  water 
shoals  off  the  N.  E.  shore  of  Schaapen  Island,  as  well  as  off  the  eastern 
shore  of  the  main  land,  great  caution  is  necessary  in  making  the  entrance 
and  passing  up  this  channel ;  and  when  Schaapen  Island  is  well  on  the 
starboard  quarter,  steer  S.E.,  keeping  the  northern  shore  until  past  Stompe 
Point  or  Hock,  when  keep  mid  channel  up  to  the  Residency.  The  springs 
of  water  vary  in  colour  and  quantity  ;  some,  running  through  beds  of  iron 
stone,  are  dark-coloured  ;  all  is  drinkable  and  good,  and  could  be  collected 
in  a  very  considerable  quantity  in  reservoirs,  and,  at  little  expense,  made 
convenient  for  watering  ships,  which  at  present  is  a  laborious  operation  -^ 
the  casks  are  rolled  at  low  water  a  considerable  distance  over  a  sandy  flat 
to  the  channel,  but  at  high  water  and  spring  tides  they  may  be  brought 
close  to  the  spring.  Fresh  water  is  to  be  found  from  Sandy  Bay  to 
Geelbeck,  a  distance  of  seven  miles ;  and  it  is  presumed,  when  the  day 
comes  that  this  fine  bay  shall  be  no  longer  neglected  and  passed  l)y,  but  its 
value  to  this  colony  and  the  commercial  world  duly  appreciated,  the  land 
on  this  shore  may  be  divided  into  erven,  and  each  erf  have  its  separate 
VOL.  IV.  C 


18      STELLENBOSCH  DISTRICT,   LOCALITY  AND  APPEARANCE. 

well  and  garden,  and  wells  and  dams  reserved  for  public  uses,  and  a  consi- 
siderable  extent  of  ground  appropriated  for  commonage.* 

STELLENBoscH-f-  DISTRICT  is  situate  to  the  eastward  of  the 
Cape  District,  running  north  from  False  Bay ;  it  is  bounded 
on  the  N.  by  the  Berg  River,  E.  by  the  district  of  Worcester, 
S.  by  the  district  of  Swellendam  and  False  Bay,  and  on  the 
W.  by  the  Cape  district ;  comprising  upwards  of  4,314  square 
miles,  divided  into  25  field  cornetcies.  The  village  of  Stellen- 
bosch,  containing  the  first  and  second  cornetcies,  is  pic- 
turesquely situate  at  the  head  of  a  valley,  almost  surrounded 
by  mountains,  and  shaded  by  groves  of  magnificent  oak  trees ; 
there  is  abundance  of  excellent  water,  the  climate  is  mild,  the 
soil  productive,  and  the  station  is  a  favourite  resort  for  in- 
valids. The  whole  District  abounds  in  beautiful  scenery ; 
at  Jonkershoek,  (12  miles  from  Stellenbosch  village)  there  is 
a  fine  waterfall,  forming  the  origin  of  the  Eerste  river; 
Somerset  including  all  the  farms  of  Hottentots  Holland  (from 
the  beach  of  which  latter  it  is  distant  two  miles),  is  famed  for 
the  noble  road  over  the  Kloof  or  Pass,  called  "  Cole's  Pass" 
opened  in  1830.  The  chief  produce  is  wine  and  corn,  and 
there  are  magnificent  camphor  trees  worth  visiting  by  a 
European.  Groote  Drakenstein,  comprising  among  others, 
the  farms  on  the  N.  side  of  Simon's  Bay  is  remarkable  for 
some  deep  caves,  dug  upwards  of  100  years  ago,  by  order  of 
the  Dutch  government,  in  search  for  silver. 

Fransche  Hoek  is  delightfully  situate  in  a  valley  surrounded 
by  mountains,  with  a  road  leading  over  the  Kloof,  which  is  a 
master-piece  of  workmanship.  Zonder-End  comprises  a 
ridge  of  mountains  which  divides  Worcester  and  Swellendam 

*  I  am  indebted  for  this  account  of  Saldanha  Bay,  and  also  for  many 
other  important  particulars  relating  to  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope,  to  INIr. 
George  Greig,  whose  patriotic  exertions  have  contributed  so  materially  to 
benefit  the  country  of  his  adoption.  This  gentleman's  newspaper  and 
directory  are  models  of  excellence  for  other  colonies,  and  demonstrate  how 
much  one  individual  may  accomplish  by  energy  and  talent  in  a  rising  com- 
munity. 

t  So  named  from  the  Dutch  Governor  Simon  Van  der  Stell,  about  the 
yc:ir  1681. 


WORCESTER   DISTRICT  ;    CLANWILLIAM,  19 

from  Stellenbosch  and  the  Ezeljagt  mountains.  The  Paarl 
cornetcy  has  a  remarkably  neat  village,  bearing  the  same 
name,  and  almost  hidden  beneath  an  umbrageous  canopy  of 
veteran  oaks.  The  top  of  the  Paarl  mountain  commands  a 
view  of  the  neighbouring  country.  In  many  pai'ts  of  the 
district  of  Stellenbosch  the  orange  trees  afford  a  most  pictur- 
esque scenery,  while  in  flowering  season  their  perfumes  are 
wafted  for  miles  over  the  adjoining  country. 

The  principal  rivers  are  the  Berg,  Zonder-End,  Palmiet, 
and  Eerste,  which,  together  with  some  inferior  ones,  such  as 
Lawrens,  Bot,  Dwars,  Fransche  Hoek  and  Witelse,  have  their 
origin  in  the  mountains  in  the  S.  E.  of  the  district. 

Worcester  District,  in  the  N.W.  division  of  the  colony, 
is  one  of  the  most  extensive,  comprising  42,111  square  miles, 
and  divided  into  two  parts,  Worcester  to  the  N.  and  Clan- 
william  to  the  southward. 

Clan  William  contains  twelve  Field  Cornetcies  or  Wards, 
that  called  after  the  name  of  the  south  division  is  about  S6 
miles  from  N.  to  S.,  and  37  from  E.  to  W.  ;  its  village  is 
distant  from  Cape  Town  168  miles  N.,  96  from  Tulbagh,  13 
from  Worcester,  nearly  150  from  Stellenbosch,  and  containing 
28  farms.  The  other  wards  are  of  various  sizes  and  fertility, 
but  the  whole  district  is  much  more  of  a  pastoral  than  agri- 
cultural country ;  and  the  attention  of  the  farmers  throughout 
it  is  now  being  particularly  turned  to  fine  woolled  sheep. 

Oliphant,  or  Elephant's  river,  (in  the  S.  division  of  the 
district),  runs  in  a  N.  direction  along  the  foot  of  the  W. 
chain  of  mountains,  and  falls  into  the  Atlantic  in  S.  Lat. 
31.30.  It  is  the  only  one  in  the  colony  navigable  with  boats 
for  upwards  of  30  miles  from  the  sea,  to  which  distance  it  is 
affected  by  the  tides.  The  mouth  of  the  river  is  barred  by 
the  reef  of  rocks  from  S.  to  N.,  and  by  a  sand-bank  from  N. 
to  S.,  leaving  between  the  two  bars  a  channel  always  open 
for  communication  with  the  sea,  and  through  which  whalers' 
boats  enter  for  water  and  provisions.  The  Berg,  or  mountain 
river,  has  its  source  in  the  mountains  which  enclose  the  vale 
of  Drakenstein,  and  discharges  into  St.  Helena  Bay. 


20  ST.   HELENA  BAY.       THE  KAMIESBERG  MOUNTAIN, 

St.  Helena  Bay  is  well  sheltered  from  the  S.  and  E.,  but 
exposed  to  the  N.  It  has  good  anchorage,  and  a  small  creek 
on  its  S.  side  may  be  safely  resorted  to  as  a  hai'bovir  for 
small  coasting  vessels.  The  Berg  River,  which  falls  into  the 
bay,  is  a  considerable  stream,  but  on  account  of  the  sand  bar 
admitting  only  boats.  The  adjoining  country  is  well  adapted 
for  grazing.  To  the  northward  the  shore  is  low  and  sandy. 
The  Kamiesberg  is  distant  from  the  W.  sea  coast  of  southern 
Africa,  about  40  miles,  in  29.30.  S.  Lat. ;  it  is  from  4,000  to 
5,000  feet  above  the  level  of  the  sea,  (the  country  being  on  a 
gradual  rise  from  the  banks  of  the  Gariep,)  and  the  missionary 
station  thereon  is  within  300  feet  of  the  highest  peak  of  the 
mountain.  The  soil  is  fertile,  the  grass  abundant,  and  the 
climate  salubrious :  falls  of  snow  are  frequent  in  winter.  Five 
thousand  head  of  cattle  are  pastured  by  the  small  community 
at  the  mission  station.  The  country  W.  of  the  commence- 
ment of  the  Roggeveld  mountains,  between  29.  and  30.,  ap- 
pears a  great  inclined  plain,  the  first  part  falling  very  gradually 
from  the  Nieuwveld  ridge  to  the  Gariep  river  ;  sprinkled  over 
with  singular  piles  of  rocks,  as  if  placed  there  by  art,  and 
assuming  at  a  distance  the  most  grotesque  appearance,  such 
as  those  of  houses,  quadrupeds,  birds,  &c. :  still  farther  N. 
the  plains  are  covered  with  low  brushwood,  with  here  and 
there  beds  of  salt ;  and,  in  one  place,  a  valley  of  six  miles 
wide,  entirely  composed  of  naked  sand,  which  appears  to  be 
occasionally  covered  with  water.  This  vast  salt  pan,  or 
rather  valley  of  salt,  is  supposed  to  be  about  40  miles  in 
circumference;  the  surface  is  a  fine  dry  salt,  of  a  brilliant 
whiteness,  and  is,  probably,  the  residuum,  after  torrents  of 
rain  have  washed  off  the  saline  particles  from  the  adjoining 
country.  The  soil  of  the  country  around  is  composed,  in 
some  places,  of  a  sharp  gravel  of  decomposed  schistus  ;  in 
others,  of  a  calcareous  stratum,  strewed  over  with  flints. 

The  Gariep,  or  Orange  River,  which  forms  the  natural  N. 
boundary  of  the  colony,  falls  into  the  Atlantic  at  about  Long. 
16.30.  E.,  Lat.  28.30.  S.,  it  is  barred  with  sand,  and  said  to  be 
scarcely  accessible  for  boats,  whileits  course  for  several  hundred 
miles  is  obstructed  by  numerous  falls  and  rapids:  in  21.  E.  Long. 


THE  GARIEP  OR  ORANGE  RIVER.  21 

and  !-i8.10.  S.  Lat.,  the  river  is  500  yards,  flowing  in  a  deep, 
rapid,  and  majestic  current,  though  when  thus  seen  by  Mr. 
Thompson,  in  1824,  it  was  at  its  lowest  ebb.  On  the  opposite 
bank  a  ridge  of  mountains  runs  parallel  with  the  river,  and 
accompanies  its  course  from  a  little  below  Grigua  Town, 
(about  24^.  E.  Long,  and  28.  50.  S.  Lat.)  almost  to  the  ocean, 
a  distance  of  500  miles. 

In  22.  E.  Long,  a  great  rapid  is  formed  by  the  approach 
of  the  Gariepine  mountain  range,  on  the  N.  side  to  the  Duke 
of  York's  mountain,  on  the  S.  side,  where  the  river  forces  its 
passage  between  the  hills,  and  is,  to  a  considerable  extent, 
arched  over  by  immense  cliffs,  suspended  between  two  rocks  ; 
the  roar  of  the  water  rushing  through  tliis  narrow  gateway  can 
be  distinctly  heard  at  a  distance  of  many  miles,  and  when 
the  river  is  swollen  to  its  full  height  the  scene  must  be  very 
imposing,  from  the  immense  collection  of  water  contracted 
by  the  rapid  afterwards  spreading  out  into  a  noble  lake, 
studded  with  islands.  Proceeding  westward,  a  rich  foliage  of 
willows  along  the  river  banks,  and  the  thickets,  or  rather 
forests,  of  mimosa  trees  spreading  for  a  mile  at  either  side, 
form  a  striking  contrast  to  the  parched-up  plains  in  the 
vicinity.  Another  magnificent  waterfall  occurs  at  20.  30.  E., 
when  the  accumulating  floods  of  the  Gariep  are  hurried  in 
inconceivable  grandeur  over  a  fall  400  feet  in  height ;  its 
natural  breadth  of  5  to  600  yards,  being  previously  confined 
to  a  bed  of  scarcely  100  feet  in  breadth.  This  was  named 
King  George's  Cataract  by  the  discoverer,  Mr.  Thompson, 
in  1824.  The  chief  source  of  the  river  is  in  the  Mambookie 
mountains,  near  Port  Natal,  which  are  a  continuation  of  the 
Roggeveld  or  Sneuberg  range. 

Great  Namaqualand  extends  to  the  Damara  country,  about 
200  miles  to  the  northward  of  the  Gariep,  and  the  same  dis- 
tance eastward  from  the  sea  coast :  it  is  separated  from 
the  Bechuana  country  by  an  extensive  tract,  said  to  be 
totally  uninhabitable,  on  account  of  want  of  water.  The  soil 
is  in  genera)  light,  sandy,  and  thinly  clothed  with  a  tufted 
grass ;  some  plains  towards  the  Borrodaile  mountains,  in 
17.30.   E.   Long.,   are   reported  to  be  much  more  fertile  in 


22  THE  SWELLENDAM  DISTRICT. 

pasturage  than  the  rest  of  the  country,  and  there  arc 
scattered  here  and  there  copious  fountains  affording  ehgible 
situations  for  permanent  villages. 

SwELLENDAM  DISTRICT  extends  from  the  Langehoogte  to 
the  Gauritz  river  in  length,  and  from  the  sea  coast  to  the 
Great  Zwarte-Berg,  or  Black  Mountain  range,  in  breadth ; 
containing  about  9,000  square  miles,  and  divided  into  23  Field 
Cornetcies  or  Wards.  The  district  is  fertile  (see  Population, 
&c.  Section),  and  improving.  Swellendam  village  is  150 
miles  from  Cape  Town,  and  the  pretty  station  of  Caledon  is 
80  miles  from  the  seat  of  Government.  The  peach  and  fig 
here  flourish  luxuriantly. 

Port  Beaufort,  or  St.  Sebastian's  Bay,  at  the  mouth  of 
the  Breede  River,  enjoys  a  considerable  coasting  trade.  The 
advantages  of  Breede  River,  which  is  nearly  a  mile  wide  at  its 
mouth,  are  very  striking ;  a  free  wind  out  is  the  leading  wind 
to  all  voyages  to  the  eastward,  and  vessels  prevented  from 
entering  the  river  lay-to  in  the  adjoining  bay,  in  smooth 
water,  the  wind  being  then  off  the  land.  The  bay,  which  is 
within  one  mile  of  the  river,  is  one  of  the  best  landing  places 
in  the  colony,  and  well  adapted  for  a  fishing  establishment. 
There  are  several  fountains  of  the  purest  water  on  the  beach. 

Caverns.  — Directly  across  the  Zwartebergs  and  in  the  small 
secluded  tract  called  the  Caugo,  are  some  remarkable  ca- 
verns discovered  by  a  boor,  in  1780,  and  visited  by  Mr. 
Thompson  in  1823.  The  mouth  of  the  grotto  (which  is  in  the 
side  of  a  rocky  hill,  forming  part  of  the  Black  Mountains) 
has  the  appearance  of  an  irregular  dark-looking  gateway, 
about  twenty  feet  in  height.  For  200  feet  the  entrance  is  in 
a  crooked  but  horizontal  direction,  when  an  abrupt  precipice 
is  arrived  at,  of  about  thirty-three  feet,  descended  by  a  lad- 
der ;  on  reaching  the  bottom  a  magnificent  apartment  is 
entered,  about  600  feet  in  length  by  100  feet  broad,  and 
varying  in  height  from  sixty  to  seventy  feet.  This  hall  is 
adorned  with  the  most  splendid  stalactites,  some  in  the  shape 
of  columns,  rising  to  the  height  of  forty  feet  (one  of  the  ma- 
jestic height  of  sixty  feet),  others  assuming  the  fantastic 
forms  of  cauliflowers,  festoons,  cascades,    pulpits,  animals, 


REMARKABLE  STALACTITE  CAVERNS.  23 

drapery,  and  grotesque  figures  of  every  variety.  Many  of 
these  stalactites  are  quite  transparent,  and  reflect  the  glare 
of  the  torches  with  a  very  brilliant  and  enchanting  effect. 
This  splendid  chamber  was  named  after  its  discoverer, 
Van-Zyl's  Hall ;  from  thence  a  long  range  of  apartments 
open  up  one  beyond  another;  the  first  is  about  forty  feet 
in  diameter  by  thirty  feet  high,  and  is  the  vestibule  for 
a  noble  apartment,  140  feet  in  length  and  breadth  by  fifty 
in  height,  ornamented  also  with  gorgeous  stalactites.  A  sort 
of  gallery  leads  out  of  this,  about  fifteen  feet  in  breadth, 
and  at  the  entrance  twenty  in  height,  but  narrowing  so,  that 
at  sixty  feet  distance  it  is  but  six  feet  high,  when  another 
abrupt  descent  of  about  fourteen  feet  is  arrived  at,  opening  to 
a  vast  chamber,  500  feet  in  length  by  fifty  broad,  and  from 
twenty  to  forty  high  ;  the  termination,  beyond  which  no  fur- 
ther discovery  was  made,  being  about  1,500  feet  from  the 
entrance.  There  are  many  small  chambers  opening  out  of 
the  great  gallery,  or  range  of  state  apartments  :  one  is  hung 
round  with  stalactites  resembling  icicles  ;  another  very  beau- 
tiful one  is  called  the  bath,  on  account  of  its  containing  seve- 
ral curious  natural  cisterns,  formed  by  petrifaction,  and 
resembling  marble  basins  hollowed  by  art  in  the  living  rock, 
the  deception  of  the  artificial  appearance  of  which  is  kept  up 
by  the  bath,  being  full  of  delightfully  cool  and  limpid  fresh 
water. 

George  District. — Situate  on  the  S.  E.  coast  of  the  co- 
lony— was  separated  from  the  district  of  Swellendam  in  1811, 
and  erected  into  a  drostdy,  under  Lord  Caledon's  govern- 
ment ;  it  is  skirted  by  the  Swellendam  on  the  W. — Beaufort 
on  the  N.  Uitenhage  on  the  N.  E. — and  the  Southern  Ocean 
on  the  S.  It  is  divided  into  twelve  field  cornetcies,  compris- 
ing 4.032  square  miles.  George  Town  is  pleasantly  situated 
on  an  extensive  plain,  about  a  mile  from  the  foot  of  a  lofty 
mountain,  and  seven  miles  from  the  sea  coast ;  it  is  divided  into 
several  streets  with  handsome  houses,  and  is  rapidly  improv- 
ing. 

Mossel  Bay  in  this  district  is,  next  to  Simon's  Bay,  one  of 


24      GEORGE  DISTRICT  ; — MOSSEL  AND  PLETTENBERG  BAYS. 

the  safest  havens  on  the  E.  coast  of  the  colony,  and  calcu- 
lated to  receive  vessels  of  every  description. 

Plettenberg  Bay,  distant  from  Cape  Town  400  miles,  is 
equally  safe,  eligible,  and  commodious,  affording  safe  an- 
chorage in  eight,  nine,  and  ten  fathoms  water,  particularly 
during  strong  N.  N. W.  gales.  All  the  bays  on  the  E.  coast 
of  the  colony  are  more  or  less  exposed  to  the  S.E.  winds,  but 
Plettenberg  Bay  is  roomy,  and  vessels  can  slip  their  Cables  if 
necessary  with  safety. 

The  fine  harbour  of  the  Knysna  would  contain  50  large 
ships  secure  from  all  winds,  but  the  entrance  is  narrow  and 
intricate.  An  admirable  ship-building  establishment  might 
be  formed  here.*  Towards  the  Knysna  the  coast  is  pictur- 
esque, and  intersected  by  innvmierable  deep  ravines,  fringed 
with  forests  along  their  steep  banks  of  from  200  to  300  feet 
high  ;  each  of  these  ravines  conveying  to  the  ocean  mountain 
streams. 

The  territory  around,  formerly  called  Outeniqua  land,  so 
much  celebrated  for  fine  scenery  and  inexhaustible  forests,  is 
entirely  picturesque,  and  imposing  in  a  high  degree ;  the 
lofty  rugged  mountains  on  the  left,  crested  with  clouds,  and 
clothed  along  their  skirts  with  majestic  timber,  as  ancient 
looking  as  the  rocks  which  frown  above  them,  or  the  eternal 
ocean  which  murmurs  at  their  feet,  forms  a  scene  of  grandeur, 
which  fills  the  imagination  with  the  most  romantic  thoughts. 

The  mountain  ranges  along  the  Eastern  coast  in  par- 
ticular, are  skirted  by  a  vast,  dense,  and  almost  impenetrable 
forest,  through  which  there  are  several  passes,  or  kloofs ; 
proceeding  by  the  Paarden  Kop  path  to  the  lofty  summit  of 
the  Centerberg  the  view  is  splendid  ;  Plettenberg's  Bay  and 

*  Sir  Jahleel  Brenton,  the  late  Naval  Commissioner  at  the  Cape,  pro- 
posed to  the  Admiralty  to  build  a  frigate  here  ;  the  Board  directed  him  to 
construct  first  a  vessel  of  200  tons ;  this  was  commenced,  and  nearly 
finished,  when  unfortunately  a  fire  broke  out  and  consumed  the  frame . 
since  this  accident  no  attempt  has  been  made  to  renew  ship-building,  a 
nrcumstance  much  to  be  regretted,  on  account  of  the  excellent  timber  in 
ihr  viiinitv. 


UITENHAGE  DISTRICT.       EAST  COAST  SCENERY.  2o 

the  Knysna,  with  the  broad  ocean  lying  far  below  to  the  south- 
ward, while  to  the  northward  amass  of  wild  mountain  scenery 
extends  itself  in  grand  confusion  as  far  as  the  eye  can  reach  ; 
descending  the  ridge  to  the  N.E.  are  a  succession  of  sweet 
and  solitary  vallies,  surmounted  by  rugged  mountain  peaks. 

The  Kammanassie  mountain  is  surrounded  with  crrazinsf 
lands  and  woody  hills,  that  lead  down  to  the  Lange  Kloof,  or 
Long  Pass,  a  delightful  valley  beneath  the  mountains,  along 
which  runs  one  of  the  best  ro^ids  in  the  colony.  Here  a 
series  of  rich  pastures  burst  into  view,  bordered  by  a  pro- 
fusion of  heath  plants,  and  studded  with  farm-houses,  to  the 
length  of  150  miles,*  around  which  vineyards  and  orangeries 
thrive  in  exquisite  luxuriance. 

UiTENHAGE  DISTRICT— on  the  E.  coast,  is  skirted  on  the 
S.  by  the  Southern  Ocean,  on  the  N.  by  the  districts  of 
GraafF  Reinet  and  Somerset,  on  the  W.  by  George,  and  E. 
by  Albany  district,  comprising  8,960  square  miles.  It  has 
two  bays  on  the  coast— Algoa  and  St.  Francis ;  and  its  prin- 
cipal rivers  are  Sunday's,  Zwaartkops,  Camtoos,  and  Kromme, 
none  of  them  navigable  except  Zwaartkops,  and  that  only  par- 
tially, but  all  of  essential  service  for  irrigation. 

The  Zwartkops  river  mouth  is  in  lat.  33.51.  24.  S.,  lono-. 
25.34.45  E.  Capt.  Moresby  thinks  it  is  a  stream  which  can  be 
considerably  improved  as  civilization  extends  ;  there  is  now  in 
the  river  the  remains  of  a  Dutch  ship  of  200  tons. 

Five  miles  from  the  Zwartkops  is  the  Kuga  River,  in  lat. 
33.47.19  S.,  long.  25.48.36  E.;  thence  to  the  Sunday  River, 
in  lat.  33.43.06  S.  long.  25.45.33  E.  is  nine  miles  ;  between  this 
point  and  Cape  Reciffe,  a  long  and  low  spit  of  rocks  and  sand 
hills  [lat.  34.02  S.,  long.  25.39  E.]  may  properly  be  denomi- 
nated— 

Algoa  Bay,  the  chief  haven  of  the  eastern  province,  one  of 
the  winter  harbours  of  the  colony,  and  a  free  port,  which  is 
rapidly  rising  in  importance,  (see  Commerce).  The  security 
of  this  bay  is  not  generally  known  ;— I  visited  it  in  His  Majes- 
ty's ship  Leven,  in  1823,  and  during  a  heavy  gale  we  rode   in 

*  Byare^uktion  of  tlif  Dutch  government,  the  farms  are  recjnircd  to  he 
three  miles  distant  from  each  other. 


26  SAFETY  OF  ALGOA  BAY,  SAILING  INSTRUCTIONS. 

perfect  safety,  with  a  chain  bent  on  to  a  hemp  cable :  the 
Leven  absolutely  rode  by  the  weight  of  the  chain  without  ever 
straining  the  anchor.  Capt.  Moresby,  R.N.  says,  *  had  I  my 
choice  of  trusting  my  ship  for  the  year  round  to  Torbay  in 
England,  Palermo  Bay  in  Sicily,  Table  Bay  or  Algoa  Bay,  I 
should  without  hesitation  prefer  the  latter ;  from  the  1  st  April 
(the  beginning  of  winter)  to  the  1st  September  (its  close)  the 
wind  scarcely  ever  blows  from  the  S.E.'  Not  an  accident  hap- 
pened in  landing  1,020  men,  607  women,  and  2,032  children 
as  English  emigrants  in  1820 ;  the  debarkation  extending 
from  the  middle  of  April  to  the  25th  June.  There  is,  how- 
ever, much  want  of  a  jetty  for  landing  goods  and  passengers, 
as  in  some  seasons  the  surf  rolls  in  with  great  violence,  and 
common  boats  are  not  safe,  a  beaching  or  surf  boat  being 
requisite.  A  Lighthouse  also  is  very  desirable  ;  Cape  Re- 
ceifFe*  would  form  the  most  eligible  spot,  and  its  erection  would 

*  In  conformity  with  the  plan  adopted  in  the  preceding  volumes  of  this 
work  of  giving  nautical  instructions  for  mariners  where  they  may  be  desir- 
able, 1  subjoin  directions  for  entering  the  Bay,  and  the  position  of  the  Ro- 
man Rock,  in  some  charts  called  the  Dispatch  Rock.  The  following 
hearings  are  taken  by  compass  from  the  Rock,  which  has  from  seven  to 
eight  feet  water  upon  it  at  low  water  : — The  outermost  rocks  ofif  Cape  Re- 
ceife,  bear  S.  by  W.  distant  five  miles  ;  the  Breast  Beacons  W.  one  and  a 
half  miles.  A  whitish  looking  rock  off  Rocky  Point,  on  with  the  flag-staff 
at  the  fishery,  W.N.W.  i  N.  pyramid  over  the  town,  N.W.  -\  N.  Store  on 
the  beach  in  a  line  with  the  church,  at  present  unfinished,  N.W.  i  N.  j 
Anchorage  N.W.  distant  five  miles.  The  Beacons  are  erected  near  the 
beach  ;  that  next  the  sea  has  a  tar  barrel  on  the  top,  painted  white ;  the 
mason  work  also  shows  white  at  the  bottom  ;  the  space  between  the  two  is 
black.  The  inland  beacon  has  a  white  cross;  and  when  brought  in  a  line 
with  the  other  beacons,  forms  like  a  small  wludmill,  bearing  due  west  from 
the  rock.  A  vessel  entering  the  bay  round  Cape  Receife,  with  a  proper 
offing,  should  steer  N.N.E.  until  the  Breast  Beacons  are  in  one  ;  and  when 
the  cross  is  well  open  with  the  other  beacon  two  or  three  ships'  lengths, 
she  may  then  haul  up  for  the  anchorage  N.W. 

There  is  sufficient  room  and  depth  of  water  for  any  ship  between  the 
Roman  Rock  and  the  main,  the  channel  lying  S.  by  E.  and  N.  by  W.  There 
being  no  buoy  upon  the  rock,  strangers  are  recommended  not  to  attempt 
to  beat  through  this  passage  either  way,  as  it  cannot  make  more  tlian  one 
tack  difference,  whether  turning  in  or  out  of  the  bay. 

Tort  Office,  Port  Elizabeth,  S.-pt.  lS2f).  D.  Francis,  Port  Captain. 


UITENHAQE — SCENERY  AROUND.  ^ 

be  highly  advantageous  to  all  ships  bound  to  or  from  India  ;* 
on  this  ground  the  Commissioners  considered  that  the  expense 
might  justly  be  defrayed  by  England,  while  the  colony  would 
be  charged  with  the  current  expense  of  the  light. 

The  town  of  Algoa  Bay,  which  is  three  miles  east  of  Cape 
Receiffe,  is  rapidly  rising  into  eminence,  and  as  its  port  is  free 
(without  even  any  port  charges)  it  bids  fair  at  some  not  far 
distant  day  to  rival  Cape  Town. 

Uitenhage,  the  capital  of  the  district,  is  a  neat  and  flourish- 
ing town,  built  on  a  large  plain  well  watered  and  along  the  de- 
clivity of  a  hill  on  the  left  bank  of  the  Zwartkops  river,  from 
the  mouth  of  which  it  is  distant  15  miles  ;  about  18  from 
Algoa  Bay  or  Port  Elizabeth,  and  500  from  Cape  Town. 
The  houses  are  generally  speaking  large  and  substantially 
erected,  the  streets  are  spacious,  intersecting  each  other  at 
right  angles,  and  with  numerous  and  extensive  well  planted 
gardens  and  orchards,  so  that  when  viewed  from  the  surround- 
ing hills  the  prospect  is  charmingly  picturesque.f 

From  Adolo's  height,  near  Sunday  River,  the  view  is  mag- 
nificent ;  Algoa  Bay  with  its  shipping  constitutes  a  principal 
feature  in  the  scene;  running  quite  inland  are  seen  those 
naked  mountains  which  form  a  marine  belt  almost  the  whole 
way  from  Cape  Town ;  on  every  side  are  fine  undulating  hills, 
here  and  there  the  summit  covered  with  shrubs  or  verdant 
grass  with  numerous  herds  of  deer  thereon  pasturing.  The 
bush  is  formed  into  complete  shrubberies  of  various  shades  of 
green,  the  air  perfumed  with  every  variety  of  geraniums  and 
violet  heaths,  and  the  tout  ensemble  of  the  country,  although 
perfectly  wild,  is  so  enchanting  that  to  be  appreciated  it 
should  be  visited. 

Albany,  at  present];  the  most  easterly  settled  district  of 

*  302  British  sLips  proceeded  from  the  United  Kinodom  to  the  eastward 
of  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope  last  year,  of  which  215  went  frono  London,  68 
from  Liverpool,  and  24  from  the  other  outports. 

t  It  is  proposed,  and  I  wish  it  were  adopted,  to  make  Uitenhai^e  or 
Graham's  Town  the  seat  of  a  Lieutenant-Governorship  for  the  Eastern 
District  of  the  colony,  (see  Government  section.) 

X  I  say  at  present,  because  I  hope  soon  to  see  Natal  colonized. 


28  ALBANY — ITS  BEAUTIFUL  APPEARANCE. 

the  colony,  and  comprising  that  tract  of  country  formerly 
known  to  the  colonists  as  the  '  Zuur-veld,'  or  sour  fields,  has 
for  its  existing  boundaries — on  the  east  the  Keiskamma*  as  far 
as  its  junction  with  the  Chumie,  which  it  follows  in  a  right 
line  towards  the  Winterberg  where  it  joins  the  district  of 
Somerset ;  on  the  west  Bushman's  river ;  on  the  south  the 
Southern  Ocean,  and  on  the  north  an  imaginary  line  extend- 
ing from  the  Zuurberg  by  Junctions  Drift  to  the  confluence 
of  the  Soso,  with  the  Konap  which  latter  it  follows  to  the 
Winterberg. 

Its  greatest  breadth  from  a  little  below  the  junction  of  the 
Nozen  and  Bushman  rivers  is  90  miles,  (mean  breadth  60). 
the  length  from  Winterberg  to  the  mouth  of  the  Keiskamma, 
nearly  north  to  south  is  100  miles,  (mean  80)  and  the  area 
4,800  square  miles,  or  3,072,000  English  acres,  partitioned 
into  four  sub-divisions,  viz.  Graham's  Town,  Bathurst,  Bush- 
man's River,  and  Fish  River,  each  under  the  Superinten- 
dence of  a  Field  Cornet.  Albany  is  physically  divided 
into  nearly  two  equal  parts  by  a  chain  of  mountains  which  in- 
tersect it  in  a  direction  from  N.W.  to  S.E.  and  give  a  pecu- 
liar agricultural  character  to  each. 

Although  the  whole  district  has  a  very  pleasing  aspect,  the 
S.W.  is  the  most  beautiful ;  but  on  either  side  of  the  moun- 
tains the  country  is  romantically  diversified  by  gentle  undula- 
tions, by  precipitous  woody  ravines  or  kloofs,  and  by  stupen- 
dous poorts  or  passes  through  the  mountains,  while  the  whole 
face  of  the  district,  with  few  exceptions,  is  covered  with  a 
verdant  pasturage,  adorned  here  and  there  with  groves  of 
evergreens,  presenting  on  an  extended  natural  scale  the 
richest  English  park  scenery. 

Graham's  Town,-f  the  principal  station  in  the  east  district 

*  Formerly  the  great  Fish  River  was  the  boundary,  but  the  territory 
lyinjr  l>etween  that  river  and  the  Keiskamma  may  now  be  considered  a  part 
of  the  district. 

t  The  name  is  derived  from  the  amiable  and  gallant  Colonel  Graham,  to 
whose  memory  a  monument  is  erected  in  the  Episcopalian  ChurL'h  of  St. 
George's  at  Graham's  Town,  with  the  following  inscription : — "Colonel 
John  Graham,  during  liis  couiiiiand  on  the  frontier,  civilized  the  Ilotten- 


Graham's  town,     port  francis.  29 

of  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope,  is  situate  nearly  in  the  centre  of 
Albany,  at  the  base  of  the  chain  of  mountains  before  alluded 
to,  and  on  the  chief  branch  of  the  Kowie  River,  which  flows 
through  the  main  street,  fertilizing  the  numerous  gardens  and 
orchards  with  which  the  town  is  intersected,  and  rendering 
the  contrast  of  evergreen  arbours  in  strong  relief  to  the  neigh- 
bouring lofty,  and  naked  mountains,  with  their  numerous 
rugged  peaks  and  precipices. 

Graham's  Town  contains  nearly  700  houses,  with  about 
3,000  inhabitants,  (see  population  section),  and  several  ex- 
cellent public  buildings  and  institutions  :  two  public  libraries, 
and  an  Englishman's  indispensable  accompaniment,  dijirinting 
office,  whence  is  issued  a  well-conducted  iveekly  neivspajjer. 
Graham's  Town  is  distant  from  Cape  Town  650  miles,  from 
Port  Elizabeth  (Algoa  Bay),  100,  from  the  nearest  point  of 
the  coast  30,  and  35  miles  from  the  mouth  of  the  Kowie 
River;  the  navigation  of  which  is,  unfortunately,  like  the  other 
rivers  on  the  coast,  obstructed  by  a  bar  of  sand. 

Port  Francis  is  situate  at  the  mouth  of  the  Kowie,  and  as 
the  population  increases,  and  means  are  taken  to  remove  the 
bar  from  the  harbour,  it  will,  doubtless,  become  a  resort  of 
coasting  vessels.*  Bathurst  is  picturesquely  situate  9  miles 
from  Port  Frances,  on  a  tongue  of  land,  formed  by  the  junc- 
tion of  the  Bathurst  and  Holloway  streams,  with  the  Kowie 
river;  it  was  intended  by  Sir  Rufane  Donkin,  when  acting 
Governor  at  the  Cape,  as  the  principal  town  and  seat  of 
magistracy  for  the  district,  but  the  design  was  abandoned  by 
Sir    Rufane's    successor.f      The    situation    of  Bathurst  is, 

tots, — taug-ht  thea:  religion,  morality  and  industry, — made  them  efBcient 
and  active  soldiers,  obedient  in  command,  and  fearless  in  dano-er,"  &c.  It 
is  pleasing  thus  to  find  the  memory  of  Britain's  sons  perpetuated  on  the 
confines  of  the  southern  continent. 

*  The  location  of  Mr.  Thornhill  which  lies  in  the  angle  formed  by  the 
left  bank  of  the  i  iver  with  the  sea,  is  one  of  the  most  beautiful  spots  in  all 
Albany,  with  lawns  and  copse-woods,  laid  out  by  the  hand  of  nature,  that 
far  surpasses  many  a  nobleman's  park  in  England. 

+  It  is  but  justice  to  Sir  Rufane  Donkin  to  state,  that  not  only  while 
resident  at  the  Cape,  but  since  his  departure  from  the  colony,  he  has,  like 
the  Earl  of  Caledon,  continued  to  take  a  lively  interest  in  the  prosperity  of 
the  settlement. 


30  BATHURST.      THE  KAT  RIVER  SETTLEMENT. 

indeed,  as  healthy  as  the  surrounding  country  is  beautiful ; 
the  neighbouring  hills  are  almost  always  clothed  with  verdure, 
and  the  elevated  site  of  the  village  commands  a  fine  view  of 
the  southern  ocean.  Along  the  coast  the  scenery  is  more  than 
ordinarily  rich  ;  clumps  of  mimosas  are  here  and  there  inter- 
spersed over  the  extensive  savannas,  giving  to  the  landscape 
a  park-like  appearance  ;  the  various  tribes  of  the  vegetable 
kingdom  thrive  luxuriantly,  and  the  deep  foliage  of  the  forest 
and  coppice  presents  to  the  eye  a  thousand  lively  and  varie- 
gated tints. 

An  interesting  settlement  has  been  formed  on  the  Kat 
River,  which  is  a  combination  of  the  numerous  streams  which 
flow  from  the  mountains.  The  location  consists  entirely  of 
coloured  people,  being  a  mixture  of  Hottentots,  and  what  are 
termed  Baastaards,  who  are  now  nearly  3,000  in  number,  and 
divided  into  district  locations  by  the  Government.*  This 
settlement,  from  the  richness  of  the  vallies  and  the  means 
taken  to  irrigate  them  by  the  mountain  streams,  is  one  of  the 
most  promising  agricultural  establishments  of  the  colony. 

From  the  Kowie  to  the  Fish  River  mouth,  the  country  is 
very  rich  and  beautiful,  in  a  belt  of  about  two  miles  in  breadth 

*  The  orififin  of  this  pleasing  native  district  is  due  to  the  comprehensive 
liberality  of  General  Bourke,  one  of  whose  last  legislative  acts  at  the  Cape 
was  to  place  the  Aborigines  and  all  other  coloured  classes  of  free  inhabi- 
tants, on  an  equal  footing  with  the  rest  of  the  King's  subjects.  Much 
outcry  was  raised  against  the  act,  and  Sir  Lovvry  Cole  arrived  at  the  Cape 
as  Governor,  during  the  ferment  created  by  the  measure.  Sir  Lowry 
wisely  adopted  General  Bouke's  enactment,  and  prevented  its  becoming  a 
dead  letter,  by  locating  the  Hottentots  on  the  Kat  River,  whence  Makomo, 
the  CafFre  Chief,  had  recently  been  expelled  by  reasons  of  his  repeated 
outrages  and  maurauding  incursions  among  the  British  settlers.  Sir  Lowry 
caused  such  Hottentots  as  were  of  good  character,  particularly  discharged 
soldiers,  and  who  had  some  little  property,  to  be  given  land  in  allotments, 
amidst  the  fastnesses  and  vallies  on  our  E.  frontier,  whence  they  formed 
an  interposing  barrier  between  the  Europeans  and  the  CafFres.  The  Hot- 
tentots have  shewn  themselves  worthy  of  the  treatment  bestowed  on  them  ; 
they  have  gallantly  beaten  off  the  Caffres,  actively  cultivated  the  ground, 
and  have  now  many  thousand  head  of  horses,  horned  cattle,  sheep,  &e. ; 
thus  proving  that  the  Hottentot  is  not  the  degraded  being  he  has  been  so 
long  and  so  unjustly  represented 


SCENERY  ALONG  THE  ALBANY  COAST.       FISH   RIVER.  31 

from  the  sea,  from  which  it  is  separated  by  high  sand  hills, 
covered  towards  the  land  with  bush  and  the  most  luxuriant 
herbage  ;  no  intervening  rocks  rugged  and  bare  are  visible, 
as  on  the  other  side  of  the  belt,  where  they  run  to  a  consi- 
derable degree  E.  and  W.  but  are  gradually  mouldering  away. 
When  the  land  is  ploughed  along  the  above  mountain-belt, 
sea-shells  are  turned  up  in  the  most  perfect  state  of  preserva- 
tion.    The  prospect  here  varies  every  five  miles,  sometimes 
the  road  lies  through  an  extensive  plain,  forming  one  grand 
and  noble  park,  bounded  on  the  S.  by  gently  swelling  hills, 
ornamented  with  clumps  and  groves,  from  the  height  of  which 
the  view  is  magnificent.     On  the  S.  side  the  unbounded  ocean, 
and  towards  the  land  the  Bushman  and  Graham's  Town  hills, 
&c. ;  at  times  the  road  lies  among  hills,  variegated  with  exten- 
sive forests  of  evergreens, — anon,  along  the  banks  of  rivulets 
or  through  vallies,  shaded  with  a  lofty  umbrageous  canopy,* 
and  deliciously  scented  with  luxuriant  flowering  shrubs.  The 
Great  Fish  River,  which  runs  through  Albany,  is  as  yet  im- 
perfectly explored,  particularly  at  its    source,   which  is  £00 
miles  from  the   ocean.     It  rises   in  the  Sneuberg  range    of 
mountains,  at  no  great  distance  from  the  elevated  peak  called 
the  Taay-Bosch-Berg,  a  singular  hill,  resembling  a  cylinder 
placed  upon  a  cone.    The  principal  source  however  is  the  Com- 
pasberg,  (a  peak  of  the  Sneuberg  range),  which  rises  to  the 
height  of  7400  feet  above  the  level   of  the  sea,  and  is  the 
highest  point  in  the  colony,  except  the  Winter  Berg,  on  the 
E.  frontier,  whose  height  has  not  yet  been  accurately  ascer- 
tained.     From   the  whole  extent  of  the  elevated   ridge    of 
Caffi'aria,  runs  long  tongues  of  land  and  ravines  of  vast  depth, 
towards  the  celebrated  Trompellis  flat  and  bed  of  the  Great 
Fish  River ;  along  whose  banks,   (as  also  at  Fort  Wiltshire, 
on  the  Keiskamma),  the  prospect  is  one  of  the  most  romantic 
description, — the    stupendous     mountains     and     precipices, 
amongst  which  the  river  glides,  together  with  the  beautifully 

*  The  Coralodendron,  a  deciduous  tree,  which  grows  as  tall  and  stately 
as  the  finest  oak,  is  here  seen  to  great  advantage,  as  it  is  in  general  con- 
cealed in  deep  Kloofs. 


32  COURSE  AND  MOUTH  OF  THE  GREAT  FISH   RIVF.R. 

serpentine  course  of  the  stream  and  the  scenery  of  the  vallies 
on  each  side,  render  the  view  highly  imposing.  The  course  of 
the  Fish  River  is,  owing  to  the  nature  of  the  country,  extremely 
tortuous,  and  it  inosculates  with  several  minor  streams — one 
of  the  branches  being  called  the  Little  Fish  River;  another  the 
Kunap,  and  another  the  Kat  River.  From  the  junction  of 
the  latter  the  range  of  the,  river  becomes  more  extended ;  its 
E.  bank,  running  directly  towards  the  advanced  range  of 
Botha's  hills,  winds  along  the  base  of  the  Zwart  Tafel  Bergen, 
thus  occupying  the  whole  of  the  valley  as  far  as  the  Trompellis 
ward  :  four  miles  below  this  it  makes  its  last  great  bend,  and 
then  runs  in  a  direct  line  to  the  ocean — the  tide  rising  only  a 
few  miles  above  the  CafFerdrift  post.  Its  embouchure  has  a 
bar,  on  which  the  surf  breaks  high,  but  within  the  mouth  of 
the  river  expands  into  a  magnificent  sheet  of  water,  extend- 
ing eight  or  ten  miles  into  the  country,  and  which  is  wide  and 
deep  enough  to  afford  anchorage  for  a  large  fleet. 

The  prospect  indeed  within  the  entrance  of  the  river  is 
magnificent,  the  water  perfectly  transparent,  flowing  amidst 
verdant  hills,  shaded  by  lofty  evergreens,  and  the  whole  view 
terminated  by  the  Southern  Ocean,  with  its  never-ceasing 
roaring  surf.  The  sand  bar  across  the  river  (which  is  hard 
and  dry)  is  about  600  yards  in  a  direct  line,  leaving  only  30 
yards  for  the  water  passage,  the  tide  not  rising  more  than  5  feet. 

About  an  hour's  walk  along  the  coast  from  the  river's 
mouth,  are  some  remarkable  sandstone  rocks,  the  softest  part 
of  the  base  of  which  has  been  perforated  by  the  sea,  leaving  a 
singular  platform  covered  with  shoals  of  muscles.  The  upper 
part  has  the  appearance  of  the  friezed  ornaments  of  a  cathe- 
dral, surmounted  by  a  perfect  cross,  and  when  struck  with  a 
stone  the  fanciful  natural  structure  sounds  like  metal.  The 
surf  breaks  with  tremendous  violence  along  this  coast,  part- 
icularly in  a  S.E.  wind,  throwing  up  trees  and  branches,  and 
presenting  the  appearance  of  a  wrecked  fleet. 

Before  leaving  the  coast  line  of  the  colony,  I  may  observe, 
in  answer  to  those  who  erroneously  consider  South  East 
Africa  valueless,  that  one  of  our  most  distinguished  naval 


EXCELLENT  FISHING  STATIONS.       RIVERS.  33 

officers,  Captain  Owen,  in  reference  to  the  advantages  of  the 
Lagullas  bank,  as  a  fishing  station,  equal  to  that  of  Newfound- 
land, observes,  that  there  are  many  desirable  situations  along 
the  S.  coast  for  the  establishment  of  fishing  towns ;  amongst 
others  may  be  enumerated  Hout,  Table,  Simon's,  and  Gordon 
Bays :  to  the  eastward  of  Cape  Hanglip  is  also  a  large  bay ; 
the  E.  side  of  the  peninsula  of  Cape  Vachez  offers  no  less 
than  three  good  harbours.  Between  Mossel  and  Plettenberg 
Bays  is  the  River  Knysna  an  excellent  port ;  and  within  sight 
of  the  latter  the  bays  of  St.  Francis  and  Algoa.  From  Cape 
Padrone,  along  the  E.  coast,  are  numerous  situations  for  such 
establishments.* 

The  other  rivers  on  the  S.E.  coast,  as  before  noticed,  are  the 
Gauritz  River,  which  collects  its  waters  from  the  Black 
Mountains  and  Karroo  Plains,  and  during  the  rains  is  ex- 
ceedingly rapid  ; — the  Camtoos,  which  is  supplied  from  a 
more  easterly  part  of  the  country,  and  empties  itself  into  a 
bay  of  the  same  name ;  within  the  bar  it  is  deep  enough  to 
float  a  ship  of  the  line  :  and  the  Sunday,  which  rises  in 
the  Sneeuwberg  or  Snowy  Mountains,  and  falls  into  Algoa 
Bay. 

Somerset  DisTRiCTf  is  bounded  on  the  S.  by  an  imaginary 
line,  drawn  from  Sunday  River's  Point  to  the  junction  of  the 
Soso  with  the  Koonap ;  on  the  E.  by  the  Koonap  River  and 
Winterberg  (which  separates  it  from  the  country  of  the  Bush- 
men), and  from  thence  to  the  Zwart-Kei  and  Stormberg  Ri- 
vers ;  on  the  N.  by  the  Orange  River,  and  on  the  W.  by  the 
Sunday  River,  Little  Reit  River,  Plot  River,  and  Brandt 
Spuit :  it  is  divided  into  eight  field  cornetcies, — viz.  Upper 
Bushman's  River,  Bruintjes  Hoogte,  Zwager's  Hoek,  Agter 
Sneeuwberg,  Tarka,  Brak  River,  Glenlynden,  and  East  Reit 
River  ;  the  greatest  length  of  the  district  being  200  miles,  its 

*  Narrative  of  voyages  in  H  M.S.  '  Lei'en  and  Barracouta ;  London,  1833. 
t  This  district  was  formed  in  1825,  from  a  tract  of  country  partitioned 
from  Albany  and  Graaff  Reinet. 

VOL.   TV.  D 


34  SOMERSET  DISTRICT,   AREA,    SCENERY,    &:C. 

mean  breadth  85,  with  a   superficial  area  of   17,000  square 
miles,  or  10,879,964  acres.* 

The  scenery  throughout  so  large  a  district  is  varied  by  a 
chain  of  lofty  mountains  (rising  at  the  village  of  Somerset  to 
3,000  feet  high),  stretching  across  it,  for  150  miles,  in  a  south- 
easterly direction  to  the  Kat  River. 

Somerset  Drostdy,  or  Town,  lies  at  the  S.  base  of  the  Bosch- 
berg  Range,  Avith  the  Little  Fish  River  in  the  front.  The 
mountain  towers  up  immediately  behind  the  village  for  about 
2,000  feet,  exhibing  a  magnificent  front,  clothed  with  hanging 
woods  of  forest  timber,  diversified  with  hoary  rocks  and  steep 
buttresses  of  green  turf;  after  heavy  rains  a  number  of  little 
cascades  appear  flashing  over  the  wooded  cliffs,  rendering 
the  front  of  the  mountain  superbly  beautiful. 

Cradock  is  70  miles  N.  E.  of  Somerset,  on  the  left  bank  of 
the  Great  Fish  River,  lying  in  the  direct  road  from  Albany 
to  the  usual  passes  across  the  N.  frontier  on  the  road  to 
Griqua  Town,  Latakoo,  and  other  important  trading  stations 
in  the  interior.  Cradock  is  fast  improving  and  now  contains 
nearly  500  inhabitants. 

Baviaans  Rivier  (River  of  Baboons)  now  called  the  Lijn- 
den,  is  one  of  the  smaller  branches  of  the  Great  Fish  River, 
flowing  from  the  N.  E.,  and  watering  a  rugged  mountain 
glen  of  about  30  miles  in  extent,  the  scenery  through  which 
is  in  many  places  of  the  most  picturesque  and  singular  de- 
scription; sometimes  the  valley  widens  out,  leaving  space 
along  the  river  side  for  fertile  meadows,f  prettily  sprinkled 
over  with  mimosa  trees  aud  evergreen  shrubs,  and  clothed 
with  luxuriant  pasturage.  Frequently  the  mountains  again 
converge,  leaving  only  a  narrow  defile,  just  broad  enough  for 

*  Tlie  population  in  this  vast  district  is  not  two  to  the  square  mile,  what 
a  contrast  to  Ireland,  where  there  are  upwards  of  .300  ! 

t  The  lamented  Mr.  Princfle,  whose  African  sketches  "five  so  homelike  and 
pleasinjf  a  view  of  the  location  of  the  Scotch  settlers  in  this  ijlen,  in  1820, 
calls  these  spots  liaughs,  which  is  the  term  user!  in  the  S.  of  Scotland  ;  he 
states  that,  the  f(rass  was  then  (June)  up  to  the  bellies  of  the  deer. 


GLEN  LYNDEN  STATION.       KOOXAP   RIVER.  .^5 

the  stream  to  find  a  passage,  while  precipices  of  naked  rock 
rise  abruptly  like  the  walls  of  a  rampart,  to  the  height  of 
many  hundred  feet,  in  some  places  appearing  actually  to  over- 
hang the  gloomy  looking  defile,  through  which  the  devious 
path  lies.  On  either  side  the  steep  hills  often  assume  very 
remarkable  shapes,  embattled  as  it  were  with  natural  ram- 
parts of  freestone  or  trap  rock,  and  seemingly  garrisoned  with 
troops  of  large  baboons  (hence  the  name  given  by  the  Dutch) ; 
the  lower  declivities  covered  with  good  pasturage,  and  sprin- 
kled with  evergreens  and  acacias,  while  the  clifts  ihat  over- 
hang the  river  have  their  wrinkled  fronts,  embellished  with 
various  species  of  succulent  plants  and  flowering  aloes.  Owing 
to  the  rapid  decomposition  in  South  Africa  of  the  sandstone 
formation,  some  of  the  cliffs  have  assumed  a  grotesqueness 
and  singularity  of  appearance,  that  v.  itli  a  little  aid  from  the 
imagination,  the  spectator  may  fancy  he  sees  the  ruins  of 
Egyptian,  Hindoo,  and  Persian  temples,  with  their  half  de- 
cayed obelisks,  columns,  or  monster  deities.  The  valley  in 
which  the  Scotch  settlers  were  located  in  1820  is  at  the  ex- 
tremity of  this  glen,  being  a  beautiful  vale,  through  which  the 
Lynden  meanders,  about  seven  miles  in  length,  and  varying 
from  one  to  two  in  breadth,  appearing  like  a  verdant  basin, 
surmounted  on  all  sides  by  an  amphitheatre  of  lofty  moun- 
tains, towering  to  the  height  of  from  2  to  3,000  feet  above  the 
vale,  (from  4  to  5,000  feet  above  the  level  of  the  sea,)  and 
capped  with  snow  in  the  South  African  winter  June  and  July, 
when  snow  also  falls  in  the  glen. 

Koonap  River  Post,  about  60  miles  from  Graham's  Town, 
nearly  N.N.W.,  48  miles  due  E.  from  Somerset,  and  25.  W. 
from  Fort  Beaufort,  occupies  the  summit  of  an  elevated  pe- 
ninsula, between  the  junctions  of  the  Cowie  and  Gola  Rivers 
with  the  Koonap,  forming  the  pass  between  the  Kromme  and 
Cowie  Mountains,  and  the  favourite  inlet  for  the  CafFers  into 
the  colony.  The  Kromme  or  Karoom  extends  to  within  a  short 
distance  of  Fort  Beaufort.  The  Cowie  is  an  irregular  moun- 
tain united  to  the  Kakaberg  upon  the  N.  W.,  of  considerable 
elevation,  and  clothed  with  timber  to  its  summit. 


33  GRAAFF  llEINET  DISTRICT  AND  TOWN. 

The  post  forms  the  left  of  a  chain  of  somewhat  shnilar  de- 
fence, extending  from  the  Keis-kamma  on  the  E.,  or  right, 
by  Fort  Beaufort,  upon  the  Kat  River  to  the  Koonap  upon 
the  W.  or  left.  The  soil  is  a  rich  marl,  in  many  places  seve- 
ral feet  in  depth;  sometimes  interspersed  with  loose  frag- 
ments of  sand,  or  freestone. 

Graaff  Reinet  District*  is  bounded  on  the  N.  by  the 
Orange  River,  on  the  south  by  Uitenhage,  on  the  east  by  Plaat 
River,  and  on  the  west  by  Zwaart  Bergen,  and,  including 
the  subdivision  of  Beaufort,  contains  5^,000  square  miles,  or 
33,280,000  acres. 

Graaff  Reinet  townf  is  situate  at  the  base  of  the  Sneeuwberg 
Mountains,  built  in  a  sort  of  basin  almost  encircled  by  the 
deep  channel  of  the  Sunday  River,  and  closely  environed  by 
an  ampitheatre  of  steep,  rugged  mountains ;  it  contains 
about  500  houses,  almost  all  of  which  are  neat  and  commo- 
dious brick  edifices,  many  of  them  might  be  entitled  elegant 
structures  ;  each  house  has  a  large  allottment  of  ground  be- 
hind it  extending  in  some  instances  to  several  acres,  which 
are  richly  cultivated,  laid  out  in  orchards,  gardens  and  vine- 
yards, and  divided  by  quince,  lemon,  or  pomegranate  hedges. 
The  streets  are  wide,  constructed  at  right  angles,  and  planted 
with  rows  of  lemon  and  orange  trees  which  thrive  here  lux- 
uriantly, and  give  to  the  town  a  fresh  and  pleasing  appear- 
ance. The  gardens  and  orchards,  &c.  are  all  watered  by  a 
canal  from  the  Sunday  River,  which  branches  out  into  a  num- 
ber of  small  channels,  each  inhabitant  receiving  his  due 
portion  of  the  vivyfing  stream  at  a  regular  hour.  The  popu- 
lation is  at  present  from  2,000  to  3,000. 

The  country  north  of  Graaff  Reinet  town  is  elevated  and 
continues  rising  to  the  Sneeuwberg  Mountains  the  loftiest  of 

*  Fodiulcd  by  Van  der  Graaff,  in  1/66,  whose  name  it  received  in  con- 
junction with  tliat  of  liis  lady. 

t  The  distances  from  Graaff  Reinet  in  English  miles — are  to  Graham's 
Town,  157;  Somerset,  167;  Cradock,  72;  Uitenhage,  225;  Beaufort, 
121  ;  Gri(iua  Town,  250;  Latakoo,  390;  Campbell's  Town,  240;  Phili- 
polis,  178  ;  Caledon  River  Station,  155  ;  Modder  River  or  Platberg,  300. 


ELEVATION   OF  THE  MOUNTAINS.  37 

which  is  termed  the  Compass-berg.    The  result  of  Dr.  Smith's 

observations  on  his  recent  departure  for  the  interior  as  to 

height  of  the  Compass-berg,  was  with  a  single  barometer, — 

Barometer.  Thermometer 

Lower  station,  23,986  474  water  boiled 

Higher  do.        22,232  58  at  188. 

The  observations  at  the  higher  station  were  taken  at  GO  feet 
from  the  summit,  making  therefore  the  elevation  of  the  moun- 
tain about  2,100  feet  above  the  adjacent  plain  :  the  general 
density  of  the  atmosphere  at  Algoa  Bay  is  29|  which  without 
allowing  for  any  difference  of  temperature  will  give  about 
7,400  feet  above  the  level  of  the  sea. 

The  Compass-berg  gives  off  on  one  side  the  principal  stream 
of  the  Great  Fish  River,  and  on  the  other  the  Zeekoe,  a  large 
branch  of  the  Gariep  or  Orange  River ;  the  waters  of  the 
former  flowing  to  the  Indian  and  those  of  the  latter  to  the 
Atlantic  oceans.  The  mountain  is  50  miles  from  Graaff  Rei- 
net,  from  whence  the  land  is  one  continued  ascent. 

The  country  north  of  the  Sneeuwberg  Mountains,  after 
passing  the  Compass-berg,  and  on  the  east  side  of  the  Zeekoe 
River,  gradually  becomes  more  open,  and  extensive  plains 
spread  before  the  eye  covered  with  game  and  wild  animals  of 
every  variety.  The  land  declines  towards  the  north  with 
many  insulated  hills  dispersed  over  it,  rising  abruptly  and  se- 
parate like  sugar  loaves  placed  upon  a  table. 

The  Zeekoe  River  at  Plettenberg's  Baaken,*  is  still  an 
inconsiderable  stream,  but  standing  here  and  there  in  large 
pools,  or  as  the  colonists  call  them  Zeekoe  gats,  deep  enough 
to  float  a  man-of-war ;  about  35  miles  below  tliis  it  falls  into 
the  Cradock,  which  is  one  of  the  principal  branches  of  the 
Gariep,  the  confluence  of  the  latter  being  about  100  miles  to 
the  N.W. 

The  Cradock  or  Black  River,  at  about  80  miles  from  its 
confluence  with  the  Gariep,  is  400  yards  broad,  four  to  five 
feet  deep,  and  gliding  to  the  N.W.  with  a  steady  current ; 

*  A  stone  erected  by  Mr.  Van  Plettenbery  in  1771  to  mark  t/ieir 
boundary  of  the  colony. 


38  THE  CRADOCK  OR  BLACK  RIVER,   AND  THE  GARIEP. 

the  banks  are  lined  with  fine  willow  trees,  bending  gracefully 
over  the  stream ;  to  the  N.  and  N.  W.  is  an  extensive  and 
almost  boundless  landscape,  adorned  with  natural  groves, 
thousands  of  large  game,  and  numbers  of  the  feathered  tribes, 
from  the  gigantic  eagle  to  the  beautiful  turtle  dove.  The 
scenery  at  the  junction  of  the  Cradock  and  Yellov/  River, 
with  their  main  branch,  the  Gariep,  is  considered  by  Mr. 
Thompson  as  the  most  magnificent  he  had  before  seen  in 
South  Africa:  the  confluence  of  water  he  describes  as  im- 
mense, and  the  banks  steep  and  overhanging  with  majestic 
willow  trees.  Proceeding  beyond  Griqua  Town,  N.  the  country 
opens  into  extensive  plains,  covered  with  long  grass,  and 
studded  with  acacias.  Campbell's  Doorp,  a  Griqua  village,* 
is  situate  on  the  left  bank  of  the  Yellow  River ;  the  inha- 
bitants possess  lai'ge  herds  of  cattle  and  sheep,  and  a  great 
number  of  excellent  horses. 

The  country  towards  Latakoo,  proceeding  from  the  Griqua 
country,  but  particularly  from  Kuruman,  exhibits  immense 
plains  waving  with  a  sea  of  grass, f  but  thinly  sprinkled 
with  mimosas.  Between  Latakoo  and  Delagoa  Bay  the 
country  is  equally  fine,  and  thickly  inhabited  by  different 
tribes. J     In  fact,   so  far  as  we  have  been  able  to  ascertain, 

*  The  Griquas,  or  Baastaards,  are  a  pastoral  tribe  originally  descended 
from  the  intercourse  of  the  Dutch  with  Hottentot  women,  and  are  in 
number  about  3,000,  living  N.  of  the  Orange  River :  there  are  also  loca- 
tions of  them  in  other  parts  of  the  country. 

f  Mr.  Thompson,  in  crossing  one  of  these  past  grasxy  plains  bounded 
only  by  the  horizon,  witnessed  a  mirage  siuiilar  to  that  detailed  in  vol.  iii. 
as  occurring  in  the  Gulf  of  St.  Lav/rence,  and  which  travellers  have  de- 
scribed as  appearing  in  sondjj  phiins ,  the  country  seemed  to  the  eye  as  if  it 
wei'C  a  basin,  the  margin  rising  before  and  around  at  every  step,  the  tra- 
veller (riding  along  a  perfect  plain)  appearing  still  at  the  lowest  focus. 

\  Two  interesting  expeditions  are  now  on  foot  to  extend  our  knowledge 
of  the  country  beyond  Latakoo,  and  that  inland  from  Delagoa  Bay ;  the 
former,  under  the  management  of  Dr.  Smith,  has  started  from  Graft' 
Reinct  ;  the  lattei-,  by  the  adventurous  Captain  Alexander,  will  proceed 
by  sea  to  Delagoa  Bay,  and  thence  depart  into  the  interior  of  the  country. 
An  cxpedilioii  of  u  similar  nature  was  planned  by  myself,  in  1824,  when  ac 
Dela»oa  Bay,  in   11.  iAI.  S.  Levcn.      I  proposed,   liowever,  to  proceed  up 


KAFFERLAND  ;    ITS  BEAUTIFUL  AFPEARANCE.  39 

the  country  improves  as  we  travel  N.  and  E.  from  the  Gariep 
or  Orange  River.     Not  less  fine,  however,  is  the  territory  E. 
of  the  Keiskamma,  namely,  Kafferland  Proper,  occupied  by 
the   AmakosEC,    which    is    a    comparatively  narrow    strip   of 
country  extending  from  the   Kieskamma  to   the  St.  John's 
River;      on  the   S.   it  is  bounded  by  the   sea,   and   on  the 
N.  by  a  high  ridge  of  mountains,  stretching  into  the  vicin- 
age  of  Delagoa  Bay,   and  which,  to   the  westward,   forms 
a  part  of  the  Winterberg,  Bushberg  and  Bruintjes  Hoogte 
Chain  ;    the  range  near  Mount  Coke  is  considerable,  and  its 
summit  in  the  winter  season  frequently  covered  with  snow 
for  some  months  together.      Along  the  base  there  are  here 
and  there  fine  savannahs,  beautifully  intersected  with  small 
clumps  of  trees  (the  yellow-wood  in  particular  is  of  vast  size), 
and  carpeted  with  a  rich  variety  of  herbaceous  plants  ;    ex- 
cellent streamlets,  meandering  amongst  the  shrubbery  in  the 
centre  of  the  valjies,  gives  life  to  the  whole  landscape.     The 
Rev.  Stephen  Kay,  who  crossed  this  mountain  range  recently, 
during  one  of  his  philanthropic  missionary  excursions,   says, 
that,  on  gaining    the    summit,  fine    grassy  plains    stretched 
befoi'e  us,  thickly  inhabited,  in  every  direction,  it  being  the 
summer  residence  and  grazing  place  of  those  clans  who  live 
along  the  base  of  the   mountain.     The  pasturage  was  parti- 
cularly good  and  very  abundant ;  the  climate  remarkably  fine, 
and  the  general  aspect  of  the  country,  the  trees,  and  shrubs, 
strikingly  resembled  those  in  many  parts  of  England  ;    nu- 
merous rills  of  sweet   and  limpid   water   rippled  in  various 

the  Sofala  River;  the  information  I  derived  at  Sofala,  from  the  Portuguese 
and  Moors,  leading  me  to  conclude  that  the  river  was  navigable  with  canoes 
to  a  considerable  extent.  Some  large  towns  (and  it  is  said  vast  piles  of  ruins, 
with  strange  inscriptions,  of  which  the  natives  know  nothing)  exist  beyond 
the  first  range  of  mountains,  which  are  stated  to  be  frequented  by  white 
traders  from  the  W.  coast.  My  intention  was  to  accompany  these  men  on 
their  return,  or  to  endeavour  to  penetrate  the  country  down  to  Latakoo 
and  our  own  territories ;  Providence,  however,  designed  otherwise,  for 
the  Delagoa  and  IMozamhique  fever,  which  swept  otf  so  many  of  my 
brother  officers,  left  me  for  six  months  as  helpless  as  an  infant,  and  finally 
compelled  me  to  quit  the  African  coast. 


40  THE  NATAL  COAST — ITS  ADVANTAGES, 

directions,  and  within  short  distances  of  each  other,  some 
pouring  from  projecting  rocks,  and  most  running  over  pebbly 
beds.' 

I  could  add  my  testimony  to  the  foregoing ;  but  I  prefer 
giving  that  of  Captain  W.  F.  Owen,  who  examined  the  coast, 
and  who  states,  in  the  account  of  his  surveying  voyage,  that, 
'  from  the  Kuskamma  to  Delagoa  Bay  the  sea  boundary  is 
one  of  the  most  varied  and  interesting  that  can  possibly  be 
imagined,  presenting  every  diversity  that  rich  hills  and  fertile 
meadows  can  produce ;  the  mountainous  range  which  divides 
the  sea  border  from  the  interior  is  in  some  places  6,000  feet.' 

Captain  Vidal;  of  His  Majesty's  vessel  Barracouta,  visited 
the  coast   of  Natal*  in   1823,    and  describes   it  as  looking 

*  Port  Natal  is  the  locale  which  the  colonists  are  so  desirous  that  our 
government  should  occupy  ;  the  reasons  assigned  for  which  are  embraced 
in  the  following-  extract,  from  a  memorial  about  to  be  presented  to  the 
King  in  Council  from  the  merchants  and  other  inhabitants  of  the  Cape  of 
Good  Hope : 

"That  in  consequence  of  the  country  in  the  vicinity  of  Port  Natal  having 
been  purchased  in  1689,  by  order  of  the  Dutch  East  India  Company,  for 
the  sum  of  20,000  guilders,  they  directed  the  Governor  of  the  Cape  of 
Good  Hope,  M.  F.  de  Chavonnes,  by  letter,  dated  Amsterdam,  23rd  Dec  , 
1719,  to  form  an  establishment  at  Port  Natal,  and  to  hold  it  with  the 
purchased  territory  in  its  vicinity,  as  a  dependency  of  this  colony.  In  1814, 
The  Cape  of  Good  Hope  and  its  dependencies  were  formally  ceded  by  the 
Dutch  to  Great  Britain.  That,  since  tlie  year  1824,  Port  Natal  has  been 
almost  constantly  occupied  by  British  subjects,  who  resided  there  with  the 
express  permission  of  the  Governor  of  this  colony. 

"That  these  persons  had  succeeded  in  opening  a  trade  with  the  natives, 
which  has  gradually  increased  in  extent,  from  the  encouragement  afforded 
by  the  Zoolas,  who  have  evinced  a  desire  that  the  Europeans  should  con- 
tinue to  reside  in  their  neighbourhood;  but  their  residence  without  a  go- 
vernment establishment  on  the  spot,  is  attended  with  very  great  risk.  It  is, 
therefore,  essential  that  some  sucli  establishment  be  formed  for  the  pro- 
tection of  the  trader,  and  likewise  for  the  regulation  of  the  trade.  That 
such  an  establishment  interposed  between  ihe  Zoola  and  Catfer  tribes 
would  be  of  great  importance,  as  a  protection  to  the  latter,  who  reside  im- 
mediately on  the  eastern  frontier  of  the  Cape,  and  who  are,  at  all  times, 
liable  to  hostile  incursions  by  the  Zoolas,  the  mere  a])prehension  of  which, 
in  1828,  intailed  a  very  heavy  expense  on  this  colony,  in  despatching  a 
commander  2()0nji!cs  beyond  our  frontier  to  repel  them. 


MEMORIAL  TO  THE  KING  FOR   ITS  OCCUPATION.  41 

like  a  large  park,  varied  with  hill  and  dale,  displaying  at 
times,  through  a  luxuriant  valley,  the  distant  prospect  of 
hlue  mountainous  ridges ;  on  a  second  approach  to  another 
part  of  the  coast,  the  landscape  was  equally  beautiful,  clusters 
of  trees,  hills,  vales,  and  glens,  composing  the  foreground, 
while  in  the  distance,  divided  by  a  deep  valley  or  chasm,  a 
range  of  craggy  mountains,  extended  in  a  parallel  direction 
as  far  as  the  eye  could  see.  On  one  occasion  the  Barracouta 
sailed  to  within  half  a  mile  of  a  most  interesting  spot,  where 
two  ponderous  black  rocks  arose  from  the  surface  of  the 
ocean,  about  80  feet,  exhibiting  through  one  of  them  the  phe- 
nomenon of  a  natural  archway,  through  which  the  surf  beat 
on  the  rocks  with  so  much  violence  as  to  break  50  feet  from 
their  base,  although  but  little  wind  was  blowing  at  the  time. 

"  The  pastures  of  the  country  between  these  tribes  are  of  a  character 
highly  favourable.  It  is  well  wooded  with  large  timber,  and  watered  with 
upwards  of  100  rivers  and  running  streams,  some  of  which  are  larger  than 
the  chief  rivers  of  this  colony.  The  soil  is  fertile,  and  has  produced  three 
crops  of  Caffer  and  Indian  corn  in  the  year.  The  rains  are  periodical,  and 
the  climate  is  cooler  than  that  of  the  Cape,  and  highly  salubrious.  The 
bay  of  Port  Natal  is  an  exceeding  fine  harbour,  but  the  entrance  is  narrow, 
and  has  a  bar  of  shifting  sand.  There  are  six  feet  of  water  in  the  bar,  -with 
a  run  of  six  feet,  and  at  spring  tides  the  depth  is  fourteen. 

"  There  are  a  considerable  number  of  natives,  a  laborious  and  well-con- 
ducted people,  who  are  the  remains  of  the  tribes  who  formerly  occupied 
the  country ;  purchased  and  ceded  by  the  Dutch,  and  who  having  attached 
themselves  to  the  white  inhabitants,  are  living  in  its  vicinity  under  their 
auspices  unmolested  by  the  Zoolas. 

*'  The  facts  herein  set  forth  have  been  obtained  from  information  afforded 
by  various  individuals,  who  have  visited  or  resided  at  Port  Natal,  and  are 
confirmed  by  Dr.  Andrew  Smith,  of  the  Medical  Staff  of  this  garrison, 
who  is  intimately  accjuainted  with  the  country,  and  but  recently  returned 
from  Natal,  and  in  corroboration  of  this  testimony  your  memorialists  re- 
spectfully refer  to  Sir  G.  Lowry  Cole.  «         *  *  * 

"A  government  establishment  at  Port  Natal  would  be  the  means  of 
guarding  against  the  injurious  consequences  which  may  ultimately  result, 
even  to  this  colony,  from  the  irregular  trade  with  foreign  vessels,  which  is 
occasionally  carried  on  at  that  place  ;  a  trade,  which  it  becomes  more 
necessary  to  prevent,  as  Dingam,  the  Zoola  Chief,  is  now  in  possession  of 
a  number  of  musquets  and  a  ijuantity  of  gunpowder,  which  has  been  ob- 
tahicd  in  barter  from  American  vessels  visiting  tlmt  port. 


42  GEOLOGY  OF  SOUTH  Al'RICA. 

The  Kae,  Kei,  oi'  St.  John's,  one  of  the  largest  of  the  nu- 
merous rivers  on  the  Caffraria  coast,  constitutes  the  boundary 
between  the  Colony  and  the  Amatembu  territory,  and  after 
winding  round  the  back  part  of  Winterberg,  it  takes  an 
easterly  course,  and  finally  disembogues  its  enlarged  stream 
into  the  Indian  Ocean.  This  river  has  one  of  the  most  extra- 
ordinary and  picturesque  entrances  in  the  world,  as  it  forms 
by  its  abrupt  and  perpendicular  heights  a  natural  lock  want- 
ing only  a  flood  gate  to  make  it  a  wet  dock.  We  may  now 
proceed  to  the — 

Geology,  Mineralogy  and  Soil. — Southern  Africa  is  evi- 
dently of  diluvian  and  not  volcanic  origin :  (the  formation 
of  the  peninsula  is  sufficiently  indicated  by  the  structure 
of  Table  Mountain,  which  is  composed  of  many  strata  piled 
on  each  other  in  large  tabular  masses  lying  close  together 
without  any  intermediate  veins  of  earthy  or  other  extra- 
neous matter.  The  plain  around  the  mountain  is  a  blue 
schistus,  running  in  parallel  ridges  N.W.  and  S.E.  and  inter- 
rupted by  masses  of  a  hard  blue  flinty  rock.* 

The  schistus  rests  on  a  stratum  of  strong  iron  coloured  clay, 
varying  from  a  pale  yellow  to  a  deep  red,  abounding  with 
brown  foliated  mica,  and  interspersed  with  immense  blocks  of 
granite,  some  of  them  crumbling  into  fragments,  and  others 

"Looking,  therefore,  at  the  pastures  of  the  country  itself,  its  capahilities 
of  niaintainins;^  a  large  population  and  extensive  trade,  which  for  many 
years  would  be  carried  on,  probably  through  the  medium  of  this  colony, 
to  the  influence  vvhich  would  thus  be  brought  to  operate  in  advancing  the 
civilization  and  moral  improvement  of  the  vast  tribes  bordering  on  that 
country ;  and  to  the  protection  vvhich  would  thereby  be  insured  to  our 
immediate  neighbours,  the  Caffers,  your  memorialists  are  induced  humbly 
to  pray ; 

That  your  Majesty  may  be  graciously  pleased  to  take  measures  for  the 
occupation  of  Port  Natal,  and  the  ceded  territory  in  its  vicinity,  which  ex- 
tends about  200  miles  along  the  coast  to  the  westward,  reaching  to  the 
country  of  the  Auiapondas,  and  inland  about  100  miles  ;  for  the  formation 
of  a  government  establishment  at  Port  Natal,  with  an  adequate  military 
force  for  the  protection  of  the  trade  with  that  place. 

*  Ilobl)en  Island,  in  the  mouth  of  Table  Bay,  affords  excellent  (juarries 
of  blue  Hags  streaked  with  white,  the  use  of  which  contributes  much  to 
the  cleanliness  and  neat  appearance  of  Oape  Town. 


STRATA   OF  TAHLE  MOUNTAIN.  43 

hollowed   out  as  if  by  the  hand  of  man,  but   really  from  the 
operation  of  time. 

As  Table  Mountain  is  ascended  beds  of  vertical  schistus 
stretching  east  and  west  are  met  with,  and  higher  still  veins  of 
granite  with  distinct  ramifications  from  the  main  body  are  ob- 
servable from  every  side,  varying  in  breadth  from  two  yards 
to  the  fractional  Or  decimal  part  of  an  inch.  In  some  places 
the  schistus  has  crumbled  away,  leaving  the  granite  ramifica- 
tions or  dykes  standing.  About  300  yards  further  in  the 
ascent  the  mountain  appears  a  solid  mass  of  granite  charac- 
terised by  large  crystals  of  felspar  :  besides  quartz  and  mica, 
large  masses  of  hornblend  enter  occasionally  into  the  compo- 
sition of  the  rock.  After  a  further  ascent  of  300  yards  the 
granite  ceases,  and  is  succeeded  by  a  strata  of  superincum- 
bent horizontal  red  sandstone,  without  any  symptom  of  dis- 
turbance and  devoid  of  veins  of  granite,  and  which  continues  in 
beds  of  no  great  thickness  for  a  height  perpendicular  of  from 
150  to  200  feet.  From  thence  to  the  summit  of  the  mountain 
the  sandstone  is  of  a  much  more  indvu'ated  kind,  quite  white, 
and  having  pieces  of  water  worn  quartz  imbedded  in  it  from  the 
size  of  a  pea  to  that  of  a  potatoe.  The  weather  acting  on  the 
soft  sandstone  has  worn  it  away  in  various  sized  excavations, 
causing  here  and  there  pools  or  holes  of  standing  v/ater,  with 
a  little  beach  of  quartz  pebbles  the  relics  of  the  strata  worn 
away. 

The  upper  surface  of  the  contiguous  Lion's  head  is  sand- 
stone, beneath  v/hich  is  found  granite,  and  still  descending, 
schistus  or  killas  in  vertical  beds. 

Capt.  Basil  Hall  thinks  that  the  great  mass  of  sandstone 
which  forms  the  summit  of  Table  Mountain  lying  on  the 
granite  to  the  thickness  of  1500  feet,  has  been  raised  from  its 
original  horizontal  position  by  the  granite  forcing  itself  up  from 
below.  Professor  Playfair  is  of  opinion  that  the  structure  of 
the  peninsula  points  out  two  separate  epochas  distinguished 
by  very  different  conditions  of  the  substances  which  now  com- 
pose the  peninsula  of  the  Cape,  which  appears  to  be  a  wall  of 
granite  highest  at  its  north  extremity  and  lowering  gradually 


44  STRATA  ON  BORING  128  FEET:  COAL. 

to  the  south  ;  faced  at  its  base  with  schistus,  killas  or  graii- 
wacke  and  covered  at  its  top  with  a  platform  of  horizontal 
sandstone.  The  penetration  of  the  killas  by  veins  from  the 
mass  of  granite  (which  it  surrounds)  proves  that  the  killas 
though  the  superior  rock  is  of  older  formation  than  the 
granite  ;  the  granite  therefore  is  a  mineral  that  has  come  up 
from  below  into  the  situation  it  now  occupies,  and  is  not  one 
of  the  materials  which  has  been  deposited  by  the  sea  in  any 
shape  either  mechanical  or  chemical.  It  is  a  species,  there- 
fore, of  subterraneous  lava,  and  the  progeny  of  that  active  and 
powerful  element  which  professor  Playfair  thinks  we  know 
from  the  history  of  the  present  and  the  past  has  always  ex- 
isted in  the  bowels  of  the  earth.  The  introduction,  therefore, 
of  granite  into  the  situation  it  now  occupies  must  have  taken 
place  while  the  whole  was  deep  under  the  level  of  the  sea, 
previous  to  its  elevation  or  the  subsidence  of  the  surrounding 
waters  ;  the  granite  may  thus  be  considered  as  neiver  than 
one  of  the  rocks  incumbent  on  it  and  older  than  the  other, 
thus  highly  favouring  the  opinion  that  granite  does  not  de- 
rive its  origin  from  aqueous  deposition. 

The  experiment  of  boring  in  search  for  coal  which  took 
place  under  the  Government  of  Lord  Macartney  at  Wynberg, 
a  tongue  of  land  projecting  from  the  Table  Mountain  gave 
the  following  further  insight  into  the  strata  of  the  country : 
coal,  2  feet;  blue  soapy  rock,  5;  white  soapy  rock,  22;  grey 
sandstone  with  clay,  21 ;  chocolate-brown  sandstone,  14 ; 
bluish  soapy  clay,  81,  and  striated  sand,  red  and  white,  con- 
taining clay,  33  ;  total  128  feet. 

The  stratum  of  coal*  found  on  the  banks  of  a  deep  rivulet 
flowing  out  from  the  Tigerberg,  (a  hill  that  terminates  the 
Isthmus  to  the  eastward)  was  horizontal  with  a  .v///;cr-stratum 
of  pipe  clay  and  white  sandstone,  and  a  ««6-stratum  of  indu- 
rated clay.  The  coaly  seam  from  10  inches  to  2  feet  in  thick- 
ness, differed  in  quality  at  various  places — sometimes  it  was  in 

*  A  vein  of  coal  lias  recently  been  discovered  near  the  mouth  of  the 
Krooni  River  which  is  accessible  to  small  craft. 


GEOLOGICAL  INDICATIONS  IN  KAFFERLAND.  45 

large  ligneous  blocks  with  visible  traces  of  the  bark,  knots  and 
grain  of  timber,  and  in  the  very  middle  of  these  imbedded 
pieces  of  iron  pyrites  running  through  them  in  crooked  veins 
or  lying  in  irregular  lumps.  Other  parts  of  the  stratum  con- 
sisted of  laminated  coal  of  the  nature  of  turf,  burning  with  a 
clear  flame,  and  leaving  a  light  white  ash  ;  the  more  compact 
and  heavy  coal  gave  out  a  sulphurous  smell,  and  left  a  slaty 
caulk  with  an  ochreous  crust. 

My  object  in  giving  this  section  being  the  accumulation  and 
registration  of  facts  rather  than  the  promulgation  of  theories, 
I  proceed  to  detail  the  appearances  observed  in  other  parts 
of  South  Africa : — 

At  the  Koonap  post  the  bed  of  the  river  is  supported  by  an 
extensive  substratum  of  sand  or  freestone,  traversing  the 
country  nearly  parallel  to  the  plane  of  the  horizon.  At  the 
base  of  the  higher  mountains  are  found  large  unconnected 
fragments  of  granite  with  crystallization  of  felspar  and  quartz, 
limestone  is  obtruded  in  some  places  to  the  svirface ;  it  is  al- 
ways in  roundish  masses  of  a  white  pulverulent  appearance, 
soapy  to  the  touch,  generally  mixed  with  red  clay  and  when 
burnt  deficient  in  the  properties  of  calcined  lime,  being  less 
tenacious,  durable  and  impervious  to  moisture,  and  apparently 
an  impure  carbonate  of  lime. 

The  most  distinguishing  feature  among  the  mountains  of 
Kafferland  is  a  superincumbent  stratum  of  sandstone ;  huge 
detached  masses  are  found  in  many  places  standing  some  feet 
above  the  surface  of  the  earth.  The  upper  part  of  a  moun- 
tain visited  by  the  Rev.  S.  Kay,  presented  to  the  eye  immense 
precipices  capped  with  large  rhomboidal  tables  and  projecting 
angles  forming  a  kind  of  cornice  to  the  face.  On  the  sides  of 
the  declivities  there  was  a  description  of  prismatic  quartz 
crystals  in  a  corroded  state,  and  evidently  undergoing  the 
process  of  decomposition,  a  circumstance  which  is  perceptible 
in  almost  all  the  mountains  of  South  Africa,  and  presents  a 
fair  prospect  of  a  yearly  increasing  extent  of  fertile  soil. 

Iron  stone  is  everywhere  observable  in  Kaffraria,  and  like- 
wise considerable  quantities  of  ochre  of  different  kinds,  some 


46  SOIL  OF  SOUTH  AFRICA, 

specimens  in  a  state  of  impalpable  powder  enclosed  in  crusta- 
ceous  coverings  of  a  reddish  colour  of  the  hardness  and  con- 
sistence of  baked  earthenware ;  sometimes  in  single  nodules 
of  an  inch  or  two  inches  in  diameter,  but  more  frequently  in 
clusters  of  two,  three  or  four  nodules  connected  by  necks 
which  are  also  hollow ;  in  these  stones  every  shade  of  colour 
has  been  found  except  the  greens,  but  the  most  common  are 
those  of  a  pale  yellow  and  chocolate  brown. 

At  Griqua  tovrn,  north  of  the  Gariep  or  Orange  River,  the 
valley  is  closed  on  the  N.W.  by  a  range  of  low  hills  of  argil- 
laceous schistus  which  Mr.  Thompson,  when  visiting  them  in 
1823,  stated  to  be  so  highly  magnetic  either  from  the  presence 
of  iron  ore  or  some  other  cause  as  to  prevent  the  traverse  of 
the  needle.  Amongst  these  hills  asbestos  has  been  found  in 
considerable  quantities. 

The  detached  hills  near  the  base  of  the  Zwarteberg  range, 
are  composed  of  amygdaloid,  nearly  allied  to  the  toadstone  of 
Derbyshire;  the  rounded  pebbles  embedded  in  this  argillaceous 
matrix  are  almost  invariably  tinged  with  a  bright  grass-green 
colour; — the  substratum  of  the  mountains  is  a  blue  and  purple- 
coloured  schistus. 

In  the  Graaft'  Reinet  district  some  specimens  of  tufa  and 
abundance  of  limestone  are  found;  fossil  remains  have  also 
been  discovered;*  common  cornelian,  topaz  and  bloodstone 
have  been  met  with  in  the  Orange  River,  and  in  some  of  the  N. 
field  cornetcies  saltpetre.  The  infinite  number  of  large  blocks 
of  isolated  stones  that  are  to  be  found  in  South  Africa,  to  the 
very  verge  of  the  Cape  promontory,  are  aggregates  of  quartz 
and  mica,  the  first  in  large  irregular  masses,  and  the  latter  in 
black  lumps,  resembling  shot ;  they  also  contain  sometimes 
cubic  pieces  of  felspar,  and  seem  to  be  bound  together  by 
plates  of  a  clayey  ironstone :  by  the  action  of  the  air  and 
weather  they  fall  to  pieces  in  large  concentric  laminae,  become 
disintegrated,  and,  finally  form  a  soil,  at  first  harsh  and  sterile, 
but  meliorated  and  enriched  by  time. 

*  Perfect  fossils  remains  of  tlie  IVJaimnoth  species  have  been  found  a 
few  years  since  in  Beaufort. 


SURFACE  AND  APPEARANCE  OF  THE  GREAT  KARROO.  4  < 

The  soil  throughout  the  colony  is  very  varied — in  some 
places  a  naked  sand,  in  others  a  stiff  clay,  and  in  many  parts 
a  rich  dark  vegetable  mould :  frequently  the  surface  appears 
a  dry  sand,  but  on  removing  it  to  the  depth  of  a  few  inches  a 
black  mould  is  found  beneath  :  the  stiff  clayey  soil,  sometimes 
red  and  sometimes  met  with  of  a  yellowish  colour  is  very  fer- 
tile when  irrigated.  The  east  coast  border  is  generally  an 
alluvial  loam,  as  is  the  case  with  many  vallies,  particularly 
among  the  ravines  and  windings  of  the  Fish  River. 

The  surface  of  the  Great  Karroo  is  diversified ;  in  many 
places  it  is  a  stifFbrownish  coloured  clay ;  in  some  parts  a  bed 
of  sandstone,  crossed  with  veins  of  fat  quartz,  and  a  kind  of 
ponderous  iron-stone,  in  other,  a  heavy  sand,  with  here  and 
there  a  blackish  loam.  Near  the  bed  of  the  Buffalo  River, 
the  whole  surface  of  the  country  is  strewed  over  v/ith  small 
fragments  of  a  deep  purple-coloured  slate,  crumbling  from 
strata  of  long  parallel  ridges  running  E.  and  W.  ;  scattered 
among  these  fragments  are  black  tumified  stones,  having  the 
appearance  of  volcanic  slags  or  the  scoriae  of  an  iron  furnace  ; 
several  conical  hills,  some  truncated  near  the  top,  stand  de- 
tached from  each  other  on  the  plain :  and  although  at  first 
appearing  as  if  thrown  up  by  volcanic  explosion,  yet  on  a 
nearer  view,  of  the  alternate  strata  of  earth  and  sand-stone, 
regularly  disposed,  exhibiting  the  effects  of  water,  and  not  of 
fire.  Some  flat  sandy  marshes  of  the  Karroo  are  overgrown 
with  rushes,  and  abound  in  springs  strongly  impregnated  with 
salt,  and  a  species  of  salsola*  (salt-wort),  grows  here  in  per- 
fection ;  the  surface  around  its  roots  being  generally  covered 
with  a  fine  v»'hite  nitrous  powder. 

From  the  Little  Loorey  fonteijn,  in  the  Great  Karroo  to  De 
Beer  valley,  there  are  nearly  30  miles  of  a  continued  bed 
of  solid  and  arid  clay,  without  a  particle  of  herbage  ;  when, 
suddenly,  as  if  by  enchantment,  the  De  Beer  valley,  a  plain 
of  several  miles  in  diameter,  at  the  feet  of  the  Black  Moun- 
tains, is  entered  on,  clothed  with  the  most  luxuriant  vege- 

*  It  is  from  this  plant  that  the  inhabitants  make  excellent  soap,  in-ton- 
junctinn  mth  sheep's  fat. 


48  MINERALS  OF  SOUTH  AFRICA. 

tation,  more  like  enchantment  tlian  reality  ;  the  water,  how- 
ever, of  one  of  the  streams  which  flow  through  it,  being  as 
briny  as  that  of  the  English  channel.  Beyond  this  valley  the 
Karroo  again  expands  in  all  its  nakedness. 

Of  minerals  few  have  yet  been  discovered, — indications 
of  coal,  as  before  observed,  have  been  met  with  at  the  Kroom 
River  and  other  places.  Near  the  Bushman's  River  (Uiten- 
hage  district),  an  extensive  vein  of  alum  has  been  recently 
discovered,  which  is  particularly  beautiful  in  its  structure  ; 
the  colour  is  perfectly  white,  of  a  silky  lustre,  consisting  of 
delicate  fibres,  of  six  or  eight  inches  in  length,  which  run 
parallel,  sometimes  perpendicular,  and  sometimes  in  an  undu- 
lating direction  ;  the  vertical  course  of  the  filaments  being 
directed  by  small  fragments  of  greyish  lime  stone,  and  minute 
particles  of  yellow  ferruginous  earth;  these  are  found  near  the 
basis  of  the  tender  capillary  crystals,  which  shoot  from  a  thin 
stratum  of  concrete  alum,  the  lower  surface  of  which  is  en- 
crusted with  yellow  clay  and  portions  of  blue  limestone.  The 
alum  is  very  pure  and  valuable  as  an  article  of  commerce. 

At  Camtoos  Bay  (20  miles  W.  of  Algoa  Bay)  a  rich  lead 
ore  of  the  species  known  by  the  name  of  galena,  (v/hich  is 
lead  mineralized  with  sulphur),  has  been  found  in  the  steep 
sides  of  a  deep  glen  ;  the  masses  seen  by  Mr.  Barrow  had  no 
appearance  of  cubic  crystallization,  but  were  granular  or 
amorphous,  in  some  species,  the  surfaces,  in  others,  made 
up  of  small  facets,  called  by  miners  white  silver  ore ;  the  vein 
of  the  ore  was  three  inches  wide  and  one  thick,  increasing  in 
size  as  it  advanced  under  the  stratum  of  rock  with  which  it 
was  covered.  The  matrix,  a  quartoze  sandstone  of  a  yellowish 
tinge,  cellular  and  fibrous,  harsh  to  the  feel  and  easily  broken. 
This  ore,  when  assayed  by  Major  Van  Dheu,  an  officer  in  the 
Dutch  service,  yielded  from  200 lbs.  weight,  100  lbs.  of  pure 
lead,  and  8oz.  of  silver. 

Mineral  waters  exist  in  different  places ;  a  few  miles  from 
Graff  Reinet,  there  is  a  spring  of  cold  water,  strongly  im- 
pregnated with  sulphurated  hydrogen.  About  five  miles  from 
Ciadock,  in  Somerset,  there  is  a  hot  mineral  spring  (thermo- 


HOT    AND  COLD    MINERAL  SPRINGS.  41) 

meter  86  degrees),  which  issues  from  the  ground  close  to  the 
bank  of  the  Great  Fish  River,  here  a  small  stream  about  200 
miles  from  the  sea.  The  taste  of  the  water  much  resembles  that 
of  the  Harrowgate  or  Gilsand  spa,  and  it  is  resorted  to  for 
bathing  in  several  complaints.  The  ground  in  the  vicinity  is 
much  impregnated  with  saltpetre,  and  considerable  quantities 
of  nitre  in  a  pure  state  may  be  collected  in  the  neighbouring 
mountains.  At  no  great  distance  from  Cradock,  near  the 
Bamboo  mountains,  are  three  salt  lakes,  similar  to  those  in 
the  vicinity  of  Algoa  Bay  and  other  parts  of  the  country, 
from  which  the  neighbouring  colonists  supply  themselves 
with  salt.  There  are  two  warm  springs  at  the  village  of 
Caledon,  under  the  Kleine  Swarteberg,  which  contain  muriate 
of  soda; — their  heat  is  92  degrees.  These  springs  are 
used  as  baths,  and  the  water  from  them  is  also  taken  inter- 
nally ;  they  are  found  beneficial  in  cases  of  chronic  rheuma- 
tism, diseases  of  the  skin,  and  scorbutic  ulcers.  One  spring 
is  private  property,  where  there  is  good  accommodation  for 
invalids  and  persons  visiting  the  baths ;  the  other  belongs  to 
Government,  and  is  let  on  lease, — the  tenant  being  bound  to 
allow  the  free  and  gratuitous  use  of  the  bath  and  buildings 
to  poor  indigent  persons,  of  whatever  description,  producing 
certificates  of  inability  to  pay.  There  are  two  other  warm 
springs  in  the  district,  one  at  Cogman's  Kloof,  also  containing 
a  muriate  of  soda,  the  heat  of  which  is  114  degrees  ;  and  one 
at  Roodeberg,  containing  a  small  quantity  of  carbonate  of 
lime,  the  heat  of  which  is  94  degrees.  Several  singular  salt 
pans  exist ;  some  of  them  200  miles  from  the  sea  coast,  and 
5,000  to  6,000  feet  above  the  level  of  the  sea,  the  salt  being 
hard,  and  from  five  to  six  inches  in  thickness.  The  largest 
and  finest  salt  pan  is  near  Zwartkops  River,  Algoa  Bay.* 

As  the  retreating  of  the  ocean  from,  or  its  advance  on, 
different  shores  is  now  becoming  a  subject  of  investigation,  I 

*  The  soil  on  all  sides  of  the  great  Zvvartkops  salt  pan  is  a  deep  vegetable 
€arth,  in  some  places  red,  in  other?  bhick,  resting  on  a  bed  of  day,  and 
without  a  vestige  of  salt  in  its  composition. 

VOL.  IV.  E 


50  RECESSION  OF  THE  OCEAN   FROM  SOUTH  AFRICA. 

may  add  that  it  appears  to  me  the  sea  is  receding  from  South- 
ern Africa.  Many  thousand  waggon  loads  of  shells  are  met 
with  in  various  places  along  the  E.  coast,  the  site  of  which  is  at 
present  several  hundred  feet  above  the  level  of  the  sea,  and 
generally  in  the  greatest  quantity  in  sheltered  caverns.  At 
Mossel  Bay  is  a  cave  300  feet  above  the  ocean,  but  which, 
when  explored,  contained  an  immense  quantity  of  different 
kinds  of  shells  peculiar  to  the  coast ;  and  behind  Table  Moun- 
tain, at  a  similar  height,  are  beds  of  shells  buried  under 
vegetable  earth  and  clay.  Seven  miles  N.E.  of  Uitenhage, 
and  ten  miles  from  the  sea,  are  immense  beds  of  sea  shells, 
particularly  of  oysters,  the  fish  of  which  is  petrified. 

From  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope  along  the  S.  coast  to  Algoa 
Bay,  a  bank,  with  various  soundings,  projects  to  a  consider- 
able distance  from  the  land,  called  the  bank  of  Lagullas. 
The  S.  extremity  of  this  bank  is  nearly  on  the  meridian  of 
Cape  Vaches,  or  in  Long.  22  E.,  and  is  said  to  extend  to 
about  37f  S.  Lat.  in  this  part;  but  a  little  to  the  S.  of  36  S. 
it  converges  quickly,  and  becomes  of  a  narrow  conical  form, 
with  very  deep  water  on  its  S.  end.  The  soundings  to  the 
westward  of  Cape  Lagullas  (to  the  southward  of  35.15  S.)  are 
generally  of  mud ;  to  the  southward  of  the  Cape,  frequently 
green  or  other  sand ;  and  on  the  S.E.  and  eastern  parts  of 
the  bank  to  the  eastward  of  Cape  Lagullas  mostly  coral,  or 
coarse  sand,  shells,  and  small  stones.* 

Climate  and  Seasons. — The  seasons  at  the  Cape  of  Good 
Hope  are  nearly  opposite  to  those  of  England,  thus  : — 

*  This  bank  is  probably  the  deposit  of  the  strong  current  which  sets  to 
the  S.  and  W.  according  to  the  direction  of  the  bank,  and  is  generally 
strongest  during  the  wijiter  months,  running  with  the  greatest  velocity  along 
the  verge  of  the  bank,  or  a  little  outside  of  soundings.  When  opposed  by 
adverse  gales,  a  very  high  sea  is  thrown  up,  which  sometimes  lessens  the 
strength  of  the  current ;  the  rapidity  of  the  stream  is,  however,  always  less 
towards  the  shore,  where  the  sea  is  smoother:  By  keeping  on  the  edge 
of  the  bank  a  sliip  will  be  carried  80  miles  a  day  with  an  adverse  wind 
round  the  Cape  into  the  Atlantic  ;  vessels  therefore  trusting  to  their  reck- 
oning should  be  mindful  of  this  circumstance. 


CLIMATE  AND  SEASONS  AT  THE  CAPE  OF  GOOD  HOPE.    51 


Spring. 


r  March 
\  April 
I  May 

fJune 
July 
August 
r  September 
<  October 
I  November 

(December 
January 
February 


V  Autumn 


ENGLAND. 


(September 
October 
November 
December 
January 
February 
March 
April 
May 
June 
July 
\August 

This  contrariety  feels  at  first  singular  to  a  new  comer ;  but 
the  delicious  climate  of  the  Cape  soon  removes  any  impression 
arising  from  the  change.  Of  course  in  such  an  extent  of 
country,  and  at  different  elevations,  the  heat  is  varied  ;  but 
taking  Hottentots  Holland  in  the  Cape  district  as  a  fair  cri- 
terion for  the  elevated  country,  the  following  meteorological 
register,  from  the  Army  Medical  Board  Office,  will  indicate 
the  state  of  the  weather  throughout  the  year.  Cape  Town  of 
course  being  warmer.* 


u 

Days  of 

Months. 

°  s 

Wind. 

5 

%  . 

■d 

a 

■0 

Remarks. 

2  <* 

c 

u  a 

e^ 

'3 

0 

0  s 

§•*= 

BS 

S 

0 

Q 

January. . 

59.90 

S.E. 

3 

9     19 

Dry  and  warm,  occasional  showers,  with  N.W. 

winds. 

February 

61.93 

Do. 

7 

5 

16 

Temperat.  variable,  heavy  rains  occasionally, 
with  N.W.  winds. 

March    . . 

60.91 

Do. 

8 

9 

14 

Strong  gale  N.W.,  thunder,  light  showers. 

April  .... 

63.91 

Do.&N.W. 

7 

8 

15 

Heavy  gales,  temperature  variable. 

May    .... 

53.88 

N.W. 

5 

15 

11 

Fine  early  in  the  month,  tliunder  storms. 

June   

47.82 

Do. 

11 

4 

15 

Strong  gales  occasionally  S.E.  and  N.E.,  rain, 
thunder  and  lightning. 

July    .... 

46.80 

N.  &  N.W. 

10 

21 

Frequent  gales,  cold,  frost,  snow,  hail  and 
rain. 

August  .. 

49.83 

Do. 

13 

18 

Ditto               ditto               ditto 

September 

52.89 

S.E. 

9 

21 

Weather  variable  and  mild. 

October . . 

56.95 

N.W. 

7 

24 

Heavy  rain,  and  lightning  and  thunder. 

November 

55.9s 

N.W.&S.E. 

4 

26 

Warm  dry  weather. 

December 

57.10 

S.E. 

2 

29 

Light  breezes  from  N.W.,  dry  and  warm. 

Mn.&Tot. 

56.90 

41 

35 

6 

0 

230 

Bar. 

Ther. 


*  MONTHLY  MEAN  AT  CAPE  TOWN  FOR  FOUR  YEARS. 

Jan.    Feb.    Mar.     Apr.     May    June     July    Aug.     Sep.     Oct.    Nov. 

30.13     30.11     30.18     30,14     30.21      30.19     30.28     30.25     30.22     30.22     30.2 

76   79    75    67    62   57^   57i   6o    63    63   73.i 


Dec. 
30.16 


5'2  MEAN    TEMPERATURE  AT  SEVERAL  STATIONS. 

The  healthiness  of  the  Cape  district  will  be  evident  by  the 
fact  that,  in  1830,  out  of  a  population  of  1,500,  at  Hottentots 
Holland,  the  total  number  of  deaths  was  only  five ;  of  which 
four  were  coloured  persons,  one  an  old  Mozambiquer,  another 
an  old  slave,  both  died  from  chronic  diseasd,  the  third  a  young 
child,  died  suddenly,  and  the  fourth  a  CafFre  girl,  was  burnt, 
and  the  fifth  a  European  gentleman  of  50,  principally  of  a  men- 
tal affection.  The  mean  temperature  of  Cape  Town,  (which  is 
heated  by  its  proximity  to  Table  Mountain)  inferred  from  a 
MeteorologicalJournal  kept  for  several  years,*  is  67^.  The 
mean  temperature  of  the  coldest  month  is,  perhaps,  57. ; 
hottest  79. ;  mean  of  three  recent  winters,  58. ;  of  three 
summer  months,  77. ;  least  heat  during  summer,  63.  The 
temperature  of  the  district  of  Stellenbosch,  deduced  from 
the  observations  of  a  single  twelvemonth,  is  66i. ;  extremes, 
87.  and  50.  The  temperature  of  Zwartland  appears  to  be 
66^  extremes,  89.  and  54.  The  exposure  of  the  thermometers 
is  at  neither  place  external ;  they  are  suspended  in  spacious 
well-aired  halls.  At  Tulbagh,  situated  in  a  valley  of  the 
great  chain  of  mountains  which  divides  the  western  from  the 
eastern  provinces  of  the  colony,  the  mean  temperature  of  the 
year  is  66^.,  that  of  the  coldest  months  55^.,  of  the  hottest 
80|. ;  extremes  95.  and  52.  ;  mean  of  the  three  winter  months, 
56^. ;  of  the  three  summer  months,  79.  ;  least  heat  in  summer, 
Gl.  In  this  colony,  as  in  the  S.  of  Europe,  and  most  of  the 
warm  climates  of  a  temperate  zone,  the  wind  commonly  blows 
cold  in  summer,  at  the  same  time  that  the  sun  shines  power- 
fully. It  is  this  circumstance  which  distinguishes  a  warm 
from  a  hot  climate.f  Parched  winds  and  frequent  summer 
calms  equally  make  a  hot  climate.  In  a  cool  one,  or  merely 
warm,  the  temperature  of  the  air,  in  the  shade,  and  in  venti- 
lated sunshine,  several  feet  from  the  ground,  does  not  much 
vary ;  but  in  a  screened  situation,  or  at  the  surface  of  the 
ground,  the  heat  of  a  sunny  exposure,  at  noon-tide  of  a 
summer's  day,  becomes  intense.     That  intensity  of  heat,  is  in 

•  I  am  iiifiebtcd  for  this  to  Mr.  Greij^'s  Directory. 

f  See  Vol.  I.  Beiiiral  CliiniUe  for  the  effects  of  moisture. 


HUMIDITY  AND  WINDS  :    THE   *  TABLE  CLOTH.'  53 

Strictness,  superficial,  scarcely  penetrating  an  inch  beneath 
the  surface,  nor  reaching  more  that  a  foot  or  two  above  it. 
In  calm  weather,  the  range  of  reflected  heat  is  somewhat 
greater. 

At  the  foot  of  our  mountains,  and  within  the  verge  of  their 
influence,  the  heat  of  the  atmosphere  over  the  vallies  and  the 
plain  is  mitigated  by  a  cool  wind,  descending  from  the 
mountain's  side,  and  the  coldness  of  the  blast  is  tempered  by 
the  reflected  heat  of  the  earth's  surface.  Hence  a  moderate 
temperature,  where  the  wind  has  free  passage,  is  the  result 
in  summer  at  the  Cape.  Respecting  the  hygrometric  con- 
dition of  the  atmosphere,  the  following  observations  were 
made  in  the  summer  months.  Dryness,  in  the  morning 
before  sunrise,  is  ordinarily  from  6  to  7  degrees,  the  utmost 
12  degrees,  the  least  3  degrees;  which  for  a  mean  tempera- 
ture of  77  degrees,  answer  to  about  17  to  20  centecimals,  30 
and  39  respectively.  The  atmospheric  dryness  usually 
augments  as  the  day  advances ;  for,  while  the  temperature 
rises  towards  noon,  the  point  at  which  the  hygrometric  ther- 
mometer becomes  stationary,  remains  more  nearly  uniform ; 
mean  dryness  in  the  morning  7.  at  noon  14. 

These  observations  were  made  at  inland  situations,  and  the 
minimum  of  humidity  actually  noticed  has  probably  not 
amounted  to  a  fourth  of  the  atmosphere's  real  capacity  for 
moisture.  During  the  warm  season,  although  the  S.  E. 
moonsoon  predominates,  westerly  winds  are  not  infrequent ; 
they  are  always  moist.  When  south-easterly  winds  blow, 
they  bring  from  the  shallow  sea,  over  Lagullas'  bank,  hu- 
midity which  is  condensed  upon  the  summits  of  the  mountains. 
It  is  seen  rolling  down  the  western  cliffs  in  volumes  of  thick 
vapour ;  and  the  elevation  at  which  this  is  dissipated,  as  it 
descends,  answers  precisely  to  the  hygrometric  state  of  the 
air.  Were  marks  noted  upon  the  precipitous  sides  of  Table 
Mountain,  at  intervals  of  60  yards  in  perpendicular  height 
from  the  base,  the  number  of  such  divisions  below  the  cloud 
familiarly  termed  the  Table  Cloth,  would  correspond  with 
the    degrees    of  dryness  exhibited  by  the  hygrometer ;  for 


54         CAUSE  OF  THE    '  TABLE  CLOTIl'   ON  TABLE  MOUNTAIN. 

temperature  decreases  with   ascents   of  heights,    about    one 
degree  of  Fahrenheit's  scale,  for  every  90  yards  of  elevation. 
This  will  be  made  plain  by  citing  an  instance.     Thus,  on  the 
11th  of  Jan.  at  Cape  Town,  temperature,  71.  hyg.  therm.  58. ; 
a  cloud  hanging  over  Table  Mountain,  not  touching  it,  but 
just  elevated  above  the  summit:   the  height  of  Table  Moun- 
tain trigometrically  measured,  is  1,194  yards  ;  difference  of 
temperature,   according  to  theory  13.,  of  dryness  observed, 
13.     So  on  15th  January,  at  the    foot  of  Table  Mountain, 
temperature  in  the  shade  during  the  whole  (6  a.m.  to  44  p.m.) 
70.  to  71.  hyg.  therm.  58. ;  and  S.E.  strong  breeze,  cloud  on 
Table  Mountain.     Noon  at  an  elevated  station,  upon  the  ac- 
clivity, above  the  highest  inhabited  spot,  temperature  in  wind 
and  sunshine  69. ;  hyg.  therm.  58.     At  a  station  still  more  ele- 
vated,   above    the   highest    plantations    of  the    silver   tree, 
temperature,   in  ventilated  sunshine,   68.    hyg.   therm.    58|- ; 
the  wind  blowing  in  puffs    and  gusts,   (the  temperature  is 
depressed  2,  to  1.,  when  strong  gusts  blow.)     A  dense  white 
cloud  on  the  back  of  the  mountain,  receiving  evidently  con- 
tinued accession.     The  vapor  passing  over  the  summit,  and 
scarcely  descending  a  little  down  the  cliff,  seeming  to  curl 
laterally  and  vertically,  and  pause  while  vanishing  as  it  quits 
the    mountain.     Sometimes  a  very  small  fleece,  often  more 
considerable    and  dense.      A    small    detached    cloud    shows 
itself  here  and  there,   remains  awhile,  and  then  gradually 
vanishes ;  one  over  the  signal-post  on  the  Lion,  another  in 
front  of  Camp's  Bay,   another    again  in    the  distance   over 
Tygerberg,  all  apparently  on  the  same  level  with  the  cloud 
hanging  on  Table  mountain.     A  mountain  being  colder  than 
the  plain  below,   condenses  and  renders  visible  the  passing 
vapour  whenever  the  dryness  of  the   wind  is  less  than  the 
difference    of  temperature    between    its    summit    and   base. 
Owing  to  radiation,  the  influence  of  the  mountain's  summit 
extends  to  a  column  of  air  over  it,  and  a  cloud  at  rest  is,  ac- 
cordingly often  seen  suspended  high  above.     The  heat  of  the 
plain   has   a  like  influence  on  the  atmosphere  over    it,  and 
affects  the  temperature  immediately  above.  The  vapour  then^ 


CONDENSED  VAPOUR   VISIBLE.  55 

as  it  quits  the  mountain,  passes  into  a  warmer  region,  where 
it  is  dissolved,  and  which  thus  it  traverses,  transparent  and 
invisible,  to  be  again  condensed,  and  made  apparent  on  ap- 
proaching another  mountain.  This  is  the  simple  explanation 
of  the  appearances  which  are  so  conspicuous  during  the  con- 
tinuance of  a  S.  E.  wind  at  the  Cape.  Volumes  of  vapour 
are  seen  rolling  over  the  summits  and  down  the  sides  of 
Hanglip,  Hottentot's  Holland,  and  the  rest  of  the  chain  of 
high  mountains.  Above  the  vallies  and  over  the  isthmus, 
scarcely  a  passing  cloud  is  seen.  But  the  vapour  is  thickly 
condensed  on  the  peninsular  group  of  mountains,  rolls  over 
their  summits,  descends  to  a  certain  distance  down  the  cliffs, 
and  is  dissipated  and  becomes  transparent  as  it  passes  onwards. 
The  wind,  fed  by  cold  and  damp,  descending  from  the 
mountains,  blows  with  great  violence,  approaching  to  tem- 
pestuous force.  But  it  is  partial,  and  extends  to  no  distance 
from  the  shore.  It  is  the  boisterous  rush  of  colder  air,  to 
replace  warmer  in  a  fervent  atmosphere,  over  an  intensely 
heated  land.  On  the  windward  brow  of  a  mountain  the 
breeze  is  moderate  ;  on  the  lee  side  the  blast  is  strong ;  at  sea, 
a  mile  from  the  shore,  there  is  calm.  In  fact,  both  the  S.  E. 
and  westerly  winds  are,  to  the  promontory,  terminating  South 
Africa,  sea  breezes,  and  the  S.  E.  wind  has  not  parted  with 
that  character,  in  a  short  and  rapid  passage  across  that  pro- 
montory. The  parched  earth  cannot  but  be  refreshed  by  the 
passage  of  such  humid  air  over  it.  Its  heat  is  mitigated,  or 
that  of  the  atmosphere  above  is  so  by  cold  breezes,  which 
descends  from  high  mountains,  bringing  humidity  recently 
dravvn  off  the  sea.  Clouds  at  rest,  while  the  wind  is  blowing 
with  violence,  are  frequently  to  be  seen  over  False  Bay,  and 
likewise  over  the  Cape  Downs,  precisely  similar  to  clouds 
suspended  over  peaks.  Generally,  during  a  S.  E.  wind,  the 
sky  is  clear  between  Hanglip  and  Table  Mountain.  But  now 
and  then  a  small  silvery  cloud  suddenly  appears  above  the 
sea  or  the  shore,  grows,  changes  shape,  without  change  of 
place,  (although  the  wind,  mean  time,  continues  to  blow  most 
violently),  wastes  and  vanishes.     Dr.  Arnott,   in  his  highly 


56  DELICIOUS  CLIMATE  OF  ALBANY. 

interesting  work,  entitled  "  Elements  of  Physics,  or  Natura 
Philosophy,"  thus  accounts  for  the  singular  beauty  and  den- 
sity of  the  clouds,  which  frequently  envelop  Table  Mountain, 
The  reason  of  the  phenomenon  is,  that  the  air  constituting 
the  wind  from  the  S.  E.  having  passed  over  the  vast  southern 
ocean,  comes  charged  with  as  much  invisible  moisture  as  the 
temperature  can  sustum.  In  rising  up  the  side  of  the  moun- 
tain it  is  rising  in  the  atmosphere,  and  is,  therefore,  gradually 
escaping  from  a  part  of  the  former  pressure  :  and,  on  attaining 
the  summit,  it  has  dilated  so  much,  and  has,  consequently, 
becomes  so  much  colder,  that  it  lets  go  part  of  its  moisture. 
And  it  no  sooner  falls  over  the  edge  of  the  mountain  and 
again  descends  in  the  atmosphere  to  where  it  is  pressed 
and  condensed  and  heated  as  before ;  than  it  is  re-dissolved 
and  disappears.  The  magnificent  apparition  dwelling  only  on 
the  mountain's  top. 

In  Albany  and  the  eastern  districts  the  climate  partakes  much 
of  that  of  England  ;  the  mountain  tops  are  occasionally  covered 
with  snow,  which,  however,  rarely  falls  in  the  vallies ; — the 
winter  nights  are  sharp  and  clear,  while  the  summer  heats  are 
tempered  either  by  the  sea  breeze  or  by  the  currents  of  wind 
which  the  numerous  mountains  and  hills  keep  continually  in 
play.  The  fact  that  numerous  invalids  from  India  seek  and  find 
the  goddess  Hygeia  at  the  Cape  speaks  volumes  in  favour  of  the 
salubrity  of  the  atmosphere,  which  would  appear  to  be  dimi- 
nishing in  heat,  if  we  may  judge  by  the  large  icebergs  now 
seen  even  to  the  north  of  the  Cape,  which  some  years  since 
were  never  witnessed  but  to  the  southward  of  40°. 

The  S.E.  and  N.W.  winds  are  the  most  prevalent  in  this 
hemisphere — the  former  in  summer  and  the  latter  in  winter. 
During  the  N.W.  monsoon,  which  prevails  about  the  end  of 
September,  the  wind  blows  generally  in  an  oblique  direction 
off  the  coast; — but  I  do  not  think  that  any  period  of  the  year 
the  wind  blows  direct  on  the  shore.  The  gales  off  the  Cape 
v/hich  were  formerly  so  fatal  in  their  consequences,  have  either 
diminished  in  their  violence  or  ships  are  now  better  managed ; 
1  have  doubled  the  Cape  repeatedly  in  winter  and  summer, 


CAPE  STORMS  AND  THE  *  FLYING  DUTCHMAN.'       57 

and  never  yet  got  round  it  without  a  gale,  sometimes  of  nine 
days'  duration.  During  a  storm  of  this  extent,  the  sea  which 
is  raised  by  the  meeting  of  two  vast  oceans,  aided  probably 
by  the  current  on  the  Lagullas  bank  is  truly  magnificent ; 
the  waves  resemble  lofty  mountains,  with  vast  intervening 
vallies,  which  it  would  seem  impossible  for  a  ship  to  emerge 
from  when  engulphed  between  two  of  the  surrounding  bil- 
lows. No  object  can  impress  on  the  mind  more  forcibly  the 
daring  intrepidity  of  man  than  his  navigating  such  a  sea  with 
a  few  frail  timbers — nor  can  any  other  situation  more  forcibly 
pourtray  the  power  and  mercy  of  the  Almighty  than  to  wit- 
ness a  handful  of  human  beings  in  the  midst  of  such  an  awful 
scene,  and  yet  in  comparative  safety.  I  defy  any  man  to  be 
an  Atheist  after  suffering  a  storm  off  the  Cape. 

And  here  I  am  reminded  of  adverting  to  the  circumstance 
of  that  singular  phenomenon  which  has  been  seen  off  the  Cape^ 
and  usually  termed  the  '  Flying  Dutchman,'  which  few  sailors 
who  have  navigated  the  Cape  disbelieve,  and  which  most 
people  are  very  sceptical  respecting. 

The  supposed  origin  of  the  '  Flying  Dutchman,'  is  that  a 
vessel  from  Batavia  was  on  the  point  of  entering  Table  Bay 
in  stress  of  weather  during  the  Dutch  occupation  of  the  Cape, 
when  in  the  winter  season  no  vessel  was  allowed  to  enter  the 
bay :  the  batteries  fired  on  the  distressed  ship  and  compelled 
it  to  put  to  sea  where  it  was  lost,  and  as  the  sailors  say  has 
continued  ever  since  beating  about,  and  will  continue  to  do  so 
till  the  day  of  judgment. 

The  '  Dutchman  is  said  to  appear  generally  to  ships  in  a 
heavy  gale  with  all  sail  set — and  when  the  eastern  navigator  is 
in  a  calm  the  Dutchman  appears  to  be  scudding  under  bare 
poles.  As  many  persons  think  such  an  apparition  the  crea- 
tion of  fancy,  I  give  the  following  statement  which  was  noted 
down  in  the  log-book  of  his  Majesty's  ship  Leven  when  em- 
ployed with  the  Barracouta,  &c.  in  surveying  East  Africa,  and 
in  the  dangers  and  disasters  of  which  squadron  I  participated. 

His  Majesty's  ship  Leven,*  Capt.  W.  F.  W.  Owen,  on  the 

*  Account  of  the  voyage,  published  by  order  of  t'le  Admiralty,  1833. 


58  AUTHENTIC  ACCOUNT  OF  THE  '  FLYING  DUTCHMAN,' 

6tli  April,  1823,  when  off  Point  Danger,  on  her  voyage  from 
Algoa  to  Simon's  Bay,  saw  her  consort  the  Barracouta  about 
two  miles  to  leeward ;  this  was  considered  extraordinary  as 
her  sailing  orders  would  have  placed  her  in  a  different  direc- 
tion ;  but  her  peculiar  rig  left  not  a  doubt  as  to  her  identity, 
and  at  last  many  well  known  faces  were  distinctly  visible  looking 
towards  the  Leven.  Capt.  Owen  attempted  to  close  with  her 
to  speak,  but  was  surprised  that  she  not  only  made  no  effort  to 
join  the  Leven,  on  the  contrary  stood  away :  being  near  the  des- 
tined port,  Capt.  Owen  did  not  follow  her,  and  continued  on  his 
course  to  the  Cape,  but  at  sunset  she  was  observed  to  heave 
to  and  lower  a  boat  apparently  for  the  purpose  of  picking  up 
a  man  overboard ;  during  the  night  there  was  no  light  nor 
any  symptoms  of  her  locality.  The  next  morning  the  Leven 
anchored  in  Simon's  Bay  where  for  a  whole  week  the  Barra- 
couta was  anxiovisly  expected:  on  her  arrival  (the  14th)  it 
was  seen  by  her  log  that  she  was  300  miles  from  the  Leven 
when  the  latter  thought  she  saw  her,  and  had  not  lowered 
any  boat  that  evening ;  it  should  also  be  remarked  that  no 
other  vessel  of  the  same  class  was  ever  seen  about  the  Cape. 

On  another  occasion  a  similar  phenomenon  occurred  to  the 
Leven,  and  a  boat  was  apparently  lowered  as  is  generally  the 
case  when  the  phantom  seeks  to  lure  his  victim,  the  veteran 
sailor  was  not,  however,  to  be  caught,*  and  the  Leven,  after 
many  perils  reached  England  in  safety. 

Thrice  as  a  passenger  in  a  merchant  ship,  I  saw  a  vessel  in 
nearly  similar  circumstances :  on  one  occasion  we  hoisted 
lights  over  the  gang-way  to  speak  with  the  stranger ;  the 
third  time  was  on  my  recent  return  from  India.  We  had 
been  in  '  dirty  weather,'  as  the  sailors  say,  for  several  days, 
and  to  beguile  the  afternoon,  I  commenced  after  dinner  narrat- 
ing to  the  French  officers,  and  passengers  (who  were  strangers 
to  the  Eastern  seas),  the  stories  current  about  the  *  Fly- 
ing Dutchman  :'  the  wind,  which  had  been  freshening  during 
the  evening,  now  blew  a  stiff  gale,  and  we  proceeded  on  deck 

*  It  is  said  that  any  vessel  which  the  *'  Dutchman"  can  get  his  letters 
on  !)oar(l  of  is  certain  to  l»e  lost. 


BY  SEVERAL  VESSELS.  59 

to  see  the  crew  make  our  bark  all  snug  for  the  night : — the 
clouds,  dark  and  heavy,  coursed  with  rapidity  across  the 
bright  moon,  whose  lustre  is  so  peculiar  in  the  S.  hemis- 
phere, and  we  could  see  a  distance  of  from  eight  to  ten  miles 
on  the  horizon :  suddenly,  the  second  officer,  a  fine  Mar- 
seilles sailor,  who  had  been  among  the  foremost  in  the  cabin 
in  laughing  at,  and  ridiculing  the  story  of  the  *  Flying 
Dutchman,'  ascended  the  weather- rigging,  exclaiming  '  voila 
le  volant  Hollandais  T  the  captain  sent  for  his  night  glass, 
and  soon  observed,  '  it  is  very  strange,  but  there  is  a  ship 
bearing  down  upon  us  with  all  sail  set,  while  we  dare  scarcely 
shew  a  pocket-handkerchief  to  the  breeze.'  In  a  few  minutes 
the  stranger  was  visible  to  all  on  deck,  her  rig  plainly  dis- 
cernible, and  people  on  her  poop ;  she  seemed  to  near  us 
with  the  rapidity  of  lightning,  and  apparently  wished  to 
pass  under  our  quarter,  for  the  purpose  of  speaking ;  the 
captain,  a  resolute  Bordeaux  mariner,  said  it  was  quite  incom- 
prehensible, and  sent  for  the  trumpet  to  hail  or  answer,  when 
in  an  instant,  and  while  we  were  all  standing  on  the  qui  vive, 
the  stranger  totally  disappeared,  and  was  no  more  seen.  I 
give  this,  coupled  with  Captain  Owen's  statement  as  regards 
H.  M.  S.  Leve?},  without  remark,  and,  but  that  it  would  seem 
frivolous,  could  relate  several  other  instances.  The  reader 
will,  I  hope,  excuse  this  digression,  which  could  not  well  be 
avoided  in  treating  of  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope,  whose  name 
is  almost  associated  with  that  of  the    '  Flying  Dutchman.' 

Vegetable  Kingdom. — The  vegetation  of  South  Africa  is 
unique,  varied,*  and  beautiful ;  at  the  Cape  Peninsula,  in  the 
spring  of  the  year,  the  whole  surface  (excepting  the  heaths,  &c.) 
is  covered  with  the  large  Othonna  (so  like  the  daisy  as  to  be 
distinguished  only  by  a  botanist),  springing  up  in  myriads  out 
of  a  verdant  carpet,  composed  generally  of  the  low  creeping 
Trifolium  Melilotos,  the  Oxalis  Cerima,  and  others  of  the 
same  genus,  varying  through  every  tint  of  colour  from  bril- 

*  There  are  so  many  varieties  of  plants  at  the  Cape,  that  when  Linnaeus 
received  a  large  nixmber  of  specimens  from  thence,  he  replied,  *  You  have 
con/erred  on  me  the  greatest  pleasure,  hut  you  have  thrown  my  ivhole  system 
into  disorder.^' 


60  VEGETABLE  KINGDOM  OF  SOUTH  AFRICA. 

liant  red,  purple,  violet,  yellow,  down  to  snowy  whiteness, 
and  the  Hypoxis  Stellata,  or  star-flower,  with  its  regular 
radiated  corolla,  some  of  golden  yellow,  some  of  a  clear  un- 
sullied white,  and  others  containing  in  each  flower  white  and 
violet,  and  deep  green  are  equally  numerous,  and  infinitely 
more  beautiful.  Barrow  elegantly  observes  that,  whilst  these 
are  involving  the  petals  of  their  showy  flowrets  at  the  setting 
sun,  the  modest  Ixia  cinnamomea  (of  which  there  are  two 
varieties)  that  has  remained  closed  up  in  its  brown  calyx  all 
day,  now  expands  its  small  white  blossoms,  and  scents  the  air 
throughout  the  night  with  its  fragrant  odours. 

The  tribe  of  Ixias  are  extremely  elegant  and  numerous, 
one  species  bearing  a  long  upright  spike  of  green  flowers. 

The  Iris,  Morcea,  Antholiza,  and  Gladiolus,  each  furnish 
a  great  variety  of  species,  not  less  beautiful  than  the  Ixia. 
The  Gladiolus  (Africaner),  with  its  tall  waving  spike  of 
striped ;  or  of  deep  crimson  flowers,  is  uncommonly  elegant. 

The  Liliaceous  class  are  exceedingly  grand,  particularly 
the  Amaryllis.  The  sides  of  the  hills  are  finely  scented  with 
the  family  of  the  Geraniums,  exhibiting  such  variety  of  foliage 
that  it  has  been  supposed  this  tribe  of  plants  might  imitate, 
in  their  leaves,  every  genus  in  the  vegetable  world. 

The  ericas  (heaths)  have  long  been  acknowledged  to  be 
pre-eminent  in  variety  and  beauty  at  the  Cape,  and  flourish 
equally  on  stony  hills,  or  sandy  plains.  That  species  called 
the  Physodes,  with  its  clusters  of  white  glazed  flowers,  ex- 
hibiting in  the  sunshine  a  very  beautiful  appearance,  is  pecu- 
liar to  the  swampy  crevices  of  lofty  mountains,  as  is  also  a  tall 
elegant  fruitescent  plant  the  Cennoea  Mucronata.  Little  infe- 
rior to  the  ericas  are  the  several  species  of  the  generas  of 
Polygala,  Brunia,  Diosma,  Borbonia,  Cliffortia,  &c.,  and 
which  it  would  be  beyond  my  limits  even  to  enumerate.  No- 
where, in  fiict,  can  the  botanist  find  a  richer,  and  more  de- 
lightful field  for  his  interesting  pursuits  than  in  Southern 
Africa,  and  its  adjacent  coasts. 

An  endless  variety  of  fruitescent  or  shrubby  plants  grow 
in  wild  luxuriance,  some  on  the  hills,  some  in  the  deep  chasms 
in  the  mountains,  and  others  on  the  sandy  isthmus  of  the 


VARIETY  OF  TREES  AND  SHRUBS.  61 

Cape ;  but  it  is  singular  that  of  the  numerous  Protea,  indis- 
criminately produced  on  almost  every  hill  in  the  colony,  the 
Protea  Argentea  is  confined  to  the  feet  of  the  Table  Moun- 
tain, and  has  not  been  found  in  any  other  part  of  the  world. 
This  beautiful  shrub  has  been  aptly  termed  the  silver  tree, 
its  rich  foliage  being  of  a  lustrous  satin,  with  a  soft  texture, 
as  if  wove  with  a  pillowy  down,  offering  a  deep  contrast  to 
the  dark  foliage  of  the  surrounding  oak,  and  the  still  deeper 
hue  of  the  stone  pine. 

The  Conocarpa  (Kreupel  broom  of  the  Dutch)  grows  along 
the  sides  of  the  hills;  the  bark  is  employed  for  tanning  leather, 
and  the  branches  for  fire  wood.  The  Grandifiora  Speciosa^ 
and  Mellifera  grow  everywhere  in  wild  luxuriance,  as  do 
also  the  larger  kinds  of  ericas^  phyllicas,  Brunias,  polygalas, 
Olea  Capensis,  Euclea  racemosa,  Sophora,  and  many  other 
arboraceous  plants.  The  Palma  Chr'isti  (castor  oil  plant), 
and  the  Aloe,  are  met  with  everywhere  in  great  plenty.  The 
dwarf  mulberry  flourishes,  and  the  Myr'ica  Cerifera  (from 
the  berries  of  which  a  firm  and  pure  wax  is  procured  by  simple 
boiling)  is  wild  in  abundance  on  the  heathy  sides  of  the  hills. 

Avenues  of  oak  (Durmast)  trees,  and  plantations  of  the 
white  poplar,  stone  pine,  &c.  are  to  be  seen  near  most  of  the 
country  houses. 

The  most  valuable  trees  at  the  Cape  are  the  Stink  wood 
(a  species  of  Quercus  peculiar  to  South  Africa)  and  the  Geel 
hout,  or  yellow  wood  {taxus  elongatus — Lin.)  both  of  which 
are  excellently  adapted  for  building,  furniture,  and  all  do- 
mestic purposes  ;  they  generally  attain  a  height  of  50  feet 
with  a  diameter  of  10. 

The  following  table  will  give  some  idea  of  the  variety  of 
timber  in  the  colony  (although  many  sorts  are  not  here  enu- 
merated*) and  which,  if  there  were  no  duty  or  impost  on  its 
importation  into  England,  would  become  a  valuable  article  of 
traffic. 

*  The  woods  most  used  in  Albany  are  the  red  and  white  milk,  red  and 
white  els,  red  and  white  pear,  saffron,  iron  wood,  assagai,  and  sneeze 
woods. 


62 


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ITS  SIZES,  QUALITY  AND  USES. 


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64'  EASTERN  DISTRICT — VEGETATION  :    FRUITS. 

In  the  eastern  districts  there  are  various  species  of  the 
euphorbia,  strelitzia,  crassula,  aloe,  briony,  beautiful  scar- 
let cotelydons,  jessamines,  &c. 

In  the  neighbourhood  of  Graham's  Town,  where  the  climate 
is  probably  one  of  tlie  finest  in  the  world,  the  coralodendron, 
grows  as  tall  as  the  stately  oak,  and  in  the  spring  produces 
great  clusters  of  deep  scarlet  flowers  from  a  dark  velvet  calyx. 
It  is  hardly  possible  to  imagine  the  brilliance  and  beauty  of 
its  appearance,  the  whole  of  its  branches  being  covered  with 
blossoms.  The  strelitzia  regnia  produces  flowers  in  the  great- 
est profusion.  What  we  consider  beautiful  specimens  of  ge- 
ranium, are  here  treated  as  garden  weeds,  and  rooted  out 
to  make  room  for  more  favourite  plants,  but  the  colonists 
often  form  the  garden  hedges  of  the  ivy-leafed  geranium. 
The  Karroo  desert  is  chiefly  covered  with  varieties  of  me- 
sembryanthemum,  crassula,  stapelia,  and  euphorbia,  with  tufts 
or  bunches  of  wiry  grass,  expanding  extensively  after  rain. 

Several  species  of  the  indigofera  (indigo  plant)  grow  wild  ; 
the  cactus  (on  which  the  Cochineal  insect  feeds)  thrives  ; 
various  species  of  the  Gossyinum.  (cotton  plant)  flourishes  in 
the  eastern  parts  of  South  Africa,  and  of  several  varieties  ;* 
the  tea  plant,  a  hardy  shrub,  which  when  once  planted  is  not 
easily  eradicated,  has  long  been  in  the  country,  the  soil,  cli- 
mate and  face  of  which  bears  so  strong  an  analogy  to  Fokien 
and  the  other  tea  provinces  of  China  that  it  is  singular  no  at- 
tention has  yet  been  paid  to  the  subject :  flax  yields  two  crops 
in  the  year,  and  the  tobacco  plant  is  large  and  of  a  fine 
odour.f  Hemp,  tobacco,  opium,  cotton,  silk  and  even  tea 
may  one  day  become  extensive  articles  of  export  from  South 
Africa. 

*  I  found  a  very  fine  creeping-  cotlon  plant  at  Dela^oa  Bay,  growing  on 
the  Red  Cliffs,  alonjr  Ei\glish  River  ;  the  pods  were  very  small,  but  the 
fibre  long,  elastic,  and  easily  separated  from  llie  seed. 

t  The  slaves  and  Hottentots  are  passionately  addicted  to  smokinp;  the 
dried  leaves  of  a  plant  called  dacha  (in  India  bang  or  Oeng—'A  species  of 
wild  hemp)  generally  mixed  with  tobacco,  It  has  the  same  stimulant 
effect  as  opium. 


FRUITS  OF  THE  CAPE — GRAPES,  &C.  G5 

Of  fruit  there  is  every  possible  variety  belonging  to  the 
tropical  and  temperate  zones — oranges,  lemons,  citrons,  (several 
kinds)  figs,  guavas,  grapes,  melons,  pomegranates,  shaddock, 
quinces,  jambos,  loquats,  peaches,  nectarines,  pears,  apples, 
plums,  mulberries,  raspberries,  strawberries,  gooseberries, 
&c.  almonds,  walnuts,  chesnuts,  hazlenuts  are  all  large  and  of 
excellent  flavour. 

There  are  a  great  variety  of  grapes  grown  at  the  Cape,  and 
equal  to  those  of  any  part  of  the  world ;  a  large  white  Persian 
grape  (haenapod  or  cocksfoot)  yields  a  delicious  but  expensive 
wine,  but  the  grape  being  fleshy  is  generally  planted  for  the 
purpose  of  being  converted  into  raisins. 

The  vine  is  generally  planted  at  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope  as 
I  have  observed  it  in  Normandy,  that  is  in  rows  like  goose- 
berry bushes;  — at  some  vineyards  such  as  Constantia,  the 
vine  is  supported  on  frames  raised  a  few  feet  above  the  earth, 
or  on  lofty  trellices  along  which  they  spread  in  luxuriant  rich- 
ness. On  an  acre  of  ground  may  be  planted  (after  the  goose- 
berry fashion)  5,000  vines  which  will  yield  five  leaguers  or 
pipes  (760  gallons)  of  wine,  the  average  wholesale  price  of 
the  leaguer  being  80  shillings. 

Had  it  not  been  for  the  shameful  treatment  which  the  wine 
merchants  at  the  Cape  have  received  from  persons  calling  them- 
selves English  Statesmen — at  the  bidding  of  interested  parties 
at  home,  (where  unfortunately  our  colonial  interests  have 
hitherto  been  little  attended  to)  the  vineyards  of  the  Cape  of 
Good  Hope  whether  as  regards  wine,  brandy  or  fruit,  would 
now  be  some  of  the  most  valuable  and  thriving  property  in 
this  vast  empire ;  but  the  faith  of  engagements — Acts  of 
Parliament — solemn  promises — and  repeated  encouragements 
to  enter  extensively  on  the  cultivation  of  the  grape  were  as 
nought  to  the  shallow  professors  of  a  spurious  political  eco- 
nomy— who  to  uphold  a  theory  would  sacrifice  a  nation.*  (See 
Wine  Trade  section.) 

*  When  tlie  JtliOKsitm,  Spectator  and  other  journals  again  propose  to  do 
me  the  honor  of  rebuking  me  for  anti-free  trade  notions,  I  i)eg  tliey  will 
first  read  my  work  more  carefully  for  a  definition  of  whiit  I  mean  by  free 
trade — (see  vol.  3,  p.  540,  &c.) 

VOL.   IV.  F 


6G  ANIMAL  KINGDOM  OF  SOUTH  AFRICA. 

Of  culinary  vegetables  every  possible  variety  and  of  the 
finest  quality  is  grown  at  the  Cape — the  potatoes  are  such  as 
would  please  the  most  fastidious  Corkonian,  and  the  excellent 
kitchen  market  at  Cape  Town  would  in  variety  and  excellence 
outvie  Covent  Garden  on  its  palmiest  May-day. 

The  various  grains  cultivated  are  now  much  improved  by 
the  introduction  of  fresh  seed  from  England,  from  India,  and 
from  Australia ;  new  grasses  have  been  laid  down,  and  the 
system  of  turnip  husbandry  commenced  in  the  English  dis- 
tricts is  extending  among  the  Dutch  agriculturists. 

Animal  Kingdom — In  South  Africa  are  found  the  largest 
and  the  smallest  of  the  animated  kingdom.  Among  the 
beasts  are  the  elephant,  which  weighs  4,000  lbs.  and  the  black 
streaked  mouse,  only  the  fourth  part  of  an  ounce  !  The 
CamelopardaUs  or  Giraffe  17  feet  high,  and  the  elegant 
Zenik  or  Viverra  of  three  inches ;  and  among  the  feathered 
tribes  the  ostrich,  six  feet  high,  and  the  creeper,  about  the 
size  of  a  cherry. 

Of  the  thirty  different  species  of  antelope  known  in  natural 
history,  South  Africa  possesses  eighteen  ;  besides  these  there 
is  the  largest  of  the  eland  or  oreas  that  exists,  viz.  six  feet 
high,  together  with  the  pigmy  or  royal  antelope,  which  is  little 
more  than  six  inches ;  the  springbok  or  leaping  antelope  is 
met  with  in  herds  of  4  or  5,000. 

The  lion,  the  leopard,  the  panther  and  various  species  of 
the  tiger  cat  (but  not  the  striped  Bengal  tiger)  are  indigenous. 
The  wolf,  the  hyena  and  three  or  four  different  kinds  of  jack- 
als, are  everywhere  found,  as  also  the  ant-eater,  the  iron  hog 
or  crested  porcupine,  the  viverra  (that  burrows  in  the  ground) 
the  jerboa  (nearly  allied  to  the  kangaroo)  and  several  species 
of  hares. 

Buffaloes  are  numerous  in  the  woods  and  thickets ;  many 
of  the  plains  abound  with  zebras,  with  the  stronger  and 
more  elegant  quacha,  as  well  as  with  large  herds  of  that  sin- 
gular-looking animal  the  gnoo,  which  partakes  of  the  form  of 
the  ox,  the  horse,  the  antelope  and  the  stag.*     In  the  moun- 

*  As  cultivation  and  civilization  extends,  all  the  wild  animals  retreat 
towards  tlie  nortliwurd  or  eastward. 


THE  LION HIS  EXTRAORDINAKY  STRENGTH.  G7 

tains  there  are  large  troops  of  the  dog-faced  baboon,  and 
swarms  of  apes  and  monkies  of  all  sizes.  The  vast  hippopo- 
tamus, and  equally  bulky  rhinoceros  likewise  abound  in  the 
eastern  district. 

A  few  brief  notices  of  some  of  these  animals  may  serve  to 
diversify  a  work  unavoidably  tedious  and  dry,  I  therefore 
subjoin  the  following  with  the  hope  of  attracting  some  readers 
to  examine  the  resources,  &c.  of  our  colonies.* 

Lion. — Of  this  noble  animal  two  varieties  (the  yellow  and 
the  brown  or  black)  exist  in  South  Africa,  both  however  re- 
treating before  the  progress  of  European  colonization  ;  the 
dark  coloured  is  the  strongest  and  fiercest :  their  strength  is 
prodigious  ;  well  authenticated  accounts  prove  that  a  lion  will 
carry  off  an  ox  or  a  horse  with  nearly  as  great  ease  as  a  fox 
would  do  a  goose.  A  young  lion  has  been  known  to  carry  a 
good  sized  horse  a  mile  from  the  spot  where  he  killed  it,  and 
an  instance  occurred  in  the  Sneuwberg  where  a  lion  carried 
off  a  two  year  old  heifer,  and  when  his  track  or  spoor  was  fol- 
lowed by  the  hunters  for  five  hours  on  horseback,  throughout 
the  whole  distance  the  carcase  only  once  or  twice  was  dis- 
covered to  have  touched  the  ground.  Sparrman  says  he  saw 
a  lion  at  the  Cape  take  a  heifer  in  his  mouth,  and  though  the 
legs  trailed  on  the  ground,  he  carried  it  off  as  a  cat  would  a 
rat,  and  leaped  a  broad  dike  without  the  least  difficulty.  Like 
all  the  feline  tribe  the  lion  lies  in  wait  for  his  prey,  crouching 
among  grass  and  reeds  near  pools  and  fountains,  or  in  narrow 
ravines  ; — he  will  spring  from  nine  to  twelve  yards  at  a  bound, 
and  can  repeat  these  springs  for  a  short  time.  Denied,  how- 
ever, the  fleetness  of  the  hound  or  wolf,  the  lion  by  a  few  quick 
and  amazing  bounds  can  seize  the  tall  giraffe  or  camelopard  ; 
— this  circumstance  has  been  thus  beautifully  described. f 

*  Those  colonists  who  may  at  first  sight  think  some  of  the  details  in 
this  and  the  preceding  volumes  trifling,  should  remember  that  all  dry  and 
methodical  efforts  to  fix  the  attention  of  even  the  intelligent  portion  of  the 
home  community  on  our  colonies  have  hitherto  proved  unavailing;  the 
plan  I  have  pursued  has  been  so  far  successful — and  critics  should  remem- 
ber that  the  physician  has  often  to  gild  the  pill  for  his  capricious  patient. 

t  By  the  late  Mr.  Pringle. 


68  THE  LION  AT  FIRST  AVERSE  TO  ATTACKING  MAN. 

THE  LION  AND  THE  GIRAFFE, 

Would'st  thou  view  the  lion's  den  ?  In  vain  ! — the  spoiler  on  his  prize 

Search  afar  from  haunts  of  men —  Rides  proudly — tearing  as  he  flies. 
Where  the  reed-encircled  rill 

Oozes  from  the  rocky  hill,  For  life — the  victim's  utmost  speed 

By  its  verdure  far  descried                 '  Is  mustered  in  this  hour  of  need  ; 

'Mid  the  desert  brown  and  wide.  For  life — for  life — his  giant  might 

He  strains,  and  pours  his  soul  in  flight ; 

Close  beside  the  sedgy  biim  And,  mad  with  terror,  thirst,  and  pain, 

Couchant  lurks  the  lion  grim  ;  Spiu-ns  with  wild  hoof  the  thundering  plain. 
Watching  till  the  close  of  day 

Brings  the  death-devoted  prey.  'Tis  vain  ;  the  thirsty  sands  are  drinking 

Heedless  at  the  ambushed  brink.  His  streaming  blood^his  strength  is  sinking ; 

The  tall  giraffe  stoops  down  to  drink  :  The  victor's  fangs  are  in  his  veins — 

Upon  him  straight  the  savage  springs  His  flanks  are  streaked  with  sanguine  stains — 

With  cruel  joy.    The  desert  rings  His  panting  breast  in  foam  and  gore 

With  clanging  sound  of  desperate  strife —  Is  bathed — he  reels — his  race  is  o'er : 

For  the  prey  is  strong,  and  strives  for  life.  He  falls — and,  with  convulsive  throe, 

Resigns  his  throat  to  the  rav'ning  foe ! 

Plunging  oft  with  frantic  bound,  And  lo  !  ere  quivering  life  has  fled, 

To  shake  the  tyrant  to  the  ground.  The  vultures,  wheeling  overhead. 

He  shrieks — he  rushes  through  the  waste,  Swoop  down,  to  watch,  in  gaunt  array, 

With  glaring  eye  and  headlong  haste  :  Till  the  gorged  tyrant  quits  his  prey. 

Instances  have  been  known  of  the  Giraffe  thus  carrying  a  hon 
twenty  miles  before  sinking  under  the  attacks  of  its  destroyer. 
The  hons  inhabiting  the  Bushmen's  country  are  said  to  be 
remarkably  fierce,  and  it  is  generally  credited  that  though  at 
first  averse  to  attacking  man,*  yet  when  they  have  once  tasted 
human  flesh  they  lose  that  awe  which  they  usually  show  to 

*  Several  curious  instances  have  been  narrated  of  this  unwillingness  to 
attack  man  :  the  following-  illustrations  will  suffice,  and  at  the  same  time 
demonstrate  the  courage  of  the  Cape  Dutchman. 

Diederick  Muller,  one  of  the  most  intrepid  lion  hunters  in  South  Africa, 
Che  and  his  brother  Christian  having  killed  upwards  of  thirty  lions)  was 
once  alone  hunting  in  the  wilds,  when  he  came  suddenly  on  a  lion,  who  in- 
stead of  giving  way  as  they  generally  do,  seemed  disposed  to  dispute  with 
him  the  dominion  of  the  desert.  Diederick  alighted,  and  when  at  fifteen 
yards  distance  took  aim  at  his  forehead,  the  lion  being  then  couched  and 
in  the  act  of  springing ;  at  the  moment  the  hunter  fired  the  aflfrighted 
horse  started  back,  and  the  bridle  being  round  his  arm  caused  him  to  miss. 
The  lion  bounded  forward,  and  at  a  few  paces  distant  confronted  the  hun- 
ter, who  stood  defenceless,  his  gun  discharged  and  his  horse  running  oflf. 

The  man  and  the  beast  confronted  each  other  with  fi.xed  eyes  for  a  few 
moments,  at  length  the  latter  began  slowly  to  draw  backwards,  whilst 
Diederick  began  to  load  his  gun  ;  at  this  movement  the  lion  growled, 
looked  over  his  shoulder  and  returned.  Diederick  stood  still;  the  lion 
again  sneaked  back,  when  tlie  boor  proceeded  to  ram  down  his  bullet,  on 
which  the  lion  again  returned  growling  angrily.  At  length  when  he  had 
incrc*ased  his  distance  to  twenty  yards,  he  suddenly  turned  round  and  fairly 
took  to  bis  heels.  There  can  be  no  do.ibt  I)Ut  that  the  resolution  of  Diederick 


COMBATS  WITH  THE  LION.  69- 

man  unless  ^A'hen  extremely  hungry — indeed  it  is  asserted 
when  a  lion  has  once  succeeded  in  carrying  off  some  unhappy 
wretch,  he  will  return  regularly  every  night  in  search  of  an- 
other, and  there  are  instances  where  the  native  tribes  have 
been  so  dreadfully  harassed  as  to  have  been  driven  to  desert 
their  station  and  seek  another  settlement.  It  is  also  a  sinsru- 
lar  fact  that  he  prefers  black  men  to  whites. 

An  instance  corroborative  of  this  occurred  when  I  was  on 
board  his  Majesty's  ship  Ariadne,  where  Captain  Chapman 
had  a  huge  pet  lion  named  Prince,  which  he  had  reared  from 
a  cub  :  Prince  was  good  friends  with  the  sailors,  and  in  par- 
ticular with  the  marine  drummer,  whom  he  delighted  to  seize 
by  the  shoulder-knot  and  pull  on  his  back. 

saved  his  life,  for  had  he  exhibited  the  least  sign  of  fear  or  given  way  one 
inch,  the  savage  beast  would  have  sprung  upon  him  instantly. 

The  encounter  of  Gert  Schepers,  a  Vee  Boor  of  the  Cradock  district, 
with  a  lion  had  however  a  less  fortunate  result.  Gert  was  out  hunting  in 
company  with  a  neighbour,  and  coming  to  a  fountain  surrounded  with  tall 
reeds,  he  handed  his  gun  to  his  comrade  whilst  he  proceeded  to  search  for 
water.  He  no  sooner  approached  the  spring  than  an  enormous  lion  sprang 
up  close  at  his  side  and  seized  him  by  the  left  arm.  The  man  thus  taken 
by  surprise,  aware  that  the  least  motion  would  insure  his  instant  destruc- 
tion, stood  stock  still  and  tixed  his  eyes  on  those  of  the  lion,  who  unable  to 
withstand  the  gaze  of  his  victim,  closed  his  own,  still  holding  him  fast  with 
his  fangs  but  without  biting  him  severely.  As  they  stood  in  this  positiort 
for  some  moments,  Gert  beckoned  to  his  companion  to  approach  and  shoot 
the  lion  in  the  forehead  which  he  might  easily  have  done,  the  animal  still 
keeping  his  eyes  fast  closed,  but  his  cowardly  comrade  retreated  to  the  top 
of  a  neighbouring  rock. 

Had  Gert  remained  quiet  for  a  few  momen  s  the  hunters  affirm  that  the 
lion  would  have  released  his  hold  and  left  him  uninjured,  but  he  losing 
patience,  and  seeing  himself  abandoned  drew  his  knife,  and  with  his 
whole  force  plunged  it  into  the  animal's  breast.  The  thrust  was  a  deadly 
one,  but  the  enraged  beast  novv  strove  to  grapple  with  him ;  the  hunter, 
who  was  a  powerful  man,  using  his  utmost  efforts  to  keep  him  at  arms 
length,  but  the  beast  in  his  dying  agonies  so  dreadfully  lacerated  his  breast 
and  arms  as  to  lay  the  bones  bare.  At  length  they  fell  together,  and  his 
cowardly  companion  who  had  witnessed  the  fearful  struggle  took  courao-e 
to  advance  and  succeeded  in  carrying  his  mangled  friend  to  the  nearest 
habitation,  but  he  expired  on  the  third  day  of  locked  jaw. 


70"  MAGNANIMITY  AND  GRATITUDi:  OF  THE  LION. 

Having  captured  a  slave  ship,  the  unfortunate  beings  were 
sent  in  our  ship  from  the  Seychelles  to  the  Mauritius  ;  the 
moment  they  came  aboard  Prince's  manners  were  quite  al- 
tered, he  soon  tore  one  of  them  down,  and  until  they  were 
disembarked  it  was  necessary  to  keep  him  in  durance  vile  in- 
stead of  allowing  him  to  scamper  about  the  decks  like  a  huge 
playful  cat. 

Numerous  instances  are  related  of  the  magnanimity  of  the 
lion  towards  the  human  race,  especially  when  satiated  with 
his  favourite  meal  of  horse  flesh  ;  Mr.  Pringle  relates  an  in- 
stance of  which  he  was  an  eye  witness  where  a  party  of  Scotch 
settlers  at  Albany  went  out  to  destroy  a  lion  who  had  been 
eating  their  horses  ; — they  bearded  the  monarch  of  the  forest 
in  his  den,  and  fired  at  him  without  effect ;  the  noble  beast 
sprang  at  them,  and  with  one  stroke  of  his  paw  dashed  the 
nearest  to  the  ground — placed  his  terrific  paw  on  the  pros- 
trate Scotchman,  and  with  the  most  imposing  port  imaginable 
looked  round  on  his  assailants  conscious  of  his  power  but  with 
clemency  towards  what  was  supposed  to  be  his  intended  vic- 
tim ;  satisfied  with  this  exhibition  of  what  he  could  effect  when 
roused,  the  magnanimous  beast  turned  calmly  away,  bounded 
over  the  adjoining  thicket,  clearing  brakes  and  bushes  12  or 
15  feet  high,  and  returned  to  the  mountains. 

Many  authentic  anecdotes  have  been  narrated  of  the  affec- 
tion or  gratitude  for  past  favours  of  which  the  lion  is  suscep- 
tible ;  with  the  brief  narration  of  one  that  was  witnessed  by 
myself,  I  close  this  account  of  the  African  Lion.  Prince  (the 
tame  lion  on  board  H.M.S.  Ariadne  before  mentioned)  had  a 
keeper  to  whom  he  was  much  attached ;  the  keeper  got  drunk 
one  day,  and  as  the  Captain  never  forgave  this  crime,  the 
keeper  was  ordered  to  be  flogged ;  the  grating  was  rigged 
on  the  main  deck  opposite  Prince's  den,  a  large  barred  up 
place,  the  pillars  very  strong  and  cased  with  iron.  When  the 
keeper  began  to  strip.  Prince  rose  gloomily  from  his  couch 
and  got  as  near  to  his  friend  as  possible  ;  on  beholding  his 
bare  back  he  walked  hastily  round  the  den,  and  when  he  saw 
the  boatswain  inflict  the  first  lash,  his  eyes  sparkled  with  fire. 


THE  ELEPHANT  OF  SOUTH  AFRICA.  71 

and  his  sides  resounded  with  the  strong  and  quick  beatings 
of  his  tail ;  at  last  when  the  blood  began  to  flow  from  the 
unfortunate  man's  back,  and  the  clotted  "  cats"  jerked  their 
gory  knots  close  to  the  lion's  den,  his  fury  became  tremen- 
dous, he  roared  with  a  voice  of  thunder,  shook  the  strong  bars 
of  his  prison  as  if  they  had  been  osiers,  and  finding  his  efforts 
to  break  loose  unavailing,  he  rolled  and  shrieked  in  a  manner 
the  most  terrific  that  it  is  possible  to  conceive.  The  Captain 
fearing  he  might  break  loose,  ordered  the  marines  to  load  and 
pi'esent  at  Prince :  this  threat  redoubled  his  rage,  and  at  last 
the  Captain  (whether  from  fear  or  clemency  I  will  not  say)  de- 
sired the  keeper  to  be  cast  off  and  go  into  his  friend ;  it  is 
impossible  to  describe  the  joy  evinced  by  the  lion,  he  licked 
with  care  the  mangled  and  bleeding  back  of  the  cruelly 
treated  seaman — caressed  him  with  his  paws,  which  he  folded 
around  the  keeper  as  if  to  defy  any  one  renewing  a  similar 
treatment,  and  it  was  only  after  several  hours  that  Prince 
would  allow  the  keeper  to  quit  his  protection  and  return  among 
those  who  had  so  ill-used  him. 

Elephants  are  met  with  in  the  E.  district  of  the  colony,  and 
become  numerous  as  we  proceed  eastward.  I  saw  a  herd  of 
them  at  Delagoa  Bay  to  the  number  of  about  fifty,  and  as 
they  had  young  with  them  I  had  a  narrow  escape  ;  my  safety, 
in  fact  being  owing  to  climbing  a  large  tree,  where  I  remained 
some  hours,  firing  with  my  fowling-piece  leaden  balls,  which 
did  not  appear  to  produce  the  slightest  effect.  The  elephant 
seldom  attacks  man,  unless  they  have  young  with  them,  or 
when  one  is  driven  from  among  his  companions,  (then  he 
becomes  cunning  and  ferocious)  or  when  wounded ;  in  the  latter 
instance  the  usually  passive  nature  of  the  elephant  is  changed 
into  the  fury  of  the  lion ;  yet  the  Dutch  colonists  boldly 
attack  him.  Mr.  Thompson,  in  his  interesting  travels,  re- 
lates a  curious  and  fatal  instance  of  hardihood  towards  an 
elephant. 

"  Our  hostess  gave  the  account  of  the  recent  death  of  one 
of  her  relations  in  the  following  manner.  '  On  the  1st  of  Jan. 
a  party  of  friends  and  neighbours  had  met  together  to  celebrate 


72  THE  RHINOCEROS  AND  HIPPOPOTAMUS. 

New  Years'  Day,  and  having  got  heated  with  hquor,  began 
each  boastingly  to  relate  the  feats  of  hardihood  they  had 
performed.  Mare,  who  had  been  a  great  hunter  of  elephants, 
(having  killed  in  his  day  above  40  of  these  gigantic  animals), 
laid  a  wager  that  he  would  go  into  the  forest  and  pluck  three 
hairs  out  of  an  elephant's  tail.  This  feat  he  actually  per- 
formed, and  returned  safely  with  the  trophy  to  his  comrades. 
But  not  satisfied  with  this  daring  specimen  of  his  audacity, 
he  laid  another  bet  that  he  would  return  and  shoot  the  same 
animal  on  the  instant.  He  went  accordingly,  with  his  mighty 
roer,  but  never  returned.  He  approached  too  incautiously, 
and  his  first  shot  not  proving  effective,  the  enraged  animal 
rushed  upon  him  before  he  could  reload  or  make  his  escape, 
and  having  first  thrust  his  tremendous  tusk  through  his  body, 
trampled  him  to  a  cake."  ' 

The  CafFres  usually  steal  behind  the  huge  beast,  whose 
eye  is  not  so  quick  as  his  scent,  and  ham-string  him. 

Of  the  Rhinoceros. — There  are  two  distinct  species  of  the 
two  horned,  found  in  South  Africa ;  the  horn  next  the  snout 
is  the  largest,  and  in  the  female  it  is  longer  and  more  slender 
than  in  the  male,  being  from  three  to  four  feet;  strong,  pon- 
derous and  elastic.  The  secondary  horn  is,  in  many  instances, 
especially  in  the  female,  so  small  as  to  be  scarcely  perceptible 
at  a  little  distance.  The  general  figure  of  the  rhinoceros  is 
that  of  an  enormous  hog,  and  of  prodigious  strength.  It  is, 
probably,  the  Unicorn  alluded  to  in  scripture. 

Hippopotami,  the  probable  leviathans  of  scripture,  are 
numerous  to  the  eastward.  I  have  seen  them  along  the 
coast  of  Africa  as  large  as  those  caught  on  the  Nile,  viz. 
seventeen  feet  from  the  extremity  of  the  snout  to  the  inser- 
tion of  the  tail ;  sixteen  feet  round  the  body,  and  above  seven 
feet  in  height ;  head  four  feet  long,  and  upwards  of  nine  in 
circumference ;  and  that  of  a  small  sized  animal,  weighing 
without  the  tongue  300  lbs.  Jaws  opening  two  feet,  cutting 
teeth  (four  in  each  jaw),  one  foot  long.  The  feet,  broad  and 
flat,  like  those  of  an  elephant,  and  divided  into  four  parts  ;  tail 
short,  flat,  and  pointed,  and  the  hide  of  extraordinary  thick- 


THE  LEOPARD,  KLlP-SPRlNGER,  &C.  73 

ness,  with  a  few  scattered  greyish  hairs.  While  at  Delagoa 
Bay  and  on  the  coast  we  tried  repeatedly  to  shoot  one,  but 
without  effect ;  I  have  fired  at  them  close,  and  the  ball  fell 
from  the  back  as  from  a  flexible  but  impenetrable  surface.* 
They  are  herbivorous,  and  delight  to  come  on  shore  at  night 
to  feed,  and,  where  frequenting  salt  water,  to  drink.  Many 
of  my  brother  officers  have,  on  such  occasions,  assisted  me 
for  whole  nights  in  endeavouring  to  shoot  them,  or  intercept 
their  return  to  the  sea,  but  at  each  time  we  nearly  paid  the 
penalty  of  life  for  our  sport,  as  the  hippopotamus  when  en- 
raged is  as  furious  as  the  elephant. 

The  leopard,  hyena,  wolf,  wild  dog,  ant-hear,  8^c.  are  all  de- 
parting before  the  progress  of  civilization,  but  still  afford  good 
hunting  in  the  eastern  districts ;  where  the  zebra  and  nilghau 
are  occasionally  met  with.  The  great  variety  of  the  antelope 
tribe  has  been  before  mentioned  :  that  beautiful  sort  termed 
the  Spring-Bok,  in  seasons  of  drought,  spreads  over  the 
fertile  districts  in  swarms  like  locusts,  returning  again  to  the- 
vast  tracts  of  uninhabited  country  W.  of  the  Zekoe  River, 
when  the  drought  disappears. 

The  Klip-Springer  (rock  leaper)  is  of  amazing  agility ;  its 
cloven  hoofs  are  each  of  them  subdivided  into  two  segments 
and  jagged  at  the  edges,  which  gives  it  the  power  of  adhering 
to  the  steep  sides  of  the  smooth  rock,  without  danger  of 
slipping.  The  colour  is  cinereous  grey,  the  hair  extremely 
light,  adhering  loosely  to  the  skin,  and  so  brittle  that  it 
breaks  instead  of  bending.  The  horns  are  short,  straight, 
erect,  and  annulated  one-third  of  their  length  from  the  base. 

The    GriesbocJc,  or    Grizzled  Deer,  is   of  a   grizzled    or 

*  Going  on  shore  one  day  at  Qiiiloa  (east  coast  of  Africa)  when  se- 
veral of  those  huge  monsters  rose  in  the  water  close  to  the  boat,  (we  have 
seen  them  at  sea  eight  or  ten  miles  from  the  shore),  I  fired  with  a  ship's 
pistol,  at  the  distance  of  ten  yards,  without  the  sliglitest  effect ;  one  of 
them  appeared  enraged,  and  came  up  close  as  if  he  would  gripe  the  cutter ; 
when  the  bowman  thrust  his  oar  down  his  throat,  and  was  nearly  pulled 
into  the  horrid  gulf  after  it.  When  up  the  Maputa  River  an  hippopotamus 
did  actually  seize  in  his  jaws,  and  stave  in,  an  8  oared  cutter  belonging  to 
His  Majesty's  ship,  Leven  ! 


74      THE  GRIESBOK,  AND  DIUKER  DEER,  HORSES  AND  SHEEP. 

greyish  colour,  the  ground,  bright  brown  interspersed  with 
silver  hairs,  length,  two  feet  nine  inches,  height,  one  foot  nine 
inches,  ears  five  inches,  black  and  naked,  sinus  lachrymalis, 
very  distinct ;  male  black,  horns  four  inches,  tapering  to  a 
point ;  female  wanting  horns. 

The  Diiiker,  or  Diver,  (so  called  from  its  manner  of  plunging 
among  the  bushes),  is  of  a  dusky  brown ;  length,  three  feet, 
height,  two  feet  and  a  half,  ears,  seven  inches,  horns,  four 
inches  ;  straight,  black,  nearly  parallel,  but  diverging  towards 
the  points,  amulated  close  to  the  base ;  female  wanting  horns. 
The  Sinus  Lachrymalis,  or  Subocular  indent,  which  most 
of  the  antelope  tribe  have,  is  in  the  Diver  so  conspicuous 
that  the  Dutch  say  it  carries  the  gall  bladder  under  the  eye. 
There  are  several  of  the  Simice  tribe,  the  most  remarkable  is 
the  Ursine,  or  dog-faced  baboon,  of  considerable  strength, 
attaining,  when  full  grown,  the  size  of  a  large  mastiff  or  New- 
foundland dog,  which  latter  it  resembles  in  the  shape  of  its 
head ;  it  is  covered  with  a  shaggy  hair  of  a  brownish  colour, 
except  on  the  face  and  paws,  which  are  bare  and  black ;  on 
level  ground  it  goes  on  all  fours,  but  among  the  rocks  and 
precipices,  which  are  its  natural  habitations,  it  uses  its  hinder 
feet  and  hands,  as  a  human  being  would  do,  only  with  greater 
activity.  The  ursine  baboons  are  not  carnivorous; — they 
associate  in  large  troops  for  mutual  protection. 

Of  domestic  animals,  the  colonists  have  those  of  Europe  in 
abundance,  and  it  is  hoped  that  the  camel  may,  in  addition,  be 
soon  introduced.  The  Cape  horse  is  not  generally  large,  but  it 
is  extremely  hardy.  I  have  ridden  them  upwards  of  20  miles 
without  ever  going  out  of  a  canter,  their  usual  pace.  The 
Cape  ox  is  large,*  unsightly,  by  reason  of  his  wide  branching 
horns  and  great  limbs,  and  of  considerable  strength,  though 
if  regard  were  not  had  to  the  sandy  roads  it  might  appear 
otherwise,  when  20  or  24  are  seen  yoked  in  one  waggon.  The 

*  A  stall-fed  Cape  ox  will  vveigh  from  800  lbs.  to  900  lbs.  Dutch,  without 
the  offal.  The  beef  is  excellent  when  the  animal  be  not  driven  a  long 
fasting  journey  across  the  Karroo  ;  sea  stock,  which  I  laid  in  at  AlgoaBay, 
at  li  per  lb.  could  not  be  surpassed  at  Limerick  or  Cork. 


BIRDS  OF  SOUTH  AFRICA THE  OSTRICH.  75 

Cape  sheep  are  long-legged,  small  bodied,  thin  before,  and 
with  their  entire  fat  concentrated  upon  the  hind  part  of 
the  thigh  and  tail,  the  latter  being  short,  flat,  naked  on  the 
under  side,  and  weighing  6,  sometimes  12 lbs.  weight;*  the 
fat,  when  melted,  retaining  the  consistence  of  vegetable  oil, 
and  in  this  state  used  by  the  Dutch  as  a  substitute  for  butter, 
and  by  the  English  for  making  soap ;  the  general  weight  of 
the  sheep  is  from  40  to  60 lbs.  ;  the  wool  (if  it  may  be  so 
called)  is  a  strong  frizzled  hair,  dropping  off  of  its  own  accord 
in  September  and  October,  and  scarcely  fit  for  stuffing 
cushions,  &c.    Merinos  are  now  being  extensively  introduced. 

Birds  are  in  great  variety  at  the  Cape  ;  their  description 
would  alone  occupy  a  volume;  the  ostrich,  forming  the  con- 
necting link  between  animals  and  the  feathered  tribe,  are 
numerous.  A  herd  on  a  vast  plain,  with  their  white  and  black 
plumes  waving  in  the  wind,  is  a  magnificent  sight ;  when  not 
incubating,  the  wings  are  laid  close  to  the  body,  and  with  their 
strong  jointed  legs  and  cloven  hoofs  they  outstrip  the  courser 
in  speed.  The  neck,  shaped  like  the  camel,  is  covered  with 
hair,  the  voice  is  a  kind  of  mournful  lowing,  and  they  graze 
on  the  plain  with  the  zebra  and  antelope.  The  ostrich  is  one 
of  the  few  birds  that  are  polygamous  in  a  state  of  nature,  the 
male,  distinguished  from  the  dusky  grey  female,  by  its  glossy 
black  feathers,  is  generally  seen  with  from  two  to  five  mates, 
who  all  lay  their  eggs  in  one  spot ;  incubation  lasts  six 
weeks,  and  it  is  said  that  the  hatching  ostrich  breaks  the  eggs 
placed  round  the  nest,  when  the  young  are  brought  forth,  in 
order  that  they  may  be  fed,  the  sandy  desert  yielding  no  im- 
mediate supply  of  tender  food  ;  if  such  be  the  case,  it  is 
another  among  many  instances  of  the  care  which  the  Creator 
bestows  on  the  meanest  of  His  creatures. 

The  Falco  Serpentarius  (called  the  secretary  bird,  from 
the  long  feathers  of  its  crest  resembling  the  pens  worn  by  a 

*  A  Cape  sheep,  killed  by  George  MuUer,  butcher,  3rd  February,  1822, 
four  years  old,  stall-fed,  weighed  160  lbs.  Dutch  weitrht,  alive  ;  or  174  lbs. 
English,  when  dead.  Meat,  93  lbs.;  tail,  10  lbs.  ;  fat  inside,  15  lbs. ; 
head,  skin,  and  ofFal,  42  lbs.  ;  total,  160  lbs.  Dutch. 


76  THE  SECRETARY   BIRD, — LOXIA,   &C. 

clerk  behind  his  ears)  is,  I  think,  pecuhar  to  the  Cape ;  it  is 
the  inveterate  enemy  of  snakes,  and  therefore  much  cherished. 
Eagles  (a  fine  species  in  particular  nearly  black),  vultures, 
kites,  pelicans,  flamingoes,  cranes,  spoonbills,  ibises,  wild 
geese,  ducks,  teal,  snipes,  bustards,  partridges,  turtle  doves, 
thrushes,  and  humming  birds  of  every  sort  are  in  abundance. 
The  plumage  of  many  of  the  feathered  tribe  is  of  surpassing 
beauty.  The  Loxia  Orix  is  remarkable  in  the  male  bird  for 
its  grand  plumage  during  the  spring  and  summer  months  :  in 
these  seasons  the  neck,  breast,  beak,  and  upper  and  under 
part  of  the  rump,  are  of  a  bright  crimson ;  the  throat  and 
abdomen  of  a  glossy  black :  during  the  other  six  months  it 
adopts  the  modest  garb  of  the  female — a  greyish  brown. 

The  Loxia  Caffra  (emberiza  longicauda)  undergoes  even 
a  more  extraordinary  change  than  the  loxia  orix ;  the  black 
feathers  of  the  tail,  which  are  fifteen  inches  long,  while  the 
body  is  barely  five,  are  placed  in  vertical  positions,  like  those 
of  the  cock,  but  which,  unlike  the  latter,  it  is  unable  to  con- 
tract in  its  flight;  the  long  tail,  however,  only  continues 
during  the  cooing  season ;  in  the  winter  it  assumes  the  same 
as  that  of  the  female,  short,  brown,  and  horizontal,  when  it 
can  fly  like  other  birds.  They  are  gregarious,  build  near  the 
water  on  slight  overhanging  branches,  and  their  nests  are 
entirely  composed  of  green  grass,  neatly  plaited  and  knotted, 
with  a  tubular  entrance  on  the  under  side  next  the  water, 
as  is  the  custom  with  many  S.  African  birds  to  protect  the 
young  against  snakes. 

Numerous  birds  cling  to  the  branches  of  the  dwarf  coral 
tree,  and  their  dazzling  plumage,  reflected  by  the  sun's  rays, 
is  most  brilliant.  The  sugar  bird,  of  dark  green,  hangs  by 
its  legs,  and  never  quits  the  tree  till  the  flowers  fade.  The 
lori  is  also  very  fond  of  this  shrub.  The  nests  of  the  birds 
are  generally  pendant  from  the  trees,  and,  waving  with  every 
breath  of  wind,  present  a  curious  appearance.  The  wood- 
pecker, kingfisher,  &c.  have  varied  and  beautiful  plumage. 
The  process  of  making  his  nest  by  the  tailor  bird  is  extraor- 
dinary :  he  hangs  by  his  feet,  uses  his  bill  as  a  needle,  and 


LOCUST  AND  HONEY   BIRDS.  77 

the  female  supplies  biin  with  long  grass  for  thread ;  in  this 
manner  he  actually  sews  the  materials  together,  generally 
resting  himself  on  the  nest  when  he  has  expended  one  length, 
and  waits  for  a  further  supply.  The  locust  bird  deserves 
notice.  The  year  1828  was  ushered  in  by  such  immense 
swarms  of  locusts  in  Albany,  that  every  part  of  the  country 
was  covered  with  them  for  several  days,  and  the  heavens 
actually  darkened.  It  was  with  the  greatest  difficulty  they 
were  kept  out  of  the  houses.  The  streets  and  water  drains 
were  filled  with  them,  and  the  putrid  stench  arising  from  the 
dead  gave  great  alarm  for  the  consequences  ;  they  devoured 
every  vegetable  thing,  except  french  beans  and  peas,  and, 
though  they  destroyed  every  vine  leaf,  they  did  not  touch 
the  grapes.  They  were  followed,  in  a  short  time,  by  myriads 
of  locust  birds,  who  fell  upon  them  and  speedily  cleared 
them  off.  These  birds,  a  species  of  thrush,  congregate  in 
the  places  where  the  locusts  migrate,  and  feed  upon  the 
young.  It  is  of  a  pale  colour  on  the  breast  and  back,  the 
rump  and  belly  being  white,  and  its  whole  food  seems  to 
consist  in  the  larvae  of  the  insect.  Their  nests  are  formed  in 
a  ball  containing  cells  of  from  ten  to  twenty,  and  each  cell  is 
a  separate  nest,  the  whole  being  covered  with  twigs,  and 
having  a  tube  leading  into  it  from  the  side  —  a  mode  of  en- 
trance peculiar  to  almost  all  the  birds  in  Southern  Africa. 
Their  eggs  are  of  a  pale  blue,  spotted  with  red,  and  with  five 
or  six  deposited  in  each  nest. 

I  conclude  this  section  with  the  Honey  Bird,  which  the 
natives  thus  make  use  of.  The  Hottentots  desirous  of  wild 
honey  go  to  a  place  which  they  think  is  likely  to  contain  the 
hives,  and,  by  a  kind  of  whistle,  summon  the  honey  bird, 
which  is  always  lurking  in  the  neighbourhood ;  this  bird 
seems  endowed  with  instinct  to  play  his  part  of  tlie  proceed- 
ing, for  he  soon  appears,  and  actually  leads  the  hunters  to 
the  very  spot  where  the  honey  is  deposited ;  he  then  takes 
his  station  on  a  bush,  and  waits  until  they  have  secured  the 
honey,  when  he  becomes  possessor  of  the  vacant  nest  and  the 
share  of  the  spoil,  which  is  invariably  left  for  him,  tlic  Hut- 


78  INSECTS  AND  REPTILES  IN  SOUTH  AFRICA. 

tentot  having  an  idea  that  this  will  cause  the  bird  to  remember 
him  individually,  and  lead  him  to  another  nest  in  preference 
to  any  other  person.  When  the  bird,  which  is  rather  larger 
than  a  sparrow,  has  eaten  his  fill,  the  hive  is  again  closed 
with  stones,  to  prevent  the  badger  from  destroying  the  young 
bees.  There  is  always  a  plentiful  supply  of  flowers,  so  that 
however  often  robbed,  the  bees  never  suffer  from  hunger, 
neither  do  they  sting  if  they  are  not  hurt. 

Insects.  The  entomologist  cannot  have  a  wider  scope  for 
his  pursuit  than  South  Africa.  Ants  are  very  numerous; 
some  of  their  hills  I  have  seen  six  feet  high  and  twelve  feet 
in  circumference  at  the  base ;  they  appear  to  be  constructed 
with  great  care,  divided  into  galleries  and  apartments,  and 
their  structure  is  so  firm  that  it  requires  no  small  portion  of 
labour  with  a  pick-axe  to  destroy  one  of  these  fabrics  of 
industry ;  the  visitation  of  the  locust  is  now  rare. 

Rejjtiles  are  not  prevalent.  There  are  different  species  of 
snakes ;  but  few  accidents  occur.  The  boa  constrictor,  of  a 
large  size,  has  been  killed  in  the  E.  district ;  but  the  alligator 
has  not,  I  think,  been  met  with ;  I  have  seen  it,  however,  of 
a  large  size  at  Delagoa  Bay,  and,  once  stepping  ashore, 
nearly  trod  on  one,  as  it  lay  basking  in  the  mud,  in  mistake 
for  a  log  of  wood.  The  boa  constrictor  is  much  dreaded 
by  the  Caffres  ;  and  those  who  happen  to  kill  it  are  sup- 
posed to  have  committed  an  offence  which  it  requires  the 
penance  of  lying  in  a  running  stream  during  the  day,  for 
several  successive  weeks  together,  to  absolve.  They  also 
bury  the  body  of  the  snake  near  their  cattle  folds  with  great 
solemnity,  and  no  beast  is  allowed  to  be  killed  at  the  hamlet 
to  which  the  offender  belongs,  until  all  those  observances 
have  been  completed. 

Fish  are  extremely  abundant,  and  of  every  variety,  in  the 
bays  and  along  the  coasts ;  the  best  eating  fish  is  called  the 
Roman,*  a  deep  rose-coloured  perch,  caught  only  in  False 

*  I  have  observed  the  fisherman  at  Simon's  Bay  continue  for  several 
days  hauling  up  the  roman,  off' the  rock  called  the  Roman,  at  the  entrance 
of  Simon's  bay  (the  anchorage  of  False  Bay),  in  considerable  quantities. 


VARIETIES  AND  QUANTITY  OF  FISH.  79 

Bay  and  on  the  coast  to  the  eastward  of  it.  The  roman  has 
one  back  fin,  with  twelve  spines,  and  a  divided  tail ;  a  silver 
band  along  each  side  of  the  back  fin,  turning  down  to  the 
belly,  and  a  blue  arched  line  over  the  upper  mandible  con- 
necting the  two  eyes.  There  are  several  other  varieties  of 
the  perch  kind,  such  as  the  red  and  white  stone-breams, 
weighing  from  one  to  thirty  pounds ;  the  cabeljau,  with  the 
root  of  the  pectoral  fins  black,  tail  undivided,  and  one  back 
fin,  grows  to  the  weight  of  thirty  pounds ;  the  silver  fish  has 
one  back  fin,  bifid  tail,  ground  of  a  rose-coloured  tinge,  with 
five  longitudinal  silver  bands  on  each  side  ;  the  stompneus 
has  six  transverse  bands  of  black  and  white  spots  down  each 
side ;  the  Cape  herring  (a,  clupea)  is  a  good  fish ;  the  klip, 
or  rock  fish  (hlennias  viviparus)  makes  an  excellent  fry ;  the 
horse  mackerel  (scomber  trachurns )  has  not  a  bad  flavour ; 
vast  shoals  of  the  common  mackarel  come  into  the  bays  in 
bad  weather ;  the  springer  is  esteemed  for  the  thick  coating 
of  fat  that  lines  the  abdominal  cavity  ;  the  speering  (an  an- 
therina)  is  a  small  transparent  fish,  with  a  broad  band,  re- 
sembling a  plate  of  silver,  on  either  side ;  the  gurnet  is  plen- 
tiful ;  the  sole  equal  to  that  of  Europe ;  the  skate  capital, 
and  the  oysters  equal  to  those  of  Carlingford  ;  different  sorts 
of  crabs,  muscles,  &c.  are  abundant  and  good  ;  many  varie- 
ties of  fish  occasionally  frequent  bays,  such  as  the  dolphin, 
silurus,  electrical  torpedo,  &c.  During  the  winter  season, 
whales,  porpoises,  and  sharks,  enter  the  harbours,  and  the  seal 
and  penguin  (which  latter  animal  forms  the  connecting  link 
between  the  feathered  and  finny  tribes)  congregate  at  dif- 
ferent parts  of  the  coast. 

The  foregoing  details  are  all  that  my  limits  will  permit,  and 
we  may  now  proceed  to  consider  the  number  and  variety  of 
the  human  race  in  the  colony. 

While  on  the  coast  of  Africa,  in  H.  M.  N.,  I  often  went  on  shore  with  our 
boats  to  haul  the  sein,  and  never  failed  to  return  on  board  with  a  sufficient 
supply  for  200  men; — The  Lagullas  bank  swarms  with  the  finny  tribe,  as 
may  indeed  be  known  by  the  flocks  of  sea  birds  always  feasting  at  tliis 
famed  spot  j  and  I  am  confident  a  profitable  fishery  might  be  established 
in  the  colony. 


80 


POPULATION  AND  DIVISION  OF  SOUTH  AFRICA. 


Population,  Territorial  Division,  Stock  and  Produce. 
— South  Africa,  when  first  visited  by  the  Portuguese,  Dutch 
and  Enghsh,  was,  considering  the  country  and  barbarous 
state  of  the  inhabitants,  extensively  peopled  by  a  race  termed 
Hottentots,  who,  together  with  other  nations  and  tribes,  will 
be  subsequently  treated  of.  The  Hottentots,  from  being 
masters  of  the  soil,  became  in  a  short  time  the  servants  of 
the  Dutch  settlers,  and,  as  in  the  West  Indies  and  North 
America,  sank  before  the  white  race ;  their  numbers,  though 
still  considerable  (upwards  of  30,000),  being  very 'much  re- 
duced. 

A  work  of  this  nature,  dealing  with  the  present  rather  than 
the  past,  except  so  far  as  the  latter  affords  an  index  for 
judging  of  the  future,  will  be  excused  for  entering  at  once  on 
the  numerical  amount  of  the  population  in  the  aggregate  and 
by  districts.* 

The  first  authentic  account  of  the  state  of  the  colony  is 
that  furnished  by  the  Oppgaff  or  tax  lists  for  1798,  when  the 
Cape  was  in  our  possession,  and  the  returns  were  required  to 
be  made  for  the  first  time  on  oath.  From  the  circumstance 
of  the  Cape  being  then  divided  into  fotir  districts,  and  at 
present  into  nine,  I  am  unable  to  make  a  comparative  juxta- 
position statement. 

*  As  it  may  serve  for  future  reference,  I  s>ive  here  the  OppgafF returns  of 
the  population  of  the  whole  colony  in  1806. 


Cape  Town  

Cape  District   

Stellcnbosch    

Swellcndam 

Graaflf  Reinct 

Eutciihagc    

Tulbagh 

Total  . . . 


Christians. 

Hottentots 

. 

Slaves. 

^ 

IH 

^ 

o  £ 

-0 

a2 

cn; 

^ 

-0 

O'Z 

a-* 

> 

T3 

e  -I 

5to 

P  r 

1^ 

csto 

ao 

a  a> 

o-c 

.0    . 

a    . 

n 

17/5 

1326 

\4fi-2 

^^ 

02 
114 

227 

S 

215 

87 

CD 

4603 

1342 

•^  to 

1758 

97 

2234 

■iVl 

322 

2.-)!) 

421 

78 

255 

168 

30ti 

203 

2537 

518 

764 

uoy 

1185 

950 

1339 

1172 

738 

11  ()2 

845 

4942 

998 

2240 

130(1 

1324 

874 

1381 

10 

1  :)!/(> 

981 

1529 

911 

1369 

349 

800 

102/ 

13t)7 

790 

1313 

1307 

932 

1540 

951 

782 

117 

387 

575 

7-18 

422 

70() 

3 

595 

.'■>93 

854 

620 

186 

108 

147 

52S 

3()7 

378 

<)50 

4 

738 

585 

823 

590 

1094 

401 

537 

7026 

6639 

512(1 

7568 

209 

5690 

4094 

6429 

4213 

15513 

3833 

7U8 

o-c 


1188 
497 
927 
281 
90 


RETURNS  FRO:\I    1797  TO   ISo.'J. 


SI 


Population,  Stock,  and  Produce  of  the  whole  Colony  (the  British  Army 
and  Navy,  and  British  Settlers,  not  included)  in  the  year  i797- 


DISTRICTS. 

Total  in 
1797. 

POPULATION. 

6 

a 

cS 

c 

o 

CO 

o 

C 

0) 

G 

Total  in 
1832. 

Christians    

Slaves  

6261 
11891 

3967 

2196 

500 

7256 

10703 

5000 

4262              21746 

964               25754 

8947      1         14447 

66000 
33000 

Hotttentots 

30000 

Total    

18152 

6663 

22959 

14173      I         61947 

129000 

STOCK  &  PRODUCE. 

Horses 

8334 

20957 

161575 

758 

1560109 

786i 

32962 

18819 

529 

9049 

52376 

154992 

220i 
16720 
10554 

22661 

59567 

451695 

11500000 

7914 

77063 

32872 

2053 

7392               47436 

80055 

Neat  cattle 

Sheep  

118306 

780274 

"^^^^ 

11283^ 

5193i 

251206 
1448536 
758 
13060109 
9108^ 
138028i 
67438^ 
2582 

334907 
2793935 

Hogs    

Vine  plants 

Wine,  leaguers    . . 
Wheat,  muids .... 
Barley,  ditto    .... 
Rye,  ditto    

16973|. 
306063 
282380 

34112 

According  to  the  Oppgaff  returns  the  population  from 
1797  to  1807  had  augmented  upwards  of  10,000:  its  progress 
at  intervals  is  thus  shewn : — 

Population  of  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope  exclusive  of  Military. 


Christians.* 

Free  Blacks. 

Hottentots. 

Negro 

Slaves. 

Years 

«• 

Total. 

•a 

1 

0) 

s 

o 

s 

<u 

s 

•a 

■3 
s 

s 

£ 

s 

is 

s 

^ 

% 

fe 

s 

fe 

1797 

61947 

1807 

13624 

11990 

529 

605 

8496 

8935 

18990 

10313 

73482 

1810 

16546 

14648 

S553 

10302 

18873 

10521 

80443 

1813 

17714 

14154 

9936 

10250 

19238 

11081 

82373 

1817 

20750 

18884 

918 

958 

11640 

11796 

411 

132 

19481 

12565 

77535 

1820 

22592 

20505 

905 

1027 

13445 

13530 

1061 

492 

I9O8I 

12968 

105336 

1823 

25487 

23212 

891 

1098 

15336 

15213 

1118 

652 

1 9786 

1341-2 

116205 

1833 

50881 

45210 

> 

In  disti 

nction 

19378 

14244 

129713 

*  Under  this  denomination  there  are  free  coloured  people  as  well  as 
whites. 

VOL.  IV.  G 


82 


POPULATION  BY  DISTRICTS  IN   1833. 


It  is  not  possible  to  rely  on  the  foregoing ;  neither  is  it 
right  to  estimate  the  following  as  correct,  because  both  being 
derived  from  the  OppgafF,  or  tax  rolls,  they  do  not  include  a 
number  of  people  who  wander  about  the  country,  without  any 
fixed  location ;  and  in  consequence  of  the  poll  tax  many 
heads  are,  for  obvious  reasons,  not  counted  in  a  large  estab- 
hshment :  there  can  be  no  doubt  that  the  present  population 
is  upwards  of  150,000;  how  many  of  this  number  are  whites 
it  is  impossible  to  state  accurately,  at  least  they  amount  to 
60,000. 

POPULATION  OF  THE  CAPE  OF  GOOD  HOPE  COLONY, 

in  1833—1834. 


Free  Persons, 

wlietlier  white 

Slaves. 

Total 

District. 

or  coloured. 

Births 

Marriages 

Deaths 

Males 

Females 

Males 

Females 

Males 

Females 

Cape  Town    .    . 

6656 

7016 

2864 

2691 

9520 

9707 

579 

146 

598 

Cape  District      . 

4193 

3489 

2735 

1523 

6928 

5012 

137 

32 

83 

Stellenboscli 

3929 

3653 

5492 

3063 

9421 

6716 

347 

108 

197 

Worcester      .    . 

5820 

5680 

2548 

2120 

8368 

7800 

593 

68 

264 

Swellendam  .    . 

6125 

5717 

1596 

1428 

7721 

7145 

573 

74 

246 

George       .     .     . 

2976 

2669 

1130 

1100 

4106 

3769 

159 

42 

76 

Uitenliage      .     . 

4595 

3199 

672 

626 

5267 

3825 

190 

97 

98 

Albany      .    .    . 

4850 

4525 

75 

69 

4925 

4594 

1034 

93 

103 

Somerset  .    .    . 

5340 

4649 

761 

680 

6101 

5329 

1242 

112 

126 

Graaff-Reinet    . 

6397 

4613 

1505 

944 

7902 

5557 

216 

102 

34 

Total  .    . 

50881 

45210 

19378 

14244 

70259 

59454 

5070 

874 

1845 

Total,    129,713 
Grand  Total, 


Army,  about    2,500 

132,213 


Emigration  has  slightly  added  to  the  population  :  our 
accounts  of  the  settlers  arriving  in  the  colony  are  imperfect, 
but  the  nearest  estimates  on  record,  since  1815,  excepting  a 
few  years  for  which  I  can  find  no  returns  of  any  kind,  are — 


1815 
46 


1816 

86 


1817 
419 


1818 
230 


1819 
429 


1820 
4300 


1821     1822     1823     1824 


1825     1826     1827     1828     1829     1830     1831     1832     1833     1834 
114       116       114       135       197      204       114       196 

Before  proceeding  to  treat  of  the  different  classes  of  the 
population,  and  their  noighbour.s  the  KafFres,  &c.  it  may  be 


STATISTICS  OF  THE  CAPE  DISTRICT. 


83 


well  to  shew  more  in  detail,  the  state  of  each  district,  accord- 
ing to  the  routine  followed  when  delineating  the  geography 
of  the  colony  :  beginning  with  the  Cape  district  (exclusive  of 
Cape  Town),  the  OpgaafF  for  the  year  1797,  shews  : — popu- 
lation, men,  1,566;  women,  1,354;  sons,  1,451;  daughters, 
1,658;  servants,  232;  christians,  6,261;  men-slaves,  6,673; 
women-slaves,  2,660;  slave-children,  2,558;  slaves,  11,891: 
total  population  of  the  Cape  district,  18,152.  Of  the  above 
number  of  Christians,  or  free  people,  718  are  persons  of 
colour,  and  nearly  1,000  are  Europeans. 

Statistics  of  the  Cape  District  (including  Simon's  Town  and  excluding 
Cape  Town),  Area,  Population,  &c. 


Population. 

stock 

No. 

Produce. 

Whites. 

6 

1 

(U 

3 

Si 

■s 

V 

•a 

604 

S 
"a 
E 

671 

■a 

o 
o 
u 
<u 

1010 

1 
4316 

3 

o 

u 
o 

X 

5778 

Is 

o 

tu 

a 

u 

o 

X 

s 

a 
•a 

a 

C8 

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a 

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)806* 

6601 

14816 

30566 

96 

17205 

268 

4780 

unkn. 

23/1049 

733 

46 

1813* 

966 

818 

821 

3798 

6403 

4977 

I6I03 

29154  168 

21406 

16381 

447 

16007 

do. 

1705003 

371 

14 

1823* 

1P33 

1777 

2309 

4550 

10569 

6362 

19335 

22562  257 

28938 

22411 

21006 

225/0 

3202840 

2641060 

1766 

60 

1833 

2645 

2220 

3300 

4640 

12475 

8700 

22319 

37590 

427 

57600 

23100 

3456 

30200 

3670060 

2800000 

1325 

43 

The  area  of  this  district  is  3,700  square  miles,  or  2,368,000  acres,  of  which  30,000  are  under 
cultivation,  2,200  in  vineyards,  52,000  fallow,  and  740,000  waste.  The  boundaries,  &c.  of  the 
district  wUl  be  found  under  the  section  of  Physical  Aspect  or  Geography ;  its  capabilities  and 
resources  are  shewn  by  its  productive  stock. 

The  next  district,  geographically  speaking,  is  Stellenbosch, 
in  the  western  division  of  the  colony,  and  separated  from  the 
sea-coast  by  the  Cape  district ;  it  is  populous,  fertile,  and,  in 
many  parts  beautiful,  as  previously  stated  ;  its  condition  is 
thus  shewn : — 

*  During  these  years  the  denomination  of  Christians  does  not  specify 
how  many  were  free  coloured  ;  I  have,  therefore,  in  these  district  returns 
given  the  Christian  servants  under  the  head  oifree  coloured. 

t  A  muid  is  180  lbs.  Dutch,  being  somewhat  over  196  lbs.  English. 


84   PRODUCE,  STOCK,  &C.  OF  STELLENBOSCH  AND  WORCESTER. 

STELLENBOSCH  DISTRICT  IN  1833. 


POPULATION. 

Free 

Hotten- 

Whites. 

Blacks. 

tots. 

Slaves. 

ir 

(U 

ci! 

Area  in 

CO 

£ 

a 

V 

ffl 

a 

■3 

_; 

J3 

Ix 

J3 

square 

rt 

s 

Is 

a 

rt 

a 

"rt 

a 

i5 

u 

tS 

rt 

miles. 

s. 

b 

S 

t^ 

y 

fa 

S 

fa 

H 

m 

s 

Q 

4600 

3082 

29S4 

170 

126 

677 

543  5492  3063 

1 

I6137 

347jlO  8 

197 

PRODUCE. 

STOCK. 

LAND,  ACRES. 

•S 

■3 

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■§ 

d 

•a 

d 
0 

d 

■d 
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25861 

12072 

2464 

32440 

300 

1200 

14323 

756 

15226 

7844 

119555 

11820 

21298 

5198 

985000 

1750000 

The  large  district  of  Worcester,  with  its  sub-division  of 
Clanwilliam,  is  still  further  to  the  west  and  northward  of  Stel- 
lenbosch ;  it  is  thinly  peopled,  and  we  have  not  a  complete, 
or  detailed  census. — 

WORCESTER  DISTRICT  IN  1833. 


Area 
insq. 
miles. 

POPULATION. 

STOCK. 

PRODUCE. 

LAND, 

Acres. 

DIVISION. 

Free. 

> 

Total. 

0 

6 

0 

Sheep, 

Goats 

and 

Swine 

°4 

2-3 

oa 

.5^ 

•o   . 
n  0 

a 

1  (U   gt 

Culti-  i-go 

vated.  t3  ^ 

1 

Worcester  Proper. 
Clanwilliam 

6110 
5960 

6110 
5960 

2790 
1025 

8900 
6985 

6259 
6008 

16285 
16796 

176923 
233920 

30708 

14210 

631 

38 

92 
17 

Total. . 

12070 

12070 

3815 

15885 

12267 

33081 

410843 

5391 8 

669 

no 

185939 

6500 

Swellendam  district,  to  the  eastward  of  the  Cape,  and 
lying  between  the  sea-shore  and  the  first  steppe  or  range  of 
mountains,  is,  as  will  be  seen  by  the  accompanying  returns, 
a  valuable  and  thriving  part  of  the  colony.* 

*  It  is  much  to  be  regretted  that  I  am  not  enabled  to  give  as  complete  a 
return  from  all  the  other  districts  as  has  been  prepared  for  Swellendam, 
in  order  to  shew  those  who  think  the  Cape  is  a  colony  of  mere  sandhills 
and  desarts,  how  grievously  they  have  been  duped  l»y  incorrect  representa- 
tions. 


STATISTICS  OF  SWELLENDAM  AND  CALEDON. 


85 


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86 


GEORGE  DISTRICT CENSUS,  STOCK,    &C. 


George  district,  along  the  sea-coast,  to  the  eastward  of 
Swellendam,  is,  in  one  point  of  view,  more  complete  in  its 
census  than  any  of  the  other  districts,  I  mean  in  reference  to 
the  details  of  its  sub-divisions  ;  it  is  to  be  regretted  that 
there  is  no  return  for  1833,  the  following  being  for  1830 :— * 


GEORGE  DISTRICT. 


<i> 

' 

Divisions. 

a" 

C 

o 

a 

a 

O 

'3 

Ol 

c 
o 

C 

tfl 

-v 

1 

K-1 

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O) 

Oh 

hO 

d 

Ol 

bO 

<U 

CS 

ci 

CIj 

< 

o 

a, 

ffi 

ffi 

o 

64 
631 

0 
0 

0 
0 

31 
45 

U 

740 

239 

88 

814 
1352 

27 
576 

10 

2 

8fi4 

4^1 

3104 

5586 

1590 

n 

0 

66 

5 

671 

pq8 

385 
440 

2481 
2147 

2071 
9383 

1348 
2190 

7 
33 

4 

32 

50 

8? 

1 

6 

Before  Oliphants  River 

676 

318 

1446 

5187 

896 

35 

34 

61 

4 

617 

685 

231 
330 

1486 
2315 

7715 
4489 

986 
1590 

21 

18 

2H 

8 

57 
50 

1 

Before  Lang  Kloof 

4 

691 
935 
407 

528 
435 
136 

3342 
2197 
1593 

9892 
8419 

584 

1616 

1745 

313 

3 

47i 
0 

3i 

58i 

0 

51 

87 
0 

1 

9. 

Before  Plettenbergs  Bay .... 

0 

424 

276 

116 

18 

1803 
162 

1052 

481 
109 

30 
0 

0 
0 

0 
3 

0 

Pacaltsdorp  (Miss.  Inst.)  ... 

0 

8223 

3685 

24242 

54681 

13550 

194i 

158 

583 

36 

Of  the  population  there  are  white  inhabitants,  3,488  ;  people  of  colour, 
2,636;  slaves,  2,099. 

Uitenhage  district  has  prospered  much  since  I  visited  it ; — 
its  present  state  and  produce  is  thus  shewn ;  but  unfortu- 
nately we  have  not  details  of  the  population : — 

*  Mr.  Grcig's  valuable  exertions  at  the  Cape  have  brought  to  light  so 
many  important  statements  as  to  the  resources  of  the  Cape,  that  I  would 
suggest  his  forwarding  printed  blanks  into  every  district,  and  field  cornet- 
cy,  annually,  so  that  his  Directory  might  preserve  in  its  statistics,  tini- 
form'itij,  and  progressive  series. 


UITENHAGE  DISTRICT — POPULATION,  &C.  87 

UITENHAGE  DISTRICTS,    1830. 


CO 

a> 
1 

X! 

<u 

C 

ci 

es 

u 

Divisions. 

3 

rf 

■a 

3 

d 
< 

"3 

a. 
o 

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o 

o 

Is 

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a, 

0) 

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e 

>> 

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as 
0 

102 

723 

232 

40 

0 

0 

35 

7 

Uitenhage  Town 

169 

1912 

2972 

421 

4i 
0 

■5 

03      Q 

171 

15744 

12037 

4086 

0 

131 

Bushman's  River 

391 

580 

5030 
6312 

3763 
10627 

3627 
2704 

i 

0 
3 

53 

78 

Van  Staden's  River 

2 

Camtoos  River    

35fi 

4748 

7117 

1852 

+ 

\ 

53 

Tzietsikamma 

231 
3.57 
79 
90 
192 
1'2 
10 

3407 
2783 
1819 
2444 
2130 
131 
248 

12704 

11984 

11730 

25673 

982 

256 

14 

128 
,345 
102 
250 
534 
0 
0 

6-J 

m 

16 

t 

0 
0 

27 
9 

26 
0 
0 
0 

61 
47 
39 
70 
42 
4 
16 

Wintershoek 

Riet  Rivier 

Zwarte  Ruggens 

^ 

Port  Elizabeth 

0 

Enon              "1  ,,.    . 

0 

B«helsd„n,     ESs. 

9 

279 

0 

0 

0 

0 

3 

1 

Hankey          J 

Total..  .. 

9000 

8360 

3558 

47710 

100091 

14089 

43i 

"* 

655J22 

UITENHAGE  DISTRICT,  according  to  the  returns  of  1829— 


Population. 

Stock. 

Whites. 

Hottentots. 

Slaves. 

•a" 

i 

0 

d 

'•3 

i 

io 

a 

d 
0 
•S, 

- 

so 

a 

a 

■3 
S 

•3 
E 

0 

Total. 

S 

■a 

V 

0 

0. 
0 

•a 
0 

s 
2 

;? 

f^ 

s 

£ 

S 

(^ 

£ 

X 

M 

m 

n 

Q 

2248 

1949 

1577 

1404 

582 

504 

96 

8360 

1300 

3600 

85000 

55000 

1 

14200 

14,928  acres  of  land  under  cultivation  and  1,477,690  acres  of  pasturage. 

Albany,  to  the  eastward  of  Uitenhage,  was  the  chief  loca- 
tion of  the  English  and  Scotch  settlers  in  1820,  and  is  but  a 
young  district :  when  we  consider  the  numerous  difficulties 
with  which  the  emigrants  had  to  contend,  vnitil  the  last  three 
or  four  years,  the  wonder  is  that  it  exhibits  the  following 
prospect.     [For  proof  of  progress  see  Commerce?^ 


88 


STATISTICS  OF  ALBANY. 


ALBANY— 1833. 


Fopalatioii. 

Employments. 

Whites. 

Free  Col. 

Slaves. 

i~i 

S 

.2 

(U 

<LI 

Total. 

d 

"« 
S 

B 

"3 

s 

"5 

1 

be 

a 

o 

B 
OS 

2805 

2407 

3040 

2900 

74 

82 

10298 

7898 

1500 

900 

Produce. 

Stock. 

a 

13 

.13 

CS 

s 

V 

c 

ci! 

s 

Ij 

a,   • 

CM 

S5 

Is 
0 

c 

pq 

123 

O 

s 

en 

Oi 

o 

a: 

fe; 

s 

u 

0 

<n 

tiish. 

bush. 

bush. 

bush. 

bush. 

bush. 

bush. 

lbs. 

14300 

17000 

800 

1400 

5000 

500 

7400 

2000000 

2745 

39875 

26000 

70200 

23100 

400 

Area  4,800  square  miles,  English  acres  3,072,000. 

Albany,  it  will  be  perceived,  has  very  few  slaves,  and  pro- 
duces no  wine  or  brandy ;  it  is,  in  fact,  principally  an  agricul- 
tural and  grazing  district;  the  attention  of  the  inhabitants 
being  now  particularly  directed  to  the  growth  of  fine  wools, 
which  may  be  expected  ere  long  to  rival  the  vine  or  the  cow, 
and  set  at  rest  the  question  of  the  pre-eminence  of  either*  as 
the  chief  staple  of  the  colony. 

Somerset  district,  which  was  formed  in  1825  from  a  tract 
of  country  portioned  off  from  Albany  and  Graaff  Reinet,  con- 
tains 17,000  square  miles,  or  10,879,964  acres,  with  a  popu- 
lation of  little  more  than  one  five-eighths  to  the  square  mile : 
It  will  be  observed  that  it  is  principally  a  grazing  country, 
having  at  present  about  two-thirds  of  a  niilhon  of  sheep,  be- 
sides other  stock : — 

*  Mr.  Olipbant,  the  attorney-general,  stated  that,  at  the  Cape,  the  cow 
produced  more  wealth  than  the  vine,  and  proved  the  assertion  by  the  fol- 
lowing table  of  the  value  of  exports  in  the  year  1832; — 

T/ic  Coic.—Cdn\c,  4021. ;  hides,  31,0/6/. ;  leather,  30/. ;  horns,  4,292/. ; 
butter,  5,546/.;  cheese,  40/.;  beef,  4,007/.;  tallow,  8,274/.;  candles, 
3.92/.;  hoof,  140/.;  Algoa  Bay,  24,000/. ;  total,  78,199/. 

TYie  Fine.—C.  wine,  58,3 15/.;  Constantia,  3,006/. ;  Argol  ditto,  1,409/. ; 
brandy,  761/. ;  total,  63,491/.  ,•  balance,  14,708/.  less,  a  trifle  for  some 
pork,  a  few  horse  hides,  and  a  little  sheep  fat. 


SOMERSET  AND  GRAAFF  REINET   DISTRICTS.  89 

SOMERSET,  1833. 


Population. 

Employment. 

Whites. 

Free  Col. 

Slaves. 

Total. 

0 

u 
S3 

a 
a 
0 
0 

s 

1 

Total. 

■3 

■a 
s 

■3 

■a 

0) 

■a 

i 

1 

fa 

3980 

3409 

1600 

1285 

-61 

680 

11/15 

10615 

600 

400 

11615 

Produce. 

stock. 

>. 

• 

•a 

i 

a> 

1"     1    a 

Is 

ti 

<u 

0 

.0  m 

(U 

s 

&  (u          0 

m 

J3 

fQ 

Si 

P5 

15 
0 

■3 

0 

a, 

1s 

0 

i2 
0 

a 

.s        a 
^       0 

0 
0 

bush. 

bush. 

bush. 

bush. ;bush. 

bush. 

lbs. 

20709 

5601 

1220 

1557 

1600 

1122 

100000 

14 

7477 

61702 

10000  651361  145223 

Graaff  Reinet,  and  its  sub-division  of  Beaufort,  embracing 
an  area  of  52,000  square  miles,  or  32,000,000  acres  (nearly 
twice  the  size  of  Ireland !)  we  have  few  detailed  statistics  re- 
specting ;  it  is  of  course  as  yet  thinly  peopled.  The  inhabi- 
tants, progress  of,  and  stock  is,  thus  estimated : — 


-Whites. 


Men 

Women 

Boys 

Girls         J 

Hottentots,  males  . 

females 

Slaves,  males 

• females 

Horses    . 
Cattle 
Goats 
Sheep 


Since  1824  a  large  port: 
&c.,  was  separated  to  for 


1806     I 


1811 


1,027 

1,500 

2,993 

790 

1,119 

2,278 

1,367 

2,952 

3,416 

1,313 

1,934 

3,502 

2,239 

2,939 

6,322 

2,491 

3,913 

5,403 

899 

1,124 

1,657 

483 

746 

1,195 

6,257 

8,866 

117,661 

54,556 

68,477 

131,801 

74,394 

104,859 

130,141 

665,889 

1,273,664 

1,510,271 

1824 


ion  of  the  district,  with  its  stock, 
m  the  district  of  Somerset,  and 


GraafF  Reinet  now  stands  as  follows : — 


90 


AGGREGATE  POPULATION,  STOCK  AND  PRODUCE. 


Population  of  Graaff  Reinet, 14,800 

Do.  of  Beaufort 15,600 


20,400 


STOCK  AND  PRODUCE. 


Graaff  Reinet, 
Beaufort, 


Horses 
5,07-1 
1,800 


Neat  cattle. 
39,792 
9,520 


Colonial  Sheep. 

993,100 
209,400 


Merinos. 

10,030 
1428 


Grain,  muids. 

14,000 

3,000 

17,000 


Total..    6,874  49,312  1,202,500  11,428 

It  is  principally  a  grazing  country,  possessing  upwards  of  a 
milUon  of  coarse-woolled  sheep,  which  are  now  in  process  of 
being  replaced  by  merinos,  thus  extending  our  supply  of 
wool,  independent  of  Germany  or  Spain. 

The  aggregate  of  the  preceding  returns  shews  the  state  of 

Population,  Stock,  and  Production,  of  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope. 


Districts. 


Chief  Produce. 


Cape  Town   . . 
Cape  District 
Stellenbosch 
Worcester .... 
SweUenclam . . 

George  

Uitenhage. .  . . 

Albany  

Somerset 

Graaff  Reinet 


2168000 
2944000 
7724800 

5760000 
29O8OOO 
5760000 
3072000 
10879964 

32000000 


20000 
11940 
16137 
16168 
14866 
7875 

9092 
9519 

11430 
13459 


8700 
15226 
12267 
I9I8I 
3685 
3900 
2745 
7477 
6874 


22319 

7844 
33081 
22064 
24242 
69000 
39875 
61702 
49312 


37 

119555 

400000 

84854 

50000 

80000 

96200 

751361 

1211928 


590 
11820 
10000 
96584 
14600 
15000 
23100 
145223 
250000 


muids 

114356 

73000 

54000 
66533 
13550 

39000 
30687 
17000 


leag. 


1325 
14323 


489 
194 


leag 

42 
756 
110 
215 
158 


acres. 

32000 

26000 

186000* 
20000 
10000 
15000 


Total  73216764  130486  80055  329439  2793935  566917  408126  17010  1285  289000 

i       I 


The  population  of  the  colony  is  very  varied  in  national  pecu- 
liarities, as  well  as  in  pursuits.  Of  the  white  inhabitants  the 
most  numerous  are  the  original  European  settlers,  or  their 
descendants  (termed  Africanders),  and  consisting  chiefly  of 
Dutch,  with  a  small  intermixture  of  the  offspring  of  the  refugee 
Protestants,  from  the  edict  of  Nantes.  The  Dutch  have  been 
generally  divided  by  travellers  into  three  classes,  viz.  those 
who  live  by  their  vineyards,  by  agriculture,  or  by  grazing,  the 
latter,  termed  Vee  boors,  being  now  the  most  numerous,  and 

*  It  is  thus  stated  in  the  Cape  Directory;  but  it  would  appear  to  be  an 
error  as  compared  with  the  other  districts. 


CHARACTER  OF  THE  CAPE  DUTCH  BOORS.  91 

probably  the  most  wealthy  class,  as  will  be  seen  from  the  pre- 
ceding table  of  their  flocks  and  herds,  and  which  will  indicate 
the  localities  of  the  classes  above-mentioned.  To  enter  into 
a  discussion  as  to  whether  Barrow  has  described  the  Dutch 
Boors  as  too  rude, — or  Lichenstein  as  extraordinarily  polite, 
would  be  beyond  my  limits  :  in  all  countries  where  men  are 
struggling  for  existence,  and  endeavouring  to  reclaim  the 
forest  from  being  the  mere  abode  of  the  savage,  or  beast  of 
prey ;  the  refinements  of  life  are  necessarily  few,  and  rough- 
ness of  manners  characterizes  individuals  thus  situated. 
Even  so  has  it  been  at  the  Cape,  where  the  early  colonists 
have  had  so  much  to  contend  with  ;  now,  when  competence 
is  taking  the  place  of  poverty,  social  refinements  are  every- 
where springing  up,  and  will,  in  time,  extend  even  to  the 
back  country  boors  on  the  verge  of  the  settlement,  as  rapidly 
as  the  thin  scattering  of  a  small  population  over  a  great 
extent  of  country  will  permit.  Two  features  especially  mark 
the  Dutch  colonists — hospitality  and  bravery — the  latter  is 
evinced  in  their  hunting  of  the  lion,  and  the  elephant.*  The 
former  is  a  general  theme  of  eulogium  ;  indeed  I  have  been 
often  pained  on  receiving  the  most  marked  attention  and  kind- 

*  The  frontier  boors  revolted  against  the  British  shortly  after  our  occu- 
pation of  the  colony ;  knowing  that  the  military  sent  against  them  had 
artillery  they  resolved  on  having  some  also,  and  as  the  British  field  pieces 
were  only  four-pounders  they  determined  on  surpassing  them,  accordingly 
having  procured  a  tree,  scooped  it  out,  and  bound  it  together  with  iron 
hoops,  they  proceeded  to  load  it,  and  as  they  had  fixed  on  calling  it  a 
nine-pounder,  they  of  course  charged  it  with  nine  pounds  of  powder ;  but 
a  difficulty  arising  as  to  who  should  have  the  honour  of  firing  it,  they  dug 
a  hole  in  the  ground,  deep  enough  for  a  man  to  get  into,  and  laid  the  train 
to  this  spot — off  it  went,  and  burst  into  a  thousand  pieces,  and  before  they 
had  time  to  prepare  another  they  were  surprised  by  our  troops  and  taken 
prisoners. 

On  the  frontiers  most  of  the  farm-houses  have  a  contiguous  mud-built 
rampart,  with  loop-holes  for  musketry,  to  be  resorted  to  in  case  of  an 
attack  from  white  or  black  foe  ;  and  a  Dutch  boor,  with  his  huge  gun  {roer) 
is  a  dangerous  antagonist,  within  rifle  range,  as  the  lions  would  vouch  for  if 
they  could  speak. 


92  PHYSICAL  STRUCTURE  OF  THE  CAPE  DUTCHMEN. 

ness  from  the  Cape  colonists,  who,  at  the  moment  of  extend- 
ing to  me  their  hospitality  with  a  generous,  I  may  add,  profuse 
hand,  never  saw  me  before  that  moment,  never  expected  to 
see  me  after  the  ensuing  day,  and  would  feel  hurt  at  the 
slightest  offer  of  compensation. 

In  physical  structure  the  Cape  Dutchmen  are  a  fine  race ; 
in  some  districts  their  stature  and  strength  is  gigantic,  and 
not  less  so  on  the  frontiers,  where  little  vegetable  food  is 
consumed,  mutton  stewed  in  fat  sheep's  tails  being  the 
standing  dish  three  or  four  times  a  day  throughout  the  year. 
In  mental  calibre  they  are  by  no  means  deficient  when  edu- 
cated in  youth,  and  a  proper  stimulus  given  to  the  develop- 
ment of  their  talents.*  The  witchery  of  the  Cape  ladies  has 
cost  many  an  Englishman  his  heart,  and  our  naval  officers 
especially  have  many  an  affaire  de  cceur  while  on  the  station. 
In  the  interior  embonpoint  is  one  of  the  chief  beauties  of  a 
Dutch  housewife :  perhaps  the  Hollanders,  who  are  no  bad 
judges  of  character,  consider  that  rotundity  and  good  temper 
are  in  an  equal  ratio,  and,  therefore,  desire  the  former  for  the 
sake  of  the  latter. 

The  English,  with  the  exception  of  those  located  in  the 
Uitenhage,  Albany,  and  Somerset  districts,  are  principally 
confined  to  Cape  Town,  or  as  traders  at  different  stations. 
Their  character  is  similar  to  that  observed  in  other  colonies 
— shrewd,  generally  intelligent,  solicitous  for  political  liberty, 
careful  of  its  preservation,  hospitable  to  strangers,  and  enter- 
prising in  their  commercial  pursuits. 

Slaves  (now  apprenticed  labourers)  form  the  next  most 
numerous  class  of  people  in  the  colony,  their  number  amount- 
ing to  near  35,000.  These  unhappy  beings  were  introduced 
into  the  country  by  the  Dutch  settlers,  and  their  numbers 
have  yearly  augmented  by  birth  since  the  cessation  of  the 


*  One  of  my  l»rother  officers  in  H.M.S,  Leven,  Lieutenant  Reitz,  a  Cape 
Dutchman,  was  one  of  the  m  .st  talented  young  men  I  ever  met  with  ;  his 
bravery,  aceomplishmentG,  and  amenity  of  manners  rendered  him  an  uni- 
versal favourite  :  he  was  another  of  the  victims  of  our  ill-fated  expedition. 


SLAVES — THEIR  NUMBERS  AND  CLASSES. 


93 


demoralizing  maritime  traffic  in  human  flesh.*  They  may 
be  divided  into  three  classes — the  Malay,  from  the  Indian 
Archipelago,  the  E.  or  W.  coast  African  negro,  and  the 
Africander,  who  is  the  descendant  of  an  European  man  and 
Malay  or  negro  girl,  varying  in  different  shades  of  cuticle, 
according  to  the  distance  of  the  child  from  the  original  dark 
stock.  These  three  classes  keep  themselves  perfectly  dis- 
tinct from  each  other,  and  will  not  intermarry.  The  Malays, 
who  are  in  general  artizans  or  fishermen,  and  I  should  think, 
the  best  and  most  valuable — are  numerous  (probably  about 
5,000) :  then  follow  the  Africanders  (some  of  whom  are  nearly 
white) ; — followed  by  the  Mozambique,  or  Malagash  negro. 
No  small  number  of  each  of  these  classes  are  free,  either  by 
self-purchase,  or  by  being  emancipated  by  former  owners, 
and,  together  with  their  offspring,  form  a  large  portion  of 
what  are  termed  the  coloured  Christians.  The  moment  a 
man  ceases  to  be  a  slave,  his  earnest  desire  being  to  secure 
and  extend  his  respectability  by  becoming  a  Christian,  which 
many  Dutch  proprietors  were  averse  to,  so  long  as  they, 
negro  or  Africander,  were  slaves :  as  to  the  Malays  their  pre- 
vailing creed  is  Mahometanism. 

The  Hottentots,  or  original  possessors  of  the  soil  are  next 
in  number,  and  least  in  importance,  or  social  worth  in  the 
eyes  of  many  of  the  colonists  ;  but  if  the  latter  knew 
their  own  interest,  they  would  endeavour  to  perpetuate  this 
unfortunate  race.  It  has  been  before  observed  that  when 
Europeans  first  visited  the  Cape,  the  Hottentots  were  found 


*  Their  amount  is  thus  shewn,  and  it  should  be  remembered  that,  there 
were  every  year  a  greater  or  less  number  of  emancipations,  in  addition  to 
some  runaways. 


Per  Opgaff  Returns. 

Per  Registers. 

Year. 

1798 

1806 

1810 

1814 

1819 

1821 

Year. 

Males. 
Females. 

Total. 

1820 

1821   1824 

1828 

I83o|  1833 

Males. 
Females. 

16882 
8872 

18956 
10163 

19821 
10600 

19862 
11366 

19507 
12802 

19164 
13024 

20098 
13743 

20312  18418  18383 
140171  13326  13860 

1881219378 
15325  14244 

Total. 

25754 

29119 

30421 

31128 

32309 

32186 

33841 

34329  31744 

1 

32243 

34I37J33622 

94  HOTTENTOTS — THEIR  APPEARANCE,  &C. 

located,  as  a  pastoral  people,  over  the  country ;  even  on  the 
shores  of  Table  Bay,  where  Cape  Town  now  stands,  their 
rude  hamlet  stood.  Of  their  numbers,  at  that  period,  no 
definite  idea  can  be  formed,  they  must,  however,  have  been 
considerable  ;  at  present,  after  two  centuries  of  persecution, 
they  probably  do  not  amount  to  30,000. 

In  appearance  the  Hottentots,  when  young,  are  clean 
limbed,  and  well  proportioned,  their  joints,  hands,  and  feet 
remarkably  small ;  in  some  the  nose  is  flat,  in  others  raised ; 
the  eyes  (which  are  of  a  deep  chesnut  colour)  are  very  long, 
narrow,  and  removed  to  a  great  distance  from  each  other; 
the  eyelids  at  the  extremity  next  the  nose,  instead  of  forming 
an  angle,  as  in  Europeans,  are  rounded  into  each  other 
exactly  like  the  Chinese,  between  whom  and  the  Hottentots 
Barrow  thinks  there  is  a  physical  resemblance,  and  which 
indeed  struck  me  in  some  instances,  if  the  colour  and  hair  be 
excepted ;  the  former  being  of  a  clear  olive  or  rather  yellow- 
ish brown,  the  latter  growing  in  hard,  knotted,  or  shoe-brush- 
like tufts  at  a  distance  from  each  other,  of  course  not  co- 
vering entirely  the  surface  of  the  scalp,  and  when  left  to  grow, 
hanging  on  the  neck  in  hard  twisted,  fringe-like  tassels.  The 
cheek  bones  high  and  prominent,  forming  with  the  narrow- 
pointed  chin  nearly  a  triangle ;  the  teeth  small,  and  of  ex- 
quisite enamel. 

The  principal  occupation  of  the  Hottentots  is  as  herds- 
men, a  duty  for  which  they  are  well  qvialified :  that  they  are 
not  the  indolent  improvident  race  which  many  have  described 
them  to  be,  is  evident  from  the  manner  in  which  they  have 
conducted  themselves  since  their  location  at  the  new  settle- 
ment on  the  Kat  River  (see  page  30),  where  the  desire  for 
accumulating  property,  when  possessed  of  the  means  of  so 
doing,  has  given  that  natural  stimulus  to  the  industry  of  the 
Hottentot,  which  even  the  Englishman  requires. 

The  Hottentots  hire  themselves  out  by  the  year  to  the 
farmers,  receiving  as  wages  a  certain  number  of  cattle,  sheep, 
or  goats,  and  their  services  are  of  considerable  utility  in  the 


THE  KORANNA  RACE.  95 

various  occupations  which  they  fill,*  while  their  fidelity  and 
honesty,  when  well  treated,  may  entitle  them  to  rank  with 
any  European.  It  is  to  be  hoped  that  under  the  present 
course  of  wise  and  generous  policy  their  numbers  may  be 
increased. 

Several  varieties  of  the  Hottentot  race  exist  on  the  skirts 
of  the  colony ;  the  principal  is  a  mild  race,  denominated 
Koras,  or  Korannas,  of  nomade  tribes  located  along  the  banks 
of  the  Gariep  or  Orange  River,  divided  into  a  number  of 
independent  classes,  each  under  the  authority  of  a  chief,  but 
all  speaking  an  imperfect  language,  similar  to  that  of  the 
Bosjesmen,  or  bushmen,  with  whom  they  are  nevertheless  at 
deadly  enmity,  on  account  of  the  latter  committing  destruc- 
tive ravages  on  their  cattle.  The  Korannas  would  appear  to 
be  a  mixed  breed,  between  the  Hottentots  and  the  Caffres ; 
they  are,  however,  superior  to  the  Gonaqua  or  Namaqua 
Hottentots ;  their  dwellings,  constructed  in  a  circle,  with  the 
doors  inwards,  are  like  large  bee  hives,  covered  with  folds  of 
neat  matting,  for  the  convenience  of  removing  with  their 
flocks  and  herds  as  pasturage  becomes  scarce  on  the  banks 
of  any  river.  The  dress  of  the  Koranna  or  Coranna,f  is  the 
caress  or  sheep-skin  cloak  of  the  colonial  Hottentot ;  his  food, 
curdled  milk,  supplied  by  his  kine,  which  they  seldom  or  ever 
kill,  aided  by  berries,  bulbous  roots,  locusts,  and  sometimes 
whatever  game  they  can  obtain.  A  wild  superstition  stands 
in  the  place  of  religion.    Of  their  numbers  no  correct  estimate 

*  Some  are  employed  as  waggon-drivers,  and  the  skill  of  these  men 
would  put  the  best  whip  of  the  '  Four-in-Hand  Club'  to  shame.  They 
drive  eight  horses,  with  perfect  ease,  over  bad  roads,  avoiding  every  hole 
and  rut,  and  proceeding  at  a  smart  gallop  :  whether  with  horses  or  oxen, 
the  long  whip  serves  not  only  to  regulate  their  pace,  but  to  guide  them, 
and  keep  them  in  a  straight  line,  and  so  adroit  are  they  in  the  use  of  it, 
that  they  have  been  known  to  strike  a  bird  with  a  flourish  of  the  whip  : 
the  sharpest  corners  are  turned  at  full  trot,  and  the  greatest  nicety  in 
driving,  performed  by  means  of  the  long  whip  alone. 

t  The  habits  of  this  nomade  people  have  been  thus  beautifully  de- 
scribed by  the  late  Mr.  Thomas  Pringle,  a  writer  whose  genius  has  called 


96  THE  MISERABLE  BOSJESMANS. 

has  been  formed ;  bvit  it  is  not  probable  that  they  exceed 
10,000  on  either  side  of  the  Gariep.  I  trust  that,  as  European 
colonization  to  this  river  (and  which  cannot  finally  be  pre- 
vented) increases,  the  simple  Coran  may  not  be  sacrificed ; 
but,  like  the  Hindoo  and  Cingalese,  preserved,  if  not  for  his 
own  sake,  at  least  for  the  advantages  which  his  existence 
would  confer  on  the  white  trader,  agriculturist,  or  grazier. 
Of  the  miserable  and,  alas !  persecuted  Bosjesmans,  probably 
the  aborigines  of  the  country,  few  are  now  in  existence,  at 
least  on  the  S.  of  the  Gariep.  This  race  has  been  often 
described  :  they  are  small  in  stature,  but  well  made  ;  of  an 
olive  colour,  or  rather  of  the  hue  of  a  faded  beech  leaf;  the 
eyes  extremely  small,  and  twinkling  incessantly.  In  cold 
weather  a  skin  is  used  for  covering,  and  a  mat  placed  on  two 
sticks  over  a  hole  scraped  in  the  earth  serves  as  a  house,  in 
which  no  other  domestic  utensil  is  found  but  a  wild  gourd,  or 
ostrich  egg-shell,  to  carry  water.  The  weapon  with  which 
this  untutored  race  have  so  often  avenged  themselves  on  the 
Dutch  frontier  boors,  is  a  poisoned  arrow,  which,  shot  with 
unerring  aim,  inflicts  certain  and  speedy  death.  All  efforts 
to  preserve  the  remnant  of  the  Bosjesmans  from  perishing 
have  proved  abortive  ;  and  some  boors  -have  been  known 
to  boast,  of  the  number  of  the  earliest  proprietors  of 
South  Africa  whom  they  have  slain,  as  if  they  were  so  many 
reptiles  whom  it  was  an  honour  to  have  annihilated.    On  the 

into  activity  a  large  portion  of  sympathy  for  the  semi-civilized  tribes  of 
South  Africa : — 

Fast  by  his  wild  resounding  river  Oft  as  he  feels  quaint  hungers  stound,* 

The  listless  Coran  lingers  ever  ;  Still  tightening  famine's  girdle  round  ;t 

Still  drives  his  heifers  forth  to  feed,  Lulled  by  the  sound  of  the  Gariep, 

Soothed  by  the  gurrahs  humming  reed  ;  Beneath  the  willow's  murmuring  deep  : 

A  rover  still  unchecked  witli  range.  Till  tliunder  clouds,  surcharged  with  rain. 

As  lumiour  calls  or  seasons  change  ;  Pour  verdure  o'er  the  i)anting  plain ; 

His  hut  of  mats  and  leathern  gear.  And    call  the   famished    dreamer  from  his 

All  packed  upon  the  patient  steer.  trance, 

To  feast  on  milk  and  game,  and  wake  the 

'Mid  all  his  wanderings  hating  toil,  moonlight  dance. 
He  never  tills  the  stubborn  soil ; 

But  on  the  milky  dam  relies  j,  ci        j        i.                        .        . 

And  what  spontaneous  earth  supplies.  Stuu7id,  a  sharp  pang,  a  shootmg  pam.— 

Or  should  long  parching  droughts  prevail,  Spencer,  Burns. 

And  milk,  and  bulbs,  and  locusts  fail,  t  Most  savages  wear  a  girdle  which  they 

He  lays  him  down  to  sleep  away,  draw  tight  round  the  stomach  when  in  want 

In  languid  trance  the  weary  day  ;  of  food,  and  for  which  it  is  no  bad  substitute. 


THE  NAMAQUAS  A\D  DAMaRAS.  97 

other  hand,  I  am  happy  to  say,  some  boors  have  allowed 
them  yearly  a  stock  of  sheep  for  their  support ;  but  which 
they  seem  to  be  without  the  providence  to  take  care  of. 

The  Namaqiias,  like  the  Korannas,  ai'e  a  pastoral  people, 
and  a  branch  of  the  Hottentot  race,  inhabiting  the  country 
adjoining  the  coast  on  both  sides  of  the  Gariep.  They  difter 
little  from  the  former  in  their  habits,  living  chiefly  on  milk,  and 
addicted  to  a  migratory  life.  Their  country  is  called  on  the 
map  Great  and  Little  Namaqualand,  a  great  part  of  which  con- 
sists of  an  extensive  plain,  watered  by  the  Fish  River  of  Vaillant, 
and,  as  that  traveller  informs  us,  falling  into  the  sea  to  the 
northward  of  Angra  Pequina  Bay  ;  the  river  is,  in  fact,  but 
one  of  the  many  branches  of  the  Gariep,  and,  like  other 
rivers  in  the  country,  its  channel  is  occasionally  dry.  The 
soil  is  in  general  light,  sandy,  and  arid,  clothed  with  a  sort 
of  grass,  which  vegetates  surprisingly  after  occasional  rain. 
This  tribe  is  governed  by  chiefs,  and  their  mode  of  life 
closely  resembles  the  Korannas  in  all  respects.  They  have 
a  breed  of  sheep  different  from  those  of  the  colony,  being 
destitute  of  the  large  tails  of  the  latter.  The  climate  of 
Namaqualand  is  hotter  and  drier  than  that  of  the  E.  coast ; 
the  heat,  indeed,  is  intense  on  the  banks  of  the  Gariep  —  in 
the  summer  months  the  thermometer  rising  to  ISO.'^ 

The  Damaras  inhabit  the  W.  coast  beyond  Great  Na- 
maqualand, and  are  supposed  to  be  a  tribe  of  the  Caffer  race. 
Their  country  is  considered  fertile,  and  they  grow-  various 
kinds  of  pulse,  but  flocks  and  herds  form  their  principal 
wealth.  They  possess  copper  ore,  which  they  manufacture 
into  rude  ornaments,  and  barter  with  the  neighbouring- 
tribes.  They  are  associated  in  large  villages,  substantially 
built.  Their  weapons  in  war  are  bows  and  arrows  and  the 
assagais.  The  river  discovered  by  Captain  Chapman,  of 
the  Espiegle,    in    1824,    and    which  he  named  the  Nourse, 

*  This  district  is  noted  for  its  numerous  reptiles,  amonjrst  wliicli  is  the 
snake  called  cobra  capella,  which  attains  a  length  of  fifteen  feet.  The 
pufF  adder,  scorpions,  tarantulas,  and  other  venomous  and  deadly  insects, 
are  very  numerous. 

VOL.  IV.  H 


98  THE    GRIQUAS — THEIR    NUMBERS    AND    STRENGTH. 

belongs  to  this  country.  Captain  C.  found  it  with  nine  feet 
water  on  the  bar,  and  navigable  for  small  craft ;  but  the  sur^ 
veying  expedition  under  the  Leven  and  Barracouta,  could 
discover  no  traces  of  such  a  river. 

It  may  here  be  remarked  as  not  a  little  singular,  that  none 
of  the  natives  of  South  Africa,  either  on  the  sea  coast  or  in 
the  interior,  possess  such  a  thing  as  a  canoe,  even  of  the 
simplest  construction ;  when  the  Korannas  or  Namaquas 
desire  to  cross  the  Gariep,  their  only  means  of  doing  so  is  a 
log  of  wood,  on  which  they  lie  at  full  length,  using  the  hands 
and  feet  as  oars.  Those  tribes  who  live  on  the  sea  shore 
appear  to  shun  the  ocean,  and  disdain  the  use  of  a  fish  diet ; 
while  the  rude  New  Hollander,  that  last  link  in  the  human 
race,  has  learnt  to  hollow  the  tree  with  fire,  and  commit 
himself  thereon  to  the  bosom  of  the  great  deep.* 

A  numerous  race,  and  one  which  may  either  prove  of  con- 
siderable value  or  of  great  injury  to  the  colony,  is  rising 
rapidly  on  the  northern  frontier,  and  termed  the  Griquas ; 
they  are  the  result  of  the  intercourse  between  the  Dutch  and 
female  Hottentots,  and  evince  a  bold,  warlike,  and,  at  the 
same  time  industrious  disposition. 

The  Griqua  (or  Bastaard,  as  termed  by  the  Dutch)  popu- 
lation are  spread  along  the  banks  of  the  Gariep  for  700 
miles,  and  are  in  number  from  15,000  to  20,000,  of  whom 
about  5,000  are  armed  with  musketry.  They  possess  nu- 
merous flocks  and  herds  and  abundance  of  excellent  horses. 
Griqua  Town  (see  map)  is  their  principal  location,  where 
also  the  elders  of  the  people  reside,  aided  by  two  or  three 
excellent  missionaries,  who,  in  South  Africa  especially,  are 
the  beneficial  pioneers  of  civilization. 

Kaffres,  or  Amakosce.  This  fine  pastoral  race  of  men, 
located  along  the  eastern  frontier,  deserve  as  much  attention 
as  my  limits  will  possibly  admit.  Kaffer,  or  Caffer,  indif- 
ferently applied  to  these  tribes,  is  a  term  of  reproach,  signi- 
fying infidel,  and  used  by  the  Moors  to  designate  those 
nations  in  South  Africa  who  would  not  conform  to  the  Ma- 
homedan  faith.  Mr.  Kay  attributes  their  descent  to  the 
*  The  Catfres  call  a  ship  "  the  White  Man's  house.*' 


THE   CAFFRES — THEIR    ORIGIN    AND    APPEARANCE.  99 

Bedouins,  or  wandering  Arabs,  because  these  people  have 
penetrated  into  every  part  of  Southern  Africa,  even  into  the 
islands,  and  he  supposes  their  ancestors  might  have  reached 
that  country  by  skirting  the  Red  Sea,  and  journeying  south- 
ward by  the  sea  coast ;  thus  avoiding  the  great  desert  of 
sand  that  divides  Africa  into  two  parts.  Nothing  is  to  be 
gathered  from  the  people  themselves,  who  have  no  records  of 
their  origin ;  but  the  assumption  of  Mr.  Kay  is  probable 
from  many  circumstances,  such  as  their  hospitality,  their 
pastoral  manners,  mode  of  shaping  their  houses,  practice  of 
circumcision,  &c.  It  is  supposed  they  first  settled  on  the 
Kae  River  about  the  middle  of  the  17th  century  at  the  time 
they  were  governed  by  a  chief  named  Togah,  and  that  they 
acquired  territory  in  the  neighbourhood  by  purchase  and  con- 
quest from  the  native  tribes. 

Excepting  the  woolly  hair,  the  Caffer  exhibits  no  similarity 
to  the  Hottentot  or  to  the  Negro  race;  for  although  the 
colour  is  a  dark  brown  nearly  black,  the  features  are  regu- 
lar, having  an  Asiatic  cast,  and  the  form  symmetrical,  the 
men  in  particular  being  of  a  fair  average  height,  and  ex- 
tremely well  proportioned.  The  head  is  not,  generally  speak- 
ing, more  elongated  than  that  of  an  European ;  the  frontal 
and  occipital  bones  form  nearly  a  semicircle  ;  and  a  line  from 
the  forehead  to  the  chin  drawn  over  the  nose  is  in  some  in- 
stances as  finely  rounded  and  as  convex  as  the  profile  of  a 
Grecian  or  Roman  countenance.  Their  women  are  short  of 
stature,  very  strong  limbed  and  muscular ;  and  they  attribute 
the  keeping  up  the  standard  of  the  men  to  their  frequent  in- 
termarriages with  strangers  whom  they  purchase  of  the  neigh- 
bouring tribes — the  barter  of  cattle  for  young  women  forming 
one  of  the  principle  articles  of  their  trade ;  all  the  principal 
chiefs  chusing  to  purchase  Tambookie  (who  are  short  and 
stout,  with  muscular  legs,  and  without  a  taint  of  the  Hotten- 
tot or  African  Negro)  wives  in  preference  to  their  own  people. 

Unlike  the  Hottentots  they  are  remarkably  cheerful,  frank 
and  animated,  placing  implicit  confidence  in  visitors,  and 
using  every  means  to  entertain  them.     The  Cafters  prefer  a 


100  DRESSES    OF    THE    TAMBOOKIE    LADIES. 

state  of  nudity,  with  a  scanty  apron  in  the  warm  season,  but 
in  winter  a  cloak  is  used,  made  of  the  skins  of  wild  beasts, 
admirably  curried.  Their  arms  are  the  javelin,  a  large  shield 
of  buffalo  hide,  and  a  short  club,  but  their  wars  often  arising 
about  disputed  pasture  ground  are  generally  decided  without 
much  bloodshed.  They  never  wear  a  covering  on  the  head 
even  in  the  hottest  weather,  frequently  shave  their  hair  off, 
and  seldom  use  any  kind  of  shoes  unless,  indeed,  on  under- 
taking a  long  journey,  when  they  strap  a  kind  of  leather  sole 
to  the  foot.  Both  sexes  have  the  bodies  tattoed,  especially 
on  the  shoulders ;  and  young  men  who  consider  themselves 
dandies  have  their  skins  painted  red,  and  their  hair  curled 
into  small  distinct  knots  like  pease. 

The  dress  of  the  females  is  of  the  same  materials  as  that  of 
the  men,  but  they  append  a  kind  of  loose  flap  to  the  collar 
which  is  ornamented  with  buttons,  and  sometimes  forms  a 
train  behind.  The  women  display  considerable  taste  in  the 
arrangement  of  their  dress,  particularly  for  the  head,  which 
is  covered  by  a  turban  made  of  the  skin  of  the  *  ipicte,'  a 
species  of  antelope,  and  profusely  ornamented  with  beads, 
&c.*  The  robe  of  the  Queen  is  not  distinguishable  from  that 
of  any  other  woman  of  the  tribe  ;  change  there  is  none — 
each  carries  her  whole  wardrobe  on  her  back,  and  has  no 
other  bed  clothes.  The  mantles  are  generally  renewed  once 
a  year.  The  only  distinction  between  the  wives  of  the  chief- 
tains and  the  poorer  women  consists  in  the  profusion  of  orna- 
ments, and  of  these  they  are  very  vain. 

Their  huts,  which  are  constructed  by  the  women,  are  but 
temporary,   and    fashioned    somewhat   after    the    manner    of 

*  The  Tambookie  ladies  wear  a  head  dress  made  of  leather,  or  skin  with 
the  hair  off,  and  a  profusion  of  beads  studded  close  together  on  the  crown; 
there  is  a  broad  band  round  the  forehead,  which  gives  it  a  kind  of  turban- 
like appearance.  The  mantle  is  made  of  the  skin  of  the  otter  or  ante- 
lope, with  the  hair  outside,  and  reaches  from  the  neck  to  the  ancle ;  there 
are  three  rows  of  buttons  behind,  and  on  the  right  side  hangs  a  small  tor- 
toise-shell, containing  perfume.  They  wear  a  profusion  of  beads  roimd 
the  neck  ;  indeed  all  they  possess  or  can  procure,  and  often  several  brass 
rings  on  their  arms. 


HOUSES    AND    VILLAGES    OF    THE    CAFFRES.  101 

the  Korannas ;  poles  are  set  up,  then  bent  and  the  tops 
brought  together,  tied  with  fibres,  thatched  with  rushes, 
and  the  inside  plastered  with  clay  or  cow-dung,  having 
much  the  appearance  of  a  bee  hive ;  the  door  serves  all  the 
purposes  of  window  and  chimney.  The  diameter  of  the 
whole  is  generally  about  10  or  12  feet,  with  a  raised  floor  and 
a  gutter  for  a  drain.  They  spend  little  of  their  time  in  these 
however,  for  the  climate  is  so  fine  that  they  live  in  the  open 
air,  and  it  is  only  in  the  night  or  in  case  of  bad  weather  or 
sickness  that  they  remain  within  them.  The  sites  of  these  vil- 
lages, which  generally  consist  of  a  dozen  of  these  huts,  and 
the  cattle  folds  are  chosen  witli  reference  to  the  pasturage 
ground,  as  the  increase  and  maintenance  of  their  flocks 
seems  their  only  and  unceasing  care  ;  their  diet  being  ex- 
tremely simple,  principally  milk  in  a  sour  curdled  state. 
Horses  have  been  lately  introduced  amongst  them,  before 
which  the  ox  was  their  only  beast  of  burden.  Sheep  and 
goats  have  also  multiplied  extremely. 

The  grain  generally  cultivated  is  a  kind  of  millet,  (holcus 
sorgium),  which  they  eat  in  a  boiled  state,  seldom,  or  never 
pounding  it.  They  also  grow  a  small  quantity  of  Indian  corn 
and  pumpkins  ;  but  a  species  of  sugar  cane,  called  mifi,  is 
produced  in  great  abundance,  and  of  this  they  are  all  ex- 
tremely fond.  They  are  nearly  strangers  to  the  use  of  spi- 
rituous liquors,  having  only  a  sort  of  mead,  made  from  the 
wild  honey,  and  a  pretty  good  beer,  prepared  with  malted 
millet,  with  which,  however,  they  sometimes  l;)ecome  intoxi- 
cated :  swine's  flesh  is  abhorred ; — they  keep  no  poultry,  and 
are  prejudiced  against  eggs ;  neither  will  they  eat  the  flesh 
of  the  elephant,  which  the  Beechuana  tribes  devour  so  gree- 
dily ;  and,  singular  to  say,  they  have  a  great  aversion  to  fish. 
In  their  mode  of  cooking  and  eating  the  flesh  of  their  cattle, 
they  are  however,  extremely  disgusting,  and  the  only  purifi- 
cation their  cooking  utensils  obtain  is,  to  be  placed  before 
the  dogs  to  be  licked. 

The  men  are  warlike,*  but  indulge  in  an  indolent  life.     In 

*  III  1820,  about  10,000  Calfrcs  attempted  to  stonn  the  barracks  of  Gra- 
ham's Town,  which  had  only  about  250  soldiers  to  defend  themj  the  action 


102  THE    CAFFRE    HERDSMEN. 

time  of  peace  hunting  is  their  favourite  pastime;  the  care 
of  their  herds  seems  the  only  active  employment.  They  are 
extremely  fond  of  news,  however,  and  will  make  long  journeys 
in  quest  of  intelligence,  as  to  what  is  passing  in  their  political 
world.  Although  every  man  is  a  soldier,  their  wars  being 
unfrequent,  they  are  seldom  called  on  to  serve,  and  never  to 
exercise,  their  principal  occupation  is,  therefore,  that  of 
herdsmen,  in  which  they  cannot  be  excelled,  and  it  is 
astonishing  how  they  will  distinguish  an  animal  that  they  have 
once  seen.  They  are  extremely  expert  in  the  management  of 
their  oxen,  and  train  them  to  perfect  obedience  to  the  will  of 
their  masters,  they  even  race  these  animals  when  young,  and 
oblige  them  to  gallop  at  an  astonishing  rate.  Their  cattle 
folds  are  constructed  with  a  quantity  of  thorns,  made  into  a 
circular  hedge,  with  gaps  or  openings,  filled  up  in  like  manner. 
Sometimes  their  pens  are  made  of  upright  posts,  and  branches 
interwoven,  choosing  always  the  most  sheltered  and  the 
driest  situation  for  them,  as  the  cattle  are  obliged  to  be  in- 
closed every  night,  on  account  of  the  danger  from  wild  beasts. 
The  cows  are  milked  morning  and  evening  in  their  folds,  and 
not  let  out  until  the  day  is  pretty  well  advanced,  when  they 
are  then  guarded  by  the  village  boys.  The  men  not  only 
dress  the  hides  for  clothing,  but  make  the  garments  for  their 
wives  and  children,  there  being  a  general  renewal  of  mantles 
about  the  months  of  May,  July,  and  August.  Some  of  them 
are  by  no  means  bad  artizans,  considering  their  ignorance  of 
European  improvements,  their  smiths,  in  particular,  make 
weapons  and  axes,  which  answer  their  purpose  very  well,  and 
if  instructed  they  would,  no  doubt,  excel  at  this  craft. 

The  CafFre  women  weave  a  superior  sort  of  mat  from  a  fine 
rush,  which  displays    some    taste  in   the   execution.      The 

was  most  spirited,  and  if  the  Caflfres  had  been  provided  with  better  arms 
than  their  usual  slender  missiles,  they  would  have  carried  the  day,  but  at 
length  giving  way  some  field  pieces  were  turned  upon  their  incumbered 
masses,  and  upwards  of  1,300  were  left  dead  on  the  ground.  The  natural 
bravery  of  the  CafFres  had  been  excited  to  a  great  pitch  by  a  pretended 
proplict,  IMakanna  (Lynx),  assuring  his  countrymen  that  his  magic  would 
turn  the  balls  of  tlie  English  troops  into  wdtcr. 


GOVERNMENT  AND  LAWS  OF  THE  CAFFRES.  103 

sleeping  mat,  a  leathern  milk  sack,  a  calibash,  and  an  earthen 
pot  for  cooking,  form,  however,  the  whole  of  their  furniture 
and  household  utensils. 

Respecting  their  government,  which  is  that  of  hereditary 
chieftains,  or  clansmen,  the  Caffres  have  traditionary  accounts 
which  are,  however,  extremely  vague  and  contradictory.  It  is 
most  probable  that  their  present  form  of  government  has 
existed,  for  many  generations.  A  custom  exists  of  swearing 
by  the  names  of  the  most  ancient  and  celebrated  of  their 
chiefs,  and  they  avow  them  to  be  descended  from  Togah,  the 
remotest  they  remember  to  have  sworn  by  ;  and  from  him 
they  have  a  direct  descent  to  the  reigning  family.  The 
chiefs  are  legislators  as  well  as  judges,  but  they  assemble  the 
old  men  of  the  tribe  as  a  kind  of  jury,  and  also  permit  them  a 
voice  in  their  decisions.  The  courts  are  held  in  the  open  air, 
and  persons  of  all  distinctions  are  admitted  to  be  present. 
Every  party  to  a  suit  pleads  his  own  cause  ;  hired  council, 
learned  in  the  law,  being  unknown,  and  notwithstanding  their 
want  of  education,  they  conduct  their  business  with  a  decorum 
which  our  Old  Bailey  advocates  would  do  well  to  imitate ; 
never  giving  the  lie  direct  or  interrupting  the  harangue 
of  the  speaker  in  possession  of  the  court. 

The  decisions  of  the  council  are  generally  founded  upon 
precedents,  treasured  up  in  their  memories,  and  which  the  old 
are  careful  to  impress  upon  the  young,  so  that  they  be  not 
forgotten.  Their  laws  are  few,  simple,  and  easily  understood, 
so  as  to  have  no  excuse  for  violating  them.  They  are  founded 
on  reason  and  justice. 

Murder,  adultery,  sorcery,  and  theft,  are  the  crimes  which 
generally  fill  their  calendars  ;  murder  is  seldom  punished  with 
death ;  the  mvu'derer  being  generally  mulcted  in  a  fine  pro- 
portionate to  the  supposed  importance  of  the  person  he  has 
slain.     Polygamy  is  allowed. 

No  regular  system  of  idolatry  exists  among  them,  but  they 
are  much  addicted  to  sorcery,  spells,  and  charms,  and  some 
scattered  traces  may  even  be  found  of  the  remains  of  religious 
institutions.     They  believe  in  a   Supreme   Being,    to   whom 


104  RELIGION  or  THE  CAFFRES. — DEATH. 

they  apply  the  term  Uhlanga,  (Supreme)  or  frequently  the 
Hottentot  name  Ut'ika  (beautiful).*  The  immortality  of  the 
soul  is  believed  in,  but,  strange  to  say,  unconnected  with  any 
thought  of  a  future  state  of  rewards  and  punishments. 
Formerly  they  buried  the  dead,  but  latterly  only  the  chiefs 
and  persons  of  consequence  are  interred,  and  such  is  their 
dread  of  touching,  or  even  being  near  a  corpse,  that  a  sick 
person,  when  supposed  to  be  past  all  hope,  is  carried  out  into 
a  thicket,  and  either  buried  before  life  be  extinct,  or  left  to 
perish  alone ;  as  may  be  imagined,  therefore,  those  who  are 
considered  dead,  sometimes  recover,  and  return  home.  The 
chiefs  are  interred  in  the  cattle  fold,  as  the  place  of  greatest 
honour.  When  a  person  dies,  a  fast  is  held  for  an  entire  day, 
by  the  whole  hamlet ;  the  husband  or  wife  of  the  deceased  is 
considered  unclean,  and  must  separate  himself  from  society 
for  two  weeks,  and  fast  for  some  days ;  his  or  her  food  being 
brought  to  him  in  the  fields,  and  before  he  be  readmitted  into 
society  the  old  dress  must  be  destroyed  and  new  ones  put  on. 
The  period  of  probation  for  a  widow  is  longer  than  that  for  a 
widower.  Every  part  of  the  clothing  of  the  deceased  is  con- 
sidered unclean,  and  must  be  destroyed ;  the  house  wherein 
he  or  she  lived,  although  removed  from  it  before  death,  must 
be  shut  up ;  no  person  ever  again  to  enter  it,  and  the  children 
are  forbid  to  go  near  it ;  it  is  called  the  hovise  of  the  dead, 
and  is  left  to  fall  gradually  to  decay,  no  one  daring  to  touch 
even  the  materials  of  which  it  is  composed,  till  they  have 
crumbled  into  dust. 

Such  is  a  brief  outline  of  an  interesting  and  warlike  people, 
who,  to  the  number  of  about  100,000,  (some  say  less,  others 
more),  inhabit  the  E.  shores  of  South  Africa,  from  the  Keis- 
kamma  River,  to  near  Delagoa  Bay,  and  among  whom  indefa- 
fatigable  and  benevolent  missionaries,  and  active  and  enter- 
prizing  British  traders,  are  now  introducing,  it  is  to  be  hoped, 
the  blessings  of  civilization  and  christianity.f 

*  What  a  delightful  host  of  ideas  the  application  of  this  novel  term  to 
the  Creator  of  the  Universe  su<;ycsts ! 

t  When  in  His  Majesty's  ship,  "Lcvcn,"   we  had  several  Caffres  ou 


DESCENDANTS  OF  SHIPWRECKED  EUROPEANS.  105 

There  are,  in  the  vicinity  of  Port  Natal,  and  probably,  in 
the  interior,  tribes  of  yellow  men,  with  long  reddish  beards 
and  flowing  hair,  the  descendants  of  ship-wrecked  Europeans. 
On  the  4th  of  August,  1782,  the  Grosvenor,  East  Indiaman, 
was  wrecked  on  the  coast  of  Natal,  most  of  the  crew  got  safe 
on  shore,  but  a  few  of  them  were  able  to  reach  the  then  Dutch 
colony  at  the  Cape,  where  they  reported  that  many  ,of  their 
companions,  had  been  left  alive  amongst  the  natives.  About 
ten  years  afterwards,  the  Dutch  government  sent  a  party  in 
search  of  them,  but  the  party  only  penetrated  as  far  as  the 
river  Somo,  one  of  the  branches  of  the  Kei,  and  returned 
unsuccessful. 

At  the  request  of  the  English  government,  another  attempt 
was  made  in  1790,  and  an  expedition  formed  by  order  of  the 
Dutch  authorities,  was  undertaken  by  Mr.  Jacob  Van  Reenen, 
who  discovered  a  village,  where  he  found  the  people  were 
descended  from  whites,  and  that  three  old  women  were  still 
living,  who  had,  when  children,  been  shipwrecked,  and  whom 
Oemtonoue,  the  chief  of  the  Hambonas,  or  yellowish  coloured 
men,  had  taken  as  his  wives.     These  women  said  they  were 

board,  who  were  sent  down  the  coast  with  us  from  Cape  Town,  to  serve  as  in- 
terpreters ;  their  mild,  frank,  and  pleasing'  manners  won  them  many  friends 
among  our  hardy  seamen.  Gaika,  one  of  the  Caffre  chiefs,  of  the  Ama- 
kosas  tribe,  not  long  since  visited  one  of  our  military  outposts,  sometime 
after  there  had  been  fighting  between  the  colonists  and  the  Caflfres.  "  How 
long,"  said  Gaika,  to  the  officer  in  command  of  the  post,  "  how  long  are 
we  to  continue  at  war  ?  shall  we  never  eat  our  corn  together  in  peace  ?" 
The  officer  replied,  "  are  we  not  at  peace  ?  have  we  not  been  so  for  a  long 
time?"  "Do  you,  white  men,  call  this  peace?"  said  the  African,  "it  is 
not  so  with  us.  After  our  wars  are  over  we  trade  together ;  my  people 
waul  beads,  (the  money  of  the  country)  and  knives,  and  hatchets  ;  and  your 
people  want  ivory  and  cattle.  Let  them  exchange  with  each  other  at  day- 
light, instead  of  shooting  at  them  vvhen  they  attempt  by  night  to  cross 
yonder  river ;  let  the  waters  of  the  Keuhamma  flow  in  peace  to  the  great 
ocean,  without  being  discoloured  by  our  blood,  and  then  we  should  know 
that  war  had  really  and  indeed  ceased  !"  Gaika's  wishes  have  been  realized  ; 
many  English  traders,  some  with  their  families,  are  now  residing  in  the 
very  heart  of  Caflfreland,  Avhere  they  have  erected  shops,  and  are  carrying 
on  a  mutually  beneficial  trafic. 


106  YELLOW  MEN  ON  THE  COAST. 

sisters,  but  being  very  young  at  the  time  of  the  shipwreck, 
they  could  not  say  to  what  nation  they  belonged.*  M.  Van 
Reenen's  party  also  discovered  the  remains  of  the  wreck 
of  the  Grosvenor,  and  at  the  time  of  his  visit  the  descendants 
of  the  white  people  amounted  to  about  400. 

It  appears  that  this  tribe  of  mulattoes  have  been  driven 
from  their  settlement  in  Hamboua,  by  the  Zoolas,  who  have 
invaded  that  country.  Mr.  Thomson,  in  his  interesting 
journey  to  Latakoo  says,  that  yellow  men,  with  long  hair, 
who  were  described  as  cannibals,  were  among  the  invading 
hordes,  who  were  then  scouring  the  country,  devastating  all 
before  them,  like  a  flight  of  locusts,  and  driving  thousands 
of  desolate  people  on  our  frontier  for  shelter.  The  unfortu- 
nate Lieut.  Farewell,  when  residing  at  Natal,  had  pointed  out 
to  him  one  of  these  yellow  men  among  the  King's  suite,  who 
was  described  to  be  a  cannibal ;  the  yellow  man  shrunk 
abashed  from  Lieut.  Farewell.  There  can  be  no  doubt 
that  these  descendants  of  Europeans  and  Africans  are  now 
widely  ramifying  their  offspring  throughout  the  country ;  and 
their  services  might  be  turned  to  good  account  in  civilizing 
the  native  tribes. 

Of  the  numerous  hordes  or  nations  to  the  northward  and 
eastward,  with  whom  our  enterprising  colonists  are  now 
opening  a  valuable  trade,  we  know  little  more  than  that 
their  commercial  habits  may  render  them  valuable  neigh- 
bours, British  merchants  having,  it  is  supposed,  penetrated 
the  interior  of  South  Africa  nearly  as  far  as  the  tropic  to 
within  150  miles  of  the  great  bay  of  Delagoa,  where  the 
country  is  more  fertile  and  populous,  and  trade  briskf  at  the 
distance  of  5  or  600  miles  from  the  frontier  of  our  own  colony. 

*  These  old  women  seemed  at  first  much  pleased  at  Mr.  Van  Reenen's 
ofler  to  restore  them  to  their  white  country  people,  but  on  his  return  from 
the  wreck  they  refused  to  leave  their  children  and  grand  children,  and  the 
country  in  which  they  had  been  so  long  residing  ;  where,  it  should  also  be 
observed,  they  were  treated  as  beings  of  a  superior  race. 

fin  1827,  Mr.  Scoon  visited  the  town  of  the  chief  Malacatzi,  at  the  sources 
of  the  Muputa,  by  a  route  of  140()njiles  from  Cape  Town,  and  traded  with 


VARIOUS  TRIBES  TO  THE  N.E.  OF  THE  CAPE.      107 

As  the  subject  is  of  rising  importance,  and  two  expeditions 
are  now  on  foot  for  the  further  exploration  of  the  interior,  the 
one  having  started  from  Cape  Town  in  August  last  under  the 
superintendence  of  Dr.  Smith,  and  the  other  being  confided 
to  the  enterprizing  Capt.  Alexander,  who  purports  proceed- 
ing from  Delagoa  Bay  up  the  Mapoota  river, — I  subjoin  a 
few  additional  remarks  as  prepared  for  the  Geographical 
Society  by  a  distinguished  geographer : — * 

The  Bechuana  tribes,  situated  in  the  interior,  about  three 
hvmdred  miles  north  of  the  Gariep  or  Orange  River,  are  su- 
perior to  the  CafFres  in  arts  and  civilization. f  They  inhabit 
large  towns,  their  houses  are  well-constructed  and  remarkable 
for  their  neatness ;  they  cultivate  the  soil,  and  store  their 
grain  for  winter  consumption.  In  their  physiognomy  also  they 
rise  a  degree  above  the  Amakosse  or  Caffres ;  their  complex- 
ion is  of  a  brighter  brown,  their  features  more  European,  and 
often  beautiful. 

As  we  proceed  north-eastward  from  the  country  of  the 
Batclapis,  the  most  southern  of  the  Bechuana  tribes,  along 
the  elevated  tract  which  limits  on  the  west  the  basin  of  the 
Gariep  or  Orange  River,  we  find  the  industry  and  civilization 
of  the  inhabitants  increasing  at  every  step.  In  the  country 
of  the  Tammahas,  near  the  town  of  Mashow,  which  has  a  po- 
pulation of  at  least  ten  thousand,  Mr.  Campbell  saw  fields  of 
CafFre  corn  (Holcus  SorgJmm),  of  several  hundred  acres  in 
extent.  In  another  place  he  saw  a  tract  of  cultivated  land 
which  he  supposed  could  not  be  included  within  a  circum- 
ference of  less  than  twenty  miles,  J  But  among  the  Murvltsi, 
whose  chief  town,  Kurrichane  or  Chuan,  is  distant  probably 

that  chief,  in  a  few  days,  to  the  amount  of  1800/.  Malacatzi  sent  oxen  to 
support  him  dunn<»'  the  last  200  miles  of  his  journey.  A  Mr.  Hume  has 
recently  proceeded  200  miles  further  north  (Missionary  Register,  Feb. 
1834),  and  found  mnny  peaceable  tribes,  speaking  the  Sichuana  language, 
and  obtaining  European  goods  from  the  Portuguese. 

*  W.  D.  Cooley,  Esq. 

+  Lichenstein.     Reison  im  Siidlichen  Afrika,  i.  404,  Bcrl.  1811. 

+  Campbell's  Second  Journey,  i.  pp.  93,  177,  121.     1820. 


108  THE    MURUTSI — THEIR    CIVILIZATION. 

about  one  hundred  and  sixty  geographical  miles,  N.E.  by  E. 
from  Litakoo,  the  same  traveller  found  a  spirit  of  industry, 
and  a  progress  in  the  arts,  which  appear  to  have  surprised 
him. 

The  town  of  Kurrichane  appeared  to  Mr.  Campbell  to  be 
about  four  times  the  size  of  Litakoo,  the  population  of  which 
he  estimated  at  four  thousand.*  In  the  construction  of  their 
houses  many  circumstances  are  observable,  which  mark  a 
broad  line  between  the  Muriitsi  and  their  southern  neigh- 
bours, in  respect  to  proficiency  in  those  arts  which  are  most 
intimately  allied  to  civilization.  The  fences  encircling  their 
houses  are  built  of  stone,  without  cement,  but  of  masonry  in 
other  respects  equal  to  that  of  Europe.  The  hovises  them- 
selves are  plastered  and  painted  yellow ;  some  of  them  are 
ornamented  with  pillars,  carved  mouldings,  and  well-painted 
figures.  The  jars  in  which  the  corn  is  stored  are  from  six  to 
ten  feet  in  height  and  diameter,  formed  of  clay,  painted  and 
glazed.  The  most  scrupulous  neatness  reigns  through  the 
habitation.  The  Murutsi  cultivate  tobacco  and  the  sugar- 
cane, in  addition  to  beans,  Caffre  corn,  millet,  and  other  ob- 
jects of  Bechuana  tillage.  They  are  so  rich  in  cattle  that  the 
droves  returning  home  in  the  evening  extend  two  miles  from 
the  town.-j- 

The  Murutsi  manufacture  large  quantities  of  iron  and  cop- 
per. They  smelt  and  alloy  the  latter  metal,  draw  it  into  fine 
wire,  and  make  elastic  chains  of  considerable  beauty.  Their 
iron  is  of  so  fine  a  quality  as  to  be  little  inferior  to  steel. 
They  supply  their  neighbours  with  knives,  razors,  iron  im- 
plements of  husbandry,  &c.  It  is  even  probable  that  they 
have  the  art  of  casting  iron,  for  at  Delagoa  Bay  the  natives 
have  cast  iron  tobacco  pipes,  differing  little  in  shape  from  our 
clay  pipes,  and  obtained  by  them  from  an  inland  nation, :{:  now 

*  Mr.  Thompson  supposed  Litdkoo  to  contain  six,  eight,  or  ten  thou- 
sand inhabitants. — Travels  and  Adventures  in  South  Africa,  i.  pp.  168, 
216.     1827. 

t  Campbell,  i.  pp.  220, 248. 

X  1  bought  some  of  these  at  Uelagoa  Bay  in  1823.— R.  M.  JVJautin. 


THE    MAQUAINA — A    POWERFUL    NATION.  109 

the  Muriitsi  are  among  the  most  expert  of  those  nations  in 
the  art  of  working  the  useful  metals,  and  as  they  are  known 
to  trade  to  Delagoa  Bay,  there  is  a  strong  likelihood,  at  least 
that  the  cast  iron  pipes  are  of  their  manufacture.*  The 
Muriitsi  supply  their  southern  neighbours  with  wooden  ware, 
with  bowls,  carved  spoons,  &c;  and  as  the  Batclapis  were  able 
to  name  to  Mr.  Campbell  several  handsome  kinds  of  wood  which 
grow  in  the  country  of  the  Muriitsi,  it  may  be  fairly  inferred, 
that  the  latter  people  display  no  less  ingenuity  and  refinement 
in  their  manufactures  of  wood  than  in  those  of  metal. 

The  arts,  industry,  and  social  order  which  are  observed  to 
increase  progressively,  as  we  advance  north-eastwards  from 
the  Batclapis  to  the  Muriitsi,  cannot  be  supposed  to  cease 
abruptly  at  the  limits  of  the  latter  nation.  Beyond  the  Mu- 
riitsi, according  to  the  accounts  of  natives,  towards  the  north- 
east or  east  are  the  Maquaina,  a  numerous  and  powerful  na- 
tion, equalling  the  Muriitsi  in  industry,  and  far  surpassing 
them  in  wealth  and  numbers. f  They  are  known  to  all  the 
southern  nations,  even  to  the  Amakosae,  who  are  at  least  five 
hundred  geographical  miles  distant  from  them,  but  who  de- 
scribe them  (under  the  name  of  Maquini)  as  the  people  from 
whom  all  other  nations  receive  their  iron  and  copper  wares.J 
The  Murutsi  and  other  southern  tribes  obtain  from  the  Ma- 
quaina beads,  the  money  of  the  country,  which  are  brought 
to  the  latter  people  by  the  Mollaquam,  who  live  near  the 
great  water  (I  presume  towards  Delagoa  Bay),  or  derived 
from  commerce  with  the  Mahalasely,  a  great  nation  situated 
to  the  north-east  of  the  Maquaina,  and  who  trade  with  a  white 
people  living  near  the  great  water,  and  speaking  an  unknown 
language. §  By  this  description,  it  is  evident  that  we  must 
understand  the  Portuguese  at  Inhamban.  Beyond  the  Ma- 
halasely are  said  to  be  a  half-white  people,  who  are  extremely 

*  Lieut.  Rozier. 

t  They  are  called  by  Lichtenstein,  Maquini;  by  Burchell,  Maku-ins;  by 
€ainpbell,  Moquana  and  Baquana ;  by  Thompsou,  Maqucans ;  and  by 
Philips,  Maquaina. 

X  Licht.  i.  465.  §  Campbell,  i.  240. 


no  THE    MAIiALASELY    NATION. 

savage.*  These  are  the  "Wild  Men  of  the  Woods"  described 
by  the  Portuguese,  and  who  are  probably  descended  from  the 
Moors,  driven  southward  by  them  after  the  conquest  of 
Sofala.f 

Now  the  information  which  the  Murutsi  communicate  re- 
specting the  nations  situated  to  the  north-east  of  the  Maqua- 
ina,  deserves  our  particular  attention.  The  Mahalasely  (as 
well  as  the  Mateebeylai,  a  neighbouring  nation)  are  of  a  brown 
complexion,  aud  have  long  hair.J  They  wear  clothes,  ride  on 
elephants,  which  they  likewise  use  for  draught,  they  climb 
into  their  houses,  "  and  are  gods."§  This  last  emphatic  ex- 
pression is  usually  applied  to  Europeans,  with  whom  the  Ma- 
halasely are  thus  raised  to  a  level.  All  the  nations  from  the 
Mahalasely  to  the  Murutsi  inclusive,  obviate  the  virulence  of 
the  small-pox  by  inoculating  between  the  eyes.|| 

The  various  Austral-Ethiopian  tribes,  or  nations  south  of 
Inhamban  habitually  regard  each  other  as  members  of  the 
same  family:  they  are,  as  they  express  it,  one  people,  and, 
unless  when  wars  disturb  their  harmony,  they  mingle  together 
without  fear  or  mistrust.  Their  young  chiefs  make  distant 
journeys,  confident  of  being  hospitably  received  wherever 
they  arrive.  To  this  circumstance  and  the  commercial  dis- 
position of  the  Murutsi  and  their  neighbours,  it  may  be 
ascribed  that  their  geographical  information  is  so  much  more 
accurate  and  extensive  than  is  usual  among  rude  nations. 
The  industry  and  commercial  habits  of  the  inland  tribes  are 
sufficiently  matured  to  operate  on  opinion  and  to  feel  its  reci- 
procal influence.  Even  among  the  Batclapis,  who  are  less 
strenuous  and  ingenious  than  the  Murutsi,  an  individual  of 
industrious  habits  is  commended  and  esteemed  by  all.^  Mr. 
Campbell  met  a  family,  with  all  their  property  packed  on  oxen, 

*  Philip,  Researches  in  South  Africa,  ii.  154.     1819.      f  Lt.  Rozier. 

\  Campbell's  First  Journey,  216.     1825.     Second  Journey,  i.  272,  308. 

§  The  Mucarangas  and  Amakosse  make  use  of  a  similar  expression.  By 
the  former,  Europeans  are  called  Musungo ;  by  the  latter,  Malungo ;  that 
is.  Lords. 

II  Campbell,  i.  613.       f  Burchell,  Travels  in  South  Africa,  ii.  555. 


EXTENSIVE    COMMERCE    IN    THE    INTERIOR.  Ill 

travelling  from  the  country  of  the  Tammahas  to  that  of  the 
Muriitsi,  a  distance  of  one  hundred  miles,  to  reap  the  harvest.* 

The  Murutsi  carry  their  manufactures,  their  copper  orna- 
ments, iron,  and  wooden  wares  to  the  Batclapis  and  other 
southern  tribes ;  from  whom  they  obtain  in  return,  skins, 
ivory  and  sihilo,  or  glittering  iron  ore,  with  which  they  pow- 
der their  hair.  These  articles  they  again  carry  north-east- 
ward to  the  Maquaina,  with  whom  they  exchange  them  for 
beads  and  clothing.  Thus  the  trade  in  which  they  are  im- 
mediately concerned,  probably  extends  from  four  to  five  hun- 
dred miles.  At  the  chief  towns,  to  which  they  resort,  they 
have  commercial  agents,  called  marts,  with  whom  they  are 
allied  by  interest  and  bound  in  reciprocal  obligations  of 
friendship  and  hospitality. j-  The  Mahalasely,  whose  civili- 
zation is  so  much  vaunted  by  their  southern  neighbours,  are 
said  to  carry  their  hospitality  and  encouragement  of  trade  so 
far  as  to  support,  at  the  public  expense,  all  strangers  who 
enter  their  country,  j;  They  purchase  great  quantities  of  ivory, 
which  they  superstitiously  anoint,  and  pretend  to  the  Ma- 
quaina or  Murutsi  merchants  (who  readily  believe  them)  that 
they  eat  it.  This  strange  fiction  is  evidently  intended  to  pro- 
tect their  monopoly  of  the  trade  with  Inhamban. 

The  Murutsi,  Maquaina,  and  Wankitsi  are  said  to  trade 
with  the  Dmaras  on  the  western  coast  of  Africa,  and  there 
can  be  little  doubt  that  their  northern  and  north-eastern 
neighbours,  the  Seketay,  Bamangwatu,  and  Mahalasely  main- 
tain a  commercial  intercourse  with  the  empire  of  Monomotapa. 
We  are  informed,  that  the  beads  with  which  the  Portuguese 
on  the  Zambese  carry  on  their  trade  with  the  natives  are  of 
three  colours,  viz.  black,  white  and  blue  ;§  these  are  precisely 
the  colours  on  which  the  Bachapins  set  a  value ;  beads  of  any 
other  hues  are  not  considered  by  them  as  money.  ||  Now  this 
uniformity  in  the  appreciation  of  a  circulating  medium,  the 
value  of  which  is  altogether  conventional,  can  be  reasonably 

*  Campbell  i.  283.  f  Ibid.  i.  274.  %  Ibid.  308. 

§  Tliomann.  Reise  und  Lebensbesclireibung,  115.     1788. 
II  Burchell,  ii.  569.     Red  and  yellow  beads  are  preferred  to  blue  on  the 
coast. 


112  TRADE    OF    THE    AUSTRAL    ETHIOPIAN    NATIONS. 

ascribed  only  to  an  active  commerce  pervading  the  countries 
in  which  it  is  observed.  The  Portuguese  say,  that  ivory  is 
brought  from  the  Orange  River  to  Zumbo,  a  trading  town  on 
the  Zambese,  four  or  five  hundred  miles  from  the  sea  ;*  which 
account,  stripped  of  misconstruction  and  erroneous  inference, 
amounts  to  this,  that  a  commercial  intercourse  exists  between 
the  nations  dwelling  among  the  sources  of  the  rivers  which 
discharge  themselves  into  Delagoa  Bay,f  and  those  which  are 
situated  due  north  of  them,  near  the  Zambese.  Thus  it  is 
evident,  that  the  trade  of  the  Austral  Ethiopian  nations  may 
be  traced  from  Delagoa  Bay  on  the  eastern  to  Whale  Bay  on 
the  western  coast ;  and  from  Latakoo  northwards  to  the  Zam- 
bese. From  Tete,  on  this  river,  the  commercial  route  of  the 
natives  runs  northwards  about  one  hundred  and  fifty  miles, 
through  the  high  country  of  the  Maravis,  and  then  turning  to 
the  north-west,  intersects  several  rivers  which  flow  towards 
the  interior  (probably,  like  the  Zambese,  to  wind  round  after- 
wards to  the  eastern  coast).  Having  pursued  this  direction 
about  two  hundred  miles,  the  route  turns  westward  to  Angola. 
The  kindness  and  humanity  of  the  natives  of  what  is  vaguely 
denominated  the  Caffer  Coast,  as  displayed  towards  ship- 
wrecked seamen,  have  often  been  the  themes  of  just  and 
warm  commendations. ;|l  "They  are  very  just,"  says  Captain 
Rogers,  "  and  extraordinarily  civil  to  strangers. "§  When 
the  missionary,  Mr.  Archbell,  visited  the  Zoolahs,  he  was  met 
at  the  distance  of  three  days'  journey  from  Chaka's  residence, 
by  women  bearing  calabashes  of  beer  for  his  use.||  He  found 
the  Zoolahs,  whose  conquests  have  been  attended  with  so 
much  desolation,  a  remarkably  neat,  intelligent,  and  indus- 
trious people ;  rich  in  cattle,  cultivating  a  fine  country,  and 
dwelling  in  large  towns.     The  nations  of  the  interior  are  no 

*  Bovvdich,  Discoveries  of  the  Portuguese,  108. 

t  Tlie  *  Leven's'  boats  went  50  miles  up  the  Manisse,  which  disembogues 
itself  into  Delagoa  Bay,  and  want  of  time  prevented  further  exploration ; 
the  waters  were  still  fresh, — stream  encreasing  18  feet,  mud  bottom 
soundings,  and  the  natives  said  it  would  take  two  moons  to  reach  its  source. 

^  Hamilton,  New  Accouut  of  the  East  Indies,  i.  p.  6.  §  Dampier's 
Voyage,  ii.  part  iii.  112.         ||  Missionary  Register,  p.  49.     1830. 


GEOGRAPHICAL  POSITION  OF  THE  AUSTRAL  ETHIOPIANS.    113 

less  friendly  in  their  conduct.  The  European  travellers  who 
have  visited  the  Batclapis,  the  Tammahas,  the  Murutsi,  and 
Wankitsi,  have  experienced  in  every  instance  kindness 
and  civility.*  Makabba,  the  much-dreaded  chief  of  the  last 
named  people,  told  Mr.  MoiFat,  that  "  he  hoped  no  grass 
would  grow  on  the  road  from  the  Cape  colony  to  his  prin- 
cipal town,  Quaque."  The  Murutsi  lamented  only  that  Mr. 
Campbell  had  no  merchandise  with  him. 

The  geographical  situation  of  the  nations  which  are  pre- 
eminent in  industry  and  population,  is  thus  considered  by 
Mr.  Cooley : — the  position  of  Litakoo,  the  chief  town  of  the 
Batclapis,  is  tolerably  well  ascertained,  the  lat.  27. 6.  44.  S. 
being  fixed  by  observation,  and  the  long.  24.  40.  E.,  calcu- 
lated from  several  itineraries.f  Eastward  from  the  Batclapis 
are  the  Tammahas,  who,  enjoying  a  more  humid  climate,  are 
superior  to  them  in  wealth  and  numbers,  though  more  recently 
reclaimed  from  the  bush-ranging  life.  Their  chief  town, 
Mashow  (containing  ten  or  twelve  thousand  inhabitants)  is 
probably  190  miles  E.N.E.  fz'om  Litakoo.J  The  Murutsi 
are  to  the  N.E.  of  the  Tammahas :  their  chief  town,  Kurri- 
chane,  being  150  miles  from  Litakoo,  according  to  Mr. 
Thompson;  250  according  to  Mr.  Campbell,  who  actually 
visited  it.  Calculating,  however,  with  the  elements  which 
Mr.  Campbell  affords,  we  may  venture  to  place  Kurrichane 
in  long.  27. 10.  E.,  lat.  25. 40.  S.,  about  160  geographical 
miles  from  Litakoo,  and  300  from  Delagoa  Bay.  The  Wan- 
kitsi §  are  probably  70  or  80  miles  W.  or  W.  N.W.  from  the 

*  We  visited  in  the  Levenaad  Barracouta  the  numerous  Arab  settlements 
on  the  N.E.  coast  of  Africa,  and  were  every  where  received  with  hos- 
pitality, and  I  may  add  enthusiasm.  The  principal  settlements  to  the 
northward  of  Mozambique  are  Mukeedeslia,  Marka,  Brava,  Patta,  Lamoo, 
Mombass,  Quiloa,  Pemba,  and  Zanzibar,  together  with  several  fortresses 
at  different  parts  of  the  coast.  Mukeedesha  (in  lat.  2.  01.  S.  Long.  45.  19, 
E.)  is  a  large  place,  with  great  traffic,  and  the  houses  built  in  Spanish  style. 
Mombas,  Pemba,  Lamoo,  and  Zanzibar,  are  subject  to  the  Imaum  of  Muscat. 

t  Burchell,  ii.  488.  X  Lichtenstein,  Burchell,  and  Thompson. 

§  I  have  seen  a  people  termed  the  Wankitsi,  at  different  parts  along  the 
coast  as  far  as  Mombas,  in  4.  S.  latitude ;  they  come  from  the  interior  as 
traders.     [72.  M.  M.~\ 

VOL.  IV.  I 


Ill  COUNTRY  NORTH  OF  DELAGOA  BAY. 

Murutsi,  whom  they  resemble  in  manners.     Their  country, 
which  is  hilly  towards  the  E.  and  N.,  though  refreshed  by 
abundant  rains,  is  deficient  in  running  waters.     It  lies  appa- 
rently to  the  W.  of  the  sources  of  the  rivers  which  flow 
through  the  country  of  the  Murutsi.    But  though  on  opposite 
sides  of  the  ridge,  these  countries  resemble  each  other  in  the 
luxuriance  of  their  vegetable  productions.     The  waggon-tree 
which,  within  the  limits  of  the  colony,  is  found  to  flourish 
only  near  the  coast,  is  again  seen  here,  after  disappearing 
for  a   space   of  seven  degrees.     An  increasing  moisture  of 
climate,  in  consequence  of  an  approach  to  the  sea-coast,  is 
perceptible  at  every  step  of  the  journey  from  Litakoo  to 
Kurrichane,   in  the  increasing  vigour  and  profusion  of  the 
vegetable  kingdom.     The  harvests  of  the  Murutsi  are  three 
weeks  earlier  than  those  of  the  Tammahas,  yet  Kurrichane 
stands  at  a  great  absolute  elevation,  perhaps  5,000  feet  at 
least  above  the  sea;  it  certainly  cannot  be  lower  than  the 
plain  on  the  N.  side  of  the  Snieuwberg.     The  Batclapis  de- 
scribe it  as  a  very  cold  situation ;  but  the  grass  near  it,  they 
add,  is  extremely  sweet.     At  Litakoo,  the  thermometer  often 
sinks  in  winter  (in  June  and  July)  to  24,  and  snow  falls  but 
soon  melts.    Snow  falls  also  on  the  highlands  near  the  sources 
of  the  Mapoota.  Cold  winds  from  the  N.E.,  in  the  country  of 
the  Tammahas,  indicate  a  very  high  country  in  that  direction.* 
Numerous  rivers  flow  rapidly  towards  the  E.  and  N.E., 
through  the  country  of  the  Murutsi,  who  are  separated  from 
the  Maquaina,  in  the  latter  direction,  by  a  great  river  called 
Makatta.f     This  is  the  river  called  Mariqua  by  the  colonial 
traders,  and  which  there  is  reason  to  suspect  to  be  identical 
with  the  Mannees,  or  King  George's  River,  of  Delagoa  Bay. 
All  the  country  beyond  the  Murutsi  is  said  to  be  very  popu- 
lous, and  full  of  rivers,  which  abound  in  crocodiles.     These 
animals  are  called  Maquaina  (in  the  singular,  Quaina),  and 
probably  furnish  a  vague  designation  of  the  people  in  whose 
country  they  are  so  numerous. |     Beyond  the  Maquaina  (be- 

*  Burchell,  ii.,  29.9.    Campbell,  ii  ,  90.    Thompson,  i.,  374.        f  Bur- 
chell,  ii.,  532.         %  Phillips,  ii,,  156.     Campbell,  i.,  242. 


COMMERCIAL  PRODUCTS.  115 

tween  N.  and  E.)  are  the  Mootchooasely,  Mahalasely,  and 
Matteebeylai :  the  last  two  near  the  great  water,  that  is,  the 
sea.  The  Maklak,  also,  or  Makallaka,  carry  beads  to  the 
Maquaina  from  the  coast.*  In  all  the  countries  here  enu- 
merated, there  are  many  great  towns  as  large  as  Kurrichane. 

The  industrious  tribes  of  the  interior  are  not  insensible  to 
gain — the  mercantile  character  is  fully  developed  in  them  ; 
they  think  of  nothing,  says  Mr.  Campbell,  but  beads  and 
cattle. f  Their  country  is  sufficiently  rich  in  natural  produc- 
tions to  support,  in  the  first  instance,  a  considerable  traffic  ; 
they  have  ivory  in  abundance,  skins  of  all  kinds,  and  probably 
some  valuable  sorts  of  wood.  The  wood  of  the  Murutsi,  callec| 
mola,  is  said  by  the  Batclapis  to  be  quite  black  and  very  beauti- 
ful. J  They  have  copper  and  iron  of  the  best  quality.  If  the  com- 
merce of  these  nations  reaches  to  Zumbo  on  the  Zambese, 
as  the  Portuguese  say,  the  gold  trade  might  be  easily  di- 
verted into  a  southern  channel.  Indeed,  there  is  some  reason 
to  maintain  that  gold  is  found  at  no  great  distance  from  the 
Mahalasely, §  When  the  Dutch,  a  century  ago,  had  a  factory 
at  Delagoa  Bay,  they  obtained  gold  from  a  country  due  N. 
from  English  River,  apparently  distant  from  it  about  TO 
miles.  II 

During  the  time  the  Leven  and  Baracouta  were  at  De- 
lagoa Bay,  in  1823,  there  arrived  a  caravan  from  the  interior, 
consisting  of  1,000  native  traders,  with  from  3  to  400  ele- 
phants' tusks,  and  a  great  quantity  of  cattle.  The  natives  of 
the  coast,  who,  nevertheless,  are  inferior  in  every  respect  to 
those  of  the  interior,  are  partial  to  the  British,  and  have  a 
strong  predilection  for  fair  commerce  ;  they  are  quiet  and 
decorous  in  their  manner  of  dealing,  and  utter  strangers  to 
dishonesty ;  their  prudence  will  not  allow  them  to  give  their 

•  Cambell,  i.,  240,  307,  313.  f  Campbell's  First  Journey,  i.,  243. 
X  lb.,  290.  §  Barbosa  (in  Ramusio,  i.,  28S)  says,  the  gold  was  broiighc 
to  Sofala  from  a  country  south  of  Manica,  towards  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope 
(i.  e.  from  the  south-west.) 

II  The  Dutch  had,  it  is  said,  settlements  for  300  leagues  along  the  S.E. 
coiist  of  Africa,  and  for  150  leagues  along  the  straits  of  Mozambique. 


IIG  FORM  OF  GOVERNMENT  AT  THE  CAPE  OF  GOOD  HOPE. 

merchandise  for  the  momentary  gratifications  of  nim  or 
tobacco ;  and  for  cloth  they  have  the  most  inordinate  desire. 
These  details,  to  which  many  other  might  be  added,  demon- 
strate in  a  new  point  of  view  the  commercial  and  Christian 
importance  of  our  colony  in  South  Africa. 

Form  of  Government. — The  affairs  of  the  Colony  are 
administered  by  a  governor,*  nominated  by  the  Crown, 
aided  by  an  Executive  Council,  composed  of  the  Commander 
of  the  Forces,  the  Chief  Justice,  the  Auditor-General,  Trea- 
surer, and  Accountant-General — the  Secretary  to  the  Go- 
vernment. There  is  a  Legislative  Council  appointed  by  the 
government  in  England,  at  the  recommendation  of  course  of 
the  Colonial  Government.  The  members  of  this  council 
(of  whom  five  are  now  official)  after  two  years'  sitting  hold 
their  seats  for  life : — their  debates  are  now  carried  on  with 
open  doors. 

A  large  proportion  of  the  colonists  are  strenuously  in 
favour  of  an  Elective  Legislative  Assembly,  such  as  exists  in 
Canada ;  they  ground  their  claims  for  such,  on  the  allegation 
that  serious  misgovernment  has  been  continually  exercised, 
under  the  rule  of  an  individual  governor,  Dutch  or  English,  they 
point  to  the  amount  of  property  held  by  the  colonists ;  to  the 
large  amount  of  taxes  (£  1 30,808)  annually  levied  on  them  without 
their  consent,  and  appropriated  without  the  controul  of  those 
paying  them.  They  instance  the  fact  that,  the  smallest  slave 
islands  in  the  West  Indies  have  long  enjoyed  the  benefit  of 
Legislative  Assemblies,  and  that,  now  slavery  no  longer  exists 
in  South  Africa;  nor  without  reason  do  they  allege  the  neglect  of 
their  affairs  in  England,  where  also,  by  reason  of  the  aboli- 
tion of  the  nomination  boroughs,-}-  the  indirect  representation 

*  Salary  6,000/.  per  annum. 

t  It  is  a  perversion  of  terms,  using  the  word  rotten  to  those  boroughs 
which  sent  representatives  to  parliament,  though  devoid  of  any  large  num- 
ber of  resident  electors ;  their  members  represented  property,  in  large 
masses,  at  home  and  abroad,  a-shore  and  a-float ;  they  gave  to  the  colonial 
and  maritime  interests  a  voice,  though  an  indirect  one,  in  the  Imperial 
Senate  (the  want  of  which,  imperfect  as  it  was,  will,  I  fear,  be  fatal  to  our 
colonial  interests,  unless  the  colonists  receive  more  public  attention) ;  no 


APvGUMENTS  IN  FAVOR  OF  A  LEGISLATIVE  ASSEMBLY.       117 

enjoyed  by  the  colonists,  has  been  cut  off:  and,  above  all, 
they  point  to  the  irresistible  fact  that,  a  Representative  As- 
sembly, chosen  by  the  property  and  intelligence  of  any  com- 
munity, is  the  best  security  for  its  liberties,  and  the  surest 
promoter  of  its  prosperity. 

A  constituency  is  already  formed,  consisting  of  those  who 
are  entitled  to  sit  as  jurors,*  and  the  colony  has  long  been 
divided  into  districts ;  there  is,  therefore,  no  practical  ob- 
stacle in  the  way  of  granting,  as  a  boon,  that  which  it  will  be 
just  and  politic  to  concede  as  soon  as  a  majority  of  the  colo- 
nists are  in  favour  of  an  elective  legislative  assembly. 

Another  point  on  which  the  colonists  of  the  Eastern  dis- 
tricts justly  complain,  is  the  want  of  a  resident  local  authority, 
the  most  trifling  acts,  even  permission  to  hold  a  public  meet- 
ing, being  required  to  be  referred  for  consideration  to  Cape 
Town,-j-  a  distance  of  6  to  700  miles,  where  travelling  is  not 
as  easy  as  on  an  English  post  road. 

The  introduction  of  a  Representative  Assembly  would,  in 
a  great  degree,  remove  the  evil  which  the  distant  settlers  now 
complain  of,  but  a  Lieutenant  Governor  should  certainly  be 
appointed  for  the  eastern  districts  and  frontier  ;  a  code  of 
municipal  regulations  be  established,  with  a  Mayor  and 
shrievalty,  at  Graham's  Town;  and  a  branch  of  the  Land 

practical  statesman  can  reflect  on  these,  and  other  advantages,  which  the 
nomination  boroughs  possessed  in  an  old  established  country,  for  the  re- 
presentation of  property,  as  well  as  population,  and  distant  as  well  as 
domestic  affairs,  and  then  affect  to  term  them  rotten  boroughs.  I  do  not  in 
these  opinions  run  counter  to  the  observations  in  the  text,  but,  I  trust  that 
as  this  indirect  home-colonial  representation  has  been  cut  off,  other  means 
will  be  taken  to  secure  a  voice  to  the  colonists  in  the  mother  country,  in 
aid  of  their  local  Legislative  Assemblies.     [See  Volume  V.] 

*  Which  depends  on  the  amount  of  direct  taxes  paid  by  each  Colonist. 

f  A  rather  ludicrous  instance,  relative  to  this  petty  dependency  for 
trifling  matters  on  the  head  quarters,  occurred  on  the  arrival  of  Sir  Lowry 
Cole,  as  Governor  at  the  Cape  :  he  had,  as  Governor  of  the  Mauritius, 
been  favourable  to  the  colonists,  and  when  he  arrived  at  his  new  govern- 
ment, the  settlers  at  Albany,  and  throughout  the  eastern  districts,  were 
desirous  of  presenting'  a  congratulatory  address,  but,  t\\G  permission  to  even 
hold  a  meeting  for  the  purpose  had  to  be  sought  from  tlic  governor  him- 


118  MUNICIPAL  GOVERNMENT  OF  THE  COLONY. 

Transfer  and  Registry  Office*,  or  other  business  requiring 
frequent  reference  to  Cape  Town,  should  be  established  at 
the  capital  of  the  Eastern  Province. 

At  present  each  district,  or  drostdy,  has  a  Civil  Commis- 
sioner, who  now,  for  economy's  sake,  acts  also  as  a  resident 
Magistrate,  aided  by  a  relative  number  of  unpaid  Justices  of 
the  Peace:  a  district  is  divided  into  several  smaller  divisions, 
termed  Veld  Cornetcies,  over  which  an  officer  with  that  title 
presides.  The  Veld  Cornet  is  in  fact  a  sort  of  petty  magis- 
trate, empowered  to  settle  trifling  disputes  within  a  circuit  of 
fifteen  or  twenty  miles,  according  to  the  extent  of  his  authority, 
to  punish  (erst)  slaves  and  Hottentots,  to  call  out  the  burghers 
(over  whom  he  presides)  in  the  public  service,  and  act  as  their 
officer  on  commando es,-\  to  supply  government  with  relays  of 
horses  or  oxen,  when  wanted,  &c.  &c. ;  he  receives  no  salary 
(except  upon  the  Caftre  frontier),  but  is  exempt  from  all  di- 
rect taxes. 

The  municipal  body  at  Cape  Town  consisted  of  a  Burgher 
Senate,  under  the  form  of  a  president,  four  Members,  Secre- 
tary, and  Town  Treasurer :  the  President  remaining  in  office 
two  years,  and  receiving  3,500  rix-dollars  per  annum ;  he  was 
succeeded  by  the  senior  member,  and  the  election  of  a  new 
member  took  place  by  the  Board  (not  by  the  inhabitants,  or 
burghers,  paying  the  taxes),  three  persons  were  returned  by 
the  majority  of  votes,  and  their  names  sent  to  the  Governor, 
who  selected  one  out  of  the  three. 

This  Senate,  if  properly  elected  and  managed,  might  have 
been  productive  of  much  good ;  it  had  the  superintendence  of 
the  cleansing  and  lighting  of  the  public  streets,  and  of  prevent- 

self :  His  Excellency  felt  the  awkward  predicament,  in  which  he  appeared 
as  grantee  of  a  meeting  to  praise  himself,  begged  to  thank  the  settlers  for 
their  good  intentions  and  kindness,  and  assured  them  he  would  take  the 
will  for  the  deed.     Surely  it  is  high  time  such  absurdities  were  at  an  end. 

*  See  laws — landed  tenures. 

t  Signifying  reprisals  on  the  frontier  tribes  for  incursions  into  our  terri- 
tory, and  which  expensive,  and  too  often  cruel  proceedings,  would,  as  re- 
gards the  Caffres,  be  effectually  checked  by  our  occupation  of  Port  Natal 
(see  page  40).    The  commando  tax  is  levied  on  the  inhabitants  generally. 


MILITARY  POSTS. 


119 


ing  encroachments  on  public  lands,  it  regulated  their  sale,  super- 
vised weights  and  measures,  and  the  reservoirs,  water-pipes, 
and  fire-engines ;  attended  to  the  assize  of  bread,  the  slaugh- 
tering of  healthy  cattle  by  the  butchers,  levied  and  received 
the  town  taxes,  and  the  commando  tax,  when  that  was 
necessary,  and  watched  over  the  prices  of  various  articles  of 
prime  necessity.  Under  proper  regulation  and  management 
such  a  body,  duly  elected,  would  have  been  of  considerable 
assistance  to  a  government,  by  relieving  it  of  all  minor  details 
or  management,  in  the  concerns  of  private  life ;  it  has  re- 
cently, however,  been  dissolved,  without  any  substitute  at 
all  being  provided !  Cape  Town  ought  to  have  been  made 
a  corporate  city,  with  a  Mayor  and  freely  elected  Court  of 
Aldermen,  &c.,  for  its  management. 

Military  Defence.  The  establishment  of  king's  troops 
in  South  Africa  is  three  regiments  of  infantry — the  head  quar- 
ters of  two  being  at  Cape  Town,  and  of  the  other  at  Gra- 
ham's Town.  There  is  a  strong  detachment  of  royal  artillery, 
a  party  of  the  royal  engineers,  and  an  excellent  regiment  of 
mounted  riflemen,  termed  the  Cape  horse,  the  privates  and 
non-commissioned  officers  of  which  are  principally  Hottentots. 

The  military  stations  along  the  Caff  re  frontier,  with  the 
strength  of  each  corps  at  the  respective  posts  was  in  1831, 
as  follows: — 


Stations. 

^1 

(u  _-a 

«  ?, — 

Q 

Royal 
Artillery. 

Royal 
Engineers 

Infantry. 

Mounted 
Rifles. 

tn 
5 

2 

1 

8 

Q 

it 

01 

u 

IS 

O 
2 

2 

be 

1 

1 

•a 
a 
<s   . 

^iJ 

cs  " 

25 

4 
3 

32 

0) 

o 

a 
o 

3 
3 

c 
(8 

¥ 

<u 
en 

1 
1 

■a 
§   . 

5 

i 

o 
11 

1 

2 

1 

bD 
CO 

20 

2 
3 

1 
1 
2 

29 

B 

a 
tc 

CO 

3 

3 

2 
6 
1 

1 

16 

■a 
a 
a   . 

§s 

13 

7 

33 
19 
37 
68 
28 
4 

7 

216 

1 

20 
35 
47 
45 
58 
98 
60 
18 

Graliam's  Town  . 

Vooy  Plaats     .... 

Cafifre  Drift  .... 

Gualana  River 

Fort  WUtshire      . 

Fort  Beaufort  .... 

Kat  River     .... 

Koonap    

Hermanus  Kraal 

20 
15 
16 
45 
28 
30 
50 
42 

276 

58 
65 
12 
14 
54 

1 

1 
1 
2 

7 

1 

366 
7 
37 
20 
108 
151 
47 
19 
65 

Total      .... 

5115 

1 

47913 

820 

Cape  Town,  as  head  quarters,  gives  off"  detachments,  simi- 
lar to  the  above,  to  Simon's  Town,  and  some  outposts. 


120  LAWS  AT  THE  CAPE  OF  GOOD  HOPE. 

Our  naval  force  is  under  the  command  of  a  Rear-Admiral, 
whose  authority  extends  along  the  E.  coast  of  Africa,  and 
to  Mauritius  and  St.  Helena ;  it  would  be  advisable,  I 
think,  to  place  our  Australasian  settlements  under  the  same 
command,  instead  of  having  it  under  the  Admiral  at  Trinco- 
malee :  the  W.  coast  of  Africa  has  been  recently  added  to  the 
Cape  station. 

Laws. — When  the  Cape  became  a  British  colony  the 
Dutch  criminal  and  civil  laws  were  in  operation ; — these,  par- 
ticularly the  latter,  have  undergone  some  modification — torture 
has  been  abolished ;  the  penalty  of  death  attaches  on  convic- 
tion to  murder,  rape,  coining  money,  and  high  treason ;  trans- 
portation, for  theft  to  a  large  amount,  or  crimes  of  a  serious 
or  violent  nature,  not  liable  by  the  Dutch  law  to  death :  for 
minor  crimes,  the  punishment  is  banishment  to  Robben  Island 
(at  the  entrance  of  Table  Bay),  with  hard  labour;  imprison- 
ment in  the  Tronk  (prison),  or  flogging.  Criminals  are  tried 
by  a  jury,  of  whom  there  must  be  at  least  seven  members 
present,  and  when  the  offence  is  capital  a  majority  must  agree 
in  the  verdict,  if  seven  only  be  present ;  if  more  than  seven 
jurors  attend,  and  opinions  as  to  guilty  or  not  guilty  are 
equal,  the  prisoner  is  acquitted ;  by  the  new  charter  the  En- 
glish system  has  been  brought  into  operation.  By  a  humane 
and  wise  decree,  a  criminal  is  allowed,  on  his  trial,  to  employ 
an  advocate  to  examine  and  cross-examine  witnesses,  and  to 
argue  for  him  on  all  points  of  law  in  his  defence. 

The  civil  law  is  modified  by  that  of  the  Dutch  code, — the 
'  Statutes  of  India,'  collected  by  the  Dutch  towards  the  end 
of  the  seventeenth  century,  and  declared  to  be  applicable  to 
the  Cape  by  a  Batavian  proclamation,  dated  February.  1715, — 
and  by  various  colonial  laws,  or  where  these  are  found  defi- 
cient by  the  Corpus  Juris  Civilis.  The  equal  divisions  of 
property  on  the  demise  of  a  parent,  added  to  the  absurd  cus- 
tom of  measuring  distances  by  a  man's  walk  in  an  hour,  or  a 
horses  canter,  render  litigation  frequent. 

The  laws  are  administered  by  a  Supreme  Court,  presided 
over  by  a  Chief  Justice  (salary  2,000/.),  and  two  Puisne  Judges 


MODE  OF  ADMINISTERING   THEM.  121 

(salary  each  1,200^.),  who  hold  four  terms  in  the  year — Fe- 
bruary, June,  August,  and  December.  Circuit  Courts,*  civil 
and  criminal,  are  also  held  after  the  English  form  ;  for  the  bet- 
ter execution  of  the  law,  the  office  of  High  Sheriff,  with  the 
appointment  of  Deputy  Sheriffs  for  each  district,  was  created 
in  1828.  Small  debts  under  20/.,  in  the  Cape  district,  or  10/. 
in  the  country,  are  recoverable  by  the  Court  of  the  Resident 
Magistrate,  from  whose  judgment  there  is  an  appeal;  in  Cape 
Town  if  the  sum  litigated  amount  to,  or  exceed  51.,  or  in  the 
country  districts  40^.  Debts  exceeding  20/.  sterling  in  the 
Cape  district,  and  10/.  in  other  parts  of  the  colony, -j-  are  re- 
coverable only  in  the  Supreme  Court,  where,  however,  smaller 
sums  may  also  be  recovered :  claims  founded  on  a  note,  or 
bond,  already  due  require  no  witnesses ;  book  debts,  and 
others,  not  founded  on  liquid^;  documents,  require  to  be  proved 
by  witnesses ;  and  a  poor  person,  suing  in  forma  i^auperis,  is 
allowed  an  advocate  by  the  Court,  to  inquire  into  his  case. 
The  Attorney-General  (salary  1,200/.),  ration e  officii,  is  the 
public  accuser  and  prosecutor,  and  all  suits  in  the  court  of 
justice,  on  the  part  of  government,  are  conducted  by  him. 

A  court  of  Vice-Admiralty  sits  for  the  trial  of  offences 
committed  on  the  high  seas,  and  for  the  adjudication  of  mari- 
time disputes.  The  commissioners  appointed  by  letters 
patent  under  the  Great  Seal,  dated  13th  March,  18o2,  are  the 
Governor,  or  Lieutenant-Governor,  members  of  council,  the 
Chief  and  Puisne  Judges,  the  Commander-in-Chief  and  flag- 
officers  of  ships  of  wai',  and  also  the  captains  and  commanders 

*  The  colonists  complain  of  a  great  want  of  uniformity  in  the  law  pro- 
ceedings of  the  circuit  courts  ;  two  of  the  judges  being  English,  act  accord- 
ing to  that  sj'stem — whilst  the  third  being  Scotcli,  follows  his  national 
customs,  hence  different  procedures  prevail,  to  the  no  small  annoyance  of 
suitors ;  it  is  indeed  to  be  hoped  that  some  more  suitable  qualification 
were  requisite  for  our  colonial  judges  than  mere  party  influence,  or  aristo- 
cratic connections. 

f  Under  the  Charter  of  Justice  of  2  William  IV.,  the  jurisdiction  of 
the  Court  extends  to  sums  not  exceeding  in  amount  40/. 

X  Liquid  signifies  a  note  of  hand  or  other  acknowled^nieut. 


122  LANDED  TENURES  IN  SOUTH  AFRICA. 

of  ships  of  war.  Matrimonial  Courts,  for  the  settlement  of 
conjugal  differences,  and  the  granting  of  marriage  licences, 
are  held  by  the  Commissioners,  who  are  also  Resident  Magis- 
trates, in  their  respective  districts,  aided  by  the  local  Justices 
of  the  Peace,  and  the  Veld  Cornet.  The  police  of  Cape  Town 
is  well  managed,  and  the  public  prison  clean  and  well  arranged, 
the  civil  and  criminal  prisoners  being  kept  perfectly  distinct. 

The  tenures  of  land  are  various ;  the  most  ancient  are  those 
which  are  called  '  loan  farms,'  which  were  granted  to  the  early 
settlers,  at  an  annual  rent  of  24  rix  dollars,  the  lease  being 
perpetual  so  long  as  the  rent  be  paid ;  three  such  farms  are 
calculated  to  contain  nine  square  miles,  and  there  are  about 
2,000  in  the  colony.  Gratuity  lands  are  a  customary  copy- 
hold, and  pay  about  the  same  rent  as  '  loan  farms,'  they  were 
grants  by  favour,  and  are  chiefly  situate  in  the  neighbourhood 
of  the  Cape  district.  Freehold  estates  are  grants  made  to 
the  first  settlers,  of  about  120  acres  each,  and  are  also  situate 
chiefly  around  the  first  location  made  at  Table  Bay ;  the 
greater  part  of  these  tenures  are  held  on  account  of  a  sum  of 
money  being  paid  down  at  once,  on  the  primary  occupation 
of  the  settlers.  Quit-rents  were  derived  from  the  use  of 
waste  lands  lying  contiguous  to  an  estate,  the  occupant  of 
the  latter  consenting  to  pay  at  the  rate  of  one  shilling  an 
acre,  under  a  lease  granted  for  15  years. 

The  last  and  most  usual  system  in  operation  are  perpetual 
quit-rents,  the  annual  payment  depending  upon  the  quality 
and  circumstances  of  the  land ;  these  estates  vary  upwards 
to  3,000  morgen,  or  6000  English  acres.  Transfers  of  land, 
or  mortgages  (except  the  bond  called  Shygene),  are  only 
legal  when  registered  in  the  Debt  Book,  at  the  Colonial  Office 
at  Cape  Town,  where  Commissioners  sit  to  superintend  such 
matters ;  and  no  sale,  or  transfer,  can  be  made  till  after  a  set- 
tlement of  all  bonds,  either  by  the  mortgager  consenting  to 
continue  his  loan  on  the  securities  of  the  new  purchaser,  or 
by  repayment ;  a  fresh  transfer  is  then  made,  and  the  pur- 
chaser is  placed  in  possession  of  a  complete  title,  without  the 
possibility  of  fraud,   of  claims  withheld,  or  mortgages   con- 


THE  CALVINIST  RELIGION.  123 

cealed,  at  an  expense  of  a  couple  of  sheets  of  paper,  and  a 
trijfling  pay — thus  avoiding  a  ponderous  mass  of  conveyance. 

The  '  Bar,'  at  the  Seat  of  Government,  is  not  large,  but 
its  members  are  distinguished  by  talent ;  and  several  of  the 
Cape  councillors,  though  born  in  Africa,  and  principally 
educated  there,  would  do  honour  to  Westminster  Hall.* 
There  are  12  Barristers,  (L.  L.  D's.,)  and  17  Attorneys  in 
Cape  Town,  and  5  in  the  country  :  many  of  the  Attorneys 
are  Notaries,  and  some  of  them  practice  as  Barristers. 

The  Dutch  language  formerly  used  in  the  Courts  of  Law, 
is  now  superseded  by  the  English.-f-  Law  is  expensive  on  ac- 
count of  the  numerous  forms  required  by  the  Dutch  Courts, 
and  heavy  stamp  duty  on  legal  proceedings.  The  Insolvent 
Act  is  in  force  at  the  Cape. 

Religion. — There  are  a  variety  of  creeds  professed  in 
South  Africa : — The  Dutch  colonists  are  divided  into  Cal- 
vinists  and  Lutherans, — the  Calvinist  or  Reformed  Commu- 
nion correspond  almost  entirely  in  doctrine  and  in  discipline 
with  the  Church  of  Scotland,  hence  pastors  now  sent  out 
(there  is  one  for  each  district)  are  from  the  latter  establish- 
ment. The  Dutch  Reformed  Church  so  called  is  under  the 
control  of  the  General  Church  Assembly  in  the  highest  mat- 
ters,— its  synod  consists  of  two  political  Commissioners,  three 
Moderators  (including  a  President,  Secretary  and  Actuarius, 
and  Quaestor)  and  members  composed  of  all  the  officiating 
clergymen,  and  delegated  elders  from  the  several  churches  in 
the  colony.  The  synod  is  held  every  5th  year,  in  the  month 
of  November.  The  General  Church  Assembly  is  charged 
with  the  care  of  the  general  interests  of  the  Calvinistic  or 
Reformed  Church  in  South  Africa,  and  in  regard  to  these 
particularly  with  the  care  of  all  that  belongs  to  public  wor- 
ship and  the  Church  Institutions  ;  it  frames  church  regula- 
tions and  ordinances,  and  submits   them  to  Government  for 

*  Messrs.  Cloete  and  De  Wet  are  profound  and  eloquent  lawyers. 

t  As  another  illustration  of  the  ignorance  of  the  colonies  prevailing  in 
the  highest  quarters,  it  may  be  stated  that  a  German  speaking  only  Nigh 
Dutch  was  sent  out  to  the  Cape  as  interpreter  to  the  Supreme  Court, 
although  the  Africanders  speak  the  Low  Dutch  with  a  peculiar  Patois. 


124  THK  EPISCOPALIAN  CHURCH. 

approval ; — it  makes  particular  regulations  respecting  the  ex- 
aminations and  the  manner  of  admission  of  those  intended  for 
teachers,  that  it  may  be  fully  assured  of  their  ability,  ortho- 
doxy and  fitness ;  and  it  provides  appropriate  arrangement 
and  makes  regulations  for  the  promotion  and  improvement 
of  religious  instruction  in  the  Colony.  The  principal  minister 
at  Cape  Town  has  400/.  a  year,  and  two  other  ministers  300/. 
each — and  in  each  district  with  a  Calvinistic  congregation 
there  is  a  minister  with  a  salary  of  200/.  a  year.  [Sucli  a  sys- 
tem of  church  discipline  is  worthy  of  adoption  nearer  home.] 

Of  Christians — the  English  or  Episcopalian  Church  ranks 
next  in  point  of  numbers ;  it  is  under  the  diocese  of  Calcutta, 
with  a  resident  senior  Chaplain,  on  a  salary  of  700/.  a  year. 
When  I  was  last  at  Cape  Town  there  was  no  church  for  the 
Episcopalians,  and  they  were  obliged  to  accept  the  loan  of 
the  Lutheran  Church  in  the  intervals  of  the  Dutch  morning 
and  afternoon  service  ;  a  handsome  edifice  called  St.  George's 
Church  has  been  finished  within  the  past  year,  with  1000 
sittings,  300  of  which  are  set  apart  for  the  poor.  A  good 
church  has  also  been  recently  built  at  Graham's  Town  for  the 
British  settlers,  and  provided  with  an  English  Chaplain  at  a 
salary  of  400/.  per  annum.  The  Lutheran  Church  has  a  mi- 
nister at  Cape  Town  paid  150/.  per  annum  by  his  congrega- 
tion. The  Presbyterian  or  St.  Andrew's  Church  has  a  mi- 
nister at  Cape  Town  with  200/.  a  year  from  Government,  and 
a  stipend  from  the  community ;  the  Roman  Catholic  Chapel 
has  a  pastor  with  200/.  a  year  from  Government,  and  an  al- 
lowance from  his  community. 

The  Missionary  Societies  have  long  been  nobly  exerting 
themselves  in  South  Africa  for  the  promotion  of  religion,  mo- 
rality and  education.  The  South  African  Missionary  Society 
was  established  in  1799;  its  Committee  is  composed  of  eight 
directors,  two  treasurers  and  secretary  ;  its  station  is  confined 
to  Cape  Town. 

The  London  Missionary  Society  (established  in  1795)  has 
stations  at  Cape  Town,  the  Paarl,  Tulbagh,  Bosjesveld,  Zuur- 
braak,  Pacaltsdorp,   Ilankey,  Uitenhage,  Bethelsdorp,  Port 


MISSIONARY  STATIONS.  125 

Elizabeth,  (Algoa  Bay)  Theopolis,  Graham's  Town,  GraafF 
Reinet,  at  the  Kat  River  Settlement,  Buffalo  River,  CafFer- 
lancl,  Phillipolis,  (so  called  after  the  worthy  and  indefatigable 
Dr.  Philip,  superintendant  of  the  London  Missionaries), 
Bushman  Station  on  the  Caledon  River,  Griqua  Town  north 
of  the  Gariep,  Campbell  Town  a  branch  of  the  Griqua  Sta- 
tion, Bechuana  Mission,  New  Latakoo,  Komaggas  Namaqua- 
land,  and  at  Steinkoff. 

These  stations  have  32  missionaries  or  pastors,  with  several 
schoolmasters  and  assistant  teachers.  Schools  are  established 
at  each  station,  in  most  places  daily,  and  in  all  there  are  Sun- 
day ones ;  infant  schools  have  also  been  set  on  foot,  and  in  some 
districts  100  children  are  at  one  school.  At  the  Caledon  Insti- 
tution, Zuurbraak,  for  instance,  the  school  in  1834  contained 
90  children  who  are  being  instructed  in  English  and  Dutch: — 
an  infant  school  has  been  commenced  containing  40  children, 
and  a  Temperance  Society  established.  At  Hankey,  in  1834, 
there  were  150  children  in  the  day  school — 150  adults  in  the 
Sunday  school,  40  children  in  the  infant  school,  and  190  mem- 
bers in  the  Temperance  Society.  At  Bethelsdorp  the  day 
school  contains  100  children — a  Sunday  school  well  attended 
— an  infant  school  (80  children) — a  school  of  industry  and  a 
Temperance  Society. 

At  Theopolis  there  are  four  schools — a  day,  evening,  Sun- 
day, and  infant  school  (the  latter  100  children),  and  a  Tem- 
perance Society  has  been  formed. 

At  Graham's  Town  the  Sunday  school  contains  300  chil- 
dren— and  the  Temperance  Society  has  done  much  good. 
At  Phillipolis  there  are  from  2  to  300  pupils  in  the  school. 
It  would  be  unnecessary  to  particularise  further;  these  state- 
ments shew  the  good  doing  by  those  amiable  men  whose  ex- 
ertions are  directed  for  the  weal  of  the  most  helpless  portion 
of  our  fellow  subjects  in  this  vast  empire. 

The  Wesleyan  Missionaries  are  not  behind  their  London 
brethren  in  pious  efforts ;  their  stations  are  in  the  Cape  Dis- 
trict and  adjoining  namely,  at  Cape  Town,  Khamiesberg  and 
Great  Namaqualand;  in  the   Albany  District,  at  Graham's 


126  STATE  OF  EDUCATION  IN  SOUTH  AFRICA. 

Town,  Salem,  Bathurst,  and  Port  Frances ; — in  Cafferland* 
among  the  Amakosae,  Amatembu,  and  Amaponda  tribes,  and 
in  the  Bechuana  country,  at  Plaatberg  Bootsknapp ;  their 
Missionaries  are  in  number  16,  with  an  establishment  of  teach- 
ers, &c. 

The  Moravians  have  also  several  excellent  establishments, 
where  they  have  wisely  commenced  teaching  the  people  the 
wants  and  comforts  of  civilized  life,  and  then  instructed  them 
in  the  blessings  of  religion. 

No  country  offers  a  wider  or  more  useful  field  for  the  use- 
ful and  pious  Missionary  than  South  Africa  and  its  adjacent 
country,  with  myriads  of  people  emerging  from  the  confines  of 
Barbarism,  and  beginning  to  taste  the  fruits  of  knowledge 
and  industry. 

Education  is  making  considerable  progress — a  schoolmaster 
of  respectability  has  been  sent  by  the  home  Government  to 
every  drostdy  (district)  to  teach  the  English  language  gratis  to 
the  inhabitants ;  Several  individuals  further  the  progress  of 
instruction  after  the  manner  of  Capt.  Stockenstroomf  at  GraafF 
Reinet,  who  added  to  the  salary  of  the  teacher  from  his  own 
pocket  600  rix-doUars  for  the  purpose  of  opening  a  class  for 
the  classics  at  the  teacher's  leisure  hours — and  400  rix-dollars 
to  encourage  a  day  school  for  females,  besides  giving  up  an 

*  The  mission  station  on  the  Chumie,  as  described  by  the  Rev.  Stephen 
Kay,  stands  at  the  foot  of  a  high  mountain,  whose  sides  are  beautifully 
covered  with  trees  and  shrubs  of  various  kinds,  and  whose  deep  chasms 
furnish  a  good  supply  of  superior  limber  ;  the  streamlets  pouring  in  abun- 
dance from  the  cliffs  and  precipices  in  front  of  the  mountain  are  let  out  by 
means  of  furrows  and  conduits,  irrigating  the  country  to  a  considerable  ex- 
tent. The  surrounding  country  is  fine  and  fertile,  affording  abundant  pas- 
turage for  cattle,  and  possessing  a  soil  that  might  be  rendered  exceedingly 
productive  if  properly  cultivated. 

f  This  gentleman  was  born  and  educated  at  the  Cape,  and  has  long  been 
admitted  to  be  one  of  the  most  intelligent,  enterprising  and  public  spirited 
Magistrates  that  the  colony  ever  possessed  ;  when  visited  by  Mr.  Thomp- 
son in  1823,  he  found  Graaff  Reinet  (although  the  largest  and  wildest  dis- 
rict  in  South  Africa)  administered  on  a  system  at  once  mild  and  efficient, 
and  Capt.  Stisckenstroom's  character  everywhere  respected  and  beloved. 


LITERARY  INSTITUTIONS.  127 

extensive  and  expensive  private  library  for  the  use  of  in- 
habitants. 

A  very  excellent  Institution  termed  the  South  African  Col- 
lege, was  founded  at  Cape  Town,  1st  October,  1829,  whose 
affairs  are  under  the  superintendence  of  a  Council  and  Senate  ; 
the  tuition  being  conducted  by  Professors  of  Mathematics, 
Astronomy,  Classical,  English,  Dutch  and  French  Literature, 
with  Drawing  masters,  &c.  Another  admirable  Institution, 
entitled  the  South  African  Literary  and  Scientific  Institution, 
has  the  Governor  for  patron,  aided  by  a  President,  Vice  Pre- 
sidents, Council,  &c.;  a  Museum  is  attached  to  the  Institu- 
tion filled  with  preserved  and  well-arranged  specimens  of 
animals  and  other  objects  of  Natural  History  indigenous  to 
South  Africa,  owing  to  the  zeal  of  Dr.  Smith. 

The  South  African  Public  Library,  with  a  Committee  of 
the  principal  gentlemen  in  the  Colony  is  highly  creditable  to 
the  literary  taste  and  enterprise  of  the  inhabitants  as  it  would 
stand  a  comparison  with  almost  any  library  in  England,  the 
national  ones  excepted.* 

The  South  African  Infant  School  is  also  a  beneficent  esta- 
blishment. There  are  many  private  schools  in  Cape  Town 
and  Albany,  with  well  educated  masters — so  that  on  the 
whole  we  may  assume  (though  unfortunately  there  are  no  sta- 
tistical returns)  that  the  *  Schoolmaster  is  abroad'  in  South 
Africa. 

A  Medical  Society  meet  once  a  month  at  Cape  Town  for 
the  discussion  of  subjects  connected  with  the  profession  of 
the  healing  art,  and  the  most  remarkable  cases  in  medicine 
or  surgery  are  published. 

*  This  noble  Institution  may  be  said  to  owe  its  origin  to  Mr.  Dessin,  a 
German,  who  emigrated  to  the  Cape  in  the  middle  of  the  18th  century — 
acquired  property,  and  gratified  his  taste  by  collecting  books,  which  his 
situation  as  Secretary  to  the  Orphan  Chamber  enabled  him  to  do,  at  per- 
haps a  less  expense  than  any  other  individual  in  the  colony.  At  his  death, 
Mr.  Dessin  manumitted  his  slaves — left  his  extensive  library  for  the  public 
use  under  the  management  of  the  ministers  of  the  Calvinistic  Church,  and 
bequeathed  a  sum  of  money  in  trust  for  its  gradual  increase  and  preserva- 
tion ;  such  was  the  origin  of  one  of  the  finest  libraries  out  of  Europe. 


128  THE  NEWSPAPER  PRESS  IN  SOUTH  AFRICA. 

The  Cape  Royal  Observatory  for  astronomical  observa- 
tion in  the  southern  hemisphere,  is  under  the  control  of  the 
Lords  Commissioners  of  the  Admiralty,  who  employ  an  Astro- 
nomer and  Assistant  for  the  purpose  of  making  celestial  ob- 
servations.* Among  the  other  societies  are  those  for  Promot- 
ing Christian  Knowledge — a  Philanthropic  Society — a  Tract 
and  Book  Society — a  Bible  Union — Friendly  Society — 
Widow's  Fund,  and  an  Agricultural  Society,  &c.  There  are 
also  Book  Societies,  &c.  in  different  districts. 

The  Press. — Among  the  other  extraordinary  features  of 
the  present  age  is  the  introduction  and  extensionf  of  a  Free 
Press  on  the  shores  of  Southern  Africa — extending  our  lan- 
guage, laws,  and  literature,  and  erecting  a  monument  for  the 
British  name  less  perishable  than  one  of  marble  or  brass — 
*  cere  monumentum  perennius .'' 

Although  the  freedom  of  the  '  Press'  was  only  established 
in  the  colony  in  April,  1829,|  yet  there  are  now  three  politi- 
cal newspapers,  (two  at  Cape  Town  and  one  at  Graham's 
Town,  for  the  Eastern  District)  a  Literary  Gazette,  and  an 
excellent  Directory. — The  Cape  newspapers  (excepting  the 
Graham's  Town  Journal,  which  is  entirely  in  English),  are 
printed  half  in  English  and  half  in  Dutch — the  latter  being 
a  translation  of  the  former. 

*  Tlie  Cape  Observatory  is  now  honoured  with  the  presence  of  Sir  J. 
Herschell,  who,  in  his  zeal  for  science,  has  proceeded  to  the  Cape  to  exa- 
mine the  beautiful  constellations  of  the  south — and  which  those  who  have 
only  witnessed  the  starry  hemisphere  of  the  north  can  have  but  a  faint  con- 
ception of.  It  is  well  worth  taking  a  voyajje  to  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope  if 
it  were  for  no  other  purpose  than  to  behold  the  splendid  '  cross.' 

t  Messrs.  Greig,  Fairbairn,  and  Pringle  deserve  all  the  credit  for  the 
establishment  of  a  Newspaper  Press  at  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope  ;  that  its 
introduction  may  have  had  some  disadvantages,  is,  as  regards  private  indi- 
viduals beyond  a  doubt — no  good  is  unmixed  with  evil,  but  in  this  as  in  many 
other  instances,  the  latter  is  far — very  far — outbalanced  by  the  former. 

X  The  first  newspaper,  '  The  South  African  Commercial  Advertiser,'  was 
estal)lished  by  Mr.  Greig,  Jan.  7th,  1824,  it  was  however  suppressed  in  the 
May  following  ; — recommenced  in  the  August  of  the  ensuing  year  :  again 
summarily  suppressed  in  March,  1827,  and  resumed  in  October,  1828 
since  which  period  it  has  continued  and  flourished. 


FINANCES  OF  THE  CAPE  COLONY.  129 

The  inhabitants  do  not  yet  support  a  daily  paper, — the  Cape 
Town  Journals  are  therefore  published  twice  a  week,  and  the 
Graham's  Town  weekly.  All  the  newspapers  are  well  adver- 
tised. There  is  a  penny  stamp  on  the  journals  when  transmit- 
ted inland  or  from  the  colony,  but  no  duty  on  advertisements : 
there  is  not,  I  believe,  any  monthly  publication  in  the  colony ; 
from  the  taste  now  springing  up  periodical  literature  will 
doubtless  be  soon  more  sought  after  by  the  Dutch  community 
than  has  hitherto  been  the  case  ;  the  English  have  set  the 
example,  and  it  is  to  be  hoped  not  in  vain. 

Finances. — It  is  difficvdt  to  convey  a  clear  idea  of  the 
mode  of  managing  the  finances  of  the  colony,  owing  partly  to 
the  variety  of  items,  which  enter  into  the  Treasurer-General's 
budget  at  the  Cape,  the  best  mode  of  explaining  the  receipts 
and  disbursements  will  be  by  giving,  first,  the  following  ac- 
count of  the  revenue  and  expenditure  for  the  last  year,  that 
the  accounts  have  been  printed.* 

*  While  this  sheet  was  passing  through  the  press,  I  received  the  following  : 
Draft  of  an  ordinance  proposed  by  the  Governor  of  the  Cape  of  Good 
Hope,  to  the  Legislative  Conncil,  for  applying  a  sum  not  exceeding 
,^40,690.  to  the  contingent  services  of  the  year  1836. 


Contin- 

Miscel- 

' 

Contin- 

Miscel- 

Departments. 

gencies. 

lanies. 

Departments. 

gencies. 

lanies. 

£ 

£ 

£ 

£ 

Governor  for  travelling  ex- 

1  Missions  to  Native  Tribes 

600 

pences     .        .        .        . 

600 

Colonial  Office 

300 

1010 

Districts. 

Treasury  and  Deed  Office    . 

75 

Cape  Districts 

596 

481 

Audit  Office    .        .        .        . 

30 

5 

SteUenbosch 

743 

496 

Stamp  Do 

150 

Worcester 

865 

400 

Surveyor-General  and  Engi- 

SweUendam 

717 

560 

neers  

306 

6255 

;  Uitenhage 

1856 

1223 

Customs  Cape  Town     . 

76 

1  Albany 

2200 

1450 

Post  Office      '.        .        .        . 

178 

214 

Graaf  Reinet  . 

2200 

649 

Tax  Market  and  Tithe  Office 

152 

6 

j  Supreme  Court 

87 

12 

Slave  Registrar 

12 

Attorney  General's  Office 

.        10 

40 

Government  Banks 

100 

159 

High  Sheriff  . 

30 

77 

Master's  Office  (late  O.  Clir.) 

120 

Police    Superintendent    and 

Printing  Office 

24 

51 

Judges 

2252 

1055 

Post  Office      .        .        .        . 

2074 

Cape  Town  Administration 

610 

1417 

Somerset  Hospital 

1406 

350 

School  Establishments . 

.       65 

62 

Government  Slave  Do. 

297 

30 

The  other  miscellaneous  expenditure  without  any  contingencies,  are 
SweUendam  Church  establishment,  €56. ;  Vaccine  Institution,  ^50, ; 
Lesser  ditto,  ^1000. ;  Ordnance  in  lieu  of  fees,  £'100.;  Robben  Island 
expenditure,  <£'300. ;  Medicines  for  Country  Distr.  ^70. ;  Colonial  Agent 
Allowance  for  unforeseen  contingencies,  and  miscellaneous  expenditure, 
£*3000. ;  Aid  of  the  funds  of  South  African  College,  ^200. ;  Council  Office 
door  messenger,  £2"]. ;  Total  (excluding  shillings)  of  fixed  Contingencies, 
^17,536.;  of  Miscellaneous,  .423,054.  ;  Grand  total  for  1S35,  i.40,590. 
VOL.  IV.  K 


130 


REVENUE,  EXPENDITURE,  AND  PENSIONS. 


Statement  of  the  Revenue  and  Expenditure  of  the  Colony  of  the  Cape  of 
Good  Hope,  from  the  1st  January  to  the  3lst  December,  1832. 


GROSS  REVENUE. 

EXPENDITURE. 



£. 

£. 

£. 

£. 

Port  Dues, 

1269 

Civil  Government : 

Stamp  Dues,           .... 

16837 

Salaries, 

23601 

Lombard  Bank,  Interest,  &c. 

15633 

Contingencies, 

4216 

Discount  Bank,  Discounts, 

4616 

27818 

aj"!  Duties,  3  per  Cent,  on  Eng- 
g         lish  and  lO  on  foreign. 

Judicial  Departments: 

13385 

Salaries,     .... 

30736 

S  !>  store  Rent,     . 

357 

Contingencies,  . 

2742 

S  1  AVliarfage, 

14S2 



33478 

o 

15225 

Revenue  Departments: 

^  J 

Salaries,     .... 

15497 

Postag-e, 

3877 

Contingencies, 

5650 

Land  Rent,    ..... 

7310 
954 

21147 

Fines,     ..!'..". 

Ecclesiastical  Establishment: 

Advarces  Recovered, 

426 

Salaries,     .... 

7120 

Surcharges  recovered. 

100 

Contingencies, 

457 

Cai)itation  Tax, 
Tax  on  Servants,    . 

4912 
1/7 

Schools : 

7578 

05 

—    on  Horses, 

1362 

Salaries 

1912 

X 

—    on  Carriages,  . 

2801 

Contingencies, 

463 

T3 

—    on  Stock  and  Produce, 

3162 

2376 

—   on  Income,  2  per  Cent. 
'"Water  Tax, 

2564 

Medical  Department: 

1107 

Salaries,     .... 

1955 

(U 

House  Tax, 

Tax  for  keeping  in  repair  the 

920 

Contingencies, 

^777 

4732 

< 

Cradock  Hill  Road,     . 
Arrear  Taxes,  due  prior  to  the 

122 

Pensions : 

Civil,*         .        .        .        . 

4683 

31st  March,  1829, 

413 

Military 

760 

17544 

5443 

Market  Duties 

3727 

Convicts  and  Prisoners, 

6606 

Auction  Duties 

12508 

Jurors  and  Witnesses, 

2138 

Rent  of  Butchers'  Shambles, 

840 

Public  Roads,  Bridges,  and  Fer- 

Rent of  Quarries, 

26 

ries,           

2276 

Tifiios     /  On  Wine  and  Brandy, 
limes,    t.  On  Grain,      . 

2754 

Public  Works  and  Buildings,     . 

8654 

1619 

Remittance  to  Colonial  Agent  in 

4374 

London 

3755 

Transfer  Dues,       .... 

7227 

Advances  for  the  Public  Service, 

242 

Tolls  and  Ferries, 

3131 

Miscellaneous,     .        .        .        . 

640 

Fees  of  Office,        .        .        .        . 

6345 

Pound  Fees,           .... 

182 

Sonnerset  Hospital, 

535 

Miscellaneous,       .        .        .        . 

8113 

Total  Expenditure,     . 

Total  Reveni:e, 

£130,808 

£126,889 

A  brief  explanation  of  the  foregoing  seriatim,  will  doubt- 
less be  acceptable,  commencing  with  the  items  of  revenue. 
The  port  dues  are  derived  from  a  tax  of  ^d.  per  ton  levied  on 

*  Sir  John  Truter,  the  late  Chief-Justice,  has  600/.  per  annum,  and, 
with  a  reversion  of  300/.  per  annum  to  his  wife,  in  case  of  survival ;  Lieu- 
tenant-Colonel Bird,  late  Colonial  Secretary,  has  a  pension  of  600/.  per 
annum ;  Sir  Richard  Flasket,  late  Seci'etary  to  Government,  and  Walter 
Bentinck,  Esq.  late  Auditor-General,  have  500/.  each;  Mrs.  D.  Alexander 
and  Mrs.  Sheridan,  have  200/.  each ;  four  members  of  the  late  Court  of 
Justice,  200/.  each ;  the  late  fiscal  Denyssen,  400/.  ;  the  late  Collector  of 
Tythes,  and  Seijuestrator,  200/.  each ;  and  there  are  five  pensions  of  150/. 
each.  These  pensions  are  heavy  charges  in  the  Cape  Budget;  the  total 
amount  of  pensions  paid  out  of  the  colonial  funds,  in  1833,  being  nearly 
100,000  rix  dollars,  including  a  few  poor  widows  of  clergymen,  and  others, 
who  have  less  than  30/.  a  \  car  each. 


STAMP  DUES,  CUSTOMS,   &C.  131 

all  vessels  entering  Table  or  Simon's  Bay  (Algoa  Bay  is  ex- 
empted), for  the  purposes  of  trade,  and  if  for  refreshments,  or 
any  purposes  short  of  trade  2^d.  per  ton :  this  is  independent 
of  wharfage  dues,  or  permits,  which  are,  however,  light. 

Starnj)  dues,  with  the  exception  of  the  Assessed  Taxes, 
form  the  largest  item  in  the  budget ;  they  are  extremely  nu- 
merous, but  appear  to  be  well  graduated,  and  if  not  pressing 
on  the  lower  classes  of  the  community,  they  form  an  unex- 
ceptionable item  of  revenue,  so  long  as  a  revenue  be  neces- 
sary for  the  maintenance  of  a  government.  At  the  Cape, 
stamps  are  requisite  on  all  transfers  of  property,  on  bills,  or 
promissory  notes,  on  bonds  passed  before  notaries,  on  wills 
or  codicils,  on  various  law  papers,  and  all  deeds  of  contract, 
&c.,  on  powers  of  Attorney,  civil  or  legal  appointments  or 
promotions,  on  licences  for  the  sale  of  wines,  spirits,  or  beer, 
keeping  an  inn  or  eating-house,  and  for  exercising  the  follow- 
ing trades — auctioneers,  bakers,  retail  shops,  pedlars,  and 
hawkers,  game  killers,  fire-wood  carriers,  brewers  or  distil- 
lers, for  waggons  and  boats,  clubs  and  societies,  public  bil- 
liard tables,  marriage  licences,  letters  of  burghership,  adop- 
tions, leave  to  go  to  the  hot  baths,  and  permission  to  quit  the 
colony.  The  foregoing  is  a  formidable  list,  and  some  petty 
items  might  well  be  excluded. 

The  Lombard  and  Discount  Batiks,  which  are  government 
establishments  {see  Monetary  System),  yield  a  considerable 
item  of  the  revenue,  in  the  shape  of  interest  on  loans  made, 
profits  on  banking,  &c. 

The  customs  are  derived  from  a  duty  of  3  per  cent,  levied 
on  all  British  and  British  colonial  goods,  and  of  10  per  cent, 
on  all  foreign  goods,  imported  either  in  British  bottoms,  or  in 
vessels  of  certain  nations  in  amity  with  Great  Britain  :  10  per 
cent,  is  also  levied  on  all  goods  imported  into  the  Cape  from 
the  East  Indies.  It  has  been  proposed  to  increase  the  im- 
port duties,  and  thus  augment  the  revenue,  so  as  to  admit 
the  abolition  of  some  of  the  vexatious  items  of  taxation. 

Postage  is  not  very  heavy,  considering  the  slowness  of 
communication  throughout  the  colony  ; — from  Cape  Town  to 


132  POSTAGE,  ASSESSED  TAXES,  AND  HORSE-TAX. 

Simon's  Town,  a  distance  of  25  miles,  it  is  3d.  for  a  single 
letter ;  and  from  Cape  Town  to  GraafF  Reinet,  500  miles  dis- 
tant, it  is  1*.;  ship  letters  brought  into  the  colony,  single,  4</.; 
double,  8^- ;  one  ounce  1*.  Newspapers  sent  inland,  or  from 
the  colony,  \d.  each.* 

The  Assessed  Taxes  are  payable  under  the  provisions  of 
Ordinance  No.  57,  passed  March  5,  1829.  The  Capitation 
tax  is  levied  on  every  free  male  above  16,  and  on  every  free 
female,  widow  or  unmarried,  at  the  rate  of  6s.  yearly. 

Exceptions.  Free  male  servants  taxed  as  servants  at  10*. 
yearly.  Officers  in  the  King's  service  on  full  pay,  or  employed 
as  military  men  in  the  colony,  and  their  families.  Field  Com- 
mandants, Field  Cornets,  and  provisional  ditto.  All  pen- 
sioners, not  receiving  more  than  1*.  a  day,  and  having  no 
other  means  of  livelihood.  All  persons  of  the  border  tribes, 
for  two  years  after  first  entering  the  Colony.  And  all  appren- 
tices under  Ordinances  49  and  50. 

On  every  free  male  servant,  or  slave  above  16,  employed  as 
coachman  or  driver  of  a  carriage,  taxed  at  4/.  10*.,  or  2/;  and 
every  groom  or  stable  servant,  porter,  footman,  house-servant, 
or  cook,  10*. 

Exception.     Military  officers'  servants. 

Horses. — On  each  riding  or  draught  horse,  used  for  plea- 
sure carriages,  10*.  On  each  saddle  horse,  used  in  trade  or 
agriculture,  1*. 

Exception. — Military  men,  according  to  the  number  allowed 
to  their  rank. 

Carriages.  On  all  sorts  of  vehicles,  with  four  M'heels,  used 
or  hired  out  for  pleasure,  4/.     On  all  ditto,  with  two  wheels, 

*  The  mails  are  conveyed  throughout  the  colony  by  post-riders  on  horse- 
back ; — the  riders  are  generally  Hottentots,  or  slaves,  in  the  service  of  the 
post-holders,  who  are  boors,  residing  near  the  high  roads  ;  the  post-holders 
receive  an  allowance,  regulated  by  the  number  of  houi-'s  journey  which 
they  engage  to  carry  the  mails  :  the  improvement  of  the  roads  in  the  colony, 
under  the  able  superintendence  of  Major  Mitchel,  has  tended  much  to  faci- 
litate the  transfer  of  the  mails,  and  with  increased  knowledge  and  inter- 
course, the  post  office  ought  to  be  a  source  of  revenue,  which  it  can 
€carcely  be  considered  at  present. 


CAPITATION,  INCOME,  AND  DIRECT  TAXES.  133 

2/.  On  all  four-wheeled  vehicles  used  in  trade  or  agriculture, 
5s.  On  all  two-wheeled  ditto,  2s.  6d.  Coachmakers,  agents, 
&c.  not  liahle  for  carriages  not  used  or  lent  out. 

Income  Tax.  Two  pounds  per  cent,  on  all  whose  income 
exceed  30/.  excepting  from  farming  stock,  chargeable  with 
Opgaaf. 

Exceptions.  Military  officers,  half-pay  ditto,  and  their  wives 
and  children  receiving  colonial  half-pay,  for  the  amount  of 
such  half-pay  only. 

N.  B.  These  taxes  were  imposed  in  lieu  of  former  ones, 
known  as  the  Caffer  Commando,  taxes  on  Cattle  and  Grain, 
levied  by  the  late  Burgher  Senate,  and  the  Extraordinary 
Assessment  on  ordinary  Opgaaf,  authorised  by  proclamation 
of  1st  April,  1814,  sec.  14.  All  these  were  of  course  abo- 
lished. Direct  Taxes,  Ordinance  57.  Capitation,  Servants, 
&c.  Do.  78.  Houses  and  Stores,  and  Water  Rates. — On 
Produce  and  Stock.  Each  head  of  black  cattle,  three  farthings ; 
each  breeding  horse,  three  farthings ;  25  sheep  or  goats, 
2^d.  ;  each  muid  of  wheat,  barley,  rye  and  oats,  three  farth- 
ings ;  each  leaguer  of  wine,  6d;  ditto,  brandy,  1*.  l^d. 

The  other  items  explain  themselves  by  their  names — the 
Auction  duties  are  large — most  sales  taking  place  in  that 
manner.  The  tithes  on  wine,  and  brandy,  and  grain  are  de- 
rived from  duties  levied  on  these  articles  as  they  enter  Cape 
Town,  which  it  is  now  proposed  to  abohsh. 

The  Expenditure  requires  no  comment ;  it  will  however  be 
perceived  that  the  colony  is  quite  independent  of  any  aid  from 
Great  Britain;  with  a  colonial  legislation  the  inhabitants 
would  doubtlessly  be  able  to  apportion  the  receipts  of  the 
revenue  in  a  more  advantageous  manner  than  now  exists. 
The  King's  troops  stationed  in  the  colony,  and  the  Naval 
squadron  at  the  Cape — the  one  for  military  protection,  and 
the  other  for  the  sake  of  our  maritime  weal — are  the  only 
expenses  incurred  by  England  ;  and  their  charges  are  partly 
applicable  to  the  other  stations  in  the  southern  hemisphere ; 
while  a  Statesman  will  not  forget  that  a  few  regiments  at  the 
Cape  is  of  great  advantage  should  we  desire  to  augment  our 
Indian  army,  or  to  land  troops  in  South  America  or  in  Egypt ; 


134 


REVENUE  AND  EXPENDITURE  FROM  I80G. 


the  healthy  station  of  the  Cape  renders  it  therefore  a  desir- 
able locale  for  either  troops  or  seamen,  and  their  expenses 
should  be  borne  by  the  mother  country. 

The  progress  of  the  Revenue  and  Expenditure  of  the  co- 
lony is  thus  shewn  at  biennial  periods  from  1806  to  1832,  the 
calculation  being  in  rix-dollars  to  1825,  and  in  sterling  money 
during  the  year  1832,  when  the  rix- dollar  may  be  calculated 
at  1*.  Qd.  sterling,  while  in  the  previous  periods  it  fluctuated 
from  4*.  to  1*.  Sd. 

Revenue  of  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope,  as  regards  the  principal  items.* 


1810      I      1815  1820  1825 


1832* 


Lombard  Bank  .        .        .        . 

Discount  Bank  .        .        .        . 

Vendue  Duties  .        .        .        . 

Customs 

Land  Revenue  .        .        .        . 

Tithes  and  Transfers 

Stamps 

Sequestrators'  Department 
Commando  Tax  .        .        .        . 

Printing  Department 

Port  Dues 

Postage 

Fines 

Fees  of  Offices 

Purchase  money  of  Lands 

Grants  and  Repayts  (Stellenbosch) 

Old  Paper  Money       .        .        .        . 

Wine  Taster's  Department 

Tolls     


R.D. 

36/3 

71396 
137170 

42972 
111321 

26709 

10298 

8387 
2530 
2633 

183 
3890 
4358 

303 
2590 


R.D. 

50065 
26529 

119752 
84937 

102772 


R.D. 

120178 
21912 
121221 
277241 

67294 


9301 

285515 

5091 

105168 

6524 

5832 

29000 

7494 

13218 

4357 

11302 

5089 

9193 

3678 

6374 

5720 

49344 

3519 

3011 

3000 

5/8 

8930 

15255 

R  D. 

94253 

39125 

205627 

257076 

207165 

359567 

154643 

44352 

7000 

19657 

14655 

18855 

1504 

77283 


R.D.  i 
72470 
54030  I 

161175 

268321  i 
81825  I 

333164  . 

156652  ! 
28226 
45520 
20369 
13449 
25346 
540 
82765 


15633 
4616 
12508 
15225 
7310 
11601 
16837 


1269 

3877 

954 

6345 


Total,  including  miscellaneous.  .    .      516256  !  750174  '1529697  '1724593 


2004953  ,   130S08 


Expenditure  of  some  of  the  principal  items  at  the 

Cape, 

m  Rix-dollars, 

ITEMS. 

I8O6 

1810 

1815 

1820 

1825 

1833 

R.D. 

RD. 

R.D. 

R.D. 

R.D. 

£. 

Civil  List,  sterling  Salaries 

54545 

169837 

266156 

235106 

174438 

}  80621 

Colonial  Salaries        .... 

17110 

244116 

319669 

502523 

432210 

Public  Buildings         .... 

57692 

51742 

122378 

126674 

89280 

8654 

Cape  Regiment           .... 

646 

173374 

209390 

2S8460 

126263 

Convicts  and  Prisoners      . 

11071 

11653 

23837 

16311 

6606 

Roads  and  Bridges     .... 

4891 

7235 

124566 

919 

2276 

Office  Expenses          .... 

10699 

16036 

41726 

43232 

33666 

Vessels  and  Boats      .... 

330 

8526 

52479 

25939 

House  Rent 

150 

4768 

7100 

3128 

Colonial  Agent  Remittances     . 

44027 

72926 

3755 

Lombard  Bank            .... 

Commission  ot  Circuit 

0183 

33000 

Frontier  Service         .... 

3972 

220875 

School  and  Bible  Fund      . 

Total,  including  miscellaneous    .     . 

464547 

613887 

1244575 

1637478 

1914044 

126S89 

*  Owing  to  the  different  system  of  keeping  the  accounts,  and  the  change 
in  the  mode  of  taxation,  it  is  impossible  to  draw  an  exact  comparison  be- 
tween 1832  and  the  preceding  years — estimating  the  pound  at  12  ri.x-dullars, 
the  taxation  of  1832  would  lie  rix-dollars  1,570,(556. 


MONETARY  SYSTEM  AT  THE  CAPE-  135 

The  Monetary  System  at  the  Cape  is  very  imperfect,  and 
its  jfluctuations  have  caused  great  distress  to  private  indivi- 
duals, and  much  ruin  to  merchants  and  others,  whose  active 
pursuits  require  a  frequent  conversion  of  capital ;  a  brief  ac- 
count of  the  past,  will  be,  therefore,  requisite,  in  order  to 
form  a  correct  idea  of  the  present  state  of  currency  and  bank- 
ing transactions  in  the  colony. 

Holland,  up  to  the  period  of  1780,  had  forwarded  every 
sort  of  supply,  with  exact  punctuality,  to  the  Cape,  but  the 
war  between  England  and  America,  and  the  part  taken  by  the 
Dutch,  left  the  colonists  of  the  latter  power  in  extreme  dis- 
tress. To  provide  for  the  exigencies  of  the  occasion.  Governor 
Van  Plattenberg  was  compelled  to  create  a  paper  cvu*rency, 
and  from  1782  to  1784  (when  he  resigned  the  Cape  govern- 
ment) 925,219  paper  rix-dollars  were  thrown  into  circulation, 
on  no  other  security  than  the  good  faith  of  the  Dutch  govern- 
ment, and  a  solemn  promise  of  redemption  when  peace  would 
permit  the  accustomed  supplies  to  be  sent  from  Holland, 
This  stipulation  was  fulfilled  by  the  annihilation  between 
1787  and  1789  of  rix-dollars  825,904,  by  paying  that  amount 
in  specie  and  bills  on  Holland,  leaving  only  99,326  rix-dollars 
afloat  and  in  circulation. 

A  precedent  was  thvis  set  for  the  creation  of  paper  rix-dol- 
lars on  any  emergency.  In  1 793  the  colony  laboured  under  a 
very  pressing  inconveniency  from  want  of  a  sufficient  circu- 
lating medium,  the  amount  not  then  exceeding  200,000  rix- 
dollars  ;  with  a  view,  therefore,  to  public  relief,  and  for  the 
purpose  of  checking  those  usurious  transactions  which  natu- 
rally accompany  a  contracted  currency  ;  the  Dutch  Commis- 
saries-General (Nederberg  and  Trykennices)  formed  the  insti- 
tution of  a  Lombard  or  loan  bank;  1,000,000  rix-dollars  were 
declared  to  be  an  adequate  circulation  for  the  colony,  and 
680,000  rix-dollars  were  advanced  by  various  instalments  to 
form  the  capital  of  the  loan  bank,  under  the  direction  of  a 
president,  two  commissioners,  a  cashier,  and  book-keeper,  all 
appointed  by  government.  The  commissioners  were  autho- 
rised to  lend  money  at  5  per  cent,  on  mortgage  of  houses  and 


136  ORIGIN  OF  THE  LOMBARD  OR  LOAN  BANK. 

lands,  gold,  silver,  jewels,  and  merchandises,  or  other  articles 
that  could  ^'^  lie  still,"'  for  18  months,  but  not  longer;  and  on 
goods  of  a  more  perishable  nature  for  a  period  not  exceeding 
nine  months. 

In  1795  the  circulation  of  Cape  rix-dollars  {exclusive  of 
the  capital  of  the  Lombard  bank)  had  risen  to  611,276,  with- 
out resting  on  a  shadow  of  real  property,  or  even  on  a  govern- 
ment engagement,  the  rix- dollar  being  merely  a  counter, 
passing  current  in  all  the  various  purchases  and  sales  within 
the  colony.  On  the  British  conquest  of  the  Cape,  in  1795, 
Governor  Sleuskens  obtained  from  the  humanity  of  General 
Craig  a  stipulation  that,  the  government  farms  and  public 
buildings  should  be  a  security  to  the  holders  of  611,276  rix- 
dollars,  leaving  the  loan  of  the  Lombard  bank  protected  by 
its  own  mortgages.  Thus  our  capture  of  the  colony  gave  the 
paper  money-holders  the  first  security  they  had,  and  on  our 
evacuation,  in  1803,  this  security  was  given  over  in  an  im- 
proved state  to  the  Dutch  government ;  even  the  additional 
sum  of  300,000  rix-dollars,  created  by  General  Craig,  in 
consequence  of  his  inability  to  procure  bills  on  England  at 
par,  was  accounted  for  and  honourably  discharged  by  the 
British  government,  whose  conduct  formed  a  striking  contrast 
to  the  Batavian  government,  which,  in  breach  of  its  faith,  re- 
ceived bills  and  specie  for  the  330,000  rix-dollars,  but  without 
cancelling  jjaper  to  a  like  amount  of  rix-dollars. 

On  our  evacuation  of  the  colony,  in  1803,  the  whole  amount 
of  paper  in  circulation  was  about  2,000,000  rix-dollars,  nearly 
half  of  it  bottomed  on  a  nominal  security,  for  the  government 
lands  and  public  buildings  were  by  no  means  worth  the  sum 
they  were  pledged  for ;  this  security  was,  however,  in  a  great 
measure,  swept  away  by  the  Dutch  government,  in  a  procla- 
mation of  1804,  calHng  in  the  whole  of  the  old  paper  money, 
and  issuing  a  new  set  of  paper  dollars,  without  any  reference 
to  priority,  thus  settling  the  question  of  a  preference  of  secu- 
rity at  rest,  and  gaining  32,000  rix-dollars  by  the  non-appear- 
ance of  old  paper  on  the  re-issue. 

From  this  period  to  1806  there  was  an  additional  coinage  of 


BAD  FAITH  OF  THE  BATAVIAN  GOVERNMENT.  137 

300,000  rix  dollars.  The  Batavian  government,  under  their 
then  French  auspices,  do  not  seem  to  have  been  at  all  scrup- 
ulous as  to  the  means  by  which  money  was  to  be  acquired ;  a 
part  of  the  government  farms,  which  were  pledged  as  a  security 
for  the  paper  rix-dollars,  were  sold  for  80,000  rix-dollars, 
without  the  annihilation  of  the  currency,  for  whose  faith  it 
was  supposed  to  be  a  security,  in  fact,  not  a  paper  dollar  was 
recalled  or  repaid  by  the  Batavian  government  after  1789. 
In  this  sad  state,  as  regards  the  credit  of  government,  we 
again  became  masters  of  the  Cape,  when  every  mercantile 
transaction  was  lifeless,  and  the  currency  was  withheld  by 
the  timorous  in  the  apprehension  of  loss,  and  by  the  usurious, 
in  the  hope  and  in  the  practice  of  high  interest.  In  order  to 
relieve  the  public  wants  (says  the  civil  servant,  who  wrote 
such  an  admirable  account  of  the  Cape,  in  1823,  and  to  whom 
I  am  indebted  for  many  valuable  suggestions  and  information), 
*  Lord  Caledon  in  that  unceasing  endeavour  to  benefit  the 
colony,  which  marked  his  Lordship's  conduct  throughout  his 
administration,  established  a  bank  of  discount  in  1808,  and 
advanced  as  a  capital,  without  interest,  the  sum  of  100,000 
rix  dollars,  from  the  treasury ;  6  per  cent,  was  the  legal  rate 
of  interest  at  that  time,  but  the  bank  was  allowed  to  receive 
deposits,  and  to  pay  an  interest  of  5  per  cent  on  all  sums  left 
there  for  a  year,  or  more,  and  the  public  offices  \vere  in- 
structed to  carry  their  daily  receipts  to  the  bank,  thus  making 
a  considerable  addition  to  its  floating  balances.'  In  June, 
1810,  Lord  Caledon  authorised  the  creation  of  1,000,000  rix- 
dollars,  half  of  which  were  to  be  appropriated  to  the  use  of 
the  loan  bank,  and  the  remaining  500,000  for  the  purchase 
and  repair  of  public  buildings  ;  this  latter  sum  was  not  issued 
until  1814  by  Lord  Howden,  and  wholly  expended  before  the 
close  of  his  government. 

Lord  Charles  Somerset,  on  his  arrival  in  1814,  changed  the 
wise  system  of  deposits  sanctioned  by  Lord  Caledon;  notice  was 
given  that  no  more  would  be  received,  and  that  those  in  hand 
would  be  discharged  at  the  end  of  the  year.  The  withdrawal 
of  the  interest  on  deposits,  gave  a  powerful  blow  to  the  pro- 


138 


CAUSE    OF    DISTRESS. 


gressive  prosperity  of  the  colony ;  it  was  adopted  on  the  plea 
that,  on  any  serious  alarm  the  whole  amount  of  deposits 
(about  1,000,000  rix-dollars  might  be  withdrawn  on  merely 
forfeiture  of  the  interest,  and  that  the  capital  of  the  bank, 
being  only  100,000  rix-dollars,  its  ruin  would  be  certain;  this 
was,  however,  a  very  problematical  event,  and  to  avoid  a  dis- 
tant, remote,  nay  almost  impossible  contingency,  a  certain  and 
immediate  evil,  fraught  with  distress  to  the  whole  colony,  was 
madly  incurred  ;  bank  discounts  were  now  procurable  with 
great  difficulty — mercantile  speculation  (the  life  and  soul  of  a 
commercial  people,  like  the  English  and  Dutch)  abated — a 
premium  was  held  out  to  the  renewal  of  usury,  and  an 
encouragement  to  hoarding,  two  of  the  most  serious  disad- 
vantages^that  can  take  place,  among  a  small  community. 
After  enduring  all  the  misfortunes  which  such  an  unstates- 
man-like  step  may  be  supposed  to  have  created,  for  seven  or 
eight  years,  the  Cape  Government  desirous  of  remedying  the 
distress  which  it  had  caused,  notified  in  1822 — the  issuing  of 
200,000  Rds.  in  Government  Debentures,  bearing  4  per  cent, 
interest ;  those  who  have  the  slightest  knowledge  of  the  bear- 
ing of  financial  measures  on  a  mercantile  community  will  admit 
that  so  partial  a  measure  could  not  restore  freedom  of  dis- 
count and  a  rapid  interchange  of  the  representation  of  pro- 
perty whether  it  be  paper  or  metallic  money. 

The  progress  of  the  paper  circulating  medium  on  these 
transactions  was  from  1802  to  1822*  as  follows  : 

*  The  state  of  the  currency  and  the  bank  about  this  period  is  thus  laid 
down  by  Lieut.  Grant.  Currency/.  Paper  created  between  1782  and  1/84, 
Rds.  925,219;  paid  off  between  1/87  and  1789,  Rds.  825,904 ;  balance  in 
circulation,  Rds.  99,315;  created  between  1789  and  1795,  Rds.  511,961  ; 
created  by  Sir  James  Crai^,  1795,  Rds.  250,000;  added  by  Sir  J.  1802, 
Rds,  80,000;  between  1803  and  1806  advanced  to  Stellenbosch,  Rds. 
75,000 ;  buildings  at  Drostdies,  Rds.  50,000  ;  Agricultural  Committee, 
Rds.  25,000;  Grain  Magazine,  Rds.  150,000;  created,  1806,  Rds.  80,000; 
created,  8th  August,  1822,  Rds.  200,000;  total  currency  created  by  Go- 
vernment, Rds.  1,521,276;  destroyed  of  loan  to  Stellenbosch,  between  4th 
March,  1814,  and  11th  July,  1823,  Rds.  51,000;  4th  March,  first  instal- 


PROGRESS  OF  THE  PAPER  CURRENCY.  139 

Year      Rds.  Year       Rds.  Year       Rds. 

1802,  1,200,000 1806,2,083,000 1811,  2,580,000 

1814,  3,100,000 1822,  3,005,276 

The  paper  rix-dollars  thus  created  were  issued  at  the  rate  of 
4*.  sterling,  and  for  a  long  period  maintained  this  value,  being 
nearly  on  a  par  with  the  Spanish  dollar ;  but  from  various 
causes  a  great  depreciation  took  place  in  the  value  assigned 
to  the  rix-dollar,  some  assigned  it  to  an  over  issue  beyond  the 
wants  of  the  colony — others  to  the  too  suddenly  throwing 
500,000  into  circulation  by  Lord  Howden  in  addition  to  the 
500,000  lent  to  the  bank  by  Lord  Caledon ;  several  think  it  is 
because  the  paper  money  had  no  real  value,  not  being  hypo- 
thecated on  land  or  a  portion  of  the  revenue ;  perhaps  each 
and  all  of  these  causes  contribute  to  lessen  the  value  of  the 
4*.  rix-dollar,  but  to  these  must  also  be  added  the  return  to 
cash  payments  in  England  in  1819,  which  of  course  affected  the 
rates  of  exchange  between  the  Cape  and  Great  Britain.  The 
depreciation  was  rapid,  and  its  effect  on  the  colony  may  be 
seen  by  the  fact  that  3,000,000  rix-dollars  at  4*.  yielding  a 
nominal  sterling  of  600,000/.  was  reduced  in  a  few  years  to 
3,000,000  rix-dollars  at  1*.  6f/.*  yielding  but  a  nominal  ster- 
ling of  225,000/.  The  result  of  such  a  change  to  a  small 
community  may  be  imagined  ;  many  were  ruined — the  quiet 
transactions  of  commerce  paralysed,  and  the  colony  has  never 
since  recovered  from  the  shock. 

There  is  no  private  bank  in  the  colony,  but  a  Lombard  (or 
loan)  and  discount  bank  as  before  referred  to,  under  the  con- 
trol of  Government,  who  derive  profit  on  the  discount  of  bills. 

ment  from  Water  Works,  Rds.  15,000 ;  Colonial  Granary,  16th  August, 
1816,  Rds.  100,000;  19th  December,  1823,  Rds.  200,000  j  transferred  to 
the  bank  capital,  Rds.  150,000;  total  currency  destroyed  and  transferred, 
Rds.  616,000;  balance  in  circulation,  Rds.  1,002,276. 

Bank  CapUitl.  C)rii>inal  capital,  Rds.  680,000 ;  augmentations  by  Ge- 
neral Dundas,  (minus  35,000)  Rds.  165,000  ;  transferred  from  currency  or 
bank  capital.  Dr.  to  ditto.  Rds.  150,000;  add  June,  1810,  Lord  Caledon, 
Rds.  600,000;  add  15th  Jan.  1812,  to  23d  Aug.  1831,  Lord  Homlen,  Rds. 
400,000;  add  4th  March,  1814,  buildings  Lord  Howden,  Rds.  160,000; 
total  bank  capital  in  circulation,  Rds.  1,995,000. 

*  The  rix-dollar  is  now  Jla^ed  by  Government  at  this  rate. 


140  PRESENT  BANKING  CAPITAL. 

The  capital  of  the  Lombard  was  in  1830 — In  the  Long 
Loan  Fund,  £80,952. ;  Short  do.,  1,315. ;  Agricultural  do., 
11,643.;— Total,  £93,910. 

The  funds  of  the  Discount  Bank,  consisting  of  deposits  be- 
longing to  Government,  and  to  those  individuals  who  have 
opened  accounts  with  tlie  Bank  amount  to  £125,000.;  its 
capital  being  about  £30,000,  and  its  average  annual  discounts 
£410,000. 

The  circulating  medium  of  the  colony  is  estimated  at  paper 
currency,  R.D.  2,245,000,  or  £168,562*;— of  British  silver,  in 
half-crowns,  shillings,  &c.,  £100,000;  and  oi  gold,  £2000., 
making  an  apparent  total  circulation  of  £270,562 ;  but  of  this 
sum  there  is  locked  up  in  the  Commissariat  chest,  £116,000., 
(of  which  it  is  probable  the  greater  part  is  silver),  leaving 
only  a  floating  currency  of  £154,000  for  the  purposes  of 
trade,  &c.  Even  this  sum  is  diminishing,  as  the  Commissariat 
expenditure  for  the  last  three  years  has  been  £130,000  per 
annum,  and  its  drafts  upon  the  London  Treasury  £155,000., 
causing  an  annual  abstraction  of  the  circulating  medium  to 
the  amount  of  £25,000.,  which  if  continued  for  six  years  un- 
checked, would  sweep  away  every  particle  of  money  in  the 
Colony ! 

That  the  Cape  is  in  want  of  a  proper  banking  system  must 
be  evident ;  a  Discount  Bank  under  Government  management 
leaves  every  mercantile  man  or  others  requiring  pecuniary 
accommodation  at  the  mercy  of  the  rulers  for  the  time  being, 
and  exposes  their  private  affairs  and  credit  to  the  cognizance 
of  Government  officers ;  the  former  is  a  great  evil,  the  free 
exercise  of  thought  and  action  is  prevented,  and  a  Govern- 
ment thus  holding  the  purse  strings  of  the  only  Discount  Bank 
in  the  colony  becomes  possessed  of  a  despotic  power  more  ar- 
bitrary than  that  of  any  armed  force.  The  colonists  to  a  con- 
siderable number  feel  this ;  they  also  think  that  with  increased 

*  There  are  1500  £\^.,  and  1500  ^5.  notes ;  the  remainder  in  rix-dollars  j 
no  note  being  for  less  than  12  at  1«.  6</.  each=^l.  The  Secretary  to  Go- 
vernment issues  and  signs  1/.  notes  not  payable  in  the  colony  but  by  Com- 
missariat bills  on  the  London  Treasury,  at  a  discount  of  li  per  cent. 


NECESSITY  FOR  A  PRIVATE  BANK.  141 

business  the  colony  is  in  want  of  a  fi'ee  system  of  banking, 
which  with  a  parent  estabhshment  at  Cape  Town  would  esta- 
blish a  branch  at  Graham's  Town,  and  in  some  other  of  the 
remote  and  principal  districts.  In  justice  to  Government  I 
believe  there  will  be  no  opposition  to  such  a  measure  from 
the  home  colonial  authorities ;  but  several  persons  of  much 
reflection  think  that  the  present  moment  is  not  peculiarly 
adapted  for  the  establishment  of  a  private  bank  at  the  Cape, 
and  they  ground  this  opinion  on  the  circumstance  that  nearly 
1,000,000/.  sterling  will  be  necessary  to  repay  the  slave- 
holders on  the  Emancipation  Act  :*  the  sudden  introduction 
of  this  sum  into  the  colony  would,  they  think,  derange  the  cir- 
culation of  the  colony  materially ;  in  this  I  perfectly  agree, 
but  it  has  been  suggested  to  me,  that  paying  the  small 
holders  up  to  100/.  in  English  coin,  and  giving  the  larger  co- 
lonial debentures  bearing  3  or  3i  per  cent,  interest,  payable  at 
sight,  or  redeemable  at  the  option  of  Government,  would  pre- 
vent any  anticipated  evil  arising  from  too  sudden  an  increase 
of  the  circulating  medium.  If  this  plan  be  adopted  then  there 
can  be  no  reasonable  impediment  to  the  Government  with- 
drawing its  banking  concerns,  and  leaving  the  trade  in  money 
open  to  private  speculation  and  enterprise  ;  this  much  is  cer- 
tain, that  the  Eastern  Province,  distant  500  miles  from  the 
seat  of  Government,  imperiously  requires  the  establishment 
of  some  bank,  not  only  by  reason  of  its  distance  from  Cape 
Town,  but  also  on  account  of  the  enterprize  which  distin- 
guishes the  British  settlers,  and  which  is  now  cramped  and 
restrained  to  a  degree  injurious  to  the  whole  colony  by  reason 
of  the  want  of  that  pecuniary  accommodation,  which  is  the 
very  life  and  soul  of  an  English  community. 

Weights  and  Measures. — The  weights  made  use  of  in 
this  colony  are  derived  from  the  standard  pound  of  Amster- 
dam, and  the  pieces  permitted  to  be  assized  are  from  501bs. 
down  to  one  loot,  or  the  thirty-second  part  of  a  pound,  which , 

*  Taking  the  number  of  slaves  at  the  Cape  at  35,000,  and  valuing  them 
all  round  at  30/.  (a  good  slave  being  according  to  the  market  value  up- 
wards of  twice,  often  thrice  this  sum)  the  amount  would  be  1,050,000/. 


142  WEIGHTS  AND  MEASURES —CAPE  OF  GOOD  HOPE. 

is  regarded  as  unity  Ol-^^J^jy  Dutch=1001bs.  English  avoirdu- 
pois. Liquid  measure — 16  flasks=l  anker,  4  ankersc=l  aum, 
4  aums=l  leaguer.  Corn  measure — 4  scliepels=l  muid,  10 
muids=l  load.  The  muid  of  wheat  weighs  on  an  average 
about  180  lbs  Dutch,  being  somewhat  over  19G  lbs.  English. 
Cloth  and  long  measures — 12  rhynland  inches=l  rhynland 
foot,  27  rhynland  inches=l  ell  Dutch,  IS^^Vo  ells  Dutchz= 
100  yards  English.  Land  measure — 144  rhynland  inches=l 
square  foot,  144  square  feet=l  rood,  G30  roods=:l  morgen, 
49/~  morgens=z:100  acres  English.  Wine  or  liquid  measure^ 
— 1  flask=i^|  old  gallons— or  4,946  plus  imperial,  1  anker=: 
9i— or7/o,  1  aum=i38— orSli   1  leaguer=152— or  126tV, 

1  pipe=110— or9lTT. 

Staple  Products. — Corn,  wine,  wool,  provisions,  oil,  aloes 
and  fruits  are  the  staples  of  this  fine  colony,  but  many  other 
articles  are  either  produced  in  the  country,  or  obtained  from 
the  neighbouring  nations.  The  quantity  of  grain  grown  will 
be  found  for  each  district  under  the  population  section  :  it 
has  been  asserted  that,  the  colony  does  not  grow  sufficient 
grain  for  its  own  consumption  ; — no  statement  can  be  more 
untrue,  there  is  an  annual  exportation  of  corn,  and  it  brings, 
as  flour,  a  higher  price  at  the  Mauritius,  and  other  markets, 
than  the  best  American  :  as  population,  and  a  knowledge  of 
the  best  means  of  irrigation  extends,  the  Cape  will  become  a 
large  wheat  exporter  to  England.     [See  Commerce.] 

The  new  settlers  in  Albany  suffered  much  from  the  '  rust' 
in  the  first  instance,  but  it  has  now  almost  disappeared,  and 
the  introduction  of  a  hard  flinty  grain,  termed  '  Patna  wheat,' 
from  Bengal,  has  been  productive  of  good.  Barley,  oats,  and 
Indian  corn  thrive  well,  the  latter  is  admirably  adapted  for 

*  According  to  the  Act  of  June,  1824,  the  distinction  between  the  ale, 
wine,  and  corn  gallon  is  abolished,  and  an  imperial  gallon  established, 
which  must  contain  precisely  10  lbs.  avoirdupois  weight,  of  distilled  water, 
weighed  in  air  at  the  temperature  of  62  degrees  of  Farenheit  thermometer, 
the  barometer  standing  at  30  inches.  By  this  Act  the  English  pound  troy 
contains  5,760  grains,  the  pound  avoirdupois  7,000  grains,  the  imperial 
gallon  277,274  cubic  inches,  and  the  imperial  corn  bushel  2,218,192 
inches.  r 


STAPLE  PRODUCTS  OF  THE  COLONY. 


143 


fattening  swine,  the  export  of  which,  in  the  shape  of  hams, 
bacon,  and  salt  pork,  is  yearly  increasing.  Two  crops  of  po- 
tatoes are  raised  in  the  year,  of  a  succulent  and  yet  mealy 
quality,  and  in  every  article  of  provision  raised,  its  nutritive 
property  is  abundantly  exemplified  in  the  fat  and  healthy 
appearance  of  the  people.*  The  following  account  of  the 
agricultural  produce  of  the  colony  has  been  prepared  at  the 
Colonial  Office,  Downing  Street,  and  not  before  printed : — 


i2 

Wheat. 

Barley. 

Rye. 

Oats. 

Oat  Hay. 

bush. 

bush. 

bnsh. 

bush. 

1820 

610674 

275751 

25224 

239033 

3974610 

1821 

312821 

222632 

24344 

223221 

4123700 

1822 

265523 

265809 

32637 

257361 

4455298 

1823 

441746 

417140 

96670 

309578 

3808690 

1824 

5146;6 

325931 

47143 

372275 

4633712 

1828 

522635 

351IS8 

63393 

329923 

4009700 

1829 

520768 

300625 

51137 

321570 

3544833 

1831 

443693 

271147 

36403 

2821S3 

3925000 

1832 

306063 

282380 

34112 

No  re 

turns. 

1833 

Maize  and 
Millet. 


Pease, 

Beans  and 

Lentils. 


Potatoes. 


bush.     I     bush.  bush. 

No  returns. 


3060 

4500 
19950 


480 

155 

5037 

197 

13840 

9972 

Wine  has  long  been  a  staple  export  of  the  Cape.  The  cul- 
ture of  the  vine  was  introduced  at  first  into  the  colony  by  the 
refugee  Protestants,  after  the  revocation  of  the  edict  of  Nantes, 
but  a  considerable  stimulus  was  given  to  the  subject,  when  the 
dominion  or  influence  of  Napoleon  extended  over  the  greater 
part  of  the  wine  countries  of  Europe  ;  the  British  government 
then  (and  wisely)  considered  it  desirable  to  encourage  the  growth 
of  the  vine  in  our  own  colonies,  beyond  the  power  of  foreign 
nations,  and  by  a  government  proclamation  of  the  19th  of 
December,  1811,  the  merchants  and  cultivators  of  the  colony 
of  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope,  had  their  attention  directed  to 
the  wine  trade  as  "  a  consideration  above  all  others  of  the 
highest  importance  to  its  opulence  and  character ;"  this  pro- 
clamation, after  authoritatively  demanding  from  the  settle- 
ment a  serious  and  lively  attention  to  their  interests,  promised 

*  Agriculture  is  as  yet  quite  in  its  infancy  at  the  Cape  ;  the  Dutch  boors 
are  so  heelless  of  manure  that  they  allow  it  to  accumulate  until  it  reaches 
a  mountainous  height,  when  they  set  fire  to  the  mass  as  a  means  of  getting 
rid  of  it ;  some  of  these  (which  would  be  so  valuable  in  England)  have 
been  known  to  continue  burning  for  seven  years  ! 


144  CAPE  WINE  TRADE — ITS  NEGLECT. 

"  the  most  constant  support  and  patronage  on  the  part  of 
government,  and  that  no  means  of  assistance  should  be  left 
unattempted  to  improve  the  cultivation,  and  every  encourage- 
ment given  to  honest  industry  and  adventure  to  establish  the 
success  of  the  Cape  commerce  in  this  her  great  and  native 
superiority."  This  proclamation  was  followed  by  another 
offei'ing  premiums  to  those  who  planted  most  largely,  and 
those  who  produced  the  best  wines,  by  the  promise  that  the 
old  channels  of  this  trade  should  be  re-opened  and  new  ones 
formed,  and  by  a  variety  of  regulations,  all  strongly  evincing 
the  lively  interest  which  government  felt  in  promoting  the 
trade,  and  which  was  fully  ratified  and  confirmed  by  the 
Act  of  July,  1813,  admitting  Cape  wines  to  the  British  mar- 
ket at  one-third  of  the  duty  then  payable  on  Spanish  and 
Portugal  wines.*  The  consequence  was  a  rapid  and  constant 
increase  from  the  above  period  of  the  quantity  of  wine  pro- 
duced, so  that  in  the  space  of  1 1  years,  the  annual  produce 
(as  appears  from  official  returns)  rose  in  the  wine  districts 
from  7,335  leaguers  (117  gallons  imperial)  to  19,230  leaguers. 
From  a  most  accurate  calculation  made  at  the  same  period 
(1824)  it  was  found  that  the  capital,  employed  by  the  cultiva- 
tors and  wine  merchants  in  Cape  Town,  amounted  to  up- 
wards of  1,500,000/.  sterling,  and  the  labour  which  it  set  in 
motion,  and  supported  directly  and  indirectly,  was  one-third 
of  the  labour  of  the  whole  colony. 

In  this  state  the  trade  continued  till  1825,  when  the  duties 
on  all  wines  underwent  an  alteration,  and  notwithstanding  the 
urgent  remonstrances  of  the  merchants,  and  others  interested 
in  the  trade  of  the  colony,  supported  by  the  consistent  pa- 
tronage of  Earl  Bathurst,  who  was  still  the  Colonial  Secre- 

*  I  ^ive  these  statements  to  shew  how  little  was  thought  by  the  Home 
government  of  these  solemn  promises,  when  the  doctrinaires  who  influ- 
enced the  commercial  policy  of  the  administration,  wished  to  conciliate 
France,  to  oblige  whom  it  was  proposed  to  place  as  high  a  duty  on  the 
cheap  wine,  imported  from  our  own  colour/  at  the  Cape,  as  upon  the  richest 
and  dearest  wines  derived  from  a  foreign  country,  that  refused  any  terms 
of  reciprocity  I 


PROPERTY  VESTED  IN  THE  CAPE  WINE  TRADE.  145 

tary,  the  protection  was  suddenly  reduced  from  28/.  to  11/. 
per  pipe,  with  a  further  prospective  reduction  of  about  21.  \5s. 
per  pipe  at  the  end  of  eight  years.  The  effect  of  this  reduced 
protection  was  the  immediate  ruin  of  some  of  those  largely 
engaged  in  the  trade,  and  the  general  depreciation,  to  a  great 
extent,  of  the  property  of  those  who  were  embarked  in  it,  and 
from  which  it  was  impossible  for  them  to  withdraw  their 
capital. 

It  will  scarcely  be  believed  that  under  these  circumstances 
it  was  proposed  to  raise  the  duty  in  England  on  colonial 
wines  to  5s.  6d.  per  gallon,  the  same  duty  that  was  to  be 
charged  on  foreign  wines,  and  t/iat  too  for  the  avowed  purpose 
of  driving  from  consumption  in  the  home  market  the  only  wine 
produced  in  a  British  colony,  the  trade  in  which  had  been 
raised  and  continued,  so  as  to  render  us  independent  of 
foreign  nations,  while  the  colony  receives  in  British  manu- 
facturer upwards  of  300,000/.  annually,  besides  employing  in 
its  export  and  import  trade  British  shipping  almost  exclu- 
sively. But  this  apparent  equalization  of  duties,  unjust  as 
under  the  circumstances  it  was  felt  to  be,  was  in  reality  a 
much  greater  injustice  than  appears  at  first  sight:  Cape  wine, 
at  the  average  value  of  12/.  per  pipe,  was  then  paying  a  duty 
equal  to  100  per  cent,  ad  valorem,  and  by  the  proposed  duty 
would  pay  upwards  of  200  per  cent. — while  the  duty  on 
Spanish  and  Portugal  wines  was  about  100  per  cent.,  and 
by  the  new  duty  would  be  about  115  per  cent.,  shewing  a 
difference  of  nearly  100  per  cent.  IN  FAVOUR  OF  THE 
FOREIGNER  !— 

The  property  embarked  in  England,  and  in  the  colony,  was 
recently  estimated  as  follows  : — vineyard  lands  and  growing 
vines,  1,200,000/;  buildings,  stores,  vats,  &c.  in  the  country, 
60,000/.  ;  buildings,  vats,  &c.  in  Cape  Town,  300,000/.  ; 
brandy,  casks,  &c.,  100,0001. ;  wine  in  Cape  Town,  125,000/. ; 
Stock,  in  bond,  in  England,  about  10,000  pipes,  at  12/., 
120,000/. :— total,  1,905,000/.* 

*  A  very  small  portion  of  the  immense  capital  thus  employed  can  be 
withdrawn  under  any  circumstances,  even  by  its  present  possessors.    In 
VOL.  IV.  L 


146         ADVANTAGE  OF  REDUCING  THE  DUTY. 

It  will  be  seen  from  the  foregoing  brief  narrative  of  some  of 
the  leading  facts  as  to  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope  wine  trade, 
how  little  justice  it  has  met  with  in  England,  and  it  may 
thence  be  inferred  that  the  natural  stimulus  to  improved  and 
increased  production,  namely,  steadiness  of  duties  and  regula- 
tions (which  next  to  no  duties  and  regulations  is  the  most  de- 
sirable) has  been  completely  destroyed,  the  wonder  is  therefore 
that  the  whole  trade  has  not  been  entirely  subverted.  Its 
progress  will  be  found  under  the  head  of  Commerce,  but  it 
may  be  useful  to  state  that  with  proper  management,  and  a 
reduction  of  the  duty  in  England  to  Qd.  per  gallon* — or  what 
would  be  better  still  a  removal  of  the  entire  duty — the  Cape 
of  Good  Hope  could  furnish  a  large  supply  of  excellent 
wine,f  suited  in  particular  to  the  middle  and  lower  classes, 
thus  diminishing  the  consumption  of  ardent  spirits,  and 
affording  a  market  for  the  productions  of  our  operatives, 
whose  cottons,  woollens,  and  hardwares  would  be  gladly  taken 
in  exchange  by  our  fellow  citizens  in  South  Africa.  This 
measure  would  also  give  encouragement  to  attend  to  the  qua- 
lity of  Cape  brandy,  whose  flavour  has  not  yet  received  suffi- 
cient attention  to  make  it  suited  to  the  English  market. 

the  gradual  decay,  and  ultimate  ruin  of  the  trade,  it  will  perish  and  be 
utterly  lost  to  the  country. — Even  the  soil  in  which  the  vines  are  planted, 
is  in  general  unfit  for  any  other  species  of  profitable  culture.  Wheat  can- 
not be  raised  upon  it,  and  what  is  now  an  extensive  vineyard  would  be 
altogether  contemptible  as  a  grazing  farm.  The  fustage,  buildings,  &c., 
might  at  once  be  committed  to  the  flames. 

*  The  Americans  proposed  by  their  projected  new  treaty  with  France 
to  lay  only  6  cents.  {3d.)  per  gallon  on  French  wines. 

f  Cape  wines  have  formerly  had  in  general  a  peculiar  raciness  which 
much  injured  their  sale  in  European  markets  ;  this  is  most  probably  owing 
to  the  avidity  of  the  wine  farmers,  who  attended  more  to  quantity  than 
quality ;  whenever  the  latter  has  been  attended  to  the  wine  produced  at  the 
Cape  has  been  equal  to  that  prepared  in  any  part  of  the  world :  I  have 
drunk  in  the  colony  Cape  Madeira,  equal  in  richness  and  mellowness  to 
any  grown  on  the  famed  island  of  that  name;  and  the  best  Cape  Pontac 
has  a  flavour  equal  to  the  very  best  Burgundy.  A  total  reduction  of  the 
duty  on  importation  into  England  would  give  a  stimulus  to  improve  cul- 
ture and  manufacture,  by  allowing  of  more  outlay  in  the  colony. 


PRODUCTION  OF  WINE  AND  BRANDY  SINCE  1804. 


147 


The  number  of  leaguers  (a  leaguer  being  152  gallons)  of 
wine  and  brandy  brought  into  Cape  Town,  per  market  book, 
is  thus  stated  from  1804  to  1819  :— 


Wine. 

Brandy. 

Wine. 

Brandy. 

Wine. 

Brandy. 

Wine. 

Brandy, 

1804 

6016 

511 

1808 

2982 

316 

1812 

5363 

439 

1816 

8757 

703 

1805'  5000 

602 

ISOq 

5003 

298 

1813  6073 

315 

1817 

12379 

506 

1806  4732 

448 

1810 

4897 

373 

1814[  5655 

301 

1818 

7701 

385 

1807 

5265 

337 

1811 

6947 

309 

1815 

9951 

560 

1819* 

8888 

448 

The  produce  of  the  ichole  colony  in  wine  and  brandy  from 
this  period  is  thus  given,  with  some  years  deficient,  in  a  manu- 
script prepared  at  the  Colonial  Office,  and  not  before  printed. 
The  quantity  in  leaguers  as  above. 


Wine. 

Brandy. 

Wine. 

Brandy. 

Wine. 

Brandy. 

Wine. 

Brandy. 

1820t 
1821 
1822 
1823 

15210 
16254 

15348 
21147 

1152 
1205 

1169 
1656 

1 

1824  16183 

1825  i 
1826 
18271 

1 

1326 

t 

1828 
1829 
1830 
1831 

20405 
15539 

t 
18467 

1413 
1063 

1382 

1832 
1833 
1834 

16973 

13944 

Of  6,207,770  gallons  of  wine  entered  for  home  consumption 
in  the  United  Kingdom  in  the  year  ending  January,  1834, 
there  was  of  Cape  of  Good  Hope  wine  545,191  gll.  being  nearly 
double  the  amount  of  French  which  was  232,550  do  ;  Portugal, 
2,596,530  do;  Madeira,  161,042  do;  Spanish,  2,246,085  do ; 
Canary,  68,882 do;  Rhenish,  43,758 do;  Sicilian,  313,732 do; 
Total  gallons,  6,207,770. 

Wool  will  in  time  be  one  of  the  greatest  and  most  profitable 
staples  of  the  Cape ;  by  an  unaccountable  want  of  foresight  it 
has  long  been  neglected  until  stimulated  by  the  example  of  New 

*  The  increased  entry  into  Cape  Town  during  these  four  years  was  pro- 
bably for  export  to  St.  Helena,  when  during  Napoleon's  residence  there 
was  a  large  demand  for  Cape  Produce,  and  the  fleet  and  the  army  were 
rationed  with  Cape  wine. 

t  The  quantity  returned  by  the  Oppgaf  for  the  preceding  ten  years  did 
not  average  10,000  leaguers  per  annum. 

X  1  beg  the  reader  to  understand  that  I  leave  blank  columns  as  above  in 
each  volume  in  order  that  they  may  be  filled  up  in  the  colonies,  and  that 
in  future  editions  I  may  be  able  to  present  more  complete  consecutive 
returns. 


148  FINE  WOOLLED    SHEEP. 

South  Wales,*  the  colonists  are  now  actively  engaged  in  en- 
deavouring to  replace  the  coarse  woolled,  or  rather  hairy 
sheep  (of  which  they  possess  3,000,000)  for  the  fine  and  pure 
blood  breed  of  that  animal,  whose  numbers  now  amount  to 
upwards  of  50,000 — the  wool  from  which  has  brought  2s.  6d. 
per  lb.  in  the  London  market.  The  British  settlers  in  Albany 
have  taken  the  lead,  {see  Commerce']  and  are  at  present  im- 
porting Saxon  and  Merino  rams  from  England  and  New  South 
Wales,  the  former  bringing  15/.  per  head,  and  the  latter  30/. 
per  head. 

The  fineness  of  the  climate  requiring  no  winter  provender, 
and  the  great  extent  of  upland  soil  and  park  like  downs,  with 
the  numerous  salsola  arid  saline  plants,  so  admirably  adapted 
to  prevent  the  fluke  or  rot  in  sheep,  shew  the  adaptation  of 
the  colony  for  a  vast  sheep  fold  capable  of  supplying  an  al- 
most indefinite  quantity  of  the  finest  wool ;  and  together  with 
New  South  Wales  and  Van  Diemen's  Land  rendering  Eng- 
land not  only  totally  independent  of  supplies  from  Germany 
and  Spain,  but  really  furnishing  a  much  finer  and  more  durable 
and  elastic  wool,  which  will  enable  us  to  maintain  our  supe- 
riority in  woollens  against  foreign  competition :  this  is  a  view 
of  the  subject  which  it  behoves  a  commercial  statesman  to 
attend  to. 

Provisions,  particularly  salt  beef,  ought  to  be  a  larger 
staple  than  it  is,  but  I  trust  it  will  augment  in  quantity  as  it 
certainly  has  done  in  quality.f    At  present  it  is  pretty  largely 

*  It  is  a  singular  circumstance  that  some  of  the  original  Merino  stock  of 
New  South  Wales  were  rejected  at  the  Cape,  and  then  carried  on  to  Sydney, 
where  they  were  purchased  by  Mr.  M'Arthur :  had  the  Africans  received 
the  proffered  boon,  they  would  probably  now  be  exporting  a  quantity 
greater  than  that  of  their  brother  colonists  (see  New  South  Wales.) 

t  I  can  bear  testimony  to  the  excellence  of  the  Cape  salt  provisions ; 
among  other  instances  I  mention  one,  namely,  that  when  in  H.M.S.  Leven, 
in  1823,  I,  as  caterer  of  our  mess,  laid  in  six  month's  salt  provisions  at 
AlgoaBay,  the  price  paid  for  the  beef  being,  as  well  as  I  remember,  li 
per  lb. :  we  were  cruising  for  the  next  six  months  in  the  tropics,  but  the 
last  cask  of  beef  was  as  fresh  and  as  juicy  as  the  first,  while  the  contrast 
between  the  Cape  and  our  ration  provision  from  Cork  was  very  great, 
the  advantage  being  decidedly  in  favour  of  the  former. 


'     SALT  PROVISIONS — OIL  AND  FISHERIES.  149 

exported  to  the  Mauritius,  and  other  places,  but  it  should  be 
used  for  victualHng  our  navy  at  the  Cape,  India,  and  West 
Africa  stations,  the  contractors  being  placed  under  the  same 
supervision  as  at  home,  every  cask  being  examined  and 
branded  before  shipment,  and  a  heavy  penalty  attending  any 
default.  Its  importation  should  be  permitted  into  England 
at  a  yearly  reduced  rate  of  duty,  until  it  was  perfectly  free. 

Oil. — The  fisheries  of  the  Cape  have  not  yet  been  suffici- 
ently attended  to :  during  the  calving  season  whales  come 
into  every  bay  on  the  coast,  to  bring  forth  their  young,  and 
thus,  in  some  seasons,  a  good  number  of  these  immense 
creatures  are  taken ;  but  there  has  been  no  vessels  fitted  out 
for  whaling  along  the  coast,  or  among  the  islands  to  the 
northward  of  Madagascar,  where  the  sperm  whale  abounds, 
and  where,  under  a  genial  clime,  and  an  atmosphere  never 
troubled  with  tempests,*  the  American  whalers  fill  up  in  a  few 
weeks.  Even  in  Delagoa  Bay,  almost  a  part  of  the  colony,  I 
have  seen  20  whale  ships,  Enghsh  and  American,!  but  not 
one  from  the  contiguous  settlers  at  the  Cape.  A  good  bank- 
ing system  would  afford  a  stimulus  to  such  profitable  under- 
takings, and.  the  Africanders  in  this  instance,  as  well  as  in 
that  of  wool,  would  do  well  to  profit  by  the  example  set  them 
by  their  more  enterprising  neighbours  at  New  South  Wales. 
Oil  from  vegetables  might  also  be  extensively  collected ;  the 
olive  thrives  luxuriantly  where  planted,  and  a  rich  and  pecu- 
liar oil,  collected  by  expression  from  the  sesamum  plant,  may 
be  obtained  in  large  quantities  from  the  native  tribes,  to  the 
eastward  and  northward. 

The  Aloe  plant  grows  indigenously  in  most  parts  of  the 
colony,  and  a  considerable  quantity  of  the  inspissated  juice 

*  The  oldest  inhabitant  of  the  Seychelles  islands  has  never  felt  a  tempest 
visit  their  peaceful  shores. 

t  So  regardless  are  the  Americans  of  anything  like  national  rights, 
where  their  own  interests  are  not  concerned,  that  it  has  been  necessary  for 
the  government  at  tlie  Cape  to  issue  a  recent  proclamation,  warning  the 
Americans  not  to  persevere  in  their  fisheries  on  our  very  coasts. 


150 


PRICES  OF  STAPLE  AGRICULTURAL  PRODUCTS 


has  been  exported  for  some  years,  a  large  portion  being  pro- 
bably used  as  a  substitute  for  taxed  hops  in  England. 

Fiuitsoia.  dried  nature,  including  apples,  apricots,  peaches, 
pears,  &c.  have  been  long  in  great  demand;  the  Cape  sun 
acts  on  these  fruits,  when  pealed,  so  as  to  prevent  the  exuda- 
tion of  their  respective  juices,  and  I  can  speak  from  experi- 
ence as  to  their  gratefulness  in  pies  and  tarts,  after  a  person 
has  been  some  time  at  sea  on  a  salt  junk  diet.  Raisins  are 
largely  exported  to  New  South  Wales,  Mauritius,  and  to 
England,  and  with  attention  ought  to  rival  the  best  Mus- 
cadel :  the  recent  reduction  of  the  duty  in  England,  will,  I 
hope,  be  productive  of  some  good  effect,  but  its  final  abro- 
gation would  be  more  useful,  and  would  redound  to  the  cha- 
racter of  a  commercial  statesman.* 

Hides  and  horns  are  rapidly  increasing  as  a  staple,  and  the 
quantity  of  ivory,  ostrich  feathers,  gums,  &c.  obtained  from 
the  native  tribes,  has  proved  a  valuable  branch  of  commerce. 

Horses  for  India,  live  stock  for  the  Mauritius,  St.  Helena, 
&c.  are  also  staple  exports,  and  I  doubt  not,  that  with  in- 
creased population,  and  the  encouragement  of  free-banking, 
aided  by  a  free  press,  the  staples  of  this  valuable  colony  will 
go  on  increasing  in  quantity  and  quality,  and  extending  in 
number. 

The  following  are  the  average  prices  of  some  of  the  staple 
agricultural  products  since  1828: — 


§ 

^ 

1 

1 

o 

i 

o 

■a 
a   . 

•a 
s 
a  ^• 

ce  a  G 
m  o  V 
O.pq-1 

(U 

o 
o 

1 

1 

1828 
1829 
1831 
1832 

bush. 
5    6 
5  103 

4  11 

5  5 

bush. 
2    7 
2     4 

1  U 

2  0 

bush. 

1  11 

2  83 
2     83 
2   lOi 

bush. 

2  2 
1      8 

3  IS 
1    11 

pr.  lOOlb 

4     0 
4     21 
3  11 

bush. 
6    0 
4    1 
3     2 
2  10 

4     0 

4  8 

5  3i 
4     8 

4     0 
3     4 
3     13 
3     0 

per  leaguer 

74     0 
82     9 
80     0 

63    6 

per  do, 

I6S    8 
187     3 
200     5i 

178    9i 

per  lb. 

Commerce. — The  foregoing  section  will  convey  to  the  rea- 
der an  idea  of  the  Cape  Commerce ;  unfortunately  I  am  not 


*  The  duty  has  beeu  reduced  from  10s.  to  7s.  6d.  per  cwt. 


I 


SHIPPING  INWARDS  AND  OUTWARDS. 


151 


able  to  lay  before  him  such  ample  details  relative  to  trade  as 
I  have  done  in  the  preceding  volumes,  there  being  no  returns 
at  the  Plantation  Office  (London  Custom  House)  from  the 
Cape  as  given  under  the  East  Indies,  Canadas,  &c.  or  as  will 
be  found  under  New  South  Wales,  &c.*  I  begin  with  showing 
the  quantity  of  shipping  engaged  in  the  trade  of  the  colony. 


SHIPS  INWARDS. 

SHIPS  OUTWARDS. 

e 

From 

From 

From 

To 

To 

To 

s 

Great 

British 

Foreign 

Total 

Great 

British 

Foreign 

Total 

1^ 

Britain. 

Colonies. 

States. 

Inwards. 

Britain. 

Colonies. 

States. 

Outwards. 

No 

roDs. 

No. 

Tons. 

No, 

Tons. 

No. 

Tons. 

No. 

Tons. 

No    Tons. 

No. 

Tons. 

No. 

Tons. 

1822 

81 

25175 

15 

5514 

23 

6486 

119 

37175 

63 

15631 

12      3889 

8 

2281 

83 

21801 

1824 

29 

8313 

24 

5460 

13 

7052 

66 

20825 

24 

7918 

18      3319 

6 

1395 

48 

12633 

1826 

7 

24/5 

6 

1358 

4 

1006 

17 

4849 

/    2 

430 

8      2452 

3 

927 

13 

3819 

1827 

66 

26042 

75 

20991 

25 

11679 

166 

58712 

74 

28192 

70    24092 

18 

7119 

162 

59403 

1828 

66 

23595 

80 

25920 

41 

14281 

187 

63796 

89 

32282 

70    21385 

28 

8015 

187 

61682 

1829 

74 

21663 

97 

31085 

44 

17317 

215 

70065 

95 

36I9O 

84    22922 

33 

8I73 

212 

67285 

1831 

79 

20737 

88 

29960 

38 

14/69 

205 

65466 

104 

33393 

75     19097 

52 

9915 

234 

62405 

1832 
1833 
1834 

87 

26841 

98 

34654 

38 

12373 

223 

73868 

95 

37237 

92    27953 

26 

7369 

213 

72559 

The  foregoing  is  independent  of  numerous  vessels  of  di- 
vers nations,  touching  at  Table  and  Simon's  Bays  for  refresh- 
ments. The  colonists  have,  as  yet,  very  little  shipping  of 
their  own,  and  that  employed  principally  in  the  coasting  trade.f 

No  steam  vessel  has  yet  been  introduced  for  use  into  the 
colony,  though  the  adaptation  of  such,  for  keeping  up  the 
intercourse  between  Cape  Town  and  Algoa  Bay,  is  indispu- 
table ;  a  diligent  search  should  be  made  for  good  coals,  for  if 
such  were  discovered,  a  steam  intercourse  with  India  and 
Australasia,  via  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope,J  would  speedily 
follow. 


*  The  Custom  House  at  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope  is  now  placed  under 
the  authority  of  the  Honourable  Commissioners  of  the  Customs  in  London. 

t  List  and  tonnage  of  colonial  and  coasting  vessels  in  1834  :  Mary,  brig, 
116;  Conc\i,brigantme,  100;  Mary,  schooner,  72;  Kate,  ditto,  83;  Ligo- 
nier,  cutter,  55;  Knysna,  brig,  142;  St.  Helena,  schooner,  175;  Leda, 
bark,  188;  Urania,  brig,  132;  Jane  and  Henry,  brigantine,  146 ;— total 
number,  10,  tons,  1209. 

X  For  the  project  of  such  a  plan  with  the  disbursements  and  receipts 
thereof,  see  my  first  vol.,  chap.  x. 


152 


VALUE  OF  THE  CAPE  OF  GOOD  HOPE  TRADE. 


The  value  of  the  trade  carried  on  in  the  shipping  just  de- 
tailed, is  as  follows*  in  sterling  money : — 


Imports. 

Exports. 

» 

," 

From 

From 

From 

Total 

To 

To 

To 

Total 

Great 

British 

Foreign 

value  of 

Great 

British 

Foreign 

value  of 

Britain. 

Colonies. 

States. 

Imports. 

Britain. 

Colonies. 

States. 

Exports. 

1820 

174820 

106940 

I6992 

298752 

103103 

75763 

6123 

184939 

1821 

283825 

112771 

8958 

405554 

113623 

58953 

4967 

117543 

1822 

209744 

102743 

33499 

345986 

139296 

78102 

16748 

234146 

1823 

207484 

82908 

14891 

305283 

169523 

41972 

2457 

213052 

1824 

324814 

103497 

11634 

439927 

207622 

67382 

308 

275312 

182.') 

214392 

55666 

25998 

299656 

173300 

71940 

6132 

251372 

1827 

214456 

45823 

28263 

288542 

147652 

54198 

16953 

218803 

1828 

203038 

41280 

20179 

264497 

135205 

94012 

30189 

259406 

1829 

291234 

43258 

30429 

364921 

198772 

87446 

10972 

297190 

1831 

281445 

37731 

25855 

345051 

127468 

70957 

14700 

213125 

1832 

273449 

45679 

12877 

332006 

165531 

77812 

7536 

250879 

1833 

1834 

The  annual  commerce  of  the  colony  may  thus  be  estimated 
at  upwards  of  half  a  million  sterling. 

I  am  not  certain  whether  the  years  from  1820  to  1831  in- 
clude the  trade  of  Algoa  Bay — I  believe  it  does,  certainly  for 
1832,  which  10  years  ago  had  not  a  particle  of  commerce,f 

*  This  return  is  from  the  Colonial  Office,  it  is  somewhat  at  variance 
with  the  following  derived  from  the  Colonial  Almanac,  for  1834. 

Value  of  Imports  and  Exports  of  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope.l 


1824 

1825 

1826 

1827 

1928 

1829 

1830 

1831 

1832 

Imports      .        .        .        , 
Exports          .... 
Not  Colonial 

£. 

346615 

218587 

£. 
^95792 
240035 

£. 
269424 
173023 

£. 

286052 
211499 

£. 
260962 
253203 

£. 

356523 

260375 

18624 

£. 

402319 

I9I821 

18943 

£. 

345051 
189569 
29036 

£. 

296321 

172456 

20070 

Excess  of  Imports, 

128028 

55757 

96401 

74553 

7059 

77524 

191555 

126446 

193526 

t  In  1827  Algoa  Bay  was  made  a  port  of  entry,  and  its  trade  thus 
rose : — 


Years. 

Imports. 

Years 

Exports. 

1828 

.£55201 

1828 

£41290 

1829 

63491 

1829 

59300 

1830 

99742 

1830 

60828 

1831 

65518 

1831 

66351 

1832 

1 12845 

1832 

86931 

1833 

1833 

This  comparatively  large  extent  of  commerce  has,  arisen  from  the  industry 
X  Cape  of  Good  Hope  Almanac  for  1834. 


1 


INCREASING  TRADE  OF  ALGOA  BAY. 


153 


and  has  now  a  trade  of  the  yearly  value  of  upwards  of 
200,000/.  sterling,  and  on  the  increase ;  the  following  return 
was  prepared  at  Port  Ehzabeth,  Algoa  Bay.* 


Imports. 

1832 

1833 

Exports. 

1832 

1833 

London     . 

Mauritius  and  elsewhere 

Table  Bay     . 

£. 
19476 
812 
73550 

£. 
38886  London  and  Liverpool 

13  Mauritius  and  elsewhere 
73209  Table  Bay      . 

£. 

26664 

5855 

36868 

£. 

53789 

4658 

22783 

Total 

93838 

112108 

Total 

69387 

81230 

Total  increase  in  Imports  and  Exports,  in  1833,  over  the  preceding 
year,  1832,  £30,113. 

The  largest  portion  of  the  trade  of  the  colony  is  carried  on 
at  Table  Bay,  for  instance,  in  1832,  of  258,456/.  imports, 
236,456/.  were  into  Table  Bay ,  and  of  256,808/.  exports, 
194,332/,  were  from  Table  Bay.  The  principal  trade  is  with 
Great  Britain,  for  of  the  foregoing  sum  total  200,000/.  was 
imports  from  the  United  Kingdom,  and  165,531/.  exports  to 
ditto. 

We  now  come  to  the  quantities  of  articles  exported  and 
imported  for  a  series  of  years,  and  here  I  have  to  lament  the 
absence  of  returns  similar  to  what  the  reader  will  have  ob- 
served in  the  preceding  volume  under  Canada;  the  varied 
nature  of  the  trade  will  however  be  seen  from  the  following 
complete  return  from  the  latest  year  prepared. 

of  the  British  settlers,  and  the  intercourse  which  they  have  opened  with  the 
Caflfres,  and  other  native  tribes  :  the  CafFre  trade  in  the  first  18  months  after 
its  opening,  poured  native  produce  into  Graham's  Town  (chiefly  ivory),  to 
the  amount  of  32,000/. ;  it  has  since  been  steadily  progressive. 

*  I  am  indebted  for  this  to  the  firm  of  Messrs.  Maynard,  and  Co.,  of 
Broad  Street,  London. 


154 


QUANTITIES  OF  ARTICLES  EXPORTED. 


Articles,  the  Produce  or  Manufacture  of  the  Colony,  exported  during 

the  year  1832. 


Aloes,  127,937  lbs. 

£1372 

Potatoes,  54  muida 

£54 

Argol,  60,673  lbs. 

1409 

Poultry,  108  dz. 

108 

Bark,  2,240  lbs. 

a 

Rusks, 

6u 

Beef,  salted,  775,509  lbs. 

3625 

Salt,  1600  lb.       . 

5 

and  Pork  1391  casks. 

4007 

Seeds  and  Bulbs, 

255 

Beer,  176,152  gallons 

1184 

Sheep,  3016  head. 

1174 

Biscuit,  9,200  lbs. 

97 

Sheep's-tail  Fat,  393  lbs. 

10 

Bread,  3,460 lbs. 

32 

Skins,  viz : — 

Butter,  425,549  lbs. 

7OI8 

Bazil,  150  pieces 

14 

Candles,  14,818  lbs. 

413 

Calf,  1496  ps. 

471 

Charcoal,  40  bushels 

3 

Goat,  101,279  ps.   . 

7978 

Cheese,  14,402  lbs. 

250 

Seal,  3520  ps. 

851 

Confectionery, 

92 

Sheep,  72,432  ps. 

3416 

Corn,  Grain,  and  Meal,  viz  : — 

Soap,  12,907  lbs. 

218 

Barley,  2573  muids 

745 

Spirits,  viz  ;— Brandy,  7773  galls. 

815 

Beans,  25  muids 

20 

Tallow,  662,630  lbs. 

10742 

and  Peas,  698  mule 

Is            704 

Tongues,  360  lbs. 

10 

Bran,  79,417  lbs. 

365 

Vegetables,  3,765  lbs. 

16 

Flour,  159,411  lbs. 

1928 

Umbrellas, 

51 

Oats,  9832  muids 

2326 

Waggon,  1,            .             . 

32 

Wheat,  13,648  muids 

13460 

Water,  Mineral 

8 

Cariosities, 

1012 

Whalebone,  47,187  lbs. 

2163 

Eggs,  1000  No. 

8 

Wax,  Bees',  6379  lbs. 

313 

1156 

Wine,  viz : — 

Fish,  dried,  41,094  lbs. 

279 

Constantia,  5872  galls.      . 

3291 

Fruits,  viz : — 

Ordinary,  771,504  galls. 

58672 

dried,  267,097  lbs. 

3463 

Wool,  67,890  lbs. 

3358 

green, 

19 

Zebras,  8  head 

372 

Oranges,  1700  No. 

2 

Supplies  to  His  Majesty's  Navy. 

Gnoos,  2  head 

40 

Beef,  fresh,  113,385  lbs. 

590 

Goats,  4  head 

4 

salt,  1800  lbs. 

11 

Gum  300  lbs. 

5 

Biscuit,  208,424  lbs. 

2397 

Hay,  Oat,  16,938  lbs. 

57 

Bread,  soft,  54,492  lbs. 

341 

Herbs, 

56 

Flour,  49,761  lbs. 

373 

Hides,  Horse  and  Ox,  54,989  piece 

3         40,821 

Hay,  Oat,  10,714  lbs. 

40 

Honey,  3105  lbs. 

49 

Lime  Juice,  125  galls. 

9 

Hoofs, 

1 

Oxen,  28  head         .... 

84 

Horn  Tips,  2454  ps. 

19 

Raisins,  4,552  lbs. 

85 

Horns,  167,024  ps. 

6110 

Sheep,  34  head        .... 

13 

Horses,  181  head 

4957 

Vegetables,  60,963  lbs. 

254 

Ivory,  26,714  lbs. 

2515 

Wine,  Ordinary,  12,875  Imp.  galls. 

885 

Leather  dressed        •             . 

30 

Lime  Juice  106  galls. 

8 

Total  estimated  value  of  articles  of 

Mules,  26  head 

370 

Colonial    Produce  or  Manufac- 

Oil, viz : — 

ture,  exported  during  the  year 

Seal,  1610  galls. 

153 

1832 

£210,164 

Sheep's-tail,  27 10  galls. 

365 

Whale,  117,324  galls. 

9385 

Of  which  were  exported  from  Table 

Onions,  69  muids 

30 

Bay  to  the  value  of     .       .        . 

£174,168 

Oxen,  Cows,  and  Calves,  131  heac 

412 

Simon's  Town,  do. 

6552 

Plate, 

105 

Port  Elizabeth,  do,         ... 

29,444 

Preserves, 

90 

Pigs,  102  head 

39 

Total  as  before    . 

£210,164 

Polonies, 

11 

In  order  to  shew  the  progress,  or  decrease  of  some  of  the 
articles  exported,  I  give  the  following — 


STAPLE  EXPORTS  OF  THE  CAPE. 
Cape  of  Good  Hope,  principal  Articles  of  Export. 


155 


Years. 

Aloes. 

Ivory. 

Whale 
Oil. 

Wine. 

Hides  and 
Skins. 

Tallow. 

Wool. 

lbs. 

lbs. 

gallons. 

gallons. 

pieces. 

lbs. 

lbs. 

1820 

348000 

9510 

1821 

355800 

4538 

1822 

344861 

24420 

U72733 

20200 

1823 

370126 

19855 

1824 

355241 

20661 

24539 

1219551 

63644 

23049 

1825 

529037 

106778 

41301 

21724 

142417 

2800 

32845 

1826 

189560 

48258 

162132 

53480 

1827 

136589 

21693 

1431301 

198851 

37200 

47673 

1828 

436138 

21413 

39843 

1451417 

169268 

1025 

26104 

1829 

375736 

25497 

22249 

1548085 

264105 

13333 

33280 

1830 

1831 

52743 

6639 

58139 

676711 

193451 

373385 

36585 

1832 

127937 

26714 

118934 

777376 

233866 

662630 

67890 

1833 

1834 

The  progress  of  the  wool  trade,  in  the  eastern  districts,  is 
shewn  by  its  increased  exportation  from  Algoa  Bay,  the 
years  preceding  the  following  being  Nil.  Wool  exported  from 
Port  Elizabeth,  Algoa  Bay ; — 


lbs. 
1830,  5,040 


lbs. 
laSl,  11,030 


lbs. 
1832,  18,150 


lbs. 
1833,  34,000 


lbs. 
1834,  75,000 


Thus  in  four  years  an  increase  from  5,000  to  75,000  lbs. !  the 
total  quantity  of  wool  now  produced  is  about  150,000  lbs. — 
the  growth  of  a  few  years. 

The  imports  at  the  Cape  consist  of  every  variety  of  articles 
of  British  manufacture,*  and  the  extent  to  which  our  trade 
can  be  carried  it  is  difficult  to  state,  for  an  outlet  has  now 
been  opened  for  calicoes,  kerseys,  ironmongery,  gunpowder, 
&c.,  in  exchange  for  ivory,  hides,  gums,  horns,  &c.  I  trust 
no  more  need  be  stated  under  this  section,  to  shew  that  our 
colony  at  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope  is  not  a  mere  refreshment 
station  for  a  few  Indiamen  ! 


*  The  duty  on  importation  is  only  2^  per  cent,  j  why  should  the  mother 
country  lay  a  heavier  duty  on  the  produce  of  the  colony  when  imported 
into  England  ? 


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POLITICAL  IMPORTANCE  OF  THE  CAPE  OF  GOOD  HOPE,       157 

'  Future  Prospects. — The  foregoing  details  will  explain 
better  than  pages  of  description  (did  even  my  space  permit) 
the  importance  of  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope,  and  demonstrate 
that  it  is  not  as  has  been  erroneously  represented  a  mere 
sand  bank,  suited  but  for  the  refreshment  of  a  few  India  ships. 
In  a  political  aspect  the  colony  is  deserving  of  the  highest 
consideration ;  it  is  the  key  to  the  eastern  hemisphere,  and  to 
a  maritime  power  like  England,  a  jewel  beyond  price  ;  by  its 
central  position  it  is  admirably  adapted  as  a  depot  for  troops, 
as  well  as  for  a  naval  station  during  war  time,  and  for  watch- 
ing the  motions  of  an  enemy  in  Asia,  Africa,  and  America,* 
while  its  healthy  climate,  and  abundant  and  cheap  provisions 
secures  to  our  mariners  on  long  voyages  a  friendly  port  where 
it  is  most  needed  in  doubling  the  'Cape  of  Storms.' 

The  good  soil  of  the  colony  is  in  considerable  quantity,  and 
vast  tracts  now  waste  may  be  rendered  profitable  when  irri- 
gation becomes  in  general  use ; — the  vine,  the  olive,  the  aloe, 
the  mulberry,  &c.  all  thrive ;  tobacco  and  hemp  may  be  raised 
to  any  extent;  hides,  ivory,  horns,  oil,  gums,  &;c.  are  pro- 
curable in  great  abundance ;  the  shores  abound  in  every 
variety  of  fish,  and  the  country  at  large  in  vast  flocks  of  cattle, 
sheep,  &c ;  in  fine  wool  we  may  now  consider  the  colony  as 
becoming  the  rival  of  New  South  Wales,  so  that  in  a  few 
years  we  shall  be  totally  independent  of  Spain  or  Germany  for 

*  The  conquest  of  the  tyrant  of  Mysore,  and  the  overthrow  of  the  French 
army  in  Egypt,  were  both  materially  aided  by  the  speedy  and  seasonaI)le  re- 
inforcement of  troops  (ready  for  tropical  service)  dispatched  from  the  Cape 
of  Good  Hope.  The  Marquis  of  Wellesley  in  his  despatches  to  the  Court  of 
Directors,  18th  January,  1798,  acknowledges  the  receipt  from  Lord  Mac- 
artney at  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope,  of  the  regular  proclamation  of  the  Go- 
vernor of  the  Isle  of  France,  for  the  aid  of  the  French  Directory  to  Tippo 
Saib,  when  the  latter  strove  to  effect  the  destruction  of  the  British  in  India. 
Had  we  not  then  possessed  the  Cape,  the  injury  intended  for  us  by  the 
French  might  have  been  known  too  late. 

f  While  this  page  was  going  to  press  intelligence  has  reached  me  from 
the  Cape  that  the  colonial  duty  on  Cape  Hides,  \s.  2d.  per  cwt.  is  to  be 
raised  to  2s.  Ad.  (the  foreign  duty)  on  all  hides  bought  from  the  Caffres  or 
other  native  tribes  on  the  frontier ;  I  trust  the  Colonial  Authorities  in 
Downing-street  will  prevent  so  impolitic  a  measure ;  the  Caffre  trade. 


158       ADVANTAGES  OF  THE  CAPE  COLONY  FOR  EMIGRANTS. 

the  raw  material  of  one  of  our  staple  manufactures ;  while  a 
profitable  region  is  opening  for  emigrants  of  every  descrip- 
tion* within  six  weeks'  sail  of  their  parent  land. 

The  possessor  of  small  capital  will  here  find  a  profitable  field 
for  its  increase ;  the  enterprising  merchant  may  extend  his  inter- 
course with  the  industrious  native  tribes,  either  inland  along 
the  coast,  or  throughout  the  numerous  islands  of  the  eastern 
seas ;  and  the  half-pay  officer  or  small  annuitant  may  still  en- 
joy the  pleasures  of  excellent  society  with  a  salubrious  clime 
and  the  conveniencies  and  luxuries  of  life  as  cheap  as  they  are 
to  be  found  in  any  other  part  of  the  world.  I  am  indebted  to 
Mr.  Phillips,  an  intelligent  and  patriotic  Magistrate  in  Albany, 
for  the  following  observations  pointing  out  the  advantages  of 
the  Cape  colony  for  emigrants : 

'  To  those  who  are  desirous  of  removing  themselves  and  families  from 
the  depressing;'  anxieties  of  unprosperous  circumstances,  and  who  are  able 
to  carry  out  with  them  funds  suflBcient  to  purchase  and  stock  a  sheep  farm 
for  the  growth  of  superior  wool  for  exportation  to  England,  Albany  can  be 
conscientiously  recommended,  as  a  country  where  rustic  competence  may 
be  securely  attained,  without  any  severe  exertion  for  the  present,  or  harrass- 
ing  anxiety  for  the  future  ;  where  they  will  enjoy  a  mild  and  most  salu- 
brious climate,  with  perfect  security  of  health,  life,  and  property ;  and 
where  they  may  comfortably  establish  themselves,  by  means  of  a  capital 
more  moderate,  as  has  been  well  ascertained,  than  would  suffice  for  the 
same  purpose  in  any  other  British  colony.  To  persons  thus  pre-disposed 
and  circumstanced  the  following  hints  are  offered. 

'  In  the  preparations  for  leaving  England  the  intended  sheep  farmer  must 
primarily  have  in  view  the  procuring  of  the  most  improved  breed  of  sheep  ; 
and  as  the  Saxony  wool  is  now  in  the  highest  estimation,  rams,  and  the  few 
ewes  wanted,  should  be  imported  from  that  country ;  which  object  can  be 
attained  with  the  greatest  ease  and  safety,  through  the  medium  of  mer- 

principally  in  hides,  has  risen  within  a  few  years  to  the  value  of  ^^35,000 
per  annum,  and  the  doubling  of  the  duty  would  be  equivalent  to  stopping 
altogether  this  outlet  for  our  manufactures,  as  the  CafFres  have  scarcely 
any  thing  else  to  give  in  exchange  for  our  goods  ;  such  a  paltry  measure 
of  profit  would  be  disgraceful  to  a  nation  like  England,  and  by  similar 
suicidal  acts  she  has  done  more  to  ruin  her  colonies  and  commerce  than 
has  ever  been  done  by  foreign  enemies. 

*  I  would  beg  the  particular  attention  of  the  British  public  to  an  Insti- 
tution in  London  called  the  "  Children's  Friend  Society,'"  which  owes  its 


children's  friend  society.  159 

chants  engaged  in  trade  to  that  part  of  the  continent.  It  would  only  be 
advisable  to  purchase  a  small  number  of  ewes,  in  order  to  keep  up  the 
pure  breed,  and  avoid  the  necessity  of  annual  purchases  of  rams.  More- 
over, it  has  been  proved  that  the  climate  and  pasture  of  South  Africa  so 
highly  agree  with  the  animal,  that  the  progeny  reared  in  the  colony  have 
produced  finer  wool  than  the  sheep  imported.  The  number  to  be  pur- 
chased must  depend  on  the  capital  to  be  employed.  At  the  same  time,  any 
number  beyond  what  would  be  wanted  on  the  farm  could  be  disposed  of  in 
the  colony  to  advantage.  The  following  estimate  has  been  made  out  at 
the  request  of  a  gentleman  who  is  on  the  point  of  emigrating.  It  may 
serve  as  a  guide  to  those  who  may  have  more  or  less  capital  to  lay  out. 

origin  to  the  truly  philanthropic  exertions  of  Capt.  Brenton  (for  a  descrip- 
tion see  Appendix).  This  Institution  is  in  fact  a  juvenile  emigrant  society, 
by  whom  children  of  both  sexes  are  rescued  from  poverty  and  crime,  edu- 
cated, sent  to  the  colonies,  and  then  apprenticed  to  different  trades  and 
occupations.  To  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope  there  have  been  already  sent 
250  boys  and  50  girls,  and  so  well  have  the  morals  of  these  destitute  and 
helpless  children  been  attended  to  in  England,  that  of  the  whole  number 
sent  to  the  Cape,  not  one  has  been  convicted  of  any  crime,  and  only  one 
accused  and  acquitted.  Had  this  system  of  juvenile  emigration  been  acted 
on  twenty  years  ago,  there  would  now  have  been  fewer  convicts  to  trans- 
port, for  the  prisoners  of  1835  are  the  destitute  and  neglected  children  of 
1815,  to  say  nothing  of  the  plunder  of  society,  and  the  expense  of  gaols, 
police,  or  the  prisoners  themselves ;  the  latter  a  heavy  charge,  as  the 
poorest  captive  in  Bridewell  costs  the  country  ,£'54  a  year ;  in  the  Mill- 
bank  Penitentiary  ^30,  and  in  Clerkenwell  (where  wholesale  ruin  is  much 
cheaper)  about  ^^20  each  per  annum  !  The  Convict  Hulk  for  little  boys 
at  Chatham  is  the  nursery  for  every  sort  of  vice,  and  a  young  person  once 
passed  through  that  University,  is  qualified  to  take  his  degrees  in  any 
society  of  crime  throughout  the  world ;  is  it  not  monstrous  that  such  a 
system  should  be  continued  when  we  have  so  many  colonies  open  for  the 
reception  of  the  poor  and  unfortunate  ?  The  adaptation  of  the  Cape  for 
such  juvenile  emigration  is  admirable,  by  reason  of  the  fineness  of  the  cli- 
mate, and  the  great  freedom  of  the  inhabitants  generally  from  crime,  which 
is  rapidly  decreasing.  In  the  year  1830  there  were  in  the  Cape  District  65 
indictments;  in  1831,  51;  in  1832,35;  in  1833,  46;  and  in  1834,  42} 
and  this  among  a  population  of  30,000  individuals  and  the  capital  of  the 
colony,  where,  as  in  London,  the  worst  characters  resort.  In  the  George 
District,  with  a  population  of  .9000,  there  was  not  even  one  criminal  case 
in  the  session  of  1834 — and  at  the  Kat  River  settlement,  with  a  population 
of  4000  (nearly  all  Hottentots)  there  has  not  been  a  conviction  for  crime 
before  the  Circuit  Court  for  six  years  ! 


1  GO      ESTIMATE  OP  A  SHEEP  FARM  OP  GOOO  ACRES. 

The  prices  quoted  are-at  the  highest  present  rate.    Both  farms  and  stock 
can  no  doubt  be  purchased  cheaper. 

*  A  farm  of  6000  acres,  payable  in  three  instahnents,  viz.  the  first  on  the 
completion  of  the  transfer,  the  second  at  the  end  of  the  first  year,  and  the 
third  at  the  end  of  the  second  year,  at  Is.  6c?.  per  acre,  450/;  Government 
transfer  duty,  4  per  cent.  18/;  buildings,  or  repairs  of  those  on  the  farm, 
200/;  furniture,  100/;  3000  natives  ewes,  at  2s.  300/;  40  Saxon  rams,  at 
12/.  480/;  10  do.  ewes,  at  6/.  50/;  a  waggon,  45/;  20  cows,  at  20«.  20/; 
12  draught  oxen,  at  30s.  18/;  4  horses  and  4  mares,  averaging  6/.  48/; 
total,  1729/. 

•  To  this  estimate  may  be  added  the  annual  quit-rent,  from  3/.  to  4/.  and 
the  annual  taxes;  to  about  the  same  amount.  The  capital  about  to  be  em- 
ployed is  stated  to  be  2,700/.  which  would  be  ample,  after  paying  passage 
money  for  the  family,  for  the  Saxon  sheep,  and  for  two  head  shepherds; 
and  would  suffice  until  returns  could  be  had  from  the  increase  of  flocks,  &c. 

The  Colony  is  no  drain  on  the  mother  country ;  it  pays  all 
its  civil,  and  part  of  its  military  expenses  ;*  and,  under  a  free 
constitution,  a  sound  banking  system,  and  with  a  continuance 
of  its  present  progressive  prosperity,  the  Cape  may  well  be 
deemed  one  of  the  most  important  sections  of  the  empire.  It 
is  true  the  inhabitants  may  not  yet  be  unanimous  for  the 
adoption  of  a  legislative  assembly ;  but,  I  trust,  no  real  friend 
of  the  colony  will  sow  seeds  of  strife  with  a  view  to  retard  so 
desirable  a  consummation.  The  Africans  have  already  suf- 
fered severely  from  a  system  of  public  peculation  and  private 
disputes  among  the  authorities ;  they  should  be  anxious  to 
prevent  the  possibility  of  the  recurrence  of  the  former,  and 
to  lessen  the  cause  of  the  latter.  With  a  free  press  and 
education,  I  trust  to  see  the  foundation  laid  at  the  Cape  of 
Good  Hope  of  a  great  and  powerful  community,  whose  an- 
cestors will  have  had  the  honour  of  converting  an  apparently 
sandy  and  inhospitable  peninsula  into  a  fertile  and  beautiful 
territory,  from  whence  they  will  have  the  glory  of  extending 
among  the  natives  and  tribes  of  South  Africa  the  comforts  of 
civilization,  the  delights  of  freedom  and  literature,  and  the 
unspeakable  blessings  of  Christianity. 


*  That  portion  of  the  military  expenditure  payable  by  each  colony,  will 
be  explained  in  my  Fifth  Volume. 


1 


161 


CHAPTER  II. 

MAURITIUS,  OR  ISLE  OF  FRANCE. 

LOCALITY  —  AREA —  HISTORY  —  PHYSICAL  ASPECT —  MOUNTAINS  AND 
RIVERS  —  GEOLOGY — CLIMATE — ANIMAL  AND  VEGETABLE  KINGDOMS — 
TERRITORIAL  DIVISIONS,  AND  POPULATION  —  FORM  OF  GOVERNMENT — 
MILITARY  DEFENCE  RELIGION,  EDUCATION,  AND  THE  PRESS FI- 
NANCES   MONETARY    SYSTEM  —  MONIES,    WEIGHTS    AND    MEASURES 

STAPLE  PRODUCE — COMMERCE SHIPPING VALUE   OF  PROPERTY,  &C. 

THE  SEYCHELLES  ISLANDS,  MADAGASCAR,  &C.  &C. 

The  far-famed  Mauritius,  or  Isle  of  France,  is  situate  in  the 
Indian  Ocean,  40  leagues  to  the  N.E.  of  the  Isle  of  Bourbon, 
and  160  from  the  great  island  of  Madagascar,  between  the 
parallels  of  19.58  and  20.32  S.  Lat.,  and  the  meridians  of 
of  57.17  and  57.46  E.  Long.,  nearly  elliptical  in  form,  mea- 
suring in  length  about  44  miles*  from  N.  to  S.,  and  32  from 
E.  to  W,,  and  comprising  an  area  of  432,680  superficial 
English  acres,  or  676  square  miles. 

Early  History.  The  island  of  Mauritius  was  discovered 
in  the  year  1507,  by  Don  Pedro  Mascarenhas,  a  navigator  of 
the  Portuguese  Government  in  India,  under  the  orders  of 
Governor  Almeida.  Mascarenhas  named  the  island  Cerne.f 
The  Portuguese  do  not  seem  to  have  made  any  settlements 
there  during  the  period  they  were  masters  of  it,  which  com- 
prehended almost  the  whole  of  the  sixteenth  century ;  they 
appear  merely  to  have  placed  some  hogs,  goats,  and  monkies 
on  Cerne  and  Bourbon,  in  the  event  of  any  of  their  vessels 
being  thereon  wrecked. 

*  The  greatest  diameter  of  the  ovai  is  63,780  yards,  and  its  breadth 
44,248  yards.     Some  estimate  the  lenj^th  at  35  and  breadth  20  miles. 

f  The  appellation  of  Ceni^  Ethiopia  was  said  to  have  been  given  by 
Pliny  to  Madagascar,  but  it  does  not  seem  probable  that  the  Roman 
historian  was  acquainted  with  that  island  or  Mauritius. 

VOL.  IV.  M 


162  EARLY  HISTORY  OF  MAURITIUS. 

In  1580,  Philip  II.  of  Spain  having  become  possessed  of  the 
government  of  Portugal,  acquired  the  nominal  sovereignty 
of  Cerne,  hut  totally  disregarded  it  during  the  period  of 
his  sway,  (viz.  for  eighteen  years).  The  Spaniards  were 
unable  to  maintain  the  possessions  in  South  America,  and 
the  West  Indies,  originally  belonging  to  Portugal :  while  the 
successful  Belgic  or  rather  Dutch  insurgents  of  the  Castilian 
Monarchy,  appeared  in  India,  to  dispute  with  the  successors 
of  Vasco  De  Gama,  the  sovereignty  and  commerce  of  the 
rich  territories  of  the  oriental  world,  and  in  1598,  the  Dutch 
Admiral,  Van  Nerk,  at  the  head  of  a  large  squadron,  landed 
on  the  uninhabited  Isle  of  Cerne,  took  possession  of  it  and 
named  the  place  Mauritius,  in  honour  of  the  Prince  of 
Orange. 

The  Dutch  do  not  appear  to  have,  at  this  time,  settled 
permanently  on  Mauritius ;  they,  however,  occasionally 
touched  at  the  island  to  water.  In  1613,  an  Englishman, 
Captain  Castleton,  commanding  an  English  ship,  visited 
Mauritius,  and  found  it  still  uninhabited;  in  which  state  it 
continued  until  some  pirates  in  the  Indian  seas  settled  on  its 
shores;  but  at  what  precise  period  it  is  impossible  to  say. 
The  Dutch  had,  undoubtedly,  regular  governors  appointed 
to  the  island,  who  resided  at  Grand  Port,  from  1644*  to  1712, 
when  Mauritius  was  finally  abandoned  by  the  Hollanders, 
and  subsequently  colonized  by  the  French,  with  a  few  settlers 
from  the  contiguous  island  of  Bourbon  ;  its  formal  occupa- 
tion not  taking  place  until  1721,  when  the  name  was  changed 
from  Mauritius^  to  Isle  de  France,  and  the  territory  given 
by  the  King  to  the  French  East  India  Company,  under  whose 
sway  it  remained  from  1722  to  1767.     The  inhabitants,  how- 

*  In  1648  Vander  Mester  was  the  Dutch  Governor  of  Mauritius,  and  is 
mentioned  by  the  Abbe  Rochon  as  purchasing  from  Bromis  (who  had 
been  sent  by  the  Kinj^  of  France  to  take  possession  of  the  vast  island  of 
Madajrascar),  the  unfortunate  Malagashes  who  were  in  the  service  of  the 
French  settlement. 

t  M.  Du  Fresne,  a  Captain  in  the  Royal  Navy  of  France,  visited  the 
island  in  1715  and  gave  it  the  title  of  fslc  of  France. 


COLONIZATION  BY  THE  FRENCH.  163 

ever,  for  a  long  time  were  chiefly  composed  of  adventurers, 
refugees,  or  pirates,  from  all  nations,  and  it  was  not  until 
1730,  that  the  Home  Government  and  French  East  India 
Company  began  to  pay  attention  to  the  island  by  sending 
engineers  and  other  persons  to  form  a  regular  establishment ; 
the  real  fovmder  of  the  colony,  however,  was  M.  De  La 
Bourdonnais,  who  was  sent  out  as  Governor-General  of  the 
Isle  of  France,  Bourbon,  &c.  in  1734*. 

The  French  nation  do  not  seem  to  have  had  their  atten- 
tion directed  strongly  to  Mauritius,  until  they  witnessed  its 
great  utility  in  providing  succours,  &c.  for  Admiral  Suffrein, 
who  was  thus  enabled  to  injure  so  materially  the  commerce 
of  England  in  the  East.  On  the  peace  of  1783,  the  govern- 
ment set  about  attending  to  Mauritius  and  Bourbon;  the 
renewal  of  the  charter,  or  rather  reformation  of  the  French 
East  India  Company  in  1784,  was  carried  with  the  proviso 
that  all  the  merchant's  ships  from  France  should  be  permitted 
to  proceed  thus  far  towards  India,  and  that  the  islanders 
might  carry  on  a  trade  with  all  the  possessions  of  the  French 
East  India  Company,  (excluding  them,  however,  from  China). 
The  Company  were  also  bound  to  transmit  annually  ample 
supplies  of  European  merchandize  to  the  island,  which  now 
became  an  entrepot  for  oriental  commerce,  and  led  to  the 
formation  of  several  mercantile  factories. 

It  may  be  readily  supposed  that  this  measure  was  a  great 
stimulus  to  Mauritius,  which  soon  became  a  commercial  depot, 

*  Up  to  the  arrival  of  M.  de  la  Bourdonnais  at  Mauritius  in  1735, 
the  French  East  India  Company  had  been  at  considerable  expence  in 
maintaining  the  island,  which  was  considered  to  be  solely  fit  for  a  refreshing 
station  for  their  ships,  while  Bourbon  was  made  a  great  coffee  plantation. 
Bourdonnais,  in  order  to  save  the  Company's  finances,  introduced  the 
culture  of  the  sugar  cane  into  Mauritius,  established  manufactures  cf 
cotton  and  indigo,  attended  to  agriculture  and  commerce,  destroyed  the 
Maroon  negroes,  founded  a  Court  of  Justice,  made  roads,  fortified  the 
coast,  formed  aqueducts,  arsenals,  batteries,  fortifications,  barracks, 
wharfs,  &c.  and  in  the  eleven  years,  during  wliich  his  government  lasted, 
changed  the  whole  face  of  the  country,  laying  the  foundations  of  prosperity 
which  subsetpient  disasters  however  almost  entirely  destroyed. 


164  EFFECTS  OF  THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION 

rather  than  as  before  an  agricultural  colony ;  the  population, 
therefore  rapidly  augmented,  and  a  factitious  prosperity  was 
given  to  the  island  which,  however  valuable  for  the  time,  could 
not  be  supposed  permanent,  when  the  measures  which  caused 
it  would  naturally,  in  the  course  of  events,  be  abrogated. 
The  supreme  control  was  entrusted  to  a  Governor  and  Inten- 
dant,  who  acted  in  a  most  arbitrary  manner,  and  the  breaking 
out  of  the  revolution  in  the  Mother  Country  in  1789,  was  the 
signal  for  the  restless  and  enterprizing  spirits  of  Mauritius, 
to  declare  for  a  National  Assembly,  and  to  endeavour  to  shake 
off  dependence  on  France. 

As  the  events  of  the  French  revolution  had  an  important 
effect  on  the  colonies,  a  brief  narration  of  the  results  in  this 
settlement  will  be  desirable,  in  order  to  shew  the  disadvan- 
tages resulting  from  anarchy  in  the  Mother  Country. 

Up  to  the  arrival  of  a  vessel  from  Bourdeaux  in  Jan.  1789, 
the  Isle  of  France  had  been  despotically  governed ;  this 
vessel  brought  the  exciting  news  of  the  great  power  usurped 
to  itself  by  the  National  Assembly  at  Paris,  and  as  the  captain, 
officers,  and  crew,  wore  the  tri-colour  cockade,  a  similar  emblem 
was  soon  generally  adopted  by  the  colonists,  and  advertisements 
posted  in  the  streets,  inviting  all  the  citizens  to  form  them- 
selves into  primary  assemblies,  (after  the  example  of  those 
which  had  taken  place  in  all  the  communes  of  France),  in 
order  to  draw  up  memorials  of  complaints  and  demands. 

General  Conway,  the  Governor,  sent  some  soldiers  to 
arrest  the  young  men  who  had  caused  the  advertisements  to 
be  posted  up,  but  the  people  collected  in  the  square  at  Port 
Louis,  liberated  the  prisoners  on  their  road  to  the  gaol,  com- 
pelled M.  Conway  to  wear  the  national  cockade,  and  on  the 
following  day  united  themselves  into  a  Primary  Assembly, 
and  established  the  different  constituted  authorities,  to  whom 
they  confided  the  interior  government  of  the  colony. 

At  this  crisis  M.  De  Macnamara,  commander  of  the  French 
marine  in  the  Indian  seas,  arrived  at  the  Isle  of  France,  and 
did  not  conceal  his  aversion  to  these  revolutionary  proceedings. 


AT  MAURITIUS  OR  ISLE  OF  FRANCE.  165 

The  soldiers  of  the  107th  and  108th  regiments,  who  formed 
the  garrison  of  the  island,  following  the  example  of  the  army 
in  France,  adopted  the  cause  of  the  revolutionists.  M.  De 
Macnamara  thought  it  his  duty  to  give  an  account  of  the  pro- 
ceedings to  the  Minister  of  Marine,  but  he  was  betrayed,  a 
copy  of  his  letter  sent  to  the  barracks,  and  the  soldiers 
threatened  him  with  vengeance,  to  execute  which  the  grena- 
diers seized  upon  the  boats  and  canoes,  and  proceeded  to 
the  flag  ship  to  seize  the  person  of  the  Admiral.  M.  De  M. 
ordered  the  cannon  to  be  loaded  and  pointed,  but  the  moment 
the  grenadiers  approached  and  hailed  the  seamen  in  the  re- 
publican style,  the  latter  refused  to  defend  their  commander, 
and  he  was  conducted  by  the  grenadiers  as  a  prisoner  to  the 
newly  constituted  authority  or  assembly  then  sitting  in  the 
church,  who,  with  the  desire  of  saving  this  brave  man  from 
the  fury  of  the  soldiery,  after  a  few  formal  interrogatories, 
ordered  him  to  be  conveyed  to  prison,  leaving  him,  however, 
unfortunately,  to  be  conducted  thither  by  the  soldiery.  The 
Admiral,  on  his  way  to  confinement,  passing  the  door  of  a 
watchmaker  of  his  acquaintance,  rushed  in  at  the  door,  and 
endeavoured  to  save  himself  with  his  pistols,  but  the  soldiers 
threw  themselves  on  him,  and  almost  instantly  massacred 
him.  The  colonists  now  formed  their  Colonial  Assembly,  con- 
sisting of  51  members.  M.  De  Conway  proceeded  to  France, 
and,  in  1792,  M.  De  Malartic,  named  by  the  King  as  Go- 
vernor-General, arrived  in  the  colony  and  gave  the  sanction 
of  the  State  to  the  laws  of  the  Assembly.  The  affairs  of 
the  island  might  have  now  gone  on  quietly,  but  that  the  news 
of  the  power  of  the  Jacobin  Clubs  in  France  gave  a  stimulus 
to  the  discontented,  and  a  Jacobin  Club*  called  the  Chaumieref 

*  Such  was  the  power  of  this  Club  that  it  forced  M.  Malartic  to  grant 
them  a  vessel  to  carry  100  men  to  the  contiguous  Isle  of  Bourbon,  for  the 
arrest  of  the  Governor,  Civil  Commissary  and  commandant  of  the  marine 
of  that  island,  who  were  thus  conveyed  as  prisoners  to  the  Isle  of  France, 
on  the  charge  of  having  corresponded  with  the  English.  These  high  func- 
tionaries were  landed  at  Port  Louis,  conveyed  under  an  escort  of  the 
Clubbists  to  the  Chaianiere,  then  sitting,  and  the  President  (formerly  a 


166  JACOBIN  CLUB  AT  MAURITIUS. 

was  established,  and  soon  rivalled  the  constituted  authorities; — 
a  guillotine  was  fixed  up,  and  but  for  the  prudence  of  the  Colo- 
nial Assembly  in  ordering  that  the  prisoners  of  the  Jacobins 
should  be  judged  only  by  a  court  martial,  named  by  all  the 
citizens  of  the  colony,  united  in  Primary  Assemblies  each  in 
its  own  district,  much  blood  would,  undoubtedly,  have  been 
shed  by  these  unthinking  and  infuriated  men  ;  the  delay,  how- 
ever, gave  the  Assembly  time  to  concert  together,  in  order  to 
contrive  that  the  choice  of  members  of  the  Commission  should 
fall  upon  upright  persons.  In  spite  of  these  precautions  the 
proceedings  of  such  a  club  would  have  rendered  the  guillo- 
tine more  than  an  object  of  terror,  but  at  this  moment  an 
account  arrived  of  the  decree  of  the  French  Republic  abolish- 
ing slavery  in  all  its  colonies  and  settlements. 

In  a  commimity  of  70,000  persons,  where  upwards  of  55,000 
were  slaves,  such  a  summary  decree,  without  a  word  about 
pecuniary  compensation,  may  well  be  supposed  to  have  created 
alarm ;  the  Jacobin  Club  was  annihilated,  the  guillotine  re- 
moved from  the  public  square,  the  prisoners  set  at  liberty 
without  a  trial,  and  the  principal  jacobins,  to  the  number  of 
30  arrested,  and  instantly  sent  on  board  a  ship  bound  for 
France.  The  planters,  with  the  news  of  what  was  occurring 
at  St.  Domingo,  continually  arriving,  knew  not  what  steps  to 
take,  some  proposed  declaring  the  colony  independent  of  the 
French  Republic,  and  others  sought  to  temporize,  and  to  stay 
the  promulgation  of  the  decree. 

While  deliberating  (18th  July  1796)  a  squadron  of  four 
frigates,  under  Vice  Admiral  Serecy,  with  two  agents  from 
the  French  Directory  (named  Baco  and  Burnel),  arrived  at 
Port  Louis ;  the  colonists  protested  in  vain  against  the  debark- 
ation of  these  agents,  who,  however,  dressed  in  the  directorial 
costume,  landed  in  state,  and  proceeded  to  the  Colonial  Assem- 
bly to  take  on  themselves  the  government  of  the  colony,  in  which 
they  were  to  be  aided  by  800  men  of  the  revolutionary  army, 

police  officer),  oravely  said  to  them  "  the  people  accuse  you,  and  the  people 
vnll  jurli(e  i/ou  ! — "  they  were  then  fet't6ied  and  conducted  to  a  dungeon, 
where  they  remained  six  months. 


AGENTS  OF  THE  FRENCH   DIRECTORY.  167 

and  two  troops  of  artillery,  all  brought  from  France.  Before 
three  days  had  elapsed,  the  menacing  tone  of  the  agents  was 
such  as  to  alarm  the  whole  colony ;  they  threatened  to  hang 
the  governor,  and  proceeded  to  other  severe  measures  with- 
out promulgating  their  intentions  respecting  the  slaves ; 
"  twenty  young  Creoles,"  says  Baron  Grant  in  his  interesting 
account  of  this  colony,  "  devoted  themselves  to  the  welfare  of 
the  colony,  and  vowed  the  death  of  those  instruments  of 
republican  despotism ;"  and,  in  fact,  the  agents  owed  their 
lives  to  the  Governor  and  Assembly,  who  caused  them  to  be 
conveyed  on  board  a  ship  (Le  Mo'meaii)  which  was  ordered 
to  convey  them  to  the  Phillippine  Islands,  as  the  place  most 
distant  from  France.*  The  colonists  now  gave  themselves 
up  to  rejoicing  for  the  dangers  they  had  escaped,  and  the 
soldiers  who  had  stood  by  the  Assembly  were  honoured  and 
caressed  in  every  place,  while  money  and  largesses  were 
liberally  bestowed  on  them  ;  but  the  troops  of  the  agents 
were  soon  found  dangerous,  as  they  resolved  on  freeing  the 
negro  women  who  lived  with  them.  Governor  Malartic  con- 
trived, however,  to  ship  them  off  for  Batavia,  under  pretence 
of  assisting  the  Dutch  against  the  common  enemy,  the  Eng- 
lish. There  now  only  remained  in  the  island  the  skeletons  of 
the  two  old  regiments  before  mentioned,  and  the  colony 
remained  tranquil  until  May  1798,  when  these  troops  also 
formed  a  plan  of  proclaiming  liberty  to  the  slaves,  in  order  to 
frustrate  which,  the  Colonial  Assembly  obtained  an  order 
from  General  Malartic  for  the  two  grenadier  companiesf  to 
embark  on  board  the  frigate  la  Seine,  then  ready  to  sail  on  a 

*  As  an  instance  of  the  moral  power  that  the  agents  of  the  French  Re- 
volution had  over  the  people,  it  may  be  stated  that  on  the  day  after  the 
Moineau  sailed  on  her  route  towards  the  Phillippines,  the  agents  dressed 
themselves  in  their  directorial  costumes,  harangued  the  ship's  company, 
induced  them  to  mutiny  against  the  orders  of  the  captain,  and  return  to 
France. 

t  The  Grenadier  Companies  may  be  said  to  be  the  life  and  soul  of  a 
French  regiment ;  among  the  English  troops  the  light  company  is  generally 
the  elite  of  the  regiment. 


168  MUTINY  OF  THE  TROOPS. 

cruise.  Those  who  desired  to  stir  up  insurrection  in  the 
colony  represented  to  the  troops  that  this  order  for  embarka- 
tion was  either  to  place  them  in  the  power  of  Tippoo  Sultaun, 
with  whose  cruelty  they  were  well  acquainted,  or  to  expose 
them  to  the  destructive  climate  of  Batavia.  The  grenadiers, 
influenced  by  these  suggestions,  refused  to  obey  the  orders 
for  embarkation,  and  induced  the  other  companies  to  mutiny, 
to  take  arms  and  seize  the  field  pieces  which  were  in  their 
quarters,  as  also  to  break  open  the  doors  of  the  armoury 
where  the  cartouches  and  cartridges  were  kept.  Fortunately 
the  officers  of  the  regiment  were  men  of  the  old  regime, 
who  restrained  the  fury  of  the  men,  and  kept  them  from 
coming  out  of  their  quarters  in  arms.  In  this  crisis  the 
Colonial  Assembly  were  not  idle,  they  summoned  every  free- 
man capable  of  bearing  arms,  from  every  part  of  the  island, 
and  at  day-break,  on  the  25th  of  April,  every  man  at  beat  of 
drum  was  at  the  post  assigned  him ;  a  battery  planted  upon  a 
hill  commanded  the  Court,  where  the  soldiers  had  been  under 
arms  the  whole  night,  and  twelve  field  pieces  supported  by 
the  young  National  Guard  of  the  colony,  advanced  in  fovir 
columns  to  attack  the  troops  in  their  quarters.  General 
Malartic  then  advanced  at  the  head  of  the  National  Guard, 
and  again  commanded  the  grenadiers  to  embark,  which,  how- 
ever they  refused  to  do;  the  matches  were  lighted,  and  a 
bloody  contest  was  on  the  eve  of  commencing,  when  the  Com- 
mittee of  Public  Safety  of  the  Colonial  Assembly  suggested 
that  the  two  regiments  should  embark  for  France  in  the  Seine 
frigate  and  a  merchantman,  granting  them  until  noon  to  make 
up  their  linen  and  knapsacks  and  depart ;  after  some  hesitation 
the  soldiers  consented,  and  the  same  day  at  noon,  the  Mau- 
ritius was  freed  from  800  armed  stipendiaries  of  the  French 
Republic.  The  colonists  now  sought  for  and  expected  peace, 
they  had  freed  themselves  from  the  agents  and  troops  of  the 
French  Directory,  and  the  Assembly  renewed  every  year,  by 
the  nomination  of  the  citizens  of  the  colony,  was  linked,  as  it 
was  thought,  with  the  happiness  and  prosperity  of  the  colony. 
But  disputes  now   arose   respecting  the    laws    about    to    be 


FORCIBLE  DISSOLUTION  OF  THE  ASSEMBLY.  169 

established  for  the  repayment  of  debts  contracted  in  paper 
currency,  the  depreciation  of  which  (as  issued  by  the  admin- 
istrators of  the  French  Republic)  was  so  great  as  to  be  but  a 
thousandth  part  of  the  sum  it  nominally  represented. 

As  soon  as  intelligence  reached  Mauritius,  respecting  the 
laws  which  the  two  governing  councils  of  France  had  de- 
creed, relative  to  the  payments  of  the  debts  contracted  in 
the  paper  currency  ;  the  creditors,  who  were  greatly  favoured 
by  these  laws,  demanded  the  execution  of  them :  the  debtors,  on 
the  other  hand,  represented,  with  great  force  and  truth,  that 
the  circumstances  in  general,  under  which  the  different  con- 
tracts had  been  made  in  the  colony,  being  different  from 
those  which  had  taken  place  in  France,  it  would  be  evidently 
unjust  to  apply  the  same  laws,  when  there  was  an  apparent 
difference  both  in  the  manner,  situation,  and  contracts  of  the 
colony.  The  Colonial  Assembly,  acting  on  the  principles  of 
justice,  was  on  the  point  of  arranging  these  differences,  when 
the  creditors,  in  order  to  frustrate  the  aims  of  the  Assembly, 
raised  a  conspiracy  on  the  4th  November,  1799 — seized  on  the 
guns,  and  loudly  demanded  of  General  Malartic  to  dissolve 
the  Colonial  Assembly.  This  demand  General  M.  was 
obliged  to  comply  with,  in  order  to  save  the  most  distin- 
guished members  of  the  Assembly  from  being  murdered,  se- 
veral of  the  conspirators  having  rushed  forwards,  and  obliged 
them  to  escape  at  the  back  doors  :  but,  dissolving  the  As- 
sembly did  not  satisfy  the  malcontents,  they  compelled  the 
General  to  sign  an  order  for  the  imprisonment  of  12  different 
members  of  the  Assembly,  with  a  view  of  preventing,  by  any 
possibility,  the  passing  of  a  law,  the  purport  of  which  was  the 
reimbursement  of  the  debts  contracted  during  the  course  of  a 
depreciated  paper  currency.  The  '  Sans-Ctdottes  now  formed 
themselves  into  armed  associations,  and  the  creditors,  who  had 
aided  in  dissolving  the  Colonial  Assembly,  became  in  turn 
frightened,  when  they  perceived  the  march  of  the  country  peo- 
ple on  Port  Louis  (the  capital),  to  rescue  it  from  the  dominion 
of  the  Sans-Culottes ;  the  latter,  finding  themselves  aban- 
doned by  the  creditors,  and  like  bad  men  in  a  bad  cause, 


170  BRITISH  CONQUEST  OF  MAURITIUS. 

weakened  by  internal  dissentions,  made  no  further  resistance 
to  the  entry  of  the  country  national  guard  into  the  town,  and 
the  disturbance  was  concluded  by  shipping  off  the  principal 
criminals  for  France.  The  Colonial  Assembly  having  been 
dissolved,  the  Governor  General  Malartic,  aided  by  the  pri- 
mary Assemblies  of  the  colony,  formed  another  Legislative 
Assembly  (21  members),  less  numerous  than  the  former  (51 
members),  whose  numbers  was  found  a  source  of  much  inqui- 
etude ;  the  members  were  in  the  proportion  of  14  for  the 
country  and  seven  for  the  town,*  who  were  nominated  by 
the  primary  Assemblies  of  each  Canton  in  the  island. 

From  this  period  the  colonists  enjoyed  tranquillity,  and  the 
cultivation  of  the  island  rapidly  extended,  Buonaparte  saw 
at  a  glance  its  important  position  for  the  annoyance  of  Bri- 
tish commerce,  and  under  the  government  of  General  Decaen, 
with  the  aid  of  a  strong  naval  squadron,  under  Admiral 
Linois,  Mauritius  assumed  a  leading  part  in  the  Eastern 
hemisphere,  to  the  great  injury  of  our  trade;  to  put  a  stop 
to  these  proceedings,  a  strong  armament  of  12,000  troops, 
with  twenty  ships  of  war,  was  dispatched  from  India,  and 
from  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope,  for  the  conquest  of  Mauritius 
in  1810 ; — a  landing  was  effected  some  distance  from  Port 
Louis,  and  after  the  French  troops  and  national  guard  had 
suffered  several  repulses  a  capitulation  was  entered  into,  and 
the  Mauritians  became  subject  to  the  Crown  of  Great  Britain. 
At  the  peace  of  1814,  the  acquisition  was  ratified,  and  the 
island  has  ever  since  remained  a  colony  of  the  empire.j- 

The  following  is  a  list  of  the  governors  of  the  island,  French 
and  English,  since  its  colonization : — 

For  the  French  East  India  Company — M.  de  Myon,  1722;  M.  Dumas, 
1726;  M.  de  Maiipiii,  1728;  M.  Mahe  de  la  Bourdonnais,  1735  ;  M.  Da- 

*  The  population  of  Port  Louis  was  then  esteemed  to  be  three-fifths  of 
that  of  the  whole  island,  which  contained  of  slaves  48,000,  whites  and  mu- 
lattoes,  8,000. 

f  I  regret  that  the  contiguous  island  of  Bourbon,  which  had  also  been 
captured  by  our  troops  during  the  war,  was  restored  to  the  French  govern- 
ment at  the  peace  of  1814. 


I 


FRENCH  AND  ENGLISH  GOVERNORS.  171 

vid,  17-46  ;  M.  de  Lozier  Bouvet,  p.  1750  ;  IM.  Magon,  1755  ;  M.  Boucher 
Desforges,  1769.  For  the  King — M.  Dumas,  1767  ;  M.  de  Steinauer, 
1768;  M.  le  chevalier  Desroches,  1769  ;  M.  le  chevalier  de  Jernay,  1772; 
M.  le  chevalier  Guirand  de  la  Brillanne,  1776;  M.  le  vicomte  de  Souillac, 
17/9;  M.  le  chevalier  Brunni  d'Entrecasteaux,  1787;  M.  le  conite  de  Con- 
way, 1789;  M.  Charpentierde  Cossigny,  1790;  M.  le  comte  de  Malartic, 
1792;  M.  de  Majrallon  de  la  Morlifere,  1800;  M.  Decaen,  Captain-General, 
1803.  For  Ms  Britannic  Majesty — M.  R.  J.  Farquhar,  1810;  Major-General 
H.  Warde,  1811  ;  M.  R.  J.  Farquhar,  1811;  Major-General  G.  J.  Hall, 
1817;  Colonel  J.  Dalrymple.  1818;  Major-General  R.  Darling,  1819  and 
1823;  Sir  R.J.  Farquhar,  Bart,  1820;  Lieul.-Gen.  the  Hon.  Sir  Galbraith 
Lowry  Cole,  1823;  Major-Gen.  Colville,  1827;  Major-Gen.  Nicolay,  1833. 

Physical  Aspect. — From  whatever  qviarter  Mauritius  be 
approached  the  aspect  is  exceedingly  romantic  and  pictur- 
esque ;*  the  land  rises  from  the  coast  to  the  middle  of  the 
island,  and  chains  of  mountainsf  intersect  it  in  various  radii, 
from  the  centre  to  the  shore ;  there  are,  hovi^ever,  three  prin- 
cipal ranges,  in  height  from  1,800  to  2,800  feet  above  the  sea, 
mostly  covered  with  timber,  and  few  presenting,  except  at 
their  very  summits,  bare  rock. 

In  the  centre  of  the  island  there  are  plains  of  table  land 
several  leagues  in  circumference,  and  of  different  elevations, 
forming  the  several  parts  of  the  districts  of  Moka  and  Pleins 
Wilhems.  From  among  the  ranges  of  mountains  several 
streams  take  their  source,  running  generally  through  deep 
ravines,  pervious,  however,  to  the  breeze  and  sun's  rays. 

The  principal  rivers  are  named  the  Port  Louis,  Latanier, 
Pleins  Wilhems,  MoJca,  Rampart,  Great  and  Little  Black 
Rivers,  Post,  Creole,  CJiaude,  Savanne,  Tombeau,  and  about 
20  others  of  lesser  note. 

*  The  Mauritius  scenery  depicted  by  Bernardin  De  St.  Pierre,  in  his 
fable  of  Paul  and  Virginie,  is  strictly  correct,  which  is  more  than  can  be 
said  for  the  narrative  he  has  so  delightfully  woven.  1  visited  the  tombs 
(as  is  pretended)  of  the  faithful  lovers,  and  paid  tribute  to  the  genius  of 
St.  Pierre. 

t  The  following  are  the  names  and  heights,  in  yards,  of  the  principal 
mountains — Long  Mountain,  flag-staff,  178;  Port  Louis,  ditto,  332;  The 
Pouce,  832  ;  Piterbooth,  840 ;  Corps  de  Garde,  738  ;  Rampart,  792  ;  Trois 
Mammelles,  684;  Bamboo,  644;  Little  Black  River,  848;  Post  Moun- 
tain, 618;  Mome  Brabant,  566;  Mountain  of  Savanne,  710. 


172  MOUNTAINS  AND  RIVERS  OF  MAURITIUS. 

Grand  River  rising,  in  the  interior  of  the  island,  takes  its 
course  through  the  hollow  of  a  deep  ravine,  receiving  many 
streams  in  its  progress,  and  dividing  the  district  of  Moka  from 
that  of  Pleins  Wilhems,  falls  into  the  sea,  on  the  W.  side  of  the 
bay.  In  this  course  there  are  several  considerable  cascades, 
which,  added  to  the  great  perpendicular  height  of  its  banks, 
varied  with  the  richest  foliage  and  abrupt  masses  of  rock, 
present  to  the  eye  many  picturesque  and  beautiful  views. 
The  stream  itself  is  shallow,  but  navigable  for  boats  for  a  few 
hundred  yards,  before  its  entrance  into  the  bay.  The  water 
is  excellent,  and  conveyed  to  Port  Louis  by  an  aqueduct 
three  miles  in  length.  A  pretty  village,  interspersed  with 
many  country  seats,  is  built  on  both  sides  of  the  river,  which 
is  crossed  by  a  bridge  with  five  arches,  that  has  been  several 
times  swept  away  by  the  rapidity  of  the  mountain  torrent. 
The  beauty  of  the  scene  is  enhanced  by  a  chain  of  mountains, 
from  two  to  four  miles  to  the  S.E.  of  which  the  mountain  De 
Decouvert  forms  one  termination,  the  Pouce,  nearly  the  centre, 
and  the  mountain  Au  Riz,  the  other  termination,  the  whole 
forming  nearly  a  semi-circle. 

Black  River,  situate  on  the  W.  or  leeward  side  of  the 
island,  and  distant  from  Port  Louis  about  19  miles,  takes  its 
rise  from  behind  a  chain  of  southerly  mountains,  passing 
through  a  deep  ravine  at  the  foot  of  the  Peton,  and  between 
them  and  the  mountain,  called  Black  River  :  it  passes  over  a 
pebbly  bed  with  a  gentle  current,  except  in  the  wet  season, 
and  is  barred  at  its  entrance  into  the  bay  by  a  bank  of  sand 
and  coral. 

The  two  principal  ports  are  that  of  Port  Louis,  to  the  N.W. 
or  leeward,  and  the  capital  of  the  island,  and  the  other  that 
of  Mahebourg  or  Grand  Port,  on  the  S.E.  or  windward  shore. 

Port  Louis,  (the  seat  of  Government)*  is  situate  in  a  plain 

*  It  is  a  very  neat  town,  well  laid  out,  and  nowtliat  stone  are  beini^  sub- 
stituted for  wooden  buildings,  presents  a  handsome  appearance.  The 
shops  are  more  numerous,  better  laid  out,  and  with  a  greater  Europeanness 
(if  I  may  coin  the  term)  than  I  have  seen  in  any  colony.  The  markets  are 
admiral)ly  supplied  and  the  water  is  of  chrystaline  purity.  As  the  ships 
come  close  to  the  busy  town  it  adds  to  the  picturesqueness  of  the  scene. 


THE  POUCE  AND  PIETER  BOOTH  MOUNTAINS.  173 

encompassed  by  a  chain  of  lofty  mountains,  except  on  the 
N.W.  side  which  is  bounded  by  the  sea ;  this  plain  is  about 
3700  yards  in  length,  and  3200  in  breadth,  divided,  however, 
about  its  centre  by  the  immense  ridge  called  the  Small  Moun- 
tain, that  runs  up  and  joins  at  right  angles  the  great  chain  of 
the  Ponce,  (so  called  from  its  resemblance  to  a  thumb  on  a 
human  hand)  which  is  2496  feet  above  the  sea.  Farther  east- 
ward on  the  same  chain  is  the  Pieterbooth  Mountain,  2500  feet 
high,  and  terminated  by  an  obelisk  of  naked  rock,  surrounded 
by  a  cubical  rock  larger  than  the  point  of  the  pyramidical  one 
on  which  it  is  balanced.f  Some  streams  take  their  rise  in 
these  mountains,  and  flow  through  the  town  to  the  sea  where 
the  tide  does  not  rise  higher  than  two  or  three  feet. 
'  Tonnelliers  forms  the  N.E.  point  of  the  entrance  into  the 
harbour  of  Port  Louis,  which  runs  S.E.  of  it ;  it  is  to  the 
N.W.  of  the  town  and  consequently  to  leeward.  It  was  for- 
merly insulated,  but  previous  to  the  British  capture  joined  by 

Behind  Port  Louis  a  beautiful  plain  termed  the  Champ  de  Mars,  (a  favourite 
duelling  place)  extends  in  a  gradual  slope  to  the  mountains  ;  around  the 
plain  or  park  are  neat  villas,  shaded  by  groves  of  various  hues.  The 
buildings  erected  by  the  French  are  an  honour  to  their  taste  and  munifi- 
cence, I  allude  more  particularly  to  the  cathedral,  theatre,  &c.  The  Go- 
vernment House  is  a  large  mishapen  building,  but  commodious  within. 
Population  26,000,  of  whom  16,000  are  slaves,  and  3,000  whites. 

*  This  extraordinary  looking  mountain,  which  seems  like  a  pyramid, 
with  an  inverted  cone  on  its  summit,  was  ascended  with  the  greatest  dan- 
ger by  a  party  of  four  British  officers  on  the  7th  September,  1832,  and  old 
England's  Ensign  floated  freely  over  the  dizzy  pinnacle  where  never  before 
flag  waved  or  human  footstep  trod.  A  very  interesting  account  of  the 
ascent,  written  by  Lieut.  Taylor  of  the  Royal  Engineers,  has  been  pub- 
lished in  the  valuable  transactions  of  the  Royal  Geographical  Society ; 
and  it  further  demonstrates,  if  such  were  needed,  vvhat  Britons  are  capable 
not  only  of  attempting,  but  performing  :  the  contiguous  lofty  mountain  or 
twin  brother  of  Pieter  Booth,  named  the  Pouce,  (within  8/  yards  of  the  ele- 
vation of  the  latter)  was  ascended  by  Lieuts.  Fetherston,  Clark,  and  myself 
in  1825,  and  such  was  the  fearful  sublimity  of  the  view,  that  had  it  not 
been  for  the  care  of  my  brother  officers,  I  should  have  dashed  myself  from 
the  narrow  summit  on  which  we  stood  while  gazing  with  unspeakable  rap- 
ture un  the  vast  and  varied  scene  2500  feet  beneath. 


174  BRITISH  HEROISM  AT  MAURITIUS. 

a  causeway  to  Port  Louis,  termed  Chaussee  Tromelin.     The 
river  Lataniere  here  enters  the  harbour  in  many  streamlets. 

Fort  Blanc  is  at  the  opposite  side  of  the  harbour  to  Fort 
Tonnelhers  ;  and  the  batteries  on  both  sides  command  the  en- 
trance into  the  port.*  Flacq  (a  mihtary  post)  is  situate  on  the 
N.E,  coast  in  an  open  well  cultivated  plain,  the  country  rising 
gradually  towards  the  interior,  bounded  by  a  chain  of  moun- 
tains from  six  to  eight  miles  distant,  and  watered  by  La 
Poste  river. 

Port  South  East  has  two  entrances,  but  on  account  of  the 
difficulty  of  getting  out  of  the  harbour  it  is  not  so  practicable 
a  haven  as  Port  Louis  ;  it  is  principally  used  by  the  coasting 
vessels.  About  five  miles  to  the  northward  of  Grand  Port  is 
situated  the  lofty  mountain  called  le  Leon  Couche.  The  Bam- 
boo mountain,  which  is  the  principal  height  around  the  port  is 
966  yards  above  the  sea. 

There  are  several  lakes  in  the  island  ;  the  principal  lake  is 
that  called  the  Great  Basin,  situated  on  the  most  elevated 
plain  in  the  island,  and  surrounded  by  woody  mountains  which 
attract  the  clouds,  and  feed  the  streams  running  from  it ;  it  is 
of  considerable  depth,  some  say  unfathomable. 

The  Caverns  in  Mauritius  are  extremely  curious,  and 
appear  like  vast  quarries  of  stone,  originally  resting  upon 
earth  which  has  now  abandoned  them,  having  the  semblance 
of  vaults  formed  by  human  labour,  and  all  situated  on  gentle 
declivities.  I  entered  one  on  the  Pleins  Wilhem,  accom- 
panied by  guides  with  torches ;  but  after  traversing  a  consi- 

*  During  the  war  four  of  our  frigates  attempted  to  enter  Port  Louis 
to  cut  out  some  Indiamen  captured  by  the  French  vessels ;  they  ran 
aground  and  were  most  dreadfully  peppered  from  the  cross  fire  of  the 
batteries ;  one  of  their  Commanders  (Captain  Willoughby)  would  not 
allow  his  colours  to  be  hauled  down,  and  when  his  crew  were  all  hors  de 
combat,  the  British  vessel  was  boarded  bv  the  French,  and  Willoughby  was 
found  sitting  on  the  capstan,  his  arm  dangling  in  its  socket,  his  eye  hang- 
ing on  his  cheek,  and  singing  '  Rule  Britannia  P  Even  thus  situated  Wil- 
loughby fought  until  the  French  overpowered  him. 


CAVERNS,  GEOLOGY,  SOIL,  &;C.  175 

derable  distance  the  latter  refused  to  accompany  me  further, 
alleging  that  it  communicated  beneath  the  ocean  with  the 
island  of  Bourbon  :  although  several  miles  distant  from  the 
sea,  the  roar  of  the  ocean  was  as  distinct  as  if  the  waves  rolled 
over  our  heads. 

Geology. — The  appearance  of  the  island  and  the  nature 
of  its  material  would  indicate  it  to  be  of  volcanic  origin.  The 
rocks  are  disposed  in  strata,  which  rising  from  the  sea  shore 
forms  in  the  centre  of  the  island  an  elevated  plane  upon 
whose  declivity  are  several  rocky  mountains.  These  may  be 
regarded  as  the  remains  of  an  immense  volcano  which  having 
exhausted  itself  fell  in,  either  by  the  effect  of  a  violent  eruption 
or  by  an  earthquake,  leaving  its  firmly  supported  sides  stand- 
ing. These  mountains  are  composed  of  iron  stone,  and  a 
species  of  lava  of  a  grey  colour,  the  soil  produced  from  the 
decomposition  thereof  forming  an  earthy  substance  consisting 
chiefly  of  argyl  and  an  oxyde  of  iron. 

The  tops  of  the  mountains  are  in  general  indented  with 
points  like  the  comb  of  a  cock ;  the  few  which  have  flat 
summits  present  the  appearance  of  a  pavement,  no  signs  of  a 
funnel  being  seen  in  any  part. 

A  bank  of  coral  surrounds  the  island  for  the  distance  of  a 
quarter  of  a  league  from  the  shore,  and  the  several  islets  that 
appear  on  the  coast  have  all  coral  formation.  Where  the  shore 
is  steep,  rocks  prevail,  as  at  the  Quoin  de  Mer,  &c.  Where 
wells  have  been  sunk  40  to  50  feet  near  Port  Louis,  nothing 
but  a  bed  of  flints  was  found,  and  a  kind  of  clay  which  con- 
tained talc  and  lenticular  stones  ;  although  sunk  to  the  level 
of  the  sea,  no  coral  was  arrived  at,  nor  any  coral  or  shells  dis- 
covered in  the  elevated  parts  of  the  island  though  so  plenti- 
ful on  the  sea  shore,  a  proof  that  the  ocean  has  not  covered 
the  land,  or  in  other  words,  that  it  is  not  of  diluvian  origin  : 
no  trace  of  a  volcanic  crater,  however,  exists.* 

The  soil  of  Mauritius  is  in  many  parts  exceedingly  rich ; 
in  some  places  it  is  a  black  vegetable  mould,  in  others  a  bed  of 

*  riiere  is  one  at  Bourbon  which  not  unfrequently  sends  forth  flames. 


176  CLIMATE  AT  MAURITIUS. 

solid  clay  or  quaking  earth,  into  which  a  stake  of  10  feet  in 
length  may  be  thrust  without  meeting  any  resistance. 

The  surface  of  the  plain  at  Port  Louis  is  of  coralline  or  cal- 
careous rock,  with  a  slight  covering  of  vegetable  soil :  at  St. 
Denis  the  soil  is  reddish  and  lightly  spread  over  a  stratum  of 
stone  ;  at  the  Field  of  Mars  it  is  a  bed  of  rich  clay  mixed  with 
flints  ;  but  most  generally  the  earth  is  of  a  reddish  colour  mixed 
with  ferruginous  matter,*  which  often  appears  on  the  surface 
in  small  orbicular  masses  ;  in  the  dry  seasons  it  becomes  ex- 
tremely solid,  and  resembles  potters  earth  from  its  hardness ; 
after  rain  it  becomes  viscid  and  tenacious,  yet  it  I'equires  no 
great  labour  in  cultivation.  Many  of  the  plains  and  vallies 
are  strewed  with  huge  blocks  of  stone  but  there  is  no  real 
sand  in  the  island. 

The  Climate — is  on  the  whole  very  salubrious  ;*  there 
are  four  seasons  at  Mauritius;  the  1st  begins  in  May, 
accompanied  by  S.  E.  winds  and  squalls,  and  rains  occur ; 
2nd,  with  September  or  October,  when  the  S.  E.  changes  to 
the  N.  W. ;  the  sun  now  approaches  the  zenith,  warms  the 
atmosphere,  causing  the  rains  and  winds,  which  begin  in  De- 
cember, when  the  3rd  season  commences,  and  is  terminated 
in  March,  when  the  4th  or  dry  season  begins,  lasting  only 
about  eight  weeks.  These  are  the  seasons  as  regard  the 
cultivator,  but  they  may  be  generally  divided  into  two,  when 
the  winds  blow  from  the  S.  E.  to  S.,  and  from  the  N.  E.  to 
N.,  forming  a  kind  of  monsoon.  The  S.  E.  winds,  although 
they  never  exceed  a  certain  degree  of  force,  are  always  more 
or  less  strong  and  violent ;    and  though  they  give  a  certain 

*  It  is  this  sort  of  soil  which  is  found  so  well  adapted  for  the  growth  of 
the  sug'ar  cane  in  the  West  India  islands — see  vol  ii. — Jamaica,  Mont- 
serrat,  St.  Kitts,  &c.  A  mineral  spring-  near  Port  Louis  is  much  re- 
sorted to  by  invalids. 

f  There  are  no  marshes  or  swamps  on  the  island  ;  at  Port  Louis,  and 
some  of  the  other  parts  of  the  coast,  there  are  marshy  flats  occasionally 
overflowed  by  the  tide  :  it  may  have  been  from  these,  aided  by  the  pecu- 
liar state  of  the  atmosphere  that  the  epidemic  cholera  raged  in  1S19;  the 
supposition  of  its  being-  introduced  by  a  ship  from  India  is  quite  untenable 
when  tested  by  argument. 


INFLUENCE  OF  THE  MOON  DURING  CHANGE.  177 

freshness  to  the  air,  yet,  while  they  blow,  every  thing  ceases 
to  vegetate.  The  winds  from  the  S.  prevail  in  winter,  and 
are  cold ;  E.  winds  are  unfrequent,  and  generally  accompa- 
nied by  abundant  rain.  The  N.  W.  and  W.  winds  are  hot, 
often  weak,  interrupted  by  calms,  violent  storms,  and  great 
rains.  *  Violent  commotions  in  the  atmosphere,'  (says  Dr. 
Burke,  the  talented  Inspector  of  Hospitals,  to  whose  able 
report  to  the  Army  Medical  Department,  as  urbanely  shewn 
me  by  Sir  J.  M'Grigor,  I  am  indebted  for  many  observations) 
'  have  from  long  experience  been  generally  observed  syn- 
chronous, with  the  changes  of  the  moon.^* 

*  Since  the  publication  of  my  second  Volume,  where  1  have  adverted  to 
the  singular  influence  of  the  moon  not  only  over  the  atmosphere  but  over 
all  the  animal  and  vegetable  kingdoms,  I  have  been  ridiculed  by  the  Spectator 
London  weekly  Journal  for  holding  that  the  moon  has  any  influence  at 
all, — I  subjoin  therefore  the  following  observations  for  the  purpose  of 
inciting  to  further  enquiry  into  the  subject : — 

Lunar  Influence. — The  influence  of  the  moon  on  the  weather  has  in  all 
ages  been  believed  by  the  common  people ;  the  ancient  philosophers  em- 
braced the  same  opinion,  and  engrafted  upon  it  their  pretended  science  of 
astrology.  Several  modern  philosophers  have  thought  the  opinion  worthy 
of  notice ;  among  whom  Messrs.  Lambert,  Cotte  and  Toaldo,  deservedly 
take  the  lead.  These  philosophers,  after  examining  the  subject  with  the 
greatest  attention,  have  embraced  the  opinion  of  the  common  people, 
though  not  in  its  full  extent.  To  this  they  have  been  induced  both  by  the 
certainty  that  the  moon  has  an  influence  on  the  atmosphere  as  it  has  on 
the  sea,  and  by  observing  that  certain  situations  of  the  moon  in  her  orbit 
have  almost  constantly  been  attended  with  changes  of  the  weather,  either 
to  wind,  to  calm,  to  rain,  or  to  drought. 

There  are  ten  situations  of  the  moon  in  her  orbit,  each  revolution,  when 
she  must  particularly  exert  her  influence  on  the  atmosphere,  and  when 
consequently  changes  of  the  weather  most  readily  take  place.  These  are, 
1,  the  new,  and  2,  full  moon,  when  she  exerts  her  influence  in  conjunction 
or  in  opposition  to  the  sun  ;  3  and  4,  the  quadratures ;  5,  the  perigee,  and 
6,  the  apogee  (for  the  ditiFerence  in  the  moon's  distance  from  the  earth  is 
about  27,000  miles),  the  two  passages  of  the  moon  over  the  equator,  one 
of  which  Mr.  Toaldo  calls,  7,  the  moon's  ascending,  and  8,  the  other,  tiie 
moon's  descending,  equinox ;  the  two  lunistices,  as  M.  de  la  Lande  has 
called  them,  9,  the  boreal  lunistice,  when  the  moon  approaches  as  near  as 
she  can  to  our  zenith  ;  10,  the  austral,  when  she  is  at  the  greatest  distance 

VOL.   IV.  N 


178 


FORTY-EIGHT  YEARS    OBSERVATIONS  OF  THE  MOON. 


The  following  meteorological  table  will  shew  the  state  of 


from  it,  for  the  action  of  the  moon  varies  greatly,  according  to  her  obli- 
quity. 

With  these  ten  points  Mr.  Toaldo  compared  a  table  of  48  years'  ob- 
servations for  Lombardy,  and  found  the  result  as  in  the  following  table  ; 
and  after  examining  a  number  of  other  tables  of  observations,  and 
combining  them  with  his  own,  he  found  the  proportions  between  those 
lunar  points  on  which  changes  of  the  weather  happened,  and  those  which 
passed  without  any  change  when  reduced  to  the  lowest  terms,  to  be  as  in 
the  last  column  of  the  table  :  so  that  we  may  wager  six  to  one  that  this  or 
that  new  moon  will  bring  a  change  of  weather,  and  five  to  one  that  a  full 
moon  will  be  attended  by  a  change,  and  so  on. 


Attended  with 

Attended  with 

Proportions 

Lunar  Points. 

a  change  of 

no  change. 

reduced  to 

weather. 

lowest  terms. 

New  moons         -        -        . 

622 

82 

6       •     1 

Full  moons         _         .         _ 

506 

92 

5       •     1 

First  quarter     -        - 

424 

189 

2i     •     I 

Last  quarter       -        -        . 

429 

182 

2i    •     1 

Perigees        .           -           . 

545 

99 

7     •    1 

Apogees        -            -          . 

517 

130 

4      •     1 

Ascending  equinoxes 

465 

142 

3k    '     1 

Descending  equinoxes 

446 

162 

2|    •     1 

Southern  lunistices 

446 

154 

3      •     1 

Northern  lunistices    - 

448 

162 

2f     •     1 

Several  of  these  lunar  points  coincide  with  one  another,  at  times  occa- 
sioned by  the  inequality  of  the  moon's  periodical,  anomalistical,  and  syno- 
dical  revolutions,  and  by  the  progressive  motion  of  the  apses.  Thus  the 
new  or  full  moon  sometimes  coincide  with  the  apogee,  with  the  perigee, 
&c.  These  coincidences  are  the  most  efficacious ;  their  changing  power, 
according  to  Mr.  Toaldo,  is  as  follows ; — 

New  moon  coinciding  with  the  perigee 
Ditto         ditto  with  the  apogee 

Full  moon  coinciding  with  the  perigee 
Ditto  ditto  with  the  apogee 

The  most  important  maxims  of  the  before-mentioned  philosophers,  for 
prognosticating  the  vveather,  are  the  following : 

1.  When  the  moon  is  in  any  of  the  ten  lunar  points  above  named,  a 
change  of  weather  may  be  expected.  The  most  efficacious  of  these  points 
are  the  conjunctions  and  apses. 


Change. 

No  change 

33 

1 

7 

1 

10 

1 

8 

1 

METEOROLOGICAL  TABLE  FOR  PORT  LOUIS. 


179 


the  climate  at  Port  Louis,  probably  the  hottest  part  of  the 
island. 

Mauritius,  Port  Louis,  1831. 


January 

February  .. 

March    

April 

May    

June  

July    

August 

September  . 
October . . . . 
November. . 
December  . 


Ther.       Barometer 


30i 

30 

30 

30 

2 
30io 

30i5 
2 

3010 
1 

30i5 


30io 


30 
30 

29i5 

SOj-i 

30,'| 
9 

29ii5 

30 
30 


29io 

29 

29f5 

8 

29io 

30 

30 
9 

29io 

8 
2910 

1 
2910 

9 
2910 

9 

29,; 


Prevailing 
Winds. 


S.E.  and  N.W. 

N.W.  and  S.E. 

S.E.  and  N.W. 

S.E.  and  N.W. 

S.E. 


S.E.  and  N.W, 
S.E.  brisk. 
Variable. 
£.  and  S.E. 


Weather. 


Days  of  Rain. 


7,  10,  11,  17  and  18. 

Heavy  on  7,  9,  12,  13,  15  and  16. 

Ditto  3-4ths  of  the  month. 

Much  rain  and  tempests. 

Ditto  and  cloudy. 

Sky  clouded,  rain  27. 

Ditto  18  and  19,  thunder. 

1,  2,  5,  6,  and  15,  rain. 

2,  3,  6,  9,  and  20. 

None. 

8,  9, 11,  22  and  23,  heavy  shovsrers 

6  and  7,  heavy  showers. 


Rain 

0 

a 

d 

8 

47 

10 

19 

10 

4 

4 

91 

85 

57 

56 

1 

59 

86 

86 

40 

2.  The  coincidence  of  the  conjunctions  with  the  apses  is  extremely  effi- 
cacious ;  that  of  the  new  with  the  perigee  gives  a  moral  certainty  of  a 
great  perturbation. 

3.  The  new  and  full  moons  that  produce  no  change  on  the  weather  are 
such  as  are  at  a  distance  from  the  apses. 

4.  A  lunar  point  commonly  changes  the  state  of  the  weather  into  which 
it  was  brought  by  the  preceding  point.  For  the  most  part  the  weather 
never  changes  but  with  some  lunar  point. 

5.  The  apogees,  southern  lunistices  and  quadratures,  commonly  bring 
fair  weather,  for  the  barometer  then  rises  ;  the  other  points  tend  to  make 
the  air  lighter,  and  thereby  produce  bad  weather. 

6.  The  most  efficacious  lunar  points  become  stormy  about  the  equinoxes 
and  solstices. 

7.  A  change  of  weather  seldom  happens  on  the  same  day  with  a  lunar 
point,  but  sometimes  before  and  sometimes  after  it. 

8.  At  the  new  and  full  moons  about  the  equinoxes,  and  even  the  solstices, 
especially  the  winter  solstice,  the  weather  is  commonly  determined  to  good 
or  bad  for  three  01  even  six  months. 


180  kirwan's  observations  on  the  moon. 

At  Black  River  Post  the  climate  is  in  general  warm  and 

The  lunar  period  of  nineteen  years  is  thought  to  bring  a  regular  succes- 
sion of  seasons.  Mr.  Kirwan  endeavoured  to  discover  probable  rules  for 
prognosticating  the  different  seasons,  as  far  as  regards  Britain  and  Ireland, 
from  tables  of  observation  alone.  On  perusing  a  number  of  observations, 
taken  in  England  from  1677  to  1789,  he  found, 

1.  That  when  there  bas  been  no  storm  before  or  after  the  vernal  equi- 
nox, the  ensuing  summer  is  generally  dry  at  least  five  times  in  six. 

2.  When  a  storm  happens  from  an  easterly  point  of  the  horizon,  either 
on  the  19t.h,  20th,  or  21st  of  May,  the  succeeding  summer  is  generally  dry 
four  in  five. 

3.  When  a  storm  arises  on  the  25th,  26th,  or  27th  of  March  (and  not 
before)  in  any  point,  the  succeeding  summer  is  generally  dry  four  times 
in  five. 

4.  If  there  be  a  storm  at  S.W.  or  W.  S.W.  on  the  19th,  20th,  21st,  or 
22nd  of  March,  the  succeeding  summer  is  generally  wet  five  times  in  six. 

Dry  winters  are  (in  high  latitudes)  cold,  and  moist  winters  warm  :  on 
the  contrary,  dry  summers  are  hot,  and  moist  summers  cold.  So  if  we 
know  the  moistness  or  dryness  of  a  season,  we  can  judge  of  its  tempera- 
ture. 

To  these  maxims  of  Mr.  Kirwan  my  authority  has  added  a  few  others, 
the  truth  of  which  have  been  confirmed  by  long  continued  observation. 

1.  A  moist  autumn  with  a  mild  winter  is  generally  followed  by  a  cold 
and  dry  spring,  which  greatly  retards  vegetation. — Du  Hamel. 

2.  If  the  summer  be  remarkably  rainy,  it  is  probable  that  the  ensuing 
winter  will  be  severe  ;  for  the  unusual  evaporation  carries  off  the  heat  of 
the  earth, 

3.  The  appearance  of  birds  of  passage  early  in  autumn  announces  an 
early  and  severe  winter;  for  it  denotes  that  winter  is  already  commenced 
in  the  north. 

4.  When  it  rains  plentifully  in  May  it  will  rain  but  little  in  September, 
and  vice  versa. 

6.  Violent  temperatures,  as  storms  or  great  rains,  produce  a  sort  of 
crisis  in  the  atmosphere,  which  brings  a  constant  temperature,  good  or 
bad,  for  some  months. — P.  Cotte. 

6.  A  rainy  winter  predicts  a  sterile  year.  A  severe  autumn  annouRces  a 
windy  winter. —  Toaldo. 

Notwithstanding  the  imperfections  of  our  present  knowledge  of  this 
subject,  the  numbers  and  abilities  of  the  philosophers  at  present  engaged 
in  the  study  cannot  fail  at  last  to  be  crowned  with  success  ;  and  perhaps  a 
rational  and  satisfactory  theory  of  the  phenomena  of  the  weather  is  not 
so  far  distant  as  we  at  present  suppose. 


AEROSCOPY  AT  MAURITIUS.  181 

dry,*  as  the  rains  do  not  often  reach  the  shore,  for  the  lofty 
mountains  in  the  neighbourhood  arrest  and  attract  the  clouds 
and  rain.  The  months  of  September,  October,  and  Novem- 
ber are  dry  and  moderately  warm ;  the  mean  of  the  thermo- 
meter 79,  and  the  prevailing  winds  S.  E.  N.N.  E.  and  N.W. 
In  December,  January,  February  and  March,  (which  form 
the  wet  season)  the  heat  is  greatest ;  mean  86,  winds  N.N.  W. 
W.  and  S.W.  April,  May,  June  and  July,  cool  and  refresh- 
ing ;  mean  70,  winds  S.  and  S.  E.  in  strong  breezes.     At  the 

*  Owing  to  the  purity  of  the  atmosphere,  the  sky  at  Mauritius  is  of  au 
intense  blue  ;  the  mountains,  instead  of  resting  upon  it,  as  they  seem  to 
do  in  Europe,  stand  out  from  it  in  bold  relief,  the  eye  looking  beyond 
their  irregular  outline  into  unfathomable  space.  Connected,  1  suppose, 
with  the  atmospheric  rarity,  is  the  singular  fact  of  an  old  man  (I  think 
M.  Fillifay  is  his  name)  discerning  ships  at  sea  300  or  400  miles  distant. 
The  time  for  observation  is  at  morning  dawn,  when  the  observer  proceeds 
to  a  gentle  eminence,  and  looks  in  the  sky,  (not  on  the  horizon)  where  he 
beholds  {with  the  naked  eye)  inverted  the  object  within  his  peculiar  vision, 
which  is  of  course  extended  or  contracted  according  to  the  rarity  of  the 
atmosphere :  the  truth  of  M.  Fillifay's  far  seeing  has  been  verified  by 
several  striking  instances  of  correctness,  viz.  when  the  British  squadron 
was  assembling  at  Rodrigue  (300  miles  to  the  eastward  of  Mauritius)  in 
1810  to  attack  the  island;  M.  Fillifay  stated  so  to  the  French  Governor, 
and  was,  it  is  said,  imprisoned  for  raising  false  alarms  :  at  another  time 
he  discerned  what  he  said  was  two  vessels  ]o\neA  together,  or  if  there  were 
such  a  thing,  d^  four-masted  ship ;  in  a  few  days  an  hva^ricdixi  four-masted 

schooner  came  into  Port  Louis  :  he  saw  the Indiaman  dismasted  when 

nearly  400  miles  from  the  island,  and  afterwards  announced  her  to  be 
erecting  jury-masts  and  steering  for  the  island,  which  proved  to  be  the 
case.  Numerous  similar  instances  might  be  related  of  this  unaccountable 
circumstance,  which  the  old  man  says  he  can  teach,  and  which,  when  I 
was  last  at  the  island,  a  lady  was  said  to  be  learning.  He  proceeded  to 
Bourbon,  and  I  think  to  Europe,  but  in  neither  was  able  to  exercise  his 
faculty.  I  went  on  shore  frequently  with  ray  brother  officers  at  noon, 
when  M.  Fillifay,  in  his  ancient  dress,  (somewhat  like  our  Greenwich  pen- 
sioners) rode  on  his  stout  mule  down  to  the  wharf  to  inform  the  port 
officer  what  vessels  were  in  {his)  sight.  When  asked,  his  answer  would 
probably  be  "  a  ship  N.  E.  200  miles — nearly  becalmed — a  schooner  W. 
will  make  the  land  to-morrow — two  brigs  standing  to  the  southward,  &c. 
&c. ;"  his  '  report,'  which  is  invariably  accurate,  is  written  down  at  rhe 
captain  of  the  ports'  office,  M.  Fillifay  being  a  pensionnuire  on  the  Treasury. 


182 


AVERAGE  RANGE  OF  WEATHER  ON  THE  COAST. 


Powder  Mills  the  mean  heat  throughout  the  year  is — sun-rise 
70,  afternoon  86,  and  sun-set  72. 

The  mountains  and  eminences  make  up  for  the  difference 
of  latitude ;  and  although  within  the  tropics,  the  climate  is 
that  of  a  temperate  region. 

The  S.E.  winds  prevail  for  nine  or  ten  months  of  the  year. 

The  range  of  weather  round  the  coast  is  thus  shewn ;  the 
average  being  deduced  from  the  different  military  stations. 

Average  range  of  weather  round  the  Coast — Mauritius. 


Thermom. 

^S 

Weather. 

is 

(U 

3 

January.. .. 

86 

74 

Warm  and  rainy,  storms,  sometimes  thunder. 

February  . . 

86 

74 

Violent  gales,  occasional  hurricanes  and  thunder. 

March    

85 

74 

W.  S.E.  rain  less  frequent,  heat  moderate. 

April 

88 

73 

Fine  season,  delicious  temperature. 

May    

82 

70 

Winds  westerly,  dry,  and  air  agreeably  fresh. 

June  

80 

70 

S.E.  constant,  rain  in  drops. 

July    

79 

64 

Ditto  strong  breezes  by  day,  calm  by  night. 

August 

80 

n 

Rain  more  or  less  daily,  mountains  cloud-capt. 

September  . 

79 

68 

Ditto  ditto,  principadly  harvest  weather. 

October 

80 

65 

Temperate,  sometimes  warm. 

November. . 

83 

71 

Winds  variable,  heat  increasing,  storms. 

December . . 

86 

73 

Ditto,  ditto,  sun  vertical,  heat  moderated  by  clouds  and  rain. 

Many  of  the  E.  I.  Company's  civil  and  military  officers 
seek  and  find  health  at  Mauritius  ;  and  I  have  myself  inva- 
riably found  the  air,  especially  at  Moka,  exceedingly  elastic, 
and  giving  a  pleasing  flow  of  spirits  to  the  mind. 

The  hurricane  months  are  January,  February  and  March, 
but  these  tempests  do  not  occur  every  year,  their  return  is 
uncertain,  and  I  do  not  think  that  of  late  years  they  have 
been  so  numerous  or  so  severe  as  they  were  wont  to  be.* 

Animal  and  Vegetable  Kingdom. — Neither  of  these  de- 
partments require  detail  in  the  present  work  ;  as  regards  the 
former,  the  first  settlers  found  scarcely  any  quadruped  but 
rats,  who  eat  the  Dutch  '  out  of  house  and  home,'  and,  as 

*  At  Tonneliers  battery  a  large  24-pounder  was  shewn  me,  which  in  a 
coup  de  vent  was  blown  from  the  rampart,  whirled  about  in  the  air  like  a 
feather,  and  then  dropped  several  hundred  feet  from  its  original  position. 
The  inhabitants  travelling  on  the  roads  cannot  stand  when  the  hurricane  is 
blowing  in  its  strength. 


PIRATES  IN  THE  EASTERN  SEAS.  1^6 

regards  the  latter,  it  may  be  sufficient  to  state  that,  under 
the  French  and  Enghsh  governments  the  richest  and  rarest 
plants  of  the  East  have  been  naturalized  in  the  island,  whi- 
ther also  most  of  the  plants,  trees,  and  vegetables  of  Europe 
have  been  conveyed:  the  Botanical  Garden,  at  Pamplemouse, 
is  as  remarkable  for  its  varied  productions  as  its  great  beauty. 
Throughout  the  island  there  are  many  gardens  of  extent,  and 
furnished  with  every  thing  that  can  conduce  to  utility  and 
ornament ;  those  belonging  to  the  Governor's  country-house, 
at  Reduit,  and  to  the  talented  and  hospitable  Mr.  Telfair, 
near  Moka,  may  be  cited  as  instances  of  great  taste  and  skill. 

Population,  Territorial  Division,  Stock,  and  Pro- 
duce.— The  first  settlers  at  Mauritius  and  Bourbon  were 
European  pirates,  who  obtained  wives  from  Madagascar.* 

After  its  colonization  by  the  French,  a  great  number  of 
adventurers  flocked  to  the  island  from  Europe,  and  other 
places,  and  slaves  were  introduced  from  Madagascar  and 
Mozambique,  but  at  what  precise  period  we  have  no  records : 
the  comparative  increase  of  the  three  classes  of  inhabitants 
from  1767  to  1833  is  thus  shewn: — f 

*  Their  strength  at  this  time,  1657,  in  the  Eastern  seas  may  be  estimated 
from  the  foUowin/^'  occurrence,  which  took  place  at  Bourbon,  on  which 
isle  the  French  East  India  Company  had  also  an  establishment.  The  Por- 
tuguese Viceroy  of  Goa  came  one  day  to  anchor  in  the  roads  of  St.  Denis, 
and  proceeded  on  shore  to  dine  with  the  Governor,  he  had  scarcely  landed 
before  a  pirate  ship  of  50  guns  came  into  the  roads  and  captured  his  vessel; 
the  pirate  commander  then  went  ashore,  demanded  to  dine  with  the  Go- 
vernor and  Viceroy,  and  seated  himself  at  table  between  these  gentlemen, 
declaring  the  latter  to  be  his  prisoner.  Wine  and  rich  cheer  put  the  sea- 
men in  good  humour;  M.  Desforges,  the  Governor,  asked  the  pirate  what 
he  rated  the  Viceroy's  ransom  at?  *  A  thousand  piastres,'  was  the  reply ; 
*  that,'  said  M.  Desforges,  *  is  too  little  for  a  brave  fellow  like  you  to  re- 
ceive from  a  great  Lord — ask  enough,  or  ask  nothing  :'  *  Well,  well,  I  ask 
nothing,'  said  the  Corsair,  *  let  him  as  your  guest  go  free ;'  which  the 
Viceroy  instantly  did,  and  the  Court  of  Portugal  recompensed  the  French 
Governor. 

t  It  would  seem  that  the  island  was  more  populous  during  the  period 
prior  to  the  French  revolution,  than  subsequent  to  that  event,  as  it  is  oa 
record  that,  in  1792,  20,000  persons  perished  of  sujall  pox  in  IMauritius. 


184 


PROGRESS  OF  POPULATION  AT  MAURITIUS. 


Coloured. 

Years. 

Whites. 

Total. 

Free. 

Slaves. 

1767 

3163 

587 

15027 

18777 

1777 

3434 

1173 

25154 

29761 

1787 

4372 

2235 

33832 

40439 

1797 

6237 

3703 

49080 

59020 

1807 

6489 

5919 

mmi 

77768 

1817 

7375 

10979 

79493 

97847 

1827 

8111 

15444 

69076* 

92631 

1832 

26560  a 

Q^O^Q 

89616 

a  No  distinction  of  colour. 

The  latest  complete  census  of  the  whole  island,  distin- 
guishing the  inhabitants  according  to  the  quartiers,  or  can- 
tons, is  for  1827  as  follows : — 


White. 

Free. 

Slaves, 

Total. 

Men 

Women 

Men 

Women 

Men 

Women 

Men 

Women 

and 

and 

and 

and 

and 

and 

and 

and 

Boys. 

Girls. 

Boys. 

Girls. 

Boys. 

Girls. 

Boys. 

Girls. 

Port  Louis 

1929 

1458 

3347 

4164 

9421 

6296 

14697 

II9I8 

Pamplemouses 

509 

500 

598 

715 

6348 

3746 

7455 

4961 

Riviere  du  Rempart 

304 

245 

705 

752 

5121 

3035 

6130 

4032 

Flacq  . 

534 

487 

717 

759 

5868 

3529 

7119 

■     4775 

Grand  Port    . 

476 

392 

674 

716 

4237 

2536 

5387 

3644 

Savanne     . 

123 

92 

209 

207 

2361 

1660 

2693 

1959 

Riviere  Noire 

174 

150 

272 

293 

3395 

2002 

3841 

2445 

Plaines  Wilhems 

228 

185 

367 

474 

4083 

2594 

4678 

3253 

Moka 

J71 

154 

216 

259 

1787 

1057 

2174 

1470 

Total 

4448 

3663 

7105 

8339 

42621 

26455 

54174 

38457 

For  1832     . 

1248 

9  males. 

14071 

females. 

38124 

24932 

50513 

39003 

This  statement  does  not  comprise  troops,  convicts,  nor  apprentices;  the  latter  to  the 
amount  of  1,486  men  and  boys,  and  559  women  and  girls. 

It  will  be  seen  from  the  foregoing  what  a  large  portion  of 

In  1799  the  population  was  stated,  by  Baron  Grant,  at — slaves,  55,000, 
whites  and  mulattoes,  10,000 — total,  65,000 ;  and  the  armed  force,  national 
/Tiiard,  blacks  and  mulattoes,  2,000,  blacks  and  mulattoes,  to  serve  as 
chasseurs,  and  the  artillery,  3,000 — total,  5,000. 

*  The  number  of  slaves  in  the  island,  in  1830,  is  stated  by  the  returns 
to  Parliament,  to  be— males,  41,454— females,  26,293— total,  67,743. 


LIVE  STOCK  AND  CULTURE  AT  MAURITIUS. 


18/ 


the  inhabitants  of  the  island  is  concentrated  at  Port  Louis,* 
but  the  quantity  of  live  stock,  the  extent  of  cultivation,  and 
the  division  of  sugar  culture,  in  the  different  quarters,  will 
be  seen  from  the  following  returns,  which  I  regret  not  having 
for  a  later  year  than  1827  (the  census  being  taken  decennially), 
since  which  the  culture  of  sugar  has  been  so  materially  ex- 
tended.    [See  Commerce.l 


Live  Stock  of  the  Mauritius. — See  Appendix  for  progressive  increase 
since  1767- 


Pigs. 


Horses 

BuUs 

Goats 

and 

Mules. 

Asses. 

and 

and 

Mares. 

Cows, 

Sheep. 

322 

27 

86 

1311 

129 

"0 

247 

225 

3759 

236 

53 

435 

143 

2227 

232 

62 

66 

241 

3514 

237 

87 

130 

187 

2324 

225 

38 

44 

65 

1001 

96 

37 

7 

129 

4036 

308 

44 

88 

107 

2013 

167 

50 

11 

58 

1728 

167 

763 

1055 

1285 

21913 

1797 

748 

26 

15 

21309 

1938 

Port  Louis 
Pamplemouses 
Riviere  du  Rempart 
Flacq     .        .        .        . 
Grand  Port 
Savanne 
Riviere  Noire   . 
Plaines  Wilhem    . 
Moka 

Total 

Total  for  1832 


1679 
1-61 
1508 
1765 

1540 

776 

1393 
108» 
411 


11916 


State  of  Culture. 


0 
0 

.    c3 

"S.2 

si 

bo 

3 

0   iXI 

s  ° 

i 

hM 

gs 

ft(J 

f,o 

■-'-> 

ftw 

ft 

< 

< 

< 

< 

< 

< 

< 

< 

< 

> 

H 

Port  Louis 

50 

3500 

30 

3580 

Pamplemouses 

109503 

18247J 

2314;J 

41944 

4586 

2874 

26 

23854 

42941 J 

Riviere  du  Rempart 

6554J 

5084^ 

1832i 

3333 

7054 

25 

85 

74 

1785;i 

257613^ 

Flacq 

14730i 

I6333i 

2140 

3228i 

6894J 

341 

105 

12804 

450524 

Grand  Port 

20656J 

133794 

3712 

17:14 

2883 

5 

82 

83 

299 

2008i 

44856i 

Savanne 

20408 

88374 

1620 

1228 

3156 

335 

479 

1903 

379664 

Riviere  Noire     . 

12692i 

22262 

15634 

16314 

870 

736 

67 

52 

874 

407484 

Plaines  Wilhem 

15424 

7649 

1179 

1127 

4420 

110 

187 

27591 

34855J 

Moka 

19687 

10128 

518i 

I8O4 

398 

3 

10314 

31946^ 

Total    . 

121148^ 

107421 

14879i 

166765 

30261^ 

766 

82 

12584 

11584 

14057 J 

307709i 

Total  for  1831 

103246 

89780 

6191 

10917 

52253 

ml. 

nil. 

519 

4; 

•7 

75727 

*  Classification  of  inhabitants  in  Port  Louis.  Agents,  10 ;  architects, 
3  ;  armourers,  3;  surveyors,  5  ;  actors  and  actresses,  30;  inn-keepers  and 
confectioners,  7  ,  advocates,  8  ;  proctors,  12  ;  hatelage,  2 ;  butchers,  4  ; 
bakers,  10;  sadler,  1;  embroiderers,  2;  caulkers,  2;  wood-sellers,  8; 
hatters,  3 ;  sausage-makers,  3 ;  carpenters,  15;  wheelwrights,  5;  brazier, 
1 ;  coachmakers,  2  ;  barbers,  3. 


186 


CHARACTER  OF  THE  MAURITIANS. 


State  of  the  Sugar  Manufacturies  for  1827  and  1832. 


Sugaries 

Sugaries 

Sugaries 

Total. 

DlstiUe- 

Alembicques 

by  Water. 

by  Horses. 

by  Steam. 

ries. 

employed. 

1827      1832 

1827        1832 

1827     1832  1827 

1832 

1827     1832 

1827     1832 

Pamplemouses     . 

11          12 

10              5 

8          14 

29 

31 

1            2 

14          18 

Riviere  du  Rempart     . 

15           9 

21              3 

6         23 

42 

35 

9          12 

15          13 

Flacq     .        .        ,        . 

25         20 

14             1 

3          17 

42 

38 

18          27 

Grand  Port 

12           8 

2 

1            5 

15 

13 

1            2 

14         10 

Savanne 

13         15 

1 

13 

16 

4           2 

13          17 

Riviere  Noir    .        .    . 

6           6 

1 

1 

7 

7 

1 

6           5 

Plaines  Wilhem 

14         14 

2              2 

4           8 

20 

24 

1 

20          19 

Mol^a    .        .        .        . 

3           3 

3 

3 

2           3 

5            3 

Total      . 

99       87 

50            11 

22         69 

171 

167 

18         22 

105        112 

The  majority  of  the  white  and  a  large  proportion  of  the 
free  coloured  inhabitants  of  Mauritius  are  French,  or  of 
French  descent,  and  distinguished  for  a  high  spirit,  no  ordi- 
nary talent,  and  much  energy  and  industry  in  commercial  and 
agricultural  pursuits.  The  ladies,  before  attaining  a  middle 
age,  are  in  general  possessed  of  considerable  beauty,  their 
hair  of  a  silky  black,  and  their  figures  slight,  but  well  propor- 
tioned ;  in  manners  evincing  great  amenity,  and,  where  edu- 
cation has  not  been  neglected,  a  keen  and  polished  wit,  com- 
bined with  a  good  judgment  and  excellent  musical  taste.* 
The  Creoles  are  an  active,  honest,  and  lively  race,  as  in  all 
our  colonies  ;  fond  of  dress,  which  passion  does  not,  however, 
make  them  indolent,  on  the  contrary,  it  is  a  stimulus  to 
industry,  in  order  that  they  may  gratify  their  favourite  pro- 
pensity, and  few  who  have  it  in  their  power  to  indulge,  will 
be  found  committing  crime,  or  acting  dishonestly,  as  self- 
pride  is  generally  the  parent  of  a  desire  for  personal  adorn- 
ment. There  are  a  variety  of  Eastern  nations  in  the  colony, 
viz.  Chinese,  Arabs,  Cingalese,f  Hindoos,  &c.  The  Eng- 
lish are  few  in  number,  and  principally  merchants  or  govern- 
ment employes. 

*  Music  is  much  cultivated  at  Mauritius  by  both  sexes  :  a  stranger  on 
entering  the  orchestra  of  the  theatre,  when  filled  by  amateurs,  might  fancy 
himself  in  Paris. 

t  The  Kandyan  chiefs,  who  were  supposed  dangerous  to  the  tranquillity 
of  the  island,  were  sent  to  Mauritius,  and  Hindoo  convicts  are  transported 
thither  for  life,  and  worked  as  felons  on  the  roads  of  the  colony. 


SLAVES, — THEIR  LOVE  OF  COUNTRY.  187 

The  slaves  are  of  two  races  ;  tlie  one  from  Mozambique 
and  the  E.  coast  of  Africa,  and  the  other  from  Madagascar, 
where  the  Lowlanders  of  the  W.  coast  were  wont  to  be  sold 
into  bondage :  in  personal  appearance  they  are  both  of  great 
strength,  frequently  of  a  bold,  sometimes  ferocious,  and  often 
vindictive  appearance  ;  but  when  well  treated  they  are  faith- 
ful and  hard  working.  They  are  passionately  attached  to 
their  native  land,  to  regain  which  they  will  brave  the  greatest 
dangers,  and  court  even  death  itself — in  the  hope  that,  when 
life  has  departed  the  spirit  returns  to  its  natal  shore.* 

Of  the  sang-froid  with  which  the  slave  meets  death  when 
inspired  with  the  hope  of  returning  to  his  country,  an  in- 
stance occurred  when  I  was  last  at  Mauritius.  For  the  pur- 
pose of  being  executed,f  a  Mallagash  slave  committed  arson, 

*  Many  instances  have  occurred  of  the  slaves  in  Mauritius  seizing  on  a 
canoe,  or  boat,  at  night-time,  and  with  a  calabash  of  water  and  a  few  ma- 
nioc, or  Cassada  roots,  pushing  out  to  sea  and  endeavouring  to  reach  across 
to  Madagascar  or  Africa,  through  the  pathless  and  stormy  ocean ;  of  course 
they  generally  perish,  but  some  succeed.  We  picked  up  a  frail  canoe 
made  out  of  a  single  tree,  in  H.M.S.  Barracouta,  near  the  equator,  and 
within  about  100  miles  of  the  coast  of  Africa;  it  contained  five  runaway 
slaves,  one  dying  in  the  bottom  of  the  canoe,  and  the  other  four  nearly 
exhausted.  They  had  fled  from  a  harsh  French  master  at  the  Seychelles, 
committed  themselves  to  the  deep  without  compass  or  guide,  with  a  small 
quantity  of  water  and  rice,  and  trusting  to  their  fishing  lines  for  support. 
Steering  by  the  stars  they  had  nearly  reached  the  coast  from  which  they 
had  been  kidnapped,  when  nature  sank  exhausted,  and  we  were  just  in 
time  to  save  four  of  their  lives  :  so  long  as  the  wanderers  in  search  of 
home  were  able  to  do  so,  the  days  were  numbered  by  notches  on  the  side 
of  the  canoe,  and  21  were  thus  marked  when  met  with  by  our  vessel. 

f  This  may  appear  singular,  but  a  curious  illustration  took  place  with  a 
friend  at  Mauritius,  one  of  wliose  slaves  was  afBicted  with  Nostalgia,  and 
broke  the  mirrors  and  destroyed  the  furniture,  in  the  hope  that  his  master, 
on  returning  home,  would  run  him  through  with  his  sword.  Our  soldiers  and 
sailors,  on  foreign  service,  are  subject  to  Nostalgia  ;  I  have  known  them  to 
mutilate  and  seriously  endanger  their  lives  with  a  view  to  get  invalided,  par- 
ticularly Irishmen  and  Highlanders  ;  indeed  I  have  heard  many  Irish  soldiers 
say  they  cared  not  if  they  were  to  be  hung  the  moment  they  put  foot  on  Erin'a 
green  isle,  so  as  their  bones  were  laid  in  their  own  country ;  this  feeling  is 
so  strong  in  Madagascar  that,  when  Radama,  the  king,  marched  an  army 


188  BEHEADING  AT  MAURITIUS. 

and  was  sentenced  to  be  beheaded.  I  went  with  my  brother 
officers  to  visit  him  in  prison ;  he  appeared  rejoiced  at  the 
near  approach  of  the  termination  of  his  earthly  career,  and 
walked  after  his  coffin,  a  mile,  to  the  place  of  punishment ; 
there  a  platform  was  erected  with  a  slope  to  ascend, — upon 
the  platform  was  placed  a  broad  plank  on  an  inclined  plane, 
about  the  length  of  the  intended  sufferer ; — and  on  either 
side  stood  two  executioners  in  masks,  dressed  in  a  blood  red 
clothing,  with  huge  axes  in  their  hands.  The  Malagash  stood 
on  the  verdant  earth,  cast  his  eyes  around,  nodded  joyfully 
to  his  comrades  among  the  assembled  multitude,  pointed 
to  that  part  of  the  heavens  where  his  country  was  situate, 
then,  with  an  enthusiastic  expression  knelt  for  a  moment  on 
the  grassy  sod,  stretched  out  his  hands  in  mental  prayer 
to  the  bright  noonday  sun,  hastily  arose,  ran  with  alacrity 
up  the  platform,  and  stretched  his  body  on  the  inclined  plank  : 
the  one  executioner  quickly  buckled  two  broad  straps  over 
the  prostrate  being,  the  other  raised  his  arm,  and  within  less 
than  a  quarter  of  a  minute  from  the  time  that  this  brave  man 
knelt  on  the  beautiful  earth  in  prayer  to  the  glorious  symbol 
of  the  Almighty,  his  bleeding,  and  still  animate  head  rolled 
from  the  scaffold,  and  his  free  spirit  ascended  where  slavery 
has  no  controul  over  our  race ;  who  that  possesses  a  christian 
soul  but  must  rejoice  that  a  system,  productive  of  such  re- 
sults has  ceased  for  ever  in  the  British  empire  ? 

Government. — Since  the  British  acquisition  of  Mauritius 
there  has  been  no  Colonial  Assembly  in  the  island ;  this  the 
majority  of  the  colonists  strongly  complain  of,  as  it  was  stipu- 
lated by  the  capitulation  that  the  inhabitants  were  to  preserve 
their  laws  and  institutions.  The  affairs  of  the  island  are  now 
managed  by  a  Governor  as  in  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope,  aided 

of  50,000  men  into  the  Lowlands,  every  five  soldiers  bound  themselves  by 
a  vow  that,  the  survivors  should  carry  back  the  bones  of  whoever  died,  or 
were  slain  in  battle  :  Radama's  army  perished,  for  the  greater  part  of 
sickness,  in  the  swampy  plains,  and  10,000,  wearied,  discomfited,  but 
faithful  soldiers,  returned  to  their  disconsolate  homes  laden  with  the 
(leshlcss  bones  uf  tlicir  late  comrades. 


LAWS  AND  COURTS  AT  MAURITIUS.  189 

by  a  Legislative  Council.  I  trust  the  day  is  not  far  distant 
when  a  Colonial  Assembly,  chosen  by  the  property  and  intel- 
ligence of  the  inhabitants,  will  give  a  renewed  and  permanent 
stimulus  to  the  prosperity  of  the  settlement. 

Laws  and  Courts. — Before  it  was  occupied  by  Great  Britain 
Mauritius  was  governed  by  four  out  of  the  five  codes  of  law 
which  had  been  promulgated  by  Napoleon  ;  and  executed  by 
courts  established  in  the  island  before  the  time  of  the  French 
Republic.  The  formation  of  the  several  Courts  and  their 
powers  have  been  modified  from  time  to  time  by  the  authority 
of  the  Governor,  and  finally  settled  by  the  Mauritius  Charter 
of  Justice,  dated  St.  James's  13th  April,  1831,  which  esta- 
blishes a  Supreme  Court  of  Civil  and  Criminal  Justice,  pre- 
sided over  by  three  Judges.  There  is  also  a  petit  Court  for 
the  adjudication  of  civil  causes  of  small  amount,  and  for  the 
trial  of  offences  of  a  low  degree : — from  this  Court  there  is 
no  appeal.  The  Governor  has  authority  to  establish  minor 
courts  in  any  of  the  dependencies  of  Mauritius  and  to  extend 
or  limit  its  powers. 

The  French  law  of  divorce  has  been  adopted  in  Mauritius  ;* 
mortgages  are  requii'ed  to  be  registered  every  ten  years 
by  article  2154  of  the  code  Napoleon. 

A  Council  of  the  Commune  was  established  by  Governor 
Farquhar  in  1817,  composed  of  fifteen  notable  inhabitants 
of  Port  Louis,  and  three  proprietary  inhabitants  from  each 
quarter  of  the  island ;  the  qualifications  were — 30  years  of 
age  unless  born  in  the  colony  (if  so  over  27) — to  have  resided 
ten  years  in  the  colony ; — an  annual  income  of  3000  piastres 
in  Port  Louis,  or  5000  in  the  country ;  to  be  nominated  by 
the  Governor  from  lists  containing  three  times  the  number 
of  persons  so  to  be  nominated,  and  to  continue  in  office  five 
years.     The  Council  to  elect  a  president,  vice,  and  secretary, 

*  Divorces  are  frequent  althouo^h  the  marriage  rites  are  performed  with 
great  ceremony,  during  which  bets  are  often  made  as  to  how  long  the 
nuptial  tie  will  remain  unbroken ;  I  was  at  one  table  in  the  island  where 
two  divorced  wives  were  guests  of  the  third  consort  of  their  former  spouse, 
and  there  was  much  harmony  and  glee  at  the  entertainment. 


190 


MILITARY  DEFENCE — FINANCES. 


to  discuss,  with  the  aid  of  six  other  members,  questions  of 
commerce,  roads,  education  and  internal  affairs,  as  transmitted 
by  the  Governor.  This  Council  was  suppressed  by  order  of 
Lord  Bathurst,  in  January,  1821,  and  there  is  not  now,  I  be- 
lieve, any  municipal  body  to  regulate  the  affairs  of  the  active 
and  wealthy  inhabitants  of  Port  Louis. 

Military  Defence. — Port  Louis  is  well  defended  on  the 
sea  side  by  the  batteries  on  Tonneliers  island  and  on  Fort 
Blanc,  but  it  is  accessible  at  the  land  side,  and  was  found  to 
be  indefensible  when  our  troops  approached  it  in  1810.  There 
are  several  strong  posts  throughout  the  island,  garrisoned  by 
detachments  from  two  regiments  of  infantry  and  a  strong  sec- 
tion of  artillery  and  engineers.  There  has  been  no  national 
guard  in  the  island  since  our  occupation  of  it,  but  on  the  late 
ill-advised  procedures  respecting  Mr.  Jeremie,  it  was  found 
that  most  of  the  respectable  inhabitants  were  armed.  At  pre- 
sent there  is  distrust  on  the  side  of  the  British  and  French, 
I  wish  that  measures  were  adopted  on  either  part  to  remove 
the  sense  of  injustice  or  allay  fears  which  are  the  sure  result 
of  oppression. 

Finances. — A  large  sum  has  been  raised  in  this  colony 
as  revenue  since  our  occupation,  and  a  still  larger  sum  ex- 
pended;  the  Revenue  for  14  years*  being  £2,165,474,  and 
the  Expenditure  £3,191,680. 

The  items  of  the  disbursement  is  thus  shewn  for  the  year 
1828: 


*  Net  Revenue  and  Expenditure  of  Mauritius  for  14  years. 


Years. 

Revenue. 

Expenditure. 

Years. 

Revenue. 

Expenditure. 

1812 

191355 

264489 

1819 

134928 

156406 

1813 

204221 

394839 

1820 

102875 

135433 

1814 

161717 

310647 

1821 

107596 

188628 

1815 

177165 

286337 

1822 

131606 

186631 

1816 

133750 

232434 

1823 

148131 

201399 

1817 

214501 

304580 

1824 

167272 

208614 

1818 

149190 

143240 

1825 

141167 

178003 

Total . 

1231899 

1936566 

933575 

1255114 

DUTIES  ON  IMPORTATION  AT  MAURITIUS.  191 

Net  Colonial  Revenue,  176,004/;  Colonial  Expenditure, 
166,509/;  of  which  the  Civil  charges  were  lo4,31o/;  the  Mi- 
litary do.  24,039/;  Extraordinary  disbursements,  7540/;  total 
£508,405.  The  charges  defrayed  by  England  were — Pay  of 
troops,  &c.  59,6561;  Ordinance,  17,195/;  Sundries,  1000/. 
By  England,  77,857/;  by  Colony,  166,509/;  total,  244,366/. 

A  systematic  economy  is  now  in  progress,  and  aided  by 
the  large  revenue  of  the  colony,  the  island  is  totally  indepen- 
dent of  any  Parliamentary  aid  from  Great  Britain,  the  pay  of 
the  ti-oops  being  the  only  item  furnished  by  the  mother 
country ;  even  this  the  colonists  have  offered  to  diminisli  if 
allowed  a  Legislative  Assembly.*  Of  the  Revenue,  which  in 
the  gross  receipts  average  132,000/.  per  annum,  a  large  sum 
is  raised  from  Custom  duties  at  Port  Louis  as  thus  shewn  for 
the  last  three  years. 

Duties  received  at  Port  Louis. 
1832 

Duties       .     .     .     £84,085 

Salaries     .     .     .  5472 

Incidents  .     .     .        19,890t 

The  importation  taxes  are ;  6  per  cent,  on  the  estimated 
value  of  the  goods  in  English  ships  ;  on  foreign  vessels  15  to 
30  per  cent ;  40  per  cent,  on  tobacco,  and  2s.  per  gallon  on 
spirits.  Wheat,  rice,  cattle  and  bullion  are  free  on  English 
ships.  The  exportation  taxes  are  on  English  ships — sugar, 
1*.  2^jd.  per  lOOlbs.  on  a  foreign  do.  2s.  2d.  per  do  ;  cotton, 
Is.  on  former,  7*.  \Qd.  on  latter  per  do ;  coffee,  4*.  and  6s.  5d. 
do.  do ;  other  articles  in  proportion.  Entrepot  taxes  1  per 
cent.  English,  li  per  cent,  on  foreign. 

*  M.  d'Epinaj',  one  of  the  most  talented  of  the  Mauritians,  informed  me 
that  he  was  instructed  by  his  brother  colonists  (whose  deputed  agent  he 
was  to  England)  to  offer  to  Lord  Goderich  to  furnish  supplies  and  pay  for 
one  regiment  of  infantry  and  one  ship  of  war  annually,  if  a  Legislative  As- 
sembly were  granted  to  the  island.  The  colony  already  incurs  a  charge  for 
garrisons  of  10,000  annually. 

t  Purchase  of  Custom-house  ground  and  building,  18,039/.;  and  altera- 
tions and  repairs,  977/. ; — thus  accounting  for  the  large  sum  in  1832. 


1833 

1834 

£62,754 

53,228 

5292 

3924 

466 

559 

192  HEAVY  TAXATION,  DIRECT  AND  INDIRECT. 

Direct  Taxes  are  Qs.  upon  each  slave  above  7  years  of  age,  and 
under  60,  if  in  Port  Louis,  and  ^s.  6d.  in  the  country  :  this  is 
independent  of  vaccine,  marronage,  corvee,  and  other  slave 
taxes.  Upon  all  goods  (les  immeubles)  in  Port  Louis  there  is 
an  annual  tax  of  l^.  3d.  per  cent,  on  the  estimated  value. 
Every  thing  sold  in  the  bazaar,  whether  it  be  fish,  flesh,  fowl, 
vegetables,  or  hucksteries,  is  taxed,  as  are  also  the  shop- 
keepers, who  sell  them,  according  to  the  stall. 

Indirect.  Two  per  cent,  registering  acts  of  sale ;  one  do.  for 
transcribing  do.  and  proportional  taxes  on  every  business  act. 
Stamped  paper  from  3d.  to  2s.  8d.  and  upwards.  Licenses, 
for  instance,  on  an  inn  and  coffee  house  in  Port  Louis,  10/. 
per  month,  and  in  the  country  71.  do.  On  a  pedlar  11.  per 
do.  On  carriages,  gigs  and  carts,  from  II.  I2s.  to  21.  per 
annum.  Boats,  canteens,  distilleries,  printing  offices,  &c.  are 
farmed  out  by  auction.  On  grants  of  land,  II.  to  61.  in  pro- 
portion. The  right  to  fish  in  the  sea  with  a  seine  is  1/.  a  year, 
and  with  a  line  I2s ;  nay  even  according  to  the  size  of  the 
seine  the  tax  is  raised. 

The  Police  taxes  are  numerous  and  heavy,  for  instance  a 
certificate  of  life  costs  4*.  and  oi  enregistrement  I2s.  and  for 
every  hundred  words  of  the  certificate  above  the  first,  1*.  7d. 
per  100.     A  visit  on  board  an  English  ship*  6s.  a  foreign  I2s. 

The  Anchorage  and  Pilotage  dues  are  heavy,  and  also  the 
cost  of  boats  for  loading  or  discharging  ships,  which  must 
be  employed.^  There  are  also  numerous  taxes  on  landing 
every  article  of  merchandise  or  private  property,  which  though 
trifling  individually,  are  vexatious  and  oppressive  in  the  ag- 
gregate. 

Monetary  System. — The  former  terms  of  piastres,  cents. 
&c.    are  now  being  converted  into  English  money ;   various 

*  The  Police  of  Mauritius  would  rival  in  espionage  the  most  favourite 
corps  of  Fouche ;  they  are  everywhere — know  every  thing — and  charge  for 
all  they  do. 

f  A  merchant  vessel  is  not  allowed  to  use  her  own  boats  to  load  or  un- 
load cargo,  or  even  to  water  at  Mauritius! 


MONEY  TARIFF,  PORT  LOUIS. 


193 


coins  are  current  and  often  abundant  in  the  island ;  their  value 
in  September,  1834,  was  as  follows: 


MONEY  TARIFF. 

Pr. 

Cts. 

Dec. 

£ 

s  . 

d. 

Rupee  Sicca     .... 

52 

I 

2 

1 

Rupee  Madras  or  Bombay 

47 

11 

1 

11 

Half-crown       .... 

62 

6 

2 

6 

Spanish  or  American  Dollar     . 

1 

8 

4 

4 

4 

Do.  Sicily        .... 

1 

2 

1 

4 

1 

I  Franc  piece 

20 

10 

10 

2  Francs  do 

41 

8 

1 

8 

Shilling            .... 

25 

1 

Sovereig'n         .... 

5 

33 

4 

1 

13 

4 

Gold  mohur  of  Bengal 

8 

18 

9 

1 

8 

9 

Gold  mohur  of  Bombay  . 

7 

1 

I  cannot  ascertain  the  amount  of  circulating  medium  in  the 
colony  nor  the  proportion  of  paper  money  in  use. 

A  chartered  bank  was  estabUshed  at  Port  Louis  in  June, 
1831,  with  a  capital  of  500,000  piastres,  in  1000  shares  of  500 
each. 

Of  the  capital  300,000  prs.  have  been  paid  up,  and  it  is 
now  in  such  a  flourishing  state  as  to  be  dividing  a  profit  at  the 
rate  of  nine  per  cent,  per  annum.*  As  an  encouragement  for 
the  establishment  of  banks  in  our  other  colonies,  I  give  the 
following  official  account  of  the  transactions  of  the  Mauritius 
bank  on  the  6th  August,  1834 — ^just  as  it  has  been  issued  in 
the  colony. 

Dans  ses  diverses  operations,  la  Banque  a  conserve  des  garanties  spe- 
oiales,  qui  peuvent  etre  classees  comme  suit : 
A  I'appui  du  pone-feuille  : 

En  billets  deposes,  lettre  de  credit,  inscriptions  sur 
immeubles  et  nantissements  de  valeurs  mobiliferes 
A  I'appui  des  traites  remises  ^  Londres  : 

D'apr^s  connaisseraents  et  factures  de  marchandises 

expediees 

A  I'appui  des  comptes  courants  : 

En  depots  de  billets  et  obligations  de  tiers-repondants 


109,545  p. 


123,283 
95,926 


54  c. 


85 


Total  des  garanties     .     328,755  p.  39  c. 


*  The  Firm  of  Messrs.  Reid,  Irving  &  Co.  are  the  London  Agents  for 
this  establishment. 


VOL.   IV. 


194  FINANCIAL  ACCOUNT  OF 

La  situation  de  le  Banque,  arrfitee  pour  le  semestre  au  17  Juillet  dormer, 
pr^sente  ce  qui  suit : 

Le  porte-feuille,  de 214,245  p.  09  c. 

Les  fonds  disponibles  k  Londres      .    41,666  p.  36  c. 
Moins,  une  sorame  ^  M  M.  Thomson, 
Passmore  &  Thompson,  h  regler 
plus  tard  en  compte  avec  eux         3,016    70 

38,649       66 

Les  balances  de  14  comptes  courants  dues  h.  I'^tablis- 

sement 34,734       46 

61  billets  arri^r^s 18,397       70 


Montant  des  affaires  courantes    .     .    306,026  p.  90  c. 
L'effectif  en  eaisse        .        .        .     495,943  p.  66  c. 
Moins,  3  sommes  revues  en  d^pot, 
^  rendre  h  volont^  3887  p.  27  c 
Et  quelques  dividen- 
des  des  semestres 
pr^cddens  a  payer.     609 

4496      27 


Le  mobilier,  se  composant  de  bureaux,  coffres-forts, 

&a  .  .  .  . 

Divers  frais  de  poursuite,  h  r^clamer  sur  les  billets 

arrier^s 

Total  de  I'actif 

L'actif  etabli  ci-dessus,  r^sulte  : 

Des  trois  cinquifemes  versus  au  commencement  par  les 

Actionnaires  .  ...... 

Du  papier  mis  en  circulation  pour  une  valeur  de 

Des  b^n^fices  non  r^partis  au  semestre 

prdcMent    ....  5144  p.  68  c. 

De  ceux  acquis  pendant  le  present 

semestre 7959      48 


491,447 

39 

1009 

04 

845 

83 

799,329 

16 

300,000 

486,225 

13,104      16 

799,329  p.  16  c. 

Voici  le  detail  de  ces  derniers  b^n^fices  : 

L'escompte  a  9  pour  cent  sur  les  billets  accept^s  et 

I'int^ret  sur  ceux  r^glds  en  retard  .         .        .  9505  p.  57  c. 

L'int^ret  sur  quatre  comptes  courants  rdgl^s      .        .  982      02 


THE  BANK  AT  PORT  LOUIS. 


195 


L'agio  sur  I'achat  de  3  traites  particuliferes  et  sur  la 

vente  de  69  traites  de  la  Banque     .        .        .         .  2159       15 

Les  transferts  de  39  actions 7S 

Le  dividende  acquis  h  la  dernifere  repartition  sur  5  ac- 
tions qui  appartenaient  ^  la  Baiique        ...  45 


12,769  p.  75  c. 


II  faut  en  deduire  les  frais  suivants  : 

Six  mois  de  loyers  de  I'^tablissement, 

130  piastres  par  mois  .  .  .     780  p. 

Six  mois  d'appointeraents  des  em- 
ployes ensemble  505  piastres  par 
mois       ......  3030 

Divers  frais  gdn^raux,  tels  que  ports 
de  lettres,  avis  de  gazettes,  frais  de 
bureaux,  &c  .         ...      200    .54  c. 

Divers  frais  ^  Londres  :  commissions 
k  MM.  Reid,  Irving  &  Co.  achats 
de  registres,  papier,  plumes,  &a     .      549        72 

Contribution  ^  la  Caisse  des  secours, 
pour  les  indigents,  aprfes  I'ouragan 
de  Janvier  dernier         .         .        .      250 


4810       26 


Reste  net        .         .        .  7959  p.  48  c. 


Le  montant  total  des  b^n^fices  port^s  ci-dessus  h.  13,104  p.  16  c.  repr^- 
sente  done  maintenant  un  peu  plus  de  4j  pour  cent  sur  le  capital  de 
300,000  p.  versd  par  les  Actionnaires. 

P.  DEPINAY, 
President  de  la  Cour  des  Directeurs. 

Religion,  Education,  and  the  Press.  —  Under  these 
heads  I  have  no  statistical  details  to  offer ;  under  some  des- 
potic governments  much  attention  is  frequently  paid  to  sta- 
tistics, but  in  those  colonies,  where  an  absolute  government 
prevails,  nothing  of  the  kind  has  heretofore  been  considered 
desirable  ;*  let  me  hope  that  at  no  distant  day  the  deficiency 
will  cease  to  exist.  Of  the  French  inhabitants  the  majority 
are  of  the  Romish  faith,  and  scrupulously  observant  of  the 

*  For  a  contrast,  see  my  third  volume  on  the  Canadas,  or  several  of  the 
West  India  islands  in  mv  second  volume. 


196  RELIGION,  EDUCATION,  AND  THE  PRESS. 

rites  enjoined  by  their  religion,  which,  as  its  forms  are  more 
imposing*  than  the  Lutheran,  or  Estabhshed  Church,  has 
had  the  effect  of  causing  many  slaves,  or  freemen  who  had 
once  been  such,  to  follow  it.  There  is  a  Roman  Catholic 
prelate,  styled  Bishop  of  Ruspa,  and  a  considerable  number 
of  priests  appointed  by,  I  believe,  the  Pope.  The  congre- 
gation of  the  English  church  is  small,  and  the  Scotch  have  a 
place  of  worship,  as  have  also  some  Missionaries. 

In  the  statistical  tables  printed  by  the  Board  of  Trade,  the 
number  of  churches  and  chapels  are  stated  at  eight,  capable 
of  containing  3,350  and  usually  attended  by  880,  the  expense 
being  3,348/. ; — whether  this  includes  Christians  of  all  deno- 
minations or  not  it  is  difficult  to  say. 

Education  is  general  among  the  white  and  free  coloured 
population ;  the  authority  above  quoted  gives  the  number  of 
schools  at  16,  male  scholars  1,456,  female  966,  total  2,422, 
and  expense  of  schools  1,658/.  ;  these  of  course  are  public 
seminaries.  There  are  several  good  private  academies  in  the 
colony,  but  parents  prefer  sending  their  children,  of  both 
sexes,  to  be  educated  in  Europe.  The  College  Royal,  at  Port 
Louis,  is  an  excellent  establishment,  well  provided  with  Pro- 
fessors, &c. 

The  Press,  under  an  absolute  government,  can  present  few 
details  of  interest.  The  first  newspaper  was  established  in 
the  colony  in  1773;  it  has  still,  I  believe,  but  one  newspaper, 
and  its  appearance  is  as  if  a  printing  press  were  the  introduc- 
tion of  yesterday.  Other  colonies  issue  a  directory  or  almanac 
annually,  but  the  latest  Mauritius  almanac,  at  the  Colonial 
Office  in  Downing  Street,  is  for  1828.  Before  closing  this 
chapter,  which,  with  the  darkness  that  surrounded  me,  has 
been  a  cheerless  task,  I  proceed  to  notice  the — 

*  I  witnessed  at  Port  Louis  the  celebrated  Fete  de  Dieu,  in  the  course 
of  which  the  most  beautiful  young  girls  in  the  island,  clad  in  white  robes, 
walked  bare-headed  in  procession,  strewing  flowers  before  the  '  Host.* 
The  streets  and  cathedral  were  lined  by  soldiers,  and  the  batteries  fired 
salutes.  I  think  it  would  be  proper  to  issue  a  general  order  forbidding, 
in  future,  martial  array  of  British  soldiers  at  any  religious  celebration,  no 
matter  what  creed  or  communion  it  might  be  in  honour  of. 


FOREIGN  DEPENDENCIES  OF  MAURITIUS.  197 

Foreign  Dependencies. — The  island  of  Rodrigue^  the 
Seychelles  Islands,  Diego  Garcia,  &c.  belong  to  Mauritius, 
and  an  agent  from  the  colony  is  placed  on  the  vast  and  im- 
portant island  of  Madagascar.     Rodrigue  is  situate    about 
300  miles  to  the  eastward  of  Mauritius,  in   19.  13.   S.  lat., 
about  26  miles  long  by  12  broad.     I  passed  close  to  it  in 
1823,  but  did  not  land  on  account  of  the  heavy  surf  which 
breaks  along  the  shore.    It  is  mountainous,  or  more  properly 
speaking  a  succession  of  hills,  covered  with  verdure,  the  vallies 
are  full  of  rocks  and  stones,  which  cover  the  surface  to  a  great 
extent,  leaving,  however,  a  large  portion  of  fertile  soil,  which  is 
cultivated  by  a  few  French  colonists  from  Mauritius,  with  which 
a  constant  intercourse  is  kept  up  in  transporting  turtle  from 
the  former  to  the  latter.     There  is  abundance  of  fish  around 
Rodrigue,  but  it  is  singular  that  those  caught  outside  the 
reefs  in  deep  water  are  poisonous,  and  several  sailors  have 
died  from  eating  of  them.*     One  sort  caught  near  the  island 
resembles   a  whiting,   and   from  its   destructive   qualities   is 
named  by  the  French,  mort  au  chien.j-    On  the  N.  side  of  the 
island  there  is  a  bay  affording  excellent  anchorage,  a  secure 
shelter  for  ships  of  all  dimensions,;}:  and  abundance  of  wood 
and  water.     The  air  is  delightful,  the  water  clear,  the  vege- 
tation luxuriant.     In  time  of  peace  it  is  useful  as  a  haven  for 

*  The  circumstance  of  poisonous  fish  has  never  been  properly  accounted 
for :  we  know  of  no  birds  or  animals  that  are  poisonous,  even  the  most 
venomous  snake,  when  decapitated,  is  good  eating.  Some  think  that  the 
nsh  being  poisonous  is  owing  to  copper  banks,  on  which  they  feed ;  but  it 
is  remarkable  that  the  fish  caught  on  the  same  bank  are  at  one  time  poi- 
sonous and  at  another  edible.  Some  sorts  of  fish  are,  however,  poisonous 
at  all  times,  and  I  have  seen  a  dog  die  in  a  few  minutes  after  eating  one. 
Mariners  ought  to  reject  fish  without  scales,  unless  they  know  them  to  be 
good,  and  a  silver  spoon  if  boiled  with  the  fish  will  turn  black  should  it  be 
noxious. 

f  The  early  French  settlers  narrate  that  they  found  eels  of  an  exquisite 
flavour  on  the  island,  so  large  that  one  of  them  was  a  load  for  two  men  to 
carry. 

X  The  squadron  which  was  collet-ted  from  India  and  the  Cape,  for  the 
conquest  of  Mauritius,  in  1810,  rendezvoused  here. 


198 


THE  SEYCHELLES  ARCHIPELAGO. 


shipwrecked   mariners,*   and  in  a  war  time  as  a  cruising 
station. 

The  Seychelles  or  Mahe  Islands,  situate  to  the  north- 
ward of  Madagascar,  between  the  parallels  of  4.  and  5.  S. 
lat.,  were  partially  explored  by  M.  Lazarus  Picault,  in  1743, 
by  order  of  Mahe  de  la  Bourdonnais,  the  Governor  of  the 
Isle  of  France,  but  in  all  probability  they  were  previously 
known  to  the  Portuguese,  as  were  the  Amirantes,  a  low  and 
comparatively  insignificant  group,  80  miles  distant;  if,  how- 
ever, the  Portuguese  saw  them,  it  seems  strange  that  they 
were  not  explored,  as  we  would  then  have  had  an  earlier 
account  of  the  coco  de  mer  peculiar  to  those  islands. 

The  Seychelles  capitulated  to  the  English  in  1794,  after 
which  their  flag  was  considered  neutral  between  the  English 
and  French,  when  belligerents :  on  the  capture  of  Mauritius 
the  islands  were  taken  possession  of  as  a  dependency  of  that 
colony,  and  have  since  continued  under  the  superintendence 
of  an  agent  deputed  from  Mauritius,  who  is  aided  by  25 
soldiers  from  one  of  the  regiments  in  garrison  at  the  latter 
place. 

The  following  are  the  names  of  the  principal  islands,  with 
the  number  of  acres  contained  in  each, — 


Names. 

Acres. 

Names. 

Acres. 

Names. 

Acres. 

Mahe 
Praslin 
Silhouette 
La  Digue  . 
Curieuse 

30000 
8000 
5700 
2000 
1000 

St.  Anne    . 
Cerf     .     . 
Frigate  .     . 
Mariane    . 
Conception 

500 
400 
300 
250 
120 

Felicity     . 
North  Island 
Denis     .     . 
Vache 
Aride     .     . 

800 
500 
200 
200 
150 

Total  acres      .       .       .     50,120. 
There  are  upwards  of  15  other  islands  of  a  smaller  size,  all 

*  A  vessel  from  Bombay  (the  Eldon),  laden  with  cotton,  took  fire  at  sea 
in  October  last  (1834),  and  the  crew,  after  being  many  days  in  an  open 
boat,  reached  Rodrigue  when  almost  perishing,  and  thence  the  Mauritius. 


MAKE  AND  ITS  SURROUNDING  ISLES.  199 

resting  on  an  extensive  bank  of  sand  and  coral,  which  also 
surrounds  them  to  a  great  extent. 

Make,  the  seat  of  government  at  the  Seychelles,  and  prin- 
cipal island  in  the  group,  is  16  miles  long,  and  from  three  to 
five  broad,  with  a  very  steep  and  rugged  granite  mountain 
running  through  the  centre.  The  town  of  Make  is  situate 
on  the  north  side,  in  a  small  glen,  irregularly  built,  and 
containing  some  good  houses ;  the  principal  persons  being, 
however,  in  the  environs.  It  is  of  course  more  densely 
peopled  than  the  others ;  the  total  population,  when  I  visited 
the  group  in  1825,  was,  whites,  582 — free  coloured,  o^S — 
and  slaves,  6,058,  total,  6,963.  There  is,  however,  a  scat- 
tered population  on  many  of  the  flat  islands  spread  about  those 
tranquil  seas  ;  sometimes  on  approaching  one  of  these  low 
verdant  isles,  the  recent  creation  of  the  coral  insect,  we  have 
been  surprised  by  a  boat  pushing  off  from  the  shore,  and  a 
dark-coloured  Frenchman,  or  Portuguese,  coming  on  board 
the  frigate  and  presenting  us  with  eggs,  milk,  and  fowls,  at 
the  same  time  informing  us  that  the  island  we  saw  was  his, 
and  that  his  family  would  receive  us  hospitably  if  we  would 
land.  On  several  of  the  Seychelles  and  Amirante  group  we 
found  no  inhabitants,  but  abundance  of  hogs  and  goats,  as 
also  papaws,  cocoa  nuts,  and  other  edible  fruit ;  indeed  cruising 
about  this  beautiful  archipelago  is  more  like  romance  than 
reality ;  while  the  Italian  beauty  of  the  skies,  the  serenity  of 
the  atmosphere,  and  the  elastic  purity  of  the  breeze  add  a 
peculiar  charm  to  the  soft  scenery  around.  The  oldest  resident 
at  the  Seychelles  never  witnessed  there  a  gale  of  wind  ;  but 
the  sea  breeze  is  constant,  and  tempers  the  heat  so  as  to  divest 
a  nearly  vertical  sun  of  the  ill  eflfects  of  its  fervid  rays.*  The 
thermometer  varies  from  84.  to  64.,  its  mean  being  70.  to  72. ; 
the  healthiness  of  the  station  is  indicated  by  the  great  age 
and  large  families   of  the  inhabitants ;    indeed  it  is  no  un- 

*  I  have  spent  whole  days  wandering  from  island  to  island  among  the 
Seychelles  group,  and  revelling  in  their  romantic  scenery,  with  no  other 
protection  from  a  tropical  sun  than  a  broad-brimmed  straw  hat,  yet  with- 
out feeling  the  slightest  bad  eiFect,  and  with  but  little  fatigue. 


200  LONGEVITY  AT  THE  SEYCHELLES — VEGETATION. 

common  sight  to  see  four  generations  sitting  down  at  the  same 
table,  and  forming  a  numerous  party. 

Although  the  bank  on  which  this  archipelago  is  situate  is 
of  coral  formation,  yet  all  the  Seychelles  Islands,  except  two, 
are  of  granite,  huge  blocks  of  which,  generally  piled  up  as  it 
were  in  a  confused  mass,  form  their  peaks,  which  are  covered 
with  verdure.  Lieutenant  (now  Captain)  R.  Owen,  R.N., 
and  myself,  with  a  party  of  seamen,  ascended  North  or  Fearn 
Island  after  two  hours  and  a  half  difficult  climbing.  Towards 
the  summit,  for  many  feet,  there  was  nothing  but  huge  blocks 
of  granite,  piled  on  each  other  as  a  number  of  paving  stones 
would  be  on  an  Irish  cearn ;  several  of  these  rocks  were  of 
the  magnitude  of  a  small  sized  house,  and  so  nicely  poised 
that  one  might  be  moved  with  the  little  finger. 

The  Seychelles  possess  many  excellent  harbours,  and  being 
never  visited  by  tornadoes,  the  neighbourhood  is  frequented 
by  Whalers  who  fill  up  their  vessels  rapidly  with  sperm  oil.* 
The  inhabitants  cultivate  cotton  (of  a  superior  quality),  spices, 
coffee,  tobacco,  rice,  maize,  cocoa  nuts,  &c.,  and  carry  on  a  lu- 
crative trade  in  the  numerous  small  vessels,  which  they  pos- 
sess, in  articles  suited  to  the  Indian,  Mauritius,  and  Bourbon 
markets. 

The  vegetation  around  is  extremely  luxuriant,  the  most 
remarkable  is  that  termed  the  coco  de  mer,  so  called  because 
the  nuts  were  found  on  the  shores  of  Malabar,  and  on  the 
coasts  of  the  Maldive  Islands,  many  years  before  the  place  of 
their  growth  was  ascertained,  when  each  nut  sold  for  300/. 
or  400/.  from  its  supposed  medicinal  quality.  The  nut  is  con- 
fined in  its  growth  to  the  Seychelles,  and  even  there  to  two 
islands — Praslin  and  Curieuse.  It  springs  from  a  species  of 
palm,  GO  to  80  feet  high,  with  full  leaves,  at  their  junction  hangs 
the  nut,  one  foot  long,  eight  inches  thick,  with  a  light  coloured 
tasteless  jelly  in  each  of  the  compartments ;  the  seed  vessel  is 
about  two  feet  long  and  three  inches  diameter,  studded  with 
small  yellow  flowers  issuing  from  a  regular  projection,  which  re- 

*  Some  sliips  arc  afraid  to  iish  on  this  bank,  the  whale  being  so  violent 
when  wounded. 


SPICE  GARDEN  AT  MAHE  BURNT.  201 

semble  those  of  the  pine  apple.  The  smell  arising  from  the 
flower  is  by  most  Europeans  considered  unbearable,  its  ofFen- 
siveness  increasing  the  longer  the  flower  be  kept. 

Various  spices  grow  on  Mahe,  &;c.  such  as  the  cinna- 
mon plant,  cloves,  nutmeg  and  pepper,  which  were  introduced 
by  orders  of  M.  De  Poivre,  the  intelligent  Governor  of  Mau- 
ritius, with  a  view  to  rival  the  Dutch  in  the  Moluccas :  the  cul- 
tivation, if  persevered  in,  would  probably  have  rendered  the 
Seychelles,  at  the  present  day,  as  valuable  as  the  far-famed 
spice  islands,  but  for  a  singular  circumstance.  The  plantation 
at  the  Seychelles  was  tended  with  great  care  as  a  national  under- 
taking, but  as  the  French  were  apprehensive  that  the  islands 
might  be  attacked  by  the  British  squadron,  orders  were  given 
by  the  Governor  of  Mauritius,  to  surround  the  spice  garden 
with  bundles  of  dried  faggots,  and  other  combustible  matter, 
and  the  moment  a  British  vessel  of  war  hove  in  sight,  to  set 
fire  to  the  whole.  A  large  vessel  shortly  after  hove  in  sight 
with  English  colours,  the  spice  trees  were  immediately  burned, 
and  the  ship  of  war  came  into  Mahe  harbour,  with  the  tri- 
color flag,  it  being  a  French  man-of-war  that  had  used  a 
ruse,  to  try  whether  the  islands  had  a  British  force  on  them. 
The  feelings  of  the  French,  when  the  valuable  plantations 
were  being  consumed,  may  be  readily  imagined. 

Mahe  has  a  British  resident  from  the  Mauritius,  with 
some  subordinates,  and  there  is  a  petty  civil  and  criminal 
court,  held  for  trial  of  causes  and  offences  ;  every  thing, 
however,  after  the  French  style,  even  the  gens  (Varmes  seem 
as  if  newly  imported  from  Paris.*  The  inhabitants  are  ex- 
tremely hospitable ;  and  I  would  strongly  recommend  our 
whalers  visiting  the  Seychelles,  instead  of  leaving  the  fishing 

*  A  ludicrous  circumstance  occurred  when  I  was  at  Mah<5 ;  the  sailors 
of  our  squadron  were  allowed  a  day's  revelry  on  shore,  and,  of  course,  some 
of  them  got  drunk  and  were  lodged  by  the  gens  d'armes  in  a  small  watch- 
house,  situate  on  a  slope.  The  jacks  took  a  curious  mode  of  liberating 
their  comrades  ;  they  got  a  strong  hawser,  belayed  it  round  the  walls  of 
the]  watch-house,  and  nearly  200  hands  heaved  on  the  hawser,  until  they 
hove  down  the  watch-house  and  nearly  killed  their  drunken  comrades,  who 
had,  by  this  time,  made  a  hole  in  the  "deck"  (roof),  and  got  aloft,  while 
the  gens  d'armos  fled  for  their  lives. 


202  DIEGO  GARCIA — THE  COCO  ISLANDS. 

to  the  Americans  and  French.  The  central  position  of  the 
Seychelles  for  trade,  with  the  Eastern  Hemisphere,  is  thus 
shewn : — Make  to  Madagascar,  576  miles ;  Comoros,  828  ; 
Mauritius,  928;  Mombas,  930;  Delagoa  Bay,  1,800;  Bom- 
bay, 1,680;  Arabia,  1,230;  Cape  of  Good  Hope,  2,640. 
Had  the  settlement  which  Captain  W.  F.  W.  Owen  so  wisely 
formed  at  Mombas,  on  the  E.  coast  of  Africa,  not  have  been 
given  up  (the  Americans  are  now  establishing  themselves  on 
this  coast),  we  should  have  had  a  perfect  chain  of  posts,  if  I 
may  so  term  it,  for  the  extension  and  protection  of  our 
commerce. 

Diego  Garcia  is  situate  farther  E.  about  4°.  from  the 
Equator,  and  is  one  of  those  numerous  coral  islands  with 
which  these  seas  abound.*  It  contains  plenty  of  turtle,  and 
has  a  few  residents  from  the  Mauritius. 

Before  leaving  this  subject  it  may  be  well  to  advert  to 
Madagascar,  where  the  French  have  in  vain  sought  to  obtain 
a  footing  for  the  last  200  years,  but  have  been  repulsed  with 
determined  bravery  by  the  Malagashes,  whose  frequent  ex- 
clamation is  "  trade  with  us  mutually,  on  advantageous  terms, 
and  you  are  welcome  to  our  shores,  and  shall  enjoy  our  hospi- 
tality and  our  friendship  ;  but  claim  an  inch  of  our  ground 
as  lords  of  the  soil,  or  a  particle  of  authority  over  ourselves 
or  our  rights,  and  we  will  perish,  to  a  man,  before  we  succumb  r 

The  island  of  Madagascar  extends  between  the  parallels  of 
12.2.  and  25.40.  S.  Lat.  (i.  e.  upwards  of  800  miles  in  length) 
and  the  meridians  of  43.4 1 .  and  50.30.  E.  Long,  separated 
from  the  eastern  coast  of  Africa  by  the  Mozambique  channel, 
which  is  nearly  300  miles  broad.  Ptolemy  was,  probably,  ac- 
quainted with  the  island :  Marco  Polo  in  the  13th  century 
describes  it  by  its  present  name,  having  received  his  know- 
ledge from  the  Arabs ;  the  Portuguese  who  discovered  it  in 

•  The  Coco  islands  in  Lat.  12.06.  S.,  Long.  97-04.  E.  are  a  circular  chain 
of  islands  and  keys,  lined  by  a  coral  reef,  with  a  sounding  from  12  to  20 
fathoms,  where  a  ship  may  anchor :  an  extensive  harbour  on  the  N.  ex- 
tremity with  but  one  entrance,  three  miles  wide,  straggling  rocks  and  a  reef 
project  one  mile  and  a  half  from  W.  side  of  entrance.  Now  settled  on  by 
Capt.  Ross   an  American. 


MADAGASCAR ITS  GEOGRAPHY  AND  ASPECT.  203 

1506,  gave  it  the  name  of  St.  Lawrence,  and  the  French,  in 
the  reign  of  Henry  IV.,  called  it  Isle  Dauphin.  The  vastness 
of  Madagascar  may  be  judged  of  from  its  length :  it  has 
been  estimated  to  contain  one  hundred  and  ffty  million  acres 
of  land.  I  have  visited  many  parts  of  the  island,  particularly 
the  greater  part  of  the  S.  and  W.  coasts,  and  found  it  generally 
beautiful,  clothed  with  timber,  and  verdant  with  rich  pastures. 
Along  the  E.  coast  a  margin  of  low  land  extends  from  10  to 
30  miles  from  the  shore,  and  along  the  W.  coast  from  50  to 
100,  the  land  then  rises,  forming  extensive  steppes  or  tables, 
running  N.  and  S.  diversified  with  hills  of  greater  or  less 
elevation,  (the  highest  about  6,000  feet  above  the  sea),  luxu- 
riant vallies,  passes,  and  ravines,  craters  of  extinct  volcanoes,* 
immense  forests,  savannas,  rivers  and  lakes,  the  latter  affording 
some  of  the  finest  scenery  in  the  island,  while  almost  evei'y 
part  of  the  coast,  especially  the  western  shore,  is  indented 
with  spacious  harbours  and  bays,  some  of  them  50  miles  deep, 
with  soundings  in  every  part,  and  sheltered  from  all  winds. 

The  population  is  considered  in  number  to  be  about  five 
million,  and  appear  to  be  two  distinct  races ;  those  on  the  sea 
shore  being  a  dark  colour,  with  bushy  black  hair,  Herculean 
figures,  noses  rather  flat,  and  the  cranium  partaking  slightly 
of  the  negro  formation.  The  inhabitants  of  the  table  land 
in  the  interior  are  of  a  copper  or  light  colour,  hair  long  and 
silky,  and  the  head  and  face  of  a  Roman  cast.  To  this  latter 
race  belonged  Radama,  the  late  intelligent  King  of  the  greater 
part  of  the  island,  and  whose  efforts  for  the  suppression  of 
the  slave  trade,  and  the  introduction  into  Madagascar  of  the 
civilizing  arts,  earned  for  him  the  praise  of  every  good  man. 
The  superiority  of  the  light  over  the  dark  coloured  Mala- 
gashes  was  strikingly  evinced,  when  a  certain  number  of 
youths,  of  both  colours,  were  placed  on  board  the  vessels  of 
war  on  the  Cape  station,  in  order  to  form  a  set  of  seamen  for 

*  I  examined  several  craters  on  the  W.  coast,  and  they  appeared  to  have 
been  a  lon^  time  in  their  present  position ;  in  shape,  that  of  an  inverted 
cone,  the  sides  coated  vvitli  a  thick  crusting  of  sulphureous  matter.  The 
natives  in  the  neighbourhood  assured  me  that  there  were  some  '  burning 
mountains  inland. 


204  POPULATION  OF  MADAGASCAR. 

Radama,  as  we  had  already  aided  him,  through  the  instru- 
mentahty  of  Mr.  Hastie,  in  forming  a  powerful  army.  Six 
light  and  six  dark  coloured  youths  were  shipped  on  board  the 
Ariadne ;  one  of  each  colour  was  placed  under  the  care  of 
the  carpenter,  another  pair  under  the  armourer,  and  another 
pair  under  the  sail  maker  ;  the  light  coloured  race  learned 
their  respective  trades  as  aptly,  if  not  more  so  than  English 
youths  would  have  done ;  the  dark  coloured  were  slow  but 
persevering,  and,  as  sailors,  never  exhibited  that  activity  aloft 
which  their  fairer  countrymen  did ;  though  the  latter  were  an 
inland  people,  and  the  former  belonging  to  the  sea  shore. 
The  superiority  of  the  Caucasian  or  Arab*  race  now  described, 
will  account  for  the  fact  that  Radama  had  nearly  subdued, 
before  his  death,  the  numerous  petty  sovereignties  into  which 
the  island  is  divided,  and,  although  his  death  has,  for  the 
present,  checked  this  procedure,  there  can  be  little  doubt 
that,  at  no  distant  day,  the  whole  of  Madagascar  will  form  a 
consolidated  and  powerful  empire ;  the  establishment  of 
which  will  be  aided  by  the  striking  circumstance  that  the 
language  is  radically  the  same  throughout  the  island,  pecu- 
liarly soft,  flexible  and  copious,  and  with  few  varieties  of 
dialect. f 

A  fine  field  of  commerce  is  opening  on  the  island  for  British 
enterprize,  if  conducted  with  honesty  and  good  faith. |  The 
Malagash  are  clothed,  the  men  in  flowing  robes  of  cotton 
cloth,  principally  of  native  manufacture,  frequently  of  plaid 
pattern,  and  worn  like  the  Roman  toga  ;  the  women  wear  a 
short  jacket,  with  long  sleeves,  and  folding  robes  round  the 

*  The  Arabs  have,  from  time  immemorial,  trader]  with  Madagascar,  and  as 
the  Malagashes  have  many  customs  appertaining  to  the  faith  of  Islamism, 
(although  it  is  not  a  little  singular  that  they  also  perform  several  Jewish 
rites)  it  might  be  inferred  that  the  light  coloured  race  were  descendants 
from  the  Arabs,  but  if  such  were  the  case  they  would  form  the  sea  coast 
tribes,  not  as  at  present,  an  inland  and  mountainous  people. 

f  It  is  more  nasal  on  the  coast  than  the  interior,  and  appears  to  have 
more  affinity  with  the  Malay  than  with  that  of  any  other  oriental  nation. 
Oratory  is  much  cultivated,  and  in  their  kabars  or  public  assemblies,  the 
speeches  sometimes  exhibit  an  impressive  and  impassioned  eloquence. 

+  The  IMalagash  have,  in  general,  a  great  aversion  to  the  French,  who 


COMMERCE  OF  THE  ISLAND.  205 

waist  and  limbs  :  they  possess  abundance  of  cattle,*  (I  have 
seen  herds  of  several  thousands  together  and  perfectly  wild  :)f 
almost  every  variety  of  timber ;  they  work  iron,  tin,  copper, 

have  several  times  attempted  by  force  or  fraud  to  form  settlements  on  their 
island,  and  who  have  often  enticed  the  Mala<^ash  on  board  to  trade,  (they 
being  very  fond  of  commerce),  set  their  canoes  adrift,  and  then  carried 
their  victims  into  slavery.  An  instance  of  this  kind  occurred  in  1825,  a 
French  vessel  bound  off  the  coast,  seized  on  the  fishermen  and  others, 
and  set  sail  for  Bourbon;  the  Malagash,  a  few  days  after,  saw  His  Majesty's 
vessels  Barracouta  ?iiwA  Albalros  anchor  off  the  shore,  and  commence  sending 
their  boats  in  different  directions  (we  were  surveying  the  coast) ; — they  sup- 
posed US  to  be  French  and  resolved  on  vengeance.  Two  officers  with  a 
cutter's  crew,  were  sent  to  a  neighbouring  bank,  or  rather,  small  island,  to 
fix  their  observations,  and  while  tlie  seamen  were  walking  round  the  is- 
land a  few  Malagash  rushed  from  behind  some  bushes  and  killed,  with  their 
spears,  the  two  officers,  (Messrs.  Bowey  and  Parsons)  they  then  went  in 
search  of  the  seamen,  but  the  latter  fortunately  got  ofiF,  and  returned  on 
board  the  Barracouta  with  the  dead  bodies.  I  may  here  mention  that 
among  many  other  escapes  which  I  have  had,  this  was  one ;  I  had  got  into 
the  cutter  in  the  morning  and  was  pushing  off  with  my  brother  officers, 
(whose  mangled  remains  I  assisted  to  inter  before  sunset),  when  my  pre- 
sence was  required  on  board,  to  examine  the  body  of  a  seaman,  named 
Morrison,  who  had  just  died  of  a  liver  complaint,  by  whi^h  means  my  life 
was  providentially  saved. 

*  When  I  was  at  Bembatok  Bay  there  were  several  large  American  ships 
there,  purchasing  bullocks  at  a  dollar  each,  or  for  musketry,  gunpowder, 
&c.  The  bullocks  were  killed  on  the  shore,  the  fat  melted  and  casked,  the 
hides  sailed,  and  the  flesh  cut  into  long  stripes,  dried  in  the  sun,  and 
packed  in  bulk  for  conveyance  to  the  Havannah.  The  American  begged 
us  not  to  tell  any  of  their  countrymen  that  we  saw  them  thus  engaged ; 
they  acknowledged  that  they  had  carried  on  this  profitable  trade  from 
Salem  for  several  years,  and  no  person  but  their  owners  knew  its  source. 
They  also  obtained  tortoiseshell,  sandal  wood,  &c. 

t  Provisions  are  extremely  abundant  at  St.  Augustine's  Bay ;  our 
squadron  laid  in  a  large  stock  of  sheep,  fowls,  (the  capons  are  as  large  as 
an  English  turkey),  eggs,  yams,  sweet  potatoes,  pumpkins,  oranges,  honey, 
&c.  &c.  at  the  most  trifling  expence  ;  half  a  dozen  sheep  being  given  for 
the  brass  rim  of  an  old  cabin  lamp  ;  and  other  articles  in  proportion.  The 
mariner  should  not,  however,  trust  himself  here  too  much  on  shore  ;  I  went 
inland  to  one  of  the  villages  with  a  brotlier  officer,  and  the  Malagash  would 
liave  massacred  us  for  the  sake  of  our  pistols  and  dirks,   but  that  the 


206  PROGRESS  OF  CIVILIZATION  AT  MADAGASCAR. 

gold,  and  silver,  (of  the  two  latter  they  make  chains  of  great 
length,  and  of  neat,  often  elegant,  workmanship),  and  they  ma- 
nufacture to  a  considerable  extent  silk,  cotton,  and  hemp,  some 
of  their  cloths  being  dyed  with  hues  of  the  brightest  colours. 
The  coin  in  general  circulation  is  the  Spanish  dollar,  cut  into 
pieces,  (the  Horas,  or  olive-coloured  people,  divide  the  dollar 
into  760  parts).  This  domestic  but  high  spirited  people,  have 
admitted  British  missionaries  among  them,  who  have  now 
established  schools  and  a  college  at  the  capital  of  the  island, 
(Tannarivo),  set  up  a  printing  press,  and  introduced  several 
English  artizans,  such  as  carpenters,  joiners,  builders,  black- 
smiths, weavers,  dyers,  tanners,  shoemakers,  &c.  I  trust, 
therefore,  that  public  attention  will  be  directed  to  this  splendid 
island,  not  only  for  the  sake  of  our  own  commerce,  but  also 
for  the  promoting  the  civilization  of  its  numerous,  industrious, 
and  interesting  people. 

The  eastern  coast  of  Africa,  which  Mauritius  is  so  favour- 
ably situate  for  carrying  on  an  extensive  commerce  with,  is 
almost  unknown  to  Europeans,  although  the  Portuguese  have 
settled  on  its  shores  for  nearly  300  years.  I  visited  the  whole 
coast  from  Delagoa  Bay  to  beyond  the  Equator,  and  am  con- 
vinced a  lucrative  trade  might  be  conducted  with  safety  and 
advantage.  At  the  Portuguese  settlements  of  Mozambique, 
Sofala,  Inhambau,  Quilinane,  Oibo,  &c.  little  can  be  accom- 
plished until  slavery  be  totally  abolished,  but  at  the  Arab 
towns  and  forts  at  Zanzibar,  Pemba,  Mombas,  Lamos,  Pattu, 
Baava,  Mukadeesha,  &c.  there  are  active  mercantile  commu- 
nities of  Moors  and  Arabs,  who  are  anxiously  desirous  of  Bri- 
tish intercourse.  Oil,  cotton,  ivory,  skins,  horns,  gold  dust, 
ambergris,  pearls,  gums,  tobacco,  camels,  coffee,  &c.  may  be 
readily  procured  in  exchange  for  blue  and  white  calicoes, 
beads,  knives,  axes,  musquets,  gunpowder,  delf,  looking- 
glasses,  broad  cloth,  Birmingham  ware,  &c.  all  of  which  the 
Arabs,  Moors,  and  natives  are  solicitous  of  obtaining. 

women  learning  their  intention,  formed  themselves  in  a  circle  round  us, 
and  in  this  manner,  singing  their  national  songs,  danced  us  down  to  the 
boats,  in  which  they  embarked,  and  only  left  us  when  we  were  safe  on  board. 


SHIPPING  AT  MAURITIUS. 


207 


Commerce.      The  trade    of  the  island  of   Mauritius  is  ex- 
tensive, and  carried  on  with  different  nations. 

Vessels  entered  Inwards,  and  cleared  Outwards,  at  Port  Louis,  in  1832, 
as  compared  with  1833  and  1834. 


Year  ended  5th  January,  1832. 

Year  ended  5th  January,  1833. 

Inwards. 

Outwards. 

Inwards. 

Outwards. 

No. 

Tons. 

Men 

No. 

1 
Tons.   Men 

1 

No. 

Tons. 

Men 

No. 

Tons. 

Men 

31 

1 

36 
2 

1 

78 
3 
8 

11 
1 
2 

8999 

250 

3315 

308 

264 

21718 
1496 
1838 
3545 
232 

737 
13096 

4333 
3739 
854 
1006 
1106 
200 
684 
300 

607 

537 

15 

487 
21 

14 

1964 

102 

115 

207 

16 

56 

1321 

494 
255 
106 
48 
57 
50 
39 
17 
41 

74 

1 

38 
2 

1 

67 
2 

16 

2 

78 

22 

20 

5 

1 
1 

"2 

1 

2 
2 

22341 

250 

3301 

308 

347 

18324 

629 

5628 

1200 

13986 

2645 

4447 
943 

388 
200 

510 

427 

899 
476 

1289 

16 

510 

19 

20 

1804 
42 

315 

'71 

1423 

321 
312 
114 

"16 
45 

30 

40 

105 
61 

46 

'42 

1 

85 
3 
11 
U 

3 
1 

48 

38 
24 
4 

"2 

1   ■■ 

13148 
3148 

212 

24253 

847 

2444 

3616 

694 

216 

8524 

5141 
2943 
8142 

462 

766 

531 

13 

2107 

50 

129 

203 

'43 
13 

876 

622 
260 

79 
49 

85 
'39 

69 
1 

"8 

49 

2 

27 

31 

2 

1 

3 

1 

24205 

2789 

18392 
442 

2118 

1411 

Guernsey  and  Jersey 

Dependencies  of  Mauritius. . 

British  North  America 

Ascension,  Gibraltar,  and  \ 

St.  Helena J 

Other  places,  British  Vessels. 

Foreign  Vessels 

Foreign  Europe,  Brit.  Vessels 

For.  Vessels. 

Buenos  Ayres,  BritishVessels 
For.  Vessels. . 

497 

1899 
26 

133 

70 

31 
19 

5 
2 
2 

1 
2 
1 

2 

8308 

77« 

Foreign  Vessels.. 

Bourbon,  British  Vessels 

72 

3129 

5597 

379 

331 

850 
256 

10 

396 

424 

46 

18 

Manilla,  Crozats,  and  Nico- 1 

bar  Island J 

Rangoon,  Pegu,  &c   

Zanzibar  and  Moka 

97 

26 

Total 

312  [69640 

6016 

339   ,78255 

6622 

323 

67434 

5817 

320 

67288  5790 

1 

Year  ending  5th  Jan.  1834... . 

305 

76154 

5357 

289 

68420 

1 

5207 

1 

1 

1 

Proportion  of  shipping  belonging  to  different  countries. 
PORT  LOUIS— VESSELS  ENTERED  INWARDS. 


1828 

1829 

1830 

1831 

1832 

1833 

No. 

Tons. 

No. 

Tons. 

No. 

Tons. 

No. 

Tons. 

No.  Tons. 

No. 

Tons. 

British 

367 

33 

2 

1 

81651 

9375 

878 
351 

405 
63 
2 
4 
2 

92596 

18934 

889 

1322 
350 

309 
69 
3 

1 
1 
1 

71345 

20628 

993 

301 
200 
1000 

French 

Dutch  ..  i 

Arabian   

Total 

403 

92255 

476 

1 14088 

384 

94567 

No  returns. 

208 


VALUE  OF  THE  MAURITIUS  TRADE. 


The  value  of  the  trade  is  given  thus,  and  I  regret  that  the 
imperfect  returns  at  the  Custom  House  do  not  enable  me  to 
present  consecutive  years  in  the  order  which  I  have  done  in 
the  preceding  volumes,  and  in  some  of  the  colonies  contained 
in  this  volume  ;  in  fact  the  reader  can  have  no  idea  of  the  diffi- 
culties I  have  had  to  encounter  to  get  together  the  statistics 
that  are  in  the  History  of  the  Colonies,  even  with  every  dispo- 
sition on  the  part  of  official  authorities  to  aid  me  with  any  in 
the  Government  Departments.  I  hope,  however,  to  have 
more  complete  returns  prepared  for  me  by  the  time  another 
edition  of  this  work  be  required. 

Imports  in  value  at  the  Mauritius  during  the  years  1828,  1829,  and  1830. 


United  Kingdom     . 

^741,612 

Bombay 

71,095 

France 

271,872 

Malabar  Coast     .         .              1296 

Netherlands 

11,241 

Arabia 

7614 

British  North  America 

8252 

Canton 

28,046 

South  America 

6380 

Sumatra 

511 

Gibraltar     . 

4620 

Singapore 

14,637 

Cape  of  Good  Hope 

172,546 

Corynga 

189 

New  Holland 

30,407 

Manilla 

3584 

Van  Diemen's  Land 

14,603 

Rangoon 

5236 

Ceylon 

15429 

Sumbawa 

3601 

Coromandel  Coast 

154,846 

Coepang 

576 

Java 

18,171 

Madura 

.       .           3776 

Madagascar 

228,667 

Aracan 

2327 

Bourbon 
Calcutta 

129,702 
506,032 

^2,468,558 

Madras         .        .        , 

12,679 

The  principal  produce  of  the  island  is  sugar,*  the  quantity 
of  which,  together  with  other  articles  exported  during  the 
years  1832  and  1833,  was — 

*In  1824  the  quantity  of  sugar  exported  was  but  247,498  cwt;  the 
duty  was  then  reduced  on  its  importation  into  England,  and  the  exporta- 
tion yearly  augmented  until  in  1830  it  rose  to  610,725  cwts.  or  67,608,071 
lbs;  in  1831  to  70,258,819  lbs ;  in  1832  it  was  55,269,990  lbs  ;  in  1833, 
65,000,000,  and  in  1834  about  60,000,000  lbs.  Great  Britain  receives  the 
larger  part  of  the  produce,  viz.  about  50,000,000  lbs ;  the  remainder  is 
distributed  among  the  other  countries  which  it  has  been  shewn  the  island 
carries  on  a  trade  with  ;  France  receives  about  half  a  million  lbs.  and  New 
South  Wales,  British  India,  and  British  America  an  equal  quantity  each; 
the  Cape  of  Good  Hope  consumes  a  quarter  of  a  million. 


INCREASE  OF  CULTURE  AND  STOCK  AT  MAURITIUS. 


209 


Mauritius  Exports,  year  ending  5th  January. 


1832 

1833 

lbs.  Fr. 

lbs. 

Weight. 

Vc 

lue. 

Weight. 

Value. 

Sugar 

70258819 

.i 502998  74243045 

.t  536 192 

Ebony 

73867: 

209 1     160912 

304 

Cotton 

13074 

606          1 655 

60 

Cloves 

19179, 

500         5855 

165 

Tortoiseshell,  &c. 

2754 

688         2905 

2888 

Coffee 

1554 

42           900 

43 

Indigo 

444 

78 

ending  5th  Jan 

The  total  exports  of  Sugar  in 

1833 

1834 

Bags      ..... 

566461 

482151 

Casks 

587 

1532 

Barrels           .... 

81 

217 

The  progressive  increase  of  cultivation  and  stock  in  the 
colony,  is  thus  shewn: — 


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10908 

7298 

1656 

272 

2188 

31044 

260573 

1810 

120805 

56141 

24233 

9116 

6037 

2024 

204 

2673 

29969 

251202 

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125543 

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24229 

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Years. 

Horses. 

Mules  and 
Asses. 

Bulls  and 
Cows. 

Goats  and 
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Pigs. 

1788 

182 

730 

9671 

2910 

11166 

I806 

38S 

8692 

6828 

4153 

1810 

445 

1667 

11167 

3958 

1814 

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2692 

189/4 

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43548 

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763 

2290 

21913 

1797 

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1832 

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VOL.  IV. 


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IMPORTANCE  OF  MAURITIUS  TO  ENGLAND.  211 

The  importance  of  Mauritius  as  a  portion  of  the  British 
Empire  is,  in  a  commercial  point  of  view  considerable,  it  being 
favourably  situate  for  carrying  on  an  extensive  trade  with 
Madagascar  and  Eastern  Africa,  which  will  doubtless  be  cul- 
tivated when  we  cease  our  pernicious  system  of  laying  heavy 
taxes  on  the  produce  imported  from  Asia,  with  the  idea  of 
keeping  up  the  West  Indies ;  let  every  part  of  the  Empire 
be  placed  on  an  equal  footing,  just  causes  of  dissatisfaction 
removed,*   and  the  prosperity  of  the  whole  promoted.     In 

*  Mauritius  before  the  close  of  the  last  century  enjoyed  the  blessings  of 
a  free  press  ;  this,  as  well  as  their  Legislative  Asseml)ly,  we  deprived  them 
of,  as  shewn  by  the  following  decree,  which  an  Englishman  ought  to  blush 
when  perusing  : — 

"  In  the  name  of  his  Majesty,  King  George  III.,  Major-Geueral  Ralph 
Darling,  commanding  in  the  Island  of  Mauritius. 

"  Art.  I.  No  person  whatsoever  can  set  up  any  printing  press,  or  prmt 
any  works,  matters,  or  things  of  any  description  tcliatsoever,  without  having 
previously  obtained  the  license,  or  permission,  of  the  Governor  to  do  so. 

"  Art.  II.  No  person,  obtaining  such  general  license,  can  be  permitted 
to  print  any  matter  or  thing,  the  exclusive  privilege  of  which  shall  have 
been  granted  by  tlie  Governor  to  any  particular  individual,  by  patent,  con- 
tract, or  any  other  agreement. 

*'  Art.  III.  No  article  of  general  reasoning,  news,  OR  ANY  OTHER 
MATTER,  save  and  except  only  decrees,  orders,  and  notices  of  justice, 
sanctioned  and  signed  by  the  proper  authorities,  shall  be  printed  and  pub- 
lished by  any  person,  without  the  same  being  previously  submitted  to,  and 
approved  of,  by  such  persons  as  shall  be  appointed  l/y  the  government  to 
superintend  the  press  of  this  colony. 

*'  Art.  IV.  Any  and  every  infraction  whatever  of  the  three  preceding 

articles  shall  be  punished  by  a  fine  of  500  dollars. 

"  Port  Louis,  Isle  of  Mauritius, 

20th  April   1820, 

(Signed)  R.  Darling, 

"  Major-General,  Commanding." 

Lest  it  may  be  thought  that  the  foregoing  extraordinary  enactment  was 
but  for  temporary  purposes,  I  may  oI)serve  that  I  have  now  before  me  a 
correspondence  ten  years  subsequent  to  General  Darling's  proclamation 
(dated  December,  1830),  in  which  a  gentleman  at  Mauritius  was  refused 
leave  to  reprint,  in  the  island,  the  23rd  chapter  of  Custance's  work  on  the 
Constitution  of  England,  a  book  considered  servile  enough  in  Great  Bri- 
tain, but  too  liberal  for  a  Mauritius  pro-Consul.     How  can  we  expect  that 


212  JUSTICE  TO  THE  MAURITIANS. 

a  maritime  aspect  Mauritius  well  deserves  attention,  for  it 
is  situate  on  the  high  road  to  British  India,  and  while  in  the 
hands  of  our  enemies  during  the  last  war,  the  quantity  of  pro- 
perty lost  was  very  great ;  Mauritius,  like  other  colonies,  may 
be  considered  one  of  the  outposts  which  if  surrendered  would 
leave  the  citadel  an  easy  prey  to  the  invader,  whether  Gaul 
or  Muscovite. 

Were  there  no  higher  considerations  it  is  our  direct  advan- 
tage to  conciliate  the  descendants  of  the  French  population ; 
to  remember  that  when  the  island  was  incorporated  with  the 
British  Empire  it  possessed  its  local  legislature,  of  which  we 
have  deprived  it,  while  from  a  population  of  8000  whites, 
15,000  free  coloured  people,  and  70,000  slaves  and  convicts, 
an  annual  revenue  of  £230,000  sterling  is  raised  without  their 
consent,  and  appropriated  without  their  control.  I  will  not 
however  here  dwell  on  the  subject,  (as  the  general  view  of 
our  colonial  policy  will  be  found  in  the  ensuing  volume)  but  I 
ask  for  the  Mauritians  that  a  measure  of  justice  be  meted  out 
to  them  so  as  to  attach  them  to  the  parent  state,  and  that  ere 
we  blame  them  for  evincing  a  repugnance  to  our  system  of  ad- 
ministration we  first  inquire  whether  a  brave  and  enterprizing 
people,  who  had  manfully  expelled  from  their  beautiful  island 
the  sanguinary  agents  and  blood  thirsty  troops  of  the  French 
republic,  can  be  expected  to  venerate  an  absolute  Govern- 
ment, and  admire  its  sic  volo  sicjubeo  institutions. 

the  colonists  should  be  attached  to  a  governing  state,  which  a  month  before 
capturing  the  island  promised,  among  other  things,  "  to  preserve  and 
respect  their  charitable  institutions,  laws,  and  customs,"  and  "  the  system 
of  local  laws  and  administration  in  its  existing  state  ?"  fVe  have  violated 
these  promises — subjected  a  high-minded  people  to  the  most  arbitrary 
government,  and  then  complain  of  their  discontent  and  disaffection ! 


213 


CHAPTER  III. 

NEW   SOUTH   WALES. 

DISCOVERY  OF  NEW  HOLLAND  AND  DESCRIPTION  OF  THE  COAST — FORMA- 
TION OF  THE  SETTLEMENT  OF  NEW  SOUTH  WALES — ITS  EARLY  HISTORY 
PHYSICAL  ASPECT MOUNTAINS,  RIVERS,. AND  LAKES GEOLOGY,  MI- 
NERALOGY, AND  SOIL — CLIMATE — VEGETABLE  AND  ANIMAL  KINGDOMS 

POPULATION,  FREE,  CONVICT  AND  ABORIGINAL  OR  BLACK — TERRITORIAL 
DIVISIONS  AND  STAPLE  PRODUCTS — GOVERNMENT — LAWS — RELIGION, 
EDUCATION,  AND  THE  PRESS — FINANCE  AND  MONETARY  SYSTEM — COM- 
MERCE, SHIPPING,  &C. VALUE  OF  PROPERTY — SOCIAL  STATE  AND  FU- 
TURE   PROSPECTS. 

The  vast  island  of  New  Holland,  or  if  an  Irishism  may  be 
hazarded,  the  fifth  quarter  of  the  globe,  is  one  of  those  re- 
cent geographical  discoveries  which  indicate  that  whatever 
may  be  the  age  of  the  planet  on  which  we  reside,  the  civili- 
zation of  man  is  but  of  modern  creation,  or  we  must  suppose 
that  this  great  southern  land  has  not  long  emerged,  or  been 
left  dry  by  the  receding  waters  of  the  mighty  deep.* 

The  discovery  of  a  continent  in  the  north-western  hemis- 
phere in  the  fifteenth  century,  naturally  gave  rise  to  the  sup- 
position of  a  counter-balancing  territory  in  the  south-eastern 
division  of  the  earth  ;  and  several  expeditions  were  projected 
for  the  purpose  of  investigating  this  problem,  subsequent  to 
the  doubling  of  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope.  To  what  European 
nation  the  merit  of  solving  the  mystery  is  due  it  is  difficult  to 
say,  as  it  is  claimed  by  the  French,  English,  Dutch,  and 
Spanish.-]-   The  claim  of  the  French  having  discovered  Terra 

*  Blumenbach  was  so  puzzled  to  account  for  New  Holland  that  he  consi- 
dered it  to  have  been  originally  a  comet,  which  happening  to  fall  within  the 
limits  of  the  earth's  attraction  lighted  upon  its  surface,  and  certes  it  is  the 
antipodean  of  everything  European,  as  will  be  seen  in  subsequent  pages. 

f  The  chart  of  Marco  Polo  leads  to  the  supposition  that  the  Chinese 
were  cognizant  of  the  existence  of  a  Great  South  Land. 


214        CLAIMANTS  FOR  THE  DISCOVERY  OF  NEW  HOLLAND. 

Australis,  in  ISO^,  rests  upon  the  assertion  that  Paulmier  de 
Gonneville,  a  French  captain,  visited  it  in  that  year,  but  as 
the  distinguished  navigator  Fhnders  remarks,  it  was  not  to  any 
part  of  Terra  Austrahs,  but  to  Madagascar  that  Gonneville 
was  driven,  from  whence  he  conveyed  Prince  Escomerie  to 
Normandy. 

The  claim  of  the  English  is  next  in  chronological  order,  it 
rests  on  two  manuscript  charts  (now  in  the  British  Museum), 
which  were  brought  to  light  within  the  present  century ;  one 
is  in  English,  with  a  dedication  to  the  King  of  England,  and 
bearing  the  date  of  1542  ;  the  other  is  in  French,  without  date, 
and  evidently  a  copy  of  the  foregoing.  On  these  charts  an 
extensive  country  is  marked  to  the  southward  of  the  Mo- 
luccas, under  the  name  of  Great  Java,  it  agrees  more 
with  the  position  and  extent  of  Terra  Australis  than  with 
that  of  any  other  land,  and  the  tracing  of  some  parts  of  the 
coasts,  particularly  to  the  N.  and  N.W.,  approaches  too  near 
the  truth  to  have  been  marked  from  conjecture. 

We  now  arrive  at  a  consideration  of  the  Spanish  claim.  In 
1605  Pedro  Fernandez  de  Quiros  sailed  with  three  vessels 
from  Callao  in  Peru,  one  of  the  objects  of  his  expedition  being 
to  search  for  the  Tierra  Austral,  a  continent  supposed  to  oc- 
cupy a  considerable  portion  of  that  part  of  the  southern  he- 
misphere lying  westward  of  America :  Quiros,  after  the  dis- 
covery of  several  islands,  came  to  a  land  which  he  named 
Australia  del  Espiritu  Santo,  supposing  it  to  be  a  part  of 
the  great  southern  continent ;  but  Quiro's  second  in  command 
(Luis  Vaes  de  Torres),  on  his  separation  from  the  Admiral, 
found  that  the  territory  discovered  was  an  island.  Torres 
spent  two  months  in  the  intricate  navigation  of  the  strait  di- 
viding Terra  Australis  from  New  Guinea ;  but  we  know 
little  of  the  proceedings  of  himself,  or  Quiros,  as  the  accounts 
were  transmitted  by  Torres  himself  to  the  King  of  Spain, 
who  kept  them  from  the  public,  and  the  existence  of  the 
strait  (now  called  Torres  Strait*),  was  generally  unknown 
until  re-discovered  and  passed  by  Captain  Cook  in  1770. 
*  Torres,  fortuiuitcly  for  his  future  fume,  lodj^ed  a  copy  of  his  letter  to 


DUTCH  DISCOVERIES  AND  EARLY  VOYAGES.  215 

Lastly  v/e  arrive  at  the  Dutcli  claims  of  merit,  and  they 
are  certainly  early  and  extensive ;  their  authority  rests  on  the 
following.      In    1G44  Commodore   Abel   Janz    Tasman  was 
sent  from  Batavia,  on  his  second  voyage  of  discovery ;  his  in- 
structions  (signed  by  the   Governor-General   Antonio  Van 
Diemen,  and  four  members  of  council  at  Batavia),  recited  in 
chronological  order,  the  previous  discoveries  of  the  Dutch  in 
Nova  Guinea  and  the   Great  South  Land ;  from  this  docu- 
ment it  appears  that  on  the  11th  November,  1605  (the  same 
year  that  Quiros  and  Torres  sailed  from  Peru),  the  Dutch 
yacht  Tiuijfhen  was  despatched  from  Bantam  to  explore  the 
islands  of  New  Guinea,  and  that  she  sailed  along  what  was 
thought  to  be  the  W.  side  of  that  country,  to  13|  of  S.  lat., 
but  which  was  really  a  part  of  Terra  Australis  ;  the  Duy- 
fhen  returned  to  Banda  in  June  1606,  being  in  want  of  pro- 
visions, &c.,   and    thus   unconsciously  discovered   the   long 
sought  for  South  Land.     The  second  expedition,  mentioned 
in  the  Dutch  recital,  sent  in  search  of  the  "  South  Land," 
was  in  a  yacht  in   1617,  with  little   success; — the  journals 
and  remarks  could  not  be  found.     Li  1623  the  yachts  Pera 
and  Arnhem  were   despatched  from  Amboina,   on  a  similar 
errand.     Carstens,  the   Commander   of  the  expedition,  was 
murdered  on  the  coast  of  New  Guinea,  together  with  eight 
of  his  crew ;  but  it  is  stated  in  the  narrative  that  the  vessels 
pursued  their  voyage,  and  "  discovered  the  great  islands  of 
Arnhem  and  the  Sptdt."     The  Arnhem  returned  to  Amboina  ; 
the  Pera  proceeded  along  the  W.  coast  to  Cape  Keer  Weer 
(Cape  Turnagain,  where  the  Duyfhen  had  been),  and  from 
thence  explored  the  coast  further  S.,  as  far  as  17  lat. ;  the  land 
was  then  seen  stretching  to  the  westward,  and  the  Pera  re- 
turned to  Amboina.    Gerrit  Tomaz  Pool  was  sent  in  1636  from 
Banda,  with  the  yachts  Klyn  Amsterdam   and   Wezel  on  a 
similar  expedition  to  that  of  Carstens,  whose  fate  he  met  on 

the  King  of  Spain,  in  the  Archives  of  Manilla,  in  which  city  it  was  found  by 
Mr.  Dalrymple,  after  its  capture  by  the  British  troops  in  1762;  Mr.  D., 
with  true  generosity,  rescued  the  name  of  the  enterprising  Spanish  navi- 
gator from  oblivion,  and  i^ave  his  name  to  the  strait  which  he  discovered. 


216  ABEL  JANZ  TASMAN's  VOYAGE. 

the  coast  of  New  Guinea ;  the  yachts  nevertheless  pursued 
their  voyage,  and  sailed  along  the  Arnhem  (Terra  Australis 
was  then  so  called,  as  also  sometimes  Van  Diemen's  Land) 
coast  for  120  miles  S.  of  11.  lat.  without  seeing  any 
people. 

This  appears  to  have  been  all  that  was  known  when  Abel 
Janz  Tasman  sailed  upon  his  second  voyage  in  1644 ;  he 
was,  therefore,  instructed  after  passing  the  coast  of  '  Arnhem,' 
in  17.  S.  lat.  to  *  follow  the  coast  further  as  it  may  run  west- 
ward or  southward,  endeavouring  by  all  means  to  proceed, 
that  we  may  be  sure  whether  this  land  is  divided  from  the 
Great  Known  South  Land  or  not.'  It  is  evident  from  the 
latter  expression  that  the  Dutch  had  by  this  time  acquired  a 
knowledge  of  some  part  of  the  N.  coast  of  Terra  Australis, 
as  they  then  termed  it,  "  the  Great  South  Land."  Unfor- 
tunately no  account  of  this  voyage  of  '  Tasman's'  has  ever 
been  published  ;  it  appears,  however,  that  he  sailed  round 
the  Gulf  of  Carpentaria,  then  westward  and  southward,  and 
his  track  is  indicated  by  the  names  applied  to  different  places, 
namely  those  of  the  Governor-General  (Van  Diemen),  two 
of  the  Council  who  signed  his  instructions,  and  Maria,  the 
daughter  of  the  Governor-General,  to  whom  he  was  attached. 
The  preceding  information  of  Australia  was  derived  from  ex- 
peditions fitted  out  by  the  Dutch  settlers  in  India,  but  the 
outward-bound  Dutch  vessels  had  been  long  obtaining  a  know- 
ledge of  the  W.  coasts  of  Australia,  without  knowing  for  cer- 
tain that  the  discoveries  either  made  were  on  the  shores  of  one 
and  the  same  island.  In  Tasman's  instructions,  dated  1644, 
before  adverted  to,  it  is  stated  that,  "  in  the  years  1616, 
1618,  1619,  and  1622,  the  west  coasts  of  this  Great  Unknown 
South  Land,  from  35.  to  22.  S.  lat.,  was  discovered  by  out- 
ward bound  ships,  and  among  them  by  the  ship  "  Endraght ;" 
and  a  manuscript  chart  by  Ecpel  Gerrits,  dated  1627,:  the 
first  authentic  discovery  of  the  W.  coast  is  attributed  to  Dirk 
Hartog,  Commander  of  the  Endraght,  outward  bound  to 
India,  in  1616,  who  saw  the  coast  in  26^.  S.  lat.,  and  sailed 
northward  to  23.,  giving  the  name  Landt  de  Endraght  to  the 


DISCOVERY  OF  THE  WEST  COAST  OF  NEW  HOLLAND.         217 

country  so  discovered.*  The  Mauritius,  another  outward 
bound  Dutch  ship,  touched  at  Willem's  River,  near  the  N.W, 
cape,  in  July,  1618.  Captain  Edel,  commanding  an  outward 
bound  Holland  ship,  touched  on  the  coast  in  July,  1619,  and 
called  the  land  from  29.  to  26.  S.  lat.  after  his  name. 

The  ship  Leiiwin  (or  the  lioness),  another  outward  bound 
.  vessel  fell  in  with  the  coast  as  far  S.  as  So.,  and  sailed  along  it 
theN.,  giving  the  name  to  the  Cape,  in  lat.  34.19.  long.  115.6. 
In  1628  the  Vianen,  one  of  the  "  seven  ships"  which  re- 
turned to  Europe,  under  the  command  of  General  Carpenter, 
is  reported  to  have  seen  the  shore,  which  is  thus  explained  in 
the  Dutch  recital ;  "  the  coast  was  seen  again,  accidentally,  on 
the  N.  side,  m  21.  S.  lat.,  and  coasted  200  miles  without 
gaining  any  knowledge  of  this  Great  Country,  only  observing 
a  foul  and  barren  shore,  green  fields,  and  very  wild,  black, 
barbarous  inhabitants." 

This  part  was  subsequently  called  De  Witts'  Land.  In 
Thevenot's  collection  there  is  an  account  of  the  shipwreck  of 
Francisco  Pelsert,  in  the  ship  Batavia,  on  the  4th  June,  1629, 
upon  a  reef  called  the  Abrolhos,  or  rocks  of  Frederick  Hout- 
man,  lying  off  the  west  coast  about  lat.  28.13  S.  Pelsert 
coasted  along  in  his  boat  to  22.17,  when  he  proceeded  to  Ba- 
tavia to  procure  succour  for  some  of  his  people  left  on  the 
Abrolhos.f  This  period  brings  us  to  that  of  Tasman's  second 
voyage  in  1644,  who,  it  would  appear,  after  exploring  the 
north  coast,  pursued  his  course  westward  along  the  shore  as 
far  as  N.W.  Cape,  but  not  going  further  southward  along  the 
land  of  Endraght  than  the  tropic  of  Capricorn,  when  he  re- 

*  Flinders,  a  navigator,  of  whom  every  Englishman  ought  to  feel  proud, 
says  that,  an  important  part  of  his  discovery  was  Dirk  Hartog's  Road  (at 
the  entrance  of  a  sound,  afterwards  called  Shark's  Bay  by  Darapier),  S.  of 
25.,  upon  one  of  the  islands  forming  the  roadstead  there  was  found  first  in 
1697,  and  again  in  1801  a  plate  of  tin  with  the  following  inscription; — 
"  Anno  1616,  25lh  October,  arrived  here  the  ship  Endraght,  of  Amster- 
dam, first  Merchant  Gillis  Micbais  of  Luik,  Dirk  Hartog,  of  Amsterdam, 
captain  ;  they  sailed  from  hence  for  Bantam  the  27th  ditto." 

t  See  Vol.  I.  p.  320  to  325  of  Campbell's  edition  of  Harris's  Voyages. 


218       DISCOVERY  OF  THE  S.  AND  S.E.  COASTS  OF  NEW  HOLLAND. 

turned  to  Batavia.  In  16G3  Thevenot  published  his  chart  of 
the  West  coast  of  the  Great  South  Land  or  Hollandia  Nova 
(when  it  was  first  so  called  I  cannot  ascertain),  and  gave  a 
connected  outline  to  the  shore.  In  1688  the  west  coast  was 
visited  by  our  own  celebrated  navigator  Dampier  with  the 
Buccaneers,  when  they  careened  and  refitted  in  about  IG  S. 
latitude,  and  the  W.  and  N.W.  coasts  were  again  visited  by 
Dampier*  in  1699,  in  his  Majesty's  ship  Roebuck. 

We  now  come  to  consider  the  S.  and  S.  E.  coasts ;  the 
south  coast  of  the  Great  South  Land  is  indisputably  allowed 
to  have  been  accidentally  discovered  in  January,  1627,  by  the 
Dutch  ship  Guide  Zeepaard,  outward  bound  from  Father 
Land.f  It  was  called  Nuyts'  Land,  but  whether  Pieter  (who 
was  afterwards  Ambassador  of  Japan  and  Governor  of  For- 
mosa) was  at  the  time  Captain  of  the  Guide  Zeepaard  or  not 
is  unascertainable.  The  coast  was  said  to  have  been  traced 
for  1000  miles  from  Cape  Leuwin.  The  Dutch  Govern- 
ment at  Batavia  being  extremely  anxious  to  ascertain  how  far 
the  south  coast  of  this  great  unknown  land  extended  towards 
the  Antartic  Circle,  despatched  Captain  Abel  Janz  Tasman 
from  Batavia  with  two  vessels  on  the  14th  August,  1642. J 
Tasman,  after  touching  at  Mauritius,  steered  S.  and  E.  and 
on  the  24th  November  made  some  high  land  in  40  S.  latitude, 
and  163.50  E.  (of  TenerifFe)  which  he  called  in  honour  of  the 
Governor  General  Antony  Van  Diemens  Land.  Tasman 
sailed  along  the  south  coast  of  Van  Diemen's  Land  (without 
even  supposing  it  to  be  an  island),  anchored  in  one  bay,  and 
then  proceeded  to  the  eastward.  More  than  a  century  elapsed 
from  this  period  without  the  coast  being  visited,  when  the 
celebrated  Captain  Cook  was  sent  on  his  scientific  and  explor- 
ing expedition  in  1770,  when  the  S.E.  coast  of  New  Holland 
was  surveyed,  with  the  exception  of  Van  Diemen's  Land. 
Captain  Marrion,  a  French  officer,  with  two  ships  skirted  the 
coast  in  1772,  in  search  of  the  supposed  Southern  Continent. 

*  See  Voyages  Vol.  III.  t  Dutch  recital. 

X  For  Janz  TaBiiuiu's  second  voyage  see  p.  215. 


ENGLISH  DISCOVERIES  ON  THE  S.  AND  S.E.  COASTS.  219 

In  1791  the  south  coast  was  visited  by  Captain  George  Van- 
couver on  his  way  to  the  N.W.  coast  of  America ;  he  made  the 
land  on  the  26th  September  at  Cape  Chatham,  in  35.3  S.  lat. 
and  116.35  E.  longitude,  then  sailed  East  along  the  coast  till 
the  28th,  when  he  anchored  in  a  sound  and  named  it  after 
George  III.  Bad  weather  prevented  his  doing  more  than 
verify  a  part  of  the  coast  laid  down  in  Nuit's  chart  of  1627. 

In  1773,  Capt.  Tobias  Furneaux,  in  his  Britannic  Majesty's 
ship  Adventure,  made  the  West  Cape  March  9th,  and  steered 
E.  close  to  the  rocks  called  MaatsvT/Jcers  by  Tasman,  after- 
wards anchoring  in,  as  Furneaux  thought,  Storm  Bay,  (which 
he  called  Adventvire  Bay)  so  named  by  Tasman  in  1662 ;  not 
however  the  Storm  Bay  laid  down  in  the  present  charts,  but 
that  now'  termed  D'Entrecasteaux's  channel,  which  runs  inland 
for  ten  leagues,  and  then  communicates  with  the  true  Storm 
Bay*  of  Tasman. 

Captain  Furneaux  then  sailed  along  the  Van  Diemen  coast 
to  the  northward  to  discover  whether  it  were  joined  to  New 
Holland,  or  a  peninsula  running  off  from  the  main  land,  but 
finally  steered  for  New  Z^ealand,  giving  it  as  his  opinion  that 
"  there  was  no  strait  between  Van  Diemen's  Land  and  New 
Holland  but  only  a  very  deep  bay."  Capt.  Cook,  in  H.M.S. 
Resolution  and  Discovery^  made  the  S.W.  Cape,  24th  Jan. 
1777,  and  after  steering  eastward,  anchored,  as  Furneaux  had 
done,  in  Adventure  Bay  on  the  26th,  but  Captain  Cook  pro- 
ceeded on  his  voyage  still  ignorant  of  the  insularity  of  the 
land. 

In  1792  a  French  rear  Admiral  (Bruny  D'Entrecasteaux)  in 

*  I  anchored  in  this  spacious  and  beautiful  channel  in  1825  and  recog- 
nised it  instantly  from  the  faithful  description  given  by  Tasman  183  years 
previously.     [R.  M.  M.] 

t  The  spirit  of  maritime  adventure  displayed  by  England  at  this  period 
was  owing  to  the  noble  example  set  by  George  III.  whose  knowledge  of 
Geography  was  unsurpassed  by  any  man  in  his  Majesty's  dominions. 
Had  it  not  been  for  the  patriotism  of  the  Third  George,  Great  Britain 
would  not  most  probably  have  now  been  that  vast  colonial  Empire,  nor 
would  science  and  humanity  have  gone  hand  in  hand  with  territorial  ac(^ui- 
silious  and  maritime  supremacy. 


220  DISCOVERY  OF  VAN  DIEMEN's  ISLAND. 

two  ships  of  war.  La  Recherche  and  L'Esperance,  made  the 
coast  of  Van  Diemen's  Land  to  wood  and  water,  and  while 
intending  to  enter  the  Storm  Bay  of  Tasman,  entered  the 
Adventure  Bay*  of  Furneaux,  which  he  sailed  up  for  thirty 
miles,  and  found  it  to  be  separated  by  a  small  island  from 
Storm  Bay.  The  island  he  named  Bruny  and  the  channel 
D'Entrecastaux,  and  then  sailed  to  the  eastward  without  as- 
certaining the  insularity  of  this  fine  colony  (see  Chapter  IV. 
Van  Diemen's  Land.) 

Captain  (afterwards  Admiral)  Bligh  in  1 788,  in  the  Bounty, 
and  in  1792  with  the  Providence  and  Assistant,  and  Captain 
John  Hayes  of  the  Bombay  Marine,  with  the  private  ships 
Duke  and  Duchess  from  India,  in  1794  visited  Adventure 
Bay  o.r  D'Entrecasteaux's  Channel  without  adding  much  more 
to  our  geographical  knowledge  of  the  coast :  indeed  so  little 
of  the  south  coast  of  the  "  great  South  Land"  was  known, 
even  after  Capt.  Cook's  surveys,  that  Port  Jackson,  the  splen- 
did haven  on  whose  shores  the  flourishing  town  of  Sydney  is 
now  built,  was  laid  down  as  a  boat  harbour,  and  only  dis- 
covered by  Captain  Philip  in  1788  when  founding  the  penal 
settlement ;  Botany  Bay  (three  leagues  to  the  southward)  being 
deemed  disadvantageous. 

After  the  settlement  of  a  penal  colony  at  Port  Jackson, 
attention  was  paid  to  exploring  the  east  and  southern  shores, 
and  Mr.  Bass,  surgeon  of  the  Reliance,  and  Lieutenant  (after- 
wards Captain)  Flinders  in  a  little  boat  called  Tom  Thumb, 
(the  crew  consisting  only  of  those  two  enterprising  characters 
and  a  boy)  eight  feet  long,  commenced  surveying  the  coast.  Mr. 
Bass  was  afterwards  aided  with  a  whale  boat,  six  men,  and  six 
weeks'  provisions ;  in  this  open  boat,  and  in  boisterous  weather 
Mr.  Bass  explored  the  coast  for  600  miles,  entered  what  Fur- 
neaux considered  a  "deep  bay,"  and  in  1798  became  satisfied 
that  there  was  a  strait  separating  Van  Diemen's  land  from 
New  Holland :  on  his  return  to  Sydney,  Governor  Hunter 

*  A  similar  mistake  was  made  by  a  vessel  I  was  in,  it  was  however  at 
niyht  time. 


EXTENT  AND  PROPORTIONATE  SIZE  OF  NEW  HOLLAND.    221 

was  induced  to  verify  the  result  of  Mr.  Bass's  observations  by 
sending  Lieut.  Flinders  and  Mr.  Bass  in  the  colonial  schooner 
Norfolk,  of  25  tons  burthen ;  with  this  little  vessel  they  sailed 
through  the  strait  (now  called  Bass's  strait)  and  by  circum- 
navigating Van  Diemen's  Land  demonstrated  for  the  first 
time  its  insularity. 

We  have  now  traced  chronologically  the  progress  of  dis- 
covery of  the  coast  of  the  great  South  Land  up  to  the  com- 
mencement of  the  lOth  century;  the  subsequent  voyages  of 
Flinders,  have  completed  many  points  that  the  Dutch  had 
left  unfinished ;  but  independent  of  our  knowing  nothing  of 
the  interior  of  this  terra  incognita,  we  are  even,  after  200 
years'  discovery,  imperfectly  acquainted  with  the  coasts  which 
in  several  parts  have  had  little  more  than  a  bird's-eye  survey, 
and  at  the  close  of  Capt.  King's  able  survey  in  1822,  there 
were  still  500  miles  (viz.  from  Dampier's  archipelago,  in  22  S. 
lat.  to  Cape  Hay,  in  14°)  wholly  unsurveyed  and  unseen,  and 
this  too  at  the  very  place  where  it  is  most  probable  a  great 
river  carries  oflp  the  waters  from  the  interior  of  this  islandic 
continent ;  it  is  to  be  hoped  therefore  that  steps  will  be  taken 
to  explore  the  interior  as  well  as  the  sea  coast  boundary  of  a 
vast  territory  now  become  a  portion  of  the  British  Empire. 

Before  proceeding  to  a  description  of  the  principal  British 
colonies  on  the  islands  of  New  Holland  and  Van  Diemen's 
Land,  it  will  be  perhaps  gratifying  to  the  reader  to  have  an 
idea  of  the  coast  line  so  far  as  it  has  yet  been  ascertained. 

The  vast  island  of  New  Holland*  may  be  said  to  extend  be- 
tween the  parallels  of  39  and  10.30  S.  lat.,  and  the  meridians 

of  112  and  153.40  E.  long.,  with  a  width  from  E.  to  W.  of 

\ 

*  The  proportions  assigned  by  Capt.  Du  Freciiiet  to  the  principal  divi- 
sions of  the  globe  are  — 


French  leagues. 

Proportion 

Asia 

2,200,000 

17 

America 

2,100,000 

ir 

Africa 

1,560,000 

12 

Europe    . 

501,875 

4 

Australia 

384,375 

3 

222  SHAPE  AND  COAST  LINE  OF  AUSTRALIA. 

2,977  miles ;  a  breadth  from  N.  to  S.  of  2,004  miles,  a 
superficial  area  of  more  than  3,000,000  square  miles,  being 
more  than  three-fourths  of  the  extent  of  the  continent  of 
Europe,  and  a  coast  line  of  8,000  miles,  connecting  Terra 
Australis  with  the  navigation  of  the  vast  Pacific  and  Indian 
Oceans. 

In  shape  it  is  an  irregular  oval,  or  it  may  be  compared  to 
the  form  of  a  horse-shoe,  and,  so  far  as  we  know,  appears 
bounded,  for  the  most  part,  by  a  ridge  of  steep  mountains,  of 
greater  or  less  elevation,  which  extends  around  the  coast, 
varying  in  distance  from  the  shore,  sometimes  approaching 
within  30  miles  of  the  ocean,  at  other  times  extending  back  to 
double  and  perhaps  treble  that  distance.  The  country  behind 
this  range  is,  with  exception  of  the  New  South  Wales  territory, 
a  perfect  terra  incognita,  and,  from  what  has  been  observed  on 
the  S.E.  shore,  it  might  be  inferred  that  it  is  a  vast  level  plain ; 
it  is  more  natural,  however,  to  suppose  that  the  country  consists 
of  extensive  steppes  or  terraces  as  in  South  Africa.  Leaving 
the  New  South  Wales  colony  for  subsequent  examination,  it 
may  be  observed  that  the  N.  E.  coast  from  about  28  S.  lat.  has 
a  direction  from  S.E.  to  N.W.  and  ranges  of  mountains  are 
visible  from  the  sea  with  little  interruption  as  far  North  as 
Cape  Weymouth,  between  the  parallels  of  12  and  13°  ;  indeed 
within  Cape  Palmerston,  west  of  the  Northumberland  islands, 
a  high  and  rocky  range  of  a  very  irregular  outline,  (apparently 
composed  of  primitive  rock)  is  continued  for  more  than  150 
miles  without  any  break,  and  after  a  remarkable  opening 
about  the  latitude  of  21,  is  again  resumed.  Several  of  the 
summits  visible  from  the  sea  in  front  of  this  range  are  of  con- 
siderable elevation;  Mount  Dryander  on  the  promontory 
which  terminates  Cape  Gloucester,  is  more  than  4,500  feet 
high ;  Mount  Eliot  with  a  peaked  summit,  a  little  to  the  south 
of  Cape  Cleveland,  is  visible  at  25  leagues  distance,  and 
Mount  Hinchinbrooke,  immediately  over  the  shore  south  of 
Rockingham  Bay,  is  more  than  2000  feet  in  elevation.  From 
the  south  of  Cape  Grafton  to  Cape  Tribulation  precipitous 
hills  bordered  by  low  land  form  the  coast,  but  the  latter  Cape 


MOUNTAIN  RANGES  ALONG  THE  S.E.  AND  N.E.  COASTS.        223 

consists  of  a  lofty  group  with  several  peaks,  the  highest  of 
which  is  visible  from  the  sea  at  20  leagues  distance.  The 
heights  from  them  towards  the  north  decline  gradually  as  the 
mountainous  ranges  approach  the  shore  which  they  join  at 
Cape  Weymouth  about  lat.  12,  and  from  that  point  northward 
to  Cape  York  the  land  in  general  is  comparatively  low,  nor 
do  any  detached  points  of  considerable  elevation  appear  there, 
but  about  midway  between  Cape  Grenville  and  Cape  York  on 
the  mainland  S.  W.  of  Cairncross  Island  a  flat  summit,  called 
Pudding  Panhill,  is  conspicuous.  The  high  land  about  Cape 
Melville  stands  out  like  a  shoulder  more  than  40  miles  beyond 
the  coast  line  between  Princess  Charlotte's  Bay  and  the  N.E. 
point  of  Australia.  Near  Cape  York  the  land  is  not  more 
than  4  or  500  feet  high,  and  the  islands  off  that  point  are  of 
about  the  same  elevation.* 

On  arriving  at  the  Gulf  of  Carpentaria,  which  extends  inland 
650  miles,  with  a  breadth  of  400  miles,  the  land  on  the  E. 
and  S.  of  the  Gulf  is  so  lowf  that  for  a  space  of  600  miles 
from  Endeavour  Straits  to  a  range  of  hills  on  the  main  land 
W.  of  WeUesley  Island  at  the  bottom  of  the  Gulf,  no  part  of 
the  coast  is  higher  than  a  ship's  mast  head  :  some  of  the  land 
in  Wellesley  Island  is  higher  than  the  main,  but  the  largest  is 
not  more  than  150  feet  in  elevation,  and  low  wooded  hills 
occur  on  the  main  land  from  there  to  Sir  Edward  Pellew's 
group :  the  western  shore  of  the  gulf  is  somewhat  higher,  and 
from  Limmen's  Bisht  to  the  latitude  of  Groote  Island  it  is 
lined  by  a  range  of  low  hills.  On  the  north  of  the  latter  place 
the  coast  becomes  irregular  and  broken,  consisting  chiefly  of 
primitive  rocks,  and  the  upper  part  of  the  hills  of  a  reddish 
sandstone,  while  the  shore  at  the  bottom  of  Melville  Bay  con- 
sists for  eight  miles  of  low  cliffs  of  pipe  clay. 

The  general  range  of  the  coast  from  Limmen's  Bight  to 
Cape  Arnhem  is  from  S.W.  to  N.E.   and  three  conspicuous 

*  It  is  stated  in  Capt.  King's  interesting  survey  (from  which  I  derive  a 
great  part  of  the  coiisl  line  not  visited  by  myself),  that  several  bays  on 
the  east  coast  not  having  been  explored,  it  is  probable  rivers  may  exist 
there. 

t  According  to  Flinders. 


224         CARPENTARIA  AND  CAMBRIDGE  GULFS. 

ranges  of  islands  on  the  N.W.  entrance  of  the  Gulf  of  Car- 
pentaria have  the  same  general  direction,  the  prevailing  rock 
being  sandstone.  The  land  from  Castlereagh  Bay  and  Goul- 
bourn's  Island  is  low  and  intersected  by  one  of  the  few  rivers 
(named  the  Liverpool)  yet  discovered  in  this  part  of  Australia ; 
it  is  four  miles  wide  at  its  mouth,  with  a  tortuous  and  rather 
shallow  stream,  which  has  been  traced  inland  to  about  40 
miles  from  the  coast,  through  a  country  not  more  than  three 
feet  in  general  elevation  above  high  water  mark — the  banks 
low,  muddy,  and  thinly  wooded.  This  description  is  also 
applicable  to  the  Alligator  river,*  on  the  S.E.  of  Van  Die- 
men's  Gulf,f  and  to  the  surrounding  country;  the  outline 
of  the  Wellington  hills,  however,  on  the  main  land  between 
the  Alligator  and  Liverpool  rivers  is  jagged  and  irregular, 
offering  a  remarkable  contrast  to  the  flat  summits  which 
appear  to  be  very  numerous  on  the  N.W.  coast.  West  of 
Goulbourn  Island  the  coast  is  more  broken  and  the  outline 
irregular,  but  the  elevation  is  inconsiderable,  the  general 
height  of  Coburgh  Peninsula  not  being  above  150  feet  higher 
than  the  sea,  and  the  hills  not  more  than  from  3  to  400  feet, 
several  of  the  latter  being  remarkable  by  their  linear  and  nearly 
horizontal  outlines,  sometimes  the  tops  being  that  of  a  roof  or 
hayrick,  the  tranverse  section  being  angular  and  the  horizon- 
tal top  an  edge.  The  colour  of  most  of  the  cliffs  on  the  N.W. 
and  W.  coast  is  of  a  blood  red  hue.  Cape  Cuvier,  (of  the 
French)  in  lat.  24.13,  like  an  enormous  bastion  is  distinguish- 
able at  a  considerable  distance  by  its  deeply  ensanguined  co- 
lour. In  the  vicinity  of  Cambridge  Gulf  (a  swampy  and  narrow 
arm  of  the  sea  extending  80  miles  inland  in  a  S.  direction) 
the  flatness  of  the  country  is  entirely  changed,  and  irregular 
ranges  of  detached  rocky  hills  coniposed  of  sandstone  rising 
abruptly  from  extensive  plains  of  low  and  level  land,  super- 
sede the  flat  and  woody  coast  that  occupies   almost  uninter- 

*  The  largest  of  the  Alligator  rivers  was  traced  upwards,  by  Captain 
King,  for  36  miles,  Avhen  it  was  still  150  yards  broad,  with  2  to  3  fathoms 
water. 

f  The  two  large  islands  of  Bathurst  and  Melville  are  here  situate ;  the 
one  200,  and  the  other  120  miles  in  circumference. 


m 


UNEXPLORED  SHORES  OF  AUSTRALIA.  2£5 

I'upted  the  space  between  this  inlet  and  Cape  Wessel,  a  dis- 
tance of  more  than  600  miles. 

The  coast  from  Cape  Londonderry  towards  the  south  is 
uniformly  of  moderate  elevation  :  and  from  that  point  varying 
in  general  from  N.E.  to  S.W.  with  numerous  indentations, 
while  the  adjoining  sea  is  studded  with  very  many  sandstone 
islands.  York  Sound,  a  very  spacious  bay  receiving  two 
rivers,  is  bounded  by  precipitous  rocks  from  1  to  200  feet  in 
height.  The  largest  inlet  discovered  in  this  quarter  of  Aus- 
tralia is  Prince  Regent's  River  (about  30  miles  to  the  S.W.  of 
York  Sound)  the  course  of  which  is  almost  rectilinear  for 
about  50  miles  in  a  S.E.  direction,  and  at  that  distance 
from  the  sea  250  yards  wide  ;  the  banks  are  lofty  and  abrupt, 
from  2  to  400  feet  in  height,  consisting  of  close  grained  sili- 
ceous sandstone  of  a  reddish  hue,  and  the  level  of  the  country 
does  not  appear  to  be  higher  in  the  interior  than  near  the  coast. 

The  coast  on  the  south  of  this  remarkable  river  to  Cape 
Leveque  is  still  nearly  unknown ;  it  is  intersected  by  several 
inlets  of  considerable  size,  to  trace  which  to  their  source  is 
still  a  problem  of  great  interest  to  be  solved  in  the  geography 
of  this  singular  country.  The  space  unexplored  from  the 
Champagny  isles  to  Cape  Leveque  is  about  100  miles  in  a  direct 
line,  within  which  extent  nothing  but  islands  and  detached 
portions  of  land  have  yet  been  observed ;  one  large  inlet 
especially*  on  the  S.E.  of  Cape  Leveque  appears  to  afford 
promise  of  a  considerable  river,  while  the  rise  of  the  tide 
within  the  Buccaneer's  Archipelago  (within  which  there  is 
another  unexplored  opening)  is  no  less  than  thirty-seven  feet. 
The  outline  of  the  coast  about  Cape  Leveque  itself  is  low, 
waving  and  rounded,  and  the  cliffs  of  a  reddish  tinge,  but  on 
the  south  of  the  high  ground  near  that  point  the  rugged 
stony  cliffs  are  succeeded  by  a  long  tract  which  appears  to 
consist  of  low  and  sandy  land  fronted  by  extensive  shoals ;  it 
has   only  however  been  seen  at  a  distance,  so  that  here  a 

*  According  to  Dr.  FItton  who  has  bestowed  oreat  pains  in  ehicidating 
and  placing  in  a  connected  view  Capt.  King's  admirable  survey. 
VOL.   IV.  Q 


.^26  S.  WESTERN  COAST  OF  NEW  HOLLAND. 

space  of  more  than  300  miles  (from  Point  Gantheaume  to 
to  near  Cape  Lambert)  may  be  said  to  be  still  unexplored. 

Depuch  island  (E.  of  Dampier's  Archipelago,  which  is  in 
lat.  20.30)  is  described  by  the  French  Naturalists  as  consisting 
chiefly  of  columnar  rocks  which  they  suppose  to  be  volcanic. 

Dampier's  Archipelago  is  imperfectly  known  ;  the  coast  is 
rugged  and  broken.  On  the  S.  of  Cape  Preston,  in  Lat.  21, 
there  is  an  opening  of  fifteen  miles  wide  between  rocky  hills, 
which  has  not  been  explored ;  so  that  it  will  be  observed, 
that  the  very  part  of  the  coasts  of  this  great  south  land, 
which  is  most  likely  to  lead  us  to  the  interior  by  large  navi- 
gable rivers,  is  still  almost  a  dead  blank  in  the  physical  geo- 
graphy of  the  country. 

From  Cape  Preston,  in  21"  to  the  bottom  of  Exmouth 
Gulf  (150  miles),  the  coast  is  low  and  sandy,  and  does  not 
exhibit  any  prominences.  The  W.  coast  of  Exmouth  Gulf 
itself  is  formed  by  a  promontory  of  level  land,  terminating  in 
the  N.  W.  cape,  and  from  thence  to  the  S.  W.  as  far  as  Cape 
Cuvier,  the  general  height  of  the  coast  is  from  400  to  500 
feet ;  nor  are  any  mountains  visible  over  the  coast  range. 
Some  part  of  the  shore  between  Shark's  Bay  and  Cape 
Naturaliste  has  been  explored  by  the  French ;  but  a  large 
part  remains  to  be  surveyed.  The  coast  therefrom  to  the 
southvrard  will  be  found  described  in  the  chapter  relative  to 
Swan  River  and  Western  Australia;  the  shore  is  bounded, 
as  on  the  E.  coast,  from  20  to  50  miles  inland,  by  a  lofty 
range  of  hills,  the  breadth  of  which  is  about  SO  miles  ;  and 
high  mountains  have  been  seen,  the  elevation  of  which  is 
estimated  at  10,000  feet.  The  S.  shore,  extending  from 
Cape  Lewin  through  Bass  Straits  towards  New  South  Wales, 
will  be  found  subsequently  described  under  South  Australia ; 
its  features  partaking  much  of  the  character  of  the  E.  coast. 
The  foregoing  delineation  of  New  Holland,  imperfect  as  it 
is,  will  probably  enable  the  reader  to  accompany  me  more 
clearly  in  my  description  of  the  several  settlements  formed  by 
England  on  different  parts  of  its  coast,  beginning  with  the 
oldest  colony,  termed — 


BOUNDARIES  OF  NEW  SOUTH  WALES.  227 

NEW  SOUTH  WALES.* 

The  origin  of  the  British  settlement  on  the  E.  shore  of 
New  Holland  was,  strange  to  say,  the  separation  of  the  North 
American  provinces  from  England.  The  statute  30th  Eliz. 
chap.  4,  decreed,  for  the  first  time,  that  banishment  from 
their  country  (without  specifying  the  place)  should  be  the 
punishment  of  rogues  and  vagabonds  ;  and,  in  1619,  during 
the  reign  of  James  I.  the  practice  of  transporting  criminals  to 
America  was  conmienced,  and  prisoners  were  allowed  to 
transport  themselves.  Transportation  was  regulated  by  par- 
liamentary enactment  (4th  George  I.) ;  but  a  shameful  system 
of  contract  was  adopted  for  disposing  of  the  unfortunate  pri- 
soners, who,  in  fact,  were  sold  into  slavery  at  the  average  rate 
of  £20  per  head,  the  numbers  transported  being  about  2,000 
per  annum.  On  the  separation  of  the  United  States  from 
England,  this  inhuman  system  was  put  an  end  to,  and,  as  the 
prisons  in  the  mother  country  became  crowded,  various  de- 
vices were  resorted  to,  and,  among  others,  conveying  convicts 
to  the  W.  coast  of  Africa  was  tried,  as  also  the  building  of 
large  penitentaries ;  but  both  were  abandoned, — the  one  on 
account  of  unhealthiness,  the  other  by  reason  of  expence  and 
want  of  reformation.  At  this  period  Captain  Cook  having 
returned  from  his  recent  voyage  in  the  S.  hemisphere,  and 

*  The  boundary  of  the  New  South  Wales  territory  is  imperfectly  defined : 
it  may  be  said,  however,  to  extend  coastwise  between  the  parallels  of  36 
and  28  S.  Lat.,  or  about  500  miles  alons^  the  sea  shore ;  while  the  greatest 
distance  yet  settled  inland  can  be  scarcely  said  to  extend  more  than  200 
miles.  The  portion  within  which  land  may  be  selected  was  fixed,  by  a  Go- 
vernment order,  dated  Sydney,  October,  1829,  and  comprised  34,505  square 
miles,  or  22,083,200  acres  ;  the  boundaries  being,  on  the  east,  the  sea  coast 
from  the  mouth  of  the  Murroo  River  (S.  of  Bateman's  Bay),  in  36°  to  the 
mouth  of  the  Manning  River  in  32°;  on  the  north,  the  river  Manning  from 
the  sea  coast  westward  to  a  range  of  mountains,  including  all  streams,  vallies, 
and  ravines  which  descend  to  the  rivers  Goulbourn  and  Hunter ;  on  the 
west,  a  line  nearly  along  the  meridian  of  148  W.  Long. ;  and,  on  the  south, 
from  Mount  Murray  (in  the  Lat.  of  Bateman's  Bay)  to  the  Murroo  River, 
in  36  S.  Lat. 


228     ORIGIN  OF  THE  PENAL  SETTLEMENT  IN  NEW  HOLLAND. 

having  given  a  pleasing  description  of  that  part  of  the  coast  of 
New  Holland  which  he  had  discovered  and  named  New  South 
Wales,  it  was  resolved  to  form  a  penal  settlement  at  Botany 
Bay,  with  the  following  objects: — ^  1st,  To  rid  the  mother 
country  of  the  yearly  increasing  number  of  prisoners,  which 
were  accumulating  in  the  gaols  ;  2nd,  to  afford  a  proper  place 
for  the  safe  custody  and  punishment  of  the  criminals,  as  well 
as  for  their  ultimate  and  progressive  reformation ;   and,  3rd, 
to  form  a  free  colony  out  of  the  materials  which  the  reformed 
prisoners  would  supply,  in  addition  to  families  of  free  emi- 
grants who  might  settle  in  the  country   from  time  to  time. 
With  these  philanthropic  objects  in  view,  eleven  sail  of  ships* 
assembled  at  Portsmouth,  in  March,   1787,  having  on  board 
565  male  and  192  female  convicts,  with  a  guard  consisting  of 
a  major-commandant,  3  captains,  12  subalterns,  24  non-com- 
missioned officers,  and  168  privates  (all  of  the  Royal  Marines), 
together  with  40  of  the  marines'  wives  and  their   children. 
Captain  Arthur  Philip,  R.  N.,  an  experienced  officer  of  59 
years  of  age,  was   appointed  Governor  of  the  new  colony. 
The  small  fleet, \  with  two  years'  provisions  on  board,  sailed 
from  the  Motherbank  on  the  13th  May,  1787;    touched  for 
supplies   and   stock  at  Teneriffe,  Rio  de  Janeiro,   and  the 
Cape  of  Good  Hope ;  and  arrived  at  the  destination  fixed  on 
(Botany  Bay)  on  the  18th,  19th,  and  20th  of  January,  1788, 
after  a  voyage  of  upwards  of  eight  months,  of  which  time 
four  weeks   were  spent  at  the  Cape.      Captain  Philip  soon 
found  that,   although  the   descriptions  sent  home  of  Botany 
Bay  had  been   extremely  flattering,  yet  that,  in   the  first 
place,  the  bay  was  open  to  the  full  sweep  of  the  E.  winds, 
which  rolled  a  tremendous   sea  on  the  beach ;  and,  in  the 
second,  the  land,  though   delightful  for  botanizing,    was   a 
series  of  swamps   and    sterile   sand,  without  water.     Little 

•  Consisting  of  a  frigate  (the  Sirius),  an  armed  tender,  three  store  ships, 
and  six  transports. 

t  It  is  generally  known  in  New  South  Wales  by  the  name  of  the  ''first 
fleet ;"  and  often,  when  asking  a  prisoner  how  long  he  had  been  in  the 
colony,  I  have  been  answered,  not  by  referring  to  the  year,  but  to  iht  first, 
second,  or  third,  fleet. 


FORMATION  OF  THE  COLONY  AT  PORT  JACKSON.  229 

suspecting  that  one  of  the  finest  harbours  in  the  world  was 
within  a  few  miles'  distance  to  the  northward,  Captain  Philip 
proceeded,  with  three  boats  and  some  of  his  officers,  to 
examine  what  Captain  Cook  had  termed  Broken  Bay  (where 
the  now  called  river  Hawkesbury  disembogues) ;  but,  while 
proceeding  thither,  he  resolved  to  examine  an  inlet,  which,  in 
Cook's  chart,  was  marked  as  a  boat  harbour,  but  apparently 
so  small  as  not  to  be  worth  investigating ;  Cook  had,  therefore, 
passed  to  the  northward,  and  given  the  inlet  the  name  of 
Port  Jackson,  which  was  that  of  the  seaman  at  the  masthead, 
who  descried  it  while  on  the  look  out.  Captain  Philip  entered 
between  the  lofty  headlands  to  examine  this  '  boat  harbour,' 
and  his  astonishment  may  be  more  easily  conceived  than 
described  when  he  found  not  a  boat  creek,  but  one  of  the 
safest  havens  in  the  world,  capable  of  holding  every  ship 
in  the  British  navy.*  Thither  the  fleet  was  immediately 
removed;!  and  the  British  ensign,  on  the  26th  January,  1788, 
was  hoisted  on  the  shores  of  Sydney  Cove,  then  thinly  wooded 
with  timber  and  abounding  in  kangaroos,  but  now  the  infant 
capital  of  an  embryo  empire.  The  silence  and  solitude  of 
the  forest  was  soon  changed  for  the  resounding  stroke  of  the 

*  It  is  navigable  for  vessels  of  any  burthen  fifteen  miles  from  its  entrance, 
and  indented  with  numerous  coves,  sheltered  from  every  wind,  and  with 
the  finest  anchorage. 

t  As  Captain  Philip  and  his  party  were  leaving  Botany  Bay  to  sail 
round  the  headland  into  Port  Jackson,  the  unfortunate  La  Perouse,  with 
the  two  French  ships  Le  Boussole  and  L' Astrolabe,  entered  the  bay  to  refit. 
Mutual  civilities  passed  between  the  commanders  of  the  two  nations;  but 
it  was  the  last  time  that  the  gallant  Frenchman  and  his  companions  were 
seen  by  any  Europeans.  The  reader  is  aware  that,  after  a  lapse  of  forty 
years.  Captain  Peter  Dillon,  with  a  perseverance  worthy  of  great  com- 
mendation, and  aided  by  the  munificence  of  the  E.  I.  Company,  proceeded 
in  the  Hon.  Company's  vessel  Research  in  search  of  the  relics  of  the 
Astrolabe  and  Boussole.  I  had  intended  to  accompany  Captain  Dillon  in 
the  Research,  but  was  prevented  by  circumstances ;  I,  however,  visited 
her  after  she  returned  with  Perouse's  relics  from  the  Manicolo  Islands,  and 
I  confess  I  cannot  help  feeling  doubts  that  both  the  vessels  struck  at  the 
same  time  on  a  reef,  as  has  been  supposed.  There  is  yet  more  to  be  learnt 
on  the  subject. 


2o0  DIFFICULTIES  OF  A  FIRST  SETTLEMENT, 

woodman's  axe ;  the  ground  was  cleared,  tents  pitched,  the 
live  stock  landed,*  stores  deposited,  and  the  little  colony 
established,  consisting  of  1,030  individuals,f  which,  within 
less  than  half  a  century,  has  been  augmented  to  one  hundred 
thousand  souls.  To  detail  at  length  the  progress  of  the  set- 
tlement up  to  the  present  period,  would  be  beyond  the  limits 
of  the  present  work ;  it  may  be  sufficient  to  observe,  that 
great  difficulties  were  experienced  for  several  years,  which 
nothing  but  the  most  extraordinary  perseverance,  aided  by 
that  moral  and  physical  courage  which  Britons  possess,  could 
have  alone  surmounted.  The  soil  around  Sydney  Cove  was 
found  to  be  extremely  sterile,  so  that  the  possibility  of  imme- 
diately growing  sufficient  grain  for  the  settlement  was  out  of 
the  question ;  while  the  conduct  of  the  prisoners  was,  on  se- 
veral occasions,  extremely  detrimental  to  the  public  weal,  theft 
being  general,  and  desertion  into  the  v,'oods  not  unfrequent.;}: 
The  number  of  natives  then  resorting  to  the  shores  of  Port 
Jackson  to  fish  or  hunt  was  considerable,  and  hostilities  soon 
commenced  between  them  and  the  new  comers,  in  the  course 
of  which  many  cruelties  on  both  sides  were  committed. 

The  loss   of  the  store  ship   Guardian,  (Lieutenant  Riou) 

*  The  public  stock  consisted  of  one  bull,  four  cows,  one  bull  calf,  one 
stallion,  three  mares,  and  three  colts.  What  a  contrast  to  the  numerous 
herds  and  flocks  of  the  present  day ! 

f  Forty  of  the  convicts  had  died  on  their  passage. 

+  At  one  time  forty  persons  were  absent  from  the  settlement  on  their 
road  to  China!  These  travellers  consisted  principally  of  Irish  convicts, 
who  were  convinced  that  China  was  not  far  distant  to  the  northward,  and 
Avere  always  making  up  parties  for  the  purpose  of  decamping  thither. 
Most  of  the  wanderers  perished  of  hunger,  or  were  speared  and  probably 
eaten  by  the  natives.  An  instance  is  narrated  of  one  who,  after  traversing 
the  woods  near  Sydney  for  several  weeks,  endeavouring  to  find  out  the  road 
to  China,  had  not  only  lost  his  way,  but,  as  is  often  the  case  when  be- 
wildered in  a  forest,  lost  also  his  senses.  As  good  fortune  would  have  it, 
Pat,  almost  famishing,  reached  what  he  thought  a  Chinese  town  ;  instinct 
drew  him  towards  one  bark  hut  in  particular,  which  he  cautiously  ap- 
proached, and  was  most  agreeably  astonished  to  find  his  wife,  whom  he 
hailed  with  joy,  exclaiming,  "  Oh  !  Judy  dear,  how  did  you  find  your  way 
to  China?" 


LOSS  OF  THE  GUARDIAN,  AND  CONSEQUENT  DISTRESS.       231 

on  the  23rd  December,  1789,*  when  proceeding  to  the  colony 
with  a  large  supply  of  provisions  and  stores,  was  a  severe 
blow  to  the  colonists,  who,  by  the  arrival  of  the  Lady  Juliana, 
after  a  voyage  of  ten  months,  with  222  female  convicts  on 
board,  were  almost  reduced  to  a  state  of  famine,  the  loeekly 
rations,  on  the  25th  April,  1790,  being — flour,  two  pounds 
and  a  half ;  rice,  two  pounds;  and  pork,  two  pounds!  the 
Governor  receiving  no  more  than  a  convict ;  indeed  this  re- 
duced quantity  was  only  afforded  by  Captain  Philip  having 
shipped  off  upwards  of  200  convicts  and  troops  to  Norfolk 
Island  in  29  S.  Lat.  and  168.10  E.  Long,,  about  twenty-one 
miles  in  circumference,  but  with  an  exceedingly  fertile  soil.f 
Every  effort  was  made  to  obtain  provisions  from  China,  India, 
or  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope ;  but,  at  one  period,  there  was 
not  four  months  provisions,  on  the  most  reduced  scale,  in 
store,  and  several  persons  had  already  perished  of  inanition. 
Farms  were  established  at  Rose  Hill  (Parramatta)  and  other 
places,  every  encouragement  held  out  to  reap  some  profit 
from  the  neighbouring  soil,  and  a  few  convicts  were  emanci- 
pated and  given  grants  of  lands  as  settlers. 

*  She  struck  on  an  iceberg  to  the  S.  and  E.  of  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope, 
in  ^15. 54  S.  lat,  41.30  E.  long.  Her  brave  commander  (afterwards  killed  at 
Copenhagen)  refused  to  quit  her,  resolving  to  sink  with  the  vessel;  most 
of  the  passengers  and  crew  left  the  Gt(ardia?i,  in  five  boats,  when  they 
thought  she  was  on  the  point  of  sinking.  Riou,  if  I  recollect  right,  gave 
them  despatches  to  the  Admiralty,  and  entreated  that  his  country  vvould 
protect  and  provide  for  his  sister;  four  of  the  boats  never  were  heard  of; 
the  third,  after  great  privation,  reached  the  Mauritius ;  the  Guardian,  with 
the  loss  of  masts  and  rudder,  and  tossed  about  at  the  mercy  of  every 
tempest,  was  fallen  in  with  by  a  French  frigate,  near  the  Cape  of  Good 
Hope,  towed  into  Table  Bay,  and  Riou  was  saved,  to  perish  by  a  more 
glorious  death. 

t  At  Norfolk  Island  the  settlers  would  probably  have  all  perished  of 
famine,  their  rations  being  reduced  to  flour  three  pounds,  beef  a  pound 
and  a  half,  and  rice  one  pound,  per  iceek,  but  for  the  unlooked-for  circum- 
stances of  a  flight  of  aquatic  birds  alighting  on  the  island  to  lay  iheir  eggs, 
and  from  the  length  of  their  wings  with  difficulty  re-ascending;  theirnumbers 
were  so  great  that,  for  two  months,  our  settlers  took  at  least  from  2,000  to 
3,000  birds  evei-y  night,  and  an  incalculable  quantity  of  eggs ;  these  birds 
of  Providence,  as  they  were  called,  saved  the  lives  of  the  people. 


232  CHRONOLOGICAL  PROSPERITY  OF  THE  COLONY. 

Three  more  vessels  shortly  after  ai'rived  from  England 
with  prisoners,  but,  it  may  be  said,  fortunately  for  the  infant 
colony,  a  large  number  of  these  unfortunate  beings  perished 
of  scurvy  and  sickness  on  the  passage  ;*  in  fact,  for  three 
years  the  settlers  and  prisoners  were  in  daily  fear  of  starva- 
tion. Relief  was  afforded  by  the  arrival,  in  June  1790,  of 
three  transports  from  the  Cape,  with  part  of  the  stores  saved 
from  the  Guardian,  and  in  the  following  year  H.  M.  S.  Gor- 
gon, convoying  10  vessels,  with  1,695  male  and  68  female 
convicts  (constituting  what  is  termed,  the  '  second  JleeV), 
arrived  at  Sydney,  after  losing  194  males  and  four  females  on 
the  passage.  The  arrival  of  this  fleet  changed  the  aspect  of 
affairs,  and  from  this  period  the  colonists  began  to  look  for- 
ward with  hope.-j-  Captain  Philip  (whose  health  was  declining) 
embarked  for  England  11th  December,  1792,  and  his  jne- 
mory  deserves  to  be  revered  by  every  good  man  for  the  noble 
efforts  which  he  made  to  contend  with  incredible  difficulties : 


*  111  tlie  Surprize  42  men  ;  in  the  Scarborough  08  men  ;  and  in  tlie  Neptune  151  men,  II 
women,  and  2  children  ;  the  total  loss  being  274  souls.  This  mortality  is  strikingly  contrasted 
with  the  present  healthiness  of  convict  ships.  Mr.  Surgeon  Cunningham  has  made  four 
voyages  to  the  colony,  and  carried  out  about  400  male  and  female  convicts,  without  losing  an 
individual ;  and  it  is  a  rare  thing  for  a  convict  ship,  at  the  present  day,  with  100  or  150  pri. 
goners,  to  have  more  than  one  or  two  deaths  on  the  voyage.  The  superior  salubrity  on  ship- 
board, at  the  present  day,  roust  be  ascribed  to  better  provisioning — to  improved  vessels,  as 
regards  dryness  and  airiness — to  a  shortening  of  the  voyage  nearly  one  half — and  to  a  lessening 
of  that  mental  despondency  which  naturally  prevailed,  in  the  tirst  instance,  on  the  miserable 
prospects  which  the  colony  at  an  early  peridd  aflforded. 

t  The  progress  of  the  colony  may  be  thus  sninmarily  stated,  in  chronological  order: — 1789, 
one  year  after  the  establishment  of  the  colony, ^r*^  harvest  reaped  (at  Paramatta) ;  1790,  Jirst 
settler  (a  prisoner)  took  possession  of  the  land  allotted  him  ;  1791,  first  brick  building  finished  ; 
1793,  first  purchase  of  colonial  grain  (1,200  bushels)  by  government;  1794,  first  cbarch  built; 
1796,  first  play  performed  ;  1800,  first  copper  coin  circulated  ;  1803,  first  newspaper  printed, 
and /j-.sf  suicide  committed  ;  1804,  Fort  Philip  built  ;  1805, /r*^  vessel  bnilt ;  ISIO,  first 
census,  free  school,  toll-gates,  police,  naming  of  the  streets,  establishment  of  Sydney  market, 
races  and  race  ball;  1811,  first  pounds;  1S13,  first  (air  ;  1815,  first  steam-engine;  1817, 
supreme  court  established,  znd  first  bank;  1818,  benevolent  society  foimed;  1819,  orphan 
institution  founded;  1820,  ./fc^f  sjjirits  distilled,  and /r.s^  colonial  tobacco  sold  ;  ISH,  first 
Wesleyan  and  Roman  Catholic  chapels;  1822,  freedom  '>i  t'le  press,  and  first  agricultural  and 
reading  societies  ;  1824,  charter  of  justice,  legislative  council,  and /ij-J^  court  of  quarter  ses- 
sions ;  Ism,  first  criminal  jury  impaunelled,/r.v<  archdeacon, ^/-.v;  coror.er,  imA  first  consti- 
tutional county  meeting  ;  lB'i7,  first  iiui\y  newspaper;  1829, /Vr,5<  circuit  court ;  IS30,  first 
civil  jury,  and /ir^^  college;  1831,  ./7/-i<  colonial  steam-boat  launched;  1832, //«<  savings' 
bank  ;  1833,  mechanics'  school  of  arts  formed,  and  a  monthly  magazine  established  ;  1834, 
land  s.ild  in  Sydney  at  ^^20,000  per  acre!  The  intelligent  reader,  in  tracing  the  era  of  these 
events,  will  estimate  the  progressive  prosperity  of  the  colony  durins  forly-(ivc  years. 


CHRONOLOGY  OF  THE  GOVERNORS  Of  NEW    SOUTH  WALES.    23S 

he  was  succeeded  in  his  government*  by  Captain  Hunter, 
R.N.,  who  had  commanded  the /S'iriM*  frigate,  when  the  settle- 
ment was  first  formed,  and  who  appears  to  have  been  an  honest 
straight  forward  sailor ;  his  rule  lasted  five  years,  and  during 
this  period  the  colony  had  made  considerable  progress,  several 
settlers  arrived  from  England,  and  the  accession  of  a  regiment 
for  the  settlement,  called  the  New  South  Wales  corps  (after- 
wards the  102d  regiment)  gave  a  stimulus  to  industry  and  a 
tone  to  society.-}-     The  number  of  the  inhabitants,  free  and 

*  Governors  of  the  Colony  of  New  South  Wales  since  its  foundation. 


Captain  Arthur  Philip,  R.N.  Gov. 
Captain  Francis  Grose  (Lt.-Gov.) 
Captain  Paterson,  N.  S.  W.  C.  (Lt-Gov.) 
Captain  Hunter,  R.N.  Gov. 
Captain  P.  G.  King,  R.N.  Gov.      . 

Captain  William  Bligh,  R.N.  Gov.    . 

During  Governor  Bligh's  suspension 
the  Governmejit  was  successively 
administered  by  —   - 

Lieut.-Col.  Johnstone,  \  n'  '  / 
Lieut.-Col.  Foveaux,  \  i-orps.  at- 
Col.  William  Patterson,    I  iJoJ Re  t^ 

Major-Gen.  Lacblan  Macquarie,  Gov. 
Maj.-Gen.  Sir  T.  Brisbane,  K.CB.  Gov 
Col.  Stewart,  3d  Regt.  (Lieut.-Gov.) 
Lieut.-Gen.  Ralph  Darling,  Gov. 
Col.  Lindesay,  C.B.  (Lieut.-Gov) 
JVJajor-Gen.  Richard  Bourke,  C.B.  Gov 


From 

26th  Jan. 

11th  Dec. 

15th  Dec. 

7th  Aug. 

28  ih  Sept. 

13th  Aug. 


1788 
1792 
1794 
1795 
1800 

1806 


} 


To 

10th  Dec.  1792 
14th  Dec.  1794 
6th  Aug.  1795 
27th  Sept.  1800 
12th  Aug.  1806 
r  Suspended 
1.26th  Jan.  1808 


26th  Jan.  1808   28th  Dec.  1809 


1st  Jan.  1810 
1st  Dec.  1821 
1st  Dec.  1825 
19th  Dec.  1825 
22d  Oct.  1831 
3d  Dec.  1831 


1st  Dec.  1821 

30th  Nov?1825 

18th  Dec.  1825 

21st  Oct.  1831 

2d  Dec.  1831 


f  I  cannot  agree  with  the  Rev.  Dr.  Lang  in  the  censuie  he  has  passed 
on  the  officers  of  this  corps;  if  some  of  them  did  engage  in  mercantile  pur- 
suits, it  should  be  remembered  that,  they  were  compelled  to  import  their 
own  supplies  in  a  great  measure,  and  of  course  to  provide  a  stock,  which  it 
was  more  prudent  should  be  too  much  for  their  families  rather  than  too 
little.  Dr.  Lang  seems  to  have  entirely  overlooked  the  peculiar  circum- 
stances in  which  the  officers  of  the  N.  S.  Wales  corps  were  placed,  who  had 
nothing  but  their  pay  and  convict  rations  to  rely  on,  with  wheat,  125.  a 


234  IRISH  REBELLION  AT  NEW  SOUTH  WALES. 

bond,  was,  on  Captain  Hunter's  departure  in  September, 
1800,  about  8,000;  of  these  about  2500  were  stationed  at 
Sydney,  and  the  remainder  at  the  agricultural  establishments 
at  Parramatta,  Prospect,  Toongabbee,  and  Castlehill.  Capt. 
King,  R.N.  who  as  Lieutenant  of  the  Sirius,  had  effected  the 
settlement  on  Norfolk  island,  was  appointed  to  succeed 
Capt.  Hunter :  his  administration  lasted  for  six  years,*  and 
was  distinguished  by  what  is  termed  the  '  Irish  rebellion.' 
Several  hundred  convicts  attached  to  the  establishment  at 
Castlehill  (20  miles  from  Sydney)  struck  for  their  liberty,  but 
being  armed  only  with  pikes,  were,  after  a  very  brief  contest, 
discomfited  by  the  military  at  Vinegar  Hill,  a  few  miles  from 
Parramatta,  on  the  Hawkesbury  road ;  a  few  were  shot  by  the 
troops,  some  of  the  leaders  taken  and  hanged  immediately, 
and  the  rest  returned  quietly  to  their  labour ;  this  is  the 
only  instance  of  any  disturbance  of  the  prison  population 
since  the  settlement  of  the  colony. 

Captain  Bligh,  whose  name  is  handed  down  to  posterity  by 
his  tyrannical  treatment  of  Christian  and  his  comrades  in  his 
Majesty's  ship  Bounty,  when  sent  to  convey  the  bread  fruit 
from  the  South  Sea  islands  to  the  West  Indies,  was  appointed 
to  succeed  Captain  King,  and  a  knowledge  of  the  treatment 
which  he  had  bestowed  on  Christian  ought  to  have  prevented 
his  being  sent  out  to  govern  a  colony  like  New  South  Wales, 


bushel,  mutton,  2*.  per  lb.,  a  cow,  80/.,  and  so  on  in  proportion.  These 
circumstances  compelled  the  officers  of  the  N.  S.  Wales  Regt.  to  provide 
for  themselves,  and  it  was  fortunate  for  the  colonists  that  they  did  so. 

*  Captain  King  docs  not  seem  to  have  been  adequate  to  the  magnitude 
of  his  trust ;  he  had  several  opponents,  and,  during  his  sway,  an  anecdote 
is  related  worthy  of  the  genius  of  Botany  Bay.  The  Governor  preferred 
charges  against  a  gentleman  in  the  colony,  and  despatches  were  prepared 
for  being  forwarded  to  the  Secretary  of  State  in  England  :  the  officer  who 
was  to  have  charge  of  the  despatches  imprudently  mentioned  the  circum- 
stance ;  but,  when  he  arrived  in  Downing-street,  the  box,  on  being  opened 
before  the  Secretary  for  the  Colonies,  was  found  to  contain  only  a  bundle 
of  newspapers,  the  ireful  desp.itches  having  been  adroitly  picked  from  the 
box  in  Sydney. 


CAPTAIN  BLIGIl  AND  MR.  m'ARTHUR.  235 

however  great  his  abihties  as  a  mariner  were,  as  evinced  by 
the  skilful  manner  in  which  he  reached  Timor  in  an  open  boat 
after  beinff  set  adrift  in  the  ocean  on  the  north  coast  of  New 
Holland.  A  man  that  was  unable  to  rule  a  small  ship's  com- 
pany ought  never  to  have  been  placed  in  arbitrary  power  in 
New  South  Wales. 

Captain  Bligh  was  however  mistaken  in  supposing  that  he 
had  none  but  convicts  with  dejected  minds  to  deal  with ;  like 
all  tyrants  the  moment  his  views  M'ere  thwarted  he  seemed  to 
have  lost  the  instinctive  cunning  which  such  men  abound  in, 
and  his  series  of  unwarranted  persecutions  of  one  gentleman 
in  particular,*  led  to  the  colonists  at  Sydney,  aided  by  the 
officers  and  men  of  the  New  South  Wales  corps,  deposing 
Capt.  Blighf  after  he  had  been   18  months  Governor,  and 


*  I  allude  here  to  the  late  John  M 'Arthur,  Esq.  of  New  South  Wales,  a 
gentleman  of  high  and  manly  spirit,  of  strong  constitutional  principles, 
and  an  enterprize  and  perseverance  rarely  found  united  in  one  mind.  To 
this  gentleman  New  South  Wales  may  be  said  to  be  mainly  indebted  for 
its  present  prosperity  (see  wool  trade)  ;  he  gave  the  first  stimulus  to  the 
industry  of  the  colonists  ;  through  a  long  and  extraordinarily  active  life  he 
never  ceased  to  pursue  measures  calculated  to  enhance  the  wealth,  improve 
the  beauty,  and  benefit  the  country  which  he  had  made  his  home ;  while 
he  lived  he  well  deserved  the  appellation  of  the  term  of  '  father  of  the 
colony  ;'  and  I  trust  justice  will  be  done  to  his  memory  by  erecting  to  it  a 
statue,  in  some  part  of  the  square  called  Macquarie  Place,  at  Sydney. 
Well  would  it  be  for  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope,  and  our  other  colonies,  if  a 
John  M'Arthur  would  arise  in  each,  to  stimulate  their  dormant  energies 
by  example,  and  aid  the  poor  and  industrious  with  wealth  honestly  and 
nobly  acquired.  I  gladly  avail  myself  of  this  opportunity  to  pay  a  tribute 
to  a  good  and  wise  man's  memory,  and,  in  doing  so,  would  beg  to  observe, 
that,  when  in  New  South  Wales,  I  never  crossed  his  door,  nor  exchanged 
a  word  with  Mr.  M'Arthur,  but  I  could  not  help  seeing  around  me  proofs 
of  his  patriotism ;  and,  while  the  rich,  or  titled,  or  gentlemanly  stranger 
extolled  his  munificent  hospitality,  the  poor  man  I  have  often  heard  praise 
his  goodness ;  while  no  industrious  or  deserving  individual  ever  solicited 
his  aid  in  vain. 

t  Captain  Bligh,  like  most  arbitrary  men,  was  not  possessed  of  much 
moral  courage.  When  the  soldiers  marched  up  to  the  Government  House, 
with  their  officers  at  their  head,  they  searched  for  the  Governor,  und  at 


236         GENERAL  MACQUARIE's  GOVERNMENT  AND  POLICY. 

vesting  the  supreme  command  in  the  hands  of  Lieut.-Colonel 
Johnson,  the  senior  officer  in  command  of  the  troops. 

The  Administration  gave  up  sending  any  more  naval  men  as 
governors,  Lieut.-Colonel  (afterwards  Major-General)Lachlan 
Macquarie  of  the  73d  regiment,  was  sent  from  England  to 
take  on  him  the  government  of  the  colony,  the  New  South 
Wales  regiment  was  ordered  home,  and  the  regular  troops  of 
the  line  placed  on  the  '  Roaster'  for  service  in  the  colony.  Dur- 
ing Major-General  Macquarie's  sway  of  12  years,  the  settle- 
ment made  great  progress  ;  the  population  was  increased  by 
numerous  convicts  and  some  emigrants,  and,  by  the  aid  of 
a  carte  blanche  on  the  British  Treasury,  many  public  build- 
ings were  erected — roads  constructed — the  fine  Bathurst 
country  over  the  Blue  Mountains  explored,  and  several 
government  farms  established.  The  prison  population  re- 
ceived great  encouragement  from  General  Macquarie,  his 
motto  was  to  make  every  convict  consider  his  European 
life  as  a  past  existence,  and  his  Australian  one  a  new  era, 
where  he  would  find  honesty  to  be  the  best  pohcy.  This  was 
his  grand  impulse,  and  like  all  men  with  one  favourite  view, 
he  carried  it  sometimes  too  far ;  many  prisoners,  or  those  who 
had  once  been  prisoners,  he  took  by  the  hand — ^made  some 
Magistrates,  gave  others  colonial  situations,  and  distributed 
large  quantities  of  land  ;  but  noble,  generous,  and  truly  phi- 
lanthropic as  were  the  principles  which  dictated  such  Chris- 
tian-like conduct,  it  is  perhaps  to  be  regretted  that  General 
Macquarie  was  not  more  discriminating  in  his  choice  of  indivi- 
duals deserving  of  encouragement,  and  that  he  paid  too  little 
attention  to  the  feelings  or  prejudices  of  respectable  emi- 
grants, who  were  not  so  strongly  imbued  with  the  Governor's 
principles.  Owing  to  this  circumstance  he  raised  up  a  class 
of  exclusionists  as  opposed  to  the  emancipists,*  and  formed 

last  found  him  concealed  behind  a  bed.  His  person  and  property  were 
carefully  protected,  and  he  embarked,  after  some  time,  for  Europe  on 
board  the  Porpoise  sloop  of  war. 

*  I3y  these  terms,  the  former  may  be  considered  those  who  object  to 


SIR  T.  BRISBANE,  AND  GENERALS  DARLING  AND  BOURKE.     237 

two  parties  who  have  ever  since  remained  in  hostihty  to  each 
other. 

Sir  Thomas  Brisbane,  who  succeeded  Major-General  Mac- 
quarie,  was  an  amiable  and  scientific  man,  but  seems  to  have 
been  deficient  in  energy  of  character ;  his  successor,  Lieut.- 
General  Darling,  was  a  Governor  of  no  inconsiderable  talent, 
with  an  ardent  desire  to  benefit  the  colony,  but  with  too  great 
a  sensitiveness  for  the  critiques  of  the  press ;  it  is  not  within 
my  scope  or  intentions  to  enter  into  a  discussion  of  the  diffi- 
culties and  embarrassments  with  which  his  administration  was 
surrounded;  some  were  of  his  own  creating,  others  arose 
from  the  intemperate  violence  of  faction:  the  present  ruler, 
Major-General  Bourke,  has  endeavoured  to  steer  a  middle 
course  between  the  extremes  of  party,  and  has  consequently 
met  with  much  opposition  (see  Appendix),  but  it  is  to  be 
hoped  that  as  the  malevolence  of  partizanship  dies  away,  the 
task  of  governing  New  South  Wales  will  become  less  ardu- 
ous. The  progressive  prosperity  of  the  colony  will  be  best 
seen  in  the  subsequent  statistical  details. 

Physical  Aspect  and  Geography. — The  general  features 
of  the  colony  exhibit  ranges  of  hills,  vallies,  mountains,  and 
plains  ; — the  sea  coast  has  a  range  of  lofty  and  steep  hills  (ele- 
vation 3000  to  4000  feet)  running  nearly  parallel  with  the  coast 
at  a  distance  of  from  40  to  50  miles,  called  the  Blue  Moun- 
tains ;  the  intervening  space  being  an  undulating  plain  inter- 
sected by  several  rivers  which  have  their  rise  in  the  eleva- 
tions just  mentioned  ;  beyond  which  a  considerable  extent  of 
table  land  stretches  in  every  direction,  gradually  depressing 
towards  the  interior. 

The  territory  is  divided  into  19  counties,  and  although  the 
boundaries  are  yet  imperfectly  laid  down,  an  account  of  each 
will  convey  the  clearest  idea  of  the  geography  of  the  colony. 

associate  iii  private  life  with  persons  who  have  been  transported  from 
England,  whether  they  have  expiated  the  punishment  of  the  law  by  serving 
the  full  time  of  bondage  allotted,  or  been  reprieved,  and  allowed  freedom, 
after  a  short  residence  in  the  colony.  The  emancipists  are,  of  course, 
those  who  are  either  free  by  servitude  or  by  favour  of  the  Government. 


^38  PHYSICAL  ASPECT — CUMBERLAND  COUNTY. 

The  first  county  in  point  of  settlement,  is  that  of — 
Cumberland,  which  is  an  undulating  plain,  bounded  on  the 
N.  and  W.  by  the  rivers  Hawkesbury  and  Nepean  ; — on  the 
S.W.  and  S.  by  the  Nepean,  the  Cataract  River,  and  a  line 
bearing  E.  20°  S.  to  BuUi  on  the  sea  coast,  which  forms  the 
eastern  boundary.  The  Hawkesbury  and  Nepean  form  seven 
eighths  of  the  interior  boundai'y  of  the  county,  which  is  in 
length  from  N.  to  S.  about  53  miles,  and  in  extreme  bieadth 
from  the  sea  to  the  base  of  the  Blue  Mountains,  46  miles ; 
divided  into  31  districts,  containing  about  900,000  English 
acres.  The  principal  towns  of  New  South  Wales  are  situate 
in  this  county,  viz.  Sydney  (the  capital),  Parramatta,  Liver- 
pool, Windsor,  Richmond,  Castlereagh,  Penrith,  &;c.,  and  it 
is  the  most  thickly  inhabited  (more  than  36,000  mouths,  see 
population  section.)  The  maritime  boundary  is  generally  bold 
and  rugged,  along  which  the  vast  Southern  Ocean  perpetually 
rolls  its  alternately  peaceful  and  tremendous  surge.  For  the 
distance  of  five  or  six  miles  from  the  coast  the  country  wears 
a  bleak  and  barren  aspect,  consisting  of  ridges  of  stratified 
sandstone;  the  soil  poor,  in  some  places  swampy,  and  clothed 
with  a  few  stunted  Eucalypti  and  dwarf  underwood. 

Beyond  this  coast  girdle  the  country  begins  to  improve ; 
an  undulating  country  extends  for  ten  miles,  and  where  civili- 
zation has  not  been  in  active  operation,  a  stately  forest  of 
Eucalypti  varied  with  the  Casaurina  torulosa  appears,  diver- 
sified here  and  there  with  farms  and  tenements,  and  inter- 
sected by  broad  and  excellent  turnpike  roads ;  the  soil  in 
this  belt  is  still  poor  on  the  surface :  At  the  distance  of  20  to 
25  miles  from  the  sea  shore  the  aspect  of  the  country  is  truly 
beautiful ;  the  forest  is  as  lofty  but  less  dense  than  is  described 
in  the  preceding  section  ;  there  is  little  or  no  underwood,  and 
the  average  number  of  trees  to  the  acre  do  not  exceed  fifty  ; 
while  a  charming  variety  of  hills  and  dales  are  clothed  with 
luxuriant  herbage,  now  covered  with  bleating  flocks  and  low- 
ing herds,  and  at  intervals  may  be  met  the  spacious  man- 
sion or  snug  farm  house  of  civilized  man.  Throughout  the 
whole  of  the   county  from   the  sea  coast  to   the  base  of  the 


SYDNEY  THE  CAPITAL  OF  NEW  SOUTH  WALES.  239 

Blue  Mountains,  the  land  can  scarcely  be  considered  elevated, 
but  a  continued  series  of  undulations,  until  approaching  the 
Nepean  and  Hawkesbury  rivers  when  considerable  plains 
border  those  noble  streams,  the  fertility  of  which  is  inex- 
haustible. The  county  is  not  well  watered,  but  the  process  of 
boring  now  in  execution  will  probably  remedy  this  deficiency  ; 
the  creeks  of  the  county  are  South,  Prospect,  Cabramatta, 
and  East  Creeks  :  the  rivers  Parramatta,  Hawkesbury  and 
Nepean  will  come  under  the  general  description  of  the  rivers 
of  the  colony. 

Sydney,  the  capital  of  New  South  Wales,  is  situate  nearly 
equidistant  from  the  extreme  northern  and  southern  extremi- 
ties of  the  county  of  Cumberland  ;  it  is  built  partly  in  a  narrow 
ravine  or  valley,  and  partly  on  the  sides  of  a  gentle  slope  ex- 
tending upwards  from  the  shores  of  one  of  the  coves  of  Port 
Jackson,  and  called  Sydney  Cove  on  the  first  founding  of  the 
colony.  The  streets  are  long  (some  one  mile),  wide,  and 
quite  English  in  their  appearance  ;*  the  houses  are  generally 
lofty  and  well  constructed,  interspersed  with  cottages  fronted 
by  small  neat  gardens,  which  in  some  quarters  of  the  town  are 
attached  to  every  house. 

Along  the  water  side  (except  that  portion  occupied  by  the 
demesne  of  Government  House)  there  are  wharfs,  stores,  ship 
yards,  mills,  steam  engines,  &c  ;  behind  these  the  houses  rise 
in  successive  terraces,  giving  variety  to  the  scene,  and  con- 
veying by  their  neatness  and  elegance  the  idea  of  a  prosper- 
ous community.  The  shops  of  Sydney  are  frequently  laid 
out  with  great  taste — they  are  not,  as  in  America,  '  stores' 
where  every  article  may  be  bought  under  the  same  roof,  but 
each  trade  or  business  has  its  own  distinct  warehouse.f     The 

*  It  would  have  been  preferable  if  they  had  been  kid  out  wide  enoug-h 
to  admit  of  a  row  of  trees  on  either  side,  as  at  Cape  Town. 

f  House  rent  is  hi«-h  at  Sydney,  as  may  be  supposed  from  the  fact  that 
building  land  has  been  recently  sold  in  George  Street  at  ^20,000  jo^r  acre  I 
and  some  ground  is  worth  ^50  per/oo^/  Several  private  establishments 
are  of  considerable  size ;  auction  rooms  have  been  lately  built  by  one  indi- 
vidual at  a  cost  of  i?5,000,  and  Mr.  R.  Cooper  ha?  expended  nearly  ^20,000 


240  PUBLIC  BUILDINGS  AT  SYDNEY. 

hotels  and  inns  are  numerous  and  excellent,  public  houses, 
affording  entertainment  for  man  and  horse  abound,  I  think  I 
counted  fifty  of  these  establishments  in  one  street  (Pitt-street), 
and  there  are  about  SOO  in  the  whole  town. 

The  public  buildings  are  neither  numerous  nor  elegant ; 
the  Government  House,  though  delightfully  situate  in  a 
charming  demesne  overlooking  the  harbour,  can  scarcely  be 
considered  more  than  an  overgrown  cottage; — the  hospital  is 
a  huge  unsightly  brick  building,  as  is  also  the  Court  and 
Session  House;  the  barracks  (nearly  in  the  centre  of  the 
town)  are  commodious,  but  inelegant :  St.  Philip's  Church  is 
like  an  old  barn  with  a  sort  of  steeple  at  one  end ;  the  gaol* 
(situate  most  improperly  in  the  great  thoroughfare  of  George- 
street)  is  a  large  unhealthy  watch-house ;  the  Roman  Catholic 
chapel  is  an  immense  structure  (the  size  of  which  is  apparently 
magnified  by  its  standing  alone  on  the  verge  of  Hyde  Park) 
in  which  an  attempt  at  imposing  grandeur  seems  to  have  ab- 
sorbed every  other  idea  ;f  St.  James's  Episcopal  Church  is  a 
modest  appropriate  edifice;  the  Scotch  Kirk  is  built  after 
the  neat  and  pleasing  style  adopted  by  the  disciples  of  John 
Knox,  and  the  Methodist  chapel,  is  an  humble  and  lowly 
structure  in  which  the  true  Christian  will  find  no  exterior 
attractions  to  lure  him  to  admire,  love,  and  worship  his  Creator. 

The  views  from  the  higher  parts  of  the  capital  of  Australia 
are  bold,  varied  and  picturesque ;  the  irregular  appearance 
of  Sydney  itself,  with  its  numerous  gardens  ;  the  magnificent 

on  his  distillery.  The  firm  of  Messrs.  Daniel  Cooper  and  Levy  have  ex- 
pended larger  sums  in  erecting  steam-engines,  mills,  &c. ;  and  Mr.  Barnet 
Levy  has  built  an  excellent  Theatre  on  speculation. 

*  A  new  gaol  was  building  on  the  south  end  road  when  I  left  the  colony. 
Its  size  was  great,  its  materials  of  hewn  stone,  and  its  situation  healthy  ; 
but  strength  and  durability  seem  to  have  occupied  the  architect's  mind,  to 
the  exclusion  of  taste  or  elegance ;  he  apparently  forgot  that  both  may  be 
combined  in  one  structure. 

t  The  bare  walls  of  this  structure  have  been  standing  for  years  without 
a  roof;  it  would  have  been  wiser  of  the  Rev.  Mr.  Therry  to  have  laid  out 
the  funds  at  his  disposal,  in  the  first  instance,  on  a  building  within  his 
means  of  completion. 


PORT  JACKSON  HARBOUR  AND  LIGHTHOUSE.  241 

harbour  of  Port  Jackson,  studded  with  islets,  and  indented 
by  coves  of  singular  beauty ;  the  infinite  diversity  of  hill  and 
dale,  towering  forests,  and  projecting  rocks  give  a  wildness  and 
grandeur  to  the  tranquil  abode  of  men,  which  is  rarely  met 
with.  The  situation  of  Sydney  adapts  it  for  the  capital  of  a 
commercial  empire  :*  Port  Jackson,  as  I  have  before  ob- 
served, is  one  of  the  finest  harbours  in  the  world ;  its  entrance 
three  quarters  of  a  mile  widef,  then  expanding  into  a 
capacious  basin,  15  miles  long, — in  some  places  three  wide, 
and  navigable  for  ships  of  any  burthen  15  from  its  entrance 
— i.  e.  seven  miles  above  Sydney,  up  the  Paramatta  River, 
and  which  for  12  miles  further  can  scarcely  be  considered 
more  than  an  arm  of  the  sea.  Ships  come  up  close  to  the 
wharfs  and  stores  at  Sydney,  and  the  cargoes  are  hoisted  from 
a  ship's  hold  into  the  ware-rooms.  [For  an  idea  of  the  ex- 
tensive trade  carried  on,  see  Commerce.] 

The  second  town  in  the  county  of  Cumberland  is  Para- 
matta,J  and  although  said  to  be  built  on  the  banks  of  the 
Paramatta  River,  it  is,  more  properly  speaking,  at  the  head 
of  the  harbour  of  Port  Jackson,  distant  from  Sydney  18 
miles  by  water,   and  15  by  land.     The  town  is   situate  on 

*  The  town  is  about  three  miles  in  length,  with  two-thirds  of  its  circuit 
environed  by  the  navigable  coves  of  Port  Jackson. 

f  A  fine  lighthouse  was  erected  on  the  lofty  S.  head  of  Port  Jackson, 
by  Gen.  Macquarie  ;  it  is  in  Lat.  33.51.  40.  S.,  Long.  151.16.  50.  E.  ;  the 
tower  is  admiral)ly  built ;  the  height  of  the  light  (a  revolving  one)  from 
the  base  being  7G  feet,  and  above  the  sea  277  feet, — total  353.  The  inner 
S.  head  bears  from  the  lighthouse  N.  by  W.  |  W.  distant  a  mile  and  a 
quarter.  The  outer  N.  head  bears  from  it  N.  by  E.  two  miles.  The  inner 
S.  and  outer  N.  heads  lie  N.  E.  4  E.  and  S.  W.  i,  of  each  other  distant  a 
mile  and  one-tenth.  The  light  can  be  seen  from  S.  by  E,  to  N.  by  E.,  and 
from  a  ship's  deck,  on  a  clear  night,  eight  to  ten  leagues,  appearing  like  a 
luminous  star.     Bearings  magnetic,  distances  nautical  —  variations  9°  E. 

N.  B.  The  N.  end  of  the  '  Sow  and  Pigs '  bears  from  the  inner  S.  head 
S.W.  byW.  halfamile. 

X  This  is  the  native  name  ;  it  was  originally  called  by  the  first  settlers 
Rose  Hill,  but,  with  a  good  taste,  changed  to  the  more  euphonous  cog- 
nomen of  Paramatta. 

VOL.  IV.  R 


242  PARAMATTA  TOWN — FEMALE  FACTORY. 

either  side  of  a  small  fresh-water  river,  which  unites  with  the 
sea  inlet  above  described,  and  contains  3,000  inhabitants, 
principally  traders,  artificers,  and  labourers,  who  find  employ- 
ment in  the  surrounding  country  seats  of  diflferent  gentlemen 
and  farmers.  Its  main  street  is  about  one  mile  long,  and 
extends  from  the  country  residence  of  the  Governor  to  the 
wharf,  from  whence  the  view  down  the  river  is  extremely 
interesting.  Several  public  buildings  are  in  the  town  and 
neighbourhood  ;  there  is  an  excellent  establishment  for  fe- 
male orphans  on  the  river's  banks,  and  within  half  a  mile  of 
Paramatta  is  the  factory,  or  rather  penitentiary  for  female 
prisoners,  where  those  convicts  who  have  not  been  assigned 
as  servants,  or  who  are  returned  from  service  and  awaiting 
new  masters,  or  who  are  remanded  for  punishment  are  con- 
fined in  three  separate  classes  :  the  building  is  large,  massive 
and  clean,  but  situate  in  a  vale,  and  enclosed  with  high  walls, 
which  has  at  times  rendered  its  inmates  unhealthy.* 

*  A  ludicrous  circumstance  occurred  at  this  factory  when  I  was  at  Pa- 
ramatta. The  third  class  of  prisoners  had  been  denied  the  indulgence  of 
tea  and  sugar,  as  a  punishment  for  their  refractoriness ;  they  refused, 
therefore,  to  work  any  longer,  and,  after  spending  two  days  in  sulkiness, 
they  warned  the  matron  that,  unless  their  tea  and  sugar  was  restored,  they 
would  leave  the  factory.  Mrs.  Falloon  laughed  at  their  threat.  On  the 
third  morning  200  of  these  desperates  attacked  the  workmen,  took  from 
them  their  hammers  and  sledges,  broke  open  the  huge  prison  doors,  and 
rushed  into  the  town  attacking  the  baker's  shops,  &c.  The  troops  were 
ordered  out,  the  light  company  of  H.  M.  57th  regiment  in  advance;  the 
women  beat  a  retreat  towards  the  surrounding  hills,  while  the  bugles  of 
the  troops  sounded  a  charge ;  the  ol)ject  being  to  prevent  the  factory  ladies 
taking  refuge  in  the  bush  or  forest,  and  which  ruse,  had  it  been  accom- 
plished, would  have  rendered  it  difficult  to  predict  whether  Venus  or  Mars 
would  have  conquered  :  however,  after  various  skirmishes  or  feints,  and 
divers  marches  and  counter-marches,  the  drums  and  bugles  announced  a 
parley — the  battle  was  considered  a  drawn  fight — and  a  treaty  agreed  to,  in 
which  it  was  stipulated  that  the  fair  combatants  should  march  back,  with 
all  the  honours  of  war,  vvithin  the  walls  and  gates  of  the  aforesaid  factory, 
provided  that  all  delinquencies  be  forgiven,  and  the  usual  allowance  of 
tea  and  sugar  restored.  This  little  incident  will  give  an  idea  of  the  deter- 
mined character  of  the  female  prisoners  at  New  South  Wales. 


WINDSOR  AND  RICHMOND  TOWNS.  243 

There  are  several  excellent  inns  ;  and  stage-coaches,  and 
steam-boats  pass  to  and  from  Sydney  every  day. 

Windsor  is  about  20  miles  from  Paramatta,  and  35  from 
Sydney :  situate  near  the  confluence  of  the  South  Creek  with 
the  noble  river  called  the  Hawkesbury,  here  140  miles  dis- 
tant from  the  sea,  and  navigable  for  vessels  of  100  t^ns  bur- 
then for  four  miles  above  Windsor,  The  town,  containing 
1,000  inhabitants,  is  built  on  a  hill,  elevated  100  feet  above  the 
level  of  the  Hawkesbury,  and  commanding  a  beautiful  view 
of  the  surrounding  country  ;  its  population  is  similar  to  that 
of  Paramatta,  as  are  also  its  buildings  of  a  church,  hospital, 
barracks,  goal,  store-houses,  &c. 

The  inns  (as  is  the  case  throughout  the  colony)  are  large 
and  excellent :  stage-coaches  (a-la  Anglaise)  ply  every  day  to 
and  from  Sydney  via  Paramatta,  and  steam-boats  twice  a 
week,  the  distance  between  Broken  Bay,  where  the  Hawkes- 
bury disembogues  into  the  sea  and  the  N.  head  of  Port 
Jackson,  being  about  14  miles.  The  land  in  the  vicinity  of 
Windsor  is  extremely  rich,  and  being  in  the  possession  of 
numerous  small  farmers  is  carefully  tilled,  so  that  numerous 
farm-yards  and  extensive  fields  of  grain,  with  herds  of  kine, 
enhance  the  natural  beauty  of  a  very  picturesque  country. 

Richmond,  with  a  population  of  800,  is  a  small  but  rising 
inland  town,  distant  from  Sydney  o(^  miles. 

Lii^erpool  is  situate  on  the  banks  of  the  George  River, 
which  disembogvies  itself  into  Botany  Bay.*  George  River  is 
about  half  the  size  of  the  Hawkesbury,  and  is  navigable  for 

*  Many  persons  long  used  to  the  term  of  •  Botany  Brnj,^  think  that 
the  colony  is  founded  on  the  shores  of  this  extensive  inlet  of  the  ocean  ;  I 
have  already  explained  at  p.  228  that  such  was  the  original  intention  but 
never  carried  into  effect,  and  the  shores  around  Botany  Bay  are  now  as 
wild — as  bleak — as  barren,  and  almost  as  uninhabited  as  when  they  were 
first  visited  by  Capt.  Cook  and  Sir  Joseph  Banks.  Botany  Bay  is  about 
14  miles  to  the  southward  of  the  Heads  (as  the  entrance  is  called)  of  Port 
Jackson ;  it  is  wide,  open,  jind  unsheltered  for  vessels  :  I  visited  it  from 
curiosity,  and  in  order  that  I  might  say  I  had  been  at  '  Botany  Ben/ — the 
only  advantage  I  derived  from  my  journey  was  to  contrast  the  dreary 
desolation  around  its  shores  with  the  busy  hum  of  human  industry  at  the 


244  LIVERPOOL  AND  ADJOINING  DISTRICTS. 

vessels  of  50  tons  burthen  up  to  Liverpool,  which,  from  its 
central  position  between  Sydney  and  the  fertile  districts  of 
Airds,  Appin,  Bunburycurran,  Cabramatta,  Bringelley,  the 
Cow  Pastures,  Illawarra,  and  five  islands,  &;c.  (the  Great 
Southern  Road  from  Sydney,  leading  through  Liverpool 
to  the  counties  of  Camden,  Argyle,  Westmoreland),  is 
rising  into  eminence.  The  country  is  flat  around  but 
cleared  and  cultivated,  though  the  soil  is  poor  :  the  public 
buildings  are  the  same  as  in  the  former  mentioned  towns, 
with  the  exception  of  a  male  orphan  school  (an  excellent 
institution).  There  are  stage  coaches  daily  between  Liver- 
pool and  Sydney.  Campbell  Town  situate  in  Airds  district, 
distant  12  miles  from  Liverpool,  requires  no  particular 
comment.  We  may  now  proceed  to  examine  the  adjoining 
County  of  Camden,  bounded  on  the  N.  by  a  line  bearing  W. 
20"  N.  from  Bulli  on  the  sea  coast  to  the  head  of  the  Ca- 
taract River,  thence  by  that  river  and  the  Nepean  to  its 
junction  with  the  Wollondilly,  there  called  the  Warragumba: 
on  the  W.  by  the  River  Wollondilly  to  the  junction  of  the 
Uringalla,  commonly  called  Paddy's  River ;  and  by  the  Urin- 
galla  and  Barber's  Creek,  forming  the  boundary  between 
Camden  and  Arygle,  to  the  Shoalhaven  River:  on  the  S.  by 
the  Shoalhaven  river  to  the  sea  coast  which  forms  the  Eastern 
boundary  of  the  colony.  The  length  of  the  county  to  the  S. 
E.  is  QiQi,  and  the  breadth  about  55  miles  ;  the  superficial  area 
being  2200  square  miles.  The  physical  aspect  of  Camden 
is  more  than  undulating — it  is  in  fact  a  continued  succession 
of  hill  and  dale,  the  former  sometimes  rising  into  mountains, 
whose  steep  sides  are  clothed  with  varieties  of  lofty  timber. 
The  Mittigong  range  runs  S.E.  through  the  whole  length  of 
the  colony,  terminating  close  to  the  sea  in  the  Illawara 
mountain  50  miles  S.  of  Sydney. 

contiguous  harbour  of  Port  Jackson,  and  to  be  reminded  that  less  than  half 
a  century  ago  there  was  no  difference  in  Nature's  wild  waste  at  either  place. 
A  brass  plate  on  the  cliffs  marks  the  spot  where  Capt.  Cook  first  landed, 
and  a  handsome  monument,  surmounted  by  a  gilt  sphere,  erected  to  the 
memory  of  La  Perouse,  contributes  however  to  give  an  intellectual  inte- 
rest to  the  scene. 


CAMDEN  COUNTY ILLAWARKA,  &C.  245 

Notwithstanding,  however,  that  this  range  occupies  so  much 
of  the  country,  there  are  several  large  tracts  unsurpassed  in 
fertility  throughout  the  county.  Of  these  the  principal  are 
the  Cow  Pastures,*  which  extend  Northward  from  the  river 
Bargo  to  the  junction  of  the  Warragumba  and  Nepean  rivers, 
bounded  to  the  W.  by  some  of  the  branches  of  the  latter  river 
and  the  hills  of  Nattai,  and  containing  an  area  of  60,000  acres, 
the  greater  part  consisting  of  a  fertile  light  sandy  loam,  rest- 
ing on  a  substratum  of  clay.  Towards  the  southern  hills  of 
Nattai  the  Cow  Pastures  are  broken  into  abrupt  and  hilly 
ridges,  but  for  a  distance  of  three  miles  from  the  Nepean  they 
consist  of  easy  slopes  and  gentle  undulations,  from  the  centre 
of  which  rises  a  lofty  hill  named  Mt.  Hunter.  Camden  county 
is  celebrated  for  containing  within  its  boundaries  the  fertile, 
beautiful,  and  I  may  add  romantic  district  of  lllawarra  or  the 
five  islands  which  extends  in  a  N.  and  S.  direction  for  the 
space  of  18  miles  along  the  Eastern  coast,  commencing  at  a 
point  in  which  a  range  of  high  hills  (the  Merrigong)  termi- 
nate in  the  sea,  receding  gradually  S.  towards  Shoalhaven, 
and  comprising  150,000  acres.  This  tract  is  almost  shut  out 
from  communication  with  other  parts  of  the  colony,  and  al- 
though the  mountain  may  be  descended  by  a  man  and  his 
horse,  it  is  not  likely  to  be  practicable  for  wheeled  carriages  ; 
the  intercourse  with  Sydney  is  therefore  carried  on  by  sea. 
The  scenery  at  lllawarra  is  totally  distinct  from  that  of  the 
the  counties  of  Camden  or  Cumberland,  while  tall  ferns, 
umbrageous  cedars,  graceful  palm  trees,  with  numerous 
creeping  vines  throwing  around  in  wild  luxuriance  their 
flowery  tassels,  here  and  there  interspersed  with  flights  of  red 
crested  black  cockatoos  and  purple  louries  make  the  specta- 
tor fancy  himself  in  some  tropical  region  with  all  the  exhili- 
rating  atmosphere  of  a  temperate  clime.  The  Shoalhaven 
River,  which  forms  the  S.  boundary  of  lllawarra,  and  distant 
190  miles  from  Sydney,  is  navigable  for  about  20  miles  into 

*  So  called  from  large  herds  of  cattle  recently  found  there,  and  which 
had  for  then*  original  stock  three  runaway  cattle  belonging  to  the  herd 
landed  from  H.iM.S.  Sirius  soon  after  the  founding  of  the  colony. 


24G  ARGYLE  COUNTY, 

the  country  for  vessels  of  80  or  90  tons  burthen.  The  soil 
around  is  a  deep  unctuous  vegetable  mould,  abounding  in  large 
heaps  of  decayed  marine  shells. 

Barragorang  in  the  same  county,  is  a  long  narrow  valley, 
hemmed  in  between  the  Merrigong  range  and  the  Blue  Moun- 
tains, with  only  one  pass  into  it,  and  that  a  very  precipitous 
one.  It  runs  N.  and  S.  along  the  banks  of  the  Warragamba, 
and  consists  of  a  stripe  of  rich  soil  matted  with  the  finest 
native  herbage,  and  most  picturesquely  variegated  with  high 
rocky  precipitous  mountains,  frowningly  impending  on  either 
^side,  their  rugged  declivities  occasionally  adorned  with  wav- 
ing shrubs  and  verdant  heaths. 

As  before  observed,  the  Merrigong  range  runs  through 
the  county ;  from  this  range  there  branches  off  laterally  in- 
ferior elevations,  from  which  others  of  still  smaller  dimensions 
again  shoot  out ;  these  ridges  almost  uniformly  shoot  upwards 
like  the  roof  of  a  house,  and  where  the  country  is  mountainous 
meet  so  close  to  each  other  as  to  have  only  a  narrow  ravine. 
The  reader  will  form  an  idea  of  the  aspect  of  Camden  county 
from  the  foregoing  brief  description,  and  accompany  me  to — 
Argyle  County — which  is  bounded  on  the  N.  by  the  River 
Guinecor,  from  its  junction  with  the  Wollondilly  to  its  source 
near  Burra  Burra  Lagoon  on  the  dividing  range :  on  the  W. 
by  the  dividing  range  from  Burra  Burra,  by  Cullarin  to  Lake 
George,  including  the  three  Bredalbane  Plains  :  on  the  S.  by 
the  Northern  margin  of  Lake   George  to  Kenny's  Station ; 
from  Lake  George  to  the  Alianoyonyiga  Mountain,  by  a  small 
gulley,   descending  to  the  lake ;  from  Alianoyonyiga,  by  the 
Tidge  extending  S.E.  to  the  hill  of  Wolowolar;  and  from 
Wolowolar  by  Boro  Creek,  to  the  Shoalhaven  River : — on 
the  E.  by  the  Shoalhaven  River,  to  the  junction  of  the  Rivu- 
let from  Barber's  ;  by  the  Rivulet  from  Barber's  to  its  source  ; 
across  a  narrow  neck  of  land  to  the  head  of  the  Uringalla ; 
by  the  Uringalla  to  its  junction  with  the  Wollondilly ;  and  by 
the  Wollondilly  to  the  junction  of  the  Guinecor  above  men- 
tioned :  the  nearest  point  from  the  sea  is  25  miles.     Argyle  is 
about  60  miles  long,  with  an  average  breadth  of  30  miles,  and 


LAKES  GEORGE  AND  BATHURST.  247 

a  superficial  area  of  1950  square  miles ;  the  face  of  the  county 
consists  of  tolerably  high  and  extensive  ridges  (the  Mittigoiig 
range)  ramifying  in  various  directions  with  swelhng  hills  and  ir- 
regular plains  and  vallies  between  them,  watered  by  the  various 
branches  of  the  Hawkesbury  and  Shoalhaven  rivers,  besides 
a  number  of  small  rivulets  and  ponds  containing  water  all  the 
year  round.  Lakes  Bathurst  and  George  are  situate  in  this 
county — the  former  129  and  the  latter  125  miles  S.  W.  of 
Sydney ;  Bathurst  Lake  is  from  three  to  five  miles  in  diame- 
ter, and  George  fifteen  miles  long  by  five  broad,  their  size 
being  increased  or  decreased  according  to  the  mountain  tor- 
rents, to  which  they  serve  as  reservoirs  ;  their  waters  are  pure 
but  the  depth  I  have  not  been  able  to  ascertain.*  The  N.W. 
and  S.W.  sides  of  the  lake  are  bounded  by  hills  of  a  moderate 
size,  on  the  S.  and  S.  S.  E.  by  low  land  termed  Wellington 
Plains.  George  Lake  is  near  to  the  summit  of  the  range  di- 
viding the  E.  and  W.  waters,  being  about  12  miles  from  the 
South  Fish  river,  a  branch  of  the  Lachlan  running  into  the 
great  interior  marshes.f  Although  Argyle  abounds  in  timber, 
the  land  is  more  thinly  wooded  than  in  Cumberland,  and  there 
are  plains  of  great  extent  (such  as  Goulbourn's  plain,  con- 
taining 35,000  acres)  without  a  tree,  while  in  Eden  Forest 
they  are  so  sparingly  scattered  as  to  resemble  more  a  noble- 
man's park  than  a  natural  forest  all  self  sown.  This  county 
in  particular  presents  excellent  specimens  of  a  singular  phe- 
nomenon observed  in  various  parts  of  Australia,  namely,  what 
would  be  supposed  the  most  striking  evidences  of  former  cul- 
tivation, the  land  being  regularly  laid  out  in  ridges  apparently 
marked  by  the  plough,  and  with  a  regularity  of  intervals 
which  would  secure  a  prize  from  a  Scottish  Agricultural  So- 
ciety. These  plough  ridges  occur  always  on  gentle  declivi- 
ties where  there  is  a  tenacious  subsoil  with  loose  superstrata, 
and  are  doubtless  produced  by  the  action  of  water ;  as  there 

*  Bathurst,  ahhough  60  miles  inland  from  Jervis  Bay  (the  nearest  part 
of  the  coast)  has  in  it  an  animal  resembling  (as  nearly  as  can  be  discovered 
at  a  distance)  a  seal,  about  three  feet  long,  and  rising  every  now  and  then 
to  breathe. 

t  By  recent  changes  this  lake  is  included  in  Murray  county. 


Jifi8  WESTMORELAND  COUNT k'. 

are  found  even  on  the  tops  of  mountain  ridges  extensive  beds 
of  water  sand  and  water  gravel  mixed  with  fragments  of  shells, 
presenting  the  identical  appearances  observed  on  the  banks  of 
rivers  or  upon  sea  beaches  ;  but  still  the  regularity  of  the  dis- 
tances in  the  plough  ridges  above  adverted  to  is  unaccountable. 

Westmoreland  County  is  bounded  on  the  N.E.  by  Cox's 
River,  from  its  junction  with  the  Wollondilly  to  the  station  on 
the  road  to  Mount  Blaxland  :  on  the  N.  by  that  road  to  the 
Fish  River,  and  by  that  River  to  its  junction  with  the  River 
Campbell :  on  the  W.  by  the  Campbell  to  its  source  ;  and 
thence  by  a  line  of  marked  trees  to  Burra  Burra  Lagoon :  on 
the  S.  by  the  River  Guinecor,  from  Burra  Burra  Lagoon  to 
its  junction  with  the  Wollondilly  :  and  on  the  E.  by  the  Wol- 
londilly to  the  junction  of  Cox's  River  above  mentioned. 

This  county  is  in  extreme  length  from  N.W.  to  S.E.  59 
miles,  and  in  breadth  08  ;  with  a  superficial  area  of  1592 
square  miles.  It  partakes  of  the  general  features  of  Argyle,  and 
contains  a  part  of  the  Blue  Mountain  range,  which  towers 
from  3,000  to  4,000  feet  above  the  ocean  level. 

CooJiS  County,  adjoining  Cumberland,  is  bounded  on  the 
N.E.  by  the  Lower  Branch  of  the  Hawkesbury :  on  the  N. 
by  the  rocky  dividing  range,  extending  E.  and  W.  between 
the  Rivers  Hunter  and  Hawkesbury,  and  forming  the  S. 
boundary  of  the  county  of  Hunter :  on  the  W.  by  the  range 
dividing  the  waters  to  Honeysuckle  Hill ;  and  hence  to  where 
the  Mount  Blaxland  Road  crosses  Cox's  River :  on  the 
S.W.  by  Cox's  River :  on  the  E.  by  the  Warragumba,  Ne- 
pean,  and  Hawkesbury,  to  the  junction  of  the  Lower  Branch, 
as  above  mentioned ;  it  is  in  length  from  N.  to  S.  5Q  miles, 
and  in  breadth  50 ;  containing  1655  square  miles.  A  great  part 
of  Cook's  county  is  occupied  by  the  Blue  Mountain  range, 
across  which  the  fine  road  from  Sydney  to  Bathurst  lies.  A 
large  part  is  table  land  from  2000  to  3000  feet  high,  abound- 
ing in  picturesque  scenery.  Emu  Plains  and  several  fertile 
valUes  compensate  in  some  measure  for  the  large  quantity  of 
rocky  soil  in  this  county. 

At  King's  Table  Land  (2727  feet  above  the  sea)  the  view  is 
magnificent:  for   18  miles  from  the  commencement  o^  the 


cook's  and  bathurst  counties.  249 

ascent  of  the  Blue  Mountains  at  Emu  Plains  the  slope  is  gra- 
dual, from  thence  to  the  26th  mile  is  a  succession  of  steep 
and  rugged  hills,  some  almost  so  abrupt  as  to  deny  a  passage 
across  them  to  King's  table  land,  on  the  S.W.  of -which  the 
mountain  terminates  in  lofty  precipices,  at  the  bottom  of  which 
is  seen  the  beautiful  Prince  Regent's  Glen,  about  24  miles  in 
length.  From  INIount  York  (3292  feet  high)  the  view  is 
superbly  magnificent — mountains  rising  beyond  mountains, 
clothed  with  impenetrable  forests,  and  buttressed  with  stu- 
pendous masses  of  rock  in  the  foreground.  The  Vale  of 
Clwdd  (2496  feet  above  the  sea)  runs  at  the  foot  of  Mount 
York,  extending  six  miles  in  a  Westerly  direction,  its  rich 
soil  irrigated  by  Cox's  River,  which  runs  Easterly  into  the 
Hawkesbury,  while  eight  miles  further  again  to  the  left  the 
Fish  River  rising  in  Clarence  Range  runs  Westerly  into  the 
Macquarie,  forming  the  dividing  line  between  Westmoreland 
and  Roxburgh  counties. 

Bathurst  County  is  bounded  on  the  N.E.  by  the  River 
Campbell  from  Pepper  Creek,  and  the  River  Macquarie  to 
the  Currigurra  Rivulet :  on  the  N.W.  by  that  Rivulet,  the 
Callalia  Rivulet,  and  a  line  of  marked  trees  to  the  INIolong 
River  :  on  the  W.  by  that  river  and  a  range  of  hills,  named 
Panuara  Range,  to  the  Panuara  Rivulet :  and  by  the  upper 
part  of  Limestone  Creek  from  its  junction  with  the  Belu- 
bula:  and  on  the  S.  by  the  road  to  Dunn's  Plains,  and  by 
Pepper  Creek  to  its  junction  with  the  River  Campbell  first 
mentioned.  It  is  in  in  its  extreme  length  72  miles,  and 
in  breadth  68,  with  a  superficial  area  of  1860  square  miles  : 
this  transalpine  country  is  of  recent  discovery,  being  considered 
inaccessible  until  1813.  It  consists  in  general  of  broken  table 
land,  in  some  places  forming  extensive  downs  without  a  tree, 
such  as  Bathurst  Plains,  which  contains  50,000  acres.  Oc- 
casional open  downs  of  this  description  extend  along  the 
banks  of  the  Macquarie  for  full  120  miles.  They  are  not 
unlike  the  Brighton  Downs,  but  with  this  remarkable  pecu- 
liarity, that  on  the  summits  of  some  of  the  elevations  or  knolls, 
there  are  found  dangerous  quagmires  or  bogs,  resembling 
sometimes  a  pond  that  has   been  dried,  but  at  other  times 


250  ROXBURGH  AND  WELLINGTON  COUNTIES. 

concealed  by  a  rich  verdure.  '  Fairy  Rings'  are  frequent, 
and  on  most  of  them  grow  fungi  of  a  large  size.  Bathurst 
county  is  one  of  the  most  flourishing  districts  in  the  colony ; 
iis  society  excellent^ — its  resources,  as  a  fine-woolled  sheep 
farming  district,  considerable  (for  its  number  of  inhabitants 
see  Po]iulatio7i  section) ;  and  so  healthful  is  the  climate  that 
the  first  natural  death  did  not  occur  until  1826 — twelve  years 
after  its  settlement.* 

Roximrgh  County  is  bounded  on  the  N,E.  by  the  dividing 
range  from  the  head  of  the  Capertee  Rivulet,  to  that  of  the 
Cudjeegong  River ;  and  by  the  Cudjeegong  River  to  a  point 
fifteen  miles  above  its  junction  with  Lawson's  Creek :  on  the 
N.W.  by  a  line  thence  to  the  River  Macquarie,  at  the  northern 
angle  of  the  county  of  Bathurst :  on  the  S.  by  the  Fish  River 
and  the  Mount  Blaxland  Road,  to  the  crest  of  the  range 
which  separates  the  waters  of  the  Fish  River  from  those  of 
Cox's  River,  and  on  the  E.  by  that  range  to  the  point  over 
Capertee,  as  above  mentioned  :  in  length  53  miles,  and  in 
breadth  43;  with  a  superficial  area  of  1519  square  miles. 
The  county  is  hilly  and  broken,  but  abounding  in  good  pas- 
turage. 

Wellington  County,  to  the  N.W.  of  the  preceding,  is 
bounded  on  the  N.E.  by  the  River  Cudjeegong :  on  the  W. 
by  the  present  boundary  of  the  Colony  to  the  Station  at  Wel- 
lington Valley :  on  the  S.W.  by  the  River  Macquarie  to  the 
Gurriguarra  Rivulet,  and  on  the  S.E.  by  the  boundary  of 
Roxburgh;  it  is  70  miles  long  by  51  broad,  and  partakes 
of  the  general  features  of  the  preceding  county.  One  fine 
dale,  termed  Wellington  Valley,  is  well  adapted  for  the 
grazier  or  agricvdturist. 

Philip  County  to  the  E.  is  bounded  on  the  N.  by  the  River 
Goulburn  :  on  the  N.W.  by  a  natural  line,  to  be  surveyed, 
across  the  range  to  the  Cudjeegong  River  to  its  source ;  and 
on  the  S,E.  by  the  north-western  boundary  of  the  county  of 

*  Bathurst  Town  is  iti  33.  24.30  S.  lat.,  and  149. 29.30  E.  lonc^.,  27h  miles 
N.  of  Government  House,  Sydney,  and  944  W.,  I)earing  W,  18.20  N.,  83 
jTcographical  or  95  V  statute  miles,  and,  by  the  road,  distant  121  miles. 
The  town  is  floiirishiiii^-,  and  has  its  literary  institution,  pack  of  hounds,  &c. 


NORTHUMBERLAND  AND  OTHER  COUNTIES.  251 

Hunter:  length  62,  breadth  38,  and  area  1618  square  miles. 
Bligh  County  is  bounded  on  the  N.  by  the  range  of  moun- 
tains extending  from  Pandora's  Pass,  W.  and  forming  the 
present  prescribed  boundary  of  the  colony  :  on  the  W.  by  the 
western  limit  of  the  colony :  on  the  S.W.  by  the  Cudjeegong 
River  to  Waldrar  Creek  ;  and  from  Waldrar  Creek  by  a  N.E. 
line  across  the  mountains  to  the  south-western  angle  of  the 
county  of  Brisbane :  the  area  it  is  not  possible  to  state 
accurately. 

Brisbane  County  bounded  on  the  E.  by  the  River  Hunter, 
and  the  western  boundary  of  Durham  :  on  the  N.  by  the  great 
mountain  range,  the  northern  boundary  of  the  country  at  pre- 
sent prescribed  for  location  to  settlers  :  on  the  W.  and  S.  by 
the  River  Gouiburn,  which  joins  the  Hunter  near  the  S.W. 
angle  of  Durham :  length  90  miles,  by  40  breadth,  and  area 
2344  square  miles. 

Of  these  counties  little  accurate  is  yet  known  ;  they  consist 
of  ranges  of  table  land,  with  occasional  plains  and  vallies. 
Several  mountain  peaks  rise  to  considerable  elevation,  and 
through  Philip  county  there  is  a  lofty  range  running  nearly 
N.  and  S. 

Hunter  County  is  bounded  on  the  N.  by  the  River  Hunter, 
the  Goulburn,  and  a  natural  boundary,  to  be  surveyed,  be- 
tween it  and  the  county  of  Phillip :  on  the  W.  by  the  divid- 
ing range  which  separates  it  from  Roxburgh  :  on  the  S.  by 
the  range  which  separates  it  from  the  counties  of  Cook  and 
Northumberland,  and  on  the  E.  by  Wollombi  Brook,  to  its 
junction  with  the  Hvmter.  Length  71  miles,  breadth  47,  and 
area  2056  square  miles. 

Northumberland  County,  which  intervenes  between  Hunter 
county,  and  the  sea,  is  one  of  the  finest  in  the  colony :  it  is 
bounded  on  the  N.  by  the  River  Hunter,  and  on  the  S.  by 
the  Hawkesbury ;  its  length  being  61  miles,  breadth,  50, 
with  an  area  of  23  4-2  square  miles.  Its  general  aspect  is  a 
series  of  undulations  and  elevated  plains,  intersected  by  nu- 
merous creeks,  streams,  and  rivulets.  The  fine  River  Hun- 
ter affords  a  water  communication  interiorly  throughout  its 
northern  boundary,  and  along  its  alluvial  banks  some  of  the 


252  GLOUCESTER  AND  KINg's  COUNTIES,  &C. 

most  flourishing  farms  and  estates  in  the  Colony  are  situate. 
Newcastle,  the  maritime  town  of  the  county,  is  situate  on  the 
sea  coast,  and  fast  rising  into  eminence,  not  less  by  reason 
of  its  position  at  the  commencement  of  the  navigation  of  the 
Hunter  than  from  the  locality  of  the  coal  mines,  now  actively 
in  work. 

Maitland,  on  the  Hunter,  distant  25  miles  from  Newcastle, 
with  1500  inhabitants,  and  the  seat  of  the  county  executive, 
is  a  neat  and  flourishing  settlement. 

Gloucester  County  (comprising  the  Australian  Agricultural 
Company's  grant  of  a  million  of  acres)  is  bounded  on  the  N. 
by  the  River  Manning :  on  the  S.  by  the  sea  coast :  and  on 
the  W.  by  a  line  due  S.  to  the  River  Thalaba;  and  by  Wil- 
liam's River  to  the  sea  coast :  length  74,  breadth  69,  and  area 
2701  square  miles.  This  county  partakes  of  the  general  fea- 
tures of  the  territories  before  described ;  it  possesses  the  fine 
harbour  and  rising  town  of  Port  Stephens,  and  is  well  watered. 
To  the  northward  is  the  rich  country  termed  Port  Macquarie, 
now  thrown  open  to  Settlers. 

West  of  Gloucester  is  the  large  county  of  Durham,  bounded 
on  the  E.  by  William's  River  and  the  Church  Lands  adjoin- 
ing the  Australian  Agricultural  Company's  grant:  on  the  N. 
by  the  upper  part  of  the  River  Manning,  and  the  range  of 
Mount  Royal ;  and  on  the  W.  and  S.  by  the  River  Hunter, 
to  the  junction  of  William's  River  above  mentioned.  Length 
60,  breadth  50  and  area  2117  square  miles. 

The  only  other  counties  yet  laid  down  are  situate  to  the  S. 
of  Bathurst. 

Georgiana  County  is  bounded  on  the  N.  by  the  county  of 
Bathurst :  on  the  W.  by  a  natural  line,  to  be  surveyed :  on 
the  S.  by  the  county  of  King ;  and  on  the  E.  by  the  counties 
of  Argyle  and  Westmoreland.  Length  55,  breadth  50,  and 
area  1924  square  miles. 

King's  County  is  bounded  on  the  E.  by  the  county  of 
Argyle,  and  the  northern  portion  of  the  western  shore  of 
Lake  George  :  on  the  S.  by  the  county  of  Murray,  and  on  the 
N.  and  W.  by  natural  boundaries,  to  be  surveyed.  Length 
76,  breadth  43,  and  area  1781  miles. 


MURRAY  COUNTY MORETON  BAY.  253 

Murray  County  is  bounded  on  the  N.E.  by  Boro  Creek 
from  its  junction  with  the  Shoalhaven  River,  to  its  source  in 
the  hill  of  Wolowolar ;  by  the  range  thence  to  Alianoyonyiga 
Mountain  between  Lake  George  and  Lake  Bathurst,  and  by 
a  watercourse  descending  from  that  mountain  to  Lake  George ; 
by  Lake  George  to  the  hollow  in  the  bight  near  the  middle 
of  its  western  shore  ;  and  thence  by  a  natural  line,  to  be  sur- 
veyed, extending  towards  the  Pic  of  Pabral:  on  the  W.  by 
the  Mountains  of  Warragong :  on  the  S.  by  a  range  extend- 
ing eastward  from  Mount  Murray  by  Tindery  or  the  Twins, 
and  a  line  east  from  these  Pics  to  the  Shoalhaven  River;  and 
on  the  E.  by  the  Shoalhaven  River  to  the  junction  of  Boro 
Creek  above  mentioned.  Length  72,  breadth  5Q,  and  area 
2247  square  miles. 

St.  Vincent's  County,  situate  along  the  sea  shore  to  the 
southward  of  Camden  County,  bounded  on  the  N.  and  W. 
by  the  Shoalhaven  River  ;  is  in  length  84  miles,  with  a  breadth 
of  40,  and  an  area  of  2709  square  miles. 

These  19  counties  are,  with  the  exception  of  the  first- 
mentioned  ones  of  Cumberland,  &c.  but  imperfectly  explored  ; 
but  before  quitting  this  geographical  delineation  of  the  terri- 
tory, a  few  words  as  respects  the  adjacent  country  may  be 
acceptable. 

To  the  northward,  entering  from  Moreton  Bay,  in  28,  S.  Lat. 
and  152.  E.  Long.,  77  miles  from  the  settlement  on  the  Brisbane 
River,  there  are  vast  plains  or  rising  downs  of  a  rich,  black 
and  dry  soil,  timbered,  and  covered  with  the  most  luxuriant 
herbage,  interspersed  here  and  there  with  vallies,  open  wood- 
lands, and  even  forest  ranges,  under  a  genial  clime  and  at 
an  elevation  of  1800  feet  above  the  level  of  the  sea.  Between 
the  parallels  of  34.  and  27.  there  is  a  vast  area  of  depressed 
country ;  the  dip  of  its  several  rivers  being  to  N.W.W.  and 
N.W.,  thus  favouring  the  opinion  that  some  vast  lake  exists 
in  the  interior  of  Australia,*  which  has  its  ultimate  discharge 
upon  the  N.W.  coast.  To  the  W.  and  S.W.  of  Sydney  a 
chain  of  plains  extends  for  130  miles,  destitute  of  trees,-]-  and 

*  The  natives  report  that  a  vast  inland  sea  exists. 

f  In  these  vast  plains  a  mirage,  similar  to  that  mentitned  in  my  last 


254  MOUNTAINS — AUSTRALIAN  ALPS. 

as  far  as  the  eye  could  extend  the  flat  surface  was  bounded 
only  by  the  horizon,  the  elevation  of  these  Australian  steppes 
being'  not  more  than  250  feet  above  the  level  of  the  sea. 
Proceeding  southerly,  we  arrive  at  the  vast  plains  called  the 
Brisbane  Downs,  (Monaroo,  in  the  native  language),  which 
were  discovered  by  a  naval  officer  in  1823.  These  fine  sheep 
walks  lie  immediately  to  the  eastward  of  the  meridian  of  149., 
extending  upwards  of  40  miles  to  the  southward  of  the  parallel 
of  36.15.,  which  appears  to  be  the  latitude  of  their  northern 
skirts.  They  are  further  described  as  being  bounded  on  the 
E.  by  the  coast  range  of  hills,  which  give  an  interior  or 
westerly  direction  to  the  coast  range  of  the  streams,  by  which 
they  are  permantly  watered ;  and  on  their  western  side  the 
downs  are  bounded  by  the  lofty  Australian  Alps,  known  by 
the  name  of  the  Warragong  chain.  The  elevation  of  these  vast 
natural  savannahs  above  the  level  of  the  sea,  (which  is  distant 
to  the  eastward  about  70  miles),  cannot  be  less  than  2,000 
feet,  and  with  a  delicious  climate,  and  abundant  pasturage, 
they  offer  means  of  extending  the  breed  of  fine  woolled  sheep, 
ad  infinitum. 

Mountains. — The  principal  range  in  the  colony  is  that 
termed  the  Blue  Mountains,  which,  rising  with  a  nearly  per- 
pendicular elevation  of  from  3  to  4,000  feet,*  seem  like  a 
mighty  bastion,  to  cut  offall  communication  with  the  interior.f 

volume  relative  to  North  America,  is  observable  before  the  sun  has  risen 
many  degrees  above  the  horizon.  In  one  direction  was  observed  the  few 
straggling  trees,  the  line  of  which  separated  one  plain  from  another,  with 
their  rounded  heads  suspended  in  the  air,  being  apparently  separated  from 
their  trunks  by  a  watery  medium  ;  whilst,  in  another  direction,  were  dis- 
tinctly traced,  on  the  verge  of  the  distant  horizon,  an  outline  of  hills,  with 
pointed  or  conical  summits,  and  bluff  precipitous  tei-minations.  These, 
however,  had  no  actual  existence  ;  for  no  sooner  had  the  day  advanced, 
than  the  cone  became  truncated,  the  aerial  ridge  began  to  break  and 
dissolve,  until  the  whole  finally  disappeared. 

*  The  summit  of  a  hill,  two  miles  to  the  northward  of  Swanfield,  is 
4,034  feet. 

t  A  period  of  twenty-five  years  passed  away  after  the  settlement  of  the 
colony  in  New  South  Wales,  before  these  mountains  were  passed  ;  their 
sumuiits  were  considered  inaccessible,  and  even  the  aborigines  declared 


GREAT   BURNING  MOUNTAIN.  255 

This  range,  as  beforej  observed,  runs  nearly  N.  and  S.,  in  some 
places  approaching  within  oO  miles  of  the  sea  shore,  and,  in 
others,  receding  to  60  or  90  miles;  the  country  beyond  de- 
scending to  the  W. ;  thus  shewing  a  dividing  range  for  the 
rivers,  flowing  from  their  lofty  summits.  Some  mountains  to 
the  northward  of  3:2.,  are  considered  to  be  6,000  feet  high, 
(Mount  Lindsay,  at  Moreton  Bay,  as  measured  by  Mr.  Cun- 
ningham, is  5,700  above  the  sea),  and  the  Warrangong  range, 
or  Australian  Alps,  in  36.  S.  Lat,  are  covered  with  perpetual 
snow,  and  appear  to  extend,  without  interruption,  to  Wilson's 
Promontory,  the  southernmost  extremity  of  Australia. 

Whether  there  be  any  volcanic  mountains  or  not  in  Australia 
it  is  difficult  to  say  ;  there  are,  in  many  places,  traces  of 
volcanic  action,  and  a  burning  mountain,  without  a  crater, 
and  devoid  of  lava,  has  been,  within  these  few  years,  dis- 
covered in  the  vicinity  of  Hunter's  River,  and  named  Mount 
Wingen.  Mount  Wingen  is  situate  on  the  S.E.  side  of  the 
dividing  range,  which  separates  the  lands  of  Hunter's  River, 
from  Liverpool  Plains,  in  Lat.  31.54.  S.,  Long.  150.56.,  E., 
the  elevated  portion,  under  the  process  of  combustion,  being 
about  1,500  feet  above  the  level  of  the  sea.  From  innumer- 
able cracks  and  fissures  on  its  surface,  a  sulphureous  flame 
constantly  issues,  scarcely  visible  by  day,  but  discernible  at 
night,  as  a  steady  blaze.  The  mountain  has  been  several 
times  visited*  within  the  last  four  years,  and  it  would  appear 
that  the  subterraneous  fire,  as  it  increases  forms  several 
chasms  in  the  superincumbent  solid  sandstone  rock.  On 
looking  down  one  of  these,  to  the  depth  of  fifteen  feet,  the 
sides  of  the  rock  were  perceived  to  be  of  a  white  heat,  like 
that  of  a  lime-kiln,  while  sulphureous  and  steamy  vapours 
arose  from  the  aperture,  amidst  sounds  and  blasts,  which 
might  be  supposed  to  ascend  from  the  eternal  forge  of  Vulcan 

there  was  no  pass  into  the  interior.  A  season  of  drought,  in  1813,  com- 
pelled the  colonists  to  search  for  new  pasturage,  and,  by  following  the 
course  of  the  Grose  river,  a  pass  was  at  last  found  by  Messrs.  Blaxland, 
Wentworth,  and  Lawson,  and  a  road  commenced  in  the  following  year. 

*  By  the  intelligent  Rev.  C.  P.  N.  Wilton,  whose  scientific  knowledge 
ajul  philanthropic  pursuits  have  conferred  much  benefit  on  Australia. 


256  RIVERS  OF  AUSTRALIA. 

himself.  On  hurling  stones  down  the  chasm,  the  noise  made 
in  the  fall  seemed  to  die  away  in  a  vast  abyss.  The  area  of 
the  mountain,  over  which  the  fire  is  now  raging,  is  upwards 
of  two  acres,  and  continually  increasing  as  the  fury  of  the 
vast  internal  combustion  augments ;  from  the  numerous 
chasms  are  constantly  emitted  sulphureous  columns  of  smoke, 
accompanied  by  a  brilliant  flame  ;  the  margins  of  the  chasms, 
beautified  with  efflorescent  crystals  of  sulphur,  varying  in 
colour,  from  the  deepest  red  orange,  occasioned  by  ferrugi- 
nous mixture,  to  the  palest  straw  colour,  where  alum  pre- 
dominated. A  black,  tarry  and  lustrous  substance,  somewhat 
like  bitumen,  abounded  on  the  edges  of  these  cliffs,  specimens 
of  which,  were,  with  difficulty,  obtained  :  from  the  intense  heat 
under-foot,  and  the  suffocating  quality  of  the  vapours  emitted 
from  the  chasms.  No  lava  or  trachyte  of  any  description  was 
to  be  met  with,  nor  is  there  any  appearance  of  coal,  although 
abounding  in  the  vicinity.  Mount  Wingen  has,  evidently,  been 
on  fire  for  a  great  length  of  time ;  several  acres  of  the  part  now 
under  combustion,  (on  which  trees  are  standing,  of  great  age), 
having,  as  it  were,  been  steamed ;  many  of  the  stones  bearing 
the  marks  of  vitrification.  Each  successive  visitor  thinks  that 
the  fire  is  on  the  increase.  Mr.  Wilton  says,  the  roar  of  the 
furnace  beneath  has  augmented,  after  two  years  absence,  and 
that  the  stones,  thrown  down  into  the  chasms,  resounded  to  a 
greater  depth  in  the  interior  abyss.  The  wide  seams  of  dis- 
ruption ;  the  rocks  of  solid  sandstone  cleft  asunder ;  the  in- 
numerable fractures  made  on  the  surface;  the  falling  in  of 
the  strata ;  the  half-consumed  prostrate  trunks  of  trees ;  the 
pernicious  vapours  arising  around,  amidst  the  roaring  of  the 
fires,  and  the  white  and  red  heat  of  the  burning  crevices, 
present  an  awful  appearance. 

Rivers. — Australia  has  long  been  considered  as  presenting 
an  exception  to  other  great  territorial  portions  of  the  earth, 
in  being  destitute  of  large  navigable  rivers.  This  opinion, 
however,  has,  I  think,  been  prematurely  expressed;  we  should, 
first,  thoroughly  explore  the  N.  and  W.  shores,  before 
deciding  conclusively  on  the  subject,  and  experience  is  daily 
convincinff  us  that  new  streams  and  rivers  are  now  being  dis- 


THE  HAWKESBURY  RIVER.  257 

covered,  where,  formerly,  none  were  thought  to  flow.  To 
commence  with  those  streams,  properly  speaking,  within  the 
present  boundaries  of  the  colony ; — Paramatta*  River,  may 
almost  be  considered  a  narrow  continuation  of  Port  Jackson, 
rather  than  a  river ;  the  distance  between  Sydney  and  Pa- 
ramatta is  about  eighteen  miles,  and  the  navigation,  in  two 
places,  rather  shallow.  A  steam-boat  communication  is  now 
established  between  the  capital  and  second  town  in  the  colony ; 
and  the  lovers  of  picturesque  scenery  may  be  fully  gratified 
by  a  trip  up  this  long  arm  of  the  sea. 

The  Hawkesbury,  which  is  a  continuation  of  the  Nepean 
River,  after  the  junction  of  the  latter  with  a  considerable 
stream,  called  the  Grose,  issues  from  a  remarkable  cleft  in  the 
Blue  Mountains,  in  the  vicinity  of  the  beautiful  town  of  Rich- 
mond, about  40  miles  from  Sydney.  Along  the  base  of  these 
mountains  the  Hawkesbury  flows  in  a  northerly  direction,  fed 
by  numerous  tributary  mountain  torrents  descending  from 
narrow  gorges,  which,  after  heavy  rains,  cause  the  Hawkesbury 
to  rise,  and  overflow  its  banks  as  it  approaches  the  sea ;  in  one 
instance  it  rose,  near  the  town  of  Windsor,  97  feet  above  its 
ordinary  level.  The  Hawkesbury  disembogues  into  an  excel- 
lent harbour,  about  fourteen  miles  to  the  northward  of  Port 
Jackson,  called  Broken  Bay.  As  the  river  is  traced  inland, 
it  is  extremely  tortuous,  the  distance  of  Windsor  (which  is 
built  on  the  Hawkesbury)  from  the  sea,  in  a  direct  line,  being 
not  more  than  ^5  miles,  but,  by  the  windings  of  the  river,  140 
miles  ;  the  rise  of  tide  is  about  four  feet,  and  the  water  fresh 
40  miles  below  Windsor.     As  observed  in   another   place, 

*  I  think  I  have  previously  observed,  that  the  native  names  of  places  in  New 
South  Wales  are  more  musical  than  those  which  Europeans  have  bestowed. 
Paramatta  is  an  aboriginal  term,  and  given,  as  all  the  other  cognomens 
are,  in  reference  to  some  peculiar  appearance  or  quality  of  the  place 
named.  Dr.  Lang  has  thus  expressed  himself  on  the  subject  in  mentioning 
different  well-known  places  : — '  I  like  the  native  names,  as  Parramatta; — 
Illawarra,  and  WooUoomoolloo  ; — Nandowra,  Woogarora,  Bulkomatta  ; — 
Tomah,  Toongabbee,  Mitiagong,  Murroo  ; — Buckobble,  Cumleroy,  and 
Cnolingatta;  the  Warragumby,  Bargo,  Monaroo ; — Cookbundoon,  Carra- 
haiga,  VVingycarribbee ;  the  Wollondilly,  Yurombon,  Bungarribbee.' 
VOL.  TV.  S 


2riS  hunter's  river. 

the  Hawkesbury  is  navigable  for  vessels  of  100  tons,  for  four 
miles  above  Windsor,  but  its  navigation  is  impeded  by  some 
shallows,  after  being  joined  by  the  Nepean;  a  few  jwrtages 
would,  however,  considerably  extend  the  navigation  for  boats  of 
large  burthen.  The  scenery  along  the  Nepean  is  magnificent ; 
for  immediately  above  the  river,  the  Blue  Mountains  rise  in 
frowning  majesty,  to  a  perpendicular  height  of  nearly  3,000 
feet,  while  along  the  fertile  borders  of  the  placid  stream  are 
fields  of  wheat,  barley,  maise,  beans,  pease,  clover,  &c,  to  the 
extent  of  several  thousand  acres.* 

Hunter's  River,  about  70  miles  to  the  northward  of  Port 
Jackson,  disembogues  into  the  sea  at  the  harbour  of  New- 
castle,-f-  which  is  safe  and  sufficiently  capacious  for  vessels  of 
300  tons  burthen.  The  river,  which  has  its  rise  from  several 
streams  in  the  Blue  Mountains,  is  navigable  for  50  miles  from 
Newcastle,  by  small  craft  of  30  or  40  tons  burthen ;  beyond 
this  distance  there  are  several  shallows,  which  only  admit  the 
passage  of  boats  over  them.  There  are  three  branches  to  the 
Hunter,  called  the  upper,  the  lower,  and  the  middle  branch ; 
the  two  former  are  navigable  for  boats  for  about  1520  miles, 
and  the  latter  for  upwards  of  200  miles,  but  the  branches  are 
all  liable  to  sudden  and  terrific  inundations,  owing  to  the 
rapid  descent  of  torrents  from  the  Blue  Mountains.  In  con- 
sequence of  the  fertility  of  the  soil  along  the  Hunter,  and  the 
extent  of  water  communication  which  exists,  this  district  is 
one  of  the  finest  in  the  colony.  A  large  number  of  respect- 
able emigrant   farms   are  located  along  the  river,  and   the 

*  Where  I  first  saw  the  Nepean  river,  was  at  the  estate  of  Mr.  S.  Terry, 
a  very  wealthy  emancipist.  As  far  as  the  eye  could  reach,  nothing  was  to 
be  seen  but  the  yellow  waving  corn,  save  where  the  view  was  bounded  by  the 
gigantic  buttresses  of  the  stupendous  Blue  Mountains.  I  never  beheld  a 
liner  farm  in  Europe  than  Mr.  Terry's ;  and,  while  delighted  with  the 
cheerful  scene,  could  not  help  feeling  proud  of  my  country,  that  had  thus 
converted  the  stubborn  soil  of  a  distant  land,  and  the  errors  of  her  cliildren, 
to  such  mei'itorious  purposes. 

t  It  was  thus  called  on  account  of  the  coal  mines  discovered  here  (see 
geology).  The  town  is  situate  on  the  slope  of  a  hill,  presenting  an  abrupt 
front  of  sandstone  rock  towards  the  sea. 


PORT  STEPHENS — MANNING  AND  HASTINGS  RIVERS.        259 

country  wears  an  aspect  similar  to  that  of  the  richest  pastoral 
scenery  in  Devonshire.* 

Port  Stephens  20  miles  to  the  northward  of  Newcastle, 
and  the  chief  settlement  of  the  Australian  Agricultural 
Company,  is  a  good  haven,  but  the  River  Karuah  com- 
municating with  the  interior,  is  small.  The  river  Myall, 
which  disembogues  into  Port  Stephens,  opens  into  some  ex- 
tensive lakes,  situate  along  the  coast,  separated  only  by  a 
narrow  strip  of  land  from  the  ocean. 

Manning  River,  forming  the  N.  boundary  of  the  county  of 
Gloucester,  disembogues  by  several  mouths  and  without 
offering  any  harbour  for  shelter,  except  to  boats,  to  which, 
indeed,  the  navigation  of  the  river  is  confined.  There  is  good 
soil  on  the  Manning,  which  together  with  the  beauty  of  the 
scenery,  has  tempted  several  settlers  to  locate  themselves 
there.  The  Manning  has  a  long  course  westerly  to  the 
dividing  range  of  hills,  from  the  opposite  side  of  which  the  Peel 
river  is  given  off  to  flow  towards  the  unknown  interior. 

Hastings  River,  the  sea  entrance  to  which  is  the  large 
harbour  of  Port  Macquarie,  about  220  miles  N.  E.  of  Port 
Jackson,  (Lat.  31.25.45.  S.,  Long.  152.53.54.  E.,)  rises  in  the 
parallel  of  33|^.  S.  and  under  the  meridian  of  150.  E.,  having 
a  course  of  2045  statute  miles,  throughout  which  the  elevation 
of  its  source  being  3,500  feet  above  the  level  of  the  sea,  would 
give  its  waters  an  average  descent  of  20  inches  in  each  mile, 
supposing  the  bed  of  the  river  to  be  an  inclined  plane.f 
Port  Macquarie  is  a  bar  harbour,  with  at  least  nine  feet  at 
low  water  spring   tides.      The    bar,  which  is  of  soft    sand, 

*  The  valley  of  VVollombi  extends  in  a  northerly  direction,  towards 
Hunter's  River,  for  about  thirty  miles.  It  is  bounded  on  either  side  by 
mountain  ranges,  covered  with  timber  to  their  summits.  Numerous 
valleys,  or,  as  the  settlers  call  them,  arms,  branch  off  on  either  side,  some 
extending  twenty  or  thirty  miles  among  the  mountains,  all  abounding  in 
excellent  pasture,  and  affording  sustenance  to  numerous  flocks  of  sheep 
and  herds  of  cattle  that  depasture  amidst  this  wild  and  beautiful  scenery. 

i'  The  beds  of  rivers  are  not  thus  generally  formed ;  their  declination 
being,  more  usually,  a  succession  of  inclined  channels,  wliose  slopes  dimi- 
nish by  steps  as  the  river  approaches  the  sea. 


SCO  BRISBANE  RIVER. 

extends  for  200  yards  ;  beyond  the  water  immediately  deepens 
to  two  and  three  fathoms ;  within  the  port  the  soundings  are 
five  and  six  fathoms,  which  depth  continues  for  nearly  ten 
miles,  when  shoals  confine  the  navigation  to  crafts  drawing 
six  or  eight  feet ;  that  depth  continuing  for  eight  miles,  where 
the  rapids  commence.  The  country  bordering  on  the  Hastings 
is  a  pleasing  undulation  of  hill  and  dale,  richly  clothed  with 
timber:  to  the  N.  E.  the  river  opens  into  reaches  of  great 
width  and  beauty,  and  extending  to  the  sea,  while  a  few  miles 
to  the  N.  and  to  the  S.E.  are  some  extensive  lakes  or  lagoons, 
which  have  a  communication  with  the  ocean.  The  fine  country 
around  this  port  and  river,  long  kept  as  a  penal  settlement,  is 
now  thrown  open  for  the  reception  of  emigrants,  who  are  fast 
locating  themselves  in  different  directions. 

Brisbane  River,  which  disembogues  into  Moreton  Bay,* 
(Lat.  27.1.  S.,  Long.  153.26.  E.)  was  only  discovered  in  1823; 
its  source  is  the  mountain  ranges  to  the  N.  (the  principal 
branch  is  in  26.52.  N.  Lat.)  but  it  receives  several  considerable 
streams  in  its  course,  which,  together  with  the  main  river, 
traverse  a  large  extent  of  beautiful  country,  capable  of  sup- 
porting a  numerous  population,  and  of  producing,  in  abund- 
ance, the  tropical  products  of  sugar,  cotton,  coffee,  silk, 
tobacco,  &c.  Mr.  Oxley,  (the  late  Surveyor  General  of  New 
South  Wales),  who  discovered  the  river  says,  '  at  sunset  we 
had  proceeded  about  20  miles  up  the  river ;  the  scenery  was 
peculiarly  beautiful ;  the  country  along  the  banks  alternately 
hilly  and  level,  but  not  flooded  ;  the  soil  of  the  finest  descrip- 
tion of  brushwood  land,  on  which  grew  timber  of  great 
magnitude,  in  particular,  a  magnificent  species  of  pine  was  in 
abundance.  At  this  point  the  river  was  navigable  for  vessels 
drawing  sixteen  feet  water,  and  for  30  miles  farther  no  dimi- 
nution had  taken  place  in  the  breadth  or  depth  of  the  river, 
excepting  in  one  place,  for  the  extent  of  about  30  yards, 
where  a  ridge  of  detached  rocks  extended  across,  having  not 
more  than  twelve  feet  on  them  at  high  water.   The  tide  ascends 

*  The  Bay  is  said  to  be  sixty  miles  in  extent ;  it  is  sheltered  by  an  island, 
ami,  on  the  bar,  there  is  depth  of  eighteen  feet. 


DARLING  RIVER.  261 

daily  50  miles  above  the  Brisbane's  mouth,  flowing  also  up  the 
Bremer,  the  depth  of  whose  channel  it  augments  by  eight 
or  more  feet.' 

The  country,  so  far  as  it  has  been  explored,  is  of  a  very 
superior  description,  and  equally  well  adapted  for  cultivation 
or  grazing.  Some  of  the  pine  trees  measure  upwards  of  30 
inches  in  diameter,  and  from  50  to  80  feet  without  a  branch. 
This  fine  territory  is  not  yet  included  within  the  space  where 
land  may  be  occupied,  there  being  a  penal  settlement  on  the 
Brisbane  River  at  Moreton  Bay ;  but  the  time  is  not  far  dis- 
tant when  the  land  w  ill  be  thrown  open  for  general  occupation. 

Darling  River  \s>  supposed  to  be  formed  by  the  junction  of 
numerous  streams  in  the  interior,  to  the  westward  of  Moreton 
Bay,  draining  a  tract  of  mountainous  country,  lying  between 
the  parallels  of  27.  and  SS^.,  and  which,  pursuing  a  southerly 
course,  is  conjectured  to  be  the  same  river,  which  ultimately 
unites  its  waters  with  those  of  the  Murray  and  Morrum- 
bidgee,  finally  disemboguing  into  Lake  Alexandrina  at  En- 
counter Bay,  on  the  southern  coast.  It  was  discovered  by 
Capt.  Sturt,  in  1829,  and  traced  for  40  miles  through  a  level 
country  to  the  S.W.,  as  far  as  30.16.  S.  Lat.  144.50.  E.  Long., 
the  breadth  being  about  60  yards,  and  its  boundary  banks  30 
to  40  feet  in  height.  The  water  of  the  Darling  is  perfectly 
salty  and  becoming  more  saline  to  the  S.W. ;  in  one  part 
brine  springs  were  observed,  and  the  banks  throughout  were 
encrusted  with  salt.  The  want  of  drinkable  water  in  its  neigh- 
bourhood prevented  the  further  exploration  of  the  Darling, 
which  was  crowded  with  pelicans  and  other  large  aquatic 
birds. 

Macquarie  River,  which  is  formed  by  the  junction  of  the 
Fish  and  Campbell  Rivers,  after  they  issue  from  the  Blue 
Mountains,  near  Bathurst  and  Westmoreland  counties,*   is 

*  The  river  Bell,  or  Molong,  is  one  of  the  tributaries  of  the  Macquarie, 
near  Wellington  Valley,  about  1  /O  miles  W.  of  Newcastle.  The  Cudgeegong, 
distant  60  miles  N.  of  Bathurst,  is  another  tributary  of  the  Macquarie ; 
and  through  this  fine  tract  of  country,  a  well-defined  route  for  graziers, 
from  Bathurst  to  the  vast  Liverpool  plains,  has  been  discovered  by  Mr. 


262  THE  MACQUARIE  RIVER  AND  MARSHES. 

like  the  former  river,  one  of  those  large  inland  streams  which 
have  their  origin  in  the  torrents  which  descend  from  the 
western  ridges  of  the  dividing  range  of  mountains  that  skirt 
the  E.  coast  of  Australia.  The  Macquarie  takes  a  winding 
course  through  the  plains  to  the  N.W. ;  in  some  places  deep, 
broad,  and  navigable  for  large  boats ;  in  others,  rapid,  and  ob- 
structed by  falls.  In  about  32^.  S.  Lat.  it  is  still  from  20  to  60 
yards  wide,  and  20  feet  deep,  with  a  current  of  1^  mile  per 
hour.  Thirty  miles  beyond  this  the  Macquarie  begins  to 
expand  over  the  surrounding  country,  which  declines  rapidly 
towards  the  N.W.,  the  whole  area  becoming,  at  last,  a  perfect 
sea,  or,  after  a  dry  season,  covered  with  reeds.  For  24  miles 
further,  the  course,  as  observed  by  Mr.  Oxley,  in  1818,  was 
through  a  similar  country ;  he  had  lost  sight  of  land  and 
trees,  the  channel  of  the  Macquarie  winding  through  reeds, 
among  which  the  water  was  about  three  feet  deep ;  suddenly, 
however,  without  any  previous  change  in  the  breadth,  depth, 
or  rapidity  of  the  stream,  the  Macquarie  eluded  all  further 
pursuit,  by  spreading,  at  all  points,  from  N.W.  to  N.E.,  over 
the  plain ;  the  river  decreasing  in  depth  from  twenty  to  less 
than  five  feet,  flowing  over  a  bottom  of  tenacious  mud  clay, 
the  current  still  running  with  the  same  rapidity  as  when  the 
water  was  confined  within  narrow  banks.  This  point  of 
junction  with  what  Mr.  Oxley  supposed  interior  waters  ;  or, 
rather,  where  the  Macquarie  ceased  to  be  a  river,  was  in  30.45. 
S.  Lat.  147.10.  E.  Long.  These  vast  marshes,  which  Mr. 
Oxley  found  completely  submerged  in  1818,  were,  when 
visited  by  Capt.  Sturt  in  1829,  after  the  continuance  of  a 
three  years  drought,  without  a  drop  of  water,  and  exhibiting 
an  interminable  expanse  of  arid  soil.  The  country,  for  100 
miles  distance  to  the  N.W.,  was  traversed,  in  1829,  by  Capt. 
Sturt,  who  at  length  reached  a  mountain,  the  height  of  which 
he  estimated  at  1,300  feet ;  from  the  summit  he  had  a  view  of 
other  high  lands  to  the  N.W.    On  this  slightly  elevated  table 

Allan  Cunningham,  who  has  devoted  ten  years  of  the  prime  of  his  life,  and 
an  energy  and  intelligence  rarely  e(|ualled,  to  developing  the  geography  of 
Australia,  as  well  as  its  botany  and  other  branches  of  natural  history. 


TJIE  LACHLAN  AND  MORRUMBIDGEE  RIVERS.  i>63 

land  are  several  detached  conical  hills,  covered,  for  the  most 
part  with  verdure  ;  the  positions  of  two  of  these  isolated  cones 
were  ascertained  to  be  as  follows  : — Oxley's  Table  Land,  Lat. 
29.57.30.  S.,  Long.  145.43.30.  E. ;  New  Year's  Range,  Lat. 
30.21.00.  S.,  Long.  146.33.30.  E. 

Lachlan  River,  having  its  origin  in  the  Cullarin  range  of 
mountains,  on  the  borders  of  Argyle  county,  after  running  a 
north-westerly  course,  loses  itself  in  a  marsh  like  the  Mac- 
quarie,  in  nearly  33.  S.  lat.,  but  after  passing  through  this 
marsh  it  is  said  to  join  the  Morrumbidgee  in  34i.  S.  lat.  and 
143|.  E.  long. :  in  the  parallel  of  148.  the  Lachlan  at  J200 
yards  above  the  level  of  the  sea  is  40  yards  wide,  and  navi- 
gable for  large  boats. 

The   Morrumbidgee  River  has  its    origin  in  the  western 
ridge  of  the  dividing  range  of  mountains  in  Murray  county, 
about  200  miles  S.W.  of  Sydney,  in  the  parallel  of  35.  S.,  and 
under  the  meridian  of  149.  E.,  at  a  distance  of  about  80 
miles  from  the  sea:  after  joining  the  Yass  River,  and  other 
minor  streams,  to  the  northward  of  35.  and  in  148^.  E.  long., 
the  Morrumbidgee  pursues  a  long  and  tortuous  course  for 
upwards  of  300  statute  miles,*  without  deriving  the  slightest 
increase  from  the  country  it  waters :  as  its  course  extends  to 
the  W.  of  the  meridian  of  147.  the  Morrumbidgee  falls  on  a 
low  level ;    the  hills  of  sandstone  rock,  which  give  a  pic- 
turesque appearance  to  the  land  on  its  banks,  higher  up  the 
stream  disappear,  and  flats  of  alluvial   deposit  occupy  their 
place.     The  Morrumbidgee  expands  itself  in  the  marshes  of 
the  Lachlan,  in  the  meridian  of  147.  and  to  the  southward  of 
the  parallel  of  33. ;  but  it  pursues  its  course  to  the  westward, 
the  two  rivers  uniting  in  34^.  S.  lat.  143.57.  E.  long.,  and  ulti- 
mately joining,  after  a  course  of  90  miles  to  the  westward, — 
The  Murray  River.     Where  this  river  (which  is  far  supe- 
rior in  size  to  the  Morrumbidgee  and  Lachlan  united)  rises 


*  These  rivers  traverse  a  great  extent  of  fine  country,  adapted  for  the 
abode  of  man,  oflfering  to  millions  of  the  human  race  all  the  comforts  that 
plenty  and,  its  concomitant,  civilization  can  confer. 


264  THE  MURRAY  RIVER, 

we  know  not  for  certain  ;  Mr.  Allan  Cunningham  thinks  it 
formed  hy  the  junction  of  the — 

*  Hume  and  '  Ovens'  streams,  which  have  their  rise  in  the 
great  Warragong  chain,  and  were  crossed  by  Messrs.  Howell 
and  Hume  (in  the  their  enterprising  excursion  to  Port  Philip 
in  1824),  250  statute  miles  nearer  their  source.  Captain 
Sturt,  at  the  close  of  1829,  set  out  with  a  party  to  explore 
this  country ;  after  tracing,  in  a  boat,  the  united  waters  of 
the  Morrumbidgee  and  Lachlan  for  90  miles  to  the  westward, 
through  a  level  and  monotonous  country,  the  channel  of  the 
Morrumbidgee  became  much  narrowed,  and  partially  choked 
by  drift-wood,  when  suddenly  our  adventurous  countrymen 
found  that  the  Morrumbidgee  delivered  its  waters  (as  before 
stated)  into  the  Murray — a  broad  and  noble  river,  the  cur- 
rent of  which  was  setting  to  the  westward,  at  the  rate  of 
2i  miles  per  hour,  with  a  medium  width  from  bank  to  bank 
of  from  300  to  400  feet.  After  nine  days  voyaging  down  the 
Murray  to  the  N.N.W.,  during  which  100  miles  of  westing 
was  made — country  low,  unbroken,  and  uninteresting — an- 
other river  was  found  emptying  itself  into  the  Murray  S.  of 
the  parallel  of  34.  in  exactly  141.  E.  long. 

Capt.  Sturt  ascended  this  river  for  a  short  distance,  and 
found  it  preserving  a  breadth  of  100  yards,  a  depth  of  two 
fathoms  water,  turbid,  but  'perfectly  sweet  to  the  taste  \  and 
the  trees,  which  overhang  its  banks,  of  a  finer  and  larger 
growth  than  those  on  the  Murray.  This  river  Capt.  Sturt 
supposes  to  be  the  Darling,  which  he  found  to  the  N.W.  of 
Bathurst,  in  his  former  expedition ;  there  are,  however,  400 
miles  of  unknown  country  intervening,  and  he  gives  no 
grounds  for  his  conjectures,  but  the  dip  of  the  country,  within 
the  parallels  of  28.  and  S5^. ;  besides,  he  has  forgotten  that 
the  Darling  was  as  salt  as  brine  where  he  visited  it. 

To  return  to  the  Murray : — at  its  confluence  with  this  large 
and  unknown  river,  the  country  began  to  rise  to  the  N.W. 
for  the  first  time  during  a  course  of  200  miles.  The  Murray, 
after  receiving  the  supposed  Darling  River,  continues  its 
course  upwards  of  a  degree  farther  to  the  W.,  and  in  that 


ITS  COURSE  TO  THE  S.W.  265 

space  receives  a  second  and  considerable  stream,  which  dis- 
embogues on  its  left  bank  from  the  S.E.*  The  banks  of  the 
Murray  here  began  to  be  elevated ;  and  along  its  northern 
shore  extended  a  range  of  cliffs,  which  appeared  to  the  party, 
as  they  passed  beneath  them,  to  be  of  *  partial  volcanic  ori- 
gin.' These  cliiFs  were  succeeded  by  banks  of  limestone  on 
either  side  of  the  river,  which  forced  its  way  through  a  glen 
of  rocks  of  similar  formation ;  in  its  passage  frequently  strik- 
ing bases  of  precipices  of  the  same  formation,  which  rose  to  a 
perpendicular  height  of  200  feet,  and  in  which  '  coral  and 
fossil  remains'  were  remai'ked  to  be  plentifully  imbedded. 
At  this  place  the  long  ranges  of  forest  hills,  which  extend 
along  the  E.  shore  of  the  Gulf  of  St.  Vincents,  were  discern- 
ible. At  the  meridian  of  139|.  the  disposition  of  the  cliffs 
gave  the  Murray  a  bend  to  the  southward,  through  a  conti- 
nuation of  the  limestone  glen,  opening  at  length  into  a  spacious 
valley.  The  river,  which,  throughout  its  long  course  from  the 
eastward,  had  preserved  a  sandy  bottom,  now  became  *  deep, 
still,  and  turbid ;'  its  course  to  the  southward  being  in  reaches 
of  from  two  to  four  miles  in  length :  upon  passing  the  paral- 
lels of  35.  a  more  open  country  appears,  the  cliffs  partially 
giving  place  to  picturesque  hills  and  undulating  plains,  with 
thousands  of  acres  of  rich  alluvial  land.  On  the  32nd.  day 
of  the  voyage,  from  the  depot  formed  near  the  junction  of 
the  Morrumbidgee  and  Lachlan,  our  persevering  countrymen 
entered  upon  a  large  lake,  stretching  far  away  to  the  S.W., 
estimated  at  from  50  to  60  miles  in  length — 30  to  40  in 
breadth,  with,  however,  but  a  medium  depth  of  four  feet. 
The  waters  of  this  large  but  shallow  lake  (now  called  Alex- 
andrind)  were  found  to  be  brackish  at  seven  miles  distance 
from  the  mouth  of  the  Murray,  and  at  21  miles  across  per- 
fectly salt,  the  influence  of  the  tide  being  there  felt.  On  the 
S.  shore  of  Alexandrina  the  navigation  of  the  boats  was  in- 

*  Captain  Sturt  named  this  the  Lindesay ;  but  Mr.  Cunningham  thinks 
it  the  Goulbourn,  discovered  l>y  Messrs.  Howell  and  Hume,  in  1824,  who 
forded  the  river,  where  its  channel  presented  a  breadth  of  eighty  yards,  and 
left  it  winding  its  course  to  the  N.W. 


266  LAKE  ALEXANDRINA. 

terrupted  by  mudflats,  and  their  further  progress  eventually 
stopped  by  banks  of  sand,  at  the  outlet  of  the  lake  near 
Encounter  Bay  on  the  S.  coast ;  the  passage  being  at  all 
periods  of  the  tide  rather  more  than  a  quarter  of  a  mile  wide, 
with  sufficient  water  for  boats  over  a  dangerous  bar.* 

The  necessity  for  economising  my  space  compels  me  to 
close  this  section  in  which  I  have  endeavoured  to  lay  before 
the  public  a  connected  outline  of  the  physical  geography  of 
New  South  Wales ;  two-thirds  of  which  is  still  a  terra  incog- 
nita, to  say  nothing  of  the  other  unknown  divisions  of  this 
vast  island.  We  require  to  know  more  of  the  Darling  River, 
as  to  its  source  and  termination,  and  to  have  the  country  ex- 
plored to  the  N.  and  W.  of  Moreton  Bay.  As  population 
and  the  desire  for  new  pasture  grounds  extend,  self-interest 
will  stimulate  to  further  geographical  discoveries,  for  the  pro- 
motion of  which  the  colonial  government  ought  to  offer  re- 
wards annually,  in  the  substantial  shape  of  grants  of  land 
and  pecuniary  reimbursement,  to  a  reasonable  extent ;  I  have 
myself  no  doubt  that  a  large  navigable  river  will  yet  be  dis- 
covered communicating  with  the  interior  of  Australia. 

GEOLOGy,  Mineralogy,  and  Soil, — It  cannot  of  course  be 
expected  that  in  a  country  so  imperfectly  known  as  New 
South  Wales,  we  should  have  a  complete  account  of  its  geo- 
logical strata ;  the  most  that  can  be  done  is  to  furnish  indi- 
cations of  the  parts  already  explored,  leaving  to  the  further 
progress  of  civilization  the  exploration  of  the  interesting  field 
which  is  opened  before  us.  The  line  of  coast  throughout 
the  territoi'y  of  New  South  Wales  presents  in  general  an 
aspect  of  bold  perpendicular  cliffs  of  sandstone  lying  in  hori- 
zontal strata.  The  cliffs  are  occasionally  interrupted  by 
sandy  beaches,  behind  which  the  country  is  low  and  flat,  the 
high  land  retiring  to  a  considerable  distance.  These  spaces 
are  supposed  by  Mr.  Berry  to  have  formed,  at  no  very  remote 

*  Mr.  Allan  Cunningham's  remarks,  in  the  Journal  of  the  Geographical 
Society,  on  Captain  Sturt's  expedition,  as  relates  to  the  passage  from  the 
sea  into  Lake  Aloxandrina,  are  by  no  means  conclusive.  We  do  not,  as  yet, 
know  sufficient  of  the  coast  here. 


GEOLOGY  OF  AUSTRALIA.  267 

period,  the  entrances  of  bays  and  arms  of  the  sea;  indeed  in 
many  places  they  are  even  now  occupied  by  sandy  beaches, 
extensive  salt  water  lagoons  being  separated  from  the  ocean 
only  by  a  bank  of  sand,  through  which  the  ocean  yet  occa- 
sionally forces  a  passage.* 

The  strata  of  sandstone  consists  of  beds  lying  one  upon 
the  other  in  the  most  regular  manner,  so  that  they  have  evi- 
dently never  undergone  any  deviation  from  their  original  re- 
lative situation.  Mr.  Berry,  while  admitting  that  the  beds 
are  not  invariably  strictly  horizontal,  contends  that  this  may 
arise  from  a  gentle  yielding  of  the  substrata.  Some  of  these 
beds,  though  perfectly  horizontal  and  of  regular  thickness, 
consist  of  thin  laminae  which  incline  at  a  considerable  angle  to 
the  N.E.  This  sandstone  may  be  chiefly  called  silicious,  it  is 
rarely  argillaceous,  chiefly  in  this  state  over  coal  when  it  is 
then  soft  and  very  decomposable. 

Among  the  coal  measures  are  occasionally  met  with  thin 
beds  of  what  may  be  called  calcareous  sandstone.  In  fact 
the  E.  coast  of  Australia,  from  Bass's  Straits  to  19.  S.  Lat., 
presents  ranges  of  mountains  rising  parallel  with  the  coast, 
and  consisting,  with  few  exceptions,  of  vast  conglomerations 
of  sandstone,  Mr.  Berry  asserts,  that  there  is  no  granite  to 
be  found  in  masses  near  the  coast  for  an  extent  of  1200  geo- 
graphical miles.  At  the  19"  parallel  a  chain  of  lofty  granitic 
or  primitive  mountains  appear,  of  various  elevations,  forming 
the  barrier  towards  the  ocean  for  about  300  geographical  miles, 
or  to  the  parallel  of  14  S.  latitude.f  Here  the  sandstone  re- 
sumes its  reign,  the  land  gradually  dipping  till  it  loses  itself 

*  Such  as  Reid's  Mistake,  or  Lake  Macquarie,  near  Newcastle,  and 
Lake  Alexandripa,  at  Encounter  Bay. 

t  Dr.  Fitton,  in  his  analysis  of  Captain  King's  meritorious  survey,  says, 
that,  between  the  parallels  of  28.  and  12.  or  13.,  on  the  E.  coast,  granite  is 
found  ;  at  Capes  Cleveland  and  Grafton,  Endeavour  River,  Lizard  Island, 
and  at  Clark's  Island,  on  the  N.W.  of  the  rocky  mass  which  forms  Cape 
Melville;  while  rocks  of  the  trap  formation  have  been  obtained,  in  three 
detached  points,  among  the  islands  off  the  shore  ;  in  the  Percy  Isles,  about 
21.40  S.  lat.,  Sunday  Island,  N.  of  Cape  Greville  about  12.,  and  in  Good's 
Island,  on  the  N.W.  of  Cape  York,  in  10.34  S.  lat. 


268  GEOLOGY  OF  THE  N.W.  €OAST. 

in  the  sea  to  the  N.  when  coral  reefs  extend  as  far  as  the  eye 
can  reach  ;  there  is,  in  fact,  an  unhroken  reef  of  coral  350 
miles  in  length  on  the  E.  coast  of  New  Holland,  and  Captain 
King  found  the  coral  formations  to  extend  through  a  distance 
of  700  miles  interrupted  by  no  intervals  exceeding  30  miles  in 
length.  What  extraordinary  work  for  a  minute  and  apparently 
almost  inanimate  insect!* 

Along  the  N.  and  W.  shore  the  general  strata  is  a  reddish 
sandstone,  agreeing  so  much  in  character  with  that  of  the 
W.  of  England  and  Wales,  that  specimens  from  the  two 
countries  can  scarcely  be  distinguished  from  each  other. 
An  arenaceous  cement  in  the  calcareous  breccia  of  the  W. 
coast  is  precisely  the  same  with  that  found  in  Sicily,  and  the 
jasper,  calcedony,  and  green  quartz  approaching  to  heliotrope 
found  at  the  entrance  of  Prince  Regent's  River,  resemble 
those  of  the  Tyrol  both  in  their  characters  and  formation.  No 
limestone  is  among  the  specimens  from  the  north  and  western 
shores ;  but  it  is  remarkable  that  recent  calcareous  breccia 
was  found  by  Commodore  Baudin  to  exist  through  a  span  of 
not  less  than  25"  of  latitude,  and  an  equal  extent  of  longitude 
on  the  south-western  and  north-western  coasts,  and,  according 
to  Mr.  Browne's  specimens,  on  the  shores  of  the  Gulf  of  Car- 
pentaria. 

This  breccia  would  appear  to  be  a  very  recent  limestone, 
full  of  marine  shells  similar  to  that  which  exists  on  the  shores 
of  the  Mediterranean  and  West  Indies,  and  it  would  be  an 
interesting  geological  fact  to  ascertain  whether  any  distinct 
line  can  really  be  drawn  between  those  concretions  of  modern 
formation,  which  occur  on  the  sea  shore,  and  other  calcareous 
formations  very  nearly  resembling  them  (both  in  the  fossils 
they  contain  and  in  the  character  of  the  cementing  substances) 
that  are  found  in  several  countries  at  considerable  heights 
above  the  sea.  An  illustration  of  this  remark,  indicating  like- 
wise the  strata  of  the  transalpine   country  of  New   South 

*  The  zoophytes  eni^anj-ed  in  the  building  up  of  coral  banks  are  of  nu- 
merous species;  the  most  common  belong  to  the  genera  nieandrina, 
caryophyllia,  and  astrea,  but  especially  the  latter. 


LIMESTONE  CAVES  IN  NEW  SOUTH  WALES.  269 

Wales,  occurs  at  the  limestone  caves  at  Wellington  Valley, 
170  miles  W.  of  Newcastle,  and  2000  feet  above  the  sea.* 

*  The  rock,  through  which  the  valley  has  been  excavated,  is 
limestone,  much  resembling  in  external  characters  that  of  the 
carboniferous  series  of  Europe.  This  appears  on  both  sides 
of  the  valley  above  the  alluvial  deposits  in  the  bottom  and  ex- 
tends on  the  E.  to  the  height  of  about  100  feet  above  the 
stream.  On  the  W.  of  the  valley,  hills  of  greater  height  run 
parallel  to  the  limestone,  consisting  of  a  red  sandstone  and 
conglomerate  ;  and  a  range  of  heights  on  the  E.  of  it  is  com- 
posed of  trap  rocks.  The  basis  of  a  tract,  still  further  east- 
ward, which  divides  the  waters  of  the  interior,  from  that  which 
sends  its  streams  to  the  sea,  is  granite. 

'  The  rugged  surface  of  the  limestone  tract,  in  several  parts 
of  which  the  bare  rocks  are  exposed,  appears  to  abound  in 
cavities,  the  orifices  of  caves  and  fissures ;  two  of  which,  the 
more  immediate  subject  of  this  communication,  are  about  80 
feet  above  the  stream  of  the  Bell,  on  its  eastern  side ;  the 
first  being  a  cave  about  300  feet  in  extent ;  the  second  ap- 
parently a  wide  fissure  in  the  limestone,  partially  filled  up. 

'The  cave  agrees  in  structure  with  many  of  those  well 
known  from  the  descriptions  of  Dr.  Buckland  and  other  wri- 
ters :  it  descends,  at  first,  with  a  moderate  inclination ;  and 
about  125  feet  from  the  mouth,  the  floor  is  thickly  covered 
with  a  fine  dry  reddish  dust,  in  which  a  few  fragments  of 
bones,  apparently  of  kangaroos,  occur.  The  cavern  in  dif- 
ferent places  affords  beautiful  stalactites  and  stalagmitic  in- 
crustations. Irregular  cavities  in  the  roof  seem  to  lead  to- 
wards the  surface  of  the  hill ;  and  at  the  remotest  part  the 
floor  is  covered  with  a  heap  of  dry  white  dust,  so  loose  and 
light,  that  one  of  the  exploring  party  sunk  into  it  up  to  the 
waist.  This  dust,  when  chemically  examined  by  Dr.  Turner, 
was  found  to  consist  principally  of  carbonate  of  lime,  with 
some  phosphate  of  lime  and  animal  matter.     In  fine,  the  cave 

*  Major  Mitchell,  the  talented  surveyor-general  of  New  South  Wales, 
has  discovered  the  cave  in  Wellington  Vallejs  and  sent  the  account  above 
given  to  the  Geological  Society,  who  have  politely  furnished  ine  with  it. 


S70  FOSSIL  REMAINS  AT  WELLINGTON  VALLEY. 

appeared  to  terminate  in  a  fissure  nearly  vertical,  with  water 
at  its  bottom,  about  30  feet  below  the  lowest  part  of  the  ca- 
vern, and  nearly  on  a  level  with  the  waters  of  the  river  Bell. 
This  fissure  also  extends  upwards  towards  the  surface. 
"  'About  SO  feet  to  the  W.  of  the  cave  above  described,  is 
the  mouth  of  another  cavity  of  a  different  description,  first 
examined  by  Mr.  Rankin.  At  this  place  the  surface  itself 
consists  of  a  breccia  full  of  fragments  of  bones  ;  and  a  similar 
compound,  confusedly  mixed  with  large  rude  blocks  of  lime- 
stone, forms  the  sides  of  the  cavity,  which  is  a  nearly  vertical, 
wide,  and  irregular  sort  of  well,  accessible  only  by  the  aid  of 
ladders  and  ropes.  This  breccia  consists  of  an  earthy  red 
calcareous  stone  having  small  fragments  of  the  grey  limestone 
of  the  valley  dispersed  through  it,  and  in  some  parts  pos- 
sesses considerable  hardness.  Near  the  lower  part  of  the 
fissure  (the  whole  extent  of  which  was  not  explored)  were 
three  layers  of  stalagmitic  concretion  about  two  inches  in 
thickness  and  three  inches  apart,  the  spaces  being  occupied 
with  a  red  ochreous  matter,  with  bones  in  abundance  im- 
bedded both  in  stalagmite  and  between  the  layers  of  it. 

'  The  bones  found  in  the  fissure  just  described,  of  which 
specimens  have  been  sent  to  England,  belong,  with  only  two 
exceptions,  to  animals  at  present  known  to  exist  in  the  adja- 
cent country  ;  and  their  dimensions  also  are  very  nearly  the 
same  with  those  of  the  existing  quadrupeds.  The  species, 
from  the  report  of  Mr.  Clift,  to  whose  examination  the  bones 
were  submitted,  appear  to  be  as  follows  :  Kangaroo,  Wombat, 
Dasyurus,  Koala,  Phalangista,— the  most  abundant  being 
those  of  the  Kangaroo.  Along  with  the  remains  just  men- 
tioned, were  found  two  bones,  not  agreeing  with  those  of  any 
of  the  animals  at  present  known  to  exist  in  New  South  Wales. 
The  first  and  larger  is  supposed  to  belong  to  the  Elephant : 
the  second  bone  is  also  obscure  and  imperfect,  but  seems  to 
be  a  part  of  one  of  the  superior  maxillary  bones  of  an  animal 
resembling  the  Dugong;  it  contains  a  portion  of  a  straight 
tusk  pointing  directly  forward. 

'A  pit  was  dug,  by  Major  Mitchell's  direction,  in  the  sur- 


GEOLOGIC  AT.  INDICATIONS  OF  SOIL.  271 

face  of  the  ground  about  25  feet  from  the  mouth  of  the 
fissure,  at  a  place  where  no  rocks  projected;  and  the  hill  was 
there  found  to  he  composed  of  a  hard  and  compact  breccia, 
such  as  that  before  described,  and  abounding  likewise  in  or- 
ganic remains. 

'  Other  caverns  containing  a  similar  breccia  occur  in  the 
limestone  on  the  north  bank  of  the  Macquarie,  eight  miles 
N.E.  of  those  at  Wellington ;  and  about  50  miles  to  the  S.E. 
at  Buree,  are  several  caves  like  the  first  described  above, 
which  communicate  with  fissures  partially  occupied  with 
breccia  containing  bones.  At  Molong,  oQ  miles  to  the  E.  of 
Wellington,  a  small  quantity  of  concreted  matter  has  been 
found,  containing  numerous  bones,  of  which  no  specimens 
have  been  sent  to  Europe  ;  but  from  their  size,  they  would 
appear  to  have  belonged  to  species  larger  than  those  which 
at  present  occupy  the  country.' 

As  regards  the  general  geological  features  of  New  South 
Wales,*  it  may  be  observed  that  the  sandstone  strata  extends 
from  the  sea  coast  to  the  river  Nepean  on  the  W.  Through- 
out this  extent  of  country  the  sandstone  seems  to  spread  like 
a  level  platform,  and  although  the  country  rises  into  hills  and 
ridges,  these  seem  to  consist  of  a  mass  of  clay,  the  surface  of 

*  The  geoloj^y  and  natural  vegetation  of  a  country  are  intimately  con- 
nected. In  New  South  Wales  the  rock  which  forms  the  basis  of  the 
country  may  be  known  from  the  kind  of  tree  or  herbage  that  flourishes  on 
the  soil  above.  For  instance,  the  eucalyptus  pulv.  a  dwarfish  tree,  with 
glaucus-coloured  leaves,  growing  mostly  in  scrub,  indicates  the  sandstone 
formation ;  while  those  open,  grassy,  and  park-like  tracts,  affording  good 
pasturage,  and  thinly  interspersed  with  the  eucalyptus  mannifera,  charac- 
terise the  secondary  ranges  of  granite  and  porphyry  :  the  limestone  forma- 
tion has  on  its  superincumbent  soil  trees  of  lofty  growth  and  vast  size,  while 
large  umbrageous  shrubs,  the  cupresws  calytrls  and  casuar'inri,  occupy 
sandy  ridges.  From  many  facts  adduced  by  the  intelligent  Captain  Sturt, 
it  may  be  inferred  that  the  trees  of  New  South  Wales  are  gregarious,  and 
that  the  strong  line  that  occasionally  separates  different  species,  and  the 
sudden  manner  in  which  several  species  are  lost  at  one  point,  to  reappear 
at  another  more  distant,  may  be  traced  to  the  geological  strata  of  the 
country. 


273  SANDSTONE  STRATA  AND  SOIL. 

which  has  been  worn  into  inequahties  by  the  action  of  water.* 
This  clay  is  generally  at  the  surface  red  and  impregnated  with 
iron ;  in  some  places,  however,  it  is  white  and  saponaceous, 
appearing  under  the  form  of  beautiful  pipe  clay,  containing 
frequently  calcareous  stones  resembling  stalactites  evidently 
formed  by  aqueous  deposition,  at  the  depth  of  a  few  feet  it 
generally  assumes  the  appearance  of  schistus  impregnated 
with  sulphate  of  alumina  and  sulphate  of  iron ;  in  the  ravines 
are  found  coalfield  schistus  with  vegetable  impressions  ;  and 
also  argillaceous  iron  ore. 

Westward,  or  beyond  the  Nepean  River,  the  sandstone 
strata  are  forced  upwards  and  extend  from  N.  to  S.  forming 
the  lofty  ridge  of  the  Blue  Mountains ;  towards  the  N.  these 
mountains  are  sterile  and  rugged ;  towards  the  S.  however, 
the  sandstone  is  in  many  places  covered  or  displaced  by  whin- 
stone,  which  sometimes  assumes  the  form  of  common,  at  other 
times  of  porphyritic-trap.  In  the  latter  state  it  shews  itself 
through  the  well-watered  pastoral  county  of  Argyle.f 

On  advancing  further  to  the  S.  and  W.  granite  and  hme- 
stone  are  abundant,  (perforated  in  all  directions  with  ex- 
tensive subterraneous  caverns  exactly  similar  both  in  charac- 
ter and  stalactitic  adornment  to  those  that  are  uniformly 
found  in  regions  of  a  similar  formation  in  Europe  and  in  Ame- 
rica), but  both  are  frequently  met  with  in  detached  quantities 
in  the  N.  and  E.  parts  of  the  colony,  and  a  fine  limestone 

♦  This  circumstance  will  account  for  the  singular  fact,  that,  in  New 
South  Wales,  the  tops  of  the  hills,  which  contain  most  of  the  original  clay, 
are  generally  more  fertile  than  the  vallies,  unless  the  latter  contain  alluvial 
deposits ;  and  it  is  probably  owing  to  a  similar  cause  that  the  vallies  are 
cold  and  l/leak,  while  the  tops  of  the  hills  are  warm  and  verdant. 

f  As  a  general  remark,  it  may  be  observed,  that,  in  New  Holland, 
wherever  the  soil  lies  upon  sandstone,  we  find  it  consisting  of  the  common 
Australian  clay ;  but,  over  whinstone,  it  is  invariably  a  light  black  mould. 
English  farmers  are,  however,  (juite  puzzled  in  endeavouring  to  form  an 
estimate  of  the  soils  in  Australia;  land,  apparently  the  most  barren,  yield- 
ing, when  well  ploughed  and  cropped,  the  finest  harvests — the  fertility  con- 
tinuing to  increase,  instead  of  diminishing,  by  cultivation.  The  circumstance 
may  be  accounted  for  by  the  remarks  made,  under  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope 
chapter,  respecting  the  fertility  of  decomposed  sandstone. 


MINERALS  OP  NEW  SOUTH  WALES.  273 

formation  occurs  also  to  the  north-westward  of  Sydney  at  the 
head  of  William's  River.  In  some  parts  of  the  territory  (as 
in  Argyle)  the  limestone  passes  into  a  beautiful  close-grained 
marble,  giving  employment  to  several  skilful  artizans  in  Syd- 
ney. There  are  varieties  of  different  minerals  found  in  vari- 
ous places ;  Hunter's  River  flows  for  a  considerable  distance 
over  rocks  of  jasper  and  beautiful  agates,  opal  and  chalce- 
dony, besides  innumerable  petrifactions  are  found  on  its  banks. 

Near  the  burning  mountain  of  Wingen  (see  p.  255)  amor- 
phous specimens  of  carnelian,  white,  pinkish  and  blue,  have 
been  found ;  also  angular  fragments  of  ribbon  and  fortifica- 
tion agates,  and  balls  of  agate,  some  of  them  filled  with 
crystals  varying  from  the  size  of  a  pea  to  that  of  a  hen's  egg  ; 
and  others  of  a  blueish  white  and  clouded  colour,  having 
spots  of  white  dispersed  throughout  them.  Several  of  the 
agates  collected  from  Mount  Wingen  had  their  surfaces  crested 
over  with  iron ;  some  of  those  found  at  Mount  Agate  were 
crested  with  native  copper,  while  others  from  the  same  locality 
presented  a  most  beautiful  auriferous  appearance. 

As  it  is  desirable  to  throw  every  possible  light  on  the  geo- 
logy of  this  interesting  country,  I  give  the  following  observa- 
tions of  the  strata  seen  to  the  N.  and  E.* 

At  the  Wingen  or  Burning  Mountain,  the  summit  of  the 
south-eastern  side  of  the  dividing  range,  consists  of  green- 
stone slate,  and  the  base  of  a  quartzose  conglomerate :  the  low 
hills,  which  form  the  eastern  side  of  Liverpool  Plains,  consist 
of  a  similar  conglomerate  ;  while  the  hills  to  the  N.  of  the 
Plains  are  composed  of  a  very  finely  grained  granite.  Between 
the  latitudes  of  31  and  30  degrees  the  country  gradually 
ascends  from  the  level  of  Liverpool  Plains,  or  840  feet,  to 
nearly  2,000  feet  above  the  level  of  the  sea,  and  presents  a 
broken  irregular  surface,  often  traversed  by  low  ridges  of  clay 
slate.  To  the  N.  of  30.  Lat.  the  base  of  the  ridges  by  which 
Stoddart's  Valley  is  bounded,  consists  of  serpentine,  their 
flanks  and  summit  of  hornstone,  and  the  hills  at  the  head  of  the 
valley  of  clay  slate.  In  the  bed  of  Peel's  River,  which  crosses 
*  Bv  IMr.  Allan  Cunninohani. 

VOL.   IV,  T 


274  GEOLOGICAL  STRATA  TO  THE  N.E. 

the  northern  extremity  of  the  valley,  a  thin  horizontal  bed  of 
calcareous  sandstone  was  noticed  between  strata  of  indurated 
clay  or  shale.     The  country  for  50  miles  to  the  N.  of  Peel's 
River  exhibits  a  moderately  undulating  surface,  covered  in 
some  parts  with  fragments  of  cellular  trap ;  and  the  hills  which 
bound  the  route  on  the  westward,  as  far  as  the  parallel  of 
29.10,  consists  of  a  reddish  coarse-grained  sandstone  in  nearly 
horizontal  strata.     Beyond  this  point  towards  the  N.E,  and 
a  little  to  the  N.  of  29.  Lat.  the  banks  of  Mogo  Creek  were 
found  to  be  composed  of  a  course  friable  sandstone.  Pursuing 
the  same  direction,  the  country  for  40  miles  presented  a  rugged 
surface,  and   the   prevailing   rocks  were  sandstone  and  clay 
slate  ;  but  occasionally  the  tops  of  the  hills  formed  low  terraces 
composed  of  a  quartzose  conglomerate.     In  the  bed  of  a  creek 
in  Lat.  28.26.   and  in  the  meridian  of  Paramatta,  (151.  E. 
Long.),   a  hard    slaty  rock    was   noticed ;  and    the    country 
beyond  it  was  found  to  be  composed,  where  it  could  be  ex- 
amined in  the  dry  water-courses,  of  flinty  slate.     In  Lat.  28.13. 
a  fertile  district  commences,  extending  for  18  miles,  or  to  the 
foot  of  the  Dividing  Range,  in  the  parallel  of  28  degrees.  At 
the  base  of  these  mountains  were  procured  specimens  of  basalt 
containing  olivine :  at  the  height  of  1,877  feet  above  the  level 
of  the  sea,  the  rock  consisted  of  amygdaloid ;  and  the  extreme 
summit,  4,100  feet  above  Moreton  Bay,  of  a  brick-red  cellular 
trap,  the  cells  having  an  elongated  form  and  parallel  position. 
In  Lat.  29.  a  deep  gorge  is  composed  of  clayslate,  and 
traversed  by  a  rapid  stream,  in  the  bed  of  which  were  noticed 
large  boulders  of  the  gray  granite.     During  the  next  40  miles 
the  only  rocks  noticed  were  reddish  granite  and  fragments  of 
basalt.     In  Lat.  29,26.  large  masses  of  a  fine  quartzose  con- 
glomerate occurred,  and  they  were  afterwards   found  to  be 
very  generally  scattered    over  the  adjacent  country.      The 
boundary  hills  of  Wilmott  Valley  are  stated  to  be  a  fine-grained 
gray  granite  ;  and  those  which  form  the  head  of  it,  in  Lat. 
30.11.  of  brownish  porphyry,  containing  grains  of  quartz. 

The  Geology  of  the  country  farther  N.  is  equally  striking. 
The  western  shores  of  Moreton  Bay,  from  the  entrance  of 
Pumicestone  River  to  Red  Cliff  Point,  are  faced  by  a  reef  of 


GEOLOGY  OK  MORETON   BAY  COUNTRY.  275 

considerable  breadth,  which  at  low  water  is  stated*  to  exhibit 
a  ledge  of  chalcedony. 

In  tracing  the  Brisbane  River,  which   falls  into  Moreton 
Bay,  the  first  rock  observed  was  talc  slate  or  chlorite ;  and 
opposite  the  settlement,  16  miles  from  the  mouth  of  the  river, 
is  a  quarry  of  pinkish  claystone  porphyry,  used  for  building. 
In  the  ravines  further  up,  occurs  serpentine  traversed  by  veins 
of  asbestos  and  magnetic  iron.      Sixty  miles  from  Moreton 
Bay,  ledges  of  hornstone  crop  out  in  the  banks ;  and  in  the 
same  part  of  the  river  a  considerable  seam  of  coal  appears  in 
its  channel.     A  portion  of  the  stem  of  a  fossil  plant,  present- 
ing "  concentric  fibrous  bands,  and  a   longitudinal  fohated 
structure   at  right  angles   to  the   bands,"  was  found  in  the 
vicinity  of  the  seam  of  coal.     At  "  the  limestone   station"  on 
Bremer  River,  which  falls  into  the  Brisbane,  were  procured 
a  series  of  specimens,  which  consisted  of  yellowish  hornstone, 
indurated  white  marl,  resembling  some  of  the  harder  varieties 
of  chalk,  and  containing  immense  masses  of  black  flint,  bluish 
gray  chalcedony  passing  into  chert,  and   a  gritty  yellowish 
limestone.     A  bed  of  coal  has,  likewise,  been  noticed  in  the ' 
Bremer,  and  traced  from  it  to  the  Brisbane.     To  the  S.  of 
the  limestone  station  is  a  remarkable  hill,  consisting  of  trap, 
called  Mount  Forbes  ;  and  50  miles  to  the  S.   of  the  penal 
settlement  on  the  Brisbane  is  the  Birman  range,  from  which 
were  obtained  specimens  of  compact  quartz  rock;  and  from 
Mount  Lindsay,  likewise  S.  of  the   Brisbane,  specimens  of 
granite. 

Before  remarking  on  the  minerals  of  New  South  Wales,  it 
may  be  proper  to  observe,  that  New  South  Wales  has 
another  feature  in  common  with  South  Africa,  namely,  im- 
mense beds  of  marine  shells,  at  various  elevations  above  the 
level  of  the  sea.  At  Hunter  s  River,  close  to  the  banks, 
oyster  shells  are  found  in  prodigious  abundance,  the  layers 
being  of  yet  unexplored  depth,  have  long  served  the  in- 
habitants for  the  manufacture  of  lime.  In  some  parts  of  the 
colony  they  are  found  on  the  tops  of  the  hills,  and,  in  other 
places,  imbedded  in  sandstone. 

*  By  Mr.  Cunningliani 


276  COAL  MINES  AT  NEWCASTLE. 

The   most   valuable   mineral   yet  worked  in   New  South 
Wales  is  coal,*  which  is  found  in  several  districts,  but  especi- 
ally in  the  country  to  the  S.  of  Hunter's  River,  which  is  an 
extensive  coal-field ;  the  cliffs  on  the  very  sea-shore  present- 
ing a  most  interesting  section  of  this  strata.     The  seams  of 
coal  are  distinctly  visible   on  the  abrupt  face  of  the  cliffs, 
forming  the  S.  headland  of  the  harbour  of  Newcastle,  and 
may  be  traced  for  nine  miles,  when  they  abruptly  terminate 
by  suddenly  bending  downwards  and  sinking  below  the  level 
of  the  sea.     From  this  place  a  long  sandy  beach,  and  low- 
land, extend  to   the   entrance    of  Lake  Macquarie  (Reid's 
Mistake),  the  S.  head  of  which  rises  into  high  cliffs,  in  which 
the  coal  strata  again  present  themselves.  Between  the  coal  beds 
are  strata  of  sandstone,  and  beds  of  clay  slate,  with  vegetable 
impressions — sometimes    (but   more    rarely)    indurated  clay- 
stone.     Embedded  in  these  strata  there  is  abundance  of  ar- 
gillaceous iron  ore;  this  is  occasionally  cellular  and  in  layers, 
but  for  the  most  part  it  appears  in  the  form  of  petrifactions 
of  trees   and  branches,   irregularly  dispersed.     The  coal  is 
decidedly  of  vegetable  origin,-}-  the  fibre  of  the  wood  being 
often  quite  distinct,  while  the  vegetable  impressions  in  the 
clayslate,  under  and  over  the  coal,  are  singularly  beautiful ; 
some  of  these  subterraneous  plants  appear  to  have  been  in 
full  flower,  so  that  a  skilful  botanist  might  ascertain  even 
their  species  ;  and  Mr.  Berry  thought  he  could  distinctly  as- 
certain the  leaf  of  the  lamia  spiralis. 

About  three  miles  along  the  S.  coast  of  Newcastle,  in  an 
upright  position  at  high  water-mark  under  the  cliff  and  be- 
neath a  bed  of  coal,  there  was  recently  found  the  butt  of  a 
petrified  tree,  which,  on  being  broken,  presented  a  deep 
black  appearance,  as  if  passing  into  the  state  of  jet ;  and  on 
the  top  of  the  cliff  at  Newcastle,  embedded  at  about  a  foot 

*  Owing  to  the  coal  mines  of  Australia,  steam  navigation  has  been 
introduced  into  the  colony,  and  will  etfect  great  changes  in  the  southern 
hemisphere. 

■\  These  coal  mines  are  now  in  full  work  by  the  Australian  Agricultural 
Company,  who  have  obtained  from  government  a  grant  of  seven  mines  j 
and  the  quantity  exported  annually  will  be  found  under  the  head  of  Corri' 
merce. 


NEW  SOUTH  WALES — IRON.  277 

beneath  the  surface,  lying  in  a  horizontal  position,  and 
nearly  at  right  angles  to  the  strata  of  the  cliff,  the  trunk  of 
another  tree  was  found,  finely  grained,  both  specimens  being 
traversed  by  thin  veins  of  chalcedony.  In  the  alternating 
strata  of  the  coal  (which  runs  generally  in  three  parallel  hori- 
zontal beds)  are  found  nodules  of  clay,  ironstone,  and  trunks 
and  stems  of  arundinaceous  plants  in  iron  stone  ;  in  one 
place  a  narrow  bed  of  ironstone,  bearing  impressions  of  leaves 
is  remarkable ;  while  thin  laminae  of  the  same  mineral,  the 
surface  of  which  is  traversed  by  square  and  variously  shaped 
sections  of  the  same  mineral,  are  seen  on  several  parts  of  the 
shore,  both  in  the  face  of  the  cliff  parallel  with  the  beds  of 
coal,  and  extending  into  the  sea,  forming  the  strand  at  low 
water.  Nor  are  these  indications  confined  to  the  district  of 
the  sea  shore  at  Newcastle  ;  thin  beds  of  coal  and  iron  may 
be  seen  along  the  banks  of  the  Paramatta  River,  and  in 
other  places.  Coal  abounds  in  the  vicinity  of  the  Burning 
Mount  Wingen,  and  near  the  Kingdon  Chain  of  Ponds,  form- 
ing one  of  the  sources  of  the  Hunter.  A  few  miles  N.  by  W. 
of  the  Mount  Wingen,  are  stumps  of  trees  standing  upright 
in  the  ground^  apparently  petrified  on  the  spot  where  they 
formerly  grew,  and  strongly  impregnated  with  iron,  which 
mineral  gives  a  ferruginous  taste  to  most  of  the  smaller 
streams  in  the  colony,  particularly  in  Cumberland  county. 

It  may  be  gathered  from  the  foregoing  facts  that  although 
coal  alone  is  now  worked,  yet  that  the  day  is  not  far  distant 
when  iron  will  also  become  one  of  the  staple  products  of 
Australia.  Copper  and  other  metals  have  been  found,  but 
for  the  present  their  indications  are  of  secondary  importance.* 

*  The  rocks,  of  which  specimens  occur  in  the  collections  of  Captain  Xing' 
and  Mr.  Brown,  are  the  following  : — 

Granite.     Cape  Cleveland;    Cape  Grafton;  Endeavour  River;  Lizard 
Island;   Round  Hill,  near  Cape  Grindall;    Mount  Caledon ;   Island  near 
Cape  Arnhem  j  Melville  Bay ;  Bald-Head,  King  George's  Sound. 
Various  Slaty  Rocks. 

Mica  Slate.     Mallison's  Island. 

Talc  Slate.     Endeavour  River. 

Slaty  Clay.     Inglis's  Island,  Clack  Island,  Percy  Island. 


278  LOCALITY  OF  GEOLOGICAL  STRATA. 

On  a  general  review  of  this  section  it  may,  I  think,  be  con- 
fidently stated  that  Austraha  is  of  diluvian,  as  contra-distin- 
ffuished  from  the  term  of  volcanic  origin  ;  but  there  arises 
the  question,  whether  the  land  has  been  left  dry  by  the  receding 
of  the  mighty  deep,  or  whether,  as  in  Chili,  and  other  parts 
of  America,  some  powerful  sub-marine  action  has  raised  the 
earth  above  the  ocean  level,  either  at  one  shock,  or  by  a 
series  of  successive  shocks.  In  our  present  ignorance  of  the 
actual  geography,  to  say  nothing  of  the  geology  of  New  Hol- 
land, conjecture  is  all  that  can  be  offered ;  I  incline  to  the 
opinion  that  Australia,  like  other  parts  of  this  earth,  has  ex- 
perienced the  effect  of  an  universal  (or  at  least  nearly  univer- 
sal) deluge,  previous  to  which  it  was  tenanted  by  a  different, 
and  also  by  a  more  numerous  class  of  animals  than  are  now 

Horneblende  Rock.  Pobassoo's  Island,  Half-way  Bay,  Prince  Regent's 
River. 

Granular  Quartz.     Endeavour  River ;  Montagu  Sound,  N.W.  coast. 

Epidote.     Cape  Clinton,  Port  Warrender,  Careening  Bay. 

Quartzose  Conglomerates  and  Ancient  Sandstones.  Rod's  Bay,  Islands  of 
the  N.  and  N.W.  coasts,  Cambridge  Gulf,  York  Sound,  Prince  Regent's 
River. 

P'qje  Clay.     Melville  Bay,  Goulbourn  Island,  Letbbi-idge  Bay. 

Rocks  of  the  Trap  Formation. 

Serpentine.  Port  Macquarie,  Percy  Isles.  Sienite.  Rod's  Bay.  Por- 
pliyry.     Cape  Cleveland. 

Porphyrit'ic  Conglomerate.     Cape  Clinton,  Percy  Isles,  Good's  Island. 

Compact  Felspar.     Percy  Isle,  Repulse  Bay,  Sunday  Island. 

Greenstone.     Vansittart  Bay,  Bat  Island,  Careening  Bay,  Malu's  Isle. 

Clinkstone.     Morgan's  Island,  Pobassoo's  Island. 

Amygdaloid,  icith  Chalcedony.  Port  Warrender,  Half-way  Bay,  Bat  Is- 
land, Malu's  Island.     IFucke.     Bat  Island. 

Recent  Calcareous  Breccia.  Sweer's  Island,  N.  coast ;  Dirk  Hartog'a 
and  Rottnest  Island,  &c.  W.  coast ;  King  George's  Sound,  S.  coast. 

Limestone,  resembling,  in  the  character  of  its  organic  remains,  the  Moiui' 
tain  Limestone  of  England.  Interior  of  New  Holland,  near  the  E.  coast ; 
Van  Diemcn's  Land  (Bucklund,  Prevost  ]\1SS.,  Scott). 

The  Coal  Formation.  E,  coast  of  New  Holland,  Van  Diemen's  Land 
(Buckland,  Scott). 

Lidications  of  the  New  Red  Sandstone  (Red  Marl)  afforded  by  the  occur- 
rence of  Salt.    Van  Diemen's  Land  (Scott). 

Oolite.     Van  Diemen's  Land  (.Scott). 


CLIMATE  OF  AUSTRALIA.  279 

found  on  its  surface  ;*  and  it  would,  moreover,  appear  that 
the  receding  waters  of  the  great  ocean,  in  their  progress  to 
the  South  Pole,  had  rested  for  a  longer  period  on  New  Hol- 
land than  was  the  case  in  the  northern  hemisphere.f  An 
examination  of  these  speculative  points  would  be  wide  of  my 
subject,  which  relates  to  facts,  not  to  theories,  confining  me 
to  practical  information,  rather  than  to  hypothetical  discus- 
sions ;  and  I,  therefore,  proceed  to  state  the — 

Climate  of  Australia.  The  seasons  of  New  South  Wales 
are  similar  to  those  described  under  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope  ; 
January  being  the  middle  of  Summer,  and  July  of  Winter  ; 
the  Summer  extends  from  the  1st  of  November  to  the  1st  of 
March ;  the  Spring  and  Autumn  are  briefly  but  well  defined, 
and  the  Winter  of  a  bracing  coolness,  with  occasional  frosts  at 
Sydney,  and  snow  in  the  interior.  The  Spring  months  are 
Sept.  October  and  November  ;  the  Summer,  December,  Jan. 
and  February ;  Autumn,  March,  April,  and  May  ;  Winter, 
June,  July,  and  August.  The  rainy  months  are  generally 
considered  March,  April,  and  August.  The  average  tem- 
perature of  the  Spring  months  is  65.5.,  of  Summer  72.,  of 
Autumn  66.  and  of  Winter  55.  The  barometrical  pressure, 
is  about  29.94819  inches,  and  the  average  of  the  thermometer 
64.  F.  In  Sydney  the  thermometer  is  rarely  below  40. ;  in 
Paramatta  it  is  frequently  down  to  27-  in  Winter.  Of  course, 
as  the  land  rises,  a  difference  of  temperature  is  felt ;  the 
winter  at  Bathurst,  (where  the  luxury  of  snow  is  periodically 
enjoyed),  being  much  colder  than  on  the  sea  shore  ;  while  the 
difference  of  Lat.  between,  for  instance,  Sydney  in  34.,  and 
the  parallel  of  Moreton  Bay  in  that  of  28.,  is  considerable. 
In  fact,  every  variety  of  climate  may  be  obtained ;  that  of 
Sydney  may  be  judged  of,  in  some  measure,  by  the  following 
meteorological  table. 

*  Professor  Cuvier  declared  one  of  the  fossil  bones  found  in  a  cave  near 
Bathurst,  as  described  at  p.  270,  to  have  been  the  thigh-bone  of  a  young 
elephant.  Whether  these  huge  creatures  still  exist  in  New  Holland,  it  is 
impossible  to  say  ;  the  aborigines  of  the  coast  yet  explored,  or  visited,  have 
no  idea  of  such  an  animal. 

t  Captain  Stmt,  I  find,  is  of  a  similar  opinion. 


280 


BAROMETER — THERMOMETER  AND  WEATHER. 


Meteorological  Table  for  .Sydney, 

New  South  Wales 

Barometer,* 

62  feet  above 

the  sea. 

* 

1 

i 

i 

Theimom.* 

Winds. 

Weather. 

a 
a 

S 

S 
a 
■■3 

V 

I 

6 
a 
w 

a 
P, 

a 
1 

cs 

a 

a 
1 

■a 
3 
0 

6 

January. . 
February 

March    . . 

/  Max.  30.300 
IMin.  29.430 
/  Max.  30.300 
IMin.  29.680 
/Max.  30.490 
LMin.    29.580 
/  Max.  30.458 
IMin.   29.772 
/  Max.  30.442 
LMin.  29.602 
/  Max.  30.350 
IMin.  29.290 
/Max.  30.315 
LMin.   29.840 
/Max.  30.248 
LMin.  29.488 
/Max.  30.380 
I  Min. '29.520 
/  Max.  30.200 
LMin.  29.300 
/  Max.  30.220 
llVUn.  29.860 
/Max.  30.110 
LMin.  29-530 

68 
9 
75 
35 

74 
10 
78 
40 
79 

26 

78 

25 

76 
27 

78 

29 

79 

18 
80 
20 

76 

40 
72 
30 

101 
63 
94 

48 
83 
42 
87 
53 
66 
35 
67 
32 
59 
26 
67 
31 
S3 
34 
86 
42 
84 
51 
96 
59 

105  \ 
52/ 

102-1 
49/ 

97-1 

44/ 
98-1 

49/ 
74-1 
35/ 

701 

33  J 
66-1 
28  J 

70-1 
32; 

86-1 

37/ 
911 

42  J 
89 -l 
45  J 
101-1 
58/ 

91 

90 
83 
83 
73 
62 
60 

66 
67 
82 
91 

87 

75i 

74 

7li 

70 

6li 

52 

54 

55 

49i 
69i 

74 
75 

60 
58 
60 

57 

so 

42 
48 
44 
42 
57 
57 
63 

S.  S.  E. 
E.  S.  E. 

E. 

W, 

W. 
S.  W. 

s.  w. 
s.  w. 

N.  E. 

N.  E. 

E.  and  W. 

N.  E. 

15 
20 
19 
2] 
23 
20 
17 
14 
20 
21 
31 
20 

4 
4 
10 

6 

3 

1 
8 

9 

3 

12 
5 
2 

5 

7 

8 
5 

10 

3 
5 

9 

May    

July    

1 

August  . . 
September 
October . . 
November 
December 

1 
2 
2 

1 

Whole  Yea 

r. 

/  Max.  30.490 
LMin.  29.290 

80 
9 

101 
26 

105-1 
28/ 

During  the  summer  months,  a  regular  sea  breeze  sets  in 
daily,  and  refreshes  much  the  inhabitants  along  the  coast, 
who  do  not  experience  the  '  hot  winds'  so  strongly  as  those 
residing  some  distance  in  the  interior.  These  winds  have 
never  yet  been  accounted  for  in  a  rational  manner.  They 
blow  from  the  N.W.  three  or  four  times  every  summer  like  a 
strong  current  of  air  from  a  heated  furnace,  raising  the 
thermometer  to  100.  F.  in  the  shade,  and  125  when  exposed 
to  the  wind.  They  seldom  last  more  than  a  few  days,  and 
are  cleared  off  by  a  thunder  storm.  But,  as  I  have  observed 
in  my  First  Volume,  in  reference  to  the  climate  of  Bengal, 
the  rise  of  the  mercury  in  the  thermometer  does  not  indicate 
the  eifect  of  the  weather  on  the  animal  frame  ;   the  humidity 

*  These  observations  were  made  in  1824,  the  others  in  1832;  I  hope 
that  Mr.  Raymond,  the  Post-Master-General  at  Sydney,  will  cause  a 
Meteorological  Register  to  be  carefully  kept  and  published  annually  in  his 
excellent  almanac. 


SALUBRITY  OF  NEW  SOUTH  WALES.  281 

of  the  atmosphere  is  of  fai*  more  importance,  for  I  have  felt 
far,  very  far,  more  oppressiveness  in  Calcutta  with  the  ther- 
mometer at  80.,  and  the  atmosphere  surcharged  with  moisture, 
than  I  have  done  in  New  South  Wales  when  the  mercury  was 
at  125.,  but  the  air  of  a  parching  dryness.  Indeed,  during 
the  prevalence  of  the  latter,  I  have  ridden  50  miles  a-day  with 
but  slight  fatigue,  while  under  the  temperature  of  Bengal,  I 
found  the  slightest  motion  exhausting.  With  respect  to  the 
origin  of  these  hot  winds,  some  suppose  they  arise  from  vast 
burning  forests  in  the  interior,  but  they  are  more  likely  to 
owe  their  extreme  heat  and  siccidity  to  passing  over  a  great 
extent  of  arid  and  heated  country,  which  deprive  them  of  all 
moisture.  The  salubrity  of  New  South  Wales  is  proverbial ;  of 
a  community  of  1,200  persons,  only  five  or  six  have  been  known 
to  be  sick  at  a  time,  and  at  some  of  the  military  stations,  seven 
years  have  elapsed  without  a  soldier  dying.  As  an  illustra- 
tion of  the  climate,  I  may  here  remark  that,  at  Paramatta,  I 
have,  on  a  winter's  morning,  eaten  the  frozen  milk  beneath  an 
orange  tree,  from  which  I  have  gathered  the  ripe  and  ripening 
fruit.  Old  people  arriving  in  the  colony  from  Europe  have 
suddenly  found  themselves  restored  to  much  of  the  hilarity  of 
youth,  and  I  have  seen  several  persons  upwards  of  100  years 
of  age.*  Although  New  South  Wales  is  not  under  the  in- 
fluence of  the  periodical  showers  of  the  tropics,  a  large 
quantity  of  rain  falls  throughout  the  year :  hitherto  the 
colony  has  been  visited  by  a  drought  about  every  twelve  years  ; 
the  last  one  extending  from  1826f  to  1829,  during  which 
period  little  or  no  rain  fell  in  the  county  of  Cumberland  in 
particular.  It  is,  however,  more  than  probable,  that  as  the 
country  becomes  clear  and  cultivated,  such  lamentable  visita- 
tions will  be  less  frequent. 

*  One  was  an  old  woman  living  as  a  servant  at  a  public  house,  near  Mr. 
Blaxland's,  on  the  Sydney  and  Paramatta ;  she  was  said  to  be  125  years  of 
age,  and  yet  did  her  daily  work. 

t  May  not  the  comet  which  appeared  in  the  southern  hemisphere,  in 
1826,  have  had  some  influence  in  causing  this  drought  ? 


AUSTRALIA — A  LAND  OV  CONTRARIES. 

The  state  of  the  winds  at  Sydney  are  thus  indicated : — 


Morning    . . 

Noon  

Evening 

4 

7 

23 

11 
11 

12 
129 
109 

IS 

11 
5 

4 
3 
8 

02 

1 
2 
5 

9 
45 
70 

!/2 

CO 

8 
27 
13 

CQ 

1 
5 
4 

W 

29       3 

31       2 

"I     ' 

VI 

w 
8 

11 

8 

CO 

109 

35 
45 

to 

42 
5 
3 

CO 

4  118 
2     10 

1|     8 

^5 
2 

i 

6 
2 
3 

4 
16 
19 

;^ 
1 

8 
5 

2 

As  Australia  is  the  land  of  contraries,  it  may  be  observed  that 
the  N.  breeze  is  the  hot  wind,  and  S.  the  cool ;  the  westerly  the 
most  unhealthy,  and  the  E.  the  most  salubrious  ;  it  is  summer 
with  the  colonists  when  it  is  winter  at  home,  and  the  barometer 
is  considered  to  rise  before  had  weather,  and  to  fall  before 
good ;  to  these  diversities  may  be  here  added,  that  the  swans 
are  black  and  the  eagles  are  ivhite,  the  mole  (ornithorhyncus 
paradoxus )  lays  eggs  and  has  a  duck's  bill ;  the  kangaroo  (an 
animal  between  the  deer  and  the  squirrel)  has  five  claws  on  its 
fore  paws,  three  talons  on  its  hind  legs,  like  a  bird,  and  yet  hops 
on  its  tail ;  there  is  a  bird  (Melliphaga)  which  has  a  broom 
in  its  mouth  instead  of  a  tongue ;  a  fish,  one  half  belonging 
to  the  genus  Raia,  and  the  other  that  of  squalus ;  the  cod  is 
found  in  the  rivers,  and  the  perch  in  the  sea ;  the  vallies  are 
cold  and  barren,  and  the  mountain  tops  warm  and  fertile ; 
the  nettle  is  a  lofty  tree,  and  the  poplar  a  dwarfish  shrub ; 
the  pears  are  of  wood  ( Xylomelum  pyriforme)  with  the  stalks 
at  the  broad  end;  the  cherry  (Exocarpus  cupressiformis ) 
grows  with  the  stone  outside  ;  the  fields  are  fenced  with 
mahogany  (Eucalyptus  rohusta) ;  the  humblest  house  fitted 
up  with  cedar  (Cedrela  Toona) ;  and  the  myrtle  plants 
( Myrtacece )  are  burnt  for  fuel ;  the  trees  are  without  fruit, 
the  flowers  without  scent,  and  the  birds  without  song ;  finally, 
honesty  is  the  best  policy,  and  the  greatest  rogue  becomes 
converted  into  the  most  useful  citizen :  such  is  Terra  Aus- 
tralis. 

Vegetable  Kingdom. — So  far  as  botanical  observation  has 
yet  reached,  the  great  mass  of  vegetation  in  New  Holland 
belongs  to  the  natural  orders   Proteacece,  Epacridcc,  Myr- 


I 


VEGETABLE  KINGDOM  OF  NEW  SOUTH  WALES.  283 

tacece,  LeguminoscB  and  Com2Josit<s,  but  the  most  common 
genera  in  Australia  are  the  Eucalyptus  and  Acacia,  which  if 
taken  together  and  considered  with  respect  to  the  mass  of 
vegetable  matter  they  contain  (calculated  from  the  size  as  well 
as  the  number  of  individuals)  nearly  equal  all  the  other  plants 
of  the  country  :  of  the  former  above  100  species*  have  been 
discovered,  most  of  them  trees  remarkable  either  for  their  vast 
height  or  enormous  dimensions  ;  the  Eucalyptus  Globulus  of 
La  Billardiere  (principally  found  in  Van  Diemen's  Land), 
having  been  observed  to  attain  a  height  of  150  feet,  with  a 
girth  near  the  base  of  25  to  40  feet.f  Of  the  Acacias  nearly 
100  of  the  leaflessX  species  have  been  observed  diffused  over 
different  parts  of  the  country. 

The  Epacridce,  with  its  allied  genera,  are  almost  as  numer- 
ous and  hold  the  same  rank  in  Australia  as  the  Erica  or 
heaths  do  at  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope.  The  Orchidece  are  in 
great  variety,  highly  curious  in  the  intertropical  parts  of  the 
country,  and  chiefly  terrestrial.  Of  Palms  only  six  species 
have  yet  been  discovered  ;  of  the  genus  Casaurina  (which 
have  branches  that  appear  jointed  like  the  stem  of  an  equise- 
tum),  13  Australian  species  have  been  found.  The  ConifercB 
are  few  in  number  but  very  fine,  in  particvdar  the  celebrated 
Norfolk  Island  pine,  ( araucaria  excelsa)  occupies  an  extent 
of  900  miles  of  the  coast  of  New  Holland.  Among  the  Aspo- 
delecB  the  genus  Xanthorrhea  is  the  most  remarkable ;  all  the 

*  Mr.  Brown  estimated,  in  1814,  the  Australian  flora  at  4,200  species  ; 
but,  since  that  time,  many  more  have  been  discovered. 

t  Some  trees  in  the  colony  are  of  enormous  bulk.  Lieutenant  Breton 
mentions  one  which  he  saw,  of  triangular  form,  the  S.E.  face  of  which  was 
18  feet  in  leng-th,  that  to  the  N.  19i,  and  to  the  W.  22i~total,  60  feet  in 
prth  ;  and,  at  lllawarra,  there  is  a  resting  place  for  travellers,  half  way  up 
the  mountain,  called  the  big  tree,  which,  although  the  greater  part  has 
been  consumed  by  fire,  is  still  100  feet  high.  Three  men  on  horseback 
can  ride  into  the  hollow  of  the  tree,  without  dismounting,  and  take  slielter 
therein. 

X  The  dilated  foliaceous  footstalk  performs  the  functions  of  the  true 
compound  leaf,  which  is  produced  only  in  the  seedling  plant,  or  occasionally 
in  the  more  advanced  state,  where  plants  have  been  injured. 


284  THE  PITCHER  PLANT,  AND  GIGANTIC  LILY. 

species  yield  a  gum,  the  Xarborea  attains  the  size  of  a  wal- 
nut tree,  growing  pretty  strait  for  about  14  or  16  feet,  after 
which  it  branches  out  in  long  spiral  leaves,  which  hang  down 
on  all  sides  resembling  those  of  the  larger  kinds  of  grass  or 
sedge  ;  from  the  centre  of  the  leaves  springs  a  foot  stalk  20 
feet  long,  resembling  the  sugar  cane,  and  terminating  in  a 
spiral  spike  not  unlike  an  ear  of  wheat.  This  stem  is  used 
by  the  natives  for  spears,  the  end  being  hardened  by  fire. 
The  tree  yields  a  fragrant  scented  yellow  resin  which  has 
been  found  extremely  balsamic. 

My  limits  prevent  me  entering  in  this  work  into  a  detail  of 
the  whole  vegetable  kingdoms  of  the  colonies,  and  I  must 
therefore  content  myself  with  general  observations  ;  previous, 
however,  to  closing  the  section,  two  or  three  plants  require 
especial  notice.  The  New  Holland  Lily  ( Doryanthes  Ex- 
celsa)  is  one  of  the  most  stately  of  the  nobiles  of  the  veget- 
able kingdom,  as  Linneus  called  the  order  AmaryllidecB.  It 
grows  to  the  height  of  20  to  25  feet,  bearing  on  its  crown 
blossoms  of  the  richest  crimson,  each  six  inches  in  diameter, 
from  which  beautiful  birds  sip  a  delicious  honey.  The  leaves 
are  very  numerous,  sword-shaped  and  sometimes  six  feet  long. 
The  Pitcher  plant  ( Cephelotus  foUictdaris )  is  remarkable 
for  having  among  its  leaves  ascidia  or  pitcher-shaped  vessels, 
holding  several  ounces  of  a  watery  fluid  with  a  slightly  sweet 
taste ;  the  lid  of  the  pitcher  is  sometimes  found  accurately 
closed,  or  having  an  erect  position  leaving  the  vessel  quite 
open,  probably  to  receive  rain  or  dew  for  the  nourishment  of 
the  plant.  A  singular  and  interesting  plant  has  lately  been 
discovered  producing  a  fruit  larger  than,  and  with  the  taste 
of,  a  Spanish  chesnut ;  the  pods  are  large,  solitary  and  pen- 
dent containing  from  three  to  five  large  seeds,  which  are  eaten 
at  all  times  by  the  natives.  The  foliage  is  beautifully  green 
and  pinnated,  and  affords  a  good  shade.*      Of  the  genus 

*  The  dark  and  varied  foliage  of  the  Australian  forests  presents  a  sombre 
and  melancholy  appearance.  The  harsh  and  unsightly  colour  of  the  euca- 
lypti leaf  is  probably  owing  to  its  margin  being  presented  towards  the  stem, 
both  surfaces  having  the  .same  relation  to  light. 


LEGUMINO&/E  AND  COMPOSIT/E.  285 

Urticce,  there  are  numerous  species,  one  plant  in  the  neigh- 
bourhood of  Illawarra  remarkable  for  its  gigantic  and  arbor- 
escent growth  ;  many  specimens  of  the  extraordinary  nettle 
tree  being  20  feet  in  height,  of  proportional  robust  habit,  and 
its  leaves  so  highly  stimulating  as  to  blister  severely  on  the 
slightest  touch. 

The  leguminosce  and  compositce  comprehend  one-fourth  of 
all  the  dicotyledonous  plants,  while  the  grasses  form  an  equal 
part  of  the  monocotyledonous  ones;  (about  one-tenth  only 
of  these  has  been  observed  in  other  parts  of  the  world)  of  the 
cryptogamic  plants  the  greater  number  are  natives  of  Europe, 
some,  however,  are  peculiar  to  Australia ;  among  the  mosses, 
dawsonia  polytrichoides  has  the  leaves  of  a  polytrichum,  and 
the  inclined  capsule  of  a  buxhaumia  but  is  terminated  by  a 
beautiful  tuft  of  white  silvery  hairs  for  a  peristome,  and  among 
the  lichens  the  cenomyce  retispora  has  a  frond  perforated  like 
the  most  delicate  lace.  The  BanJcsice  which  are  so  generally 
distributed  throughout  the  S.  and  E.  coasts  are  wanting  on 
the  N.W.  so  far  as  the  latter  has  yet  been  examined.  At 
Illawarra  the  fern  shoots  up  its  rough  stem  to  the  height  of 
15  or  20  feet  as  thick  as  a  boat  oar,  then  suddenly  throws  out 
a  number  of  leaves  in  every  direction,  each  four  or  five  feet 
in  length,  and  exactly  similar  in  appearance  to  the  common 
fern.* 

*  The  following  is  a  list  of  plants  common  to  the  E.  and  N.W.  coasts  of 
Terra  Australis,  in  and  about  the  parallel  of  15°  S.,  where  the  breadth  of 
the  continent  exceeds  1,800  miles : — Gleichenia  hermanni,  Br.  j  eriocaulon 
fistulosum,  Br. ;  philydrum  lanuginosum,  Goertn. ;  flagellaria  indica,  L. ; 
diascorea  bulbifera,  L. ;  pandanus  pedunculatus,  Br. ;  cycas  angulata,  Br. ; 
santalum  oblongatum,  Br. ;  exocarpus  latifolia,  Br. ;  persoonia  falcata,  Br. ; 
grevillea  mimosaides,  Br. ;  hakea  arborescens,  Br. ;  buchnera  ramosissima, 
Br.;  adenosma  coerulea, Br. ;  orthostemon  erectum,  Br. ;  tabernsemontana 
orientalis,  Br. ;  carissa  ovata,  Br.  ;  strychnos  lucida,  Br. ;  alyxia  obtusi- 
folia,  Br. ;  ipomcea  longiflora,  Br. ;  ipomoea  denticulata,  Br. ;  ipomcea 
raaritima,  Br. ;  evolvulus  villosus,  R.  et  Pav. ;  cuscuta  carinata,  Br. ;  cordia 
orientalis,  Br. ;  clerodendrum  inerme,  Br. ;  avicennia  tomentosa,  L. ; 
chicnanthus  axillaris,  Br. ;  olea  paniculata,  Br. ;  maba  laurina,  Br. ;  sersa- 
lisia  obovata,  Br. ;  mimusops  parvifolia,  Br. ;  terminalia  (sp.  allied  to  ca- 
tappa),  Lam. ;  cleome  viscosa,  L. :  capparis  sepiaria,  L.  j  hibiscus  liliaceus. 


286  BOTANICAL  SPECIMENS — N.W.  COASTS. 

The  trees  used  in  the  colony  for  domestic  purposes  are — 
iron  bark  (eucalyptus  resinifera)  for  building,  but  generally 
for  fencing ;  blue  gum  (eucalyptus  piperita)  ship  building 
and  wheelwrights ;  blackbutted  gum  do  ;  grey  gum,  fencing, 
building,  &c  ;  string  bark,  for  boards,  building,  &c ;  box  for 
wheelwrights,  ploughs,  &c ;  forest  oak  ( casuar'ina  torulosa), 
swamp  oak  ( casuar'ma  paludosa),  for  cabinet  work,  shingles, 
and  cedar  (cedrela  australis)  cabinet  work  :  turpentine  (tris- 
tania  albicas),  boats,  &c  ;  sassafras  for  flooring ;  mountain 
ash,  for  carriage  work ;  sallow,  for  gig  shafts  ;  pear  (xylo- 
melum  pyryforme )  for  gun  stocks,  &c ;  apple  ( angophora 
lanceolata)  building,  boards,  &c  ;  white  cedar  (melia  azede- 
rach)  do.  and  boats,  &c  ;  Norfolk  Island  pine  ( aracauria 
excelsa)  cabinet  work,  &c ;  Curragong  bark,  for  cordage. 
Some  of  the  foregoing  trees  rise  to  an  astonishing  height ;  I 
have   seen  a  vast  forest  with  scarcely  a  tree  of  which  the 

L. ;  abroma  fastuosa,  Br. ;  bombax  australis ;  jacksonia  thesioides ;  baii- 
hinise  sp. ;  caesalpiniae  sp. ;  cassia  occidentalis,  L.  ;  guilandina  bonduc.  L. ; 
mcrinda  citrifolia,  L. ;  carapa  nipluccensis,  Lam. ;  Zizyphus  inelasto- 
moides  ;  bruguiera  gymiiorhiza,  Lam. ;  casuarina  equisetifolia.  Lam. 

The  following  is  a  list  of  plants  observed,  during  the  voyages  of  Captain 
King,  on  the  shores  of  Terra  Australis,  that  are  also  common  to  India  or 
South  America  : — Acrostichum  alcicorne,  Sw.  ;  polypodium  acrostichoides, 
Sw. ;  nephrodium  exaltatum,  Br. ;  nephrodium  unitum,  Br. ;  vittaria 
elongata,  Sw. ;  asplenium  nidus,  L. ;  davallia  flaccida,  Br.;  gleichenia 
hermanni,  Br. ;  flagellaria  indica,  L.  ;  dioscorea  bulbifera,  L. ;  calladium 
macrorhizon,  Willd. ;  aristolochia  indica,  L.;  daphne  indica,  L. ;  salicornia 
indica,  Willd. ;  deeringia  celosioides,  Br. ;  plumbago  zeylanica,  L. ;  dis- 
chidia  nummularifolia,  Br.;  acanthus  ilicifolius,  L. ;  acanthus  ebracteatus, 
L. ;  ipomea  turpethum,  Br.  ;  ipomea  denticulata,  Br. ;  ipomea  maritima, 
Br. ;  evolvulus  villosus,  R.  et  Pav.  ;  trichodesma  zeylanica,  Br. ;  tourne- 
fortia  argentea,  L. ;  cordia  orientalis,  Br. ;  plectranthus  scutellarioides, 
Br. ;  clerodendrum  inerme,  Br. ;  vitex  ovata,  L. ;  vitex  trifolia,  L. ; 
avicennia  tomentosa,  L. ;  mimusops  kauki,  L. ;  asgiceras  fragrans,  C. 
Koenig ;  scoevola  koenigU,  Vaht. ;  cleonie  viscosa,  L. ;  capparis  sepiaria, 
L.  ;  calophyllum  inophyllum,  L. ;  morinda  citrifolia,  L. ;  sophora  tomen- 
tosa, L.  ;  cassia  occidentalis,  L.  ;  guilandina  bonduc.  L.  ;  abrus  precato- 
rius,  L. ;  acacia  scandens,  Willd.  ?  suriana  maritima,  Jacqu. ;  pemphis 
acida,  Forst.  ;  rhizophora  mangle,  L.  ?  bruguiera  gymnorhiza,  Lara. ; 
sonneratia  acida,  L.  ;  abroma  fastuosa,  Br. ;  casuarina  equisetifolia,  Forst 


CULINARY  VEGETABLES  AND  FRUITS  OF  N.  S.  WALES.       287 

height  was  not  50  to  80  feet  without  a  branch,  while  the  entire 
elevation  of  the  forest  was  nearly  150  feet ;  each  giant  stem 
seems  endeavouring  to  out  top  its  neighbour  in  order  to  gain 
light  j  and  air.  Several  trees  yield  gum  arable,  kino  and 
manna,  the  latter  being  generally  found  about  Bathurst. 

The  culinary  vegetables  and  fruits  of  Australia  are  numer- 
ous and  of  a  delicious  flavour;  among  the  former  may  be 
noticed — potatoes,  cabbages,  carrots,  parsnips,  turnips,  cauli- 
flowers, onions,  asparagus,  peas  and  beans,  cucumbers, 
radishes,  lettuces,  spinage,  brocoli,  capsicums,  artichokes, 
chardoons,  celery,  knohl,  brengall  {egg  plant),  vegetable  mar- 
row, sweet  potatoes,  sea  kale,  &c.,  and  of  the  latter  I  may 
enumerate — strawberries,  raspberries,  grapes  (of  every  va- 
riety), pine  apples,  oranges,  lemons,  citrons,  guavas,  rose 
apple,  and  mango ;  English  and  Brazilian  cherry,  pears, 
apples,  peaches,  apricots  and  plums;  figs,  mulberries,  loquats, 
grenadillas  (great  flowering  passion  flower),  pomegranates, 
cherasnolia  (or  Peru),  melons  (sweet  and  water),  bananas  and 
plaintains,  quinces,  litchis,  olives,  chesnuts,  filberts,  &c.  An 
idea  may  be  formed  of  the  abundance  of  fruit  when  I  state 
that  during  part  of  the  year  swine  are  fed  on  peaches  and 
apricots. 

Animal  Kingdom.  Like  North  America,  Australia  pos- 
sesses no  large  animals,  and  few  varieties  ;  there  is  not  only 
a  total  absence  of  such  animals  as  elephants,  lions,  tigers, 
bears,  deer,  &c. ;  but  nearly  all  the  quadrupeds  belong,  or 
are  intimately  related  to  the  gUres  of  Linnaeus  ;  two-thirds  of 
the  New  Holland  quadrupeds  making  their  way  by  springing 
in  the  air.  There  are  more  than  40  species  of  the  Marsupial 
family  in  New  Holland,  of  which  scarcely  any  congeners 
occur  elsewhere ;  except  a  few  species  in  some  of  the  islands 
of  the  Indian  Archipelago  and  the  opossums  of  America. 

The  following  are  the  only  genera  and  the  subgenera  of 
quadrupeds  belonging  to  this  part  of  the  world.  Didelphis, 
Auct.  ;  Dasyurus,  Cuv.  ;  Perameles,  Shaw  ;  Thylacinus, 
Tern. ,-  Phalangista,  Cuv.  ,•  Balentia,  ///. ;  Petaurista,  Cuv. ; 
Hypisprimus,   ///. ;    Halmaturus,   ///. ;    Phascolarctos,   ///. ; 


288  ANIMAL  KINGDOM THE  KANGAROO. 

Phascolomys,    Geoff.  ;     Echidna,    Ciw.  ;     Ornithorhyncus, 
Blum. 

Of  the  Kangaroo  there  are  many  varieties,  from  the  size 
termed  the  '  kangaroo  rat  to  the  'forester,'  which  stands 
from  four  to  five  feet  high.  The  bound  of  the  kangaroo  is 
prodigious,  sometimes  exceeding  20  paces,  and  this  can  be 
kept  up  for  some  time,  so  as  to  outstrip  the  fleetest  grey- 
hound. The  abdominal  pouch,  which  this  singular  animal 
possesses,  is  well  known,  but  it  is  not  as  yet  a  settled  point 
how  the  young  are  placed  there  ;  I  have  found  them  adher- 
ing to  the  mother's  nipple  when  totally  devoid  of  hair — scarcely 
indeed  formed,  and  without  sign  of  life :  instead  of  forming 
a  burrow,  or  nest,  nature  seems  to  have  designed  the 
marsupial  pouch  as  a  substitute,  and,  within  its  warm  pre- 
cincts the  careful  mother  shelters  its  helpless  young,*  letting 
them  out  by  day  to  graze  on  the  tender  herbage,  or  carefully 
conveying  them  across  rivers,  and  through  forests,  when  pur- 
sued by  its  enemies,  until  they  are  totally  enabled  to  provide 
for  their  own  sustenance  and  safety.  The  kangaroo  is  ex- 
tremely timid,  unless  when  hard  pressed  for  life,  when  it  will 
set  its  back  against  a  tree — boldly  await  the  dogs — and  rip 
them  up  with  its  hind  claws,  or  give  them  a  formidable 
squeeze  with  its  fore  arms  until  the  blood  gushes  from  the 
hound's  nostrils  ;  sometimes  the  poor  creature  will  take  to 
the  water  and  drown  every  dog  that  comes  near  it.  They 
are  extremely  docile  ;  I  had  one  for  sometime  as  a  pet,  it 
followed  me  about  the  house  and  garden  like  a  dog,  eat  out 
of  my  hand,  sat  behind  my  chair  at  breakfast  and  dinner, 
giving  me  an  occasional  kick  when  I  forgot  to  help  him  as 
well  as  myself.  This  beautiful  animal,  which  may  be  con- 
sidered peculiar  to  Australia,  is,  I  regret  to  say,  fast  disap- 
pearing before  the  abodes  of  civilized  man,  or,  as  the 
aborigines  say,  *  where  white  man  sit  down,  kangaroo  go 
away.' 

The  opossum  tribe  (which  are  very  numerous,  and  similar 
to  those  found  in  America)  usually  take  up  their  residence  in 
•  The  kangaroo  lias  rarely  more  than  two  at  a  l)irth. 


ANIMAL  WITH  A  DUCK's  BILL.  289 

the  hollows  of  decayed  gum  trees,  and  it  is  curious  to  observe 
the  manner  in  which  the  blacks  will  ascend  the  tallest  euca- 
lypti (notching  the  bark,  in  steps,  with  a  small  stone  hatchet 
so  as  to  admit  the  great  toe),  and  chase  out  the  animal  from 
its  lofty  and  apparently  safe  hiding  place. 

The  native  dog  is,  next  to  the  kangaroo  and  opossum,  the 
most  numerous  quadruped  ;  it  is  somewhat  like  the  Indian 
jackall,  about  two  feet  high,  2^  long,  with  a  head  like  the  fox, 
and  erect  ears :  colour  generally  a  reddish  brown,  not  bark- 
ing, but  sometimes  yelping  like  the  common  dog,  and  with  a 
most  dismal  howl.  It  is  extremely  tenacious  of  life ;  very 
destructive  to  sheep  and  poultry,  and  consequently  hunted 
without  mercy  by  the  settlers,  who  are  fast  thinning  their 
numbers,  as  a  considerable  degree  of  animosity  exists  between 
the  wild  Australian  and  the  domesticated  European  dog. 

The  Wombat  (p/iascomoli/s),  a  kind  of  bear  or  badger, 
weighing  401b.  (see  VanDiemen's  Land  animals),  from  its  being 
good  eating,  is  fast  disappearing  ;  as  is  also  a  species  of  sloth. 

The  Porcupine  Anteater  {ornithorhyncus  hystrijc)  is  a  sin- 
gular animal;  a  species,  in  the  possession  of  Lt.  Breton, 
measured  from  the  snout  13  inches,  circumference  of  the 
body,  while  the  quills  were  not  erected,  20  inches,  length  of 
the  quills  two  inches,  tongue  (narrow)  2^  inches,  long  claw  of 
the  hind  foot  two  inches :  its  natural  food  is  ant  eggs.  There 
are  varieties  of  the  flying  animals — such  as  the  flying-squirrel, 
fox,  and  mouse.  It  is  difficult  to  say  whether  the  platypus 
(ornithorhyncus  paradoxus)  should  be  classed  as  an  animal 
or  a  bird ;  it  has  four  legs  like  a  quadruped,  and  a  bill  like  a 
duck,  and,  according  to  almost  general  belief,  lays  eggs,  and 
suckles  its  young:  its  length  from  beak  to  tail  is  about  14 
inches,  circumference  of  the  body  11  inches,  beak  2|,  tail  4^, 
breadth  of  the  upper  mandible  \^-^ ;  it  resembles  the  otter  in 
miniature,  is  covered  with  a  very  thick,  soft,  and  beaver-like 
fur,  head  flat  and  rather  small,  legs  short,  terminating  in  a 
broad  web,  which  on  the  fore  feet  extends  some  way  beyond 
the  claws,  the  number  of  which  is  five,  and  on  the  hind  feet 
five  claws ;  and  in  the  male,  with  a  perforated  spur,  through 
which  is  discharged  a  poisonous   secretion ;    the   mandible 

VOL.  IV.  u 


290  BIRDS  OF  NEW  SOUTH  WALES. 

serrated  as  in  a  duck's  bill ;  back  dark  grey,  belly  lighter 
colour,  and  tail  flat,  obtuse,  and  furry.  The  Platypus  burrows 
in  the  earth,  on  the  banks  of  rivers,  like  a  mole,  and  lives  on 
shrimps  and  animalculae  of  various  kinds. 

Of  domestic  animals  I  need  only  observe  that  all  those  of 
England  have  been  introduced  into  the  colony,  and  thrive 
well:  the  breed  of  horses  is  now  excellent.*  The  horned 
cattle  are,  in  many  instances,  of  a  gigantic  size,  and  the  cli- 
mate and  pasture  evidently  produces  sheep  of  improved 
fleece,  and  of  a  delicious  flavour.  Goats  are  not  numerous ; 
swine  are  abundant ;  asses  or  mules  are  seldom  reared, 
though  a  fine  breed  of  the  former  has  been  introduced  from 
South  America.  It  is  to  be  hoped  that  the  camel  may  soon 
be  imported,  as  its  enduring  thirst  and  fatigue  under  long 
journeys  would  render  it  extremely  valuable  in  exploring  the 
interior  of  the  colony. 

Birds  are  numerous,  of  great  variety,  and  often  of  a  beau- 
tiful plumage.  The  Emu,  or  Cassowary,  is  one  of  the  most 
singular,  its  covering  is  more  like  hair  than  feathers,  and, 
from  its  being  confined  to  the  earth,  partakes  little  of  the 
character  of  birds  ;  it  is  extremely  fleet,  outstripping  the 
swiftest  dog,  and  kicking  with  such  violence  as  to  break  a 
man's  leg ;  it  is,  however,  easily  tamed,  and  becomes  as  do- 
mestic as  a  dog :  from  six  to  eighteen  eggs  have  been  found 
in  the  same  nest,  which  are  of  stronger  flavour  than  those  of 
the  ostrich :  one  portion  of  the  emu  is  considered  good  eating, 
its  flesh  being  similar  to  beef,  but  the  other  parts  are  very 
oily.     The  emu  is  also  fast  disappearing. 

The  gigatitic  crane  or  native  companion  is  a  most  stately 
bird  of  a  pale  ash  colour,  with  a  reddish  tinge  on  the  head, 
and  about  six  feet  high :  it  is  gregarious  and  carnivorous, 
easily  domesticated,  and  seen  frequently  on  the  borders  of 
rivers  or  lakes,  where  also  the  black  swan  is  found.  The 
bustard,  or  native  turkey,  weighs  from  15  to  18  lbs.,  and  is 

*  So  j^ood  are  the  horses  of  Australia,  that,  owing  to  the  perseverance 
of  the  late  J.  M'Arthur,  Esq.,  a  trade  in  this  noble  animal  is  now  opened 
between  India  and  Sydney,  for  the  purpose  of  remounting  the  East  India 
Company's  cavalry  and  artillery. 


BEAUTIFUL  PLUMAGE  OF  BIRDS,  291 

good  eating.  Eagles  and  hawks  are  every  where  to  be  met, 
some  white  and  very  large,  the  eagle-hawk  measuring  nine 
feet  from  wing  to  wing,  and  feathered  to  the  toes.  There 
are  about  30  varieties  of  pigeon,  among  which  is  the  crested 
bronze-winged,  of  which  only  one  specimen  is  known  in 
Europe.  Among  the  perching  tribes  the  beautiful  parrots, 
parrakeets,  and  cockatoos  deserve  attention  from  their  variety 
and  brilliancy  of  plumage,  as  also  from  the  facility  with  which 
the  latter,  in  particular,  become  domesticated  and  learn  to 
imitate  sounds.  Some  of  the  cockatoos  are  of  a  milk-white, 
others  black,  richly  variegated  on  the  tail  with  red,  and  with 
superb  crests.  The  lories  green,  red,  crimson,  and  purple 
are  numerous,  and  the  varieties  of  parrots  are  countless. 
There  are  numerous  birds  whose  ornithological  characters 
are  not  yet  fixed :  the  Spotted  Grosbeak  {Amandina  Latha- 
mi)  is  a  most  elegant  bird  of  a  light  slate  colour  above,  bill 
and  tail  deep  crimson,  throat  black,  and  sides  snow-spots  on 
a  dark  ground.  The  rifle  bird  {Ptiloris paradiseus)  is  nearly 
the  size  of  a  jay,  its  bill  long  and  sickle  shaped,  colour  of  a 
rich  dark  greenlike  velvet :  the  Ring  Oriole  is  of  two  colours 
only,  a  golden  yellow  and  the  deepest  black,  the  feathers  on 
the  head  resembling  the  softest  velvet. 

The  doves,  for  variety  and  beauty  of  plumage,  are  un- 
equalled in  any  part  of  the  world  ;  the  general  tint  of  the 
plumage  is  a  rich  green,  variegated  with  red,  purple,  or  yellow 
about  the  head  and  breast ;  others  occur  of  a  brown  colour,  re- 
lieved by  spots  on  the  wings,  of  the  richest  and  most  changeable 
colours,  equal  in  brilliancy  to  the  finest  gems.  That  singular 
and  beautiful  bird,  the  Lyre  tail,  (Menura  superba)  belongs  to 
the  gallinaceous  order. 

The  spur  winged  plover  frequents  the  open  parts  of  the 
country,  and  is  chiefly  remarkable  for  having  a  large  spur 
upon  the  shoulder  of  each  wing,  with  which  it  fights  des- 
perately. Of  pheasants,  there  are  two  kinds,  and  of  magpies 
three.  The  common  crow  (one  species  lives  solitary)  and 
swallow  are  everywhere  found:  the  Australian  sparrow  is  a  very 
pretty  bird,  with  varied  plumage,  in  which  a  red  or  scarlet 
tinge  is  intermixed.     Among  the  other  feathered  race  is,  a 


292  AQUATIC  TRIBES  AND  GENERA. 

butcher  bird,  called  the  '  laughing  jackass,'  so  termed  from 
its  note  resembling  the  coarse  and  boisterous  laugh  of  a  man, 
but  louder  and  more  dissonant ;  it  destroys  snakes  and  other 
reptiles.  The  coach-ivhip  is  a  small  bird,  whose  note  is 
similar  to  the  crack  of  a  short  flagelator.  Snipes,  (two  kinds) 
quails,  (three  kinds)  kingfishers,  and  coots,  are  abundant. 
The  insectivorous  birds  are  comparatively  few,  but  the  suc- 
torial, comprising  the  honey-suckers  {MeUiphagidce  V.)  are 
numerous.  The  scansorial  creepers  are  of  only  two  species, 
and  no  birds  have,  I  believe,  yet  been  discovered  similar  to  the 
wood  pecker.  The  Toucans  find  their  representative  in  the 
Australian  channel  bill  ( Scythrops  III),  the  flycatchers  and 
warblers  resemble  those  of  Africa;  there  are  two  or  three 
small  finches  of  Indian  genera,  and  the  cuckoos  and  orioles 
are  not  much  unlike  those  of  Africa,  Asia,  and  Europe. 

The  Aquatic  tribes  are  nearly  similar  to  those  found  in 
other  countries,  such  as  the  pelican,  penguin  goose,  duck, 
teal,  widgeon,  frigate-bird,  noddy,  peterel,  gull,  and  other 
ocean  birds.  The  genus  Cereopsis  occurs,  however,  only  in 
New  South  Wales  ;  it  is  of  a  light  grey  colour,  and  as  big  as 
a  goose.  The  musk  duck  is  a  curious  bird,  and  has  such 
short  wings  that  it  cannot  fly. 

The  peculiar  genera  of  birds,  with  the  sections  of  sub- 
genera are  all  comprised  in  the  following  list : — 

Podargus,  Cuv  ;  aea^otlieles,  H.  et  V.;  steatornis,  H  et  V. ;  dacelo, 
Leach;  falcunculiis,  Vieil. ;  vanga,  Buf.  ;  malurus,  Vieil. ;  acanthiza,  H. 
et  V. ;  pardalotus,  Vieil.  ;  pachycephala,  Sw. ;  grallina,  Vieil.  ;  sericulus, 
Sw. ;  petroica,  S\v. ;  ptilonorhynclius,  Kiihl. ;  scythrops,  Latham ;  plycto- 
lopha,  Vieil. ;  calyptorhyiichus,  H.  et  V.  ;  psittacarus,  Briss. ;  nanodes, 
H.  et  V. ;  leptolophus,  Sw. ;  platycercus,  H.  et  V. ;  pezoporus,  111.  ;  pe- 
Iseornis,  H.  et  V,;  lorius,  Briss. ;  trichoglossus,  H.  et  V.;  climacteris, 
Tem. ;  orthonyx,  Te/n. ;  sittella,  Sw. ;  dicosum,  Cuv.  ;  philedon,  Cuv. ; 
melliphaga,  Lewin ;  ptiloris,  Sw.  ;  ptilonopas,  Sw. ;  dromiceius,  Vieil. ; 
inenura,  Lath. ;  megapodius,  Tem. ;  chior:is,  Forst. ;  cereopsis.  Lath. 

The  following  genera  and  sub-genera  of  birds  occur  also  in 
India  or  Africa,  or  in  both  : — 

Merops,  Lin. ;  choetura,  Stev. ;  coUaris,  Cuv. ;  halcyon,  Sw. ;  ocypterus, 
Cnv. ;    c'loliiis,    Cnv.  ;   ccblepyri.s,     Cuv.  ;    pitta,   Vieil. ;     oriolus,   Lin. 


I 


ENTOMOLOGY  OP  NEW  SOUTH  WALES.  293 

gryllivora,  Sw. ;  campicola,  Sw. ;  estrelda,  Sw. ;  amadina,  Sw. ;  glaucopis, 
Forst. ;  ptilinopus,  Sw. ;  mycteria?  Lin.;  porpbyrio,  Briss. ;  burrbinus, 
111. ;  aptenodytes  ?  Forst. ;  pbaeton,  Lin. 

Insects  are  very  numerous,  and  of  every  variety,  and  have 
long  afforded  to  the  entomologist  a  wide  field  for  examination. 
The  lejndopfera  approximate  to  those  of  Africa  and  Asia, 
without  having  yet  exhibited  a  single  American  species ;  the 
coleopterous  tribes  have  a  more  insulated  character.  Locusts 
are  common  in  some  parts  of  the  colony.  Butterflies  are 
neither  plentiful  nor  beautiful ;  of  bees,  there  are  three  kinds, 
the  principal  of  which  is  not  larger  than  a  common  sized 
winged  ant,  and  all  are  without  stings  ;  these  careful  providers 
form  their  hives  in  the  hollows  of  trees  and  rocks,  and  pro- 
duce a  great  deal  of  delicious  wild  honey.  English  bees, 
which  have  been  recently  introduced,  multiply  fast,.  Ants 
exhibit  several  varieties,  the  'gigantic'  ants  are  nearly  one 
inch  in  length.  Their  mounds  are  not  raised  so  high  as  those 
of  Africa  (which  have  been  known  to  tower  to  15  feet,  with 
a  base  of  eight  feet),  but  they  are  more  solid  and  compact. 
Some  species  are,  at  one  period,  provided  with  wings,  and  may 
be  seen  (as  is  the  case  in  India)  issuing  from  a  hole  in  the 
earth,  flying  about  in  every  direction,  and  then  suddenly  dis- 
appearing, after  strewing  the  ground  with  their  wings. 

Flies  are  a  nuisance  in  summer ;  one  species  in  particular, 
called  the  blow  fly,  taints  and  putrifies  any  thing  it  touches. 
Mosquitoes  are  disappearing  before  civilization,  and  those  do- 
mestic annoyances  which  accompany  want  of  cleanliness  in  Eng- 
land, are  in  like  circumstances  equally  unpleasant  in  Australia. 
Spiders  are  very  large  in  general ;  one  species,  in  particular, 
makes  its  nest  in  the  earth  five  or  six  inches  in  depth,  and 
with  a  door  over  it,  but  which  is  always  left  open  when  he  is 
at  home.  Caterpillars,  at  times,  (at  intervals  of  several  years) 
swarm  in  incredible  numbers,  blighting  the  finest  wheat  fields 
in  a  few  hours ;  measures  have,  however,  been  taken  to 
moderate,  if  not  entirely  stop,  their  ravages  where  they  ap- 
pear; whence  they  come  in  such  myriads,  and  almost  in  a 
night,  is  unknown. 


294  REPTILES — FISH. 

Reiitiles  are  not  at  all  in  such  numbers  as  are  to  be  found 
in  marshy  countries.  Of  snakes  there  are  several  varieties,  a 
few  of  whic|i  are  poisonous.  The  diamond  snake  reaches  12 
to  15  feet  in  length,  and  is  not  poisonous.  Among  other 
varieties,  there  is  a  small  hazel-coloured  snake,  with  two  little 
flaps  at  its  sides,  like  fins  ;  it  darts  along  with  great  rapidity, 
and  is  termed  the  winged  snake.  An  Aborigine  brought  to 
me  one  day,  at  Paramatta,  a  serpent,  resembling,  in  every 
respect,  the  boa  constrictor  of  Ceylon,  it  was  14  feet  long,  and 
its  coat  of  a  bright  hue,  but  changing  as  the  animal  became 
irritated.  I  tried  on  it  various  violent  poisons,  which  pro- 
duced little  or  no  effect,  but  large  doses  of  calomel  speedily 
destroyed  life.  Several  water  snakes  have  been  found,  and 
some  seen  at  a  good  distance  at  sea.  Scorpions,  centipedes, 
and  tarantulas  are  found,  but  I  have  not  heard  of  their 
injuring  any  person.  Lizards  are  numerous,  but  without  the 
various  ,hues  of  the  East ;  the  guana  is  a  dirty  brown,  and 
reaches  four  feet  in  length ;  the  frogs  are  of  a  beautiful  dull 
green,  with  yellow  stripes,  and  black  dots  down  the  back ; 
they  climb  trees,  and  even  up  the  very  walls,  adhering  to 
the  ceiling  with  their  web-like  feet.  The  deaf  adder  (which 
is  poisonous)  resembles  in  appearance  the  puff  adder  of 
America ;  it  is  thick,  short,  swelling  out  in  the  middle,  with 
a  flat  head,  and  a  cleft  tail,  which  it  opens  and  shuts  like  a 
pair  of  forceps  ;  the  back  is  beautifully  variegated,  with  rows 
of  red  and  white  specks,  and  it  seizes  a  stick  when  teased  as 
tenaciously  as  a  cur  dog. 

Fish  are  plentiful  along  the  coast,  but  few  are  found  in  the 
rivers,  especially  in  those  on  the  E.  side  of  the  Blue  Moun- 
tains, owing  to  the  rapidity  of  their  currents.  The  whale 
frequently  comes  into  the  bays  to  calve,  and  the  seal  is  found 
in  different  coves,  especially  to  the  southward.  The  cod  fish 
is  taken  in  the  fresh  water  rivers  W.  of  the  Blue  Mountains, 
in  great  quantities,  and  of  a  large  size,  some  weighing  701bs., 
SOlbs.  being  very  common.  They  are  delicious  eating,  as  are 
also  the  eels,  which  are  caught  of  the  weight  of  121bs.  to201bs. 
Perch  (covered  with  scales  and  prickly  fins)  abound  on  the 


SHELLS  OF  THE  SOUTHERN  OCEAN.  295 

eastern  coast  rivers,  and  in  flavour  and  juiciness  bear  an 
analogy  to  the  sole.  There  are  many  varieties  of  other  fish, 
with  which  the  markets  are  well  supplied.  Large  sharks 
have  been  recently  seen  in  Sydney  cove. 

The  shells  of  the  southern  ocean    are  highly  prized ;  in 
particular  the  family  of  the  Volutes ;  of  these  the  snow  spot 
volute,  the  cymbiola  magnifica,  the  lineated  volute  are  ex- 
tremely valuable.     The  phasianellce,  or    beauty    snails,    are 
particularly  beautiful.     The  fluviatile  species  are  limited  to 
a  few  plain  coloured  bivalves  and  nerites,  while  the  land  shells 
are   few  and  rare.     Fresh  water  muscles  (some  have  been 
found  at  Bathurst,  six  inches  long  and  three-and-a-half  broad) 
and  shrimps  are  obtained  in  great   numbers.     The  oysters 
around  the  Australian  shores  are  extremely    plentiful,  and 
though  generally  small,  of  a  delicate  flavour.     Every  rock  is 
covered  with  them,  and  in  the  coves  of  Port  Jackson  I  have 
often  seen   parties   of  young  ladies,    with    small   hammers, 
seated  on  a  large  rock,  and  feasting  with  great  gout,  on  those 
Apician  dainties. 

Man — Population — black  and  white — bond  and  free. 
— Among  the  other  peculiarities  of  Australia,   its  aboriginal 
population  is  not  the  least  extraordinary.     They  appear  to 
form  a  distinct  race  to  which   the   term  Papuas  or  oriental 
negroes  has  been  assigned,  and,  whether  on  the  northern  and 
tropical,  or  southern  and  temperate  shores  of  Australia,  pos- 
sess the  thick  prominent  lips,  sunken  eyes,  high  cheek  bones, 
and  calveless  legs  of  the  African,  differing,  however,  in  the 
hair,  which  (except  in  Van  Diemen's  Land  and  the  adjacent 
equally  cold  coast  of  Avistralia,  where  the  heads  of  the  na- 
tives are  ivoolly)  is  long  and  coarse.     The  nose,  though  large, 
is  not  so  flat  as  the  Africanders ;  indeed,  it  is  sometimes  of 
a  Roman  form ;  and  the  forehead  is  high,  narrow,  and  at  the 
crown   formed  somewhat  after  the  manner  of  the  roof  of  a 
house.     Desirous  of  ascertaining  the  osteological  measure- 
ment of  this  extraordinary  race  of  human  beings,  I  procured, 
after  considerable  difficulty,  a  male  and  female  body.     The 
first  belonged  to  a  native  called,  I  think.  Black  Tommy,  who 
was  hanged  for  murder  at  Sydney  in   1827.     The  circum- 


296  SINGULAR  TRIAL  FOR  MURDER. 

stances  connected  with  this  man's  execution  were  to  my  mind 
very  singular,  and  deserve  pubhcity  ;  from  the  narration  made 
to  me,  I  beheved  the   native   to  be  innocent  of  the  crime  al- 
leged against  him,  and  I  therefore  attended  at  his  trial  to  aid 
in  the  defence  of  a  man  who  knew  not  a  word  of  our  language, 
and  owed  no  obedience  to  our  laws.     The  evidence  elicited 
at  the  trial  was  to  the  following  effect : — Two  shepherds  were 
tending  their  masters  flocks,  at  a  distance  from  Bathurst,  and 
when  evening  came  returned  each  to  their  respective  huts. 
On  the   following  day,  a  dog  belonging  to  one  of  the  shep- 
herds came  running  to  the  other  and  leaped  up,  catching  the 
shepherd  by   the   collar,   who  beat  the  dog  away  ;  the  dog 
with  great  anxiety  again  caught  the  man  by  the  coat  and  en- 
deavoured to  pull  him  towards  his   master's  hut,  and  by  his 
exertions  at  last  induced  the   shepherd  to  follow  him:  on 
arriving  at  the  hut  belonging  to  the  master  of  the  dog,  it  was 
found  to  be  on  fire,  and  on  entering  it,  the  body  of  the  shep- 
herd was  stretched  on  the  floor,   the  head  resting  on  the 
ashes,  and  the  base  of  the  scull   separated  from  the  other 
portions  of  the   head.     As   military   expeditions   had   been 
recently  out  against  the  blacks,  another  was  instantly  set  on 
foot ;  a  party  of  the  aborigines  were  descried  on  the  brow  of 
a  mountain,  and  of  course  fled  the  moment  they  saw  our 
mounted  police ;  this   was  deemed  prima  facie  evidence  of 
their  guilt  in  having  murdered  the  shepherd,  and   one  man 
who  appeared   a  chief,  after   seeing  his  wife,  children,  and 
friends   safe,  almost   allowed  himself  to  be  caught ;  the  cir- 
cumstantial evidence  of  his  running  away  was  supposed  to  be 
strengthened  by  his  having  with  a   party    of  natives  been 
recently  seen  at  the  shepherd's  hut  bartering  with  the  Euro- 
peans.    This  was   the  only  evidence  against  him ;   the  argu- 
ments I  adduced  in  his  favour  were  chiefly  anatomical ;  there 
was  no  mark  of  a  blow  on  the  scull  or  body  of  the  deceased  ; 
the  natives  were  not  possessed  of  any  instrument  which  could 
carve  out  the  occipital  bone  in  the  manner  it  was  done  in  the 
scull  of  the  deceased  shepherd,  and   which  had  evidently 
been  caused  by  the  action  of  fire,  loosening  the  sutures  and 
bursting  the  bones  asunder :  moreover,  the  fire  might  have 


SCULLS  OF  THE  ABORIGINES.  297 

been  accidental  in  a  bark  hut.  The  poor  native  was  however 
placed  in  the  dock,  he  laughed  at  the  scene  around,  the  mean- 
ing of  which  he  could  not  in  the  slightest  degree  comprehend 
(none  of  the  Sydney  blacks  speaking  his  language),  the  forms 
of  a  trial  were  gone  through,  and  he  was  executed.  I  applied 
to  the  sheriff,  and  obtained  his  body,  dissected  it,  and  pre- 
pared a  skeleton  therefrom,  which  I  took  with  me  to  India. 
The  measurement  of  the  male  in  the  following  table  was  that 
of  the  unfortvinate  Bathurst  chief.  The  female  I  obtained 
with  great  difficulty.  She  was  an  old  woman  long  known 
about  Sydney.  Hearing  of  her  death  and  burial  in  the  forest, 
about  25  miles  from  my  residence,  I  went  thither  and  aided  by 
some  stock-keepers  found  the  grave — a  slightly  elevated  and 
nearly  circular  tumulus.  The  body  was  buried  six  feet  deep, 
wrapped  in  several  sheets  of  bark,  the  inner  one  being  of  a 
fine  silvery  texture.  Several  things  which  the  deceased  pos- 
sessed in  life,  together  with  her  favourite  dog,  were  buried 
with  her — all  apparently  for  use  in  another  world.  I  brought 
the  old  woman  home  in  my  cabriolet,  and  her  skeleton  is  also 
in  India.  The  scull  was  full  of  indentations  as  if  a  tin  vessel 
had  been  struck  by  a  hammer ;  they  were  quite  diaphonous, 
and  were  caused  by  blows  of  waddies  (hard  sticks)  when  she 
was  young  and  made  love  to  by  her  intended  spouse,  such  being 
the  most  approved  manner  of  proceeding  to  chuse  a  wife.*  I 
regret  much  not  having  brought  the  scull  with  me  to  Eng- 
land (it  is  in  the  Asiatic  Societies'  Museum  at  Calcutta),  as  I 
could  not  myself  have  credited  that  it  were  possible  to  make 
such  extraordinary  indentations  in  the  human  scull  without 
fracturing  it,  except,  indeed,  before  the  infant  be  born.  I 
now  subjoin  the  measure  of  the  New  Hollander's  skeleton,  in 
the  hope  that  other  travellers  will  compare  them  with  those  of 
different  nations. 

*  It  is  extraordinary  to  observe  two  of  the  Aborigines  fighting- ;  each 
holds  out  his  head  to  receive  a  tremendous  blow  of  a  club  from  the  other, 
and  they  thus  continue  giving  blow  for  blow  until  one  or  the  other,  or 
perhaps  both,  fall  senseless  together. 


298     MEASUREiMENT  OF  THE   NEW  HOLLANDERS'  SKELETONS. 


NEW  HOLLANDERS'  SKELETONS. 


The  Skull  and  Face. 

Length  of  the  sagittal  suture  . . 

Tranverse  nasal  suture  over  frontal  bone  to  the  posterior  edge  of  the  fora- 

men  magnum  of  the  occipital  bone     . . 
From  meatus  audit,  ext.  of  one  side,  to  meatus  audit,  ext.  of  the  other, 

over  the  parietal  bones    . . 
From  one  zygomatic  suture  to  the  other  across  maxillary  superior 
From  the  junction  of  the  sagitteil  and  lambdoidal  sutures  to  the  posterior 

edge  of  occipital  foramen  magnum     . . 
Circumference  of  skull  from  the  frontal  sinuses  round  the  great  occipital 

ridge ..        ..         

From  the  tranverse  suture  at  the  external  canthus  of  orbit  to  the  other, 

across  the  OS  nasi  .. 
From  the  posterior  edge  of  the  occipital  foramen  to  the  tranverse  nasal 

suture,  over  the  sphenoid,  superior  maxillary,  and  nasal  bones 
Circumference  of  the  skull,  at  the  junction  of  the  coronal  and  sagittal  su- 
ture, and  anterior  to  the  styloid  processes   .. 
From  the  one  mastoid  process  to  the  other  across  the  superior  alveolar 

ridge 

Lower  Jaw. 


Depth  of  lower  jaw  at  the  symphysis  menti 
From  the  coronoid  process  to  inferior  angle 

From  one  coronoid  process  to  the  other 

From  one  angle  to  the  other  across  the  symphysis  menti 

Clavicle. 

Length  from  scapular  end  to  sternal,  atlantan  aspect 

Scapula. 

From  the  glenoid  cavity  to  the  inferior  or  sacral  angle  along  the  superior 
or  atlantal  costa 

From  the  superior  or  atlantal  angle  to  the  inferior  or  sacral  angle  along 
the  base        

Superior  Extremity. — Humerus. 


From  proximal  to  distal  extremity 
Circumference  at  the  centre  . . 


Ulna. 
From  the  proximal  extremity  of  the  olecranon  to  the  styliform  process  or 

distal  extremity 
Diameter  where  the  medullary  artery  enters 

Raditis. 

From  proximal  to  distal  extremity 

Circumference  at  the  centre  .. 


Distance  between  the  symphysis  pubis  and  OS  coccygis 
Distance  between  the  spines  of  the  ischium 

Conjugate  or  Antero- Posterior  Diameter. 

Distance  between  the  promontory  of  the  sacrum  and  symphysis  pubis    . . 

Crista  of  one  os  ilium  to  the  other,  at  the  most  distant  parts 

Oblique  diameter  between  the  right  sacro  iliac  synchroid  and  linea  inno- 

rainata  opposite  the  nearest  point  of  left  acetabulum 
Transverse  diameter  between  the  brims  of  the  pelvis 

Femur. 

From  the  proximal  extremity  to  the  distal  tibial  extremity 

Circumference  at  the  centre 


From  the  proximal  extremity  to  the  distal  or  malleolus  internus 
Circumference  at  the  centre 


From  the  proximal  to  the  distal  extremity 
CLrcunU'creucc  at  the  centre  . . 


N.B.    Ten  lines  to  an  inch. 


MALE.     FEMALE 


Distance  between  the  anterior  superior  spinous  processes 0 

Distance  between  the  tuberosities  of  the  ischia 0 

0 
0 


2    1 
0 


APPEARANCE  OF  THE  ABORIGINES.  299 

The  New  Hollanders  are  of  the  middle  height,  few  being 
of  lofty  stature;  the  women  are  small  and  well  made,  as 
indeed  is  more  generally  the  case  with  the  male  sex;  the 
hands  and  feet  small,  the  shoulders  finely  rounded,  but  the 
abdomen  frequently  protuberant  and  the  arms  long ;  the 
features  are  not  unpleasing  in  youth ;  in  some  women  the 
smile  may  be  considered  fascinating,  which,  added  to  an 
easiness  of  manner  and  a  harmonious  voice  (especially  in  the 
pronunciation  of  English),  has  rendered  several  of  the  unfor- 
tunate Aborigines  favourites  with  the  white  men.  The  colour 
of  the  skin  and  hair  is  in  general  black,  but  some  tribes  have 
been  seen  of  a  lighter  colour,  approaching  that  of  a  Malay, 
with  hair  of  a  reddish  cast.  Some  possess  large  beards,  but 
many  pluck  out  the  hair  by  the  root.  As  is  the  case  with  all 
savages,  the  head  is  the  principal  part  for  decoration  ;  some 
divide  the  hair  into  small  parcels,  each  of  which  is  matted 
together  with  gum,  and  formed  into  lengths  like  the  thrums 
of  a  mop ;  others,  by  means  of  yellow  gum,  fasten  on  the 
head  the  front  teeth  of  a  kangaroo,  the  jaw  bones  of  a  fish, 
human  teeth,  feathers,  pieces  of  wood,  tails  of  dogs,  &c. 
Oil  of  any  quality  is  used  with  avidity  for  preserving  the  skin 
from  musquitoes,  &c.,  and  the  breasts,  arms,  back,  &;c.  are 
covered  at  an  early  age  with  scars  or  wealed  cicatrices  in 
every  variety  of  form.  Most  tribes  have  in  the  males  the 
front  tooth  struck  out  on  attaining  puberty,  and  the  women 
are  frequently  observed  with  a  joint  of  the  little  finger  cut 
off.  When  going  to  war,  or  grieving  for  a  deceased  friend, 
or  occasionally  for  ornament,  white  and  yellow  pigments  are 
applied  in  streaks  over  the  whole  body,  according  to  the 
taste  of  the  decorator,  such  as  a  large  white  circle  round  each 
eye,  waving  lines  down  and  across  the  thighs  and  legs.  In 
general  it  may  be  said  that  the  whole  of  the  Aborigines  of 
this  vast  island  are  of  the  same  stock,  though  it  is  not  a  little 
singular  that  their  language  differs  so  much  that  tribes  within 
short  distances  of  each  other,  unless  inhabiting  the  bank  of 
the  same  river,  are  quite  strangers  to  each  other,  while  almost 
every  large  community,   or  family  as  they  may  be  termed. 


300  EXTENT    OF  INGENUITV. 

have  their  own  pecuhar  dialect.  Of  their  numbers  it  is  diffi- 
cult to  form  any  idea,  depending  however  as  they  do,  entirely 
on  the  chace  or  fishing,  or  on  gum  or  bulbous  roots,  and 
subject  to  the  effects  of  long  droughts,  the  country  is  very 
thinly  peopled.  In  some  places  (as  in  Cumberland  County) 
no  houses  are  constructed,  an  overhanging  rock,  or  a  slip  of 
bark  placed  upright  against  a  tree  serving  for  temporary 
shelter.  To  the  N.  W.  and  S.  W.  houses  have  been  found 
rudely  constructed  of  bark,  but  without  any  kind  of  furniture 
or  adornment ;  in  many  places  a  log  of  wood  or  a  wide  slip  of 
bark,  tied  at  either  end,  and  stufled  with  clay,  is  the  only 
mode  invented  for  crossing  a  river  or  arm  of  the  sea,  while  in 
other  parts,  a  large  tree,  roughly  hollowed  by  fire,  forms 
the  canoe.  The  nearest  approximation  to  ingenuity  is  the 
fishing  net,  prepared  by  the  women  from  fibres  or  grassy  fila- 
ments. Their  only  cutting  implements  are  made  of  stone,  some- 
times of  jasper,  fastened  between  a  cleft  stick  with  a  hard 
gum.  Their  arms  of  offence  or  defence  consist  solely  of  the 
spear,  bomerang,  several  kinds  of  waddies  or  nullah-nullah, 
a  small  stone  tomahawk  and  bark-shield,  I  do  not  think  bows 
and  arrows  have  ever  been  seen ;  the  spear  is  about  10  feet 
long,  as  thick  as  the  finger,  tapering  to  a  point,  sometimes 
jagged  or  barbed,  and  hardened  in  the  fire  ;  this  they  can 
throw  from  50  to  60  feet  with  great  precision,  the  impetus 
being  greatly  increased  by  the  use  of  the  womera  or  throwing 
stick,  which  is  a  piece  of  wood  about  three  feet  in  length,  three 
inches  broad  at  one  end  and  going  off"  to  a  point  at  the  other, 
to  which  a  sort  of  hook  is  fastened ;  the  hook  is  inserted  into 
a  small  hole  at  the  extremity  of  the  spear,  and  the  womera 
being  grasped  at  the  broad  part  acts  somewhat  on  the  prin- 
ciple of  the  sling,  enabling  a  powerful  man  to  send  the  spear, 
some  say  to  the  distance  of  100  yards.  The  boomerang  is 
still  more  curious, — it  is  of  a  curved  form,  made  of  a  piece 
of  hard  wood,  30  to  40  inches  in  length,  two  and  a  half  to 
three  inches  wide  at  the  broadest  part,  and  tapering  away 
at  each  end  nearly  to  a  point ;  the  concave  part  is  from  one- 
eighth  to  one-fourth  of  an  inch  thick,  and  the  convex  quite 


WEAPONS  OF  WAR.  301 

sharp ;  a  native  can  throw  this  simple  instrument  40  or  50 
yards,  horizontally  skimming  along  the  surface  not  more  than 
three  or  four  feet  from  the  ground,  without  touching  which 
it  will  suddenly  dart  into  the  air  to  the  height  of  50  or  GO 
yards,  describing  a  considerable  curve  and  finally  fall  at  his 
feet !  During  the  whole  of  this  evolution  the  boomerang  keeps 
turning  with  great  rapidity,  like  a  piece  of  wood  revolving  on 
a  pivot  and  with  a  whizzing  noise.  Lieut.  Breton  (who  has 
paid  much  attention  to  the  Aborigines)  justly  observes  that 
it  is  not  easy  to  comprehend  by  what  law  of  projection  the 
boomerang  is  made  to  take  the  singular  direction  it  does  ; 
in  the  hands  of  a  European  it  is  a  dangerous  implement,  as 
it  may  return  and  strike  himself,  but  the  Aborigine  can  inflict 
the  most  deadly  wounds.  The  ivaddie  or  nullah-nullah  are 
clubs  of  different  size  and  solidity ;  the  tomahawk  is  a  piece 
of  sharpened  stone,  frequently  quartz,  fixed  in  a  cleft  stick 
with  gum ;  with  this  they  cut  notches  in  the  trees,  and  ascend 
them  to  the  height  of  60  feet  though  without  a  branch,  and 
far  too  thick  to  be  grasped.  Their  form  of  government  con- 
sists of  old  men  who  act  as  chieftains,  each  tribe  consisting  of 
30  to  50  men,  women  and  children  (sometimes  more),  having 
their  respective  territories  or  grounds,  of  about  20  or  30 
square  miles,  on  which  no  other  tribe  is  permitted  to  encroach. 
It  is  probable  that  trespasses  on  each  others  grounds  is  one 
of  the  main  causes  of  their  frequent  quarrels,  war  being  the 
main  occupation  in  which  they  seem  to  delight.  No  laws  or 
regulations  for  the  government  of  the  country  have  been  dis- 
covered ;  polygamy  is  practised ;  women  are  treated  in  the 
most  inhuman  manner,  wives  being  procured  from  adjacent 
tribes  by  stealing  on  the  encampment  during  the  night, 
beating  a  young  girl  on  the  head  till  she  falls  senseless,  when 
her  future  brutal  spouse  drags  her  off  through  the  bushes  as 
a  tiger  would  its  prey. 

Too  many  instances  have  occurred  to  doubt  that  canni- 
balism is  practised  among  many  of  the  Australian  tribes,  and 
in  a  manner  the  most  revolting ;  not  only  are  their  enemies 
slain  in  war  eaten,  or  those  unfortunate  Europeans  who  have 
fallen  into  their  power ;    but  numerous  examples  have  oc- 


302  RELIGION  AND  FUNERAL  CEREMONIES. 

curred  of  the  father  kilUng  and  eating  his  own  offspring  ! 
Hunger,  long  continued,  intense,  ravening  hunger  is  the  excuse 
made  for  such  barbarism  ;  they  have  been  seen  to  bleed 
themselves,  make  a  sort  of  cake  with  the  blood,  and  then 
greedily  devour  it.  Of  religion,  no  form,  no  ceremonial, 
no  idol  has  ever  been  discovered,  but  they  possess  many 
superstitions  ;  when  one  of  their  own  tribe  has  paid  the  debt 
of  nature  they  invariably  destroy  a  native  of  another  tribe, 
why  or  wherefore  is  not  known.  They  have  strange  ideas  of 
futurity,  the  whites  are  considered  reanimated  beings  who 
had  formerly  been  their  ancestors;  the  dead  are  buried  gene- 
rally in  grave-yards  of  considerable  extent,  the  earth  ele- 
vated in  an  oval  shape  :  sometimes  they  are  burned. 

In  an  affray  that  took  place  on  the  Wollombi  between  two 
tribes,  four  men  and  two  women  of  the  Comleroy  tribe  were 
slain ;  Lieut.  Breton  describes  their  being  buried  at  a  very 
pretty  spot  in  the  following  manner.  The  bodies  of  the  men 
were  placed  on  their  backs  in  the  form  of  a  cross,  head  to 
head,  each  bound  to  a  pole  by  bandages  round  the  neck, 
middle,  knees  and  ancles,  the  pole  being  behind  the  body ; 
the  two  women  had  their  knees  bent  up  and  tied  to  the  neck, 
while  their  hands  were  bound  to  their  knees ;  they  were  then 
placed  so  as  to  have  their  faces  downwards  :  in  fact,  they 
were  literally  packed  up  in  two  heaps  of  earth,  each  of  the 
form  of  a  cone,  about  three  feet  high,  and  rather  removed 
from  the  cross ;  for  their  idea  of  the  inferiority  of  the  women 
will  not  allow  them  to  be  interred  with  the  men.  The  neat- 
ness and  precision  observed  with  respect  to  the  cross  and 
cones  is  very  remarkable,  both  being  raised  to  the  same 
height,  and  so  smoothly  raked  down  that  it  would  puzzle  the 
nicest  observer  to  discover  the  slightest  inequality  in  the 
form.  The  trees  for  some  distance  around,  to  the  height  of 
15  or  20  feet,  are  carved  over  with  grotesque  figures,  meant 
to  represent  kangaroos,  emus,  opossums,  snakes,  &c.  with 
rude  representations  also  of  the  different  weapons  they  use. 
Round  the  cross  they  made  a  circle,  about  thirty  feet  in  dia- 
meter, from  which  all  rubbish  was  carefully  removed,  and 


KEEN  SCENT  AND  SIGHT  OP  THE  ABORIGINES.  303 

another  was  made  outside  the  first,  so  as  to  leave  a  narrow 
interval  between  them ;  within  this  interval  there  was  laid 
pieces  of  bark,  each  piece  touching  the  rest,  in  the  same  way 
that  tiles  do.  The  devil,  they  say,  will  not  leap  over  the 
bark,  and  cannot  walk  under  it ! 

They  will  not  pass  a  grave  or  grave-yard  at  night,  and  the 
name  of  the  deceased  is  not  again  mentioned  by  his  tribe. 
Their  corrabaries,  or  nightly  meetings  at  the  full  moon,  have 
some  resemblance  to  the  devil-worship  I  observed  among  the 
mountain  tribes  in  Ceylon.  The  reader  will  probably  con- 
sider that  I  have  dwelt  long  enough  on  this  singular  people, 
but  before  passing  to  the  next  class  of  the  population,  the 
thought  naturally  arises — are  the  New  Hollanders  likely  to 
exist  in  conjunction  with  the  white  race  ?  I  fear  not ;  in  the 
interior  their  numbers  seem  to  be  diminishing  from  famine 
and  war,  and  at  Sydney  and  other  towns,  where  they  exist 
chiefly  on  charity,  vice  and  disease  are  fast  destroying  them : 
they  have  an  instinctive  aversion  to  labour,  very  few  instances 
having  been  known  where  they  would  continue  for  any  length 
of  time  as  agricultural  servants  ;  as  constables  in  aid  of  the 
police  they  are  sometimes  employed,  and  from  their  being 
excellent  shots,  and  possessing  a  keen  scent  and  sight  for 
tracing  runaway  prisoners  in  the  forest,  their  services,  when 
they  can  be  induced  to  remain,  are  found  very  useful.* 

*  An  instance  of  their  keen  sight  and  scent  occurred  when  I  was  in  New 
South  Wales.  A  settler  on  the  great  western  road  was  missing  from  his 
small  farm.  His  convict  overseer  gave  out  that  he  had  gone  off  privately 
to  England,  and  left  the  property  in  his  care.  This  \yas  thought  extraor- 
dinary, as  the  settler  was  not  in  difficulties,  and  was  a  steady,  prudent 
individual ;  the  affair,  however,  was  almost  forgotten,  when,  one  Saturday 
night,  another  settler  was  returning  with  his  horse  and  cart  from  market. 
On  arriving  at  a  part  of  the  fence  on  the  road  side,  near  the  farm  of  his 
absent  neighbour,  he  thought  he  saw  him  sitting  on  the  fence ;  immediately 
the  farmer  pulled  up  his  mare,  hailed  his  friend,  and,  receiving  no  answer, 
got  out  of  the  cart  and  went  towards  the  fence ;  his  neighbour  (as  he 
plainly  appeared)  quitted  the  fence,  and  crossed  the  field  towards  a  pond 
in  the  direction  of  his  home,  which  it  was  supposed  he  liad  deserted.  The 
farmer  thought  it  strange,  remounted  his  cart,  and  proceeded  home.  The 
next  morning  he  went  to  his  neighbour's  cottage,  expecting  to  see  him ; 


S04  PROVIDENTIAL  DETECTION  OF  MUUDER. 

That  the  aboriginal  race  will  not  be  perpetuated  is  more 
than  doubtful ;  Governor  Macquarie,  and  other  humane  indi- 
viduals, took  every  possible  pains  to  accustom  them  to  the 
comforts  of  civilized  life,  but  in  vain ;  during  one  of  my  last 
rides  towards  Richmond,  I  saw  standing  the  deserted  huts  of 
a  place  called  Black  Town,  which  were  built  and  provided 

but  saw  only  the  overseer,  who  laughed  at  the  story,  and  said,  that  his 
master  was  then  near  England.  The  circumstance  was  so  strange,  that  the 
farmer  went  to  the  nearest  justice  of  the  peace  (I  think  it  was  to  the  Pen- 
i-ith  bench),  related  the  above,  and  stated  that  he  thought  foul  pluy  had 
taken  place.  A  native  black,  who  was  (and  I  believe  still  is)  attached  to 
the  station  as  a  constable,  was  sent  with  some  of  the  mounted  police,  and 
accompanied  the  farmer  to  the  rails  where  the  latter  thought  he  saw,  the 
evening  before,  his  deceased  friend.  The  black  was  pointed  out  the  spot, 
without  shewing  him  the  direction  which  the  lost  person  apparently  took 
after  quitting  the  fence.  On  close  inspection,  a  part  of  the  upper  rail  'was 
observed  to  be  discoloured ;  it  was  scraped  with  a  knife  by  the  black, 
smelt  and  tasted.  Immediately  after,  he  crossed  the  fence,  and  took  a 
straight  direction  for  the  pond  near  the  cottage  ;  on  its  surface  was  a  scum, 
which  the  black  took  up  in  a  leaf,  and,  after  lasting  and  smelling,  he  declared 
it  to  be  "  tclnte  man's  fat."  Several  times,  somewhat  after  the  manner  of 
a  blood-hound,  he  coursed  round  the  lake ;  at  last  darted  into  the  neigh- 
bouring thicket,  and  stopped  over  a  place  containing  some  loose  and  de- 
cayed brushwood.  On  removing  this,  he  thrust  down  the  ramrod  of  his 
piece  into  the  earth,  smelt  it,  and  then  desired  the  spectators  to  dig 
there.  Instantly  spades  were  brought  from  the  cottage,  and  the  body  of 
the  absent  settler  was  found,  with  his  skull  fractured,  and  presenting  every 
indication  of  having  been  some  time  immersed  in  water.  The  overseer, 
who  was  in  possession  of  the  property  of  the  deceased,  and  who  had  in- 
vented the  story  of  his  departure  for  England,  was  committed  to  gaol,  and 
tried  for  murder.  The  foregoing  circumstantial  evidence  formed  the  main 
accusations.  He  was  found  guilty,  sentenced  to  death,  and  proceeded  to 
the  scaffold,  protesting  his  innocence.  Here,  however,  his  hardihood 
forsook  him  :  he  acknowledged  the  murder  of  his  late  master ;  that  he 
came  behind  him  when  he  was  crossing  the  identical  rail  on  which  the 
farmer  thought  he  savv  the  deceased,  and,  with  one  blow  on  the  head,  felled 
him  dead — dragged  the  body  to  the  pond,  and  threw  it  in  ;  but,  after  some 
days,  took  it  out  again,  and  buried  it  where  it  was  found.  The  sagacity  of 
the  native  black  was  remarkable  ;  but  the  unaccountable  manner  in  Avhich 
the  murderer  was  discovered,  is  one  of  the  inscrutable  dispensations  of 
Providence. 


OUR  DUTY  TOWARDS  THE  ABOUIGIXES.  305 

with  every  necessary  for  the  aborigines,  but  who  could  not 
be  induced  to  remain  fixed  either  there  or  any  where  else, 
and  it  may  be  remembered  that  Benilong  who  was  carried  to 
England,  after  two  years  absence  returned  to  his  natal  home — 
threw  oif  his  clothes,  and  returned  again,  in  a  state  of  nudity,  to 
the  forest.     Notwithstanding  these  unfavourable  signs  I  think 
we  ought  to  persevere  in  endeavouring  to  save  the  wild  and  un- 
tutored savages  from  perishing  before  our  race, — self-interest, 
humanity,  Christianity  calls  on  us  so  to  do ;  we  have  occupied 
their  hunting  and  fishing   grounds ;  the   kangaroo   and  the 
emu  have  disappeared  before  the  plough  and   the  reapino- 
hook,  and  the  subsistence  of  those  children  of  Nature  has 
vanished.     There  may  not  be  much  in  the  appearance,  still 
less  in  the  manners  of  the  New  Hollander  to  excite  our  sym- 
pathy ;  for  assuredly  if  Jean  Jacques  Rousseau  had  visited  the 
aborigines  of  New  South  Wales  (with  the  exception  of  the 
Bosjesman  of  South  Africa  and  the  Veddah  of  Ceylon,  the 
last  link  of  the  human  race),  he  would  not  have  hesitated  to 
consider  whether  savage  or  social  life  is  the  best ;  but  if  this 
unfortunate  race  were  ten-fold  more  hideous,  more  revoltine", 
more  barbarous — we  ought,  we  must  continue  our  efforts,  and 
enjoy  at  least  the  consolation  that  nothing  has  been  left  un- 
done to  civilize  them.     When  I  left  the  colony  some  of  the 
aboi'igines'  children  were  being  brought  up  in  the  male  and 
female  orphan  school,  a  project  which,  as  regards  the  rising 
generation,  will  I  trust  be   successful.     The   offspring   of  an 
intercourse  between  the  European  convicts  and  native  women, 
are   seldom   seen;    the   aboriginal  husband   of  the   mothers 
destroy  them,  and  it  is  said,  with  an  idea  that  if  permitted  to 
survive  they  would   be   wiser  than  the  blacks  among  whom 
they  lived.     I  pass  now  from  a  subject  fraught  with  painful 
thoughts  and  melancholy  reflections,  to  shew  the  white  popu- 
lation of  the  colony. 

The  British  colony,  when  established  at  Sydney  Cove,  on 
the  shores  of  Port  Jackson,  26th  January,  1788  (47  years 
ago),  consisted  of  only  1,030  individuals,  of  whom  upwards  of 
700  were  convicts  (see  p.   228).     Emigration  was  for  many 

VOL.  IV.  X 


306 


WHITE  POPULATION  OF  NEW  SOUTH  WALES. 


years  studiously  discouraged  by  some  of  the  authorities,  not- 
withstanding which,  owing  to  the  number  of  prisoners  sent 
out,  and  the  fineness  of  the  chmate,  the  population  rapidly 
increased :  four  censuses  have  been  taken,  and  the  augmen- 
tation is  thus  shewn,  since  1788:  — 


FREE  PEOPLE. 

CONVICTS 

Grand 
Total. 

Men. 

Women.     Children. 

Total. 

Men. 

Women. 

Total. 

1"88 

313 

525 

192 

717 

1030 

IblO 

1255 

734 

2304 

4293 

2734 

1206 

4000 

8293 

1821 

5323 

3422 

7224 

15969 

12608 

1206 

13814 

29783  ' 

1828 

13456 

7474 

5771 

20930 

14155 

1513 

15668 

36598 

1833 

22843 

13475 

10209 

46527 

21845 

2698 

24543 

71070 

These  enumerations  are  all  considered,  by  those  who  know 
the  colony  well,  as  very  inaccurate,  especially  that  of  1828, 
when  the  settlers  formed  a  poll  tax;  that  of  1833  is  thus 
given  for  each  county,  as  also  for  the  principal  towns  in  the 
colony : — 

Number  of  Inhabitants  in  the  Colony  of  New  South  Wales,  according  to  a 
Census  taken  the  2nd  of  September  1833,  under  an  Act  of  the  Governor 
and  Council,  4th  William  IV.  No.  2.     Passed  July  9,  1833. 


Persons  on 

the  Establishment. 

Religion. 

Male. 

Female. 

COXmTIES. 

Free. 

Free. 

>^ 

fx 

>^ 

r^ 

ctf 

a 

d 

0 

u 

u 

0 

<u 

^ 

0 

H 

w 

r, 

> 
0 

•a 

a 

(S 

§ 

■a 

> 

a 

a 

0 

V 

< 

C3 

0 
0 

^ 

< 

P 

0 

& 

0 

1736 

BJ 

0 

7 

1 

p 

Argyle 

849 

159 

1418 

2426 

197 

161 

66 

424 

2850 

1106 

Bathurst 

875 

170 

1880 

2931 

251 

153 

UQ 

523 

3454 

2404 

1034 

6 

6 

4 

Brisbane 

58 

2 

162 

222 

3 

2 

1 

7 

229 

147 

82 

— 

— 

Camden 

669 

174 

1301 

2144 

267 

168 

69 

504 

2648 

1696 

928 

10 

2 

12 

Cook     . 

46.5 

217 

313 

995 

251 

193 

26 

470 

1465 

1079 

383 

2 

1 

— 

Cumberland 

11408 

3S88 

8001 

23297 

6759 

3726 

2062 

12547 

35844 

26049 

9190 

242 

43 

20 

Durham 

740 

122 

2081 

2943 

197 

98 

65 

360 

3303 

2308 

98- 

7 

1 

— 

Gloucester  . 

83 

40 

369 

492 

41 

44 

6 

91 

583 

462 

117 

4 

— 



Macquarie   . 

69 

:n 

527 

627 

46 

26 

45 

117 

744 

500 

228 

16 

— 

— 

Murray 

144 

16 

315 

475 

2- 

6 

2 

35 

510 

327 

183 

— 

— 

— 

Nortliumberland 

1047 

381 

219B 

3626 

451 

336 

193 

980 

4606 

3174 

1411 

15 

2 

4 

Saint  Viticoiit 

121 

17 

274 

412 

17 

11 

5 

33 

445 

365 

80 

— 

— 

— 

Rnail  liraneh,  includ- 

ing St()ck:ules  . 

12 

5 

1879 

1896 

3 

4 



7 

1903 

932 

936 

33 



2 

Penal  Settlements 

10 

28 

1128 

1166 

11 

2 

39 

52 

1218 

1001 

214 

3 





Colonial  Vessels,    at 

Sea   . 

99'i 

— 

— 

992 

— 

— 

— 

— 

992 

992 

— 

— 

— 

— 

Total       . 

17512 

5256 

21845 

44643 

S522 

4931 

2698 

16151 

60794 

43095 

17238 

345 

5fi 

60 

TOWN  POrULATIOX,  CONVICT,  AKD  EMIGRANT  ARRIVALS. 


30- 


Population  of  the  principal  Towns  in  New  South  Wales  in  1833. 


Persons  on  the  Establishment. 

Religion. 

Male. 

Female. 

TOWNS. 

Free. 

Free. 

;.. 

>. 

>> 

>. 

!>. 

^ 

£ 

a 

IT) 

0 

0 

to 

u 

!- 

•a 

m 

1 

r   u 

> 

■a 

> 

■a 

> 
0 

T3 

> 

a 

s 

£ 

J3 

o 

0 

0 

0 

S 

a 

a    s 

< 

tJ    1    O 

H 

< 

\-> 

0    !    H 

0 

0^ 

0 

1-5 

t^  » 

Sydney  

6108 

i 
1850  1855 

9813 

3697 

1837 

885  6419 

16232  12079  3922 

20922 

_ 

Paramatta 

706 

384 

407  1497 

621 

383 

136  1140 

2637 

2238    395 

4  — 

— 

Liverpool 

143       56 

23-    436 

95 

44 

44     1S3 

619 

477 

140 

I     1 

— 

Windsor    

310 

144 

187;    641 

202 

115 

40    357 

998 

787 

208 

3 

Richmond 

264 

107 

189    490 

152 

105 

15     272 

762 

659     102 

1 

112 

9.H 

48 
24 

226    386 
394     446 

71 

28 

53 
20 

26     150 
42       90 

536 
536 

415     120 
346     176 

1 

Macquarie    

14 

394 

170 

614.1078 

162 

141 

75    378 

1456 

892    556 

62  — 

i      1 

The  total  number  of  white  inhabitants  in  the  colony  is  now 
considered  to  be  full  100,000,*  of  whom  about  25,000  are  pri- 
soners, the  residue  of  upwards  of  90,000  male  and  female  con- 


*  The  tide  of  emij^fration  is  now  setting  in  fast  towards  the  Australasian 
colonies ;  and  an  emigration  committee  have,  within  the  last  two  or  three 
years,  sent  out  a  considerable  number  of  young  women  of  good  character. 
The  disproporti(m  between  the  sexes  is  still  very  great ;  but  it  is  to  be 
hoped  that  this  inequality  will  become  less  every  year.  The  following 
table  gives  an  interesting  comparative  view  of  the  convicts  arriving  in  the 
colony  from  January  1,  1825,  to  December  31,  1833;  and  of  emigrants 
landed  from  July  I,  1828,  to  December  31,  1833  :— • 


CONVICTS. 

EMIGRANTS. 

Male. 

Female. 

Total. 

Men. 

Women.     !    Children. 

Total. 

1825 

1665 

251          1 

1916 

.. 

.. 

1826 

1723 

um 

1823 

.. 

1827 

2105 

499 

2604 

.. 

1828 

2341 

371 

2712 

200 

122 

274 

596 

1829 

3171 

493 

3664 

306 

113 

145 

564 

1830 

2782 

444 

3226 

166 

70 

73 

309 

1831 

2331 

506 

2837 

185 

98 

174 

457 

1832 

2744 

381 

3125 

8I9 

706 

481 

2006 

1833 

3489 

637 

4126 

845 

1214 

699 

2758 

Z834 

Grand  Total  to  1833 32,722. 


308  MODE  OF  DISPOSING  OF  THE  PRISONERS  AFTER 

victs,  who  have  been  transported  to  the  Settlement  since  its 
formation  in  1788.  The  three  great  divisions  of  the  white 
population  are  those  who  have  arrived  in  the  colony  free, 
or  their  descendants ;  those  who  are  free  by  servitude, 
by  pardon,  and  their  descendants ;  and  those  who  are  still 
prisoners. 

As  the  British  public  are  naturally  desirous  of  knowing 
what  becomes  of  the  unfortunate  beings  transported  as  pri- 
soners to  a  distant  land,  I  will,  as  far  as  is  necessary,  enter 
into  some  detail,  reserving  for  another  occasion,  when  I  shall 
have  more  space,  remarks  on  the  great  and  hiiportant  sub- 
ject of  secondary  punishments,  in  reference  to  penal  settle- 
ments, and  requesting  those  who  may  consider  a  convict  a  for- 
tunate person  in  being  transported  to  New  South  Wales,  to 
peruse  the  letter  in  the  Appendix,  addressed  to  the  present 
Lord  Stanley,  the  facts  contained  in  which  will  demonstrate 
the  erroneous  premises  on  which  Archbishop  Whately  has 
founded  his  opinions  on  secondary  punishments. 

On  the  arrival  of  a  ship  at  Sydney,  with  male  or  female 
convicts,  the  latter  are  conveyed  by  water  to  the  female  fac- 
tory, or  penitentiary,  at  Paramatta ;  and  the  former,  if  meriy 
placed  in  the  prisoner's  barracks,*  and  if  boys  in  the  Carter's 
barracks  at  Sydney.  They  are  classified  according  to  their 
respective  trades,  and  clothed  in  a  coarse  linsey  woolsey  yel- 
low dress,  with  P.  B.  or  C.  B.  (prisoner  or  Carter's  barracks) 
marked  in  different  parts  back  and  front.  Estimating  that 
the  number  of  prisoners  is  25,000,  it  is  evident  that  it  would 
be  a  heavy  tax  on  the  mother  country  to  support  this  number 
of  people ;  this  expense  has,  to  a  great  extent,  been  avoided, 
ever  since  the  formation  of  the  colony,  by  assigning  the  con- 
victs out  as  servants  to  farmers  and  townspeople,  either  as 
agricultural,  manufacturing,  or  domestic  labourers  :  the 
system,  under  which  this  is  carried  on,  will  be  best  seen  by 
the  following  summary  of  the  regulations  for  the  assignment 

*  They  are,  like  soldiers'  barracks,  surrounded  by  a  high  wall,  and  pro- 
tet'tod  with  a  military  guard,  as  also  by  several  constables. 


THEIR  ARRIVAL  IN   NEW  SOUTH  WALES.  309 

of  convict  servants,  which  were  pubhshed  for  general  informa- 
tion, at  Sydney,  17th  Nov.  1832. 

Male  Convicts  not  Mechanics. — Applications. — 1.  All  Ap- 
plications for  Male  Servants  are  to  be  addressed  to  "  The  Board  for 
the  Assignment  of  Servants,''  Sydneij. 

2.  No  application,  excepting  in  the  established  Form,  now  sub- 
joined, {A.),  will  be  attended  to  j  and  parties  using-  any  other  Form 
will  have  their  applications  returned. 

3.  Every  application  must  have  all  the  blanks  correctly  filled  up ; 
and,  in  addition  to  the  information  now  required,  if  the  Applicant  be 
not  resident  in  Sydney,  it  must  specify  the  name  and  abode  of  the 
Applicant's  Agent  there. 

4.  In  order  to  ensure  a  proper  distribution  of  Servants,  as  far  as 
practicable,  all  Applications  must  be  transmitted  to  the  Assignment 
Board  through  the  Bench  of  Magistrates  nearest  to  the  Applicant. 
Justices  of  the  Peace  will  be  required  to  certify,  upon  honor,  the  cor- 
rectness of  their  own  statements,  and  those  of  all  other  persons  must 
be  accompanied  by  a  certificate  from  the  Bench. 

5.  If  the  party  applying  actually  possesses  320  acres  of  land,  it 
will  be  sufficient  that  the  Magistrate  certify  that  they  know  his  state- 
ment to  be  correct.  But  if  not  possessed  of  320  acres,  it  will  be 
necessary  that  the  certificate  state  that  the  applicant,  or,  if  a  married 
female,  the  applicant's  husband,  is  free,  honest,  and  industrious,  and 
possesses  the  means  of  maintaining,  and  constantly  employing'  the 
servant  applied  for. 

It  is  expected,  that,  in  every  case,  the  bench  will  take  care  to  affix 
their  signatures  to  nothing  of  which  they  are  not  assured,  from  their 
own  knowledge. 

6.  Applications  for  mechanics  and  tradesmen  are  not  to  be  included 
in  the  same  letter,  as  for  convicts  of  other  descriptions. 

7-  Special  application  for  particular  convicts  by  name,  on  their 
first  arrival,  cannot  be  entertained ;  but,  with  this  exception,  appli- 
cations for  particular  descriptions  of  servants  will  be  complied  with 
as  far  as  circumstances  will  admit.  The  application,  however,  ought 
also  to  state  whether  servants  will  be  acceptable  of  any  other  des- 
cription than  those  which  are  specially  applied  for,  in  the  event  of 
none  such  being  disposable. 

8.  The  supply  of  convict  servants  being  greatly  inferior  to  the 
demand  for  them,  it  will  be  unnecessary  to  apply  for  assignments 
oftener  than  once  in  thi-ee  months :  and  parties  applying  more  fre- 
quently (except  in  cases  of  emergency)  will  not  have  their  applications 
registered. 

In  cases  of  emergency,  the  applications  are  still  to  be  addressed  to 
the  Assignment  Board ;  and  where  the  occasion  appears  to  those 
gentlemen  to  warrant  it,  they  will  forward  them  to  the  Colonial 
Secretary  for  the  Governor's  special  approval,  instead  of  waiting  to 
include  them  in  the  regular  list. 


310  RI.GULATIONS  FOR  TIIK  AS.ilGNMEiNT  OF 

9.  If  application  be  made  for  any  convict  already  assigned  to  a 
private  individual,  or  attached  to  any  public  department,  it  must  be 
accompanied  by  a  certificate,  in  the  former  case,  of  the  previous  em- 
ployer's consent  to  transfer  3  and  in  the  latter  case,  that  the  convict 
can  be  spared  from  the  service  of  Government,  and  that  the  head  of 
the  department  is  not  aware  of  any  objection.  But  in  every  in- 
stance the  application  is  to  be  addressed  to  the  Assignment  Board. 

10.  If  the  employer  of  any  assigned  servant  committed  for  trial,  or 
sentenced  to  punishment,  is  desirous  of  having  him  returned  to  his 
service  at  the  expiration  or  such  sentence,  he  must  give  notice  of 
this  desire  at  the  time  of  committal,  in  order  that  it  may  be  inserted 
in  the  warrant,  otherwise  his  wish  will  not  be  complied  with. 

11.  Verbal  requests,  and  applications  of  any  kind  which  are  not 
made  in  the  prescribed  form,  or  which  are  not  accompanied  by  the 
requisite  certificates,  particularly  when  the  parties  applying  are  not 
sui^iciently  known,  cannot  be  attended  to. 

Assignment. — Vl.  The  principal  superintendent  of  convicts  will 
lay,  daily,  before  the  Assignment  Board,  separate  lists  of  all  mechanics 
or  tradesmen,  and  other  convicts  eligible  for  assignment,  classed 
according  to  their  trades  or  callings — taking  care  that  no  more  than 
the  authorised  numbers  are  retained  in  any  of  the  public  departments 
or  establishments;  and  on  the  1st  and  15th  of  every  month,  the 
board  will  submit,  for  the  Governor's  approval,  the  distribution  which 
they  recommend,  in  accordance  with  the  rules  undermentioned. 

13.  Convicts  returned  to  Government,  without  complaint,  and 
otherwise  unobjectionable,  may  be  immediately  reassigned.  But 
those  returned  by  their  respective  masters  with  complaints  touching 
their  conduct,  are  to  be  considered  as  '  probationanj ,'  and  not  assign- 
able to  any  other  individual  for  six  months.  They  are,  therefore,  to 
be  sent  to  the  survejj'or  of  roads  and  bridges,  and  the  principal 
superintendent  of  convicts  to  be  apprised  accordingly. 

14.  Of  the  men  so  employed  on  the  roads,  those  who  are  of 
notoriously  bad  character  are  to  be  removed  from  party  to  party  at 
least  once  a  quarter,  to  break  up  their  connexions  ;  of  the  remainder, 
the  names  of  those  who  have  been  represented  to  the  surveyor  of 
roads  as  having  conducted  themselves  well,  and  are  considered  by 
him  to  deserve  the  indulgence  of  being  assigned  to  private  service, 
are  to  be  forwarded,  once  a  fortnight,  to  the  principal  superintendent 
of  convicts,  to  be  by  him  compared  with  the  records  in  his  office, 
and  such  other  tests  as  may  be  within  his  reach  ;  the  m.en  continuing 
with  their  parties  until  assigned. 

It  is,  however,  to  be  observed,  that  being  sent  to  the  roads  is  in- 
variably to  be  considered  as  the  consequence  of  ill  behaviour  ;  and 
no  convict,  therefore,  who  has  subjected  himself  to  it,  is  to  be 
exempted,  until  he  has  served  there  for  at  least  six  months. 

15.  After  examining  the  list,  the  principal  superintendent  of 
convicts  will  submit  to  the  Assignment  Board  those  names  against 
which  no  objection  is  found,  specifying  at  the  same  time  the  par- 


PRISONERS  TO  FARMERS  AND  OTHERS.  311 

ticular  places  at  which  the  men  are  then  stationed,  with  the  view  of 
enabling  the  board  to  distribute  them  in  the  same  neighbourhood,  or 
otherwise,  as  they  may  think  proper  ;  when  assigned  he  will  make 
the  necessary  communication  to  the  surveyor  of  roads,  that  the  men 
may  be  immediately  delivered  to  their  respective  assignees,  without 
being  first  sent  to  Sydney. 

16.  Convicts  sentenced  to  the  roads,  or  other  punishment,  are  to 
be  returned  to  their  former  masters  at  the  expiration  of  such  sen- 
tence, if  any  order  to  that  effect  be  inserted  in  the  original  committal 
or  warrant,  but  not  otherwise. 

17,  At  every  movement,  convicts  ought  to  be  accompanied  by  a 
specification  of  the  ships  and  dates  on  which  they  arrived,  their 
sentences,  standing  numbers  (if  arrived  since  1st  January,  1827), 
and  characters ;  together  with  their  last  employers,  and  trades  or 
callings.  It  would  also  be  extremely  desirable  that  in  the  warrants 
and  committals  it  should  be  stated,  whether  each  was  born  in  the 
colony,  came  free,  or  arrived  as  a  convict. 

Conditions. — 18.  It  is  to  be  distinctly  understood,  that  whenever 
the  word  '  Assignment'  is  used  by  the  Government,  with  reference  to 
convict  servants,  it  is  intended  to  imply  merely  a  temporary  appro- 
priation of  their  services  ;  such  convicts  being  liable  to  be  withdrawn, 
and  such  appropriation  resumed  at  any  time  at  the  pleasure  of  the 
Governor.  Nor  are  such  convicts  to  be  re-assigned  from  one  indi- 
vidual to  another  without  His  Excellency's  written  sanction. 

19.  In  assigning  convicts,  especially  labourers  applicable  to  hus- 
bandry, preference  will  be  given  to  new  settlers ;  to  persons  residing 
in  the  country,  and  those  of  good  moral  character,  who  pay  due 
attention  to  the  conduct  of  their  servants. 

20.  No  convict  will  be  assigned  to  any  non-resident  settler,  that 
does  not  employ  a  free  or  ticket-of-leave  overseer,  of  good  character, 
who  resides  on  the  property,  and  whose  name  and  condition  are 
recorded  with  the  nearest  bench  of  magistrates  3  to  masters  who 
return  their  servants  frequently  to  Government,  especially  for 
trifling  offences,  and  without  making  endeavours  to  reform  them  ;  to 
such  as  cannot  give  them  constant  employment,  or  are  known  to 
have  let  them  out  for  hire,  or  have  permitted  them  to  work  on  their 
own  account ;  or  to  those  who  are  known  to  treat  them  with  in- 
humanity, or  who  do  not  supply  them  with  proper  food  and  clothing. 

21.  No  convict  will  be  assigned  to  his  or  her  wife  or  husband  on 
arrival  3  or  to  another  convict,  although  holding  a  ticket-of-leave  ; 
or  to  any  married  couple,  in  which  the  party  of  the  same  sex  as  the 
servant  applied  for  is  not  actually  free. 

22.  When  convicts  are  returned  to  Government,  this  must  be  done 
through  a  magistrate,  and  the  reasons  must  be  stated,  in  order  that 
they  may  be  entered  on  the  warrant.  The  persons  to  whom  they  are 
assigned  or  lent,  will  also  be  required  to  defray  all  expenses  attending 
such  return,  excepting  only  in  cases  where  they  may  be  committed 
for  trial,  or  sentenced  to  punishment. 


312 


ASSIGNMENT  OF  FEMALE  CONVICTS. 


All  male  convicts  intended  to  be  thus  returned  must  be  delivered 
to  the  principal  superintendent  of  convicts,  in  Sydney  ;  and  female 
convicts  into  the  charge  of  the  matron  of  the  female  factory,  at  Pa- 
ramatta, by,  and  at  the  expense  of,  the  parties  by  whom  they  are 
returned  ;  the  manner  of  returning  them,  and  the  conveyance  for  the 
women  being  approved  by  the  nearest  bench  of  magistrates. 

23.  All  assignments  whatever  must  be  considered  as  made  under 
the  regulations  detailed  in  the  Government  Order  of  29th  June,  1831, 
No.  18,  (vide  p.  314),  with  regard  to  the  maintenance  of  assigned 
servants  in  hospital ;  the  appointment  of  agents  to  receive  them  j 
the  payment  of  20s.  for  the  clothes  supplied  with  male  convicts  as- 
signed on  arrival ;  and  the  regular  issue  of  the  prescribed  allowance 
of  rations  and  clothing. 

24.  Assignees  of  convict  servants  will  be  allowed  to  lend  them  to 
free  and  respectable  individuals  in  their  vicinage,  for  periods  not  ex- 
ceeding one  month,  under  the  written  sanction  of  the  nearest  bench 
of  magistrates,  or  superintendent  of  police,  to  whom  application  for 
such  permission  is  to  be  made,  in  writing,  setting  forth  the  motive 
of  the  application,  and  whether  a  servant  of  another  description  is  to 
be  obtained  in  exchange.  But  every  convict  found  without  sanction 
out  of  the  assignee's  immediate  service,  will  be  returned  to  Govern- 
ment, and  the  names  taken  of  such  assignee,  and  of  the  unauthorised 
actual  employer  reported,  in  order  that  neither  may  obtain  servants 
hereafter. 

Female  Convicts. — Applications. — 25.  Applications  for  female 
convict  servants  in  the  factory,  at  Paramatta,  are  to  be  addressed,  to 
the  committee  of  management  of  that  establishment,  in  the  annexed 
form  (-B.),  which  may  be  obtained  from  the  principal  superintendent 
of  convicts,  the  matron  of  the  factory,  or  the  government  printer. 
They  ought  to  specify  the  district  in  which  the  applicant  resides,  or 
the  nearest  bench  of  magistrates  thereto  ;  and  they  must  he  post  paid, 
or  they  will  not  be  received. 

26.  For  females  not  yet  landed,  or  elsewhere,  not  in  the  factory, 
applications  in  the  same  form  are  to  be  addressed  to  the  principal 
superintendent  of  convicts,  accompanied  by  a  certificate  of  the  con- 
sent of  the  employer,  if  previously  in  private  service,  and  in  every 
case,  by  a  recommendation  from  a  clergyman  and  a  magistrate,  if  the 
applicant  be  not  sufficiently  known. 

Assignment  and  Conditions. — 27-  His  Excellency's  approval  of 
of  the  Assignments  recommended  will  be  obtained  in  the  usual  way 
through  the  Colonial  Secretary.  But  before  receiving  the  servants 
the  applicants  will  be  required  to  enter  into  engagements,  under  a 
penalty  of  forty  shillings  each,  that  they  will  keep  them  for  one 
month  in  their  service  unless  removed  therefrom  by  due  course  of 
law  :  and  that,  if  desirous  of  returning  them  after  the  expiration  of 
that  period,  they  will  give  a  written  notice  of  fourteen  days  to  the 
principal  Superintendent  of  Convicts,  if  residing  within  the  county  of 
Cumberland,  of  one  month  to  the  Clerk  of  the  Bench  of  Magistrates 
nearest  to  their  residence,  if  without  that  county. 


FORM  OF  APPLICATION  FOR  FEMALE  CONVICTS.  olo 

28.  Every  female  servant  not  sent  for  within  seven  days  after 
notice  of  her  assignment  has  been  given,  if  the  applicant  resides 
within  30  miles  of  Paramatta,  and  within  one  month,  if  beyond  that 
distance,  will  be  immediately  considered  assignable  to  some  other 
person,  and  a  note  will  be  kept  of  the  name  of  the  individual  so 
failing  to  send  for  her. 

29.  No  female  servant  from  the  factory  is  to  be  allowed  to  leave 
Paramatta  by  a  stage  coach  or  other  public  conveyance  in  the  after- 
noon, unless  a  careful  person  be  particularly  sent  to  take  charge  of 
her. 

30.  Female  convicts  will  continue  to  be  assigned  under  the  same 
conditions,  in  every  respect,  as  above  detailed,  with  regard  to  males, 
except  as  specified  in  paragraph  27- 


(A.)— FORM  OF  APPLICATION   FOR  MALE  CONVICT 
SERVANTS. 

dated. 
Gentlemen, 

In  conformity  with  the  Regulations  I  request  that 
convict  servant    may  be  assigned  to  me,  of  the  following  description. 


I  reside  at  in  the  county  of  I  am  and 

hold  acres  of  land ;  of  which  acres  are  cleared,  and 

acres  are  in  tillage. 

I  possess  horses,  head  of  cattle,  and  sheep;   I 

now  employ  free,  and  convict  servants,  viz  : — 


of  whom         have  been  in  my  service  upivards  of  three  years,  and 
upwards  of  one  year  ;  assigned  servants  have  been  returned 

by  me  to  Government  within  the  last  two  years,  and  others  have 

absconded  from  my  service  during  that  period. 

My  agent,  Mr.  residing  at  is  fully  empowered  to  receive 

such  servants  as  may   be  assigned  to  me,  and  to  defray  all  expenses 
incurred  on  their  account. 

I  am,  Gentlemen, 

Your  obedient  humble  Servant, 

Certificate.* — N.B.  Applications  for  mechanics  and  tradesmen 
must  be  made  distinct  from  those  for  men  of  other  descriptions. 

All  applications  must  be  transmitted  through  the  Bench  of  Magis' 
trates  nearest  to  the  residence  of  the  applicant. 

*  If  the  applicant  be  a  magistrate,  he  must  certify  to  the  correctness  of 
his  own  stateineiit:^,  upon  honour.     If  possessed  of  320  acres  of  land,  but 


31  i  FORM  OF  APPLICATION   FOR  FEMALE  CONVICTS. 

(B.)— FORM  OF  APPLICATION  FOR  FEMALE  CONVICT 
SERVANTS. 

To  the  Committee  of  Management  of  the  Female  Factory. 

dated, 
Gentlemen, 

In  conformity  with  the  Regulations,  I  request  that 
female  servant     may  be  assigned  to  me,  of  the  following  description, 
viz  : 


I  reside  at  in  the  district  of  county  of  I  am 

my  ivife  is  and  we  have  children.     I  now  employ 

free,  and  convict  servants,  of  whom  are  females,  and  of 

them  have  been  in  my  service  upwards  of  three  years,  and 

upwards  of  one  year  ;  female  and  male  assigned  servants 

been  returned  by  me  to   Government  within  the  last  two  years,  and 
others  have  absconded  from  my  service  during  that  period. 

I  am,  Gentlemen, 

Your  obedient  humble  Servant, 

We  do  hereby  certify,  that  has  been  known  to  us 

that  we  beheve  the  foregoing  statement  to  be  correct, 
that  has  the  means  of  obtaining  and  furnishing  employ- 

ment for  the  servants  above  applied  for  j   and  that  is  free, 

and  of  sober,  honest,  and  respectable  character.* 


MAINTENANCE  AND  TREATMENT  OF  ASSIGNED 
CONVICT  SERVANTS.— (Government  Order.) 

Colonial  Secretary's  Office,  Sydney,  9,9th  June,  1831. 
Assigned  Servants. — The  great  expense  to  which  the  Govern- 
ment is  subjected  by  the  maintainance  and  treatment  of  the  assigned 
servants  of  settlers,  when  sent  into  colonial  hospitals,  having  been 
brought  under  its  notice  ;  and  the  attention  of  the  Government  hav- 
ing also  been  called  to  the  expense  to  which  his  Majesty's  Treasury 
has  been  subjected  in  keeping  up  an  extensive  constabulary,  a  great 
portion  of  whose  time  has  been  employed  in  conducting  the  servants 
of  settlers  from  Sydney  to  their  masters  in  the  interior,  and  taking 
others  back,  who,  from   misconduct,   or  from  other   circumstances, 

not  a  magistrate,  the  statements  must  be  certified  as  correct  by  the  nearest 
bench.  If  not  possessed  of  320  acres,  the  certificate  must  state  that  the 
aitplicant,  or,  if  a  married  female,  the  applicant's  husband,  is  free,  honest, 
and  indnstrious,  and  possesses  the  means  of  obtaining  and  constantly  em- 
ploying the  servants  applied  for. 

*  In  places  where  printed  applications  cannot  be  obtained,  written  ones, 
in  the  prescribed  form,  will  be  received. 


MAINTENANCE  OF  CONVICT  SERVANTS.  ol5 

are  returned  to  the  Government ;  the  following  Regulations  have 
been  laid  down  in  these  cases  respectively,  viz  : — 

1.  That  the  master  shall  pay  at  the  rate  of  one  shilling  a-day,  for 
the  time  his  servant  shall  be  in  the  hospital,  to  the  extent  of  thirty 
days.  Should  the  servant  continue  under  treatment  for  any  longer 
period,  the  master  will  not  be  required  to  make  any  further  payment. 

2.  That  the  persons  who  send  their  servants  into  any  of  the  hos- 
pitals, shall  appoint  an  agent  on  the  spot  to  take  thera  away  as  soon 
as  they  are  recovered,  and  unless  they  be  so  taken  away,  they  shall 
be  considered  as  immediately  assignable  to  other  parties,  in  order  to 
prevent  the  hospital  from  being  improperly  burthened  with  men  who 
do  not  require  treatment. 

3.  That  all  persons  to  whom  convicts  shall  be  assigned  shall  send 
for  them  to  Sydney,  or  to  such  other  place  as  they  shall  be  assem- 
bled at.  For  example,  the  men  to  be  assigned  from  Road  Parties 
will  be  collected  at  or  near  the  Stations  of  the  Assistant  Surveyors  of 
Roads  : — 

(1.)  At  Paramatta  J 

(2.)  At  Collit's,  on  the  Bathurst  Road  ; 

(3.)  At   the  Station  of  the  Assistant  Surveyor,  on  the  Maitland 

Road. 
(4.)  At  Bong  Bong. 

4.  That  if  the  party  to  whom  a  prisoner  is  assigned  should  fail  to 
send  for  him,  the  prisoner  will  be  assigned  to  some  other  person ; 
and  in  order  to  prevent  a  recurrence  of  the  inconvenience  which 
must  be  experienced  in  such  cases,  the  master  will  not  be  considered 
as  an  eligible  candidate  for  servants  in  future. 

5.  That  in  order  to  avoid  disappointment,  it  is  suggested  that 
persons  residing  at  a  distance  applying  for  servants,  who  may  be 
assigned  in  Sydney,  should  appoint  an  agent,  whose  name  and  resi- 
dence should  be  stated  in  the  application,  to  receive  at  the  time  any 
men  who  may  be  assigned  to  them. 

6.  That  as  all  convicts  who  are  assigned  immediately  on  their 
arrival  from  England  and  Ireland,  are  supplied  with  a  complete  suit 
of  new  clothing,  and  as  it  is  only  reasonable  that  the  person  having 
the  benefit  of  the  convicts  services  should  be  at  the  expense  of  this 
clothing,  the  Assignees  of  all  such  convicts  v.  ill  henceforth  be  re- 
quired to  pay  twenty  shillings  for  the  clothing  so  furnished  at  the 
time  of  receiving  the  men. 

The  Government  has  further  been  induced,  as  well  with  a  view  of 
protecting  those  masters  who  act  with  liberality  towards  their  ser- 
vants, from  the  complaints  of  the  discontented  and  ill-disposed,  as 
to  insure  to  all  assigned  servants  a  due  proportion  of  food  and  cloth- 
ing, to  lay  down  the  following  Regulations  for  the  supply  of  those 
necessaries  : — 

Rations. — 7.  The  weekly  rations  is  to  consist  as  follows,  viz. — 
Twelve  pounds  of  wheat,  or  nine  pounds  of  seconds  flour  ;  or  in 
lieu  thereof,  at  the  discretion  of  the  master,  three  and  a  half  pounds 


316  FOOD  AND  CLOTHING  OF  ASSIGNED  PRISONERS. 

of  maize  meal,  and  nine  pounds  of  wheat,  or  seven  pounds  seconds 
flour  ;  and  seven  pounds  beef  or  mutton,  or  four  and  a  half  pounds 
of  salt  pork  ;    two  oz.  of  salt,  and  two  oz.  of  soap. 

Any  articles  which  the  master  may  supply,  beyond  those  above 
specified,  are  to  be  considered  as  indulgences,  which  he  is  at  liberty 
to  discontinue  whenever  he  may  think  proper.* 

Clothing. — 9.  The  clothing  which  assigned  servants  will  be  en- 
titled to  annually,  is  to  consist  of  two  frocks  or  jackets,  three  shirts, 
of  strong  linen  or  cotton,  two  pair  of  trowsers,  three  pair  of  shoes, 
of  stout  and  durable  leather,  one  hat  or  cap  ;  and  is  to  be  issued  as 
follows,  viz. —  ^ 

On  the  1st  of  May,  in  each  year. — One  woollen  jacket,  one  pair 
of  woollen  trowsers,  one  shirt,  one  pair  of  shoes,  one  hat  or  cap. 

On  the  1st  of  August. — One  shirt,  one  pair  of  shoes  ;   and 

On  the  1st  of  November. — One  woollen  or  duck  jacket,!  one  pair 
of  woollen  or  duck  trowsers, f  one  shirt,  and  one  pair  of  shoes. 

Each  man  is  to  be  kept  constantly  supplied  with,  at  least,  one 
good  blanket  and  paillasse  or  wool  mattrass,  which  are  to  be  con- 
sidered the  property  of  the  master. 

9.  In  the  event  of  a  man  being  assigned,  who  shall  have  been 
clothed  by  the  Government  at  any  time  within  two  months  previous 
to  the  General  Issue  on  the  1st  of  May,  his  master  will  not  be  re- 
quired to  supply  him  with  any  clothing  until  the  1st  of  August,  and 
then  only  with  those  articles  which  are  specified  for  that  day.  In 
like  manner,  the  master  of  any  servant  clothed  by  the  Government 
between  the  1st  of  September  and  1st  November,  shall  only  be 
required  to  issue  to  him  a  shirt  and  a  pair  of  shoes  on  the  1st  of 
February  following.  But  after  those  dates,  respectively,  the  several 
articles  enumerated  must  be  regularly  supplied  at  the  established 
periods. 

10.  Persons  who  do  not  comply  with  these  Regulations,  which 
are  founded  on  just  and  equitable  principles,  as  they  reciprocally 
apply  to  the  Government,  the  settler,  and  the  assigned  servant, 
cannot  be  allowed  the  indulgence  of  having  convicts  assigned  to 
them  thereafter. 

By  Command  of  His  Excellency  the  Governor, 

ALEXANDER  M'LEAY. 


According  to  the  foregoing  regulations  upwards  of  three- 
fifths  of  all  the  prisoners  in  the  colony  are  provided  far  by 

*  Masters  almost  invariably  add  tea,  sugar,  and  tobacco,  and  frequently 
other  extras.     [R.  M.  M.] 

t  As  may  best  suit  the  ago  and  state  of  health  of  the  servant  during  the  •• 

summer  season. 


BENEFICIAL  RESULTS  OF  TRANSPORTATION.  317 

the  capital  and  industry  of  the  free  population.*  After  serv- 
ing a  certain  time,  with  an  unblemished  character,  in  this  new 
stage  of  his  existence,  the  prisoner  (male  or  female)  is  entitled 
to  what  is  termed  a  '  ticket  of  leave, ^  the  advantage  of  which 
is,  that  the  holder  thereof  becomes,  to  all  intents  and  pur- 
poses, a  free  person  throughout  the  district  over  which  his, 
or  her,  '  ticket  of  leave'  extends ;  but,  should  any  crimes  be 
committed  this  '  ticket'  is  withdrawn,  and  the  probationary 
period  is  requii'ed  to  be  recommenced.  Should  the  '  ticket' 
be  held  for  a  certain  number  of  years,  the  holder  is  entitled 
to  a  *  conditional  pardon,'  which  is  not  liable  to  be  forfeited 
at  the  will  of  the  executive,  but  is  limited  in  its  sphere  of 
operation  to  the  colony,  in  this  differing  only  from  an  *  abso- 
lute pardon,'  whish  restores  the  erst  prisoner  to  all  the  legal 
rights  and  privileges  of  a  British  subject.  This  plan  is  not 
only  good  in  theory,  but  has  also  proved  admirable  in  prac- 
tice, and  no  person,  of  the  most  ordinary  understanding,  can 
visit  New  South  Wales  without  perceiving  its  beneficial  and 
politic  results  :  on  every  side  the  traveller  witnesses  the 
proofs  of  an  industrious  and  prosperous  community,  he  be- 
holds ships,  warehouses,  steam-engines,  farms,  &c.,  the 
owners  of  which  were  transported  as  prisoners  from  their 
natal  soil,  who  have  paid  the  penalty  demanded  by  rigorous 
laws,  and,  commencing  a  new  life,  set  an  example  of  honesty, 
morality,  'and  enterprise  to  those  from  whose  sphere  they 
have  emerged,  and  who  are  thus  strongly  urged  to  imitate 
their  praise-worthy  example.  I  have  visited  almost  every 
part  of  this  earth,  but  nothing  ever  gave  me  so  much  pleasure 
as  the  grand  moral  spectacle  which  our  penal  colonies  pre- 
sented ;  it  is  indeed  a  glorious  sight — one  of  which  England 
may  well  feel  proud — for  on  her  historic  scroll  is  eternally 

*  The  evil  consequences  of  ill-treating  the  unfortunate  prisoners  by  the 
settlers  who  employ  them,  is  shewn  in  the  Appendix.  There  are  few,  if 
any,  instances  where  the  prisoners  have  become  '  bush  rangers,'  alias 
robbers  and  murderers,  but  that  it  has  arisen  from  ill-treatment  in  the 
colony 


318  EMANCIPISTS  AND  EMIGRANTS. 

engraved  the  triumph  of  Christianity  over  human  prejudices, 
and  the  reformation  of  feeble  and  fallen  man,* 

The  second  class  in  society  are  those  who  have  once  been 
prisoners,  and  are  now  free;  they  are  termed  efiiancirjists : 
individually  and  in  the  aggregate  they  are  possessed  of  great 
wealth  in  land,  houses,  ships,  merchandize,  &c.,  some  of 
them  being  worth  several  hundred  thousand  povmds,  and  re- 
markable for  their  probity  in  dealing,  charitable  feelings,  and 
enterprising  spirit.  They  are  associated  with  the  next  class 
in  society  (the  free  emigrants)  in  various  public  undertakings 
and  institutions,  and  the  colony  is  much  indebted  to  their 
talents  and  honestly  acquired  wealth,  for  its  present  pros- 
perity. 

The  next  class  consists  of  those  who  have  arrived  free  in 
the  colony,  either  as  emigrant-farmers  and  settlers,  whether 
shopkeepers,  merchants,  or  government  officers  and  function- 
aries, &c.  Some  individuals  of  this  class  refuse  to  associate 
in  private,  and  as  little  as  possible  in  public,  with  the  pre- 
ceding class,  termed  emancipists  ;  they  hold  that  a  man 
having  once  committed  a  fault  against  society,  is  to  be  for 
ever  shut  out  beyond  the  pale  of  that  station  in  which  they 
move — no  consideration  being  paid  to  the  circumstances  of 
his  having  legally  atoned  for  his  offence,  by  undergoing  the 
punishment  ordered  by  the  law,  and  morally  expiated  his 
crime  by  the  unblemished  life  subsequently  pursued,  which,  to- 
gether with  his  industry  and  talents,  has  placed  him  on  a 
par,  (often  far  above),  as  regards  wealth,  with  those  who 
exclude  him  from  their  community.  While  respecting  what 
appears  to  me  the  prejudices  and  unjust  reasoning  of  the 
*  exclusionists,'  I  do  not  agree  with  their  premises,  nor  with 
the  deductions  drawn  therefrom ;  I  think  the  former  deficient 

*  Rccentlv,  an  inhuman  and  unchristian-like  spirit  has  gone  forth,  the 
object  of  which  is  to  crush  the  sinner  —  to  aim  at  punishment,  without 
reformation  (see  'Letter  to  Lord  Stanley,'  in  Appendix).  I  trust  it  will 
not  be  acted  upon  ;  for  assuredly  the  latter  is,  at  least,  equal  in  importance 
to  the  former. 


FORM  OF  GOVERNMENT  IN  NEW  SOUTH  WALES.     319 

in  that  broad  and  comprehensive  spirit  of  the  law,  which 
affixed  certain  penalties  to  certain  crimes,  and  totally  opposed 
to  the  divine  precept,  which  declares  the  desire  of  the  Al- 
mighty that,  '  a  sinner  should  turn  from  his  wickedness  and 
live'* 

But  my  limits  compel  me  to  proceed  to  the  next  division 
of  my  work,  and  I  can  here  only  promise  the  reader  a  fuller 
exposition  of  the  question  when  developing  our  colonial 
policy,  and  comparing  it  with  that  of  other  nations,  ancient 
and  modern :  assuredly,  however,  had  the  policy  of  the 
*  cxclusionists  been  followed  since  the  establishment  of  the 
colony.  New  South  Wales  would  not  be,  at  the  present  day, 
the  extraordinarily  prosperous,  moral,  and  patriotic  commu- 
nity which  it  exhibits  in  its  general  features^  and  actions. 

Form  of  Government. — When  the  colony  of  New  South 
Wales  was  first  established,  the  whole  executive  powers  were 
vested  in  the  Governor  alone;  in  1824  a  council  was  ap- 
pointed to  assist  and  controul  the  Governor ;  and  at  present 
the  chief  authority  is  vested  in — 1st.  a  Governor  of  the  ter- 
ritory;}: of  New  South  Wales,  and  Governor-in-Chief  oi  Van 
Diemen's  island  ; — 2nd.  an  Executive  Council,  consisting  of 
the  Governor,  the  Colonial  Secretary  and  Treasurer,  the  Arch- 
deacon, and  Lieut.-Governor  ;§ — 3rd.    a  Legislative  Coun- 

*  For  an  exposition  of  the  question  as  regards  capital  punisiiments,  I 
must  refer  the  reader  to  my  concluding  volume, 

t  Drunkenness,  though  fast  diminishing,  is  still  too  prevalent  among 
the  lower  classes  in  the  towns  ;  but  the  rising  generation,  I  am  happy  to 
saj%  shun,  with  extreme  abhorrence,  the  faults  which  their  intemperate 
parents  may  commit.  Dr.  Lang  inveighs,  and  justly,  against  the  crying 
sin  of  drunkenness  ;  but  a  stranger  to  the  colony,  perusing  his  work,  would 
think  that  every  man,  woman,  and  child,  in  New  South  Wales,  drank  rum  ; 
the  worthy  Doctor  overstrained  the  picture  :  there  are  still  far  too  many 
isolated  cases  of  inebriety;  but  drunkenness  is  much  less  a  distinguishing 
feature  of  New  South  Wales  than  it  is  of  Great  Britain  or  Ireland. 

X  The  territory  extends  from  Cape  York,  on  the  E,  coast,  in  10.37.  S. 
Lat.,  to  the  shores  of  Bass's  Straits;  the  westward,  as  far  as  135.  E.  Long. 
Norfolk  Island  is  included  in  the  New  South  Wales  government. 

§  I  believe  the  office  has  been  recently  abolished. 


320      AUTHORITY  OF  GOVERNOR  AND  LEGISLATIVE  COUNCIL. 

cil,  consisting  of  the  members  of  the  above-mentioned  court, 
with  the  addition  of  the  Chief  Justice,  the  Attorney-General, 
the  Chief  Officer  of  the  Customs,  the  Auditor-General,  and 
seven  private  gentlemen  of  the  colony,*  who  are  appointed 
by  the  Crown  for  life. 

In  case  of  the  death,  absence,  removal,  or  resignation  of  a 
member  of  the  Legislative  Council,  the  Governor  may  appoint 
another  to  act  in  his  stead,  pending  his  Majesty's  pleasure.  In 
concert  with  at  least  two-thirds  of  the  members  (exclusive  of 
the  Governor,  who  is  the  presiding  member,  and  who  has  a 
casting  vote  when  the  division  of  the  votes  is  equal),  the  Go- 
vernor makes  laws  for  the  colony,  if  not  repugnant  to  the  Act 
9  Geo.  IV.  c.  83,  or  to  the  charter,  or  letters  patent,  or 
orders  in  council,  or  to  the  laws  of  England.  The  Governor 
has  the  initiative  of  all  laws  to  be  submitted  to  discussion  in 
the  council,  provided  the  Governor  gives  eight  clear  days 
notice  in  the  public  journals,  or  by  public  advertisement  (if 
there  be  no  newspapers),  of  the  general  objects  of  any  act 
proposed  to  be  brought  under  consideration,  unless  in  case 
of  actual  emergency,  when  notice  may  be  dispensed  with. 

Any  member  of  the  council  may  request  the  Governor  to 
introduce  a  bill  for  the  consideration  of  the  council ;  if  the 
Governor  declines  he  must  lay  his  reason  in  writing,  together 
with  a  copy  of  the  bill,  before  the  council,  and  any  member, 
disapproving  of  such  refusal,  may  enter  upon  the  minutes, 
the  grounds  of  his  disapprobation.  A  majority  of  the  mem- 
bers dissenting  from  any  bill,  and  entering  the  grounds  of 
their  dissent  in  the  minutes  of  council,  the  bill  cannot  become 
law.     Every  bill  passed  by  the  council  must  be  transmitted 

*  Table  of  Precedency  in  New  South  Wales,  as  directed  by  his  Majesty's 
Principal  Secretary  of  State  for  the  Colonies. — The  Governor ;  the  Chief 
Justice  of  the  Colony ;  all  persons  iiaving  the  rank  of  Privy  Councellors, 
or  any  higher  rank  in  Enuflimd,  according  to  their  respective  ranks  ;  the 
Members  of  the  Executive  Council ;  the  Puisne  or  Assistant  Judges  of  the 
Suj)reme  Court ;  persons  of  the  degree  of  Knighthood,  or  any  higher  degree 
under  that  of  Privy  Councellor  ;  the  Attorney  General ;  the  Solicitor 
General ;  the  Members  of  the  Legislative  Council ;  all  other  persons  under 
the  degree  of  Knights,  according  to  the  order  of  precedency  in  England. 


LAWS  AND  COURTS  OF  NEW  SOUTH  WALES.  321 

within  seven  days  to  the  supreme  court  to  be  enrolled,  and 
after  14  days  from  the  date  of  such  enrolment  it  comes  into 
operation.  If  the  Judges  represent  that  such  bill  be  repug- 
nant to  statutes  before  cited,  it  is  again  brought  under  the 
consideration  of  the  council,  and  if  again  passed  proceeds 
into  operation,  until  the  pleasure  of  his  Majesty  be  known, 
to  whom  is  transmitted  the  opinions  of  the  Judges,  &c. 
The  votes  and  proceedings  of  the  Legislative  Council  are 
officially  published  in  the  newspapers.  The  Governor  and 
council  have  the  power  to  impose  taxes  for  local  purposes.* 

Many  of  the  colonists,  emigrants  as  well  as  emancipists, 
are  desirous  of  obtaining  a  Representative  Legislative  As- 
sembly. On  this  subject  my  opinions  and  arguments  will  be 
found  in  the  volume  treating  of  our  colonial  policy.  \_Ari.  Go- 
vernment— General  and  LocalJ] 

Laws  and  Courts. — The  statute  laws  of  England  are  in 
force  in  the  colon)^,  aided  by  Acts  of  Parliament,  and  local 
enactments  by  the  Governor  and  Legislative  Council :  and 
the  English  Insolvent  Debtor's  Act  is  in  operation.  The 
execution  of  the  laws  devolves  upon  a  Supreme  Court,  pre- 
sided over  by  a  chief  and  two  puisne  judges,  whose  powers 
are  as  extensive  as  those  of  the  Courts  of  King's  Bench, 
Common  Pleas,  and  Exchequer,  at  Westminster.  The  Su- 
preme Court  is  a  court  of  oijer  and  terminer  and  gaol  de- 
livery— it  is  also  a  court  o^  equity,  with  all  the  poAver  within  its 
jurisdiction  of  the  Lord  High  Chancellor  of  England ;  and  it  is 
a  court  o^ admiralty  for  criminal  offences  within  certain  limits  ; 
it  is  empowered  to  grant  letters  of  administration,  and  it  is  an 
insolvent  debtor's  court.  From  the  Supreme  Court  an  appeal 
lies  in  all  actions,  when  the  sum  or  matter  at  issue  exceeds 

*  By  3rd  Geo.  IV.,  c.  96,  and  continued  by  9th  Geo.  IV.,  c.  83,  s.  26, 
the  Governor  was  authorized  to  impose,  on  importation  into  the  c'oh)ny, 
duties  not  exceeding  \Qs.  a  gallon  on  British  or  West  India  spirits,  or  I5s. 
on  all  other  spirits ;  not  exceeding-  4*.  per  lb.  on  tobacco,  nor  15s.  per  cent. 
upon  goods,  wares,  &c.  nut  being  the  growth,  produce,  or  manufacture  of 
the  United  Kingdom  ;  and,  by  9th  Geo.  IV.,  c.  83,  s.  26,  the  Governor  was 
also  empowered  to  levy  a  duty  upon  colonial  spirits  not  exceeding-  that 
levied  on  imported  spirits. 

VOL.  IV.  Y 


COURTS  OF  GENERAL  AND  QUARTER  SESSION. 

the  value  of  500/.,  to  the  Governor  or  Acting-Governor,  who 
is  directed  to  hold  a  court  of  appeals,  from  which  a  final 
appeal  lies  to  the  King  in  council.  The  Supreme  Court  is 
provided  with  an  Attorney  and  Solicitor-General,  who  are 
ex-officio  Crown  prosecutors.  There  are  nine  barristers  and 
3S  solicitors  practising  in  the  court.  Circuit  courts  are  held 
in  different  parts  of  the  colony,  they  are  .courts  of  record,  and 
stand  in  the  same  relation  to  the  Supreme  Court  as  courts  of 
oyer  and  terminer^  and  of  assize  and  nisi  prius,  in  England 
do  to  the  King's  superior  courts  of  record  at  Westminster. 

Courts  of  General  and  Quarter  Sessions,*  have  the  same 
powers  as  those  of  England,  and  also  may  take  cognizance,  in 
a  summary  way,  of  all  crimes  not  punishable  by  death,  com- 
mitted by  convicts  whose  sentences  have  not  expired,  or  have 
not  been  remitted. 

A  Vice-Admiralty  Court,  presided  over  by  the  Chief  Jus- 
tice of  the  Supreme  Court,  takes  cognizance  of  civil  cases 
only,  such  as  seamen's  wages,  &c.  There  is  an  Archdeacon's 
Court  for  clerical  matters  ;  but  this  court  has  no  jurisdiction 
in  testamentary  affairs,  the  charter  of  justice  having  empow- 
ered the  Supreme  Court  to  grant  letters  of  administration, 
and  direct  the  distribution  of  testator's  effects.  Courts  of 
Requests  have  been  established  under  authority  9  Geo.  IV.  c. 
S3  for  summarily  determining  claims  not  exceeding  10/.  sterling, 
except  the  matter  in  question  relates  to  the  title  of  any  lands, 
tenements,  or  hereditaments,  or  to  the  taking  or  demanding  of 
any  duty  payable  to  his  Majesty,  or  to  any  fee  of  office,  annual 
rents,  or  other  such  matter,  where  rights  in  future  would  be 
bound,  or  to  a  general  right  or  duty,  and  to  award  costs.f 
The  decision  of  the  court  is  final  and  summary  as  in  England. 
One  Commissioner,  appointed  by  the  Crown,  presides  in  all  the 
Courts  of  Requests  throughout  the  colony.  Juries  now  sit 
in  civil  and  criminal  cases  ;  until  lately  military  and  naval 
officers  formed  the  criminal  jury ;  and  civil  causes  were  de- 

*  The  number  of  the  unpaid  magistracy  throughout  the  territory  was 
136,  in  the  year  1834. 

t  These  powers  are  so  laid  down  l)y  Mr.  H.  W.  Parker,  in  *  Mr.  Clark'a 
Summary  of  Colonial  Law.' 


LAWYERS  FEES  IN  NEW  SOUTH  WALES. 


323 


termined  by  a  judge  and  two  sworn  assessors.  Law  suits 
are  frequent  in  New  South  Wales,  and  large  fortunes  have 
been  made  by  barristers  and  solicitors  :*  for  the  information  of 
other  colonies,  I  give  here  the  fees  and  taxed  costs  used  in 
the  Supreme  and  Minor  Courts. 


For  Plaintiff  in  undefended  Causes. 


Out  of  Pocket. 


Instructions  to  sue 

Letter  before  action  brought 

Warrant  to  sue 

Affidavit  of  debt,  and  paid 

Warrant  of  arrest,  and  paid 

Attendinfr  to  get  same  sisjned  and  entered 

Attending-  Sheriff,  and  paid  his  fee 

Paid  filing-  return 

Attending  to  search  for  return,  and  paid 


£. 
0 
0 
0 
0 
0 
0 
0 
0 
0 


Attorney. 

jk!.  s.  d. 
6 
5 
2 
5 
8 
3 
3 
0 
3 


Instructions  for  declaration 

Drawing  same,  and  copy  to  file 

Attending  to  file  same  .  .  _ 

Attending  to  search  for  appearance  and  plea,  and  paid  0 

Term,  fee,  and  letters 


Attending  to  enter  cause  for  assessment  and  paid 

Instructions  for  brief 

Drawing  same,  and  copying  of  sheets 

Attending  Court,  damages  assessed 

Court  fees 


Entering  proceeding  on  the  roll,  and  parchment 

Attending  to  sign  final  judgment,  and  paid 

Drawing  bill  of  costs,  and  copy 

Attending  for  appointment  to  tax 

Drawing  same 

Attending  taxing  costs,  and  paid 

Attending  to  file  costs,  and  paid 


*  Dr.  Wardell,  who  was  lately  murdered  near  Sydney,  accumulated,  in 
ten  years,  <£M0,000;  he  added,  however,  to  the  proceeds  of  the  legal  pro- 
fession those  derivable  from  the  proprietorship  of  a  newspaper  (the  Aits- 
tralian),  in  which  more  attention  was  paid  to  the  acquisition  of  money  than 
to  truth. 

f  This  is  apparently  an  error,  which  however  1  give  as  it  stands  in  the 
New  South  Wales  Almanac  for  1834. 


0 

17 

10 

1 

17 

5 

0 

0 

0 

0 

6 

8 

0 

0 

0 

0 

13 

4 

0 

0 

0 

0 

3 

4 

1  paid  0 

1 

0 

0 

3 

4 

0 

0 

0 

0 

15 

0 

0 

18 

10 

3 

19 

1 

1    0 

11 

8 

0 

3 

4 

0 

0 

0 

0 

6 

8 

0 

0 

0 

1 

0 

0 

0 

0 

0 

1 

1 

0 

0 

0 

0 

0 

0 

0 

1 

10 

6 

6 

10 

1 

t    0 

0 

0 

0 

12 

6 

0 

0 

0 

0 

3 

4 

0 

0 

0 

0 

8 

0 

0 

0 

0 

0 

3 

4 

0 

0 

0 

0 

2 

0 

0 

5 

0 

0 

6 

8 

0 

2 

6 

0 

3 

4 

2 

16 

Of- 

8 

9 

3 

324 


defendant's  costs  in  a  common  action. 


Bill  for  Defendant  in  a  Common  Action  on  serviceable  Process. 


Instructions  and  warrant  to  defend 

Paid  entering  appearance,  praecipe  and  fee 

Searching  for  declaration,  and  paid 

Copy  of  declaration  for  10 

Attending  to  return  ditto 

Instructions  for  plea 

Drawing  and  engrossing  plea  of  general  issue 

If  special  drawing,  Is.  per  folio,  and  copy  4d. 

Attending  to  fde  plea 

Attending  to  search  if  cause  set  down,  and  paid 

Instructions  for  brief 

Attending  witnesses  to  examine  them  and  take  down 

their  evidence 
Drawing  brief  and  copy  for  sheet  1 0*. 
Subpoena 

Copy  and  service  4*.         . 
Attending  Court  days,  cause  in  the  paper 
Attending  Court,  cause  tried 
Court  fees 
Attending  to  search  for  a  notice  of  motion  of  new 

trial,  and  paid 
Entering  proceedings  on  the  roll,  and  parchment 
Paid  entering  judgment  and  attendance 
Drawing  bill  of  costs,  and  copy 
Attending  for  appointment  to  tax 
Copy  and  service  .  ... 

Attending,  taxing  costs,  and  paid 
Attending  to  file  costs,  and  paid 
Term-fee,  letters,  &c. 


Out  of  Pocket. 

Attorney. 

£. 

s. 

d. 

£. 

s. 

d. 

0 

0 

0 

0 

9 

2 

0 

3 

9 

0 

8 

4 

0 

1 

0 

0 

3 

4 

0 

0 

0 

0 

3 

4 

0 

0 

0 

0 

3 

4 

0 

0 

0 

0 

6 

8 

0 

0 

0 

0 

3 

6 

0 

0 

0 

0 

0 

0 

0 

0 

0 

0 

3 

4 

0 

1 

0 

0 

3 

4 

0 

0 

0 

0 

13 

4 

wn 
0 

0 

0 

0 

6 

8 

0 

0 

0 

0 

0 

0 

0 

2 

6 

0 

12 

6 

0 

0 

0 

0 

0 

0 

0 

0 

0 

0 

0 

0 

0 

0 

0 

0 

0 

0 

0 

0 

0 

0 

0 

0 

ew 
0 

1 

0 

0 

3 

4 

0 

0 

0 

0 

18 

6 

0 

1 

0 

0 

3 

4 

0 

0 

0 

0 

10 

0 

0 

0 

0 

0 

3 

4 

0 

0 

0 

0 

3 

0 

0 

5 

0 

0 

6 

8 

0 

2 

() 

0 

3 

4 

0 

0 

0 

0 

15 

0 

Bill  for  Defendant  on  Arrest. 

Instructions  and  warrant  to  defend  .  .         0 

Attending  Sheriflf's  Office  for  sheet  copy  of  writ  and 
paid  .  .  .  .         0 

Attending  defendant  for  names  of  bail,  special  bail- 
piece  .  .  .  .  0 
Attending  bail  to  Supreme  Court  Office  .  0 
Paid  on  putting  in  bail  .  .  .  0 
Notice  of  bail,  copy,  and  service  .  .  0 
Plaintiff  having  excepted  against  the  bail,  notice  of 
adding  and  justifying,  copy  and  service  •  0 
Affidavit  of  service  of  notice  .  .  0 
Instructions  to  Counsel  to  move  to  justify  ball,  and 

copy  notice  to  annex  .  .        0 

Fee  to  Counsel  .  .  .0 

Attending  bail,  to  inform  them  when  to  attend  to 

justify  .  .  ,  .         0 

Paid  justifying  (if  add  id,  4rf.  more)  .  .         0 

Searching  for  declaration,  and  paid         .  .        0 

Other  charges  aa  before 


0    0        0    9    2 


0     6 


0    3     4 


0 

0 

0 

5 

0 

0 

0 

0 

3 

4 

4 

0 

0 

0 

0 

0 

0 

0 

3 

0 

0 

0 

0 

3 

0 

3 

0 

0 

8 

0 

0 

0 

0 

3 

6 

10 

0 

0 

0 

0 

0 

0 

0 

3 

4 

9 

0 

0 

0 

0 

1 

0 

0 

3 

4 

PLAINTIFF  S  COSTS,      WARRANT  OF  ATTORNEY. 


325 


Plaintiff's  Costs  in  a  defended  Cause. 


did 


Instructions  to  sue 

Letter  before  action  brought 

Warrant  to  sue 

Affidavit  of  debt,  and  paid 

Warrant  of  arrest,  and  paid 

Attending  to  get  same  signed  and  entered 

Paid  filing  return 

Instructions  for  declarations 

Drawing  same  and  copy 

Attending  to  file  same 

Attending  to  search  for  special  bail,  and  paid 

Attending  to  search  for  plea,  and  paid 

Defendant's  attorney  having  demanded 

Particulars,  drawing  same  for 

Attending  to  deliver  same 

Notice  of  trial,  copy,  and  service 

Attending  to  set  down  cause,  and  paid 

Subpoena,  and  paid 

Each  copy,  and  served  4d.  .  .0 

Paid  conduct  money  .  .  .0 

Attending  taking  instructions  for  brief  .         0 

Attending  witnesses,    examining  them,    and  taking 

dovvn  their  evidence 
Drawing  brief  and  copy  per  sheet,  10s. 
Attending  Court  days,  cause  in  the  paper,  bu 

not  come  on 
Attending  ditto,  cause  tried,  verdict  for  plaintiff 
Paid  Court  fees 
Paid  witnesses 
Term,  fee,  letters,  &c. 

Search  for  notice  of  motion  of  new  trial,  and  paid 
Entering  proceeding  on  the  roll  and  parchment 
Paid  entering  judgment  and  attendance 
Drawing  bill  of  costs  and  copy  to  tax 
Attending  for  appointment  to  tax 
Copy  and  service 
Attending,  taxing  costs,  and  paid 
Attending  to  file  costs,  and  paid 

Warrant  of  Attorney 

Instructions  to   enter  up  judgment  on 

Attorney 
Letter  to  defendent 

Entering  proceeding  on  the  roll,  and  parchment 
Praecipe  for  appearance,  2*.  paid  entering,  3*.  9f/. 
Attending  to  enter  ditto 
Attending  to  enter  judgment  and  found 
Drawing  bill  of  costs  and  copy 
Attending  to  tax  ditto 
Paid  master 


Out  of  Pocket. 

£.   s.   d. 

0 

0 

0 

0 

0 

0 

0 

0 

0 

0 

0 

0 

0 

0 

0 

0 

0 

0 


0 
0 
0 
3 
3 
0 
0 
0 
0 
0 

1 
1 

0 
0 
0 
0 

11 

2 
0 
0 
0 

0 
0 

0 
0 
0 
0 
0 

I 

0 
10 
0 
0 
0 
5 
o 


0 

0 
0 
0 
4 
0 
6 
0 
0 
0 
0 
0 
0 
0 
0 
0 
8 
6 
0 
0 
0 

0 
0 

0 
0 
0 
0 
0 
0 
0 
0 
0 
0 
0 
0 
6 


Attorney. 

£.   s.  d. 

0    6  8 

0    5  0 

0    2  6 

0    8  0 

0    8  3 

0    3  4 

0     0  0 

0    6  8 

0  13  4 

0     5  4 

0     3  4 

0     3  4 

0     0  0 

0     0  0 

0     3  4 

0    3  0 

0     3  4 

0  12  6 

0    0  0 

0    0  0 

0  13  4 

0    6  8 

0    0  0 

0    0  0 

0    0  0 

0     0  0 

0    0  0 

0  15  0 

0    3  4 

0  18  6 

0     3  4 

0  10  0 

0     3  4 

0    3  0 

0    6  8 

0    3  4 


orney. 
warrant 

of 

^ 

0 

0 

0 

0 

6 

8 

, 

0 

0 

0 

0 

5 

0 

ment 

0 

0 

0 

0 

18 

6 

35.  9d. 

0 

3 

9 

0 

2 

0 

0 

0 

0 

0 

3 

4 

, 

0 

10 

0 

0 

3 

4 

. 

0 

0 

0 

0 

4 

0 

. 

0 

0 

0 

0 

3 

4 

• 

0 

3 

0 

0 

0 

0 

0  16    9 


2     6     2 


3^6 


COGNOVITS.       SHERIFF  S  OFFICE  FEES. 


0)1  old  Warrant  of  Attorney. 


Out  of  Pocket. 


Drawing  and  engrossing'  affidavit  of  plaintiff,  and 
another  of  defendant  being  alive,  &c.  in  order 
to  move  for  leave  to  enter  up  judgment,  fol.  8.  0 

Attending  plaintiff,  and  witnesses  to  the  warrant  of 
attorney  to  get  them  to  make  the  affidavits 

Paid  for  two  oaths,  and  filing 

Instructions  to  Coimsel  to  move 

Fee  to  ditto  .  ... 

Rule  .  .... 


Cognovits. 

Instructions  to  sue 

Letter  before  action 

Warrant  to  sue         ... 

Affidavit  of  debt 

Warrant  of  arrest,  and  paid 

Attending  to  get  same  signed  and  entered 

Attending  Sheriff  therewith     . 

Paid  sum  for  arrest 

Attending  searching  for  return  of  writ,  and  paid 

Paid  filing  return 

Instructions  for  declaration 

Drawing  same,  and  copy  to  file 

Attending  to  file  same 

Searching  for  special  bail 

Attending  plaintiff  and  defendant  when  it  was  agreed 

to  take  a  cognovit 
Drawing  cognovit  with  stay  of  execution,  and  attend 

ing  to  get  same  signed 
Entering  proceedings  on  roll  of  parchment  , 

Paid  entering  Judgment,  and  attendance 
Bill  of  costs  and  copy 
Attending  to  tax  costs 
Paid  to  the  master 
Term-fee,  letters,  and  messages 


1     8    4 


Attorney. 

£    s.    d. 


0    0        0    7  10 


0 

0 

0 

0    3 

4 

0 

1 

0 

0    4 

0 

0 

0 

0 

0    3 

4 

0 

0 

0 

0  10 

6 

0 

8 

0 

0    0 

0 

15     9        3  15     2 


0 

0 

0 

0 

c 

8 

0 

0 

0 

0 

5 

0 

0 

0 

0 

0 

2 

6 

0 

3 

0 

0 

a 

0 

0 

3 

4 

0 

8 

3 

0 

0 

0 

0 

3 

4 

0 

0 

0 

0 

3 

4 

0 

10 

0 

0 

0 

0 

0 

I 

0 

0 

3 

4 

0 

0 

6 

0 

0 

0 

0 

0 

0 

0 

6 

8 

0 

0 

0 

0 

13 

4 

0 

0 

0 

0 

3 

4 

0 

1 

0 

0 

3 

4 

1 

0 

0 

0 

0 

3 

4 

0 

0 

0 

0 

13 

4 

0 

0 

0 

0 

12 

6 

0 

6 

0 

0 

3 

4 

0 

0 

0 

0 

3 

4 

0 

0 

0 

0 

3 

4 

0 

3 

0 

0 

0 

0 

0 

0 

0 

0 

15 

0 

5  18  11 


SHERIFF'S  OFFICE. 

For  every  Writ  of  Capias  ad  Satisfaciendum,  where  f  i2d.  out  of  every  20s.  for 
a  caption  is  made,  and  Writ  of  Fieri  Facias,     '^.tJ^T^Tont^x^-S^ 

where  a  levy  is  made.  L  rate  writ  in  case  of  sale. 

Writ  of  capias  ad  respondendum,  where  arrest  is  made,  10*. ;  bail  bond, 
where  bail  is  taken  on  the  same,  \l. ;  assignment  of  ditto  when  called  for 
5s.;  summons  duly  served,  bs. ;  Replevin  bond  above  50/.,  1/. ;  ditto  under 
60/.,  10*,;  bond  of  indemnity,  1/  ;  writ  of  execution,  hab.  fac.  pos.  l/.l*. ; 
for  executing  an  attachment,  1/.  \s.;  attending  to  strike  special  juries, 
I/.  l.v.  ;  each  copy  of  list  of  jurors,  bs.;  each  trial  by  common  jury,  21. 


;ket. 

Attorney. 

d. 

£   s.    d. 

0 

0     0     0 

0 

0    0    0 

0 

0    4    0 

0 

0    0    0 

0 

0    3    0 

0 

0    0    6 

6 

0 

0 

0 

6 

0 

0 

0 

6 

0 

5 

0 

0 

0 

0 

0 

6 

0 

3 

6 

0 

0 

0 

G 

COURT  OF  requests'  COSTS.  327 

COURT  OF  REQUESTS. 

TABLE  OF  FEES  FOK  PLAINTIFFS. 

Where  sum  sued  for-  does  riot  exceed  Forty  Shillings. 


For  entering;-  every  plaint  and  cause  for  trial,  and  issuing 
every  summons  .  .  .1 

For  servinj?  such  summons  .  .  .1 

For  trial  of  the  cause  and  entering  judgment  .        2 

For  writ  of  execution  .  . '  .1 

For  serving  or  executing  the  same  .  .        2 

For  subpoena  .  .  .  .0 

For  copy  of  plaintiflF's  particulars,  if  defendant  should  re- 
quire a  copy  .  .  .  .00006 

When  Sum  sued  for  does  not  exceed  Four  Pounds. 

For  entering  every  plaint  and  cause  for  trial,  and  issuing 
every  summons  .  .  .1 

For  serving  such  summons  .  .  .1 

For  trial  of  the  cause  and  entering  judgment  .        2 

For  writ  of  execution  .  .  .  .1 

For  serving  or  executing  the  same  .  .        2 

For  subposna       .  .  .  .  .        0 

For  copy  of  plaintiff's  particulars,  if  defendent  should  re- 
quire a  copy  .  .  .  .00006 

Where  Sum  sued  for  does  not  exceed  Six  Pounds. 

For  entering  every  plaint  and  cause  for  trial,  and  issuing 
every  summons        .  ..." 

For  serving  such  summons 

For  trial  of  the  cause  and  entering  judgment 

For  writ  of  execution  .... 

For  serving  or  executing  the  same 

For  subpoena  .  .  ... 

For  copy  of  plaintiff's  particulars,  if  defendant  should  re- 
quire a  cojjy  .  .  .  .00006 

Where  Sum  sued  for  does  not  exceed  Eight  Pounds. 

For  entering  every  plaint  and  cause  for  trial,  and  issuing 
every  summons  .  .  .         .         2 

For  serving  such  summons         .  .  .2 

For  trial  of  the  cause  and  entering  judgment  .        3 

For  writ  of  execution  .  .  .1 

For  serving  or  executing  the  same  .  .        3 

For  subpoena  .  .  .  .0 

For  copy  of  plaintiff's  particulars,  if  defendant  should  re- 
quire a  copy        .  .  .  .00006 

Where  the  Sum  sued  for  does  not  exceed  Ten  Pounds. 

For  entering  every  plaint  and  cause  for  trial,  and  issuing 

every  summons  .  .  ..30 

For  serving  such  summons  .  .30 

For  trial  of  the  cause  and  entering  judgment  .         4     0 


2    0 

0 

0 

0 

2    0 

0 

0 

0 

3    0 

0 

7 

0 

1     0 

0 

0 

0 

3     0 

0 

4 

0 

0    0 

0 

0 

6 

6 

0 

0 

0 

6 

0 

0 

0 

6 

0 

8 

6 

0 

0 

0 

0 

6 

0 

4 

6 

0 

0 

0 

6 

0 

0 

0 

0 

0 

0 

0 

10 

0 

d. 

£ 

S.      (I. 

0 

0 

0    0 

0 

0 

5    0 

0 

0 

0    0 

328  FOLIC R  OF  NEW  SOUTH  WALES. 

Out  of  Pocket.        Attorney. 
s. 
For  writ  of  execution        .  .  .  .         1 

For  serving  or  executing  the  same  .  .        4 

For  subpoena  .  .  .  .  .0 

For  copy  of  plaintifPs  particulars,  if  defendant  require  a 

copy  .      .  .  .,  .00006 

Extra  expenses  on  issuing  summons  required  to  be  served  in  the  country 
districts,  at  a  greater  distance  than  twenty  miles  from  the  townships  in 
which  the  court  is  held,  at  the  rate  of  Ad.  per  mile. 

Court  of  Requests  are  held  at  Sydney  on  the  first  Thursday  and  following 
davs  in  the  respective  months  of  January,  February,  March,  May,  June, 
July,  August,  September,  November,  and  December ;  and  in  the  other 
principal  towns,  at  fixed  periods,  in  January,  April,  July,  and  October. 

Police. — This  important  branch  of  civil  hfe  is  well  ma- 
naged in  New  South  Wales.  There  are  Benches  of  stipen- 
diary as  well  as  unpaid  magistrates  in  Sydney,  and  at  the 
principal  towns  throughout  the  colony,  aided  by  head  con- 
stables, and  a  civil  and  military  police  force  at  each  station : 
— If  reference  be  had  to  the  nature  of  the  community, 
crimes  may  be  considered  unfrequent,  and  their  detection 
speedy.  The  following  police  regulations*  for  Sydney  will 
shew  the  nature  and  extent  of  the  vigilant  controul  executed. 

Constables  have  authority  to  apprehend  all  persons  found  drunk 
in  the  streets,  at  any  hour  of  the  day,  and  all  drunken  and  disorderly 
persons,  and  all  persons  who  cannot  give  a  satisffictory  account  of 
themselves,  between  sun-set  and  the  hour  of  eight  in  the  morning ; 
and  constables  of  the  night  are  empowered  to  take  bail  for  the  ap- 
pearance before  a  justice,  of  persons  apprehended  during  the  night. 
Any  person  assaulting  or  resisting  a  constable  in  the  execution  of  his 
duty,  to  pay  a  fine  of  5s.     Publicans  or  others  harbouring  constables 
when  they  should  be  on  duty,  to  be  fined  not  exceeding  5L     Shops 
not  to  be  kept  open  on  the  Lord's  day  5  excepting  butchers',  bakers', 
fishmongers',  and  greengrocers',  until  ten  in  the  morning,  bakers 
between  one  and  two  in  the  afternoon,  and  apothecaries  at  any  hour. 
Offenders  to  be  fined  not  less  than  \l.  nor  exceeding  i}/.     Owners  of 
billiard  rooms,  or  other  places  of  amusement,  suffering  persons  to 
play  on  Sunday,  to  be  fined  5/.  or  not  less  than  3/.     Justices  to  dis- 
perse all  meetings  for  the  purpose  of  gambling  on  Sundays,  and  to 
seize  all  implements  or  animals  used,  or  intended  to  be  used  therein, 
and  all  persons  found  gambling  to  be  prosecuted.     Any  person  da- 
maging any  public  building,  &c.  to  pay  for  repairing  the  same,  and, 
if  done  wilfully,   shall  forfeit  not  more   than   20Z.  nor  less   than  5 Z. 
Any  person  casting  filth  or  rubbish  into  sewers  or  wiitercourses,  or 

*  I  give  these  regulations  as  a  guide  for  other  colonies. 


SYDNEY  MUNICIPAL  REGULATIONS.  329 

obstructing  or  diverting-  the  passage  of  the  same,  shall  forfeit  not  ex- 
ceeding 51.  nor  less  than    ll. ;  and  also  pay  costs  of  repairs.     Any 
person  injuring  any  public  fountain,  pump,  cock,  or  waterpipe,  shall 
pay  for  repairs  ;  and  if  done  wilfully,  shall  forfeit  not  exceeding  5/. 
nor  less  than  1/. ;  any  person  keeping  a  private  key  for  the  purpose 
of  opening  any  cock,  or  clandestinely  appropriating  to  his  own  use 
the  water  from  any  public  fountain,  &c.  shall  forfeit  not  exceeding 
9,01.  nor  less  than  51. ;  any  person  opening,  or  leaving  open,   any 
public  fountain,  &c.  so  that  the  water  run  to  waste,  shall  forfeit  not 
exceeding  21.   nor  less  than  5s.  ;  persons   washing  clothes   at  any 
public  fountain,  &c.  shall  forfeit  not  exceeding  1 1,  nor  less  than  5s. 
Any  person   beating  carpets,  flying  kites,  breaking,  exercising,  or 
exposing  for  sale  any  horse  or  horses,  throwing  rubbish,  ashes,  offal, 
&c.   upon  any  carriage-way,   foot-way,  street,   or  public  place ;  or 
slaughtering  any  cattle,  swine  or  sheep  in  or  near  any  street,  &c.  so 
that  any  blood  or  filth  shall  flow  on  to  any  carriage-way  or  foot  way  ; 
or  rolling,  driving,  or  placing  upon  any  foot- way,  any  waggon,  cart, 
or  other  carriage,  or  any  wheelbarrow,  truck,  hogshead,  barrel,  &c ; 
or  wilfully  leading,  riding,  or  driving  any  horse  or  other  beast  upon 
any  foot- way,  shall  forfeit  not  exceeding  40s.  nor  less  than  5s.     Any 
person  placing  any  shew-board,  stall-board,   goods,  wares,  or  mer- 
chandise, or  other  articles  upon  any  carriage-way,  or  foot-way,  or 
suffering  any  coach,   waggon,  or  other  carriage  to  remain  on  any 
carriage-way  a  longer  time  than  is  necessary  to  unload  the  same,  or 
placing,  or  leaving  timber,  stones,  or  other  building  materials  on  any 
carriage-way  or  foot-way  (unless   inclosed  by  a  board),  or  hanging 
meat  or  offal  on  the  outside  of  any  building,  over  any  such  carriage 
or  foot-way,  and  not  removing  the  same  when  required  so  to  do  ;  or, 
after  having  removed  them,  again  replacing  any  of  the  said  articles 
upon,  or  over  any  of  the  said  carriage  or  foot-ways,  shall  forfeit  for 
the  first  offence,  not  exceeding  40s.  nor  less  than  5s.  ;   and  any  justice 
or  constable  may  seize  any  of  the  i;aid  articles  so  found,  and  detain 
them  until  the  said  penalties,  and  the  expenses  of  removing  and 
keeping  the  said  articles,  shall  be  paid  ;  perishable  articles  to  be 
given  to  the  Benevolent  Asylum,  other  articles,  if  not  claimed  within 
five  days,  to  be  appraised  and  sold.     If  any  person  shall  offend  a 
second  time  against  any  of  the  provisions  of  the  last  clause,  any  jus- 
tice or  constable  may  seize  any  of  the  articles  so  found  without  giv- 
ing notice  to  the  owners  thereof,  and  the  offenders  shall  be  liable  to 
the  same  penalties  and  punishments  as  are  provided  in  the  last  clause. 
Persons  may  place  awnings  in  front  of  shops  or  houses.     Awning  to 
be  seven  feet  from  height  of  foot-way  ;  the  posts  to  be  placed  at  the 
outer  edge  of  the  foot-way.     Any  person  discharging  fire-arms,  or 
letting  off  fire- works  in  any  street  or  public  place,  shall  forfeit  not 
exceeding  51.   nor  less  than  10s.     Any  person  burning  shavings  or 
other  matters  in  any  street  or  public  place,  shall  forfeit  not  exceed- 
ing 40s.  nor  less  than  5s.     Any  person  found  bathing  in  Sydney 
Cove  or  Darling  Harbour,  between  six  in  the  morning  and  eight  in 
the  evening,  shall  forfeit   not  exceeding  1  /.     Constables  may  appre- 


330  FINES  AND  PENALTIES  ATTENDANT 

hend  all  persons  so  found.  Swine  not  to  be  kept  within  forty  yards 
of  any  street  or  public  place ;  nor  swine,  horses,  sheep,  or  other 
cattle  to  stray  about  or  be  tethered  in  any  street  or  public  place. 
Offenders  shall  forfeit  not  exceeding  40i*.  nor  less  than  5s.  Any  pig- 
stye,  SiC.  becoming  a  nuisance,  justices  may  order  the  same  to  be 
removed^  persons  neglecting  to  remove  such  nuisance,  shall  forfeit 
lOl.  and  oftenders  may  also  be  indicted  at  Quarter  Sessions.  Owners 
or  occupiers  of  houses  neglecting  to  keep  clean  all  private  passages, 
yards,  &c.  so  as  to  cause  a  nuisance,  shall  forfeit  not  exceeding  40s. 
nor  less  than  10s.  Justices  or  constables  may  inspect  butchers' 
shambles  and  slaughter-houses,  for  the  purpose  of  seeing  that  the 
same  are  properly  cleansed,  and  giving  directions  respecting  the 
same  ;  any  person  obstructing  such  inspection,  or  refusing  to  comply 
with  such  directions,  shall  forfeit  not  exceeding  40s.  nor  less  than 
10s.  Any  person  hauling,  drawing,  or  trailing  timber,  except  upon 
a  wheeled  carriage,  or  suffering  any  timber  to  trail  upon  the  streets 
to  the  injury  thereof,  obstructing  the  way  by  suffering  any  timber, 
&c.  to  hang  over  beyond  the  breadth  of  the  carriage  conveying  the 
same,  shall  forfeit  11,  over  and  above  the  damage  occasioned  there- 
by.    Constables  may  apprehend  all  offenders. 

All  areas,  cellar-doors,  coal-holes,  &c.  to  be  well  and  securely 
guarded  with  railings,  trap-doors,  &c.  so  as  to  prevent  danger  to 
passengers  ;  persons  leaving  the  same  open  longer  than  absolutely 
necessary,  or  not  keeping  such  railings,  trap-doors,  &c.  in  good  re- 
pair, shall  forfeit  not  less  than  2L  nor  exceeding  ol.  After  the  pas- 
sing of  this  act,  no  person  shall  make  any  cellar,  or  any  opening 
door  or  window,  in,  or  under  any  foot-way.  Offenders  shall  forfeit 
51.  over  and  above  the  expense  of  remedying  or  removing  such  cel- 
lar, &c.  All  wells  to  be  securely  and  permanently  covered  in  and 
pumps  fixed  therein,  within  three  months  after  the  passing  of  this 
act.  Persons  failing  to  do  so  shall  forfeit  2s.  6d.  for  every  day  such 
well  shuU  remain  open  or  uncovered.  Persons  digging  holes  for 
vaults,  foundations,  &c.  shall  cause  the  same  to  be  fenced  in,  as  shall 
be  directed  by  the  Town  Surveyor,  and  keep  a  light  burning  upon 
the  said  inclosure  from  sun-set  to  sun-rise.  Persons  neglecting  or 
refusing  shall  forfeit  not  less  than  21.  nor  exceeding  51.  After  the 
expiration  of  twelve  months,  all  houses  or  other  buildings  to  be  pro- 
vided with  gutters,  &c.  so  as  to  prevent  rain  from  dropping  from 
the  eaves  on  the  foot-ways.  Penalty  for  neglect.  5s.  on  conviction, 
and  a  like  sum  for  every  day  that  the  same  shall  remain  without 
remedy.  Any  person  carting  night  soil,  &c.  between  five  in  the 
morning  and  ten  at  night :  or  filling  the  carts,  &c.  therewith,  so  as 
to  cast  any  of  the  said  filtli  upon  the  public  streets  or  places  shall 
forfeit  51. ;  and  any  person  or  persons  coming  with  carts  for  that 
purpose,  except  between  ten  at  night  and  five  in  the  morning,  or 
casting  any  night  soil  in  or  near  any  street  or  public  place  shall  be 
apprehended  and  committed  to  the  gaol  or  house  of  correction,  for 
any  time  not  exceeding  thirty  days,  and  the  owners  or  employers  of 
such  carts,  Ike.  so  employed,  shall  forfeit  51.     No  person  shall  ereet 


ON  BREACHES  OF  THE  REGULATIONS.  oSl 

any  scaffolding,  hoard,  or  other  inclosure,  without  leave  or  license  of 
the  Town  Surveyor,  the  person  applying  to  pay  'is.  (hi.  for  such 
license,  which  shall  express  the  time  the  said  hoard,  &c.  may  be  con- 
tinued set  up  ;  persons  erecting  or  setting  up  such  hoard,  &c.  with- 
out such  license,  or  continuing  the  same  a  longer  time  than  speci- 
fied, shall  forfeit  10s.  for  every  day  that  the  same  shall  have  been 
and  shall  be  set  up  and  continued ;  and  the  said  Surveyor  may  cause 
the  same  to  be  pulled  down  and  removed,  and  the  parties  offending 
shall  pay  the  costs  of  such  removal,  and  if  the  materials  are  not 
claimed  within  five  days  they  shall  be  sold.  Any  person  breaking, 
injuring,  or  extinguishing  any  lamp  set  up  for  public  convenience, 
shall  pay  the  expense  of  repairing  the  same,  and  also  forfeit  not  less 
than  \l.  nor  exceeding  51.;  constables  may  apprehend  all  persons  so 
found  offending.  Any  person  throwing  any  dead  animal  into  Sydney 
Cove  or  Darling  Harbour,  or  leaving  the  same  on  the  shores  thereof, 
shall  forfeit  H.  or  not  less  than  5s. ;  all  persons  so  offending  maybe 
apprehended.  Any  persons  desirous  of  blasting  any  rock  within  the 
limits  of  the  Town  of  Sydney,  shall  give  notice  in  writing  24  hours 
previously,  to  the  Town  Surveyor,  who  shall  appoint  the  time  when 
the  same  may  take  place,  and  give  such  other  directions  as  he  may 
think  necessary.  Offenders  shall  forfeit  not  less  than  10/.  nor  ex- 
ceeding 9,01.  Any  person  digging  or  opening  drains  or  sewers,  or 
breaking  up  the  carriage  or  foot-ways,  without  leave  of  the  Town 
Surveyor,  shall  forfeit  5/.  or  not  less  than  IZ.  Drivers  of  waggons,  carts, 
&c.  riding  on  the  same  without  having  some  person  on  foot  to  guide 
them  (excepting  light  carts  drawn  by  one  horse  and  guided  with 
reins),  or  remaining  at  such  a  distance,  or  in  such  a  situation,  that 
they  cannot  have  the  direction  of  the  horses  or  cattle  drawing  the 
same,  or  not  keeping  on  the  left  or  near  side  of  the  street,  or  wil- 
fully preventing  any  other  person  from  passing,  or  wilfully  inter- 
rupting the  free  passage  of  any  other  person,  shall  forfeit  not  less 
than  10s.  nor  exceeding  40s. ;  constables  may  apprehend  all  persons 
so  found  offending.  Any  person  negligently,  carelessly,  or  furiously 
riding  or  driving  through  the  streets,  so  as  to  endanger  the  safety  of 
any  other  person,  shall  forfeit  lOZ.  or  not  less  than  2/.  Persons 
driving  cattle  intended  for  sale  or  slaughter  into  the  Town  of  Sydney 
north  of  the  New  Cattle  Market,  excepting  between  the  hours  of 
twelve  at  night  and  six  in  the  morning,  shall  forfeit  10s.  for  each  and 
every  head  of  cattle  so  driven.  Persons  pasting  or  affixing  any  pla- 
card or  other  paper  upon  any  wall,  house  or  building,  or  defacing 
such  wall,  &c.  by  chalk  or  paint,  or  in  any  other  manner,  shall  for- 
feit 10s.  All  seamen  or  mariners  found  in  public-houses,  or  in  the 
streets,  after  the  hour  of  nine  at  night,  or  before  sun-rise  in  the 
morning,  without  having  a  written  pass  from  the  master  of  the  ves- 
sel to  which  they  belong,  or  a  discharge  from  the  vessel  to  which 
they  last  belonged,  to  be  taken  into  custody.     Assigned  servants*  or 

*  This  term  signifievS  also  convicts  who  are  assigned  to  free  persons  as 
servants. 


3S2      REGULATIONS  FOR  PORTERS,  CARTERS,  AND  BOATMEN. 

convicts  in  the  employ  of  the  Crown  found  in  the  streets,  &c.  be- 
tween sun-set  and  sun-rise,  without  a  written  pass,  shall  be  appre- 
hended and  dealt  with  as  for  disorderly  conduct.  Surveyor  General, 
within  one  month  after  the  passing  of  this  act,  to  set  out,  describe, 
and  mark  with  sufficient  marks  the  limits  of  the  Town  and  Port  of 
Sydney,  Sydney  Cove,  and  Darling  Harbour,  the  same  to  be  pub- 
lished in  the  Government  Gazette  ;  Surveyor  General  may  enter  upon 
any  premises  for  the  purpose  of  keeping  said  marks  in  repair  ;  any 
person  destroying  or  injviring  said  marks,  shall  forfeit  5Z.  for  the 
first  offence,  lOl.  for  the  second,  and  9,01.  for  the  third  and  every  sub- 
sequent offence.  Justices  to  perambulate  the  said  limits  in  Easter 
week  once  in  every  year  ;  persons  obstructing  said  justices,  or  any 
of  their  Assistants,  to  forfeit  51.  Town  Surveyor  may  mark  upon 
the  walls  of  any  house,  the  name  of  the  street,  &c.  and  allot  num- 
bers to  the  houses  3  such  number  to  be  painted  or  affixed  on  the 
door  by  the  occupier  of  the  house,  within  fourteen  days  after  notice. 
Persons  refusing  or  neglecting,  shall  forfeit  10s.  and  the  like  sum  for 
every  week  the  said  neglect  continues.  Foot- ways,  as  far  as  practi- 
cable, to  be  levelled,  and  all  steps  and  other  obstructions  may  be 
removed  ;  and  persons  desirous  of  paving,  gravelling,  or  fixing  curb 
stones  to  the  foot-ways  in  front  of  their  houses,  to  give  24  hours 
notice  thereof  to  the  Town  Surveyor,  or  forfeit  not  less  than  51.  nor 
exceeding  lOZ.  Surveyor  may  remove  all  work  executed  contrary  to 
his  directions.  Any  person  or  persons  obstructing,  hindering,  or 
molesting  any  Surveyor  or  other  person  authorised  to  put  this 
Act  in  execution,  shall  forfeit,  for  the  first  offence,  51. ;  for  the 
second,  lOZ. ;  and  for  the  third  and  any  subsequent  offence,  20/. 
Carters  plying  for  hire,  to  be  registered  at  the  Police  Office,  and 
receives  a  license,  for  which  2s.  6d.  shall  be  paid  3  carters  plying  with- 
out such  license  shall  forfeit  for  every  such  offence  1  /.  and  Justices 
to  appoint  proper  places  where  licensed  carters  may  stand  and  ply 
for  hire  ;  carters  plying  at  any  other  place  shall  forfeit  for  every 
such  offence  10s.  The  name,  place  of  abode,  number  of  license,  and 
the  words  "  licensed  cart  or  dray"  (as  the  case  may  be)  to  be  painted 
in  letters  one  inch  long,  upon  the  right  or  off  side  of  such  cart  or 
dray,  or  forfeit  1/.  ;  persons  not  licensed,  plying  a  cart  or  dray 
■whereon  the  words  "  licensed  cart  or  dray"  are  painted,  shall  forfeit 
ll.  Every  person  plying  for  hire  as  a  porter,  shall  register  his  name 
and  place  of  abode  at  the  Police  Office,  and  receive  a  badge,  which 
he  shall  wear  on  the  left  breast  of  his  coat  or  jacket  5  persons  plying 
without  such  license,  or  being  licensed,  without  such  badge,  shall 
forfeit  10s.  and  for  such  register  and  badge,  each  porter  shall  pay 
5s.  Every  boatman  desirous  to  ply  for  hire  in  Sydney  Cove  or  Dar- 
ling Harbour,  shall  register  his  name  and  place  of  abode  at  the  Police 
Ofhce,  and  receive  a  badge,  which  he  shall  wear  on  the  left  breast 
of  his  coat  or  jacket,  for  which  he  shall  pay  5s.  j  boatmen  plying 
without  such  license,  or  being  hcensed,  without  such  badge  shall 
forfeit  10s.  for  every  offence  5  and  licensed  boatmen  must  have  their 
name  and  place  of  abode  ptiinlcd  in  letters  one  inch  long  on  the  in- 


POST  OFFICE  DEPARTMENT. 


333 


side  of  the  gunwale  of  the  stern-sheets  of  their  boats,  and  their  num- 
ber on  the  inside  of  the  gunwale  of  the  fore-sheets,  or  forfeit  ll. ; 
any  person  not  licensed  plying-  with  a  boat  numbered,  &c.  as  afore- 
said, shall  forfeit  ll.  Justices  at  Quarter  Sessions  in  the  month  of 
October  this  year,  and  in  April  and  October  in  every  succeeding 
years,  to  regulate  the  rates  and  fares  to  be  charged  by  licensed  car- 
ters, porters  and  boatmen,  and  also  the  distances  to  which  they  shall 
be  liable  to  go ;  carters  charging  higher  rates  than  so  fixed,  shall 
forfeit  ll.  or  refusing  to  carry  a  good  and  suflficient  load,  or  refusing 
to  hire  his  cart  or  dray  when  thereto  required,  shall  forfeit  1/.  or  not 
less  than  5s.  Justices  to  determine  complaints  as  to  distances  car- 
ters, porters,  or  boatmen  may  be  entitled  to  charge  ;  costs  to  be  paid 
by  the  party  against  whom  decisions  shall  be  given.  Any  unlicensed 
person  wearing  a  badge  as  a  licensed  porter  or  boatmen,  or  any 
licensed  j)orter  or  boatman  lending  his  license  or  badge  to  any  other 
person,  shall  forfeit  IZ.  Any  licensed  carter,  porter,  or  boatman 
found  guilty  of  dishonest  or  improper  conduct,  shall  be  deprived  of 
his  license.  Justices  to  make  rules  for  the  regulation  of  markets 
and  market  wharfs,  and  to  enforce  such  rules  by  imposing  fines  and 
penalties ;  such  rules  to  be  painted  on  a  board  and  set  up  in  some 
conspicuous  place  in  or  near  such  markets.  Persons  may  be  sum- 
moned as  witnesses  ;  such  persons  being  so  summoned  and  neglect- 
ing or  refusing  to  attend,  shall  forfeit  not  less  than  .5L  nor  exceeding 
lOl.  All  fines,  &c.  imposed  by  this  act,  shall  be  paid  in  such  time 
as  the  justice  or  justices  shall  direct,  and  in  default  of  payment  shall 
be  levied  by  distress  and  sale  of  goods  and  chattels  ;  if  sufficient  dis- 
tress shall  not  be  found  offenders  to  be  committed  to  gaol  for  any 
time  not  less  than  14  days,  nor  exceeding  6  months.  Persons  con- 
victed for  any  offence  against  this  act,  in  any  penalty  above  51.  may 
appeal  to  the  Quarter  Sessions  if  they  feel  aggrieved.  Proceedings 
not  to  be  quashed  for  want  of  form  ;  no  certiorari  allowed,  and  all 
actions  against  any  person  for  any  thing  done  in  pursuance  of  this 
act,  shall  be  commenced  within  two  calendar  months  after  the  fact 
committed,  and  not  otherwise,  and  one  month's  notice  of  such  action 
shall  be  given  j  and  one  half  of  fines  and  penalties  not  otherwise 
specially  appropriated,  shall  be  given  to  the  informer^  and  the  resi- 
due to  the  King. 

Post  Office,  Roads,  and  Mail  and  Stage  Coaches. — 
The  actual  condition  of  a  distant  place  is  generally  best  con- 
veyed by  giving  an  outline  of  what  may  appear  trifling  do- 
mestic matters,  but  which  really  indicate  in  the  most  striking 
manner  the  progress  of  a  young  community ;  in  placing  this 
section  before  the  reader,  I  do  so  with  a  view  to  impress  on 
the  minds  of  those  who  have  never  visited  New  South  Wales, 
that,  although  less  than  half  a  century  ago  its  territory  was  a 
pathless  forest,  and  its  denizens  the  wild  and  roving  savage 


334        DISTANCES  OF  POST  TOWNS  IN  NEW  SOUTH  WALES. 


before  described,  yet,  that  at  present,  its  surface  is  covered 
with  excellent  roads*  and  bridges  (the  former,  in  some 
places,  crossing  lofty  mountains,  and  rivalling  the  far-famed 
Simplon),  along  which  there  is  a  daily  increasing  traffic, 
bringing  into  close  intercourse  the  remotest  parts  of  the 
colony,  while  the  introduction  of  locomotive  power,  by  sea 
and  land,  will  tend  to  accelerate  the  progress  of  a  civilization, 
which  every  Briton  ought  to  feel  proud  of. 

A  Table  of  Distances  between  the  several  Post  Towns  in  New  South 
Wales,  accordino-  to  the  actual  Route  of  the  Post.f 


Alcorn's  Inn. 

228i  Bathurst. 

217 

201^  Bong  Bong. 

169 

153 J      48 

Campbelltown. 

182 

46i 

155 

107,  u>t   Cnllit's  Inn. 

9 

219i 

208 

160|     57 

173 

Darlington. 

257 

2414 

40 

88;    w 

195 

248 

Goulburn. 

257 

241^ 

40 

88 

w 

195 

248 

36  Inverarj-. 

35 

263^ 

252 

204 

101 

217 

44 

292 

292  Invermein. 

157 

141i 

60 

12 

w 

95 

148 

100 

100   192 

Liverpool. 

41 

2I8i 

207 

159 

25 

172 

32 

247 

247|    76 

147  Maitland. 

66 

223^ 

212 

164 

25 

177 

57 

252 

252     101 

152 

25 

Newcastle. 

122 

106i 

95 

47 

w 

60 

1131    136 

I36i  157 

9 

112 

117 

Paramatta. 

48 

225i 

214 

166 

20 

179 

39    254 

254'      83 

154 

7 

25 

119 

Paterson. 

140 

88i 

113 

65 

w 

42 

131     153 

153     175 

53 

130 

135 

18 

137  Penrith. 

137 

121^ 

80 

32 

w 

75 

128     120 

120^    172 

20 

127 

132 

,5 

l34|33(Sydney. 

142 

126i 

113 

67 

w   1     80 

133     155 

155     177 

55 

132 

137 

20 

139 

38  35 

Windsor. 

197  I 

181^ 

76 

28 

tv  1 

135! 

188 

116 

116    232 

40 

187 

192 

75 

194 

93  60 

95|wollongonf 

*  The  rates  of  postage  for  a  single  letter  vary  from  4d.  to  \2d.,  —  viz^ 
from  Sydney  to  Paramatta,  16  miles  distance,  4r/.,  and  from  Sydney  to 
Bathurst,  121  miles  distance,  \2d.  Newspapers  printed  in  the  colony.  Id. 
each  ;  if  recei\ed  from  England  or  elsewhere,  2d.  Between  New  South 
Wales  and  Van  Uiemen's  Land  there  is  a  sea  postage  of  3d.  (in  addition  to 
the  inland  postage),  and  from  other  places  4d.  sea  postage. 

f  There  are  only  six  toll  or  turnpike  gates  in  the  colony, — viz.  one  at 
Sydney,  three  at  Paramatta,  one  at  Liverpool,  and  one  at  Windsor  ;  and 
there  are  three  ferries  or  fords  where  dues  are  demandable, — viz.  Paramatta 
River,  Emuford,  and  the  Hawkesbury.  The  lolls  are  for  a  sheep,  pig,  or 
goat,  id. ;  head  of  cattle,  \d. ;  horse,  2d. ;  cart,  two  wheels  and  with  one 
horse,  3d.  ;  two  ditto,  4d. ;  three  ditto,  5d. ;  four  ditto,  (id. ;  carriage  and 
pair,  1*.  Double  tolls  demandable  on  Sundays.  The  Sydney  gate  is  rented 
at  several  thousand  pounds  sterling  jtcr  annum. 

X  w  The  distance  not  given,  being  partly  or  wholly  I)y  water. 


ARRANGEMENT  OF  THE  ROYAL  MAILS  AT  SYDNEY.         335 

Arrangement  for  the  Despatch  and  Arrival  of  the  different 
Mails,  from  and  to  the  General  Post  Office,  Sydney. 

Dep-vrtures.  Paramatta  Royal  Mail. — Every  afternoon,  at  4 
o'clock,  taking  all  letters  for  Prospect,  Baulkham  Hills,  Field  of 
Mars,  Seven  Hills,  Toongabbee,  Castle  Hills,  I'ennant  Hills,  Kissing 
Point,  Black  Town,  Bungarrabbee,  Rooty  Hill,  Shane's  Park,  and 
the  surrounding  country. 

Liverpool  Royal  Mail. — Daily  at  4  o'clock,  p.  m.  taking  all  letters 
for  Bringelly,  Cook,  Irish  Town,  Cabramatta,  Lower  Minto,  Banks 
Town,  Cobbity,  Denham  Court,  Cecil  Hills,  and  Leppington. 

Windsor  Royal  Mail. — Daily  at  4  o'clock,  p.  m.  taking  all  letters 
for  Wilberforce,  Richmond,  Pitt  Town,  Freeman's  Reach,  Cornwallis, 
Clarendon,  Portland  Head,  and  the  different  settlers  on  the  Banks  of 
the  River  Hawkesbury. 

Campbell-town  Royal  Mail. — Daily  at  4  o'clock  p.  jf,  taking  all 
letters  for  Narellan,  Camden,  Brovvnlow,  Cowpastures,  Elderslie, 
Stonequarry,  Airds,  Appin,  Upper  Minto,  East  Bargo,  and  Barra- 
gurang. 

Wolongong  Royal  Mail. — Every  Thursday,  at  4  o'clock,  p.  m.  tak- 
ing all  letters  for  Kiama,  Goringong,  and  the  districts  of  Illawarra. 

Penrith  Royal  Mail. — Every  Monday  and  Thursday,  at  4  o'clock, 
.  p.  M.  taking  all  letters  for  Hebersham,  Castlereagh,  Emu  Plains,  Evan, 
Mount  Druitt,  Regent  Ville,  Mulgoa,  Melville,  and  the  diiferent  set- 
tlers on  the  Banks  of  the  Nepean. 

Bathurst  Royal  Mail. — Every  Monday  and  Tuesday,  at  4  o'clock, 
p.  M.  taking  all  letters  to  King's  Plains,  Mandurama,  Wellington 
Valley,  and  the  surrounding  stations. 

Bong  Bong  Royal  Mail. — Every  Tuesday  and  Friday,  at  4  o'clock, 
p.  M.  taking  all  letters  for  Mittagong,  Winjeecarribbee,  Oldbury, 
Newbury,  Sutton  Forest,  Brillio,  and  the  surrounding  stations. 

Goulhurn  Royal  Mail. — Every  Tuesday  afternoon ;  taking  all 
letters  to  Eden  Forest,  WoUondilly,  Tarano,  Kenmore,  Rossiville, 
Strathallan,  Catawalla,  Lake  George,  Yass's  Plains,  Breadalbane, 
Plains,  IMurrumbidgee,  and  the  establishments  at  Lake  Bathurst. 

Inverary  Royal  Mail. — Every  Tuesday,  at  4  o'clock,  p.  m.  taking 
all  letters  for  Mount  Elrington,  Lumley,  Arnprior,  Narriga,  Jane 
Vale,  Isabella  Plains,  Mount  Manton,  Curraducbidgee,  and  the  Shoal 
Haven  Settlements. 

Newcastle,  Maitland,  Patterson,  Darlington,  Alcorns  Inn,  and 
Invermein  Mails. — Three  times  a  week,  or  as  often  as  the  Packets 
sail  for  Newcastle,  and  Green  Hills,  taking  all  letters  for  Clarence 
Town,  Wallaroba,  St.  Hilier's,  Segenhoe,  Jerry's  Plains,  Dulwich, 
WoUombi,  and  the  different  Establishments  on  the  Hunter,  William, 
and  Paterson's  River. 

Port  Stephen  Mail. — By  the  Company's  cutter  Lamhton,  or  as 
often  as  she  sails. 

Port  Macquarie. — As  often  as  the  Packets  sail. 


336  SYDNEY  TWOPENNY  POST  DELIVERY. 

Arrivals  of  Mails. — Paramatta,  daily  at  10,  a.m.;  Liverpool, 
ditto,  half  past  10,  a.  m.  ;  Windsor,  10,  a.  m.  ;  Campbell-town,  half 
past  10,  a.  m.  ;  Wollongong,  every  Monday,  at  half  past  10,  a.  m.  ; 
Penrith,  Wednesdays  and  Saturdays,  10,  a.  m.  ;  Bathurst,  Monday 
and  Thursday,  4,  p.  p.i.,  and  Wednesday  and  Saturday,  at  11,  p.  m.  ; 
Bong  Bong,  Tuesday  and  Friday,  at  half  past  10,  a.  m.,  and  Wednes- 
day and  Saturday ;  Goulburn,  and  Inveranj,  every  Monday,  at  half 
past  10,  A.  M.  :  from  Newcastle,  and  the  Districts  of  the  Rivers 
Hunter,  William,  and  Patersnn,  almost  daily  ;  from  Port  Stephen, 
Port  Macquarie,  Moreton  Bay,  and  Norfolk  Island,  upon  the  return 
of  the  Packets. 

General  Two-penny  Post  Office. — In  Sydney  there  are 
two  deliveries  daily.  The  letter  carriers  start  with  the  first, 
or  forenoon  delivery  immediately  after  the  arrivals  of  the 
country  mails,  or  at  11,  a.m.  precisely;  and,  at  the  second 
delivery,  at  a  quarter  past  4,  p.  m.  every  day,  Sunday  ex- 
cepted. 

The  extent  of  roads,  the  different  towns,  and  the  numerous 
stations  among  which  the  population  is  scattered,  may  be 
estimated  from  the  following  list  of  towns  and  stations,  with 
the  names  of  residents,  and  the  distance  in  miles  from  Sidney, 
as  prepared  by  authority  up  to  June,  1829  : — 

Appin*  (Cumberland),*  at  King's  Falls,  where  the  road  to  Illa- 
warra  crosses  the  George's  River,  called  in  the  neighbourhood  Tug- 
gerah  Creek,  45  ;*  Arthursleigh  (Argyle),  H.  M'Arthur,  Esq.  on 
the  WoUondilly,  near  Eden  Forest,  100  . 

Bamhalla  (Camden),  W.  Panton,  on  the  road  to  St.  Vincent  and 
Lake  Bathurst,  101  ;  Barbers  Station  (Argyle),  on  the  road  to  Lake 
Bathurst,  107  ;  Bargo  Rivulet  (Camden),  at  road,  53  ;  Bateman  Bay 
(St.  Vincent)  on  the  coast  to  the  Southward,  166  ;  Bathurst  Flag 
Staff  (Bathurst),  at  the  Township,  126  ;  Bathurst  Lake  (Argyle),  at 
the  Village  Reserve,  142  ;  Best's  Inn  (Cumberland),  on  the  road  to 
Wiseman's,  29  ;  Bilong  (Philip)  William  Lee,  on  the  Goulburn 
River,  175  ;  Bird's  Eye  Corner  (Cumberland),  Ford  over  the  Nepean 
River  at  Menangle,  38  ;  Black  Bob's  Creek  (Camden),  at  the  cross- 
ing on  the  Road  to  Goulburn,  86|  ;  Black  Head  (Camden),  a  point 
on  the  sea-coast  near  Geringong,  at  the  north  end  of  the  bay  into 
which  the  Shoalhaven  River  empties  itself,  89 ;  Bong  Bong  (Cam- 
den), Township,  81  ;  Bonnum  Pic  (Camden),  a  remarkable  point  in 

*  The  word  in  italics  denotes  the  name  of  the  town  of  station  ;  the  word 
in  parenthesis  signifies  the  county  in  which  it  is  situate  ;  and  the  figures 
indicate  the  number  of  traveHing-  miles  distant  from  Sydney. 


ROADS  THROUGHOUT  THE  COLONY.  337 

the  perpendicular  cliff  that  bounds  Burragorang,  76  ;  Booral  (Glou- 
cester), on  the  Karuah  River,  the  Australian  Agricultural  Company's 
store,  165  ;  Boro  Creek  (Argyle),  where  the  road  to  Karaduc  Bidgee 
crosses,  145  ;  Botany  Baij  (Cumberland),  South  Head  of,  called  Cape 
Solander,  by  the  Botany  Bay  Road,  across  Cook's  River,  and  along 
the  beach,  then  across  the  bay  to  Towra  Point,  18  ;  Bredalbune  Plains 
(Argyle),  at  the  commencement  of  the  first  Bredalbane  Plain,  131  j 
Bringelly  (Cumberland),  at  the  crossing  of  the  road  over  Bringelly 
Creek,  35  ;  Brisbane  Water  (Northumberland),  Bean,  an  inlet  on  the 
sea-coast,  75  ;  Buddawang  Mountain  (St.  Vincent),  between  the 
coast  and  the  Shoalhaven  River,  170;  Bulli  (Cumberland)  C.  O'Brien, 
on  the  sea-coast  at  lUawarra,  where  the  road  descends  the  moun- 
tain, 53  ;  Bidlio  Mountain  (Camden),  W.  Cordeaux,  on  the  AVollon- 
dilly,  at  the  southern  extremity  of  Burragorang,  by  way  of  Burrago- 
rang,  85  ;  Bungandow  (Murray),  Richard  Brooks,  at  the  southern 
end  of  Lake  Creorge,  160  ;  Bungarah  Norah  (Northumberland),  a 
point  near  the  Tuggerah  Beach  Lakes,  between  Broken  Bay  and 
Reid's  Mistake,  90  ;  Burra  Burra  Lagoon  (z\rgyle),  J.  M'Arthur,  at 
the  north-west  angle  of  the  country,  125  ;  Burril  Inlet  (St.  A'incent), 
south  of  and  near  UUaduUa,  139  ;  Burragorang  Mountain  (Camden), 
where  the  road  descends  into  Burragorang,  58. 

Campbell  Town  (Cumberland),  3'-2 3  Campbell  River  (Westmoreland), 
at  W.  Lawsons,  131;  Cape  Haicke  (Gloucester),  on  the  coast  near 
the  entrance  of  WaUis's  Lake,  230;  Cape  Banks  (Cumberland),  the 
northern  head  of  Botany  Bay,  11;  Camden  Park  (Camden),  J. 
M'Arthur,  Cowpastures,  40  ;  Castlereagh  Tou^n  (Cumberland),  39  ; 
Cobbitty  (Cumberland),  on  the  Nepean  River,  in  the  Parish  of  Cooke, 
37;  Collitfs  Inn  (Cooke),  at  the  foot  of  Mount  York,  on  the  road 
to  Bathurst,  81  ;  Colong  Mountain  (Westmoreland),  near  the  source 
of  Jorriland  Creek,  which  joins  the  WoUondilly,  near  Beloon  in  Bul- 
lagorang,  80 ;  Cory  Vale  (Durham)  J.  Cory,  at  the  confluence  of  the 
Rivers  AUyn  and  Paterson,  142  :  Cowpasture  Bridge  (Cumberland 
and  Camden),  over  the  Nepean,  on  the  road  to  Bong  Bong,  and  near 
the  Village  of  Narellan,  36^ ;  Coxs  Biver  Ford  (Westmoreland  and 
Cook),  on  the  road  to  Bathurst,  86  ;  Cullarin  (Argyle),  a  mountain 
in  the  dividing  range  joining  the  western  boundary  of  Argyle,  near  the 
western  extremity  of  the  third  Breadalbane  Plains,  141  ;  Currocbilly 
Mountain  (.St.  Vincent),  between  the  sea-coast  and  the  Shoalhaven 
River,  in  the  same  range,  and  north  of  Buddawang,  165  ;  Cuttaically, 
(Argyle),  G.  Vine,  near  the  source  of  the  WoUondilly  River,  151  ; 
Cutters  Inn  {Camden,)  in  the  District  of  Mittagong,  on  the  road  to 
Bong  Bong. 

Dabee  (Philip),  E.  Cox,  on  the  Cudjeegong  River,  to  the  north  of 
Bathurst,  182  ;  Dubvich  Farm  (Durham),  James  Glennie,  on  Fal- 
brook,  one  of  the  branches  of  the  Plunter,  139. 

Eden  Forest  (Argyle),  a  village  reserve  on  the  WoUondilly,  between 
Bong  Bong  and  Goulburn,  98  ;  Ellalong  Kagoon  (Northumberland), 
R.  Crawford,  near  the  source  of  the  WoUombi  Brook,  107  ;  Ellenden 

VOL.  TV.  z 


338  ROADS  AND  DISTANCES. 

(Murray),  a  mountain  on  the  east  shore  of  Lake  George,  153  j 
Elizabeth  Point  (Gloucester),  between  Sugar  Loaf  Point  and  Cape 
Hawke,  222  ;  Emu  Ford  (Cumberland  and  Cook),  over  the  Nepean, 
on  the  road  to  Bathurst,  36. 

Fish  River  Bridge  (Westmoreland  and  Cook),  on  the  road  to 
Bathurst,  100  ;   Five  Islands  (Camden)  Illawarra,  at  Red  Point,  65. 

Goulburn  Township  (Argyle),  on  the  WoUondilly,  121  ;  Gourroc 
Pic  (Murray),  a  mountain  on  the  range,  running  north-west  from  the 
Shoalhaven  River  towards  Lake  George,  163  ;  Guntawang  (Philip), 
R.  Rouse,  on  the  Cudjeegong  River  to  the  north-west  of  3Iudjee,  and 
to  the  north  of  Bathurst,  208  ;  Gurrugunguno  (Argyle),  W.  P.  Faith- 
ful, on  the  Mulwarree  Ponds,  and  on  the  south  side  of  Goulburn 
Plains,  133. 

Holdsworthy  Downs  (Brisbane),  F.  Little,  just  above  the  confluence 
of  Dart  Brook  with  Kingdom  Ponds,  178. 

Illawarra  Lake  (Camden),  by  Bong  Bong  at  the  Sand  Bar,  96; 
Illawarra  Lake  (Camden),  by  Appin  at  the  Sand  Bar,  70  ;  Inverary 
(Argyle),  D.  Read,  on  the  road  to  Lake  Bathurst,  121  ;  Jellore  Hill 
(Camden),  near  the  source  of  the  Nattai  River,  and  north-west  of 
Mittagong,  70  ;  Jembaicumbene  Swamps  (St.  Vincent),  at  its  junction 
with  the  Shoalhaven  River,  167  .;  Jeringong  (Camden),  a  village  re- 
serve at  the  extremity  of  Illawarra,  87 ;  Jerry's  Plains  (Northum- 
berland), Hunter's  River,  at  the  Township,  122  ;  Jervis  Bay,  (St. 
Vincent),  at  the  mouth  of  the  creek  on  the  reserve,  108  ;  Jincro 
(Murray),  W.  S.  Elrington,  on  the  Shoalhaven  River,  near  Gourock 
Pic,  171. 

Kiama  (Camden),  Illawarra,  at  the  Township,  84  ;  King's  Plains 
(Bathurst),  near  the  source  of  the  Belubula  Rivulet,  about  twenty 
miles  south-west  of  Bathurst,  147;  Krarwarree  (Murray),  Mrs. 
Jenkins,  station  on  the  Shoalhaven  River,  and  about  ten  miles  from 
its  source,  190  :  Kerruduc  Bidjee  Town  (Murray),  on  the  Shoalhaven 
River,  152. 

Laguna  (Northumberland),  H.  Finch,  on  Sugar  Loaf  Creek,  on 
the  road  north  from  Wiseman's,  87  j  Light  House  (Cumberland),  on 
the  South  Head  of  Port  Jackson,  7  ;  Liverpool  Town  (Cumberland), 
20  ;  Lumley  (Argyle)  R.  Futter,  on  the  road  to  Lake  Bathurst,  123  ; 
Luskintyre  (Durham),  A.  M'Leod,  on  Hunter's  River,  127- 

Macquarie  Lake  (Northumberland),  at  the  South  Head  of  Reid's 
Mistake,  the  entrance  to  the  Lake,  105  ;  Maitland  Town  (Northum- 
berland), 127  j  Mandurama  Farm  (Bathurst),  T.  Icely,  34  miles 
south-west  of  Bathurst,  on  the  Mandurama  Ponds,  a  tributary  of  the 
Belubula  Rivulet,  ]60j  Manning  River  (unnamed),  A.  P.Onslow,  on 
Jones's  Island,  near  the  mouth,  225  ;  Merulan  Mountain  (Argyle), 
between  Barker's  Station  and  Nattery  Hill,  114  ;  Meringo  (St.  Vin- 
cent), the  mouth  of  a  lagoon,  or  inlet,  near  Limpid  Lagoon,  149  j 
Merton  (Durham),  W.  Ogilvie,  Twickenham  Meadows,  near  the 
confluence  of  the  Goulburn  and  Hunter,  140j  Midway  Rivulet,  or 
Carrada  (Camden),  on  the  road  to  Goulburn,  at  Charles  Wright's, 


ROADS  AND  DISTANCES.  .339 

83  ;  Mittagong  (Camden),  at  the  reserve  on  the  road  to  Bong  Bong, 
76  ;  Molonglo  (Murray),  W.  Balcombe,  on  the  Molonglo  River,  to 
the  south  of  Lake  George,  169  j  Mo/ong-iZ/t  (Bathurst),  south-west 
of  Bathurst,  on  Limehouse  Creek,  a  tributary  of  the  Belubula  River, 
170  J  Mount  Harris  (unnamed),  near  the  termination  of  the  Mac- 
quarie,  348j  Mudjee  (Wellington  and  Philip),  W.  Lawson,  on  the 
Cudjeegong  River,  to  the  north  of  Bathurst,  190  ;  Mulgoa  Forest 
(Camden),  J.  Blaxland,  at  the  junction  of  the  Warragumba  with  the 
Nepean  River,  41 3  Mutmuthilhj  Lagoon  (Argyle),  near  the  Third 
Breadalbane  Plain,  137;  Myall  Lake,  South  (Gloucester),  at  the  en- 
trance of  the  Myall  River,  198;  Myall  Lake,  North  (Gloucester),  at 
its  northern  extremity,  915, 

Narellan  Village  (Cumberland),  35  ;  Narawalli  Inlet  (St,  Vin- 
cent), near  UUaduUa,  132  ;  Nattery  Hill  (Argyle),  near  the  farm  of 
E,  Lockyer,  on  the  WoUondilly,  114;  Newcastle  Town  (Northum- 
berland), by  the  Sugar  Loaf  Hill  Road,  132  ;  North  Harbour  Village 
(Cumberland),  recently  laid  out  at  the  head  of  that  harbour,  6  ; 
North  Head  (Cumberland),  of  Port  Jackson,  9  ;  Nundialla  Mountain 
(Camden),  on  the  WoUondilly,  and  north  of  Eden  Forest,  98. 

O'Connell  Plains  (Westmoreland  and  Roxburgh),  where  the  road 
to  Bathurst  crosses  the  Fish  River,  115;  Oaks,  The  (Camden),  an 
old  Government  station  on  Werriberri  Creek,  near  Vander  Ville,  J. 
Wild's,  48. 

Paramatta  Town  (Cumberland),  15;  Patrick's  Plains  (Northum- 
berland), on  the  Hunter  and  Singleton's  Inn,  131  ;  Paterson's  Plains 
(Durham),  on  the  Paterson,  the  second  branch  of  the  Hunter,  134 ; 
Pit  Town  (Cumberland),  34 1  ;  Platter  Island  (St.  Vincent),  near 
Point  Upright,  a  remarkable  perpendicular  cliff  to  the  north  of  Bate- 
man  Bay,  158  ;  Point  Bass  (Camden),  extends  far  into  the  sea,  south 
of  the  Five  Islands,  at  lUawarra,  76;  Port  Stephens  (Gloucester), 
at  the  Company's  Settlemert,  180  ;  Pulpit  Hill  (Cook),  on  the  road 
to  Bathurst,  70;  Pyaning  Mountain  (Camden),  on  the  southern  side 
of  the  Winjeecarribbee  River,  near  its  confluence  with  the  WoUon- 
dilly, by  way  of  Bong  Bong,  100. 

Ited  Head  (St.  Vincent),  the  southern  point  of  the  bay  in  which 
are  the  entrance  of  St,  George's  Basin  and  Swan  Lake,  127 ;  Regent 
Ville  (Cumberland)  Sir  John  Jamison,  near  Emu  Ferry,  36 ;  Rich- 
mond Town  (Cumberland),  38. 

Segenhoe  (Durham),  P.  Macqueen,  at  the  upper  part  of  the  Hunter, 
near  its  confluence  with  Page's  River,  173  ;  Shoalhaven  River  (St. 
Vincent),  at  Bury  and  Woodstonecrafts  residence,  called  Coolloma- 
gatta,  97  ;  Springwood  (Cook),  Military  Depot  on  the  road  to 
JBathurst,  46  ;  St.  Georges  Cape(^  St.  Vincent),  a  point  on  the  coast, 
a  little  south  of  Jerviss  Bay.  120 ;  St.  Heliers  (Durham),  H.  Du- 
maresque,  on  the  upper  part  of  the  Hunter,  near  the  confluence  of 
Dart  Brook,  159  ;  Stonequarry  Creek  (Camden),  at  road,  46  ;  Stra- 
thallan  (Argyle),  A.  Allan,  on  the  WoUondilly  River,  near  Goulburn, 
121  5   Sugar  Loaf  Point  (Gloucester),  on  the  coast  to  the  north  of 


3i0\  MAIL  AND  STAGE  COACHES. 

Port  Stephens,  and  near  the  north  end  of  Myall  Lake,  2*20 ;  Sugar 
Loaf  Creek  (Northumberland),  at  its  juncture  with  the  Wollombi 
Brook,  on  the  road  north  from  Wiseman's,  92  ;  Sussex  Haven  (St. 
Vincent),  at  the  mouth  of  St.  George's  Basin,  120  j  Swan  Lake  (St. 
Vincent),  near  St.  George's  Basin,  122. 

Tarlo  (Argyle),  on  the  Cookbundoon  River,  114  ;  Tarrago  Lagoon 
(Argyle),  between  Breadalbane  Plains  and  Lake  George,  138  j  Tay- 
lor s  Creek  (Murray),  at  the  village  reserve  on  Lake  George,  152  ; 
Tomah  Mountain  (Cook),  on  Bell's  road  to  Bathurst,  60 ;  Towrang 
Mountain  (Argyle),  near  the  farm  of  E.  Lockyer,  on  the  WoUondilly, 
117;  Tuggerah  Beach  (Northumberland),  at  the  entrance  of  the 
Tuggerah  Beach  Lakes,  to  the  north  of  Broken  Bay,  85. 

UlladoLla  (St.  Vincent),  a  boat  harbour,  south  of  Sussex  Haven, 
136. 

Wallerwang  Valley  (Cook),  on  the  road  to  Bathurst,  called  the 
Wallerwang  Road,  95  ;  IVayo  Mountain  (Argyle),  near  Pegar,  the 
fiirm  of  G.  Muckle,  on  the  upper  part  of  the  WoUondilly,  130  ;  Wei' 
llngtnn  Valley  (unnamed),  the  station,  238 ;  Weather-hoarded  Hut 
(Cook(,  on  the  road  to  Bathurst,  63;  White's  Creek  (Camden),  on 
the  road  to  Goulburn,  1 0  ;  Williams's  River  (Durham),  James  Dow- 
ling,  ten  or  twelve  miles  above  Wollarobba,  195  ;  Windsor  Town 
(Cumberland),  36  ;  Winjeecarribbee  (Camden),  at  the  Bridge  at  Bong 
Bong,  on  the  road  to  the  Goulburn,  78  ;  Wiseman  s  Inn  (Cumber- 
land), at  the  ferry  over  the  Hawkesbury,  on  the  road  to  the  Hunter, 
50;  WoUogorang  Lagoon  (Argyle),  at  Chisholm's  Hut,  133  ;  Wolla- 
robba (Durham),  A.  M.  Baxter,  on  Wollarobba  Creek,  Williams's 
Five  Islands,  6G  ;  Wollowolar  Mountain  (Argyle),  south-west  of  Lake 
Bathurst ;  the  Bora  Creek  takes  its  rise  in  Wolowolar,  and  forms 
part  of  the  southern  boimdary  of  Argyle,  147. 

Surveyor  General's  Office,    Sydney,  May  9,  1832. 

Over  this  great  extent  of  territory  stage  coaches  and  other 
vehicles  are  now  being  introduced,  as  will  be  seen  by  the 
following  detail ;  and  the  day  is  not  far  distant  when  steam 
carriages,  as  well  as  steam  vessels,  will  be  found  connecting 
the  distant  parts  of  Australia. 

MAIL  AND  STAGE  COACHES  AND  STEAM  VESSELS. 

Parajiatta  and  Sydneyj— Foja-  Horse  Coach,  leaves  the  Talbot 
Inn,  Sydney,  every  morning  at  8  o'clock,  and  afternoon  at  4  o'clock  ; 
leaves  Paramatta  every  morning  at  half  past  eight  o'clock,  and  after- 
noon at  half  past  three  o'clock.     Fares,  outside  2s.  Qd.  inside  4s. 

SvoNKY  AND  WiNDSoK — Four  Horsc  Coach,  leaves  Sydney  every 
afternoon  (Sundays  excepted)  at  half  past  3  o'clock,  and  arrives 
at  the  Windsor  Hotel  at  half  past  9  o'clock.  Leaves  Windsor 
during  the  summer  season,  at  half  past   5  o'clock,  and  arrives  in 


DEPARTURES,  ARRIVALS,  AND  FARES.  341 

Sydney  at  half  past  10  o'clock.  Fares,  outside,  4s.  6d. ;  inside, 
6s.  6d. 

SvDXEY  AND  LIVERPOOL — FouT  Horse  Coach,  leaves  Sydney  every 
mornina:  at  half  past  7  o'clock,  and  arrives  at  Liverpool  at  half  past 
10  o'clock  ;  leaves  Liverpool  every  afternoon  at  half  past  3  o'clock, 
and  arrives  in  Sydney  at  half  past  6  o'clock.  Fares,  outside,  3s.  ; 
inside,  .5s. 

Sydney,  Liverpool,  and  Campbelltown — Royal  Mail,  leaves 
Sydney  every  afternoon  (Sundays  excepted)  at  4  o'clock,  and  arrives 
at  Liverpoool  at  7  o'clock,  and  proceeds  to  the  King's  Arms,  Camp- 
bell Town. 

Bathurst — Royal  Mail,  starts  from  Penrith  to  Bathurst,  during 
the  months  of  January  and  February,  on  Tuesday  and  Friday  morn- 
ings, at  4  o'clock,  and  arrives  at  Bathurst  the  same  evening  at  8 
o'clock.  The  same  mail  returns  from  Balhurst,  starting  on  Monday 
and  Thursday,  at  4  o'clock,  and  arrives  at  I'enrith  at  8  o'clock  the 
same  evening.  By  this  arrangement,  parties  wishing  to  leave  Sydney 
for  Bathurst,  may  go  by  the  4  o'clock  Parraraatta  Coach,  and  arrive 
at  Bathurst  at  8  o'clock  the  following  evening.  Fares,  from  Sydney 
to  Bathurst,  2L 

Bong  Bong — Royal  Mail,  leaves  Sydney  every  Tuesday  and  Friday, 
at  4  o'clock,  and  King's  Arms,  Campbell  Town,  next  morning  at  9 
o'clock,  and  arrives  at  Mr.  Lozeby's  Inn,  Bong  Bong,  every  Wed- 
nesday and  Saturday,  at  6  o'clock  in  the  evening.  The  mail  returns 
from  Bong  Bong  every  Thursday  and  Sunday,  at  6  o'clock  in  the 
morning,  and  arrives  at  Sydney  the  following  morning.  Fares  to  Bong 
Bong,  11.  6s. 

Paramatta  and  Windsor  Royal  Mails  start  from  the  General  Post 
Office,  Sydney  every  afternoon  at  4  o'clock  ;  arrive  at  the  Post  Office, 
Paramatta,  at  6,  and  Windsor  at  9  the  same  evening-,  returning  from 
thence  every  morning,  and  arrive  at  the  General  Post  Office,  Sydney, 
precisely  at  1 1  o'clock,  a.  m. 

The  Royal  Adelaide,  William  the  Fourth,  and  Shamrock  Coaches, 
start  every  morning  from  Sydney  for  Paramatta,  and  return  every 
afternoon  to  Sydney. 

The  Paramatta  Caravan  starts  from  Sydney  every  morning,  and 
returns  from  Paramatta  to  Sydney  every  afternoon. 

Watsford's  Penrith  Post  Coach  travels  daily  to  and  from  Penrith 
and  Paramatta. 

Two  light  commodious  vehicles,  each  capable  of  containing  six 
persons,  start  from  Liverpool  at  1 1  o'clock,  a.  u.  and  arrive  at  Canip- 
bell'town  about  2,  p.  m.  ;  the  other  vehicle  starts  from  Campbell- 
town  at  1 1,  A.  M.,  arriving  at  Liverpool  in  time  for  the  Sydney  Coach. 
Fares  moderate. 

Steam  Vessels.  Leave  Sydney  at  G  o'clock  in  the  evening,  for 
the  following  places  and  days  : — Monday  and  Thursday  for  Hunter's 
River,  Newcastle,  and  Maitland.  Fares,  Newcastle,  cabin,  '20s.  steer- 
age,  10s  J  Maitland,  cabin,  1/.  5s.,  steerage,  12s.  6d.;  on  Wednesday, 


342  MILITARY  DEFENCE. 

for  Hawkesbury  River  ;  Fares,  cabin  l^s.  6d.,  steerage,  5s.  Satur- 
day, for  Paterson's  River;  Fares,  cabin,  1^  55.,  steerage,  12«.  6J. 
Arrive  at  Sydney  at  11  o'clock  the  following  nights  :  Tuesday,  from 
Paterson's  River  ;  Wednesday,  from  Hunter's  River  ;  Friday,  from 
Hawkesbury  River ;  Saturday,  from  Hunter's  River. 

Military  Defence. — The  whole  of  the  Australasian  colo- 
nies :  viz.  New  South  Wales,  Van  Diemen's  Land,  Swan 
River,  &c..  are  protected  by  three  regiments  of  infantry,  who 
take  their  turn  on  the  roaster  for  duty  in  these  settlements, 
and  after  five  or  six  years'  service  proceed  on  to  India,  for 
which  climate  they  are  in  some  measure  prepared. 

The  following  detail  shews  the  distribution  of  the  forces  in 
Australasia — namely  at  New  South  Wales,  Van  Diemen's 
Land,  Norfolk  Island,  Swan  River,  &c.  consisting  of  three 
regiments  of  infantry. 

H.  M.  17th*  Reg.  Inf. — ^t  Sydney  {Head  Quarters),  two  field-officers, 
five  captains,  eleven  subalterns,  four  staff,  twenty-four  Serjeants,  twelve 
drummers,  and  four  hundred  and  seventy-five  rank  and  file  ;  at  Moreton 
Bay,  one  captain,  two  subalterns,  four  Serjeants,  and  one  hundred  rank  and 
file ;  at  Bathurst,  one  field  officer,  two  subalterns,  two  Serjeants,  and  forty-one 
rank  and  file ;  al  Port  Stephens,  one  captain,  one  Serjeant,  and  thirteen  rank 
and  file  ;  at  Longbottom,  seven  rank  and  file  ;  at  Maitland,  one  captain,  and 
two  rank  and  file;  at  Fan  Diemen's  Land,  none ;  iii Paramatta,  one  serjeant ; 
at  England  {officers),  two  captains,  three  subalterns,  and  two  staff;  as 
Mounted  Police,  two  sulialterns,  and  fifty-three  rank  and  file;  Effectives, 
three  field-officers,  ten  captains,  twenty  subalterns,  six  staff,  thirty-eight 
Serjeants,  twelve  drummers,  and  six  hundred  and  ninety-one  rank  and  file. 

H.  M.  4th  Reg.  of  Foot. — At  Paramatta  {Head  Quarters  of  a  Reg.), 
two  field-officers,  three  captains,  seven  subalterns,  four  staff,  nineteen 
Serjeants,  ten  drummers,  and  two  hundred  and  ninety-two  rank  and  file; 
at  Norfolk  Island,  one  captain,  two  subalterns,  one  staff,  five  Serjeants,  one 
drummer,  and  one  hundred  and  nineteen  rank  and  file;  at  Van  Diemen's 
Land,  one  captain,  and  one  rank  and  file ;  at  Cox's  River,  two  subalterns, 
three  Serjeants,  one  drummer,  and  sixty-two  rank  and  file;  at  Emu  Plains, 
one  subaltern,  one  serjeant,  and  forty-seven  rank  and  file  ;  at  Windsor,  one 
captain,  one  serjeant,  and  thirty-seven  rank  and  file ;  at  Port  Macquarie, 
one  subaltern,  two  Serjeants,  and  thirty-four  rank  and  file  ;  at  Newcastle,  one 
subaltern,  one  serjeant,  and  twenty-two  rank  and  file ;  at  Liverpool,  one 

*  The  regiments  herein  stated  have  been  changed  since  I  received  this 
distribution  in  1833  ;  but  the  detail  shews  the  distribution  in  general  of 
the  regiments  succeeding. 


DISTRIBUTION  OF  THE  TROOPS. 

Serjeant,  and  twenty  rank  and  file  j  at  Bong  Bong,  one  subaltern,  one 
Serjeant,  and  eleven  rank  and  file  ;  at  Sydney,  four  rank  and  file  ;  as 
Mounted  Police,*  one  captain,  one  Serjeant,  and  fifty-three  rank  and  file;  at 
England  {officers),  one  field-officer,  three  captains,  four  subalterns,  and  one 
staff;  Effective,  three  field-officers,  ten  captains,  twenty  subalterns,  six 
staff,  thirty-five  Serjeants,  twelve  drummers,  and  seven  hundred  and  two 
rank  and  file. 

H.  M.  63rd  Reg.  Inf. — Fan  Diemen's  Land  {Head  Quarters,  Hobart 
Town),  two  field-officers,  eight  captains,  twelve  subalterns,  five  staff,  thirty- 
four  Serjeants,  twelve  drummers,  and  six  hundred  and  nineteen  rank  and 
file  ;  Swan  River,  one  captain,  four  subalterns,  one  staff,  four  Serjeants,  one 
drummer,  and  sixty-seven  rank  and  file ;  England  {officers),  one  field- 
ofi5cer,  one  captain,  and  four  subalterns  ,  Effectives,  three  field-officers,  ten 
captains,  twenty  subalterns,  six  staff,  thirty-eight  Serjeants,  thirteen 
drummers,  and  six  hundred  and  seventy-seven  rank  and  file. 

Mounted  Police. — {Head  Quarters,  Sydney),  Commandant,  one 
captain,  commanding  1st  division,  one  lieutenant,  2d  ditto  ditto,  3d  ditto. 

Distribution. — {Head  Quarters  District). — The  Governor's  Body  Guard, 
one  Serjeant,  and  six  rank  and  file ;  Sydney,  one  captain,  one  serjeant,  and 
four  rank  and  file ;  Longbottom,  two  rank  and  file ;  Paramatta,  four  rank 
and  file  ;  Windsor,  three  rank  and  file ;  Liverpool,  four  rank  and  file ; 
Campbelltown,  four  rank  and  file. 

First  Division. — {Bathurst  District). — Bathurst,  one  subaltern,  one 
Serjeant,  and  seventeen  rank  and  file ;  Cox's  River,  one  serjeant,  and  two 
rank  and  file ;  Fish  River,  One  rank  and  file  ;  Weatherboard  Hut,  two  rank 
and  file. 

Second  Division. — {Ar gyle  District.) — Goulburn  Plains,  one  subaltern, 
one  serjeant,  and  ten  rank  and  file;  Lumley,  four  rank  and  file;  Yalbrett, 
five  rank  and  file ;  Bong  Bong,  three  rank  and  file. 

Third  Division. — {Hunter's  River  District). — Jerry's  Plains,  one  sub- 
altern, one  serjeant,  and  thirteen  rank  and  file  ;  Maitland,  one  serjeant,  and 
four  rank  and  file  ;  Puen  Buen,  three  rank  and  file. 

Detachments. — {Emu  Plains  District). — Emu  Plains,  one  serjeant,  and 
four  rank  and  file  ;   Wolongong,  four  rank  and  file. 

Effectives. — One  captain,  three  subalterns,  eight  Serjeants,  and  ninety- 
nine  rank  and  file. 

The  Commissariat  consists  of  a  deputy-comm.  general ; 
two  assistant  do.  and  15  deputy-assistant  do.,  independent  of 
the  accountant  department,  which  consists  of  an  assistant- 
coram.   general  and  two   deputy  assistant  do.     Of  Commis- 

*  The  Mounted  Police  is  formed  from  the  regiments  temporary  stationed 
in  the  colony,  and  on  the  regiment  being  ordered  to  India  or  elsewhere, 
the  officers  and  men  return  to  their  respective  corps. 


344  RELIGION  IN  THE  COLONY. 

sariat  clerks  in  charge  there  are  three,  viz.  at  Norfolk  Island, 
Moreton  Bay,  and  Bong  Bong. 

There  are  no  militia  in  the  colony ;  but  in  the  event  of 
England  being  engaged  in  war,  it  would  be  requisite  to 
embody  a  force  of  this  nature,  and  for  which  the  high 
spirited  colonial  youth  would  be  admirably  adapted.  The 
anchorage  at  Sydney  is  protected  by  Fort  Phillip  (which 
telegraphs  to  the  south  head,  respecting  all  vessels  entering 
or  departing  from  Port  Jackson)  and  two  other  batteries  ;  I 
think,  however,  that  it  would  be  advisable  to  cause  a  small 
fort,  with  guns  of  large  calibre  and  long  range,  to  be  erected 
on  either  of  the  "  heads"  at  the  entrance  of  Port  Jackson, 
which  are  not  three-quarters  of  a  mile  distant.  Sometimes  a 
small  vessel  of  war  is  on  this  station  belonging  to  the  Ad- 
miral's squadron  in  India ;  but,  I  think  our  Australasian 
colonies  are  of  sufficient  importance  to  have  a  small  squadron, 
with  a  Commodore's  flag,  stationed  at  Sydney,  for  the  pro- 
tection of  our  trade  and  interests,  over  the  vast  extent  of 
the  S.E.  hemisphere ;  the  neglect  of  such  an  establishment 
is  an  unwise  economy.  The  local  government  has  two  or 
three  small  armed  vessels  under  its  controul. 

Religion,  Education,  and  the  Press.  Religion, — Here, 
as  in  the  mother  country,  there  are  a  variety  of  forms 
of  religion — the  number  of  each  creed  being  shewn  in  the 
population  table.  The  ministers  of  each  are  provided  for  by 
the  government  [see  Finance  section'] ;  and  the  decree  giving  to 
the  Episcopal  Church  one-seventh  of  the  whole  territory  has 
been  revoked,  that  portion  still  remaining  as  church  and 
school  lands,  but  applicable  to  the  general  purposes  of  reli- 
gion and  education,  without  reference  to  sects.  The  Epis- 
copalian Church  of  Australasia^'  is  under  the  diocese  of 
Calcutta,  and  locally  presided  over  by  an  Archdeacon.  The 
number  of  chaplains  to  the  Established  Church  is  fifteen — of 
whom  two  are  stationed  at  Sydney,  one  at  Paramatta,  one  at 
Liverpool,  one  at  Windsor,  one  at  Castlereagh,  one  at  Port 

*  By  Justralus'm  is  understood  all  the  settlements  in  this  quarter;  the 
term  ^lustralia  signifies  New  Holland  alone. 


EDUCATION   IN   NEW  SOUTH  WALES.  345 

Macquarie,  one  at  Campbell  Town,  one  at  Illawarra,  one  at 
Narellan,  one  at  Pitt  Town,  one  at  Bathurst,  one  at  Newcas- 
tle, one  at  Field  of  Mars,  and  one  at  Sutton  Forest ;  there 
are  also  three  catechists ;  a  clergyman,  as  head  master  of 
the  King's  school ;  and  the  Rev.  L.  E.  Threlkeld  at  Lake 
Macquarie  as  missionary  to  the  aborigines. 

Of  the  Presbyterian  clergy  there  are  four  ministers  of  the 
Established  Church  of  Scotland,  paid  by  the  government ;  and 
of  the  Roman  Catholic  clergy  a  vicar-general  and  six  chap- 
lains. (For  the  expense  of  each  establishment  see  Finance.) 
The  Wesleyan  and  church  missionaries  have  also  establish- 
ments in  the  colony. 

Education. — Considerable  efforts  have  been  for  some  time 
making  to  promote  the  blessings  of  education  in  Australia,  as 
regards  the  poor  as  well  as  the  rich.  For  the  former  there 
are  two  noble  establishments,  called  the  male  (at  Liverpool), 
and  female  (at  Paramatta),  orphan  schools,  each  containing 
125  destitute  children,  who  are  reared  from  infancy,  educated 
and  apprenticed  out,  and  subsequently  portioned  when  mar- 
ried. Of  infant  schools  there  are  four  at  Sydney,  one  at 
Paramatta,  and  one  at  Windsor ;  of  primary  or  parochial 
schools  33  in  different  parts  of  the  colony  [see  Fitiance] ;  and 
there  are  two  King's  schools — one  at  Sydney  and  the  other  at 
Paramatta,  with  clerical  teachers.  Private  establishments  for 
education  are  numerous.  The  Sydney  College  was  instituted 
26th  January,  1830  ;  it  was  established  in  shares  of  50/.  each, 
and  upwards  of  3000/.  has  been  expended  in  erecting  the 
college  ;  it  is  under  the  controul  of  a  President  (the  Chief 
Justice)  and  a  Committee  of  Management,  composed,  I  am 
rejoiced  to  say,  of  emigrants  and  emancipists. 

The  Australian  College  at  Sydney,  which  I  believe  owes 
its  creation  to  the  active  philanthropy  of  the  Rev.  Dr.  Lang, 
was  instituted  in  the  year  1831.  It  has  a  council  and  senate, 
after  the  Scotch  form,  on  which  indeed  it  is  modelled.  There 
is  a  principal  (Rev.  J.  D.  Lang,  D.D.)  minister  of  the  Scotch 
Church,  Sydney ;  a  professor  of  English  and  English  litera- 
ture. Rev.  W.  Pinkerton ;  and  a  professor  of  Latin  and 
Greek  languages,  and  of  mathematics  and  natural  philosophy, 


346  COLLEGES  AT  SYDNEY. 

Rev.  Henry  Carmichael,  A.M. ;  with  requisite  under  masters 
for  the  elementary  Enghsh  classes — writing,  arithmetic,  book- 
keeping, drawing,  &c.  The  Australian  college  combines  a 
series  of  schools  for  the  elementary,  with  a  gradually  extend- 
ing provision  for  the  higher  branches  of  education.  Its  ca- 
pital is  7,000/.,  one  half  to  be  contributed  by  the  colonial 
government,  by  order  of  Lord  Goderich,  when  Secretary  for 
the  colonies,  on  condition  that  a  similar  amount  shall  be  con- 
tributed by  the  friends  of  the  undertaking.  Of  that  amount 
about  100  shares  of  25/.  each  had  been  subscribed  in  January, 
1834;  and  a  suite  of  buildings,  consisting  of  four  houses 
(each  of  which  contains  a  class-room,  a  residence  for  one  of 
the  four  superior  masters  or  professors,  and  accommodation 
for  ten  or  twelve  boarders)  was  then  nearly  completed.  The 
fees  for  elementary  education  are  as  follows ;  viz. — for  be- 
ginners, 61.  per  annum;  English,  writing,  arithmetic,  geo- 
graphy, and  the  elements  of  mathematics,  10/.  per  annum ; 
Latin  and  Greek,  including  the  inferior  branches,  121.  ditto  ; 
courses  of  lectures  are  delivered  on  natural  philosophy,  on 
political  economy,  &c.  From  the  well  known  salubrity  of  the 
climate  of  New  South  Wales,  and  the  very  moderate  terms 
on  which  education  can  be  afforded  in  these  colleges,  it  is 
hoped  that  the  seminaries  adverted  to  may  very  shortly  become 
the  resort  of  many  of  the  sons  of  European  officers  and  gen- 
tlemen residing  in  India. 

A  mechanic's  school  of  arts  was  instituted  22nd  March, 
1833  ;  the  Governor  is  patron,  and  there  is  an  efficient  manage- 
ment of  a  president,  vice,  and  committee.  There  is  a  female 
school  of  industry,  which  owes  its  origin  to  Mrs  General 
Darling,  when  her  husband  was  Governor  of  the  colony.* 

*  I  have  much  pleasure  in  bearing  testimony  to  the  good  which  Mrs. 
Darling  effected  in  New  South  Wales.  She  is  one  of  those  Englishwomen 
who,  in  our  colonies  especially,  have  contributed  so  much  to  create  respect 
and  admiration  for  the  British  character;  and  at  Mauritius,  as  well  as 
at  New  South  Wales,  wherever  party  feeling  has  not  degenerated  into 
malignity,  Mrs.  Darling  is  remembered  and  spoken  of  as  a  lady  who,  to 
the  fascinations  of  person,  added  the  still  more  valuable  qualities  of  a 
highly  cultivated  mind,  and  the  still  rarer  addition  of  an  invariably  kind 
and  maternal  heart. 


THE  PRESS  AT  NEW  SOUTH  WALES.  347 

The  Australian  subscription  library  was  founded  under  the 
auspices  of  General  Darling,  and  the  President  (the  Hon. 
Alex.  M'Leay)  has  in  this,  as  in  very  many  other  instances, 
contributed  to  promote  education  and  science. 

The  other  societies  connected  with  religion,  humanity,  lite- 
rature, or  science,  are  the  societies  for  '  Promoting  Chris- 
tian Knowledge,'  an  '  Auxiliary  Bible  Society,'  '  Wesleyan 
Auxiliary  Missionary  Society,'  '  Australian  Tract  Society,' 
a  *  Benevolent  Society,'*  a  '  Dispensary,'  an  *  Emigrant's 
Friend  Society,'  and  an  '  Agricultural  and  Horticultural 
Society,'  &c. 

The  Press,  although  in  its  infancy,  is  making  considerable 
progress,  and  will  doubtless  increase  as  it  is  unshackled  by 
stamps,  advertisement  taxes,  or  paper  excise.  Although  news- 
papers are  at  present  confined  to  Sydney,  they  are  conducted 
Math  a  good  deal  of  talent,  but  with  too  much  party  acerbity : 
as  commercial  speculations  they  however  pay  well.  The  fol- 
lowing are  the  newspapers — Sydney  Gazette  and  Neio  South 
Wales  Advertiser  published  three  times  a  week;  terms  per 
annum,  4/.  The  Government  Gazette,  published  every  Wed- 
nesday ;  price  Qd.  per  sheet.    The  Australian,  published  twice 

*  This  and  several  other  charitable  institutions  are  mainly  indebted  for 
their  orig'in  and  preservation  to  Dr.  Bland,  a  gentleman  of  profound  talent, 
of  winning  manners,  and  of  unyielding  philanthropy.  As  a  surgeon,  he 
has  performed  operations,  in  New  South  Wales,  at  which  the  most  bold 
London  chirurgeon  would  shrink  (he  tied,  I  believe,  the  arteria  innominata) ; 
as  a  physician,  thousands  testify  to  his  possession  of  that  peculiar  faculty 
which  Dr.  Baillie  was  known  to  have,  of  instantly  detecting  a  disease  ;  and 
as  a  Christian,  his  purse,  his  time  (by  night  or  by  day),  his  splendid  talents, 
his  soothing  voice,  and  sweet  ministrations,  are  ever  devoted  to  the  poor ; 
while  his  right  hand  knoweth  not  the  good  which  his  left  hand  doeth.  This 
universally  respected  gentleman  was  surgeon  of  a  frigate  at  Bombay,  and, 
together  with  the  first  lieutenant  of  the  ship,  transported,  at  an  early 
era,  to  New  South  Wales  for  being  engaged  in  a  duel  (Dr.  Bland  was  not 
the  principal),  in  which  another  officer  of  the  vessel  was  killed.  Judging 
l)y  the  benefits  Dr.  B.  has  conferred  on  the  colony  which  was  intended  as 
the  scene  of  his  disgrace,  but  which  has  become  the  theatre  of  his  glory, 
I  may  truly  aver  that  in  this,  as  in  many  other  instances,  good  strangely 
arises  from  what  at  first  appears  unmixed  evil. 


348  MEDICAL    DEPARTMENT  AND  ROADS. 

a  week;  town  subscribers,  1/.  12,?. ;  country  ditto,  2/.  2*.  The 
Sydney  Monitor,  published  twice  a  week  ;  1/.  14,s,  8</.,  postage 
not  paid.  The  Sydney  Herald,  pubHshed  twice  a  week  ; 
town  subscribers,  1/.  12*. ;  country  ditto,  21.  2s.,  postage  in- 
cluded. The  ^New  South  Wales  Magazine,*  published 
every  month,  price  2*.  Gd.  a  number.  The  Post-office  Di- 
rectory,^ published  by  Stevens  and  Stokes.  The  Australian 
Almanack,^  published  by  Ann  Howe. 

The  Medical  Departmetit  for  prisoners  is  ably  superin- 
tended by  an  inspector  of  hospitals,  four  surgeons,  and  seven 
assistant-surgeons,  dispersed  6ver  the  colony  at  the  principal 
stations,  to  which  there  are  also  attached  eight  coroners. 

The  Roads  are  under  the  management  of  a  surveyor-ge- 
neral, deputy  ditto,  15  assistant  ditto,  and  superintendent  of 
bridges,  streets,  roads,  &c. ;  six  draftsmen  are  attached  to 
the  surveying-general's  office,  and  there  is  a  colonial  architect 
and  assistant  engineer  for  the  public  works. 

I  may  now  close  these  details,  which  I  hope  will  convey  an 
insight  into  the  condition  of  the  colony,  and  the  machinery 
by  which  the  government  is  carried  on,  and  proceed  to  con- 
sider the  state  of  its — 

Finances.  Revenue. — Since  the  colony  was  established 
in  1788,  a  revenue  has  been  derived  from  the  importation  of 
spirits,  tobacco,  and  manufactures,  &c.  as  also  from  licenses ; 
as  the  population  and  commerce  of  the  settlement  increased, 
so  did  the  revenue,  the  amount  of  which,  for  the  last  nine 
years,  is  thus  shewn  : — % 

*  The  '  New  South  Wales  Magazine'  is  ably  conducted  by  the  Rev.  R. 
Mansfield,  and  may  be  had  at  Mr.  Pelham  Richardson's,  Cornhill,  London. 

\  These  two  Directories  are  models  of  what  Directories  ought  to  be  in 
other  colonies  ;  and  I  take  this  opportunity  of  acknowledging  how  much 
I  am  indebted  to  those  of  1834,  particularly  to  Mr.  Raymond's  (the  active 
postmaster  of  the  territorj')  for  recent  details. 

\  The  increase  which  has  taken  place  in  the  Custom  duties  at  Sydney 
is  remarkable:  they  now  amount  to  upwards  of  iL'iOO,000;  in  1822  they 
did  not  reach  i' 10,000,  the  principal  items  being  5,081  gallons  of  spirits, 
at  12.V.  6rf.  per  gallon  ;  3,854  gallons  of  ditto,  at  11*.  lOrf.  per  ditto  ;  and 
2,438  ditto,  at  10a-.  ;  it  is,  however,  lamentable  to  think  that  such  a  large 
re.venue  should  be  raised  on  spirits  alone. 


REVENUES  OF  NEW  SOUTH  WALES. 


349 


Abstract  of  the  Revenue  of  New  South  Wales,  from  1826  to  1833. 


HEADS  OF  RBVEN'UE. 


1826.       1827. 


Customs 

Duty  on  Spirits  distilled  in  the  Co- 
lony   

Post  OfBce  Collections 

Auction  Duty,  and  Licenses  to  Auc- 
tioneers   

Licenses  to  Retail  Malt  and  Spi- 
rituous Liquors       .... 

Crown  Lands 

Rents  of  Tolls,  Ferries  and  Market 
Dues,  and  Government  Premises 

Fees  of  Public  Offices 

Fines  Levied  by  Courts  of  Justice    . 

Proceeds  of  Sales  of  Government 
Property 

Miscellaneoas 

Total* 


49:«3| 


52822 


1890|      2211 


576 

3063 
2742 

3231 

2713 

809 

6178 
1661 


1828.  I  1829.     1830. 


£. 
69677 


770 
598 


£.       £.. 
79136   81078 


6821      1363 


4025 
3814 

2404 
1902 
371 

10056 

101s 


4425 
5437 


3689 


37661 

762 


288' 
1324: 


1276; 


3725; 
3309 


3221 
6525; 


1753 

1463 

5100 
1985 

4138 
6461 

758 

501 

776 


£. 


1135 
2153 

1399 

6550 
3617 

4806 

7055 

730 

1639 
2172 


£.       £. 

96262  111124 


1057 
2574 


7785 
13683 

3387 

5688 

74 


1250 
2968 

1586 

9124 
2672 

32271 

6089 

190 

1497 


.       72220     79309    9-1862  102784  104729  121065  135909  164063 

i  i  :  .  I  I  1  1 

The  custom  duties,  it  will  be  perceived,  are  the  principal 
sources  of  income,  as  thus  shewn,  for  the  year  ending  5th 
January,  1834  (according  to  the  London  Custom  House 
documents.) — 

British  plantation  rum,  76,554/. ;  British  spirits,  350/. ;  foreign  ditto, 
16,781/.;  tol)acco,  9,701/. ;  foreig-n  goods,  ffrf  t'a/or^;«,  4,330/. ;  wharfage, 
1,636/. ;  entry  and  clearance,  358/. ;  lighthouse  dues,  439/.  ,•  registers, 
143/. ;  spent  in  permits,  9/. ; — total,  1 10,305/. 

The  income  and  disbursement  of  the  Custom  House,  is 
thus  shewn: — 


1828. 

1829. 

1830. 

1831. 

1832.t        1833. t 

1834. 

1835. 

Act  3d  Geo.  rv.  c.  96 
Colonial    

£. 
40680 
3596 

£. 
65070 

5)72 

I                                    1 
Not  distin^ished. 

Total.... 

Disbursement. 

Salaries 

Incidents 

Drawbacks   

44276 

2813 
714 

70242 

3915 
2151 

79296 

4570 
1392 
277 

81324 

4499 
753 

407 

89602       96921 

4599          4243 
983           1341 

235             967 

110305 

4132 
1471 

2084 

3527 


6066  6239 


5659    5817 


6551 


*  Excluding  shillings  and  pence. 

t  On  West  India  rum,  56,865/. ;  British  spirits,  278/. ;  foreign  ditto, 
17,079/.;  tobacco,  11,525/. 

\  On  West  India  rum,  64,655/  ;  British  spirits,  219/. ;  foreign  ditto, 
17,351/.;  tobacco,  9,836/. 


350  DUTIES  LEVIED,  PILOTAGE — HARBOUR  DUES. 

The  rate  of  duties  levied  is,  on  spirits,  distilled  from  grain 
the  produce  of  the  colony,  3*.  per  gallon  imperial  measure 
(until  1834  2s.  6c/.),  ditto  British,  West  India,  or  North 
American,  if  imported  from  the  United  Kingdom,  Is.  9d.  to 
(formerly  6s.  6d.) ;  all  other  spirits,  whether  made  within  the 
colony  or  imported,  9^.  2d.  vo  (formerly  8*.  6d.) ;  tobacco, 
manufactured,  2s.  6d.  per  lb.,  unmanufactured,  1^.  6d.  ditto: 
British  manufactures  yVee ;  all  other  goods  5  per  cent,  ad  val. 
Register  fees,  if  under  40  tons,  21.  each  register,  over  40  tons, 
1*.  per  ton.  Permits  for  the  removal  of  spirits,  Qd.  each. 
The  harbour  duties,  wharfage,  and  pilotage,  is  thus  shewn : — 

Pilotage  Rates  payable  to  licensed  pilots  on  ships  and  vessels  from 
and  to  a  distance  of  two  leagues  out  to  sea,  into  and  out  of  any  port  or 
harbour  in  New  South  Wales,  for  which  a  pilot  shall  be  appointed ;  vessels 
registered  in  Sydney,  not  exceeding  50  tons,  or  while  employed  in  the 
coasting  trade  from  one  port  of  New  South  Wales  to  another,  and  steam 
vessels  while  so  employed,  excepted,  unless  the  assistance  of  a  pilot  be 
required  and  received  : — 

For  every  vessel  drawing  7  feet  or  under,  4/. ;  8  feet,  and  under  9  feet, 
41.  bs. ;  9  feet,  and  under  10  feet,  4/.  lOs. ;  10  feet,  and  under  II  feet,  51. ; 
11  feet,  and  under  12  feet,  6/.  10*. ;  12  feet,  and  under  13  feet,  6/. ;  13 
feet,  and  under  14  feet,  6/.  10s. ;  14  feet,  and  under  15  feet,  7^-;  15  feet, 
and  under  16  feet,  7^-  10*. ;  16  feet,  and  under  17  feet,  8/. ;  17  feet  and 
under  18  feet,  8/.  10*. ;  18  feet,  and  under  19  feet,  9/. ;  19  feet,  and  under 
20  feet,  9/.  10*. ;  20  feet,  and  under  21  feet,  10/. ;  21  feet,  and  under  22 
feet,  11/. ;  22  feet,  and  under  23  feet,  12/.  And  so  on,  1/.  for  every  addi- 
tional foot. 

Harbour  Dues  and  Charges  payable  to  the  harbour  master,  for 
repairing  on  board  and  appointing  the  place  of  anchorage  of  ships  and 
vessels  entering  any  port  or  harbour  in  New  South  Wales  ;  or  for  the  re- 
moval of  the  same  from  one  place  of  anchorage  or  mooring  to  another,  not 
being  for  the  purpose  of  leaving  the  port ;  vessels  registered  in  Sydney, 
under  50  tons,  or  while  employed  in  the  coasting  trade  from  one  port  of 
New  South  Wales  to  another,  excepted  : — 

For  every  vessel  under  100  tons,  5*. ;  100  tons,  and  under  200  tons,  10*. ; 
200  tons,  and  under  300  tons,  15*.;  300  tons,  and  under  400  tons,  1/.  j 
400  tons,  and  under  500  tons,  1/.  5*. ;  500  tons,  and  upwards,  1/.  10*. 

Customs'  Charges  payable  to  the  collector  or  other  officer  of  customs, 
for  the  entry  inwards,  or  clearance  outwards,  of  ships  and  vessels  at  any 
port  or  harbour  of  New  South  Wales,  where  an  officer  of  customs  is  sta- 
tioned; vessels  under  50  tons,  registered  in  Sydney,  excepted;  viz. — 


LICENCES— WHARFAGE  AND  LIGHT  HOUSE  DUES.  351 

Entrance.  Clearance. 

£.   s.    d.      £.    s.  d. 
For  every  steam  vessel  employed  in  the  coasting- 
trade,  from  one  port  of  New  South  Wales  to 

another 0     13        0     13 

For  every  vessel  registered  in  Sydney,  and  so  em- 
ployed, if  above  50  and  not  exceeding  100  tons       0    4     0        0    4    0 
For  every  such  vessel  so  employed,  if  above  100 

tons  .  .  .  .  .     0  10    0        0  10    0 

For  every  other  ship  or  vessel  .  .         .     0  15    0        0  15    0 

Lighthouse  Dues  payable  to  the  collector  of  customs,  Sydney,  on 

ships  and  vessels  above  50  tons,  arriving  at  Port  Jackson,  towards  the 

maintenance  of  the  lighthouse,  at  the  entrance  thereof;  viz. — 

On  every  ship  or  vessel  above  50,  and  not  exceeding  100  tons,  employed 
in  the  coasting  trade,  from  one  port  of  New  South  Wales  to  another,  2*. ; 
on  every  steam  vessel  the  ton  register  measurement,  kd. ;  on  every  other 
ship  or  vessel  the  ton  register  measurement,  2d. 

Wharfage  Rates  payable  to  the  collector  of  customs  on  articles  landed 
at  the  King's  Wharf,  Sydney  : — 

For  every  ton  butt,  2s.;  pipe  or  puncheon,  1*.;  hogshead,  9d.;  barrel,  6fi?.; 
cask  or  keg  of  smaller  size,  3d. ;  crate,  cask,  or  case  of  hardware,  earthen- 
ware, or  ironmongery,  9d. ;  bale,  case,  or  box  not  exceeding  half  a  ton 
measurement,  6d. ;  ditto,  exceeding  half  a  ton,  1*. ;  chest  of  tea,  3d. ;  half 
chest  or  box  of  tea,  l^d. ;  bag  of  sugar,  \^d. ;  bag  of  cofifee,  Hrf. ;  package 
of  rice,  l^d. ;  basket  of  tobacco,  3d.;  bag  of  hops,  1*.;  pocket  of  hops, 
6d. ;  bushel  of  grain,  \d. ;  dozen  of  oars,  2d. ;  one  hundred  of  deals,  2s.  6d. ; 
one  hundred  of  staves,  \s. ;  dozen  of  spades  and  shovels,  \d. ;  ton  of  iron, 
steel,  lead,  or  other  metal,  including  shot,  2s.  6d. ;  ton  of  salt,  1*.  6d. ;  ton 
of  flax.  Is. ;  ton  of  cordage,  2*.  6d. ;  ton  of  potatoes,  1*.  6d. ;  bottle  of 
paint,  oil,  or  turpentine,  2d. ;  mill  stone,  2*. ;  four-wheeled  carriage,  6*. ; 
two-wheeled  carriage,  3*. ;  small  package  not  otherwise  enumerated,  3d. ; 
ton  of  heavy  goods  not  otherwise  enumerated,  2s.  6d. 

Licenses  to  distil  spirituous  liquors,  251.  per  annum,  to  sell 
ditto,  251.  per  annum.  Sales  by  auction  pay  1^  per  cent, 
duty,  and  an  auctioneer*  for  his  license,  21.  per  annum. 
Butchers,  carters  and  carts,  boatmen  and  boats,  and  porters, 
are  licensed:  dogs  are  taxed  at  1*.  for  one,  5s.  for  two,  15*. 
for  three,  and  10*.  for  every  additional  dog. 

Each  head  of  cattle  in  Sydney,  Paramatta  and  Liverpool 

*  The  number  of  auctioneers  in  the  colony  is  eighteen,  of  whom  ten  arc 
in  Sydney. 


S52  EXPENDITURE  OF  NEW  SOUTH  WALES. 

must  be  examined  by  a  public  inspector  before  it  be  slaugh- 
tered, for  which  a  charge  of  3d.  is  paid.  Quit  rents  are 
levied  on  land,  at  the  following  rate — if  granted  prior  to  5th 
November,  1823,  2s.  per  100  acres;  prior  to  18th  May, 
1825,  15*.  per  ditto;  subsequent  to  18th  May,  1825,  16*.  8d. 
per  100  acres.  Town  allotments  in  Sydney  6^.  per  perch; 
at  seaport  town,  5d.  per  ditto  ;  in  towns  at  the  head  of 
navigable  waters,  4r/.  per  ditto  ;  and  in  inland  towns,  2d.  per 
ditto.  There  are  also  a  variety  of  fees  legal,  territorial  and 
clerical. 

Expenditure. — Having  shown  what  the  income  of  the  co- 
lony is,  it  now  remains  to  demonstrate  its  expenditure. — 

Governor  and  Judges. — Governor,  5,000/.  ;*  Chief  Justice,  2,000/. ;  two 
Asst.  Judges,  at  ^"1,500  each,  3,000/.     Total,  10,000/. 

Civil  Establishment — The  Governor.— Vrwaie.  Secretary,  300/. ;  Supert.  of 
Domain,  Paramatta,  overseers,  and  messenger,  142/. ;  Rations  and  clothing 
for  prisoners  employed  on  the  Govt,  domains,  Sydney  and  Paramatta,  365/. ; 
Forage  and  farriery  for  horses,  tools,  implements,  and  repairs  of  do.  123/. 
Total,  930/. 

Executive  and  Legislative Cotmcils. — Clerk  of  the  council,  600/.;  Copying 
clerk,  housekeeper,  messenger,  and  doorkeeper,  &c.  206/.     Total,  806/. 

Colonial  Secretary. — Col.  Sec.  2,000/. ;  Asst.  Col.  Sec.  450/. ;  Clerks, 
housekeeper,  messenger,  &c.  2,016/.     Total,  4,466/. 

Surveyor  General. —  Survey  Department. — Surveyor  General,  1,000/.; 
Dep.  Surv.  Gen.  650/. ;  Survs.  and  Asst.  Survs.  4,000/. ;  Draftsmen,  clerks, 
artists,  messengers,  overseers,  forage,  allowance,  rations,  clothing,  sur- 
veying instruments,  equipments,  oxen,  &c.  5,000/.     Total,  10,650/. 

Road  Branch. — Asst.  Surv.  1,305/  ;  Superts.  of  streets  and  bridges, 
Asst.  Supert.  of  bridges,  320/. ;  Clerks,  storekeeper,  Insps.  of  Gang.<;, 
overseers,  clerks,  (bond),  2,364/.;  Forage  allowance  for  Asst.  Surys., 
Supert.  of  bridges,  Sub-Inspr.  and  draught  oxen,  3,038/. ;  Purchase  of 
oxen,  gunpowder,  tools,  stores,  &c.  3,291/.   Total,  9,910/. 

Colonial  Jrchitect's  Branch. — Col.  Archt.  400/. ;  Clerk,  storekeeper, 
Supert.  of  clocks,  overseer,  and  gate-keeper,  312/.  ;  Forage  allow,  to 
archt.,  travelling  expenses,  &c.  95/.     Total,  808/. 

Board  for  the  Assignment  of  Servants. — Memb.  of  the  Board,  200/. ; 
Clerk  and  messenger,  148/.     Total,  348/. 

♦  Shillings  and  pence  are  excluded  in  the  figures,  which  will  account  for 
the'slight  discrepancy  in  the  totals. 


ITEMS  OF  EXPENDITURE  IN  NEW  SOUTH  WALES.  S5S 

Colonial  Treaswrj^.— Treasurer,  1,000/. ;  Clerk,  messenger,  &c.  29/. 
Total,  1,229/. 

Judit  Office.— Audt.  Gen.  650/. ;  Chief  clerk,  250/. ;  Clerks,  extra  clerks, 
messenger,  5S0/. ;  Cases  for  transmission  of  accts.,  &c.  61.    Total,  1,486/. 

Ck«^o»25.— Collector,  1,000/.;  Comptroller,  600/.;  Clerks,  landing 
waiters  at  Sydney,  Newcastle,  and  Botany  Bay,  Locker,  tide  waiters, 
housekeeper,  messengers.  Custom  House  boats,  coxswains,  &c.  3,116/.; 
Rent  of  Custom  House,  extra  tide  waiters,  rations  and  clothing  of  boats' 
crews,  boat  and  crew  at  Newcastle,  repairs  of  boats,  stores,  &c.  826/.. 
Total,  5,543/. 

Collector  of  Internal  iZeyg'wwe.— Collector,  500/.;  Clerks,  messenger, 
576/.;  Postage,*  commission  to  auctioneers,  &c.  230/.  Total,  1,306/. 

Post  Office. — Pr.  Postmaster,  400/. ;  Accountant,  160/. ;  Clerks,  letter 
sorter,  letter  carriers,  373/. ;  Commission  to  postmasters,  conveyance  of 
inland  mails,  conveyance  of  coast  mails,  allowance  to  masters  of  vessels  for 
conveyance  of  letters  to  and  from  foreign  parts,  allowance  to  pilots  for 
landing  the  mails,  uniforms  to  letter  carriers,  mail  boxes  and  bags,  brass 
plates,  stamps,  &c.  1,170/.     Total,  2,103/. 

Colonial  Distilleries. — Surveyor,  300/. 

Inspectors  of  Cattle  for  Slaughter. — Insp.  at  Sydney,  160/. ;  do.  Paramatta 
and  Liverpool,  (authorised  to  retain  the  fees  collected  by  each).  Total,  160/. 

Mineral  Surveyor.  —  Min.  Surv.,  500/.;  Constables,  overseers,  and 
clerk,  138/. ;  Rations  and  clothing  for  men  employed  on  the  aqueduct  for 
supplying  Sydney  with  water,  gunpowder  for  blasting,  coals,  timber,  and 
other  stores,  tools,  &c.  1,374/.     Total,  2,012/. 

Colonial  Botanist. — Col.  Bot.,  200/. ;  Asst.  do.  80/. ;  Overseer,  gatekeeper, 
and  colls,  of  specimens  in  the  interior,  56/. ;  Rations  and  clothing  to  pri- 
soners of  the  crown,  and  apprentices,  301/. ;  Forage  and  farriery  for  cart 
horses,  tools,  &c.  127/.     Total,  764/. 

Harbour  Master. — Harbour  Master,  Sydney,  500/. ;  Supert.  of  light- 
house, and  telegraph  masters,  147/- ;  Harbour  master.  Port  Macquarie, 
and  boatmen.  111/.;  Rations  and  clothing  for  boatmen,  repairs  of  boat, 
expenses,  and  oil  and  men  for  lighthouse,  408/. ;  Rations  and  clothing  men 
at  telegraph,  and  coals  for  the  beacon  at  Newcastle,  123/.     Total,  1,291. 

Housekeeper. — Of  the  Public  OflSces  Macquarie-street,  Sydney,  25/. 

Agents  and  Residents  Abroad. — Col.  Agent  in  London,  400/.  ;  British 
resident  at  New  Zealand,  500/.;  Contingencies  of  do.  100/.     Total,  1,000/. 

Judicial. — Supreme  Court. — Registrar,  800/.  ;  Chief  and  four  other 
clerks,  1,130/. ;  Cryer,  court  keeper,  tipstaffs,  and  messenger,  234/. ; 
Allowances  to  witnesses,  jurors,  and  other  expenses  on  criminal  trials, 
1,500/.     Total,  3,664/. 

*  The  public  departments  pay  no  postage,  and  it  has  been  alleged  that, 
this  exemption  is  used  unduly  to  the  public  detriment. 
VOL.   IV.  A  A 


354   CHARGES  FOR  THE  CHURCH  AND  SCHOOL  ESTABLISHMENTS. 

Law  Officers  of  the  Crown. — Attor.  Gen.  clerk  and  messenfrer,  1,381/. ; 
Sol.  Gen.  and  do.  975/.  ;  Crown  Sol.,  600/.     Total,  2,857. 

Court  of  Requests. — Commissioner,  800/. ;  Registrars,  clerks,  bailiffs, 
cryer,  and  messenger,  1,480/. ;  Travelling  and  incidental  expences, 
postage,  380/.     Total,  2,660/. 

Courts  of  Quarter  Sessions. — Chairman  and  travelling  expences,  450/. ; 
Clerk  of  the  Peace,  400/. ;  Allowance  for  prosecutions,  travelling,  cryers, 
and  tipstaffs,  335/.  ;  Witnesses,  jurors,  trials,  postages,  and  other  expenses, 
535/.     Total,  1,720/. 

Sheriff. — Sheriff,  1,000/. ;  Under-Sheriff,  clerks,  bailiffs,  and  messengers, 
806/.  ;  Travelling  expenses  for  sheriff,  under-sheriff,  and  gaolers,  105/. 
Total,  1,911/. 

Coroners. — Seven  coroners,  340/. ;  Allowance  to  coroners,  surgeons, 
fees,  travelling  expences,  &c.  380/.     Total,  720/. 

Clergy  and  Schools. — Episcopalian  Clergy. — The  archdeacon,  2,000/. ; 
fifteen  chaplains,  four  catechists,  clerks,  musicians,  and  church  officers, 
5,543/. ;  Rev.  L.  E.  rhrelkeld,  employed  on  the  civilization  of  the  abori- 
gines, 150/. ;  superannuated  clerk,  allowance  to  clergymen,  and  catechist, 
715/.;  forage,  maintenance,  boatmen,  clothing  and  rations,  travelling 
expences,  &c.  1,109/.;  rent  of  houses,  chapels,  &c.  640/. ;  trustees,  com- 
pensation, and  parochial  expences,  645/. ;  building  church,  repairs  of 
parsonages  and  churches,  740/.     Total,  11,542/. 

Episcopalian  School  Establishment. — King's  School.  Master  of  the  king's 
school,  100/. ;  house  rent,  80/.     Total,  180/. 

Parochial  Schools. — Salaries  of  masters  and  mistresses,  1,600/. ;  rent  of 
school  houses,  256/.  ;  allowances,  one  half-penny  per  diem  for  each  child, 
repairs,  books,  pension  to  a  retired  schoolmaster,  950/.     Total,  2,806/. 

Male  Orphan  School  (125  Children.) — Master,  surgeon,  storekeepers, 
monitors,  and  servants,  450/. ;  food,  clothing,  bedding  repairs,  household 
expences,  &c.  850/.     Total,  1,300/. 

Female  Orphan  School  (125  Chidren.) — Matron,  surgeon,  superint.,  and 
servants,  410/.;  food,  clothing,  alterations,  household  expences,  1,090/. 
Total,  1,500/. 

Management  of  the  Trust.  —  Clerk,  asst.  clerk,  messenger,  and  office- 
keeper,  606/. ;  rent  of  office,  printing,  stationery,  postage,  and  incidental 
expences,  194/.     Total,  801/. 

Presbyterian  Clergy. — Four  ministers  of  the  established  church  of 
Scotland,  600/. 

Roman  Catholic  Clergy  and  Schools. — Vicar  general,  200/. ;  six 
Roman  Catholic  chaplains,  900/. ;  Roman  Catholic  schools,  800/.  Total, 
1,900/. 

Military. — Supcrt.  of  ordnance  stores,  forage  to  commandants,  191/. ; 
Extra  pay  to  his  Excellency's  body  guard,  114/.  ;  Clothing  for  the  men 
and  forage  for  the  horses,  315/.     Total,  620/. 


PENSIONS  AND  MISCELLANEOUS  EXPENSES.  o55 

Pensions. — Pensions  Pat/able  in  England. — Mrs.  Macquarie,  widow  of 
Governor  Macquarie,  400/.  ;  Mrs.  Col)b,  (late  Mrs.  Bent)  widow  of  Judge 
Advocate  Bent,  200/. ;  Mrs.  Lewin,  widow  of  Coroner  Lewin,  50/  ;  Mrs. 
Jamison,  widow  of  Surgeon  Jamison,  40/.  ;  Mrs.  Thompson,  do.  do. 
Thompson,  30/.     Total,  720/. 

Pensions  Payable  in  the  Colony. — J.  Stephen,  Esq.  late  Judge  in  the 
Supreme  Court,  600/. ;  Mrs.  King,  widow  of  Gov.  King,  200/. ;  Mrs.  S. 
Mileham,  widow  of  surgeon  Mileham,  100/. ;  Mr.  W.  Harper,  late  Asst. 
Surv.,  109/. ;  Mr.  J.  Redham,  late  gaoler  at  Sydney,  70/. ;  Mr.  J.  Tucker, 
late  Comm.  storekeeper,  50/. ;  Mr.  J.  Gowen,  do.  50/. ;  Mr.  T.  Taber,  late 
master  of  the  public  school,  50/. ;  Mr.  T.  Pendergrass,  late  town  cryer, 
12/. ;  Mr.  W.  Eckford,  late  pilot  of  Newcastle,  13/.     Total,  1,155/. 

Miscellaneous  Expenses. — Stationery,  printing,  book-binding,  gazettes, 
and  almanacks,  for  the  several  Colonial  Departments,  1,900/. ;  fuel  and 
light  for  do.  120/.;  allowance  to  the  Hon.  A.  M'Leay,  in  fulfilment  of  an 
agreement  with  the  Secretary  of  State,  750/. ;  drawbacks  on  the  re-e.v- 
portation  of  foreign  goods,  and  duty  returned,  300/. ;  restitution  of  duty 
on  spirits  supplied  by  contractors  to  His  Majesty's  troops  in  the  Interior, 
860/. ;  for  constructing  a  landing  jetty  on  the  S.E.  side  of  Sydney  Cove, 
273/. ;  for  facing  the  quay  at  Paramatta  with  stone,  200/. ;  for  removing 
obstructions  in  the  Paramatta  river,  500/. ;  erecting  court-houses  at  Berima 
and  Bathurst,  2,000/.  ;  breakwater  at  Newcastle,  500/. ;  pier  at  Newcastle, 
200/. ;  to  Lieut.  Col.  Dumaresq,  and  Mr.  Dumaresq,  being  the  value  of 
the  bridge  over  Wallis'  Creek,  222/. ;  towards  building  Roman  Catholic 
Chapels  at  Maitland  and  Campbelltown,  400/. ;  casual  repairs  to  Govt, 
house,  courts  of  justice,  and  other  colonial  public  buildings,  1,200/.  ; 
furniture  for  Govt,  house,  and  public  offices,  600/.  ;  lighting  lamps  in  the 
streets  of  Sydney,  310/. ;  towards  the  support  of  the  colonial  musuem,  200/. ; 
in  aid  of  the  mission  to  the  Aborigines,  by  the  Church  Missionary  Society, 
500/, ;  donations  of  provisions,  clothing,  blankets,  &c.  for  the  Aborigines, 
900/. ;  towards  the  support  of  the  police  establishments  of  the  colony, 
8,000/. ;  to  meet  unforeseen  expences,  on  occasion  of  emergency,  to  be  here- 
after accounted  for,  2,000/.  Total,  21,926/.— Total  estimated  expendi- 
ture, 114,208/. 

The  whole  of  the  foregoing  expenditure  is  defrayed  by 
the  colonists  ;  there  is,  however,  a  considerable  sum  very 
properly  paid  by  the  mother  country  for  the  maintenance  of 
the  prison  population,  not  supported  by  the  settlers,  and  for 
the  general  expenditure  of  the  colony  as  a  penal  settlement. 
The  latest  return  I  have  before  me  is  one  for  1828,  prepared 
for  the  Finance  Committee,  shewing  the  total  expenditure 
for  that  year;  it  has  .since  been  greatly  decreased. 


356    EXPENDITURE  FOR  PRISONERS  IN  N.  S.  WALES  AND  ENGLAND. 

Expenditure  of  the  New  South  Wales  (in  the  colony  and  in 
England)  in  1828— 

Civil  and  convict  charges,  240,435/.;  military  and  commissariat,  81,839/.; 
transport  of  convicts,  79,007/. ;— total,  401,281/. 

Of  this  the  colonial  revenue  defrayed — 

Arrears  of  preceding  year,  9,050/. ;  civil  departments  of  government, 
21,725/.;  revenue  ditto,  14,798/.;  judicial,  16,000/.;  ecclesiastical  and 
schools,  19,918/.;  colonial  military,  7,624/.;  miscellaneous  civil  charges, 
6,800/.;— total,  95,915/. 

England  defrayed — 

For  two  regiments  and  a  half,  50,545/. ;  rations  and  supplies  for  ditto, 
20,726/.  ;  commissariat  pay  and  allowances,  10,567/- ;  stores  sent  from 
England,  25,966/. ;  colonial  marine,  4,529/. ;  convict  department,  63,729/.; 
stores  for  ditto,  19,000/.;  police  and  hulks,  22,084/. ;  passage  of  convicts 
and  troops  to  New  South  Wales,  79,00//. ;  benevolent  institution,  1,726/. ; 
—total,  297,879/. 

It  is  impossible  to  distinguished  accurately  the  expense 
incurred  by  the  colony,  as  distinguished  from  a  penal  settle- 
ment ;  but  as  the  parliamentary  committee  of  colonial  enquiry 
observe,  the  greater  proportion  of  the  whole  is  incurred  on 
account  of  the  convict  population. 

The  expenditure  in  1830  was — 

Civil  establishments  defrayed  from  the  colonial  treasury,  84,845/. ;  mi- 
litary establishment  (exclusive  of  provisions  and  stores),  defrayed  by 
commissariat,  47,400/. ;  convict  ditto  (exclusive  of  ditto),  46,800/. ;  pro- 
visions, stores,  and  transport,  for  convict  and  military  (defrayed  by  ditto), 
63,942/. ;  navy  disbursements  far  transports  for  convicts  in  1832,  and  stores, 
&c.,  63,285/. 

In  the  Army  Commissariat  accounts  for  the  year  ending  Slst 
March,  1833,  and  ordered  to  be  printed  by  the  House  of 
Commons  14th  February,  1834,  the  following  returns  are 
given  relative  to  New  South  Wales : — 

Pay  and  troops,  39,465/.;  staff  pay,  1889/.;  half  pay,  1495/.;  widow's 
pensions,  108/.;  Chelsea  pensions,  9,064/.;  total  51,321/.  Commissariat 
pay,  half  do,  and  pensions,  4848/.;  ordnance  pensions,  441/.;  naval  de- 
partment, 1403/. ;  total  payments  on  account  of  the  ordinary  estimates 
voted  by  Parliament,  58,014/.  To  this  is  to  be  added  the  army  extraordi- 
naries,  consisting  of  meat,  bread,  and  spirit?,  for  the  troops,  officer's  forage 


REVENUE  AND  EXPENDITURE  OF  NEW  SOUTH  WALES. 


357 


and  lodging  money,  clerks,  storekeepers,  barrack  furniture,  and  repairs, 
&c.,  amounting  altogether  to  28,796/.  (How  much  of  this  sum  is  returned 
to  the  treasury  out  of  13,500/.  paid  for  bread,  meat,  and  spirits,  for  the 
soldiers,  and  which  is  deducted  from  tlieir  pay,  is  not  stated.)  To  the  pre- 
ceding two  sums,  making  for  the  troops  86,810/.,  is  to  be  added  payments 
on  account  of  the  convict  and  colonial  establishments  thus  detailed  (omitting 
shillings  :) — 


Convicts. 

r-^i^^-oi          General 
Colonial.    ^     g^^^j^g 

Total. 

Provisions,  forage,  soap,  tobacco,  &c. 

Wood  and  coals 

Candles  and  oil 

Transport  and  travelling 

Utensils,  building  materials,  &c. 

Convict  establishments,  police,  agricul- 
tural and  penal  settlements,  gaols, 
crews  of  vessels,  &c. 

Miscellaneous 

44168 
187 

146 

1073 
9597 

43016 

3199 

£. 

767 

2 

15 

5 

752 

2627 

447 

1004 
1078 
991 

385 

£. 

47563 

637 

1166 

2157 

11341 

43016 
3585 

Total    . 

101386 

1541 

6532 

109465 

In  1828,  the  number  of  male  convicts  in  New  South  Wales, 
was  14,155,  of  females,  1,533 — total,  15,688:  of  this  number 
only  4,879  were  maintained  by  government ;  and  the  colonists 
would  have  supported  every  prisoner  had  they  been  assigned  ; 
in  fact,  there  are  applications  for  five  times  the  number  of 
prisoners  that  arrive  in  the  colony.  The  rations  for  each 
convict  per  annum,  was  then  10/.  16*.  Qd.,  clothing,  ditto, 
2Z.  10*. — total,  13/.  6s.  6d.  But  adding  the  cost  of  superin- 
tendence in  public  works,  &c.,  the  average  expense  was  lOd. 
per  day,  or  15/.  4*.  2d.  a  year  ;  while  in  Millbank  penitentiary 
the  average  expense  per  convict  (after  their  earnings  were 
deducted,  which  earnings  in  England  are  no  saving,  as  they 
throw  honest  people  out  of  work,)  was,  in  1828,  30/.  14*.  Sd., 
and  in  1829,  30/.  3*.  per  head.  The  average  expense  of  ship- 
ment of  each  convict  to  New  South  Wales  was,  in  1829  for 
males,  25/.  15*.  9d.  per  head;  for  females,  27/.  12*.  6d.  per 
head;  in  1834  it  was  however  but  7/.  6*.  2d. ;  being  reduced 
to  that  sum  since  1830  from  12/.  6*.  dd. ;  so  that  transporta- 
tion, to  say  nothing  of  reformation,  or  the  diseased  population, 
tainting  the  sound,  is  by  far  the  cheapest  mode  of  getting 
rid  of  criminals.* 

*  Mr.  Barrister  Wentworth,  of  New  South  Wales,  has  also  proved  this 
position  by  the  following  calculation,  as  to  the  cost  of  maintaining  pri- 


358 


CONVICT  EXPENDITURE  AT  HOME  AND  ABROAD. 


The  whole  civil  and  military  expenditure  of  the  colony,  for 
several  years,  is  thus  stated  in  a  Colonial  Office  document. 


EXPENDITURE. 

REVENUE. 

Years. 

CivU. 

Military 

and 
Convict. 

Total. 

Gross 
Revenue. 

Parliamentary 
Grants. 

Total. 

1826 

105727 

103332 

209059 

85147 

131942 

217O8I 

1827 

133697 

115905 

249602 

39112 

120000 

259112 

1828 

86805 

118614 

205419 

90033 

120000 

210033 

1829 

90472 

197912 

288384 

160997 

120000 

280997 

1830 

80 174 

162717 

242891 

126998 

120000 

246998 

1831 

87047 

179240 

266287 

122834 

120000 

271380 

1832 

136000 

1833 

162000 

1834 

1835 

No  returns. 

Staple  Products  of  New  South  Wales  are  wool,  whale 
oil,  cattle,  and  provisions.  The  first  is  the  most  valuable, 
and  promises  at  no  distant  day  to  give  great  wealth  to  the 
colony ;  at  present  the  Australian  colonies  export  nearly  one- 
tenth  of  the  entire  importation  of  foreign  wool  into  the  ports 
of  London  and  Liverpool.    The  following  quantities  of  foreign 


soners  in  New  South  Wales,  iu  tlie  Hulks,  or  in  Penitentiaries,  according 
to  the  actual  number  of  prisoners  in  New  South  Wales,  from  1787  to  1821. 


al  number 
nvicts  con- 
d  at  New 
th  Wales. 

e  expendi- 

5  of  New 
th  Wales. 

8 

>  ^ 

d  have  cost 
iitentiaries 

al  number 
nvicts  con- 
d  at  New 
th  Wales. 

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1786 

28346 

1804 

6362 

46518 

172304 

198494 

1787 

757 

31341 

18130 

21574 

1805 

6076 

118597 

164558 

189571 

1788 

699 

18008 

16741 

19921 

I8O6 

5303 

105297 

143622 

165453 

1789 

1661 

88057 

39780 

47338 

1807 

4970 

121859 

134604 

155064 

1790 

1518 

44774 

36356 

43263 

1808 

5275 

131542 

142874 

164580 

1791 

3695 

129019 

88495 

105307 

1809 

5164 

124636 

139858 

161116 

1792 

3612 

104588 

86507 

102942 

1810 

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1/8699 

156835 

200853 

1793 

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69961 

91010 

108300 

1811 

5548 

214696 

175095 

214707 

1794 

3852 

79381 

92255 

109782 

1812 

5655 

185547 

186357 

218848 

1795 

4183 

75280 

100182 

119215 

1813 

6288 

218735 

198674 

243145 

1796 

4532 

83854 

108541 

129162 

1814 

7037 

225085 

305332 

272331 

1797 

5349 

120372 

128108 

152396 

1815 

7383 

181589 

270540 

285722 

1/98 

56O8 

111514 

151883 

159828 

I8I6 

8479 

216291 

262354 

328137 

1799 

5518 

8O274 

149445 

I72I6I 

I8I7 

10107 

232585 

379012 

391140 

1800 

6693 

110984 

181268 

208821 

1818 

12621 

325132 

474654 

488437 

1801 

6805 

125563 

184302 

212316 

1819 

15447 

327845 

464375 

597798 

1802 

6973 

140410 

188852 

217557 

1820 

18568 

373315 

612744 

798581 

1803 

7251 

96961 

196381 

226231 

1821 

20494 

425350 

572444 

793117 

In  addition  to  the  cost  of  the  prisoners  in  hulks,  there  should  be  added  400,000/.  as  the 
expense  of  fitting  up  forty  hulks;  and  in  the  next  column,  the  expense  of  fitting  up  forty 
penitentiaries  (at  209,166/.  each)  K,366,6l(i/.  The  mere  cost  would  then  stand  thtis — In  New 
South  Wales,  5,301,023/.-.  in  liulks,  7,2I4,4s6/. ;  iu  penitentiaries,  16,309,S6W. 


STAPLES  OF  NEW  SOUTH  WALES WOOL.  359 

wool  were  imported  into  Great  Britain  from  the  1st  January 
to  the  31st  December,  1834,  viz  : 

German, 62,553  bales,  abt.  3  cwt.  each. 

Spanish, 13,999  do.  2do. 

New  South  Wales,    ..    10,327"! 
Van  Diemen's  Land,  . .      5,952  j      ' 
Russia,  Smyrna,  Odessa,              | 
Barbary,  Italian,  Danish,  &c.     ]__'__ 

136,277  bales. 
As  the  trade  in  wool  has  an  important  bearing  on  our  staple 
manufactures,  a  few  remarks  on  the  subject  will  be  necessary. 
Previous  to  the  year  1800  our  average  imports  of  wool*  did 
not  much  exceed  3,000,000  lbs.  and  chiefly  from  Spain ;  the 
Elector  of  Saxony  at  this  time  introduced  the  Merino  sheep 
into  his  dominions,  where  it  was  found  to  thrive  better  than 
in  Spain,  whose  flocks  suffered  much  during  the  wars  conse- 
quent on  the  French  Revolution.  The  importations  into 
England  from  foreign  parts  at  six  intervals  since  1810,  will  be 
found  on  the  next  page. 

*  The  reader  may,  perhaps,  desire  to  know  the  countries  to  whicli  our 
woollen  manufactures  are  exported;  the  following-  parliamentary  docu- 
ment is  for  1833,  (1834  not  being  yet  prepared).  British  woollen  manu- 
factures exported  from  the  United  Kingdom  in  the  year  1833,  to  the 
following  countries  : — Russia,  93,072/.,  declared  value;  Sweden,  5,212/, 
Norway,  12,321/. ;  Denmark,  2,033/.;  Prussia,  150/.;  Germany,  634,916/. 
Holland,  282,122/.  ;  Belgium,  108,632/.;  France,  55,944/.  ;  Portugal 
Azores,  and  Maderia,  149,357/.;  Spain  and  the  Canaries,  111,969/. 
Gibraltar,  19,436/. ;  Italy,  220,512/.;  Malta,  12,468/.;  Ionian  Isles,  2,919/. 
Turkey  and  Continental  Greece,  20,101/.;  Morea,  and  Greek  Islands, 
914/. ;  Isles — Guernsey,  Jersey,  Alderney,  and  Man,  35,721/.  ;  East  Indies 
and  China,  961,333/.;  New  Holland,  54,181/.;  Cape  of  Good  Hope, 
42,604/.;  Other  parts  of  Africa,  7,189/.;  British  America,  376,877/.; 
British  West  Indies,  102,100/.;  Foreign  West  Indies,  59,847;  United 
States  of  America,  2,265,407/.  ;  Brazil,  274,568/. ;  Mexico  and  the  States 
of  South  America,  382,515/.  Total,  6,292,432/.  The  following  are  the 
descriptions  of  the  articles  comprehended  in  the  above  statement : — Cloths 
of  all  sorts,  597,189  pieces  ;  napped  coalings,  duffels,  &c.  19,543  ;  kersey- 
meres, 31.795  ;  baizes  of  all  sorts,  45,036;  stuffs,  woollen,  or  worsted, 
1,690,559  pieces ;  flannel,  2,055,072  yards  ;  blankets  and  blanketting, 
3,128,106  ;  carpets  and  carpeting,  667,377;  woollens  mixed  with  cotton, 
1,605,056  yards ;  hosiery,  232,766  doz.  pair.     Sundries,  78,236/. 


360 


WOOL  IMPORTED  INTO  GREAT  BRITAIN. 


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INTRODUCTION  OF  FINE  SHEEP  INTO  NEW  SOUTH  WALES.     361 

It  will  be  observed  from  the  foregoing  what  an  augmenta- 
tion has  taken  place  in  the  supply  of  wool  from  Germany  and 
Australasia,  and  as  the  fineness  of  the  climate  in  our  own 
colony  requires  no  winter  foddering  for  sheep,  and  the  grasses 
seem  peculiarly  adapted  to  the  purer  blood  of  the  animal,  we 
see  what  a  field  is  open  for  the  extension  of  this  staple,  not 
only  for  the  supply  of  England,  but  for  France,  America,  &c. 
the  latter  country  now  importing  wool  direct  from  Sydney. 

As  previously  remarked,  when  speaking  of  Mr.  John  M'Ar- 
thur.  New  South  Wales  is  indebted  to  this  gentleman  for  the 
introduction  of  sheep  farming ;  so  long  back  as  1793,  his  fore- 
seeing mind  told  him  that  the  grasses  and  climate  of  New 
South  Wales  were  adapted  to  Merino  sheep,  and  about  two 
years  after  he  obtained  a  ram  and  two  ewes  from  Capt.  Kent, 
R.  N.  who  had  brought  them,  with  some  other  stock  for  the 
supply  of  the  settlement,  from  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope,  to 
which  place  some  of  the  pure  breed  had  been  sent  by  the 
Dutch  Government.  Mr.  M'Arthur  immediately  began  to 
cross  his  coarse  fleeced  sheep  with  the  Merino,  and  in  ten 
years  his  flock,  which  consisted  of  70  Bengal  animals,  was  in- 
creased to  4,000,  although  the  wethers  had  been  killed  as 
they  became  fit  for  food.  In  1803,  Mr.  M'Arthur  revisited 
England,  exhibited  samples  of  his  wool  to  a  committee  of  ma- 
nufacturers, who  happened  to  be  then  in  London,  and  it  was 
so  much  approved  that  Mr.  M'Arthur  appeared  before  the 
Privy  Council,  and  laid  before  the  board  his  plans  for  finally 
rendering  England  independent  of  foreign  countries  for  a 
supply  of  the  best  wools.  The  Privy  Council  adopted  Mr.  M.'s 
views,  and  with  their  encouragement  he  purchased  from  the 
Merino  flock  of  his  Majesty  George  the  Third,  two  ewes  and 
three  rams,  with  which  he  returned  to  New  South  Wales  in 
1806,  prophetically  calhng  the  vessel  in  which  his  golden 
fleece  were  embarked  the  '  Argo.'  Such  has  been  the  origin 
of  the  rapidly  increasing  flocks  of  New  South  Wales,  whose 
numbers  are  now  near  a  million,  and  some  of  whose  wool  has 
brought  as  high  as  10*.  4c?.  per  lb.  in  the  London  market  !* 

*  In  1832,  the  average  price  per  lb.  of  wool  from  the  best  flocks,  was 
3s.  3d.  i  in  1833,  3*   ihd. ;  and  in  1834,  2^.  lid. 


362     AGRICULTURAL  STOCK  AND  PRICES  IN  NEW  SOUTH  WALES. 


Nor  must  it  be  forgotten  that  such  are  the  great  improve- 
ments in  modern  navigation,  that  the  expense  of  sending  the 
fleece  to  London  from  Austraha  (15,000  miles  distant),  is  not 
more  than  3^d.  per  lb.  (including  freight,  insurance,  broker- 
age, commission,  dock  and  landing  charges,  while  the  expense 
of  transmitting  German  or  Spanish  wools  to  England  is  from 
4d.  to  4|f/.  per  lb. 

The  progress  of  cultivation  and  of  live  stock  in  the  colony 
since  its  settlement  in  1788,  will  be  seen  by  the  following 
statement. 


LAND. 

LIVE  STOCK. 

Years. 

n^°i      Cleared 
S?r  i  pasture. 

Cultivated. 

Horses. 

Horned 

Cattle. 

Sheep. 

Swine. 

Acres. 

Acres. 

Acres. 

No. 

No. 

No. 

1788 

7 

7 

29 

a 

1810 

95637 

8 1937 

13700 

1114 

11276 

34550 

g 

1820 

381466 

349195 

32271 

4014 

68149 

119777 

V 

1825 

673699 

127878 

45514 

6142 

1H4519 

237622 

1828 

2906346 

231573 

71523 

12479 

262868 

536391 

ll 

1833 

4044117 

No  reti 

irns. 

In  April,  1788,  three  months  after  the  forming  the  settle- 
ment, the  whole  of  the  live  stock  in  the  colony  consisted  of — 
1  stallion,  3  mares,  3  colts,  2  bulls,  5  cows,  29  sheep,  19  goats, 
49  hogs,  25  pigs,  5  rabbits,  18  turkies,  29  geese,  35  ducks, 
142  fowls,  and  87  chickens — what  a  contrast  to  the  present 
state  of  the  colony ! 

The  quantity  of  grain  raised  it  is  not  possible  to  state,  but 
its  prices  since  the  great  drought  in  1828,  are  thus  shewn: — 


Flour, 

Flour, 

Years 

Wheat. 

first 
quality. 

second 
quality. 

Maize. 

Barley. 

Oats. 

Hay. 

straw. 

per 

per 

per 

per 

per 

per 

in 

bushel. 

peck. 

peck. 

bushel. 

bushel. 

bushel. 

per  ton. 

loads. 

s.   d. 

s.     d. 

s.     d. 

s.    d. 

s.  d. 

s,   d. 

s. 

s.  d. 

1828 

7    9 

,, 

8     0 

4    0 

3    6 

200 

35  0 

1829 

6    6 

22      0 

18      6 

5     0          5     0 

60 

20  0 

1830 

6  10 

19    11 

16     10 

3     1           3     4 

3    2 

122 

17  7 

1831 

5    6 

16      6 

14       0 

3     0          26 

2    6 

150 

12  6 

1832 

1833 

No  returns. 

1   834 

The  prices  of  horses,  cattle,  and  sheep,  which  a  few  years 
since  had  fallen  considerably,  are  now  on  the  increase  ;  and  as 


BLACK  WHALE  AND  SPERM  FISHING. 


363 


provisions  are  becoming  a  staple  export,  we  may  soon  see 
flour  one  of  the  British  imports  from  AustraUa. 

After  wool,  whale  oil  is  the  next  chief  staple  of  the  colony ;  it 
is  also  of  modern  creation,  and  its  progress  is  thus  indicated : 


Years. 

Vessels  em- 
ployed in 
Fishing. 

Sperm 
iWhale  Oil. 

Sea 

Elephant's 

OU. 

Black 
Whale  Oil. 

Seal  Skins. 

Total  value 

of  Oil  and 

Skins. 

1828 
1829 
1830 
1831 
1832 
1833 
1834 
1835 

No.  of  ships. 

27 
32 
31 

27 

Tons. 

348 
885 
1282 
1914 

3483 

Tons. 
118 

84 
27 

Tons. 

50 

518 
1004 

420 

No. 
7647 

12350 
5640 
49/2 

246fi 

94101 
115780 

169278 

The  black  whale  is  found  in  abundance  along  the  coast  of 
New  South  Wales,  but  the  mariners  prefer  cruising  off  New 
Zealand,  and  among  the  beautiful  islands  in  the  Pacific. 

The  sperm  fishing  is  the  most  valuable,  and  the  extent  to 
which  it  is  prosecuted  may  be  estimated  from  the  number  of 
vessels  engaged  in  it,  and  sailing  out  of  the  Port  of  Sydney 
in  1834:— 


Name. 

Tonnage. 

Men. 

Name. 

Tonnage. 

Men. 

Anastatia  . 

Achilles 

Albion 

Caroline 

Caroline     . 

Clajkstone     . 

Cape  Packet 

Earl  Stanhope 

Elizabeth  . 

Elizabeth 

Fame 

Francis  Freeling   . 

Guide 

Genii 

Governor  Halkett 

Governor  Bourke* 

Harmony  . 

Harriet  . 

Jane  . 

Juno 

Lynx 

211 
196 

311 

198 
370 

244 
210 
295 
268 
365 
202 
190 
147 
164 
333 
250 
375 
212 
221 
212 
180 

1 
27 
27 
33 

31 
48 
31 
31 
34 
31 
38 
31 
32 
23 
24 
38 
31 
31 
23 
31 
30 
24 
1 

Lord  Rodney     . 

Louisa    . 

Lady  Wellington 

Lady  Blackwood   . 

Lady  Rowena    . 

Mary  Jane     . 

Mary 

Nourmahul    . 

Nimrod 

Nereus    . 

Pocklington 

Proteus  . 

Sisters 

Sir  William  Wallace 

Tigress 

Venus     . 

Vittoria 

Woodlark 

Wolf  . 

165 
242 
196 
253 
322 
249 
252 
197 
231 
124 
20! 
254 
281 
262 
192 
288 
281 
245 
265 

23 
31 
23 
33 
31 
31 
32 
23 
32 
23' 
30 
33 
31 
31 
27 
31 
23 
30 
30 

Total  40  Vessels  . 

9656 

1179 

*  The  Governor  Bourke  and  the  Australian,  both  belonging  to  the  late 
firm  of  Messrs.  Cooper  and  Levy,  now  Cooper,  Holt,  and  Roberts,  and 
several  other  vessels  have  been  built  in  the  colony. 


361- 


VALUE  OF  THE  COMMERCE  OF  NEW  SOUTH  WALES. 


The  Phormium  tenax,  or  New  Zealand  flax,  is  another 
article  of  export  yearly  increasing  ;  it  is  similar  in  appearance 
to  the  English  flax,  and  is  chiefly  dressed  by  the  native  wo- 
men of  New  Zealand,  who  scrape  off"  the  outer  part  of  the 
the  leaf  with  muscle  shells,  the  inner  fibres  or  filaments  re- 
sembling dressed  flax  is  then  exported  to  Sydney  where  it  is 
valued  at  \5l.  to  25/.  per  ton. 

Timber,  [particularly  cedar  plank],  has  been  for  some  time 
exported  ;  coals  also  will  prove  a  valuable  staple  of  the  colony. 
(For  an  account  of  the  produce  of  the  Newcastle  CoUeries,  see 
Australian  Agricultural  Company,  in  the  Appendix.) 

Commerce. — The  trade  of  the  colony  has,  like  every  thing 
else,  extraordinarily  increased,  its  value  for  the  last  few  years 
is  thus  shewn — 


IMPORTS VALUE  IN  STERLING 

[  EXPORTS VALUE  IN  STERLING 

MONEY. 

MONEY. 

a 

rom 
reat 
itain. 

S  "m  .Si 

2  s:^  o  S  a 

5| 

To 

itish 

onies. 

To 

reign 

ates. 

^Ou 

^Ǥ 

f^fS^j^  t^ 

^  w 

pa  o 

f2^ 

1822 

59551 

42745'l32296 

1823 

13109 

4345!  174.54 

1825 

250000'  20000 

30000  300000 

77235 

535 

1138 

78908 

1826 

280000;  30000 

50000,360000 

1  101314 

1735 

3550 

106599 

1827  253975  G3220 

45129362324 

:  70507 

4926 

831 

76314 

1828  399892  125862 

44246|570000 

s  84008 

4845 

1197 

90050 

1829:423463 

135486 

42055|601004 

:  146283  12692 

2741 

161761 

1830 

268935 

60356 

91189 

420480 

120559  15597 

5305 

141461 

1831 

241989 

68804 

179359 

490152 

i  21113860354 

52676 

324168 

1832 

409344 

47895 

147381 

604620 

25210663934 

68384 

384344 

1833 

434220 

61662 

218090 

713972 

269508  67344 

57949 

394801 

1834 

The  imports  of  the  colony  consist  chiefly  of  British  Pro- 
duce ;  of  602,032/.  worth  imported  in  the  year  ending  January 
1833,  409,344/.  was  from  the  United  Kingdom;  the  large 
items  being — woollens,  20,000/ ;  stationery  and  books,  10,000/; 
spirits,  40,000/;  linens,  .5,000/;  iron  (steel  and  hoop),  13,701/; 
hardware,  26,701/:  hats,  caps,  and  bonnets,  13,547/;  haber- 
dashery, 21,680/;  glass,  5,167/;  fire-arms,  9,101/;  earthen- 
ware,   7,106/;    cottons,    42,756/;    cordage,  5,403/;    copper. 


STAPLE  EXPORTS  OF  NEW  SOUTH  WALES. 


SGo 


7,840/;  casks  and  staves,  16,331/;  canvas  and  bagging, 
11,068/;  beer  sale,  23,809/;  and  apparel  and  slops,  28,1121. 
The  small  items  are  very  numerous.  The  total  value  of 
sugar  imported  was  30,373/.  (tons  2084);  of  tea,  3125/.  (lbs. 
106,849);  of  coffee  and  cocoa,  191/.  (lbs.  5,795);  of  wine, 
19,077/.  (galls.  161,410);  and  of  rum,  37,469/.  (galls.  335,134). 
The  quantities  of  principal  articles  exported  since  1828, 
were,  according  to  the  returns  I  have  derived  from  the  Plan- 
tation Office,  London  Custom-house,  as  follows : — 


Staple  Articles  exported  from  New  South  Wales,  the  produce  of  the 
Colony,  its  Fisheries,  and  the  adjacent  Islands,  years  ending  5th  Jan. 


Articles. 

1828. 

1829. 

1830. 

1831. 

1832. 

1833. 

1834. 

The  produce  of  the  Colony, 

Wool,  lbs. 

216556 

834343 

1005332 

899750 

1401284 

1334948 

1734203 

Cedar,  feet. 

603486 

850105 

940486 

368830 

580393 

437930 

1086437 

Blue  Gum  Wood.. 

138245 

314541 

6O8647 

179403 

302410 

219597 

147170 

other  timber 

16050 

7669 

Trenails 

68615 

72837 

I8I8I7 

23959 

24316 

186831 

328503 

Hides,  number 

1554 

4415 

8771 

10747 

14320 

17027 

12117 

Horns  or  bones   .. 

4128 

12500 

8363 

23102 

V.^^273 

^473 

^'420 

Horses 

22 

132 

338 

184 

Coals,  tons. 

'771 

'974 

218 

42 

196 

889 

1339 

Cattle,  horned 

88 

61 

71 

75 

298 

Lime,  bushels 

3000 

4852 

9578 

3136 

3718 

3420 

Flour  and  Biscuits, lbs. 

135832 

272037 

tons.  222 

407 

"664 

Maize,  bushels 

1815 

6879 

7280 

10437 

6347 

Bulter,  cwt 

Cheese,  cwt 

h 
314 

706 

485 

}      1173 

1400 

1344 

Provisions  Salt,  cwt.     .. 

160 

2796 

3230 

11586 

10020 

Sheep,  number 

244 

472 

489 

264 

249 

Soap,  cwt. 

226 

504 

387 

451 

783 

Cordage,  cwt 

4 

150 

43 

213 

523 

Bark  Mimosa,  tons. 

58 

68| 

2 

3 

Shingles,  No 

•• 

10000 

7000 

107000 

South  Sea  Islands. 

Cocoa  Nut  Oil,  gallons 

11922 

23258 

tons.  51 

69 

58 

Arrow  Root,  lbs 

26798 

11400 

11246 

42560 

5316 

Sandal  Wood,  feet. 

60 

8000 

Flax, lbs 

107154 

134820 

toQS.270 

"602 

"752 

362 

211 

Fisheries. 

232092 

Sperm  Whale  Oil,  gallons.  • 

96757 

78386 

or 

tons.  45 

tons.  983 

1571 

1345 

3048 

Sea  Elephants,  ditto.    . . 

12867 

7910 

nil. 

11340 

tons.  23 

nU. 

nil. 
634 

418 

Black  Whale,  ditto.       . . 

7140 

or 
tons.  45 

tons.  98 

tons.  505 

Sea!  Skins,  number. 

12473 

8723 

11362 

9720 

4424 

281 

1890 

Bechle  Mer,  lbs. 

3990 

1300 

3360 

nil. 

3766 

nil. 

Whalebone 

5715 

1980 

ton.  1 

92 

28 

43 

27 

SGG 


SHIPPING  EMPLOYED  BY  NEW  SOUTH  WALES. 


There  are  several  other  items  of  a  minor  nature,  which  it 
is  not  necessary  to  particularize.  The  shipping  in  which  this 
trade  is  carried  on,  is  thus  given  in  a  Colonial  Office  return. 


SHIPS  INWARDS. 

SHIPS  OUTWARDS. 

B 

TYom 

From            From 

Total 
Invrards. 

To 

To 

To 

Total 
Outwards. 

S 

Great 

British         Foreign 

Great 

British 

Foreign 

Britain. 

Colonies.  1     States. 

Britain. 

Colonies. 

States. 

No. 

Tons. 

No. 

Tons.  No. 

Tons. 

No. 

Tons. 

No. 

Tons. 

No. 

Tons. 

No. 

Tons. 

No. 

Tons. 

1822 

48 

14142 

23 

5782    .. 

71 

22924 

45 

16730 

15 

4063 

60 

20793 

1823 

56 

17574 

12 

2799      3 

'451 

71 

2082J 

61 

19102 

14 

2859 

2 

■371 

77 

22332 

1825 

69 

20705 

13 

2897      3 

957 

85 

2455C 

56 

17246 

11 

2449 

8 

2993 

75 

22688 

1826 

33 

11848 

23 

3969      6 

1361 

62 

I7l7f 

26 

7063 

23 

6198 

11 

3759 

60 

17020 

1827 

50 

19097 

42 

5376    11 

2035 

103 

2650f 

12 

4021 

40 

6678'  11 

3S02 

63 

14501 

1828 

59 

20585 

65 

8789     13 

3185 

137 

32551; 

15 

4565 

38 

8913'    16 

6708 

69 

20186 

1829 

62 

21963 

46 

7078'   50 

8301 

158 

37341 

21 

6243 

75 

15522    72 

15821 

168 

37586 

1830 

41 

14400 

45 

7221;   71 

9604 

157 

31825 

12 

4551 

55 

12263    80 

12008 

147 

28822 

1831 

39 

13778 

49 

10043,    67 

10179 

155 

3400( 

18 

5863 

57 

12440    90 

16948 

165 

35252 

1832 

56 

18588 

76 

13122i    57 

9640 

189 

36020 

25 

8I9O 

81 

15122    88 

19545 

194 

42857 

1833 

1834 

i 

The  Colony  possesses  a  good  deal  of  shipping  owned  and 
belonging  to  the  port  of  Sydney;  the  following  is  for  1833, 
and  the  quantity  building  is  on  the  increase. 

Shipping  belonging  to  the  port  of  Sydney,  and  employed 
in  the  local  trade  : — 

Abeona,  ct.,  22  42-94  t.,  c.  ;*  fJchi/les,  b.,  196  t.,  w. ;  Jdelaide,  ct., 
29  34-4  t.,  c. ;  Adm'mil  Gifford,  sch.,  43  21-94  t..  New  Zealand  ;  Albion,  bq., 
311  t.,  w. ;  Alexander  M'Leay,  ct.,  39  66-94  t.,  c. ;  Alice,  ketch,  20  t.,  c. ; 
Ann,  sch.,  62  28-94  t.,  c. ;  Anastasia,  bq  ,  211  t.,  w. ;  Austral'mn,  bq.,  265 
t..  Swan  River;  Blackbird,  sch.,  80  t..  New  Zealand  ;  Columbine,  sch.,  99 
t..  South  Sea  Islands  ;  Cape  Packet,  bq.,  21 1  t ,  w. ;  Caroline,  bq.,  198  t., 
w.  ;  Caroline,  s,c\\.,  68  71-94  t.,  w. ;  Carrabeen,  ct.,  18  t.,  c. ;  Clarkstone, 
bq.,  246  t.,  w. ;  Courier,  bq.,  184  t.,  w. ;  Currency  Lass,  sch.,  91  t..  Van 
Diemen's  Land  ;  Dart,  bg.,  109  t.,  Mauritius;  Eai-l  Stanhope,  sh.,  290  t., 
w. ;  Elizabeth,  sh.,  365  t.,  w. ;  Elizabeth,  bq.,  269  t.,  w.  ;  Emma,  ct.,  19 1., 
New  Zealand  ;  Experiment,  ketch,  63  t.,  c. ;  Fairy,  ct.,  29  t..  Port  Mac- 
quarie ;  Fame,  bq.,  203  t.,  w. ;  Fanny,  ketch,  24  t.,  c. ;  Farewell,  ct.,  30 
t..  King  Geori,'e's  Sound;  Fortitude,  sch.,  192  t..  New  Zealand;  Francis 
Freeling,  bq.,  190  t.;  Freak,  bq.,  102  t.,  Manilla;  Friendship,  sch  ,  89  t., 
Van  Diemen's  Land;  f  Genii,  bg.,  167  t.,  w. ;  Glatton,  ct.,  16  t.,  c. ;  \Go- 


*  c  Signifies  coastwise,  w.  whaling,  t.  tons,  ct.  cutter,  bq.  barque,  sh. 
ship,  and  sch.  schooner,  6ir.  brig 
f  Not  possessed  of  colonial  registers. 


VESSELS  BELONGING  TO  THE  COLONY.  367 

vernor  Halkett,  bq.,  333  t.,  w. ;  Governor  Bourke,  bq.,  200 1.,  w. ;  Governor 
Bourke,  sch.,  50  t.,  c. ;  Governor  Phillips,  baf.,  Government  service,  177  t., 
to  Penal  Settlements;  fGuide,  hg.,  w. ;  fHarmont/,  sli.,  375  t.,  w. ;  Har- 
lequin,  sch.,  72  t.,  New  Zealand ;  Harriet,  snow,  255  t.,  w.  ;  Hind,  hg., 
\4b  t.,  Mauritius;  Hope,  ketch,  25  t.,  c.  ;  Isabella,  sch.,  Government  ser- 
vice, 128  t..  Penal  Settlements  ;  Jane,  bq.,  221  t.  ;  Jane,  ketch,  23  t.,  c. ; 
Jolly  Rambler,  ct.,  58  t..  Van  Diemen's  Land  ;  Juno,  hg.,  213  t.,  w. ;  Ladt/ 
Blackwood,  sh.,  254  t.,  w. ;  Lambton,  ct. ;  Australian  Ag'ricultural  Com- 
pany, 62 1.,  Port  Stephens ;  Lady  Leith,  hg.,  89 1.,  Mauritius ;  Lady  Roicena, 
sh.,  328  t.,  w.  ;  Lady  Wellington,  bg.,  190  t.,  w. ;  Lord  Byron,  sch.,  70  t., 
New  Zealand;  Lord  Rodney,  bg.,  166  t.,  w. ;  Lark,  sch.,  19  t.,  c. ;  Louisa, 
bq.,  203  t.,  w. ;  Lucy  Ann,  bq.,  210  t..  New  Zealand;  Luna,  hg.,  165  t., 
w. ;  Lynx,  bq.,  181  t.,  w. ;  Maid  of  the  Mill,  sch.,  29  t.,  c. ;  Mars,  sch., 
40  t,  c. ;  Mary  Ann,  ct.,  28  t.,  c. ;  \Mary,  bq.,  250  t.,  w. ;  Monitor,  ct., 
21  t.,  c. ;  Nereus,  bq.,  125  t.,  w. ;  New  Zealander,  sch.,  140  t.,  South  Sea 
Islands;  Nimrod,  bq.,  322  t.,  w. ;  Normahul,  bq.,  197  t.,  w. ;  Northumber- 
land, ct.,  18  t.,  c.  ;  Olive  Branchy  sch.,  London  Missionary  Society,  44  t., 
Society  Islands  ;  Pandora,  ct.,  28  t.,  c. ;  Pocklington,  bq.,  206  t.,  w. ;  Prince 
George,  ct.,  Revenue,  72  t.,  cruising ;  Proteus,  sh.,  254  t.,  w. ;  Richard 
Reynolds,  bq.,  258  t.,  w. ;  Sally,  ct.,  18  t.,  c. ;  Shamrock,  sch.,  30  t.,  c. ; 
Sir  George  Murray,  sh.,  392  t..  New  Zealand ;  Sir  William  Wallace,  sh., 
263  t.,  w. ;  \Sisters,  sh.,  300  t.,  w. ;  Sophia  Jane,  steamer,  152  t.,  c. ;  Spe- 
culator, sch.,  154  t.,  c. ;  Sydney  Packet,  sch.,  84  t.,  w. ;  Tumar,  bq.,  196  t., 
w  ;  Tigress,  hg.,  192  t.,  vv. ;  \Fenus,  bq.,  245  t.,  w. ;  Fittoria,  bq.,  281  t., 
w.  ;  Waterloo,  sch.,  70  t.,  w. ;  William  the  Fourth,  steamer,  59  t.,  c. ; 
Wolf,  bq.,  265  t.,  w. ;  Woodlark,  bq.,  245  t.,  vv. 

Total  number  of  vessels  belonging  to  Sydney,  is  94,  with 
a  tonnage  of  13,890  tons;  the  number  engaged  in  the  whal- 
ing being  40,  and  the  tonnage  9,655.  This  shipping  is  the 
growth  of  a  few  years,  and  a  comparison  with  our  other  co- 
lonies will  shew  how  large  it  is. 

The  vessels  built  in  Australia  are  found  very  serviceable, 
and  the  colonial  born  youth*  being  fond  of  the  sea,  a  fine 
maritime  population  is  arising.  An  Insurance  Company  has 
been  recently  formed,  and  the  following  are  the  rates  of  pre- 
mium of  insurance  on  vessels  and  merchandize,  charged  by 
the  Australian  Marine  Assurance  Company. 

*  They  are  generally  distinguished  from  the  British  born  by  being  termed 
'currency'  lads  or  lasses;  while  the  latter  are  denominated  'sterling* 
Whatever  may  have  been  the  case  formerly,  currency  is  now  quite  on  a 
par  with  sterling. 


']68  INSURANCE  COMPANY — MONETARY  SYSTEM. 

Sperm  fishery,  for  12  months,  8  to  10  guineas  per  cent ; 
ditto  for  a  voyage,  8  to  14  per  cent;  Hobart  Town,  to  or 
from,  1  per  cent ;  Launceston,  to  or  from,  1^  per  cent ;  New 
Zealand  and  South  Sea  Islands,  1  per  cent,  per  month;  Ma- 
nilla and  China  to,  2|  per  cent;  ditto  ditto  from,  3  per  cent; 
Madras,  Bombay,  and  Calcutta,  to  or  from,  3  per  cent,  not 
including  risk  through  Torres'  Straits  ;  Mauritius,  to  or  from, 
2  to  4  per  cent,  ditto ;  Cape  of  Good  Hope,  to  or  from,  2- 
per  cent,  ditto ;  United  Kingdom,  to  or  from,  2|  to  3|  per 
cent,  exclusive  of  war  risk ;  Rio  de  Janeiro  and  Bahia,  2|^ 
per  cent,  ditto. 

The  extent  and  progress  of  the  trade  of  the  colony  may  be 
sufficiently  judged  of  from  the  preceding  details,  and  we  pro- 
ceed to  examine  its — 

Monetary  System. — Previous  to  1817  the  circulating  me- 
dium of  the  colony  consisted  principally  of  the  private  notes 
of  merchants,  traders,  shopkeepers,  and  publicans,  the  amount 
varying  so  low  as  sixpence.  To  remedy  the  evils  attendant 
on  such  a  state  of  things,  the — 

Bank  of  New  South  Wales  was  in  that  year  incorporated 
by  a  charter  under  the  seal  of  the  colony,  with  a  capital 
stock  of  20,000/.  sterling,  raised  in  shares  of  100/.  each. 
The  amount  of  shares  subscribed  was  12,600/,  and  notes 
were  issued  by  the  bank  for  2s.  6d.,  5s.,  10s.,  11.,  and 
51.  In  the  first  year  of  its  incorporation  the  bills  dis- 
counted by  the  bank,  amounted  to  only  12,193/.;  in  1818 
they  rose  to  81,672/.;  in  1819  to  107,256/.,  demonstrating 
fully  the  necessity  that  existed  for,  and  the  advantage  of 
such  an  establishment.  Interest  was  customary  at  the  rate 
of  10  per  cent,  per  annum:  the  dividends  declared  in  1818, 
were  at  the  rate  of  12  per  cent.:  for  1819,  21  per  cent.; 
for  1820  and  1821,  12  per  cent.;  and  for  1822,  15  per 
cent.  The  charter  was  granted  for  seven  years,  which  was 
of  course  renewed.  Each  shareholder  is  responsible  for  the 
whole  of  the  proceedings  of  the  bank,  thus  giving  greater 
stability  to  the  institution,  and  providing  a  more  careful 
management  of  its  transactions. 


BANK   OF  NEW   SOUTH    WALES.  369 

It  seldom  advances  money  upon  real  securities  of  any 
description,  nor  does  it  grant  cash  credits,  or  allow  any  in- 
terest upon  current  accounts,  or  permanent  lodgments  of 
cash.  So  far  as  I  have  been  able  to  ascertain,  the  nominal 
capital  of  the  Bank  of  New  South  Wales  is  about  200,C00/. 
divided  into  two  thousand  100/.  shares.  The  amount  of 
capital  paid  up  is  about  35,000/. 

The  affairs  of  the  Institution  are  managed  by  a  president 
and  eleven  directors,  who  are  elected  by  and  from  amongst 
its  shareholders  on  account  of  their  influence  and  respecta- 
bility.    Every  50/.  paid  up  gives  a  vote. 

Nearly  ever  since  it  has  been  established  it  has  given  its 
shareholders  a  dividend  of  from  15  to  20  per  cent,  (upwards 
of  20  per  cent,  in  1834)  a  rate  of  profit  which,  considering 
that  its  transactions  are  restricted  to  the  discounting  of  three 
months'  bills,  must  be  highly  satisfactory  to  its  shareholders, 
and  it  is  a  remarkable  fact,  that  the  establishment  has  never 
sustained  any  actual  losses  through  the  non-payment  of 
the  paper,  which  it  has  discounted.  Up  to  the  year  1824, 
the  bank  discounted  at  the  rate  of  8  per  cent.,  after  which 
the  rate  of  discount  was  increased  to  10  per  cent.,  at  which 
it  has  ever  since  continued.  The  colonial  government  pays 
and  receives  in  specie  only,  and  in  consequence  of  its 
receipts,  from  the  customs,  duties,  sales,  and  leases  of 
land,  and  other  sources  of  revenue,  having  considerably 
exceeded  the  amount  of  its  disbursements,  it  has  from 
time  to  time  gradually  withdrawn  from  circulation  nearly 
all  the  specie  within  the  colony,  and  in  consequence  of  this 
proceeding,  aided  by  the  remittances  occasionally  made  of 
specie  to  Canton  and  other  places,  with  which  a  trade  is  car- 
ried on  by  the  colonists,  the  bank  of  New  South  Wales, 
though  far  more  than  solvent,  has  more  than  once  been  under 
the  necessity  of  suspending  the  payment  of  specie  on  demand,* 

*  It  is  a  fact  highly  creditable  to  the  bank  of  New  South  Wales,  and  to  the 
colonists  in  general,  that  owing  to  the  last  severe  drought  during  the  panic 
which  occurred  in  1826,  and  continued  for  three  years  with  little  inter- 
mission, there  were  18,000/.  bills  over  due  to  the  bank,  while  the  whole 

VOL.  TV.  B  B 


370  THE  BANK  OF  AUSTRALIA. 

yet  such  was  the  confidence  of  the  colonists,  in  the  stabihty 
and  integrity  of  the  estabhshment,  that  in  no  case  has  the 
event  described  occasioned  any  run  upon  the  bank,  but  on 
the  contrary,  the  inhabitants,  with  one  accord,  poured  into 
its  coffers  all  the  specie  they  could  collect,  and,  by  refraining 
from  demanding  it  as  much  as  possible,  soon  enabled  the 
bank  to  resume  cash  payments,  and  to  carry  on  its  usual 
transactions. 

The  notes  issued  by  this  establishment  amount  to  about 
20,000/.  divided  into  IL,  21.,  51.,  10/.,  201.,  and  30/.  the 
greater  proportion  being  1/.  notes  :  since  the  year  1826,  when 
dollars  and  rupees  were  current,  all  the  money  business 
of  New  South  Wales  has  been  transacted  in  sterling — (British 
coin  only  being  used). 

The  Bank  of  Australia,  was  instituted  in  1825,  with  a 
capital  of  (it  is  said)  from  300,000/.  to  400,000/.,  in  shares  of 
/.  each,  of  which  /.  per  share,  or  45,000/.  is  paid 

up.  It  is  managed  by  a  chairman,  deputy-chairman,  and 
eight  directors,  with  the  necessary  assistants.  Like  the 
bank  of  New  South  Wales,  already  described,  it  is  a  bank 
of  issue  and  deposit,  and  its  transactions  are  limited  to  the 
discount  of  bills,  having  not  more  than  three  months  to 
run.  It  affords  no  facilities  for  remittances  to  Europe,  or 
elsewhere,  nor  does  it  make  any  advances  upon  real  securities 
of  any  kind. 

The  bank  of  Australia  discounts  from  10,000/.  to  12,000/. 
weekly,  at  10  per  cent.,  which  is  the  current  rate  of  interest 
in  New  South  Wales. 

The  establishment  has  been  highly  prosperous  ever  since 
its  commencement,  and  has  hitherto  paid  its  shareholders  an 
annual  dividend  of  12  to  15  per  cent,  upon  the  capital  paid 
up.  The  notes  issued  by  this  bank  are  for  1/.,  21.,  51.,  10/., 
20/-,  and  50/. ;  its  circulation  being  about  25,000/. 

capital  was  not  at  that  time  over  22,000/. ;  the  confidence  of  the  public , 
was,  however,  so  great,  that  by  prudent  management,  not  a  sixpence  of] 
the  over  due  bills  was  lost,  and  the  bank  continued  paying  a  dividend  allj 
the  time  of  from  15  to  20  per  cent. 


THE  BANK  OF  AUSTRALASIA.  371 

In  the  year  1826,  some  thieves,  having  obtained  access  to 
its  strong  room  from  a  drain  which  passed  beneath  it,  robbed 
the  bank  of  nearly  5,000/.  in  cash  and  notes,  but  a  portion  of 
this  was  recovered,  and  the  actual  loss  sustained  was  not 
more  perhaps  than  2,000/.  One  fifth  of  the  nett  profits  of 
this  bank  is  reserved  for  a  sinking  fund,  or  *  Rest.'* 

The  flourishing  state  of  these  two  banks  may  be  judged  of 
from  the  fact  that,  10  shares  of  the  New  South  Wales  bank 
were  recently  sold  at  95  premium  ;  and  28  of  the  bank  of 
Australia  at  75  to  SO.  The  amount  of  circulating  medium 
in  the  colony,  whether  paper  or  metal,  I  cannot  ascertain, 
and  I  think  it  wovdd  be  very  desirable  if  the  Legislative 
Council  of  the  colony  would  call  for  an  annual  statement  of 
each  bank,  similar  to  those  which  will  be  found  in  my  3rd 
Vol.,  relative  to  the  banks  in  Lower  Canada. 

A  London  company,  established  March,  1834,  has  been  in- 
corporated by  royal  charter,  called  the — 

Bank  of  Australasia,  with  a  capital  of  200,000/.,  for  the 
purpose  of  establishing  banks  of  issue  and  deposit  in  New 
South  Wales,  Van  Diemen's  Land,  and  other  settlements  in 
Australasia.  One  half  of  the  company's  capital  is  to  be  paid 
up  before  the  commencement  of  business,  and  the  entire  ca- 
pital within  two  years.  The  stock  is  divided  into  5,000 
shares  of  40/.  each  (500  of  which  are  to  be  reserved  for  allot- 
ment in  the  colonies),  to  be  paid  up  as  follows  : — 10/.  per 
share  at  the  time  of  subscribing,  7/.  at  three  months  from 
that  date,  6/.  at  six  months,  3/.  at  nine  months,  4/.  at  twelve 
months,  51.  at  fifteen  months,  and  51.  at  eighteen  months. 

The  management  of  the  company's  affairs  is  vested  in 
the  London  Board  of  Directors,  appointed  by  the  proprie- 
tors, and  the  banks  in  the  colonies  will  be  conducted  by  local 
directors  and  other  persons  duly  qualified,  appointed  by  the 
directors  in  London. 

The  proprietors  are  entitled  to  vote  at  the  annual  meet- 

*  I  hear  another  bank  is  being  formed,  entitled  the  Sydney  Commercial 
Bank. 


372 


VALUE  OF  PROPERTY  IN  NEW  SOUTH   WALES. 


in^-  according  to  the  number  of  shares  held  by  them  respec- 
tively, in  the  following  proportions : — five  shares  and  under 
10,  one  vote  ;  10  shares  and  under  20,  two  votes  ;  20  shares 
and  under  50,  three  votes  ;  50  and  upwards,  four  votes,  and 
not  more. 

Value  op  Propertv. — For  the  reasons  adduced  in  the  preceding  volumes,  I  have  en- 
deavoured to  form  the  annexed  table,  shewing  the  value  of  property,  as  an  approxinxatiou 
to  trutli — as  offering  a  comparative  view  of  the  state  of  the  colony,  and  its  prospective  re- 
sources. I  have  estimated  the  population  at  100,000,  which  1  think  may  be  considered  the 
number  of  mouths  in  the  colony  at  this  moment.  My  reasons  for  coming  to  this  conclusion 
are  not  only  founded  on  actu;il  observation  in  the  colony,  but,  from  examining  the  number 
of  prisoners  sent  out  to  New  South  Wales,  since  the  formation  of  the  settlement  in  1/88  : 
unfortunately,  I  cannot  shew  this  in  detail ;  there  is  no  complete  record  of  such  in  England ; 
I  have  tried  to  obtain  such  at  the  criminal  department  of  the  Home  Office,  where  I  obtained 
the  return  for  Great  Britain  alone,*  from  1822  to  1834,  but  could  not  find  any  data  at  the 
Irish  Office,  in  Westminster,  of  the  prisoners  transported  from  the  sister  isle  :  neither  is 
there  any  complete  returns  at  the  Colonial  Office ;  but  taking  the  settlement  at  46  years 
old,  and  averaging  the  number  of  prisoners  transported  thither  at  2,000  a  year  (the  average  of 
seven  years,  ending  1822,  of  convicts,  transported  from  the  United  Kingdom,  being  more  than 
that  number,  and  referring  to  page  307,  the  number  arriving  in  the  colony,  since  1825,  being 
nearer  3,000  than  2,000)  it  would  give  a  total  of  92,000  individuals,  by  which  it  will  be  seen, 
that  after  deducting  half  (46,000)  as  dead,  yet,  with  the  addition  of  the  natural  increase  in  a 
healthy  colony,  together  with  free  immigrators  and  their  descendants,  an  estimate  of 
100,000  mouths  is  by  no  means  overrated. 

*  CONVICTS  TRANSPORTED  FROM  GREAT  BRITAIN. 


e 

NEW  SOUTH  WALES. 

VAN  DIEMEN's  land. 

a 

(U 

NEW  SOUTH  WALKS. 

VAN  DtEMEN'S  LAND. 

<u 

Males. 

Females. 

Males. 

Females. 

Males. 

Females. 

Males. 

Females. 

1822 

856 

57 

6I8 

40 

1829 

2278 

220 

1328 

197 

1823 

491 

119 

910 

97 

1830 

1751 

337 

1737 

308 

J824 

1004 

81 

864 

79 

;i831 

1605 

250 

1965 

151 

1825 

602 

59 

502 

150 

1832 

1992 

206 

1782 

249 

182b, 

844 

88 

506 

73 

1833 

2310 

420 

1576 

245 

18271 

140J 

260 

840 

141 

1834 

2336 

144 

2124 

316 

1828 

1 

1732 

298 

1068 

173 

1835 

Prisoners  Transported  from  England  alone  to  New  South  Wales,  from 

1787  to  1820. 


v 

1    'r 

(U 

i 

«■ 

41 

<u 

9 

a 

1  s 

■a 
s 

■3 

p 

rt 

•3 

a 

>" 

S 

S 

1  i» 

"^ 

>• 

s 

S 

i» 

a 

1787 

749 

292 

1797 

313 

67 

I8O6 

271 

34 

1814 

800 

232 

1789 

994 

245 

1798 

395 

0 

I8O7 

189 

113 

1815 

693 

101 

1791 

2121 

286 

1799 

0 

53 

1808 

208 

175 

laifi 

1186 

101 

1792 

314 

64 

1800 

503 

90 

1809 

200 

120 

I8I7 

1520 

101 

1793 

1 

V 

1801 

203 

94 

1810 

400 

99 

1818 

2221 

i794 

35 

59 

1802 

543 

130 

1811 

400 

99 

181Q 

2328 

1795 

1 

131 

180:( 

494 

136 

1812 

400 

167 

1820 

27I8 

1796 

1 

206 

0 

li05 

1 

1,8 

1813 

500 

119 

^  ^ 


s 

Luxuries- 

viz.  Tea, 

Sugar,  Coffee, 

Beer,  Spirits, 

Wine, 
Tobacco,  &c 
for  100,000 
mouths,  at 

j3 

Condiments  — 

viz.  Salt, 

Pepper,  and 

Spices  for 

100000  raoutlis 

at  Irf. 

per  week. 

b 

30?   1* 


1^ 
ii 


s-*.^ 


o 
cy2 


'sauiiv  [B03 


•0!8  'sjJuqAV 
saSpija  'spuoa 


BiiipimHoiiqna 
sqio  puB  'si»)!d 
BOH  'soqojuqo 
'sio«f)  'SJJOJ 


•3^  *saaTp(ing 
'S3J01S  a'lsAUd 


'paiuBjJ 

jon  *uoi}BdnDDO 

ioj  jtj'paBi 


'p33a3| 

pa«  pajedp 

Xpjvd  pu8 

'paiuBja  puBT 


®.s:5bg 


p3;t!A!J[n3  pusT 


•aij  'niog 
'uuiijng 


•JB39  pire 
'sjBOg  'sdiqs 


•org  'Saa 
•tqOBj^  »sju3ai 
3(dtui  JSuituje^ 


snosisj  OOO'OOI 

O]  /iur^iio[ 
-3q  3aiq)0[0 


SS-2 


i'^S 


•ijjinoj 


;Sg 


•daaqg 


3IHB0  paoJOH 


2  IS 


s« 


*J  * 


-~     ^      i3 


£2 


S*i 


.■3   4> 

fl 

O    O 
§    iO 

o.g 

CIS  a 

a    I 


S  M    o 


C   CS    -" 
OSS     io 

a=  o 


^   O  J3 

B  a  .?. 

O  jj  ■" 

<u  «  2; 

2::  S 


374  RATES  OF  WAGES,  NEW  SOUTH  WALES. 

Social  State  and  Future  Prospects. — The  most  cur- 
sory view  of  the  preceeding  statements  will  demonstrate  how 
rapid  has  been  the  progress  of  New  South  Wales  in  all 
the  elements  of  social  happiness ;  and  I  confidently  believe, 
notwithstanding  the  vast  mass  of  criminals  disembarked  on 
its  shores,  there  has  also  been  no  inconsiderable  amount  of 
moral  reformation  developed. 

The  position  of  the  colony  admirably  adapts  it  for  the  seat 
of  a  great  empire  in  the  Southern  Hemisphere,  while  the 
numerous  fertile  islands*  with  which  it  is  surrounded,  and 
its  contiguity  to  India,  South  America,  and  Africa,  places  it 
in  the  centre  of  countries  wliich  will  hereafter  exercise  a  pow- 
erful influence  over  the  inhabitants  of  this  earth.  There  is 
abundance  of  land  within  the  present  boundaries  of  the 
colony,  to  say  nothing  of  that  which  is  adjacent,  capable  of 
supporting  millions  of  our  fellow  creatures,  and  a  field  for  emi- 
gration presents  itself,  where  the  industrious  agriculturist  or 
mechanic  will  obtain  remunerating  employment.-f-  The  small 

*  Norfolk  Island,  in  lat.  29.1.  S.  long.  168.10.  E.,  contains  about  11,000 
acres  of  land,  generally  a  rich  brown  mould.  It  is  extremely  beautiful, 
affording  a  fine  tropical  scenery  and  a  hill  and  dale  country.  In  1791,  it  was 
colonized  by  the  Governor  of  New  South  Wales,  for  the  purpose  of  growing 
supplies  for  the  colony.  It  is  now  used  as  a  prison  for  the  most  depraved 
male  convicts,  who  are  banished  thither  from  New  South  Wales  to  work  in 
chains  for  life ;  and  truly  it  is  a  horrid  scene  of  wickedness. 

•f  The  following  schedule  of  wages  was  drawn  up,  lasPyear,  by  a  com- 
mittee of  mechanics,  who  assert  that  the  reports  sent  abroad  by  the  Parlia- 
mentary Emigration  Commission  were  not  founded  in  truth.  The  prices 
herein  given  are,  therefore,  those  of  the  least  sanguine  nature  : — 

Boat-builders,  6s.  per  day ;  brick-makers,  8*.  to  10*.  per  thousand  ; 
bricklayers,  5s.  to  7*-  per  day  ;  blacksmiths,  24s.  to  42s.  per  week ;  chair- 
makers,  5,9.  to  7s.  per  day ;  carpenters,  5*.  to  7s.  per  day ;  caulkers,  7s.  to 
8*.  per  day  ;  coopers,  5*.  to  7s.  per  day  ;  compositors,  at  London  prices ; 
cabinet-makers,  5s.  to  7*-  per  day  ;  cooks,  4s.  to  Gs.  per  week,  with  rations  j 
dairy-woman,  ^^10  to  ,,£12  per  annum,  with  lodging  and  rations  ;  engineers, 
Ji2  per  week,  and  rations  ;  fencers  and  field  labourers,  4*.  to  5*.  per  week, 
with  lodging  and  rations  ;  glaziers,  4.?.  to  6s.  per  day ;  harness-makers,  4s. 
to  6*.  per  day  ;  joiners,  5s.  to  6s.  per  day  ;  iron-founders  ;  lock-smiths  ; 
millwrights,  6s.  to  7*-  per  day ;  milkmen ;  nailors,  5*.  to  6s.  per  day ; 
painters  (house),  4s.  to  6s.  per  day  ;  painters  (artists) ;  parchment-makers 
[good  opening  for  a  parchment  manufacturer — sheep-skins  are  only  from 


DEMAND  FOR  DIFFERENT  TRADESMEN.  375 

capitalist  can  no  where  find  a  more  lucrative  place  for  the  in- 

Id.  to  2d.  each]  ;  potters  [plenty  of  excellent  clay, — an  opening  for  the 
establishment  of  a  pottery]  ;  plasterers,  5s.  to  6s.  per  day ;  ploughmen, 
€10  to  ^12  per  annum,  with  lodgings  and  rations  j  printer  and  pressmen, 
25*.  to  35*.  per  week  ;  saddlers,  4*.  to  5s.  per  week  ;  shoemakers,  5.s\  to  7s- 
per  day  [in  great  demand — some  earn  lOs.  per  day]  ;  sawyers,  6*.  per  hun- 
dred feet ;  shipwrights,  Gs.  to  7s.  per  day  ;  stone-masons  and  stone-cutters, 
4s.  6d.  to  6s.  8d.  per  day;  quarryraen,  3s.  6d.  to  5s.  per  day;  sailors  ^^3 
per  month  ;  tailors,  25s.  to  40*.  per  week  ;  vine-dressers,  ^10  to  ,£40  per 
annum,  with  hut  and  rations ;  upholsterers,  5,?.  to  7s.  per  day  [in  the 
country  they  have  from  ^15  to  ^20  per  annum,  with  hut  and  rations]. 

As  corroborating  the  accuracy  of  these  statements,  in  the  main,  the 
following  is  the  substance  of  a  letter  from  William  M'Pherson,  Esq., 
Collector  of  Internal  Revenue,  and  Secretary  of  the  *  Emigrants'  Friend 
Society,'  dated  June  18th,  1833. 

1.  Good  mechanics  can  earn  in  Sydney,  from  30*.  to  40*.  per  week, 
without  board  or  lodging,  and  in  the  country  from  ^20  to  ji30  per  an- 
num, with  house  and  rations. 

2.  Common  labourers  in  Sydney  obtain  about  14*.  per  week,  without 
board  or  lodging,  and  in  the  country  about  ,i?12  per  annum,  with  house 
(or  rather  hut,)  and  rations. 

3.  Wages  given  to  farm  servants  vary  with  their  qualifications  ;  ^"50  to 
^60,  with  a  house  and  rations,  may  be  considered  the  highest  rates  of 
wages  given  to  overseers  of  superior  descriptions ;  and  ^20  to  Ji25  to 
those  of  humbler  pretensions. 

Their  being  married  or  single  generally  makes  no  difference  in  the  rate 
of  wages,  unless  where  the  females  are  expected  to  perform  any  domestic 
duties  :  but  to  the  wives  and  children  of  married  overseers,  rations  are 
usually  given  as  well  as  to  himself. 

4.  Good  ploughmen,  or  shepherds,  would  obtain  from  i.*15  to  £'20,  with 
a  house  and  rations. 

5.  Wages  of  domestic  servants  are  ; — Of  a  single  man,  from  12/.  to  20/. ; 
Of  a  single  woman,  from  8/.  to  15/. ;  Of  a  married  couple,  from  20/.  to  30/. 

N.B.  A  married  pair  of  emigrants  may  easily  find  a  small  house,  con- 
taining two  apartments,  to  accommodate  them  on  their  arrival,  at  a  weekly 
rent  of  from  7s.  to  10*. ;  and  an  unmarried  man  may  lodge  and  board  for 
10*.  6d.  per  week. 

The  rations  which  are  allowed  to  free  labourers  may  be  rated  per  week 
as  follows,  viz.; — Flour,  10  lbs. ;  Beef  and  mutton,  10  lbs.;  Tea,  2  oz. ; 
Sugar,  1  lb.;  Tobacco,  2  oz. ;  Salt,  2  oz.;  Soap,  2  oz.;  Milk,  7  quarts. — 
(This  latter  (the  milk)  being  given  in  lieu  of  tea  and  sugar.)  So  that  com- 
mon labourers,  if  well  behaved  and  industrious,  are  sure  to  raise  themselves 
above  the  station  which  they  occupied  at  home. 


S7G 


FUTURE  PROSPECTS  OF  AUSTRALIA. 


crease  of  his  property;*  and  the  feelings  respecting  emigrants 
and  emancipists  are,  1  trust,  passing  away — society  is  becoming 
as  pleasing  as  is  to  be  found  in  any  other  colony.  My  gene- 
ral views  of  the  measures  which  ought  in  future  to  be  acted 
on,  with  reference  to  New  Soi^th  Wales,  will  be  found  when 
developing  our  colonial  policy ;  all  that  I  am  called  on,  in  this 
volume,  to  do,  being  to  place  before  the  public  the  facts  on 
which  my  deductions  will  be  founded,  suffice  it,  therefore,  to 
say  that,  under  a  generous  and  statesman-like  administration 
Australia  will  become,  not  only  a  credit  to  the  parent  state 
that  boldly  and  humanely  founded  a  settlement  on  its  remote 
shores,  but,  strengthening  the  British  empire  at  one  of  its 
most  essential  extremities,  it  will  form  one  of  those  vast  links 
in  the  momentous  chain  of  events  of  which,  though  we  may 
witness  the  commencement,  we  cannot  and  ought  not  divine 
the  end. 

*  I  have  expressed,  in  my  third  volume,  in  the  chapter  on  emigration, 
my  views  tis  to  the  impolicy  of  refusing'  small  grants  of  land  to  poor  set- 
tlers. The  stopping  of  such  grants  will  tend  materially  to  check  the  pro- 
gress of  New  South  Wales,  where  all  land  is  now  put  up  by  auction,  at  a 
minimum  price  of  5s.  per  acre.  It  is  proper,  however,  to  remark  that 
New  South  Wales  and  Van  Diemen's  Land  have  each  set  apart  out  of 
the  proceeds  of  the  sale  of  land  10,000/.  per  annum,  for  the  purpose  of 
promoting  emigration.  Owing  to  the  great  disparity  of  the  sexes  in  those 
colonies,  females  are  particularly  required,  and  a  committee  of  respectable 
gentlemen  has  been  formed,  who  have  already  sent  out  several  thousand 
young  women  of  good  character  to  Australasia,  with  the  fairest  prospects 
of  not  only  bettering  their  own  condition,  l)ut  of  materially  adding  to  the 
morality  and  industry  of  the  colonists  The  young  women  are  required 
to  pay  5!.  each  towards  the  expense  of  their  passage,  and  to  be  provided 
with  an  adequate  supply  of  clothing  for  the  voyage.  The  greatest  care  is 
taken  by  the  active  and  intelligent  agent  for  tlie  Emigration  Committee, 
Mr.  John  Marshall,  a  gentleman  of  manly  English  habits,  sensitively  alive 
to  the  delicacy  and  importance  of  the  trust  reposed  in  him.  The  ships 
chartereil  are  of  a  superior  description,  and  an  ample  sufficiency  of  pro- 
visions of  the  verv  l»est  quality  supplied — the  weekly  allowance  to  each 
passenger  being  4i]bs.  of  bread,  2  lbs.  of  beef,  and  1  lb.  of  pork  ;  7  oz.  of 
sugar,  ];i  oz.  of  tea,  U  ot  cocoa,  2i  lbs.  of  flour,  1  pint  of  peas,  i  pint  of 
oatmeal,  jlb.  of  cheese,  and  one  third  of  a  pint  of  vinegar.  Substitutes  of 
currants  or  raisins,  suet,  flour,  potatoes,  &c.  in  fair  proportion  are  allowed. 
Two  gallons  of  wine  are  allowed  to  each  female  during  the  voyage,  and  the 
usual  Government  supplyof  medical  comforts.  The  vessels  are  each  provided 
with  an  exj)erienced  surgeon  and  a  superintendent,  and  on  the  arrival  of  the 
young  women  in  the  colonies,  they  are  received  into  an  establishment  pro- 
vided by  Government,  and  superintended  by  a  committee  of  the  most  re- 
spectable ladies  in  Sydney,  or  in  Hobart  Town.  I  think  it  would  be  well 
to  have  a  committee  of  ladies  also  in  London,  the  young  women  would  then 
feel  more  confldence  in  tiic  measures  adopted  for  their  advantage. 


FotM<)Jiluf>m.-i-\  Mariijis  Itisloiy  oi   tJie  JJritJsli  Coloiiies.Vol.IV.- AMca  &  Austj-aiaaia. 


j;ihl,.<li,;l  /m  I  ■,„linin,-, <■(■■•  ir,it,-rlo„  Pin.:- ^I^.nl  1S35  . 


'i>i  (TOii  a-  Ejig-iw^a  >■  J  *  c  Will  k" 


377 


CHAPTER  IV. 

VAN  DIEMEN'S  ISLAND,  OR  TASMANIA. 

DISCOVERY  OF  ITS  INSULARITY — LOCALITY  AND  AREA — FORMATION  OF 
THE  SETTLEMENT — ITS  EARLY  HISTORY PHYSICAL  ASPECT  AND  TER- 
RITORIAL DIVISIONS  AND  AGRICULTDRAL  PRODUCE — MOUNTAINS,  RIV- 
ERS, AND  LAKES — GEOLOGY,  MINERALOGY,  AND  SOIL — CLIMATE — VE- 
GETABLE   AND   ANIMAL    KINGDOMS POPULATION,    FREE,    CONVICT    AND 

ABORIGINAL  OR  BLACK — GOVERNMENT — LAWS — RELIGION,  EDUCATION, 
AND  THE  PRESS — FINANCE  AND  MONETARY  SYSTEM — COMMERCE,  SHIP- 
PING,  &C. VALUE  OF  PROPERTY — SOCIAL  STATE  AND  FUTURE  PROS- 
PECTS. 

For  a  long  period,  as  stated  in  the  preceding  chapter,  this 
large  and  interesting  island  was  thought  to  form  a  peninsula 
of  the  vast  territory  of  New  Holland,  its  insularity  being  only 
demonstrated  in  1798  by  Mr.  Surgeon  Bass  and  Lieutenant 
Flinders. 

Locality  and  Area. — Van  Diemen's  island  is  situate  on 
the  S.E.  coast  of  New  Holland,  from  which  it  is  separated  by 
Bass's  Straits,  between  the  parallels  of  41.20.  and  43.40.  S., 
and  the  meridians  of  144.40.  and  148.20.  E.,  of  an  irregular 
heart-shape  ;  its  greatest  extent  from  N.  to  S.  is  estimated  at 
about  210  miles,  and  from  E.  to  W.  150  miles  (calculating 
the  degrees  of  longitude  in  that  parallel  at  the  average  of 
about  50  miles  each),  and  covering  an  extent  of  surface  of 
about  24,000  square  miles,  or  15,000,000  of  acres;  being 
nearly  the  size  of  Ireland. 

Early  History. — It  cannot  be  expected  that  this  colony 
would  present  many  features  of  interest  to  the  historian, 
although  among  the  discoveries  of  the  seventeenth  century, 
having  been  first  visited  by  Tasman  in  1642,  in  the  course  of  an 
eastward  voyage  from  Mauritius,  but  it  was  upwards  of  120 
years  before  the  knowledge  so  acquired  of  its  existence,  was  fol- 


378  VAN   DIEMEN's    island — FIRST  VISITED. 

lowed  by  any  event  of  the  slightest  importance  to  its  annals.* 
Captain  Cook,  as  well  as  his  companion  Captain  Furneaux, 
in  the  course  of  their  circumnavigating  the  globe  in  1773,  and 
again  in  1777  visited  the  shores  of  Van  Diemen's  Land  without 
being  aware  of  its  insularity. 

In  1803  it  was  regularly  taken  possession  of  by  the  English, 
a  small  detachment  under  the  command  of  Lieut.  Bowen, 
having  arrived  from  Sydney,  with  a  view  of  forming  a  penal 
settlement  for  persons  convicted  in  that  colony.  Upon  this 
occasion,  Risdon  or  Restdown,  as  it  is  sometimes  called,  on 
the  eastern  bank  of  the  Derwent,  a  few  miles  up  the  river 
was  the  spot  selected  for  the  settlement ;  but  beyond  this, 
little  was  effected  at  that  moment. 

Early  in  1804,  Lieutenant  Governor  Collins,  who  had  re- 
cently left  England  with  a  considerable  expedition,  having  in 
view  the  formation  of  a  settlement  at  Port  Philip,  on  the 
southern  coast  of  New  Holland,  altered  his  destination  after 
a  short  experience  of  the  manifold  and  insurmountable  diffi- 
culties attending  that  place,  and  arrived  in  the  river  Derwent, 
when  the  island  was  formally  taken  possession  of  in  the  name 
of  his  Britannic  Majesty ;  and  after  various  surveys  of  the 
Derwent,  the  present  site  of  Hobart  Town  was  decided  upon 
for  head-quarter s.f  Lieutenant  Governor  Collins  was  ac- 
companied by  several  very  respectable  gentlemen,  to  fill  the 
various  situations  of  his  infant  Government,  and  had  near  400 
prisoners  under  him  with  about  50  marines. 

In  the  course  of  the  same  year,  a  settlement  was  also  formed 
on  the  other  side  of  the  island,  under  the  command  of  Colonel 
Paterson,  of  the  102d,  who  arrived  from  Sydney,  and,  in  the 
first  instance,  made  choice  of  a  spot  beyond  George  Town, 
calling  it  York  Town,  but  which  was  afterwards  abandoned. 

The  colony  being  thus  founded,   continued  to  take  root, 

*  It  was  in  honour  of  the  then  Governor-General  of  the  Dutch  East  In- 
dies, Anthony  Van  Diemen,  that  the  island  received  its  present  name  ;  its 
second  occasional  appellation  of  Tasmania,  is  a  tribute  to  its  first  dis- 
coverer. 

t  The  name  so  bestowed  was  in  compliment  to  Lord  Hobart,  the  then 
Secretary  for  the  Colonies. 


ESTABLISHMENT  AS  A  BRITISH  COLONY.  379 

although  at  times  suffering  great  hardships.  Indeed,  those 
who  recollect  them,  and  see  what  the  place  has  since  become, 
will  be  of  opinion  that  no  difficulties  at  the  outset  of  coloniza- 
tion, ought  to  deter  adventurers  from  steadily  pursuing  their 
object.  For  the  first  three  years,  the  inhabitants  being  wholly 
dependent  upon  foreign  supplies  for  the  most  common  articles 
of  food,  were  occasionally  reduced  to  great  straits  ;  so  much 
so,  that  we  hear  of  eighteen-pence  per  pound  having  been 
given  for  kangaroo  flesh,  and  that  sea  weed,  or  any  other  ve- 
getable substance  that  could  be  eaten,  was  purchased  at  an 
equally  high  rate. 

After  the  island  had  been  settled  about  three  years,  the 
first  sheep  or  cattle  were  imported.  Fresh  arrivals  of  pri- 
soners were  constantly  taking  place  from  Sydney,  and  the  co- 
lony continued  to  increase,  although  still  preserving  its  origi- 
nal character  of  being  a  place  of  punishment  for  the  convicted 
felons  of  New  South  Wales. 

In  1810,  Lieutenant  Governor  Collins  died,  and  was  suc- 
ceeded, as  a  matter  of  course  pro  tempore,  by  the  officer  next 
in  command.  This  occasioned  three  changes  in  administering 
the  Government,  severally  introducing  as  Commandants, 
Lieutenant  Edward  Lord,  R.M.  (since  well  known  as  a  great 
landed  proprietor).  Captain  Murray,  and  Lieutenant-Colonel 
Geils,  both  of  the  73d  regiment.  In  1813,  Lieutenant-Colonel 
Davey  arrived  as  Lieutenant  Governor  ;  and  it  was  about  this 
time  too,  that  some  of  the  embryo  importance  and  value  of  the 
colony  began  to  be  developed.  Until  this  period,  all  com- 
munication between  Van  Diemen's  Land  and  other  places, 
excepting  England  or  New  South  Wales,  had  been  interdicted 
by  certain  prohibitory  penalties  upon  merchant  vessels  that 
might  attempt  to  enter  the  ports ;  but  they  were  now  done 
away  with,  and  the  colony  placed  precisely  on  the  same  foot- 
ing with  respect  to  commerce,  as  New  South  Wales.  The 
consequence  of  this,  and  of  other  measures  that  were  adopted 
about  the  same  time,  soon  became  obvious.  The  colony  be- 
gan to  wear  the  appearance  of  an  abode  of  Englishmen  ;  and 
although  emigrants  from  the  mother  country  had  not  yet  di- 


380       CHANGED  FROM  A  PENAL  DEPENDENCY  OF 

rected  their  steps  hither,  what  with  the  officers  of  different 
regiments  who  remained  in  the  colony — with  the  number  of 
individuals  who  had  been  brought  here  by  Government  upon 
the  evacuation  of  Norfolk  Island  with  occasional  arrivals  from 
New  South  Wales — and  with  the  Crown  prisoners  who  had 
either  become  free  by  servitude  or  indulgence,  the  population 
of  the  place  increased  rapidly.  Land  was  also  more  and 
more  cultivated,  houses  were  erected,  farms  enclosed,  every 
thing  in  short  assuming  an  improving  aspect. 

Colonel  Davey's  administration  lasted  four  years  and  a  few 
days,  bringing  down  the  history  of  the  colony  to  1817.  In 
many  respects,  he  appears  to  have  been  a  popular  Governor, 
certainly,  during  the  time  he  held  the  reins  of  Government, 
the  advances  that  were  made  in  building,  tillage,  &c.  were 
considerable;  upon  his  retirement  in  1817,  he  made  way  for 
Colonel  Sorell  as  the  third  Lieutenant  Governor  of  the  island, 
the  energies  of  whose  active  mind  were  directed  to  the  im- 
provements of  the  internal  condition  of  the  colony  ;  and  one  of 
his  first  and  most  striking  public  measures  was,  the  formation 
of  a  road  between  Hobart  Town  and  Launceston. 

During  the  first  year  of  his  administration,  a  census  was 
taken  of  all  the  live  stock  in  the  colony,  the  land  under  culti- 
vation, and  every  other  particular  calculated  to  develope  its 
progress. 

Next  to  the  formation  of  roads,  and  the  prosecution  of 
other  public  works  that  occupied  the  resources  of  Govern- 
ment at  this  time.  Colonel  Sorell's  attention  was  directed  to 
the  establishment  of  schools,  the  erection  of  bridges,  and 
other  measures  of  a  similar  nature ;  extending,  so  far  as  his 
limited  powers  enabled  him,  the  utmost  countenance  and  sup- 
port to  enterprising  individuals  of  all  descriptions,  without 
reference  to  rank,  station  or  condition. 

About  the  year  1821,  the  tide  of  emigration  set  in  from 
England  towards  Tasmania  ;  and  the  natural  consequence 
of  the  capital  introduced,  was  an  extension  of  the  colony 
within  itself,  in  every  shape.  Trade  began  to  assume  regu- 
larity ;  distilleries  and  breweries  were  erected ;  the  Van  Die- 


NEW  SOUTH  WALES,  TO  AN  INDEPENDENT  COLONY.       381 

men's  Land  Bank  established  ;  St.  David's  Church  at  Hobart 
Town  finished  and  opened;  and  many  other  steps  taken, 
equally  indicative  of  the  progress  the  place  was  making.  Still 
it  laboured  under  the  disadvantage  of  having  no  regular  civil 
or  criminal  court,  suitors  in  the  one,  above  50/,  and  all  pro- 
secutors in  the  other,  having  to  wait  the  uncertain  arrival  of 
the  Judges  from  New  South  Wales,  to  hold  an  occasional 
sessions,  or  else  to  sustain  all  the  inconvenience  and  expense 
of  repairing  to  Sydney. 

In  1821,  when  the  census  was  taken,  the  inhabitants  proved 
to  be  7,185;  acres  in  cultivation,  14,940;  sheep,  170,000; 
cattle,  35,000 ;  horses,  350. 

In  1825,  Van  Diemen's  Land  was  declared  by  the  King  in 
Council,  independent  of  the  colony  of  New  S.  Wales,  the  chief 
authority  being  vested  in  a  Lieut.-Governor  and  Council,*'  in- 
dependent of  the  controul  of  the  ruling  powers  at  Sydney : 
civil  and  criminal  courts  of  law,  with  a  Chief  Justice  presiding, 
were  established  in  the  island,  instead  of  compelling  the 
settlers  as  heretofore  to  proceed  to  Sydney,  and  the  affairs  of 
the  colony  were  in  future  to  be  regulated  as  a  settlement  de- 
pendent solely  on  the  mother  country.  Prosperity  followed 
this  measure,  although  for  some  years  the  colonists  were 
much  harassed  by  the  bushrangers,  or  run-away  convicts, 
and  also  by  the  natives,  but  within  the  last  few  years  both 
these  evils  have  been  removed,  and  full  scope  given  to  the 
energy  and  intelligence  of  the  inhabitants,  the  result  of  which 
will  be  seen  in  the  subsequent  pages. 

Physical  Aspect — Territorial  Divisions,  &c. — The 
aspect  of  Van  Diemen's  island  is  certainly  a  delightful  blend- 
ing of  the  wild  and  the  beautiful ; — I  first  saw  the  land  to  the 
southward,  off  the  Eddystone  and  Mewstone  rocks,  and  the 
shore  appeared  extremely  wild  and  rugged ;  but  on  entering 
D'Entrecasteaux's  channel,  the  view  is  exceedingly  romantic — 
the  vessel  sailing  close  under  lofty  cliffs  fringed  with  forests 
and  verdure  to  the  water's  edge,  while  on  reaching  the  basin 

*  By  the  9th  Geo.  IV.,  c.  83,  the  number  of  the  members  of  the  Legis- 
lative Council  was  increased  to  fifteen. 


382  SCENERY  OF  VAN    DIEMEN's  ISLAND. 

of  the  magnificent  river  Derwent,  near  Hobart  Town,  the 
scenery  is  changed  into  a  softer  and  sweeter  landscape. 

The  general  face  of  the  interior  is  very  diversified,  but  de- 
cidedly mountainous,  not  however  in  ranges,  but  rather  in 
isolated  peaks,  varied  by  lofty  table  land,  and  extensive  fertile 
valleys  or  plains.  To  a  Briton,  however,  all  this  variety  is 
gratifying,  as  it  tends  every  moment  to  remind  him  of  his 
own  much  loved  land  ;  there  are  many  parts  of  Van  Diemen's 
island  which  required  no  stretch  of  imagination  to  make  me 
fancy  myself  at  home  instead  of  at  the  most  distant  extremity 
of  the  earth. 

Commencing  with  the  country  on  the  S.  nothing  can  be 
more  rude  or  bold  than  the  general  appearance  of  the  land- 
scape ;  hills  rising  upon  hills,  all  thickly  covered  with  trees, 
save  here  and  there  a  majestic  and  towering  rocky  eminence, 
forming  nearly,  if  not  altogether,  the  only  prospect.  It  seems 
like  one  impervious  forest  crowned  by  the  heavens.  Pro- 
ceeding, however,  more  inwards,  the  country  loses  much  of 
its  stern  and  forbidding  aspect,  and  the  eye  of  the  traveller 
is  greeted  with  many  fine  open  spots,  very  lightly  timbered, 
and  extending  in  places  for  several  miles ;  still,  however,  the 
back  ground  almost  uniformly  consists  of  some  high  moun- 
tains. After  travelling  about  half  way  between  Hobart  Town 
and  Launceston,  there  are  beautiful  plains,  intersected  in 
places  by  streams,  and  terminated  only  by  the  horizon ;  and 
as  the  journey  towards  the  N.  coast  is  pursued,  every  diver- 
sity of  hill  and  dale,  woodland  and  plain,  forest  and  tillage, 
that  can  be  desired,  towards  forming  the  perfection  of  rural 
landscape,  enlivens  the  scene.  The  western  parts  of  the  island 
have  yet  been  imperfectly  explored ;  but  they  are  generally 
represented  as  bold  and  mountainous,  although  possessing, 
in  places,  well  watered  and  fertile  spots.  Much  of  the  land  in 
this  direction,  as  well  as  that  towards  the  eastern  coast,  lies 
high,  and  consequently  is  more  exposed  to  the  cold  in  the 
winter  than  the  districts  which  are  inhabited. 

Rivers  and  Bays. — Around  the  coast  are  numerous  bays 
and  harbours,  that  afford  secure  anchorage.     The  entrance  to 


RIVERS  AND  BAYS.       THE  DERWENT.  4b6 

the  Derwent  (on  the  banks  of  which  river  Hobart  Town  is  built) 
from  the  ocean,  presents  two  hnes  of  continuous  bays  or  an- 
chorage, of  unrivalled  excellence ;  the  one  most  commonly 
used  being  through  Storm  Bay,  and  the  other  through  D'En- 
trecasteaux's  channel,  which  is  one  long  string  of  little  bays  or 
anchorages  for  nearly  40  miles.  The  passage  up  the  Der- 
went, presents  to  the  eye  one  of  the  most  beautiful  and  inter- 
esting scenes  imaginable ;  being  skirted  on  each  of  its  banks 
with  small  settlements  or  ftirms,  in  the  highest  state  of  culti- 
vation. The  river  is  most  noble  and  magnificent,  varying  in 
width  from  its  entrance  to  Hobart  Town  from  six  to  twelve 
miles,  having  every  where  deep  water,  without  rocks  or  sand 
banks,  and  navigable  at  all  seasons,  even  by  a  stranger,  with 
the  most  perfect  ease  and  safety.  The  moi|th  of  the  Derwent 
is  formed  on  the  right  by  Brune  island  and  D'Entrecasteaux's 
channel,  and  on  the  left  by  Iron  Pot  island  and  the  South 
Arm  ;  the  latter  presenting,  to  the  extent  of  six  miles,  a  river 
frontage,  of  a  most  highly  luxuriant  appearance,  and  then 
abruptly  terminating  in  the  centre  of  the  Derwent,  where  the 
river  uniting  with  the  w^aters  of  Double  Bay,  extends  its 
width  to  nearly  twelve  miles.  The  South  Arm  is  a  peninsula ; 
and  is  considered  by  many  as  one  of  the  most  valuable  tracts 
in  the  colony.  Pursuing  the  eastern  coast  of  the  island,  we 
have  Oyster  Bay  and  Great  Swan  Port ;  on  the  N.  are  Port 
Dalrymple  or  the  mouth  of  the  Tamar,  Port  Sorell,  and  Cir- 
cular Head ;  the  latter  of  which  belongs  to  the  Van  Diemen's 
Land  Company.  Westward,  are  Macquarie  Harbour  and 
Port  Davey.  Besides  these  are  many  of  smaller  note,  cap- 
able of  affording  secure  shelter  to  craft  of  light  burthen.  The 
rivers  of  most  importance  are  the  Derwent,  the  Huon,  and  the 
Tamar,  all  which  are  navigable.  The  Derwent  above  ad- 
verted to  takes  its  rise  in  a  lake  to  the  westward,  and 
flows  with  tolerable  rapidity,  receiving  many  tributary  streams 
on  its  way,  until  it  reaches  New  Norfolk,  where  it  is  about  as 
as  wide  as  the  Thames  at  Battersea,  and  whence  it  makes  to- 
wards the  ocean,  widening  as  it  goes,  and  passing  a  line  of 


384  THE  HUONj  TAMAR,  AND  THAMES  RIVERS. 

scenery  on  each  bank  of  the  most  beautiful  description.  It  is 
fresh  until  about  six  miles  below  New  Norfolk. 

The  Huon  is  nearly  of  equal  magnitude  with  the  Derwent, 
and  runs  westerly  until  it  falls  into  the  sea,  in  one  of  its  arms 
or  creeks,  not  many  miles  from  Hobart  Town.  Its  navigable 
properties,  however,  are  of  little  value  to  the  colony,  by  rea- 
son that  the  land  upon  its  banks  is  so  heavily  timbered,  that 
it  can  neither  be  applied  to  cultivation  or  pasturage.  Occa- 
sionally, vessels  of  considerable  burthen  resort  there  for  the 
purpose  of  taking  in  timber  for  dead  weight. 

The  Tamar,  formed  as  it  is  by  two  other  rivers  (the  North 
and  South  Esk),  may  be  termed  navigable  its  whole  way, 
although  it  requires  great  skill  and  management  on  the  part 
of  the  pilot,  to  take  up  or  down  large  vessels  with  safety,  on 
account  of  a  bar  and  other  intricacies  of  navigation.  Among 
the  second  class  rivers  or  streams  that  water  fine  districts, 
and  are  extremely  useful  for  all  purposes  except  being  navi- 
gable, may  be  enumerated  the  Shannon,  the  Clyde,  and  the 
Jordan,  all  which  fall  into  the  Derwent,  either  singly,  or, 
having  previously  united,  above  New  Norfolk;  the  Coal  River, 
which  falls  into  the  sea  near  Richmond ;  and  the  two  Esks, 
which  join  and  form  the  Tamar  at  Launceston,  as  before 
mentioned.  In  the  third  class  may  be  placed  a  long  list  which 
have  an  abundant  supply  of  water  all  the  year  round,  for  mills, 
cattle,  and  domestic  use,  but  yet  scarcely  deserve  to  be  enu- 
merated by  name.  I  may  advert,  however,  to  the  Thames, 
(or  Lachlan)  at  New  Norfolk ;  the  Plenty,  the  Styx,  Jones's 
River,  and  Russell's  Falls,  which  are  also  tributaries  of  the 
Derwent ;  the  Macquarie  and  Elizabeth  Rivers,  more  in  the 
interior,  and  which  afterwards  serve  to  augment  the  Esk ; 
Blackman's  River,  also  in  the  heart  of  the  colony.  Farther 
north  there  are  the  Lake  River,  passing  through  Norfolk 
Plains,  the  Western  River,  the  Isis,  and  several  others. 
More  to  the  westward  are  the  Mersey,  the  Meander,  the 
Forth,  the  Iris,  the  Leven,  the  Emu,  the  Cam,  the  Inglis,  and 
many  others  all  over  the  colony,  of  a  similar  description. 


MOUNTAINS  OF  VAN  DIEMEN's  LAND.  385 

Around  the  coast  of  the  island  numerous  streams  fall  hito 
the  ocean,  having  previously  served  to  enrich  the  districts 
through  which  they  have  passed,  without  however  possessing 
any  particular  claim  to  be  noticed  ;  others  again,  are  to  be 
found  in  situations  where  the  hand  of  man  has  yet  made  little 
progress  in  the  way  of  cultivation.  Among  these  of  the  first 
class  are  the  Carlton,  Prosser's  River,  Great  Swan  Port  River, 
Piper's  River,  &;c. ;  also,  the  North  West  Bay  River,  a  few 
miles  from  Hobart  Town. 

Van  Diemen's  Land  has  several  lakes,  and  some  of  them  of 
considerable  extent.  They  are  generally  to  be  met  with  in 
the  heart  of  the  island,  frequently  in  high  regions,  and  abound 
with  water-fowl  of  all  descriptions.  Many  of  the  rivers  of 
the  colony,  such  as  the  Shannon,  the  Clyde,  the  Jordan,  and 
the  Lake  River,  take  their  rise  in  lakes. 

Mountains. — With  regard  to  mountains,  there  are  several 
of  great  elevation.  Mount  Wellington,  (or  as  it  is  sometimes 
called  the  Table  Mountain,  from  its  resemblance  to  that  at  the 
Cape),  rises  4,000  feet  above  the  level  of  the  sea,  immediately 
to  the  westward  of  Hobart  Town.  Its  bold  and  rugged  sides, 
with  occasional  spots  of  sombre  foliage,  have  an  imposing,  and 
even  magnificent  appearance ;  and  its  top  or  surface,  which 
is  flat,  and  of  considerable  extent,  seems  like  the  landing 
place,  as  it  were,  of  a  long  chain  of  progressive  steps  or  ele- 
vations, those  nearest  the  level  of  the  sea  being  at  a  remote 
distance.  To  the  naturalist,  it  amply  repays  researches 
in  botany  and  mineralogy ;  and  being  only  a  few  miles 
distant  from  Hobart  Town,  it  has  frequent  visitors  in  the 
course  of  every  summer,  particularly  as  its  ascent  may  be 
accomplished  without  difficulty.  Eight  of  the  twelve  months 
its  summit  is  covered  with  snow ;  but  so  pure  and  clear  is  the 
atmosphere  of  Van  Diemen's  Land,  that  it  is  very  seldom  in- 
deed that  clouds  obscure  even  its  highest  points.  Several 
small  streams  spring  from  it,  and  join  the  Derwent. 

The  southern  mountains  near  Port  Davey,  are  even  higher 
than  Mount  Wellington,  and  a  great  part  of  the  year  are 
covered  with  snow.     They  form  a  long  tier,  which  stretches 

VOL.  IV.  c  c 


386  HILL  AND  DALE  COUNTRY. 

inwards  for  several  miles,  and  in  some  places  rises  5,000  feet 
above  the  sea.  The  hilly  character  of  the  country  on  the 
southern  side  of  the  island,  admits  but  of  little  interruption. 
The  hills  are  not  only  frequent,  but  continuous,  the  ge- 
neral face  of  the  island  being  a  never  ending  succession  of  hill 
and  dale,  the  traveller  no  sooner  arriving  at  the  bottom  of 
one  hill,  than  he  has  to  ascend  another,  often  three  or  four 
times  in  the  space  of  one  mile,  while  at  others  the  land  swells 
up  into  greater  heights,  reaching  along  several  miles  of  ascent. 
The  level  parts,  marshes,  or  plains,  as  they  are  called  in  the 
colony,  that  give  relief  to  this  fatiguing  surface,  are  compara- 
tively few.  Among  the  first  of  these,  beginning  at  the  S.  and 
on  the  opposite  side  of  the  Derwent,  to  the  E.  of  Hobart 
Town  may  be  mentioned  the  rich  and  highly  cultivated  coun- 
try round  Pittwater,  the  as  yet  little  cultivated  tracts  of 
Brushy  and  Prosser's  Plains,  towards  Oyster  Bay,  the  level 
tract  around  the  spot  where  the  town  of  Brighton  is  now 
building,  originally  called  Stony  Plains,  and  extending  with 
little  interruption  to  the  bottom  of  Constitution  Hill,  a  dis- 
tance of  about  six  miles  in  length,  and  from  two  to  three  in 
width,  the  very  fertile  and  valuable  farms  at  the  Green  Ponds 
and  Cross  Marsh  ;  and  further  to  the  W.  on  the  banks  of  the 
Derwent  and  River  Ouse,  the  beautiful  tract  of  country 
called  Sorell  Plains  ;  and  higher  up,  the  extensive  district  of 
the  Clyde,  St.  Patrick's  Plains  on  the  banks  of  the  Shannon, 
and  other  extensive  tracts  of  level  country  round  the  lakes  ; 
on  the  E.  of  the  road  to  Launceston,  York,  Salt  Pan,  St. 
Paul's,  and  Break  o'Day  Plains,  the  fine  country  round  Ross, 
and  along  the  banks  of  the  Macquarie  and  Elizabeth  Rivers ; 
and,  lastly,  the  noble  tract  of  rich  land  on  the  banks  of  the 
South  Esk,  the  Lake  River,  Norfolk  Plains,  as  far  as  the  eye 
can  reach,  bounded  on  the  E.  by  the  picturesque  heights  of 
Benlomond,  and  on  the  W^  by  the  no  less  romantic  range  of 
the  Western  Mountains,  and  extending  to  the  N.  as  far  as 
Launceston,  forming  a  tract  of  near  40  miles  in  width,  al- 
ready in  a  great  measure  overspread  with  valuable  and  exten- 
sive farms,  many  of  them  in  a  high  state  of  cultivation* 


CAPES  AND  HEADLANDS.  387 

The  other  principal  mountains  in  the  colony  are — Benlo- 
mond,  distant  about  100  miles  from  Hobart  Town,  and  rising 
4,200  feet;  the  Table  Mountain  near  Jericho,  3,800  feet; 
Peak  of  TenerifFe,  or  Wylde's  Craig,  4,500;  Quamby's  Bluff, 
3,500;  Mount  Field,  3,000;  St.  Paul's  dome,  2,500;  and 
several  from  one  to  two  thousand  feet  in  elevation. 

Among  the  capes  or  headlands,  are  South  West  Cape, 
which  is  the  first  point  of  land  generally  seen  on  the  approach 
of  the  island  from  the  westward  ;  South  Cape  which  juts  some 
considerable  distance  into  the  ocean,  and  is  about  30  miles 
S.S.E.  of  South  West  Cape;  Tasman's  Head,  still  more  east- 
ward, and  commanding  the  immediate  entrance  of  the  Der- 
went ;  Cape  Pillar,  a  point  of  land  on  the  south-eastern 
corner  of  the  island,  and  which  has  to  be  doubled  by  vessels 
to  and  from  Sydney  ;  Cape  Portland,  on  its  N.E.  extremity. 
Cape  Grim  on  its  N.W.  completing  the  number  of  the  most 
remarkable  of  these  promontories.  The  principal  island 
on  the  south  shore  of  the  colony,  is  Brune  Island,  a  tract 
of  some  considerable  extent,  having  Storm  Bay  on  its  E.  and 
D'Entrecasteaux  on  its  W.,  the  ocean  on  its  S.,  and  the  river 
Derwent  on  its  N.,  where  the  two  entrances  to  that  river  join, 
and  form  one  stream  towards  Hobart  Town.  There  are  be- 
sides several  small  islands  in  the  bays  or  inlets  around  the 
coast,  particularly  in  Bass's  Straits,  but  few  of  them  require 
especial  notice.* 

In  order  to  exhibit  the  features  of  the  country  it  will  be 
well  to  follow  the  plan  I  have  heretofore  pursued  of  detailing 
its  territorial  divisions. 

Divisions.  —  Originally  Van  Diemen's  Land  was  divided 
into  two  counties  only,  Buckinghamshire  and  Cornwall.  In- 
deed, these  continue  at  present  its  only  counties  although, 
in  1826,  it  was  subdivided  into  several  police  districts;  at 
which  time  too,  orders  were  received  from  the  home  govern- 
ment for  its  being  formed  into  counties,  hundreds,  and  pa- 

*  Betsey  Island,  just  at  the  mouth  of  the  Derwent,  has  been  granted  to 
an  individual  for  the  purpose  of  forming  one  large  rabbit  warren,  with  the 
view  of  creating  an  exportable  article  of  the  skins  of  that  animal. 


388  DISTRICT  DIVISIONS  OF 

rislies,  in  the  same  manner  as  England,   These  police  districts 
are  as  follows  : — 

1. — Hobart  Town,  bounded  on  the  E.  by  the  River  Der- 
went,  including  Brune  Island,  on  the  S.  and  W.  by  the  River 
Huon,  on  the  N.  by  New  Norfolk  and  Richmond  districts. 
It  comprises  an  area  of  about  400  square  miles,  or  250,000 
acres,  but  not  more  than  about  2,000  have  yet  been  adapted 
to  cultivation.  Its  chief  settlement  is  Hobart  Town,  the  capital 
of  the  island. 

2. — Richmond,  bounded  on  the  S.  and  E.  by  the  sea,  on 
the  N.  by  Oatlands,  and  on  the  W.  by  New  Norfolk  and  the 
entrance  to  the  Derwent.  Its  towns  are  Richmond,  Sorell, 
Brighton,  besides  -which,  it  has  several  large  agricultural  set- 
tlements, such  as  Bagdad,  Clarence  Plains,  the  Tea-tree 
Brush,  &c.  It  contains  about  1,050  square  miles,  or  672,000 
acres,  of  which  about  17,000  are  under  cultivation. 

o. — New  Norfolk  is  bounded  on  three  sides  by  the  Hobart 
Town,  Clyde,  and  Richmond  districts,  and  on  the  W.  and 
S.W.  by  crown  lands  not  yet  settled.  Its  towns  are  Eliza- 
beth Town,  or,  as  it  is  commonly  called.  New  Norfolk,  and 
Hamilton.  It  contains  about  1,.500  square  miles,  or  960,000 
acres,  but  a  great  portion  of  them  consists  of  barren  rocky 
hills,  and  not  more  than  about  4,200  have  yet  been  brought 
under  cultivation. 

4. — The  Clyde  is  bounded  by  crown  lands,  unlocated  on 
the  W.,  and  on  the  other  three  sides  by  Norfolk  Plains, 
Campbell  Town  and  Oatlands  districts.  Its  only  town  is 
Bothwell.  The  extent  of  tlsis  district  comprises  1,700  square 
miles,  or  1,088,000  acres;  but  a  small  proportion  only  has 
been  disposed  of  to  the  settlers,  and  not  more  than  about 
3,200  have  been  cultivated. 

5. — Oatlands,  bounded  on  the  S.  by  Richmond,  E.  by 
Oyster  Bay,  W.  by  the  Clyde  district,  and  N.  by  Campbell 
Town.  It  contains  900  square  miles,  or  about  576,000  acres. 
Oatlands  and  Jericho  are  its  towns.  There  are  about  3,100 
acres  in  this  district  that  have  been  cultivated. 

6. — Campbell  Toivn,  bounded  on  the  S.  by  Oatlands,  E. 


VAN  diemen's  island.  389 

by  unlocated  crown  lands,  extending  to  the  sea,  W.  by  the 
Clyde  and  Norfolk  Plains,  and  N.  by  Launceston  districts. 
It  contains  about  1,200  square  miles.  Its  towns  are  Campbell 
Town,  Ross,  Lincoln,  and  Fingal,  but  neither  of  them  have  yet 
attained  any  great  importance.  Campbell  Town  is  a  rich  and 
fertile  district,  well-watered,  and  abounding  with  excellent 
pasturage,  but  its  distance  from  sea  ports  is  unfavourable  to 
it ;  and  although  a  considerable  portion  of  the  land  has  been 
allotted  to  settlers  for  some  years,  not  more  than  about  6,400 
acres  have  been  cultivated. 

7. — Norfolk  Plains,  bounded  on  the  S.  by  the  Clyde,  E. 
by  Campbell  Town  and  Launceston  districts,  W.  by  the  ter- 
ritories of  the  Van  Diemen's  Land  company,  and  N.  by  Bass 
Straits.  This  district  is  of  great  extent,  comprising  2,250 
square  miles,  or  rather  more  than  1,500,000  acres;  but  a 
very  large  proportion  of  this  is  rugged,  inaccessible  land,  not 
likely  ever  to  be  rendered  serviceable  to  man.  Latour  and 
Westbury  are  the  towns,  or  rather  townships  of  this  district. 
About  6,200  acres  are  at  present  in  cultivation. 

8. — Launceston,  bounded  on  the  S.  by  Campbell  Town, 
and  W.  by  Norfolk  Plains  districts,  and  on  the  N.  and  E.  by 
the  ocean.  Launceston,  the  second  town  in  the  colony,  is  its 
principal  place,  besides  which  it  has  Perth  and  George  Town. 
It  is  an  extensive  district,  covering  3,800  square  miles,  or 
about  2,500,000  acres;  but  not  more  than  between  7  and 
8,000  of  these  have  been  cultivated. 

9. — Oyster  Bay  is  bounded  on  the  S.  by  Richmond,  W. 
and  N.  by  Oatlands  and  Campbell  Town  districts,  and  E.  by 
the  ocean.  It  does  not  yet  possess  any  town.  In  point  of 
extent,  it  is  one  of  the  smallest  districts  in  the  colony,  con- 
taining about  900  square  miles  only,  or  about  576,000  acres. 
About  1,700  of  these  are  at  present  in  cultivation. 

These  comprise  all  the  police  districts ;  but  among  the  di- 
visions of  the  island  may  be  further  enumerated  : — 

1st. — The  penal  settlement  of  Macquarie  island  and  Port 
Arthur,  upon  Tasman's  peninsula. 

Sndly. — Numerous  islands  in   the  Straits  of  Bass,  that  se- 


390  HOBART  TOWN  DISTRICT. 

parate  Van  Diemen's  Island  from  Australia,  and  Maria  Island, 
formerly  a  penal  settlement,  but  lately  dismembered,  and  now 
occupied  by  a  private  individual  at  an  annual  rent  to  govern- 
ment.   All  these  are  dependencies  of  this  government. 

3rdly. — The  territories  of  the  Van  Diemen's  Land  Company, 
comprehending  nearly  half  a  million  of  acres  on  the  N.W. 
corner  of  the  island,  bounded  on  two  sides  by  the  sea,  on  the 
others  by  crown  lands,  or  the  Norfolk  Plains  settled  districts. 

The  Hobart  Toivn  district,  though  nearly  the  smallest  in 
extent,  is  the  most  important  in  the  colony.  It  comprises  an 
area,  including  Brune  Island  of  about  400  square  miles,  or 
25,000  acres  ;  round  more  than  three  sides  of  which,  inde- 
pendent of  Brune,  it  enjoys  the  advantage  of  water  carriage, 
affording  an  extent  of  coast,  with  convenient  access,  and  an- 
chorage for  vessels  of  any  burden  for  more  than  150  miles, 
following  the  course  of  the  Derwent,  through  all  its  windings, 
inlets,  and  beautiful  bays,  from  the  Black  Snake  to  the  mouth 
of  the  Huon,  and  thence  a  considerable  way  up  that  river. 

Throughout  the  whole  extent  there  is  scarcely  one  level 
part,  the  surface  of  the  entire  district  being  an  unceasing 
succession  of  hill  and  dale ;  and  those  farms  which  have  been 
formed,  many  of  them  now  in  a  high  state  of  cultivation,  have 
been  cleared  and  brought  under  the  plough,  at  a  considerable 
expense.  Even  round  the  beautiful  village  of  New  Town, 
with  its  neat  villas,  smiling  and  fertile  gardens,  its  regular 
and  productive  corn  fields,  and  rich  tracks  of  pasture  from 
English  grasses  ;  if  the  original  cost  of  bringing  it  to  its  pre- 
sent state  were  calculated,  it  would  more  than  double  the 
amount  which  even  the  best  of  the  farms  would  now  fetch  at 
a  sale.  Below  Hobart  Town,  also,  as  far  as  Brown's  River, 
there  are  many  fine  though  moderately-sized  farms. 

The  total  number  of  acres  in  this  district  actually  under 
the  plough  and  spade,  and  bearing  crops,  did  not  much  ex- 
ceed, in    1830,*  1,600  acres.     The    crops  with  which  they 

*  These  statistics  of  each  district  were  made,  in  1830,  l)y  Dr.  Ross,  to 
whose  excellent  almanac  I  am  indebted  for  many  valuable  documents.  I 
repret  niucli  lint  no  returns  can  be  obtained  of  a  later  date. 


STOCK  AND  AGRICULTURAL  PRODUCE.  391 

were  cultivated  were  in  the  following  proportions : — wheat,  700 
acres:  barley,  125  do. ;  oats,  100  do. ;  peas,  50  do.;  beans, 
5  do.  ;  potatoes,  300  do. ;  turnips,  70  do. ;  Enghsh  grasses, 
200  do.  ;  gardens,  50  do. 

The  value  of  agricultural  produce  in  the  Hobart  Town 
district  during  the  year  1830,  was  as  follows : — 10,500  bushs. 
of  wheat,  at  7*.  Qcl,  3,937/. ;  2,500  do.  of  barley,  at  5*.,  625/. ; 
2,500  do.  of  oats,  at  5s.  6d.,  676/. ;  1,000  do.  of  peas,  at  10*., 
500/.;  1,050  tons  of  potatoes,  at  120*.,  6,300/.;  430  do.  of 
turnips,  at  40*.,  980/. ;  200  acres  of  Enghsh  grass,  at  200*., 
2,000/.;  50  do.  of  gardens,  at  25/.,  1,250/.— total  produce, 
16,329/.* 

The  number  of  live  stock  in  this  district  consisted,  in  the 
beginning  of  1831,  of  400  horses,  2,000  horned  cattle,  1,200 
sheep,  and  250  goats.  During  the  last  four  or  five  years  the 
breed  of  horses  has  been  very  much  improved  in  the  colony, 
by  the  introduction  of  valuable  pedigrees  from  England.  The 
value  of  live  stock  in  the  district  was,  therefore,  in  1831  : — 
400  horses,  at  40/.  each,  16,000/.;  2,000  cattle,  at  50*.  each, 
5,000/. ;  1,200  sheep,  at  10*.  each,  600/.— total,  21,000/. 

The  average  size  of  the  farms  in  this  district  does  not  ex- 
ceed  50  acres  each,  and  though  many  of  them  were  originally 
of  a  thin  soil,  or  very  heavily  encumbered  with  trees,  they 
have  been  so  cleared  and  cultivated  by  manual  labour,  and 
enriched  by  manure  brought  from  Hobart  Town,  that,  gene- 

*  To  this  must  be  added  the  value  of  native  grass  consumed  by  the 
stock  on  the  hills  round  the  various  farms,  and  the  firewood  brought  in 
carts  or  boats  to  Hobart  Town,  and  sold  to  the  inhabitants.  Although  the 
natural  pasturage  throughout  the  district  is  not  very  abundant,  nor  of  a 
very  luxuriant  kind,  yet  it  is  so  sweet,  especially  in  spring,  and  so  much 
relished  by  the  stock,  as  to  be  preferred  to  any  other ;  and  cattle  and 
horses  may  be  seen  grazing  on  the  comparatively  thin  and  dry  grass  of  the 
hills,  in  preference  to  a  flue  field  of  clover  and  rye-grass  contiguous  and 
open  to  their  use.  This  natural  produce,  tlien,  may  fairly  be  estimated  to 
be  worth  collectively  to  the  farmers  in  the  district  2,000/.  annually.  As  to 
the  firewood,  if  we  take  the  consuming  population  of  Hobart  Town  at  5,500, 
including  the  military,  and  allow  a  cart-load  a  week,  at  the  average  value 
of  65.  to  a  family  of  ten  persons,  we  shall  have  a  weekly  consumption  of 
550  cart-loads,  value  165/.,  or  8,580/.  a  year. 


392  POPULATION  OF  IIOBART  DISTRICT. 

rally  speaking,  they  are  now  productive  and  fertile.  At  the 
average  value  at  which  several  have  been  sold  or  let  within 
the  last  two  or  three  years,  the  value  of  the  land  in  cultiva- 
tion, including  buildings,  agricultural  implements,  gardens, 
&c.,  may  he  reasonably  taken  at  251.  an  acre,  giving  for  the 
whole  1,600  acres  a  sum  total  of  40,000/.  The  rental  derived 
from  this  on  the  average,  is  5,000/.,  that  is,  allowing  about 
eight  years'  purchase  of  the  property,  or  an  interest  for  money 
invested  of  12^  per  cent.  The  total  value  of  agricultural  pro- 
perty within  the  district  is  then  as  follows  : — land,  40,000/. ; 
live  stock,  21,600/.;  annual  produce,  26,909/.— total,  88,569.* 

The  total  number  of  inhabitants  resident  upon  this  extent, 
exclusive  of  Hobart  Town,  did  not  exceed,  in  the  year 
1830,  800  souls,  of  whom  580  are  free  persons,  and  the  re- 
maining 220  prisoners  sent  out  from  England,  in  the  following 
proportions: — male  adults,  free,  300;  do.  under  age,  150; 
female  adults,  free,  90  ;  do.  under  age,  40 ;  male  prisoners, 
180;  female  do.  40— total  800. 

Before  proceeding  to  notice  the  other  districts,  we  may 
glance  at  the  principal  towns  and  settlements.  Hobart  Town, 
the  capital  of  the  island,  and  the  seat  of  its  government,  is  an 
extensive,  well  laid  out,  and  in  many  parts,  a  neatly  built  town 
on  the  River  Derwent,  about  20  miles  from  its  mouth,  or 
entrance  towards  the  ocean ;  although  where  Hobart  Town 
stands,  might  perhaps  with  more  propriety  be  termed  an  arm 
or  creek  of  the  sea,  it  being  of  considerable  width,  the  water 
salt,  and  scarcely  displaying  any  characteristics  of  a  river 
until  the  town  is  passed.  The  cove,  or  bay,  upon  the  banks 
of  which  Hobart  Town  is  built,  affords  one  of  the  best  and 
most  secure  anchorages  in  the  world,  for  any  number  of  ves- 
sels, and  of  any  burtlien. 

An  amphitheatre  of  gently  rising  hills,  beautifully  clothed 
with  trees,  and  having  Mount  Wellington,  4,000  feet  high  as  the 
highest,  defends  it  from  the  westerly  winds,  and  bounds  the 
horizon  on  that  quarter;   while  the  magnificent  estuary  of  the 

*  I  ^'ive  these  statistical  minutia;  of  each  district  to  demonstrate  to  the 
people  in  En<rlanfl  iliat  our  poiial  settlements  in  the  Southern  hemisphere 
are  not  the  barren  and  desolate  territories  that  they  have  been  described  to  be. 


APPEARANCE  OF  IIOBART  TOWN.  393 

Derwent,  (with  its  boats  and  sliipping,  and  picturesque  points 
of  land  along  its  winding  banks,  forming  beautiful  bays  and 
lakes,)  skirts  it  on  the  E. 

The  town  itself  stands  upon  a  gently  rising  ground,  and 
covers  rather  more  than  one  square  mile.  Its  streets  are 
wide  and  long,  intersecting  each  other  at  right  angles  ;  and 
those  that  have  been  levelled  and  macadamised,*  of  which 
there  are  several,  present,  by  their  number  of  large  and 
handsome  shops  and  houses,  an  imposing  appearance,  which 
might  be  little  expected,  considering  that,  only  a  few  years 
ago,  the  site  of  Hobart  Town  was  a  mere  scrub  or  forest. 
Nearly  through  the  centre  of  the  town  runs  a  rivulet,  which, 
besides  turning  timber  and  corn-mills,  affords  the  inhabitants 
at  certain  seasons  a  good  supply  of  water.  The  town,  how- 
ever, is  chiefly  watered  by  means  of  pipes  that  have  been 
laid  under  ground,  and  which  convey  water  to  the  houses  of 
many  of  the  inhabitants,  as  well  as  to  several  public  pumps  in 
various  parts  of  the  streets.  The  number  of  houses  in  the 
different  streets  was  estimated  in  1831  as  follows: — Hunter's 
Street,  13 ;  Macquarie  Street,  64 ;  Davey  Street,  &c.,  27 ; 
Elizabeth  Street,  97  ;  Liverpool  Street,  107  ;  Campbell 
Street,  43;  Argyle  Street,  39;  Murray  Street,  55 ;  Harring- 
ton Street,  24;  Barrack  Street,  20;  Molle  Street,  12;  Antil 
Street,  2;  Collins  Street,  51  ;  Goulburn  Street,  38  ;  Bathurst 
Street,  63;  Melville  Street,  55;  Brisbane  Street,  35;  St. 
Patrick's  Street,  18  ;  Warwick  Street,  5 ;  King  Street,  2 ; 
Veteran  Row,  13;  Macquarie  Point,  2: — total  number  of 
houses,  785.  These  houses  afford  a  rental  of  from  12  to 
100^.,  and  some  few  of  large  dimensions  and  in  favourable  situ- 
ations as  high  as  150/.  to  200/.  a  year.  The  average  of  the 
rental  of  the  whole  may,  on  a  moderate  estimate,  be  taken  at  50/. 
each,  or  40,000/.  a  year,  with  an  aggregate  value  of  400,000/. 

The  public  buildings  are  numerous,  and  in  some  instances, 
commodious  and  handsome.     Among  them  may  be  reckoned 

*  When  I  was  at  Hobart  Town,  in  1825,  the  streets  were  knee  deep  in 
mud.  I  am  glad  to  find  they  have  since  been  paved  or  macadamized. 
[R.  M.  M.] 


394  PUBLIC  BUILDINGS  AT  HOBART  TOWN. 

the  church,  which  is  a  large,  regular,  and  (with  the  exception 
of  the  steeple)  well-huilt  brick  edifice,  having  its  interior 
fitted  up  with  an  organ,  a  handsome  pulpit,  and  desk,  made 
of  the  pencil  cedar  tree  of  the  colony,  and  aisles  and  pews, 
in  the  same  manner  as  the  well-finished  churches  of  the  Eng- 
lish metropolis.  Next  perhaps  in  order,  in  size,  and  import- 
ance comes  the  court-house  which  is  of  stone,  and  contains 
various  apartments,  or  divisions,  adapted  for  the  civil  and 
criminal  business  of  the  colony. 

The  government-house  (where  the  Lieutenant-Governor 
resides)  is  a  large  rambling  pile  of  buildings,  originally  planned 
upon  an  inconsiderable  scale,  but  much  added  to  and  improved 
within  the  last  few  years.  It  stands  well,  in  the  midst  of 
tastefully  laid  out  shrubberies,  which  slope  gradually  towards 
the  water's  edge,  but  possesses  nothing,  either  in  its  archi- 
tecture or  fitting  up,  to  merit  any  particular  notice.  The 
military  barracks  have  a  fine  commanding  situation,  upon 
some  elevated  ground  on  the  S.W.  part  of  the  town,  The 
prisoner's  barracks  stand  in  an  opposite  quarter,  and  form  an 
extensive  commodious  range  of  brick  buildings,  well  secured 
by  a  high  wall. 

The  colonial  hospital  is  capable  of  accommodating  a  con- 
siderable number  of  patients.  The  police-office  is  a  plain 
substantial  edifice.  The  female  house  of  correction,  or  the 
factory  as  it  is  commonly  called,  is  about  two  miles  distant,  in 
a  westerly  direction,  and  stands  close  to  the  stream  by  which 
the  town  is  watered.  The  construction  of  this  building, 
which  is  quite  modern,  is  admirably  suited  for  the  purposes 
of  classification  and  employment — two  objects  which  de- 
servedly occupy  the  attention  of  the  advocates  for  confine- 
ment of  the  present  day ;  although,  how  far  confinement  at 
all,  answers  any  good  end  with  the  many,  who  are  for  months 
and  months  shut  up  within  the  walls  of  this  house  of  correc- 
tion, is  altogether  another  consideration,  and  the  discussion 
of  which,  is  foreign  to  the  present  purpose. 

The  male  and  female  orphan  schools  are  each  of  them 
temporary  buildings  only,  until  a  commodious  and  handsome 


CHURCHES,  BANKS,  MANUFACTURES,  &C.         895 

edifice,  now  in  progress,  about  two  miles  from  the  town,  is  . 
completed.  The  commissariat  stores  are  a  range  of  stuccoed 
buildings,  opposite  the  treasury  and  commissariat,  which  both 
occupy  the  same  building,  close  to  the  water's  edge,  at  the 
bottom  of  Macquarie  Street.  Strength  and  security,  not  ele- 
gance, mark  this  edifice. 

The  gaol,  in  respect  to  its  insecurity,  its  inconvenience, 
and  its  thorough  inaptitude  for  its  purposes,  is,  speaking  of 
it  as  a  building,  a  disgrace  to  the  town. 

Besides  the  church,  there  are  several  places  of  public  wor- 
ship, such  as  the  Wesleyan  and  Independent  chapels,  the 
Scots  kirk,  and  the  Roman  Catholic  chapel.  The  three 
former  are  convenient  substantial  edifices,  and  sufficiently 
large  to  accommodate  numerous  congregations. 

The  old  bank  was  once  admired  as  a  specimen  of  Van 
Diemen's  Land  architecture,  but  that  time  is  gone  by — it  is 
now  eclipsed  by  many  other  buildings. 

In  the  number  of  private  buildings  which  have  tended  to 
ornament  the  town,  may  be  classed  the  Commercial  and  the 
Derwent  banks  in  Macquarie  Street ;  some  handsome  stone 
buildings,  near  Wellington  Bridge,  the  residence  of  the  Chief 
Justice,  the  Surveyor-General,  &c.  &c.  There  are  many 
lofty  well-built  stone  warehouses  on  the  wharf;  and  several 
excellent  inns  and  other  houses  of  entertainment,  particularly 
the  Derwent  Hotel,  the  Waterloo  Tavern,  the  Macquarie 
Hotel,  the  Ship,  the  Dallas  Arms,  the  Commercial  Tavern, 
and  many  establishments  of  a  similar  description. 

It  has  three  public  banks  ;  an  excellent  well-arranged  cir- 
culating library ;  a  book  society,  supported  by  private  sub- 
scription ;  a  public  school  for  poor  children,  which  is  main- 
tained at  the  expense  of  government ;  three  Sunday  schools, 
established  by  the  Wesleyans  and  Presbyterians  ;  and  several 
pi'ivate  seminaries  of  great  respectability,  for  the  youth  of 
both  sexes.  In  the  list  of  its  manufactories,  may  be  enume- 
rated a  distillery,  breweries,  tanneries,  two  timber  mills,  flour 
mills  worked  by  steam  and  water,  and  two  or  three  estabfish- 
ments  where  most  excellent  soap  and  candles  are  made. 

The  total  number  of  the  inhabitants,  including  those  of  its 


396  LAUNCESTON  TOWN. 

immediate  suburbs,  and  the  prisoners  and  military,  is  about 
10,000.     [See  Population.] 

The  suburbs  of  Hobart  Town  have  lately  undergone  con- 
siderable improvement ;  handsome  villas  and  enclosures  occu- 
pying ground  in  every  direction,  which  it  would  have  been 
supposed,  in  some  places,  to  have  almost  bid  defiance  to  the 
hand  of  art.  A  noble  wharf  has  been  constructed,  so  as  to 
allow  vessels  of  the  largest  burthen  to  lade  or  unlade  close 
alongside  the  shore,  without  the  assistance  of  boats. 

Next  in  rank,  and  commercial  importance,  is  Launceston, 
on  the  N.  side  of  the  island,  distant,  by  a  good  road,  121 
miles  from  Hobart  Town.  It  is  is  situate  on  a  flat  of  the 
richest  land  in  the  island,  backed  by  gently  rising  hills,  at 
the  confluence  of  the  N.  and  S.  Esk  Rivers,  which  there 
form  the  Tamar,  flowing  about  45  miles,  when  it  disem- 
bogues into  the  ocean  at  Bass's  Straits.  The  town  is  thriving 
rapidly  [see  Commei'ce],  owing  to  its  being  the  'maritime  key 
of  a  large  and  fertile  country,  and  affording  sufficient  water 
for  vessels  upwards  of  400  tons  burthen,  to  load  as  in  Sydney 
along  side  the  wharfs.  There  are  about  4,000  inhabitants  in 
Launceston,  comprising  several  spirited  merchants  and  indus- 
trious traders.  The  town  is  under  the  controul  of  a  Civil  Com- 
mandant, acting  under  orders  from  Hobart  Town  :  it  contains 
an  elegant  and  spacious  church,  government  house,  military 
barracks,  gaol,  court  house,  public  school,  bank,  post-office, 
two  newspaper  establishments,  &c.  Launceston  is  running 
a  race  of  prosperity  with  Hobart  Town,  and  the  formation  of 
colonies  on  the  southern  and  western  shores  of  Australia  will 
materially  aid  its  progress. 

Hobart  Town  district,  from  the  quality  of  its  soil,  is  perhaps 
more  barren  of  settlements  of  this  natui'e  than  any  other ;  but 
in  some  instances,  the  contiguity  to  head  quarters  has  greatly 
overbalanced  what  has  been  denied  by  nature.  On  the  left 
bank  of  the  Derwent,  on  approaching  the  town  from  the  sea, 
is  a  long  straggling  settlement,  called  Sandy  Bay,  where 
there  are  several  cottages  and  neat  residences,  with  well  cul- 
tivated farms  and  gardens.  Passing  through  the  town,  at 
a    distance    of  three    miles,    is    New    Town,    a   very   beau- 


NEW  NORFOLK  DISTRICT.  397 

tiful  village,  where  many  gentlemen  of  great  respectability 
have  their  residences.  The  houses  are  generally  large  and 
well-finished  ;  and  the  neatly  enclosed  fields  and  paddocks 
everywhere  around  —  the  highly  cultivated  gardens  and 
orchards  with  which  it  abounds — and  the  handsome  well  kept 
shrubberies  attached  to  some  of  the  dwellings — give  it  quite 
an  English  appearance. 

2.  New  Norfolk  District,  about  four  times  the  size  of  that 
of  Hobart  Town,  has  a  medium  extent  of  about  50  miles 
from  E.  to  W.,  and  about  30  N.  to  S.,  containing  about 
1,500  square  miles,  or  900,000  acres.  The  whole  district 
naturally  divides  itself  into  two  parts,  the  one  being  an  ex- 
tensive vale  along  both  banks  of  the  Derwent,  and  the  other, 
the  fertile  tract,  including  the  Black  brush,  along  the  W. 
side  of  the  Jordan,  A  chain  of  snowy  mountains  extends 
from  Mount  Wellington  in  a  semi-circular,  north  westerly 
direction  through  the  whole  of  the  district  to  the  peak  of 
Teneriffe.  From  these  mountains  numerous  streams  fall  into 
the  Derwent  on  the  one  side,  and  into  the  Huon  on  the  other. 
Although  this  lofty  tract  is  beyond  the  reach  of  cultivation, 
it  abounds  with  timber  of  the  most  magnificent  kind.  A 
secondary  range  of  mountains,  called  the  Abyssinia  Tier, 
extends  from  the  Dromedary  a  considerable  way  into  the 
Clyde  district,  as  far  as  the  Denhill.  Below  New  Norfolk, 
the  banks  of  the  river  are  high  and  steep,  but  higher  up  the 
country  become  more  open,  affording  a  large  extent  of  rich 
pasture  for  sheep  and  cattle,  for  nearly  40  miles  along  both 
banks  of  the  Derwent. 

Of  the  whole  extent  of  960,000  acres  in  this  district  not 
above  90,000  had  been  granted  to  settlers  in  1830,  of  which 
number  about  3,000  acres  have  been  cleared,  brought  under 
the  plough,  and  laid  down  in  crops. 

Owing  to  the  advantage  which  the  lower  part  of  the 
district  enjoys  from  its  vicinity  to  Hobart  Town  and  the 
facility  of  water  carriage,  a  greater  quantity  of  agricultural 
produce  for  that  market  is  raised,  than  in  the  more  interior 
parts  of  the  island,  such  as  corn,  potatoes  and  hay.  The 
total  value  of  agricultural  produce  in  the  whole  district  during 


398  ELIZABETH  TOWN. 

the  year  1830,  may  be  computed  as  follows  : — 32,000  bushels 
of  wheat  (1,600  acres)  at  7s.  11,200/.;  7,560  ditto  barley 
(270  acres)  at  5s.  1,890/.;  3,000  do.  oats  (100  acres)  at  5s. 
750/.;  2,100  do.  peas  (105  acres)  at  8.?.  840/.;  70  do.  beans, 
(5  acres)  at  10*.  351. ;  660  tons  potatoes  (220  acres)  at  80*. 
2,540/.;  2,100  do.  turnips  (303  acres)  at  30*.  3,150/.;  400 
acres  Enghsh  grass,  at  10/. ;  4,000/.     Total  produce,  24,505/. 

Lh-e  Stock. — Horses  250,  horned  cattle  6,400,  sheep 
60,000;  250  horses  at  40/.  each,  10,000/. ;  6,400  cattle  at  2.5*. 
each,  8,000/.  ;  60,000  sheep  at  5s.  each,  15,000/.  Total 
value  of  live  stock,  33,000/. 

The  farms  in  this  district  are  much  larger  in  comparison, 
than  those  round  Hobart  Town,  amounting  often  to  2,000,  and 
in  two  or  three  instances  to  five  or  six  thousand  acres.  The 
average  of  the  whole  district  is  about  15*.  an  acre,  which  on 
the  land  granted  of  90,000  acres  gives  a  total  value  of  landed 
property  47,500/.  The  total  value  of  agricultural  property  in 
the  district  is,  land,  67,500/.  ;  live  stock,  33,000/. ;  annual 
produce,  24,405/.  Total,  124,905/.  It  must  be  remembered  that 
since  these  calculations  were  made  the  value  has  increased. 

The  only  establishments  of  a  manufacturing  nature  that  are 
yet  worthy  of  mention  in  this  district  are  the  three  flour  mills 
driven  by  water.  The  total  population  resident  upon  this 
extent,  did  not  exceed  1,200  souls,  of  whom  750  are  free,  and 
the  remaining  450  convicts,  in  the  following  proportions  : — 
Male  adults,  free,  280;  female  do.  do.  170;  males  under  age, 
do.  150;  female  do.  do.  150;  male  convicts  400;  female  do. 
50.     Total,  1,200. 

New  Norfolk,  or  Elizabeth  Town,  the  principal  settlement 
in  the  district,  is  about  twenty-two  miles  from  Hobart  Town, 
on  the  banks  of  the  Derwent,  which  is  navigable  to  tiie  falls 
above  the  town.  The  public  buildings  are  a  church,  gaol, 
police  office,  post  office,  public  school,  and  invalid  hospital; 
and,  in  addition  to  these,  the  Lieutenant-Governor  has  a 
cottage,  a  very  neat  brick  building,  having  a  suit  of  rooms  for 
the  use  of  his  family,  with  apartments  for  servants,  and  various 
domestic  offices.  The  view  from  it  is  extremely  beautiful, 
comprising  the  scenery  up  the  river  for  a  course  of  several 


RICHMOND  DISTRICT.  399 

miles,  and  including  many  cottages  and  houses,  which  are 
scattered  over  a  delightful  valley,  about  two  miles  in  width,  in 
a  high  state  of  cultivation.  The  residences  of  several  private 
individuals  are  built  in  a  becoming  style,  and  there  are  four 
or  five  inns,  which  are  commodious  and  well  conducted.  On 
the  banks  of  a  brook  called  the  Thames,  which  joins  the 
Derwent  here,  a  water-power  flour-mill  has  been  erected. 
Two  four-horse  stage  coaches,  and  a  steam  boat  run  daily 
between  New  Norfolk  and  Hobart  Town.  Hamilton  is  the 
only  other  township  in  the  district. 

3.  The  Richmond  District  contains  about  1060  square 
miles,  or  672,000  acres.  The  country  along  the  eastern  side 
consists  of  a  broad  ridge  of  lofty,  unproductive,  but  heavily 
timbered  hills,  extending  from  Prosser's  River  on  the  N.  to 
Tasman's  peninsula  on  the  S.  The  side  next  the  Derwent, 
though  also  hilly,  is  interspersed  with  numerous  fertile  vales, 
of  which  the  principal  are  the  fine  agricultural  and  compara- 
tively level  tract  of  Pittwater,  and  the  vales  of  the  Coal  River, 
Bagdad  and  Clarence  plains. 

On  Spectacle  Island,  which  is  situated  near  the  coast,  of 
Frederick  Hendrick  bay,  (so  named  by  Tasman  in  memory  of 
a  Dutch  prince  of  that  name),  below  the  Carlton  and  Pitt- 
water  is  a  stratum  of  beautiful  red  granite.  This  island  is  so 
named  from  its  shape  resembling  that  of  a  pair  of  spectacles, 
with  an  archway  through  the  centre. 

Land  to  the  amount  of  140,000  acres,  has  been  granted  to 
settlers  throughout  the  district,  the  difference  of  128,000  being 
occupied  either  in  pasture,  or  rough,  thickly  wooded,  uncul- 
tivated land.  The  relative  value  of  the  produce,  according 
to  the  last  official  returns,  cannot  be  taken  for  wheat  during 
the  last  year  at  more  than  12  bushels  an  acre,  of  barley  at  14 
bushels,  of  oats  20  do.,  of  pease  10  do.,  of  beans  10  do.,  po- 
tatoes 3j  tons,  and  turnips  8  tons  per  acre.  From  these  data 
we  have,  therefore,  the  following  results,  viz. : — 102,000 
(8,500  acres)  bushels  wheat  at  7*.  35,700/.;  13,400  (1,100 
acres)  do.  barley,  at  5*.  3,350/.  ;  7,800  (340  acres)  do  oats  at 
OS.  1,950/.  ;  3,000  (300  acres)  do.    peas,  at  8*.  1,200/,  ;  1,950 


496        POPULATION,  STOCK,  AND  PRODUCE  OF  RICHMOND. 

(600  acres)  tons  potatoes,  at  80*.  7,800/. ;  5,410  (480  acres)  do. 
turnips,  at  oOa*.  8,169/. ;  675  acres  English  grasses,  at  10/. 
6,750/.     Total  produce,  64,910/. 

The  live  stock  value  is  420  horses  at  40/.  8100/. ;  14,000 
cattle  at  25s.  17,750/.;  95,000  sheep  at  5*.  23,750/.  Total, 
49,900/. 

If  the  whole  of  the  granted  land  he  estimated,  as  in  the 
New  Norfolk  district,  at  15*.  per  acre,  it  will  give  a  total  on 
the  140,000  acres  of  landed  property  of  105,000/.  We  thus 
arrive  at  the  total  value  of  agricultural  property  in  the  whole 
district,  viz.  :^ — landed  property,  105,000/. ;  live  stock,  49,900/. ; 
annual  produce,  64,910/.     Total,  219,810/. 

Of  flour  mills,  there  are  seven,  four  driven  hy  water,  and 
thr/^e  hy  wind.  During  the  fishing  season,  there  are  several 
establishments  on  Slopen  Islands  and  at  the  Schoutens,  for 
boiling  the  blubber  of  the  whales  that  are  caught  upon  the 
coast,  and  extracting  the  oil. 

Both  excellent  coal  and  very  rich  iron  ore  have  been  dis- 
covered in  several  parts  of  this  district,  but  none  has  yet  been 
worked;  common  rock  salt  as  well  as  sulphate  of  magnesia 
has  been  found  in  a  hill  near  Richmond,  and  on  the  left  bank 
of  the  Coal  River,  and  plumbago  has  been  dug  up  in  quantities 
on  the  S.E.  coast  near  the  Sands- pit  river. 

The  population  of  the  district  of  Richmond,  exclusive  of 
Maria  Island  and  Port  Arthur,  amounted  in  1830,  to  2,800 
souls,  of  whom  1,700  are  free,  and  1,100  convicts,  in  the  fol- 
lowing proportions,  viz.  male  adults,  free,  900 ;  female  do.  do. 
400 ;  males,  under  age,  do.  200 ;  females,  do.  do.  200 ;  male 
convicts,  980;  female  do.  120.     Total,  2,800. 

The  townships  are  Richmond,  Sorell  or  Pittwater,  and 
Brighton,  and,  in  addition  to  these,  there  is  a  small  village  at 
Kangaroo  Point.  Richmond  is  situate  on  the  banks  of  the 
Coal  River,  four  miles  from  the  coast,  and  fourteen  miles  from 
Hobart  Town,  and  is  the  head-quarters  of  the  district  police. 
Among  its  public  buildings  are  reckoned  a  bridge  of  stone, 
(the  best  in  the  colony),  a  gaol,  and  a  court-house,  which, 
together  with  two  large  and  commodious  inns,  a  windmill  with 


BRIGHTON  IN  VAN  DIEMEN's  LAND.  401 

a  stone  tower,  and  the  residence  of  a  police  magistrate,  make 
it  a  place  of  some  consideration. 

Sorell,  or  Pittwater,  is  a  township,  near  the  iron  Creek, 
which  flows  into  the  bay  called  Pittwater ;  it  contains  a  church 
which  will  hold  six  hundred  persons ;  there  are  also  a  school- 
house  and  two  inns.  This  part  of  the  country,  from  the 
richness  of  its  soil  and  its  high  state  of  cultivation,  has  been 
designated  the  garden  of  the  island. 

Brighton  stands  on  the  main  road  from  Hobart  Town  to 
Launceston,  a  little  below  the  junction  of  Strathallan  Creek  and 
Jordan  River ;  it  has  a  government  cottage,  barracks,  and  an 
inn  or  ale-house.  A  few  miles  to  the  northward  the  road  passes 
over  a  hill  called  Constitution  Hill,  the  view  from  the  summit 
of  which  is,  perhaps,  the  most  extensive  the  island  affords. 
Mount  Wellington,  near  Hobart  Town,  25  miles  distant, 
Mount  Nelson,  Mount  Direction,  and  Mount  Dromedary 
form  prominent  and  bold  features  in  the  landscape  ;  while  in 
the  back  ground,  at  a  distance  of  sixty  miles,  is  seen  the  range 
of  white-topped  mountains  near  Port  Davy.  The  land  in  the 
neighbourhood  is  of  good  quality,  and  is  extensively  tilled. 

At  Kangaroo  Point,  immediately  facing  Hobart  Town,  there 
is  a  small  village,  rising  into  note  from  the  circumstance  of  its 
being  (now  that  a  steam-boat  runs  between  it  and  Hobart 
Town  six  times  a  day),  the  principal  route  from  Sorell  and 
Richmond  to  the  capital. 

The  rivers  of  this  district  are  the  Derwent,  separating  it 
from  Hobart  Town,  the  Jordan,  Strathallan  Creek,  Iron, 
Carlton,  Coal,  White  Kangaroo,  Sandpit  and  Prosser  rivers ; 
the  Derwent  is  the  only  one  navigable,  but  on  some  of  the 
others  there  are  erected  flour  mills.  The  shores  of  the  Der- 
went and  the  sea  coasts  are  indented  by  numerous  bays  and 
coves,  among  which  (beginning  at  the  highest  point  of  the 
district  on  the  Derwent)  are  Herdsman's  Cove,  Risdon  Cove, 
Ralphs  and  Double  Bay,  (formed  by  a  tongue  of  land  called 
the  South  Arm),  Pittwater,  North,  East,  and  Norfolk  Bays, 
Safety  Cove,  Port  Arthur,  Fortescue,  Monge  or  Pirates', 
Frederick  Hendrick,  Marian,  and  Prosser  Bays  ;  and  Oyster 

VOL.  IV.  D  D 


40^  PORT  ARTHUR  HARBOUR. 

and  Riedle  Bays  at  Maria  Island.  The  principal  islands  on 
the  coast  of  this  district  are  Betsy,  Maria,  Slopen,  and 
Spectacle  islands. 

Port  Arthur,  one  of  the  finest  harbours  in  Van  Diemen's 
Land,  is  about  55  miles  from  Hobart  Town.  Its  entrance 
(lat.  43.13.  S.,  Long.  148.  E.)  is  just  half  way  between  Cape 
Pillar  and  Cape  Raoul,  on  the  southern  coast  of  Tasman's 
Peninsula. 

These  two  remarkable  capes  have  a  grand  appearance  on 
approaching  the  harbour.  The  former  consists  of  basaltic 
columns,  built  up  as  it  were  to  an  enormous  height,  and  from 
the  regularity  with  which  they  are  raised  or  piled,  would  al- 
most seem  to  have  been  effected  by  human  hands. 

The  latter,  Cape  Raoul,  so  called  from  the  pilot  of  the 
*  ResearcJi,  or  Basaltes,  of  the  same  material,  has  the  singular 
appearance  of  a  stupendous  Gothic  ruin,  projecting  abruptly 
into  the  ocean,  with  its  massy  pillars,  rising  up  in  the  manner 
of  minarets  or  turrets,  while  the  tremendous  waves  dash 
against  its  dark  and  rugged  walls  below. 

The  coast  between  these  two  capes  (10  miles  asunder),  falls 
back  so  as  to  form  a  bay,  of  a  crescentic  shape,  termed  by  the 
French  '  Mainjon  baie.'  Its  sides  are  all  rugged  and  inac- 
cessible. 

At  the  middle  of  this  crescent  the  passage  of  the  harbour 
opens.  It  is  about  a  mile  wide,  and  runs  up  in  a  N.  N.  W. 
direction  for  four  miles  and  a  half.  At  the  distance  of  three 
and  a  half  miles  up,  it  expands  to  the  westward  to  form  a 
large  bay,  the  safest  part  of  the  harbour. 

The  water  is  deep  on  both  sides  close  to  the  shores.  The 
western  head  is  formed  by  a  hill  of  between  four  and  five 
hundred  feet  in  height,  with  a  clear  round  top  and  perpen- 
dicular sides  towards  the  sea.  The  eastern  by  a  bold  rocky 
point,  surmounted  by  a  conical  hill  800  feet  high,  with  another 
still  loftier  behind  it.  From  this  point  the  eastern  shore 
runs  up  in  nearly  a  straight  unbroken  line  to  the  end  of  the 
harbour.  It  also  is  formed  by  a  perpendicular  wall  of  basaltic 
columns  and  iron-stone  rock,  with  a  long  line  of  hills  above 


i 


APPEARANCE  OF  THE  COUNTRY,  AND    SOUTH  COAST.       40o 

them  sloping  backwards,  having  the  appearance  of  an  immense 
battery  or  embankment.  These  hills  are  covered  lightly  with 
trees,  of  a  stunted  growth.  There  are  three  or  four  rocky 
gullies  and  fresh  water  streams  on  this  side,  where  landing 
may  be  effected  when  the  wind  is  easterly. 

The  left,  or  western  side  of  the  channel,  presents  a  very 
different  aspect.  Its  rocky  line  is  broken  by  bays  and  sandy 
beaches.  There  is  also  an  open  plain  with  an  undulating 
surface,  covered  with  heath  and  small  shrubs,  and  backed  by 
a  lofty  range  of  hills,  which  run  directly  up  from  Cape  Raoul 
towards  the  N.  and  S.,  and  a  branch  range  across  the  centre 
of  the  peninsula.  This  meets  with  the  line  of  hills  on  the 
eastern  side,  and  thus  completely  surrounds  the  port. 

On  sailing  up  the  harbour,  within  the  clear  hill  at  the 
western  head,  is  seen  a  small  sandy  beach,  where  the  surf  is 
generally  too  great  to  allow  of  boats  landing.  Half  a  mile 
higher  up,  and  beyond  an  inner  rocky  head  is  Safety  Cove,  a 
fine  large  bay  with  a  sandy  beach,  into  which  vessels  often 
run  for  shelter  from  the  stormy  winds  and  heavy  seas  so  fre- 
quent upon  this  coast.  It  is  open  to  the  S.E.,  but  by  lying 
well  round  into  the  S.W.  corner  of  the  cove,  a  ship  may  be 
sheltered  from  the  S.E.  winds.  Sailing  past  Safety  Cove,  on 
the  left,  there  is  a  range  of  perpendicular  rocks,  a  mile  and  a 
half  in  length,  which  runs  along  a  tongue  of  land,  (all  that 
separates  the  channel  from  the  bay  inside),  and  close  to  the 
point  of  this  tongue  is  a  small  and  picturesque  island.  Here 
the  harbour  expands  or  rather  doubles  round  the  tongue  of 
land,  and  forms  a  beautiful  bay  or  basin,  in  which  a  large 
fleet  might  ride  at  anchor  undisturbed  by  any  wind.  And 
from  hence,  looking  directly  across  the  bay,  is  first  seen  the 
point  upon  which  the  settlement  is  now  forming,  lying  half  a 
mile  due  W.  from  the  island. 

There  are  besides,  three  smaller  bays  from  the  main  sheet 
of  water,  which  afford  excellent  anchorage. 

The  settlement  is  prettily  stationed  on  the  sloping  side  of  a 
point,  which  is  the  southern  boundary  of  the  inlet,  and  stands 
out  into  the  large  bay.    The  buildings  front  to  the  N.    There 


404  THE  CLYDE  DISTRICT. 

are  already  up,  a  military  barrack,  with  a  neat  cottage  for  the 
officers,  a  store  and  substantial  huts  for  the  prisoners,  and  all 
the  necessary  buildings  are  in  progress. 

The  country  around  presents  one  unvaried  prospect  of 
thickly  timbered  hills,  they  are  scrubby  and  stony.  The  soil, 
though  not  bad,  yet  is  so  stony  that  it  would  never  repay  the 
trouble  of  clearing  for  the  purpose  of  cultivation.  There  are 
a  few  patches  of  clear  swampy  ground.  The  scrub  in  many 
places  renders  the  country  impassable,  and  in  all  parts  ex- 
tremely difficult  to  travel  over. 

The  timber,  which  is  the  matter  of  first  consideration,  as 
relates  to  the  new  settlement,  is  of  fine  quality,  particularly 
on  that  range  of  hills  already  mentioned,  running  both  N.  and 
S.  It  principally  consists  of  stringy  bark  and  gum  trees, 
growing  to  a  very  large  size,  both  on  the  sides  of  the  hills  and 
in  the  valleys.  But  in  addition  to  these,  the  banks  of  the 
streams  which  run  along  the  vales  are  thickly  planted  with 
other  trees  of  a  most  useful  description. 

There  is  no  part  of  the  colony  which  can  affiard  a  greater 
variety  or  quantity  of  excellent  fish  than  Port  Arthur.  The 
delicious  trumpeter  is  in  plenty,  salmon,  perch,  skate,  and 
sting-ray,  (the  two  last  may  be  easily  speared  or  harpooned 
on  the  flats) ;  rock-cod,  flat-heads,  and  cray-fish  are  all  in 
abundance.  Besides  the  numerous  streams  which  flow  into 
the  port  abound  with  the  small  but  delicate  mountain  trout 
and  fresh  water  lobster. 

4.  The  Clyde  District — containing  from  1500  to  1700 
square  miles,  or  upwards  of  one  million  acres,  like  the  other 
districts  of  the  colony,  consists  of  a  continued  succession  of 
hill  and  dale,  but  being  situated  in  a  more  central  part  of  the 
island  stands  on  proportionally  higher  ground.  It  is  well 
watered  by  the  rivers  Dee,  Ouse,  Shannon,  Clyde  and  Jordan. 
Round  the  township  of  Bothwell  is  a  large  tract  of  level 
ground,  extending  several  miles  each  way,  but  lower  down  on 
the  Clyde  the  country  again  becomes  hilly,  though  in  general 
overspread  with  rich  pasturage. 

The  land,  granted  to  settlers    in  this  district  did  not  in 


i 


CULTIVATION,  PRODUCE,  &C.  405 

1830,  exceed  one-tenth  of  its  whole  extent,  amounting  alto- 
gether to  1 15,000  acres  ;  of  this  quantity  not  more  than  2600 
had  then  been  brought  under  the  plough,  the  remainder  being 
occupied  as  pasturage  for  the  large  numbers  of  sheep  and 
cattle  that  belong  to  the  district. 

The  average  return  from  wheat  sown  during  1830  in  this 
district  was  16  bushels  per  acre,  of  barley  and  oats  17  bushels, 
of  peas  20  bushels,  of  potatoes  2  tons  and  a  half,  of  turnips 
8  tons  per  acre:  the  value  was — 21,440  bushels  wheat (1340 
acres)  at  6*.  6d.,  69681. ;  5440  ditto  barley  (320  a.)  at  4*., 
1083/, ;  1530  ditto  oats  (90  a.)  at  4*.  306/. ;  2200  ditto  peas 
(1100  a.)  at  8*.  880/. ;  225  tons  potatoes  (90  a.)  at  60*.  675/. ; 
1700  ditto  turnips  (250  a.)  at  30*.  2550/.  ;  400  acres  English 
grass,  at  8/.  3200/.— total  produce  15,667/. 

Value  of  live  stock  in  the  district : — 230  horses,  at  30/. 
each,  6900/,;  11,000  cattle,  at  20*.  each,  11,000/.;  82,000 
sheep,  at  5s.  each,  20,500/, ;  600  goats,  at  1*.  each  30/.; — 
Total  38,430/. 

The  total  average  valueof  land  was  10*.  per  acre  on  the  whole 
extent  of  granted  land  of  115,000  acres.  The  total  value  of 
agricultural  property  in  the  district,  appears  to  be,  land 
58,000/.;  live  stock,  38,400/.;  annual  produce,  15,067/,-- 
total,  112,597/. 

There  are  two  excellent  flour  mills  on  the  Clyde,  at  Both- 
well,  belonging  to  Mr.  Axford  and  Mr.  Nicholas.  About 
five  tons  of  excellent  fresh  water  eels  are  annually  caught  in 
the  Clyde,  and  sold  to  advantage  in  Hobart-town. 

A  large  part  of  this  extensive  district  being  occupied  in 
grazing  farms,  it  naturally  follows  that  its  population  is 
proportionably  small.  At  the  commencement  of  the  year, 
1831,  the  total  number  of  inhabitants  which  it  contained, 
amounted  to  760,  of  whom  360  were  free  persons,  and  the 
remaining  400  convicts,  in  the  following  proportions,  viz. — 
male  adults,  free,  195 ;  female  ditto,  ditto,  65  ;  males,  under 
age  ditto,  50 ;  female  ditto,  ditto,  50 ;  male  convicts,  350 ; 
female  ditto,  50; — total  760. 

The  township  of  Bothwell,  the  only  one  in  the  district,  is 


406  BOTHWELL  TOWNSHIP, 

situated  in  the  centre  of  a  level  country,  on  the  E.  bank  of  the 
Clyde.  It  is  a  thriving  little  township,  possessing  already  a 
clergyman  (the  Rev.  Mr.  Garrett)  an  excellent  inn,  and  many 
cottages  and  workshops  of  mechanics  and  others,  and  a  very 
neat  and  commodious  church  has  just  been  finished.  The 
town  of  Bothwell  has  the  advantage  of  a  resident  clergyman 
of  the  church  of  Scotland,  of  which  persuasion  a  large  pro- 
portion of  the  inhabitants  consists. 

5.  Oatlands,  is  a  small  district,*  compared  with  some  of  the 
others  in  the  colony,  forming  nearly  a  square  of  30  miles  each 
side ;  that  is,  containing  900  square  miles,  or  about  576,000 
acres ;  but  it  is  one  of  the  first  in  importance,  from  its  central 
position  in  the  island,  possessing  a  great  extent  of  fine  open 
upland  downs,  which  afford  excellent  pasture  for  stock,  with 
the  high  road  from  Hobart-town  to  Launceston,  passing 
throught  the  centre. 

By  the  last  official  statements,  the  returns  from  wheat  sown 
in  this  district  averaged  20  bushels  an  acre,  barley  22  bushels, 
oats  25  bushels,  potatoes  3  tons,  and  turnips  6  tons  per 
acre.  The  total  agricultural  produce  of  the  district  appears 
to  be  as  follows,  viz. — 

30,000  bushels  of  wheat  (1500  a.)  at  Qs,  M.  97501. ;  5500 
ditto  barley  (250  a.)  at  4*.  1100/.;  3500  ditto  oats  (140  a.) 
at  4*.  700/.;  600  ditto  peas  (30  a.)  at  8*.  240/.;  210  tons 
potatoes  (60  a.)  at  60*.  630/. ;  630  ditto  turnips  (100  a.)  at 
30*.  900/.;  150  acres  Enghsh  grass,  at  10/.  1500/.— total 
produce  14,820/. 

The  live  stock  at  present  in  Oatlands  district,  consists  of 
250  horses,  at  30/.  each,  7.500/. ;  10,000  cattle,  at  20*.  each, 
10,000/.;  90,000  sheep,  at  5s.  each,  22,500/.;  240  goats,  at 
1*.  each,  12/. ; — total  value  of  live  stock,  40,012/. 

*  Henry  Walter  Parker,  Esq.,  a  barrister  of  Gray's  Inn,  who  has  written 
a  small,  but  valuable  work  on  Van  Diemen's  Land,  compiled  chiefly,  as 
regards  the  topography,  from  Dr.  Ross's  almanac  (to  which  I  am  also  much 
indebted),  thinks  the  surveyors  have  made  a  mistake  in  the  area  of  this  dis- 
trict. Mr.  Parker  has  conferred  a  benefit  on  the  island  by  having  brought 
into  relief  its  beauties  and  advantages  in  a  very  interesting  manner. 


OATLANDS  DISTRICT.  407 

The  total  quantity  of  agricultural  property  in  the  year 
1830  was,  land,  60,000/. ;  live  stock,  22,500/. ;  annual  pro- 
duce, 14,820 ;— total  97,320/. 

The  principal  rivers  are  the  Jordan,  Clyde,  Shannon,  and 
Blackman ;  the  lakes  are  numerous,  several  being  many  miles 
in  extent 

Excellent  free  stone,  as  in  most  other  parts  of  the  island, 
abounds  in  this  district.  A  very  useful  kind  of  whetstone,  for 
setting  razors  and  other  fine  tools,  has  been  found  in  Dysart 
parish.  The  coal  discovered  on  the  borders  of  the  Wallaby 
creek  in  Jerusalem,  though  of  excellent  quality  is  in  too  remote 
a  situation  to  make  it  as  yet  worth  the  attention  of  any  one  to 
work  it.  As  however  the  descent  is  easy  to  the  Coal  river 
bridge  at  Richmond,  where  the  river  becomes  navigable,  and 
as  the  consumption  of  firewood  in  Hobart-town  increases,  and 
becomes  more  difficult  and  expensive  to  be  procured,  it  is  not 
improbable  that  at  no  distant  period,  unless  a  coal  mine  be 
opened  in  the  vicinity  of  the  town,  that  a  rail  road  may  be 
constructed  from  this  very  easily  worked  and  accessible  mine 
to  Richmond,  where  it  would  be  taken  up  in  boats  to  Hobart- 
town. 

Salt  is  collected  on  the  Salt  Pan  Plains  from  three  of  the 
salt  lakes,  or  natural  pans,  situated  in  the  division  of  Methvin, 
in  this  district.  It  is  sold  to  the  settlers  round  at  10*.  a  hun- 
dred weight,  though  not  equal  to  English  salt.  A  very  good 
kiln  for  burning  lime  has  been  constructed  in  Gibbs'  parish, 
which  is  retailed  to  the  neighbours  at  1*.  per  bushel. 

The  total  population  of  Oatlands  district  in  1830  amounted 
to  930,  of  whom  450  were  free  persons,  and  the  remaining  480 
convicts,  in  the  following  proportions,  viz. — Male  adults,  free, 
230 ;  female  ditto,  ditto,  80 ;  males,  under  age,  ditto,  70 ; 
female  ditto,  70 ;  male  convicts,  460  ;  female  ditto,  20 ; — 
total  930. 

A  commodious  little  church  has   lately   been  erected  at 
Green  Ponds,  where  there  is  already  a  thriving  and  populous 
village. 
<    6.   Oyster  Bay  district  contains  an    area  similar  in  extent 


408  OYSTER  BAY  DISTRICT. 

to  that  of  Oatlands,  about  900  square  miles,  or  576,000  acres. 
It  includes  all  the  settlement  of  Great  Swan  Port,  as  far  as 
Prosser's  River,  on  the  eastern  coast  of  the  island.  A  lofty 
chain  of  hills  runs  along  from  north  to  south,  on  the  western 
or  interior  side  of  the  district,  separating  it  from  the  Oat- 
lands and  Campbell-town  districts.  The  comparatively  low 
and  level  tract  between  this  chain  and  the  coast,  is  watered 
with  streams  which  take  their  rise  in  these  hills.  Here  the 
land  spreads  out  in  many  parts  into  fine  undulating  downs  of 
rich  pasturage,  especially  in  the  direction  of  Great  Swan 
Port.  Oyster  Bay  itself  affords  good  and  safe  anchorage 
along  the  west  or  inner  coast  of  the  Schoutens  Island,  but  is 
too  shallow  higher  up  to  admit  large  vessels,  except  along  the 
shore  of  Freycinet's  Peninsula,  where  ships  loading  for  Eng- 
land may  safely  lie  at  anchor,  and  take  on  board  oil,  wool, 
and  bark,  collected  in  that  part  of  the  district. 

The  military  station  at  Waterloo  Point  is  situated  on  the 
north-west  corner  of  the  bay,  upon  a  projecting  point  of  land, 
where  the  Police  Magistrate  of  the  district  resides.  There  is 
also  a  military  post  at  Spring  Bay,  at  the  southern  extremity 
of  the  district.  This  beautiful  bay  affords  one  of  the  finest 
harbours  in  the  island,  having  seven  fathoms  water  all  along 
up  the  entrance.  The  Schoutens  Island  presents  a  singular 
appearance  to  the  spectator  on  the  opposite  side  of  the  bay, 
from  the  lofty  points  of  the  hills  standing  up  like  needles. 
Oyster  Bay  is  a  general  resort  of  whales  in  the  season,  but 
the  inlets  both  of  Great  Swan  Port  and  Little  Swan  Port,  are 
mere  sheets  of  shallow  water,  navigable  only  for  boats  or  flat 
bottomed  vessels.  Numerous  seals  still  frequent  the  White 
Rock  in  the  centre  of  the  bay. 

The  quantity  of  land  located  in  1830  was  36,000  acres, 
of  which  number  twelve  hundred  had  been  cleared  and 
reduced  to  a  rich  productive  state.  The  crops  occupying 
this  extent  were  in  the  following  proportions,  viz  : — 12,000 
bushels  of  wheat  (600  a.)  at  6s.  6d.  39001.  ;  1760  ditto  barley 
(80  a.)  at  4*.  352L;  120  ditto  oats,  at  4*.  24/.;  100  ditto 
peas,  at  8*.  40/. ;    210  tons  potatoes,  (60  a.)  at  60*.   630/.J 


CAMPBELL    TOWN  DISTRICT.  409 

840  tons  turnips  (140  a.)  at  30*.  1260/. ;  310  acres  English 
grasses,  at  10/.  3100/. — total  produce  9306/. 

Live  stock,  25  horses  at  30/.  750/. ;  2500  cattle,  at  20s. 
25001. ;  17,000  sheep  at  5s.  4250/. ;— total  value  7500/. 

Total  value  of  agricultural  property:  land  18,000/.;  live 
stock  7500/. ;  annual  produce  9306/. ;  total  34,806/. 

The  inhabitants  of  this  fine  district  are  as  yet  but  few  com- 
pared with  the  population  of  the  other  divisions  of  the  island. 
The  number  of  free  persons  at  the  beginning  of  1830  did  not 
exceed  150,  and  of  convicts  170,  in  all  320  souls,  in  the  fol- 
lowing proportions,  viz. : — male  adults,  free,  80 ;  female  ditto, 
ditto,  30  ;  males,  under  age,  20  ;  female  ditto,  20 ;  male  con- 
victs, 165;  female  ditto,  5;  total  320. 

In  this  district  the  whale  fishery,  and  the  reduction  of  the 
blubber  into  exportable  oil  are  carried  on  extensively. 

7.  Campbell-town  District  is  almost  wholly  an  inland  di- 
vision, having  but  a  very  small  frontage  on  the  coast.  It  con- 
tains an  area  of  about  1260  square  miles,  or  850,000  acres. 
Nature  has  divided  this  fine  tract  of  country  into  a  number 
of  beautiful  valleys,  each  watered  by  fine  streams  of  water, 
flowing  for  the  most  part  to  the  north-west. 

Beginning  on  the  west  side  of  the  district  is  the  Lake 
River,  after  which  are  the  Isis,  the  Black-man's  River,  the 
Macquarie  (formerly  called  the  Relief),  the  Elizabeth,  the 
South  Esk,  the  St.  Paul's,  and  the  Break-o'day  Rivers. 

At  Campbell-town,  on  the  Elizabeth  River,  is  the  court- 
house, and  residence  of  the  Police  Magistrate ;  and  Ross  is 
the  station  of  a  Commissariat  officer,  and  a  party  of  military. 

Nearly  one-third  of  this  valuable  district  has  already  been 
occupied  by  settlers ;  260,000  acres  being  granted  and 
allotted  off  in  1830;  of  this  extent  6800  acres  had  been 
cleared  and  brought  under  the  plough. 

The  extent  of  land  in  a  high  state  of  cultivation,  and 
laid  down  in  English  grasses,  is  a  striking  feature  in  this 
district;  one  gentleman  alone  possessing  600  acres  of  rich 
pasturage  from  English  grasses. 

The  returns  of  the  wheat  sown,  averaged  by  last  accounts 


410  CULTIVATION  OF   CAMPBELL  TOWN  DISTRICT. 

20  bushels.*  The  land  in  this  quarter  appears  to  be  singu- 
larly favourable  to  the  growth  of  barley,  the  average  returns 
being  40  bushels  per  acre ;  of  oats  28  bushels  ;  peas  and 
and  beans  1 1  bushels ;  potatoes  2^  tons ;  turnips  6  tons  per 
acre.  The  value  of  English  grasses  may  be  fairly  estimated 
at  71.  per  acre.  These  data  furnish  vis  with  the  means  of  as- 
certaining the  total  value  of  agricultural  produce  throughout 
this  valuable  district,  viz: — 62,000  bushels  of  wheat  (3100  a.) 
at  6s.  per  bushel,  18,600/. ;  18,000  ditto  barley  (450  a.)  at  4*. 
per  ditto,  3600/. ;  8400  ditto  oats  (300  a.)  at  4*.  per  ditto, 
1680/. ;  340  ditto  peas,  (30  a.)  at  8^.  ditto,  136/. ;  300  tons 
potatoes  (120  a.)  at  60.9.  per  ton,  900/. ;  1920  ditto  turnips 
(320  a.)  at  30*.  per  ditto,  2880/.;  1480  acres  Enghsh  grasses, 
at  71.  per  acre,  10,360/. ;  total  produce  38,156/. 

The  number  of  live  stock  in  Campbell-town  district  main- 
tains its  relative  proportion  to  the  great  value  of  annual  pro- 
duce : — 450  horses,  at  30/.  each,  13,500/. ;  13,500  cattle,  at 
25*.  ditto,  16,875 ;  180,000  sheep,  at  6s.  ditto,  51',000/. ; 
total  value  of  live  stock,  84,375/. 

Many  of  the  farms  in  this  quarter  are  in  a  high  state  of 
cultivation,  possessing  fine  buildings,  and  extensive  lines  of 
substantial  fencing.  Total  value  of  agricultural  property : — 
land  130,000/. ;  live  stock,  84,375/.;  annual  produce,  38,156/.; 
total  252,531/. 

Campbell-town  is  solely  an  agricultural  district,  the  only 
establishments  of  a  manufacturing  character  being  those  essen- 
tial to  the  existence  of  the  inhabitants  themselves,  namely, 
three  flour  mills.  Of  the  whole  population,  however,  of 
12')0  souls,  120  are  employed  as  shoemakers,  blacksmiths, 
sawyers,  and  carpenters.     The  thinness  of  the  population, 

*  Few  samples  of  wheat  in  Van  Diemen's  Land  yield  less  than  from  62 
to  64  lbs.  per  bushel,  the  averag'e  standard  of  601bs.  at  which  it  is  pur- 
chased by  the  Government  being  invariably  found  in  favour  of  the  grower, 
and  when  it  comes  to  the  meal  tub,  although  it  does  not  absorb  so  much 
water  as  the  American  flour,  yet  it  is  found  to  be  rather  above  the  best 
wheat  of  English  growth  in  the  comparative  quantity  of  bread  produced 
from  the  same  quantity  of  flour. 


NORFOLK  PLAINS  DISTRICT.  411 

compared  to  the  extent  and  importance  of  this  district,  points 
out  the  comparative  wealth  and  respectability  of  its  inha- 
bitants. There  are  650  free  persons,  and  550  convicts,  in 
the  following  proportions,  viz.  : — male  adults,  free,  290 ;  fe- 
male ditto,  ditto,  180;  males  under  age,  ditto,  90;  female 
ditto,  ditto,  90;  male  convicts,  510;  female  ditto,  40;  total 
1200. 

A  few  years  ago,  the  settlers  about  the  Macquarie  River, 
a  large  proportion  of  whom  belong  to  the  Presbyterian 
church,  wrote  to  Edinburgh,  stating  the  prospects  that 
would  await  a  respectable  clergyman  of  that  church  were  he 
to  emigrate  in  order  to  settle  in  their  neighbourhood.  His 
dependence  was  chiefly  to  be  on  the  voluntary  subscriptions 
of  the  parishioners,  and  a  stipend  from  the  Government.  A 
clergyman  consequently  proceeded  thither,  and  a  manse  has 
lately  been  built  for  him. 

8.  Norfolk  Plains  district  contains  an  area  of  2250  square 
miles,  or  about  a  million  and  a  half  of  acres,  but  not  above 
one-fourth  of  this  large  extent  may  be  said  to  belong 
to  the  district;  and  a  very  large  portion  of  it  is  rugged, 
mountainous,  and  bad  land.  It  is  watered  by  the  Mersey  and 
Rubicon,  which  fall  into  Bass's  Strait;  by  the  Western  River 
and  Liffy  (formerly  the  Penny  Royal  Creek)  which  flow  into 
the  South  Esk,  and  by  Brumby's  Creek  falling  into  the  Lake 
River. 

In  addition  to  the  rivers  and  lakes  mentioned  as  forming 
the  boundaries  of  Norfolk  Plains  or  district,  there  are  the 
Mersey,  Philip's,*  Moleside,  Meander,  or  Quamby's,  or  West- 
ern, Monow,  and  Dasher  rivers.  Pennyroyal  Creek,  and  Don 
River,  Great  Lake,  Lake  Arthur,  and  Western  Lagoon,  be- 
sides two  extensive  lagoons  between  Port  Sorell  and  Port 
Frederic,  and  half  a  dozen  lagoons  at  Norfolk  Plains,  near 
Perth.     The  Mersey  rises   in  the  Western  Mountains,  and 

*  The  Forth,  Philip's,  and  Meander  Rivers,  have  several  beautiful  cas- 
cades and  cataracts,  falling  from  500  to  200  feet  in  perpendicular  height. 
The  water  at  Philip's  cataract  is  petrific,  and  there  are  large  trees  in  the 
neigh!)Oiirhood  petrescent. 


412  PITS  AND  DELTA  OF  THE  MERSEY  RIVER. 

falls  into  Port  Frederic,  where  there  is  a  commodious  har- 
bour, affording  a  safe  resort  for  shipping.  The  Moleside 
springs  from  the  same  range  of  mountains,  and  debouches  in 
the  Mersey.  The  country  between  these  two  i-ivers  appears 
to  be  undermined  by  numerous  subterranean  streams,  which 
flow  in  different  directions,  at  various  depths  below  the  sur- 
face. The  superincumbent  soil,  deprived  of  its  foundation 
by  the  action  of  the  water  of  these  streams,  has  given  way  in 
many  parts,  forming  pits  or  basins  of  various  depths,  from  20 
to  200  feet,  shaped  like  funnels,  broad  at  the  top,  and  be- 
coming gradually  less,  usually  terminating,  if  the  pit  be  deep, 
in  a  small  circular  pond.  It  is  supposed  that  when  the  pits 
are  only  a  yard  or  so  in  diameter  and  depth  (of  which  there 
are  many),  that  the  substrata  have  only  begun  to  give  way, 
and  that  the  pits  will  increase  both  in  diameter  and  depth  as 
the  action  of  the  water  further  undermines  the  ground.  Two 
or  three  of  the  party  who  accompanied  the  Lieutenant  Go- 
vernor on  an  excursion  to  the  western  districts  of  the  island, 
descended  one  of  the  deepest  of  these  pits,  and  endeavoured 
to  fathom  the  small  circular  pond  of  water  at  the  bottom,  but 
did  not  succeed  in  ascertaining  its  depth.  At  the  bottom  of 
another  pit  there  was  found  a  cavern  extending  right  and 
left ;  on  entering  it  they  discovered  a  large  body  of  water 
rushing  from  a  height  and  flowing  away,  as  it  were,  beneath 
their  feet.  The  country  between  the  Moleside  and  the  Mer- 
sey has  a  substratum  of  limestone,  which  frequently  rises 
above  the  surface.  The  Monow  and  Dasher  are  small  rivers 
flowing  into  the  Mersey.  The  land  in  the  neighbourhood  of 
the  Forth  is  not  much  known,  but  as  far  as  investigation  has 
been  carried,  it  does  not  appear  to  be  of  very  good  quality. 
The  Rubicon  is  a  small  river,  flowing  into  Port  Sorell,  a  har- 
bour into  which  only  vessels  of  small  draught  can  enter. 

Great  Lake,  about  90  miles  N.W.  of  Hobart  Town,  and 
80  feet  above  the  level  of  the  sea,  is  situated  within  the  limits 
of  this  district.  The  country  in  the  neighbourhood  is  alter- 
nate marsh  and  hill,  well,  but  not  superabundantly,  wooded, 
and  adapted  for  sheep  and  cattle  runs.     The  lake  itself  is 


GREAT  LAKE  AND  ISLAND.  413 

about  20  miles  long,  and  10  broad,  with  deep  bays  and  in- 
dents, and  having  many  promontories  and  peninsulas  extend- 
ing into  it.  This  formation  of  course  makes  a  greater  extent 
of  shore  than  if  the  coast  were  even,  and  adds  greatly  to  the 
beauty  of  the  scenery,  which  has  been  assimilated  to  the  en- 
trance to  the  river  Derwent.  In  the  lake  are  five  islands 
covered  with  a  species  of  cedar  (the  foliage  resembling  the 
Huon  pine)  and  numerous  beautiful  shrubs.  From  the  im- 
mense expanse  of  water,  the  reader  perhaps  will  imagine  that 
the  depth  is  proportionate  to  the  extent  of  surface,  but  in  this 
he  will  be  mistaken,  for  its  greatest  depth  does  not  usually 
exceed  three  fathoms,*  and  frequently  a  yard  measure  would 
reach  the  bottom.  It  discharges  its  waters  by  the  Shannon, 
which  uniting  with  the  Clyde,  fall  into  the  Derwent. 

The  mountains  are  numerous,  and  form  a  bold  feature  in 
the  district.  The  western  range  (3,500  feet  in  height,  and 
covered  with  snow  many  months  in  the  year)  runs  E.  and  W. 
through  the  centre  ;  it  consists  chiefly  of  basaltic  rocks,  pre- 
senting, at  a  distance  often  miles,  the  appearance  of  a  stupen- 
dous wall ;  and  clothed  about  three-fourths  of  its  altitude  by 
trees  of  the  most  stately  description,  while  the  smnmit  is 
naked  and  sterile.  Near  this  range  there  is  a  remarkable  de- 
tached round  mountain,  called  Quamby's  Bluff;  it  appears  as 
if  a  tremendous  convulsion  of  nature  had  at  some  remote 
period  thrown  it  off  from  the  parent  chain  of  mountains,  leav- 
ing a  chasm  or  gap  of  about  three  miles  intervening.  Two 
other  ranges  of  mountains  run  directly  S.  and  N.,  the  one 
joining  the  western  mountains  at  the  western  extremity,  and 
the  other  at  the  eastern.  There  are  also  two  remarkable 
mountains  between  the  western  mountains  and  the  sea,  called 
Gog  and  Magog. 

Land  to  the  extent  of  12,000  acres  have  been  allotted  to 
settlers  in  this  district,  of  which  5,500  have  been  reduced  to 
cultivation. 

According  to  the  last  official  returns,  the  wheat  yielded  an 

*  The  waters  of  the  lake  are  high  and  low,  according  to  the  state  of  the 
weather. 


414  PRODUCE  OF  NORFOLK  PLAINS. 

average  of  18  bushels  per  acre,  barley  32  bushels,  oats  S3 
bushels,  peas  30  bushels,  potatoes  6  tons,  and  turnips  6  tons 
per  acre.  The  annual  produce  of  this  district  then  appears 
to  be  as  follows : — 

73,800  bushels  wheat  (4,100  acres)  at  6s.  6d.  per  bushel, 
23,985^;  9,160  do.  barley  (280  a.)  at  4*.  do.  1792/;  9,900  do. 
oats  (300  a.)  at  4*.  do.  1,980/ ;  1,050  do.  peas  {35  a.)  at  8*.  do. 
420/;  480  tons  potatoes  (80  a.)  at  60*.  per  ton,  1440/;  720 
do.  turnips  (120  a.)  at  oO^.^do.  1,080 ;  585  acres  of  Enghsh 
grasses  at  10/.  5,850/.     Total  produce  36,547/. 

Live  Stock.  400  horses  at  30/.  12,000/;  23,000  cattle  at 
25*.  28,750/;  75,000  sheep  at  6*.  22,500/.  Total  value  of 
live  stock,  63,250/. 

The  average  of  the  land  in  this  district  cannot  be  reckoned 
worth  more  than  10*.  an  acre,  or  62,500/.  on  the  whole 
125,000  acres  granted.  We  arrive  then  at  the  total  result  as 
follows: — Land,  62,500/;  live  stock,  63,250/;  annual  pro- 
duce, 36,547/.     Total  162,297/. 

The  population  in  1830  of  Norfolk  Plains  consisted  of 
580  free  persons,  and  420  convicts,  in  the  following  pro- 
portions viz  : — Male  adults  free,  290 ;  female  do.  80  ;  males 
under  age  do.  105;  females  do.  do.  105;  male  convicts,  400; 
female  do.  20;  total  1,000. 

Westbury,*  the  township  of  this  district,  is  situated  on  a 
small  stream,  called  Quamby's  Brook,  which  falls  into  Quam- 
by's.  Western,  or  Meander  river,  and  is  on  the  line  of  road 
from  Launceston  to  Circular  Head ;  it  has  not,  however,  yet 
attained  a  point  sufficiently  high  to  be  designated  even  by  the 
name  of  village. 

Latour,  now  called  Longford,  is  situate  at  Norfolk  Plains, 
and  consists  of  about  30  small  houses,  occupied  chiefly 
by  mechanics. 

9.     Launceston  district,  comprising  the  N.E.  corner  of  the 

*  The  natural  grasses  growing  in  the  neighbourliood  of  Westbury,  on 
Norfolk  Plains,  are  of  such  a  very  succulent  and  nutritive  kind,  that  cows 
fed  upon  them  give  milk  of  so  rich  a  quality,  that  the  cream  produced  may 
be  cut  with  a  knife. — Account  of  one  of  t lie  Governor's  E.vcursions. 


LAUNCESTON   DISTRICT.  415 

island,  contains  3,800  square  miles,  or  2,352,000  acres.  The 
rivers,  besides  those  forming  its  boundaries,  are  Currie's, 
Piper's,  Ringarooma,  George's,  and  North  Esk,  besides  many 
others  falling  into  the  Tamar  and  the  sea.  The  Tamar,  pro- 
perly speaking,  is  not  a  river,  but  an  arm  of  the  sea.  It  is 
nearly  50  miles  in  length,  and  is  navigable  for  ships  of  large 
burden,  to  Launceston,  which  stands  at  its  extreme  inland 
point.  The  mountains  are  the  Asbestos  Hills,  a  range  be- 
tween the  Rubicon  and  Tamar,  running  N.  and  S.,  and  a  tier 
from  which  Benlomond  rises,  extending  from  the  source  of 
Piper's  River  to  Tasman  Peak,  in  Campbell  Town  district ; 
their  direction  is,  therefore  nearly  parallel  with  the  Tamar. 
Benlomond  is  about  4,200  feet  above  the  level  of  the  sea,  and 
is  visible  many  miles  distant.  The  scenery  in  its  vicinity  is 
extremely  grand  and  romantic. 

Mr.  Parker  truly  states  that  the  mountains  seldom  assimi- 
late in  character ;  they  are  almost  as  various  as  numerous : 
here  rising  gradually  to  the  summit,  there  springing,  as  it 
were,  perpendicularly*  from  the  surface  :  here  of  a  conical 
shape,  there  round;  some  with  dark  brows,  others  snow- 
capped ;  such  are  the  mountains  of  this  southern  Switzerland. 

The  greater  part  of  this  extensive  district  may  be  said  to 
be  uncultivable  land,  as  much  of  it  is  almost  inaccessible 
mountain  and  hungry  sand:  the  flats  on  the  banks  of  the 
North  and  South  Esk  and  Break-o'-Day  Rivers,  and  the  land 
in  the  vicinity  of  Launceston,  is  however  of  a  rich  and  fertile 
quahty,  yielding  good  average  crops  of  corn. 

The  whole  extent  of  land  in  this  extensive  tract  granted 
to  settlers  in  1830,  amounted  to  no  more  than  63,000  acres, 
of  which  7,000  were  reduced  to  cultivation  occupied  with 
crops. 

The  banks  of  the  Tamar  and  the  valley  of  the  South  Esk 
is  of  so  rich  and  fertile  a  quality,  that  the  average  return  may 
be  safely  taken,  for  wheat  at  20  bushels  per  acre,  barley  and 
oats,  30  ditto,  peas  and  beans  20  bushels,  potatoes,  3^,  and 
turnips  six  tons  per  acre,  yielding  produce  as  follows : — 

•  Basaltic. 


416         STOCK  AND  PRODUCE  OF  LAUNCESTON. 

80,000  bushels  of  wheat,  (400  a.)  at  6s.  per  bushel,  24,000/  ; 
9,000,  do.  barley  (300  a.)  at  4*.  per  do.  1,800/;  30,000  do. 
oats,  (1,000  a.)  at  4^.  per  do.  6,000/;  500  do.  peas  {25  a.)  at 
8*.  per  do.  2001:  100  do.  beans  (5  a.)  at  8*.  per  do.  40/;  1220 
tons  potatoes,  (320  a.)  at  60*.  per  ton,  3,360/ ;  450  do.  turnips 
(75  a.)  at  30*.  per  ton,  675/;  1275  acres  English  grasses  at 
10/.  12,750/;   total  produce,  48,825/. 

Live  Stock.*  380  horses  at  30/.  each,  11,400/;  30,000 
cattle  at  25*.  each,  37,500/;  65,000  sheep  at  6s.  each,  19,500/. 
Total  value  of  live  stock,  68,400/. 

The  average  value  of  the  vrhole  land  granted  in  the  district 
may  be  taken  at  15*.  an  acre,  which  gives  upon  the  whole 
85,000  acres  granted,  a  total  of  63,750/,  The  whole  value 
then  of  agricultural  property  in  th^  district  appears  to  be  as 
follows,  viz: — Land,  63,750/;  live  stock,  68,400/;  annual 
produce,  48,825/.     Total,  180,975/. 

The  total  population  of  the  district  of  Launceston  (January 
1831),  as  derived  from  the  most  authentic  sources  amounted 
to  2,500  souls,  of  whom  1,670  are  free  persons,  and  830  con- 
victs, in  the  following  proportions,  viz : — Male  adults  free, 
800 ;  female  do.  270 ;  males  under  age  do.  300 ;  females  do. 
do.  300  ;  male  convicts,  680 ;  female  do.  150.     Total  2,500. 

The  first  cattle  imported  in  1807,  were  a  coarse  sort  of 
buffalo  animal,  sold  by  the  Government  to  the  settlers,  at  a 
long  credit.  The  stock  thus  once  laid,  afterwards  improved 
with  the  growth  of  the  colony  ;  and  about  eight  or  nine  years 
ago,  the  importation  of  superior  bred  animals  from  England 
began  to  be  an  object  of  attention  with  certain  emigrants  who 
were  embarking  hither,  so  that,  by  degrees,  the  old  original 
breed  has  now  become  almost  lost.  There  have  been  pure 
Devons,  Herefords,  Durhams,  Holdernesses,  Fifeshires,  and 
others  of  the  most  admired  breeds  among  the  English  farmers, 
imported  in  considerable  numbers.  Large  importations  of 
their  best  and  improved  crosses  had  for  some  years  pre- 
viously, from  time  to  time,  been  made  from  New  South  Wales ; 

*  The  agricultural  stock  of  the  colony  is  excellent  and  yearly  improving. 


PERTH,  GEORGE  TOWN,  AND  FALMOUTH.        417 

SO  that  many  individuals  had  been  possessed  of  herds,  very 
different  to  the  original  stock,  even  before  these  English  im- 
portations reached  us.  At  present,  either  for  the  yoke  or 
the  pail,  for  docility  or  for  hardiness,  the  improved  breed  of 
cattle,  which  is  rapidly  taking  place  of  all  others,  cannot  be 
surpassed,  either  in  England  or  in  any  other  part  of  the  world. 

The  original  horses  of  the  island  had  a  strong  cross  of  the 
Arab,  and  were  imported  from  the  sister  colony.  In  the  same 
manner  as  with  neat  cattle,  they  have  since  had  the  benefit  of 
very  superior  crosses  of  English  importations. 

Perth,  109  miles  from  Hobart  Town,  and  12  from  Laun- 
ceston,  is  a  beautiful  village,  pleasantly  situated  on  the  banks 
of  the  South  Esk,*  which  is  crossed  in  a  Government  punt. 
The  public  buildings  are  a  gaol  and  quarters  for  an  officer 
and  a  detachment  of  soldiers  ;  the  private  buildings  chiefly 
consist  of  cottages  for  mechanics  and  labourers. 

George  Town,  32  miles  N.  of  Launceston,  and  152  miles 
from  Hobart  Town,  is  situated  on  the  eastern  bank  of  the 
Tamar,  and  within  four  miles  of  its  opening  to  Bass's  Straits. 

A  new  township,  to  be  called  Falmouth,  has  been  recently 
marked  out ;  it  is  situated  at  the  head  of  George's  Bay,  a  safe 
and  convenient  harbour  on  the  eastern  coast  for  vessels  not 
drawing  more  than  15  feet,  that  being  the  depth  over  the  bar 
at  high  water ;  but  at  ebb  tide  there  is  only  nine  feet.  The 
land  in  the  neighbourhood  is  reported  to  be  very  favourable 
for  the  finest  woolled  sheep. 

There  is  a  large  extent  of  unlocated  territory  to  the  west- 
ward of  the  Hobart  Town  district,  through  which  the  Huon 
river  flows,  and  which  is  now  being  explored. 

The  Van  Diemen's  Land  Company  district,  embracing  Cir- 
cular Head  (a  narrow  peninsula  5|  miles  long,  situate  on  the 
N.  coast  of  the  island,  20,000  acres),  Woolnorth  (on  the  ex- 
treme N.W.  corner  of  the  island,  110,000  acres),  and  the 
Surry  and  Hampshire  Hills  (containing  200,000  acres)  require 

*  The  township  is  built  on  both  sides  of  the  river,  and  therefore  it  is 
partly  in  Launceston,  and  partly  in  Campbell  Town  districts. 

VOL.  IV.  E  E 


418      MACQUARIE  HARBOUR — VAN  DIEMEN's  LAND  COMPANY, 

no  distinct  notice.*   The  penal  settlement  at  Port  Arthur  has 
already  been  described. 

Macquarie  Harbour  is  a  large  bay  on  the  western  coast 
of  the  island,  extending  inland  in  a  south-westerly  direction 
about  20  miles  to  where  Gordon  river  debouches,  and  diverg- 
ing right  and  left  into  two  extensive  bays  or  creeks.  The 
settlement  is  formed  at  Sarah's  Island,  a  small  island  within 
the  harbour,  whence  every  morning  the  convicts,  usually 
amounting  to  between  two  and  three  hundred  souls,  are  re- 
moved to  the  banks  of  the  Gordon  to  perform  their  laborious 
tasks.  The  Gordon,  though  barred,  is  navigable  for  nearly 
40  miles,  and  is  in  most  parts  very  deep,  and  never  less  than 
loo  yards  wide.  Its  banks,  though  generally  precipitous,  ai'e 
clothed  with  timber  and  shrubs,  and  afford  beautiful  scenery. 
The  land  is  mostly  of  a  rich  quality,  but  the  timber  is  too 
dense  to  allow  the  agriculturist  to  occupy  it  with  advantage. 
On  Philips'  Island,  on  the  northern  side  of  the  harbour,  a 
small  garden  has  been  formed,  and  a  few  acres  have  been 
broken  up  for  cultivation  ;  and  at  Coal  Head,  which  is  adjoin- 
ing, excellent  coal  has  been  found,  but  not  yet  dug  for  use. 
The  timber  procured  by  the  convicts  is  the  Huon  pine,  the 
trunk  of  which  is  generally  60  feet  in  length  and  five  feet  in 
diameter ;  the  celery  top  pine,  fifty  feet  long  and  two  and  a 
half  feet  in  diameter  ;  and  the  myrtle,  the  pinkwood,  and 
lightwood  trees,  all  of  which  gi'ow  to  a  good  size,  affording 

*  The  territory  belonging  to  this  company  is — 100,000  acres,  Woolnortb, 
in  one  continuous  tract ;  20,000  acres,  at  ('ircular  Head  and  the  coast 
adjoining  ;  10,000  acres,  Hampshire  Hills,  in  one  continuous  tract ;  10,000 
acres,  Middlesex  Plains,  in  one  continuous  tract ;  150,000  acres,  Surry 
Hills,  in  one  continuous  tract;  10,000  acres,  the  estimated  quantity  of 
good  land  in  Trefoil,  Walker,  and  Robin  Islands  ;  50,000  acres.  Emu  Bay ; 
— total,  350,000  acres,  upon  the  terms  stipulated  in  the  charter ;  viz.  that 
240,000  acres  are  to  be  valued  at  2*.  6d.  per  acre ;  and  five  years  after  it 
has  been  surveyed,  and  the  boundaries  defined,  a  rent  is  to  commence,  at 
the  rate  of  30^,  per  cent,  on  that  value,  redeemable  by  twenty  years'  pur- 
chase. The  rent,  therefore,  will  be  450/.  per  annum,  to  commence  five 
years  after  it  shall  have  been  ceded  to  tlie  company ;  or  it  may,  after  tliat 
period,  become  frcclioU!  by  the  payment  of  y,000/. 


GEOLOGY,  MINERALOGY,  AND  SOIL 


419 


excellent   timber    for   ship-building,    furniture,    and    house- 
work.* 

Geology,  Mineralogy  and  Soil. — The  island  has  not  been 
sufficiently  explored  to  ascertain  its  geological  characters. 
Basalt  is  supposed  to  be  the  principal  substratum  of  the 
colony  ;  but  the  geology  of  the  island  is  very  varied.  Lime- 
stone is  almost  the  only  mineral  that  has  yet  been  brought 
into  general  use.  This  requisite  of  civilized  life  has  been 
found  in  abundance  in  most  parts  of  this  island,  with  the  ex- 
ception of  the  neighbourhood  of  Launceston,  to  which  place 
it  is  usually  imported  from  Sydney,  as  a  return  cargo,  in  the 
vessels  that  carry  up  wheat  to  that  port.  A  very  fine  species 
of  lime,  used  in  the  better  sort  of  plastering  and  stuccoing, 
is  made  in  considerable  quantities  by  burning  the  oyster  shells 
that  are  found  in  beds  along  various  parts  of  the  coast.  Other 
species  of  the  calcareous  genus  also  occur  in  different  parts  of 
the  island.  Marble  of  a  white  mixed  grey  colour,  susceptible 
of  a  good  polish,  has  frequently  been  found,  though  never  yet 
dug  vip  or  applied  to  use.  Round  Hobart  Town,  where  the 
progress  of  improvement  frequently  exposes  the  soil  to  the 
depth  of  two  or  three  yards  sometimes,  strata  of  soft  clayey 
marl  occur,  which  have  been  found  very  useful  as  a  manure. 
Much  of  the  common  limestone  is  of  a  yellowish  or  reddish 
colour,  no  doubt  derived  from  the  quantity  of  oxide  of  iron 
with  which  it  is  mixed,  and  which  is  so  generally  scattered 
throughout  all  parts  of  the  island.  Iron  ore  is  very  general, 
both  of  a  red,  brown,  and  black  colour.  In  one  or  two 
instances  it  has  been  analysed,  and  found  to  contain  eighty 
per  cent,  of  the  perfect  mineral.  It  also  occurs,  though  more 
rarely,  and  in  smaller  quantities,  under  the  form  of  red  chalk, 
with  which,  mixed  with  grease,  the  Aborigines  besmear  their 

*  A  plant  called  the  Macquarle  Harbour  grape  has  been  discovered 
here ;  it  is  a  climbing  plant,  with  a  large  digited  vine-like  leaf,  grows  very 
rapidly,  and  produces  its  fruit,  like  the  vine,  in  large  bunclies.  The  acid 
which  its  fruit  yields,  has  been  medicinally  employed  as  a  substitute  for 
lime-juice,  and  has  fully  answered  the  expectations  of  the  medical  man  by 
whom  it  was  prescribed. 


4J20  COAL  AT  VAN  DIEMEn's  LAND. 

heads  and  bodies.  Indications  of  coal  have  been  found  all 
across  the  island,  commencing  at  South  Cape,  and  shewing 
themselves  in  various  part ;  at  Satellite  Island  in  D'Entre- 
casteaux's  channel,  on  the  banks  of  the  Huon,  at  Hobart 
Tov^n,  New  Norfolk,  the  Coal  River,  Jerusalem,  Jericho,  and 
other  places.  The  stratum  at  the  South  Cape,  is  situated  on 
the  N.  side  of  the  bay,  and  extends  about  two  miles  along  the 
coast.  Messrs.  Maudsley,  Son,  and  Field,  London,  analysed 
some  specimens  of  the  Van  Diemen's  Land  coal  sent  home  by 
Mr.  Waghorn  of  the  Bengal  pilot  service,  which  they  declared 
to  be  equal  to  the  Elgin  Wall's  End  coals,  and  superior  to 
Newcastle  coal,  for  the  purpose  of  raising  steam. 

Of  the  various  species  of  the  argillaceous  genus,  basalt,  as 
before  observed,  is  by  far  the  most  abundant.  Indeed,  it 
would  appear  to  be  the  chief  and  predominant  substratum  of 
the  island.  All  along  the  coast  it  presents  itself  in  rocky  pre- 
cipitous heights,  standing  on  its  beautiful  columnar  pedestals. 
Of  these.  Fluted  Cape,  at  Adventure  Bay,  is,  perhaps,  the 
most  remarkable,  so  called  from  the  circular  columns  standing 
up  close  together,  in  the  form  of  the  barrels  of  an  organ. 
Circular  head,  which  gives  the  name  to  the  Van  Diemen's 
Land  Company's  establishment,  is  another  remal'kable  instance 
of  the  singular  appearance  which  this  species  of  rocks  puts 
On,  resembling  different  artificial  productions  of  man.  That 
curious  rock  stands  out  into  the  sea,  exactly  like  a  huge  round 
tower  or  fortress,  built  by  human  hands.  Mount  Wellington, 
the  great  western  Table  Mountain,  and  the  rocky  banks  of 
many  of  our  mountain  rivers,  as  the  Shannon,  are  composed 
of  this  rock. 

In  some  parts,  both  on  the  coast  and  in  the  interior,  the 
columns  stand  up  in  insulated  positions,  springing  up  from 
the  grass  or  the  ocean  like  obelisks  or  huge  needles,  and  pre- 
senting a  singular  appearance  to  the  eye.  On  the  S.  end  of 
Brune  Island,  which  is  composed  of  this  rock,  there  are 
several  of  this  description,  and  those  upon  the  land  stand 
erect  upon  their  several  blocks,  gradually  diminishing  as  they 
rise,  till  the  cast  of  a  well  aimed  stone  from  the  hand  is  suf- 


•  BASALTIC  COLUMNS — METALLIC  ORES.  4/Jl 

ficient  to  drive  the  uppermost  from  its  seat.  As  this  rock  has 
the  power  of  acting  on  the  magnetic  needle,  and  occurs  in  such 
large  masses  in  the  island,  it  may,  in  some  measure,  account 
for  the  variations  which  travellers  depending  on  the  guidance 
of  the  pocket-compass  in  the  bush  sometimes  experience. 
Argil  appears  in  the  form  of  excellent  roof-slate  at  a  certain 
spot  between  Launceston  and  George  Town.  In  the  form  of 
mica  it  is  found  in  large  masses  on  tlie  rocks  round  Port  Davey, 
on  the  southern  corner  of  the  island,  where,  being  much  ex- 
posed to  the  winds  and  waves  of  the  southern  ocean,  they 
have  become  so  much  worn  by  the  weather  as  to  put  on  the 
appearance  of  snow.  Excellent  sandstone  for  building  is 
obtained  in  almost  every  part  of  the  island,  and  most  of  the 
houses  in  Hobart  Town  are  now  built  with  it,  brought  from 
different  parts  within  half  a  mile  or  a  mile  of  the  town,  instead 
of  badly  made  bricks,  as  formerly.  A  quarry  of  that  kind, 
used  as  filtering-stones,  has  recently  been  discovered  at  Port 
Arthur,  the  manufacture  of  which,  it  is  probable,  will  be  found 
a  profitable  employment.  Flints  in  great  plenty  are  scattered 
upon  the  hills,  especially  in  neighbourhoods  where  basalt 
abounds.  They  generally  occur  in  the  globular  form,  covered 
with  a  white  indurated  crust  of  chalk.  Other  rare  species  of 
the  silicious  genus  have  been  found  in  different  parts  of  the 
island,  especially  in  those  which  appear  to  have  been  washed 
in  former  times  by  the  ocean,  and  which  have  been  deposited 
in  certain  ranges  or  linear  positions  by  the  lashing  of  the 
waves,  and  the  subsiding  of  the  waters.  Of  these  may  be 
mentioned,  though  found  generally  in  small  pieces,  hornstone, 
schistus,  wood-opal,  bloodstone,  jasper,  and  that  singular 
species  called  the  cat's  eye,  reflecting  different  rays  of  light 
from  the  change  of  position. 

Of  the  metallic  ores,  besides  iron,  which  is  most  abundant, 
specimens  of  red  and  green  copper  ore,  lead,  zinc,  manganese, 
and,  as  some  say,  of  silver  and  gold,  have  occasionally  been 
met  with. 

Petrified  remains  of  wood,  and  other  vegetable  productions, 
entirely  converted  into  silicious  matter,  and  capable  of  the 
finest  polisli,  are  occasionally  met  with  in  different  parts  of 


422  CLIMATE  OF  VAN  DIEMEN's  LAND. 

the  island,  especially  in  the  Macquarie  district,  at  Allenvale, 
and  Mr.  Barker's  estate,  where  the  whole  trunks  and  branches 
of  trees  have  been  found,  some  in  a  horizontal,  and  some  in  a 
vertical  position,  exhibiting  the  fibres  and  structure  of  the 
leaves  and  wood,  the  distribution  of  the  vessels,  and  the 
annual  growth,  as  distinctly  and  in  as  perfect  a  state  of  pre- 
servation as  in  the  living  plant. 

The  soil  is  very  varied,  in  some  places  a  rich  black  alluvial 
mould,  in  others  sandy  or  argillaceous  ;  its  fertility  is  shewn 
by  the  excellent  crops  produced,  the  land  being  cultivated  for 
years  without  refreshment. 

Climate. — Seasons,  Wind — and  Rain. — Allowing  for  the 
higher  southern  latitude,  and  the  consequent  coldness  and 
humidity  attending  on  its  insularity,  the  seasons  and  weather 
at  Van  Diemen's  Lands  may  be  estimated  from  the  data  given 
in  the  preceeding  chapter  respecting  New  South  Wales. 

Generally  speaking,  throughout  the  summer  months,  there 
are  alternate  land  and  sea  breezes,  every  24  hours,  the  in- 
fluence of  the  latter  being  felt  many  miles  from  the  shore,  and 
tending  greatly  to  cool  the  atmosphere,  even  in  the  hottest 
days  of  summer.  The  wind  blows  from  the  land,  from  sun- 
set till  10  or  11  o'clock  the  following  day;  when  the  sea 
breeze  sets  in  and  continues  till  evening.  The  average  of  the 
thermometer  is  about  70. ;  although  there  are  times  when  the 
mercury  is  subject  to  sudden  elevations,  even  to  100.  to  110. 
When  this  happens,  a  hot  wind  blows  from  the  N.  or  N.W., 
the  effects  of  which  sometimes  show  themselves  upon  growing 
crops,  by  producing  blight,  and  similar  injurious  consequences; 
but  it  seldom  lasts  long,  and  the  rain,  which  is  almost  certain 
to  follow  within  a  few  hours,  again  so  cools  the  atmosphere, 
that  its  previous  sultriness  is  little  regarded.  Thunder  storms 
are  seldom  experienced ;  nor  are  they  ever  of  a  violent  nature. 

September,  October,  and  November,  form  the  Spring,  when 
the  weather  is  usually  bright  and  clear,  with  occasional  rain 
and  high  winds.  The  average  of  the  thermometer  for  these 
months  is  from  .50.  to  60. 

December,  January,  and  February,  constitute  the  summer. 
In  general,  very  little  rain  falls  during  these  three  months. 


CHANGE  OF  THE  SEASONS.  423 

The  productions  of  the  earth,  such  as  grass,  corn,  and  vege- 
tables, arrive  at  maturity  about  one  month  earher  than  the 
same  kinds  would  in  England;  that  is,  in  December,  which 
answers  to  the  June  of  the  northern  hemisphere,  things  are 
gathered  which,  in  England,  would  have  been  ripe  in  July. 

March,  April,  and  May  are  the  autumn  of  Van  Diemen's 
Land,  and  form  by  far  its  pleasantest  season.  The  air  is  then 
clear  and  bright — the  sky  free  from  clouds  and  vapours — the 
medium  heat  of  the  day  is  about  65. — and  the  nights  are  cool 
and  refreshing.  It  may  be  noticed  here,  however,  that  even  in 
the  height  of  summer,  the  evenings  and  night  are  generally  cool. 

June,  July,  and  August  are  the  Winter.  In  the  interior, 
particularly  upon  high  and  exposed  situations,  frosts  are 
sometimes  severe,  and  at  times  a  good  deal  of  snow  falls ;  but 
it  is  seldom  that  the  sun  so  wholly  loses  its  power,  as  to  suffer 
an  appearance  of  either  frost  or  snow  to  last  throughout  the 
day ;  and  the  winter  of  Van  Diemen's  Land  is  rather  contem- 
plated by  the  inhabitants,  as  a  season  of  moderate  and  genial 
rain,  sufficient  to  replenish  the  store-houses  of  the  earth  against 
the  ensuing  spring,  and  to  facilitate  the  labours  of  the  hus- 
bandman, than  as  the  cold  and  dismal  period  of  the  higher 
latitudes.  The  average  state  of  the  thermometer  is  from  40. 
to  48.  ;  now  and  then,  however,  for  a  day  or  two,  some 
degrees  lower.  The  longest  day  in  Van  Diemen's  Land  is 
15  hours  12  minutes  ;  the  shortest,  8  hours  48  minutes. 

The  following  meteorological  observations  are  the  result  of 
a  careful  notice  in  the  colony.*  Against  rain  the  clouds  increase 
much  in  size,  and  become  formed  like  fleeces,  but  dense  in  the 
middle.  When  bright  towards  the  edges,  with  the  sky  bright, 
they  are  signs  of  frost,  with  rain  afterwards.  When  clouds 
breed  high  in  air,  in  thin  white  trains,  like  flocks  of  wool, 
they  portend  wind,  and  most  probably  rain.  When  a  general 
cloudiness  overhangs  the  sky,  and  small  black  fragments  of 
clouds  are  seen  flying  underneath,  they  are  a  certain  sign  of 
lasting  rain.  Two  currents  of  clouds  always  protend  rain, 
and  in  summer,  thunder.     Clouds  that  are  long  and  scattered, 

*  I  am  indebted  for  them  to  the  excellent  almanac  of  V'an  Diemen's 
Land  for  1833,  before  adverted  to. 


424 


CLOUDS  INDICATING  THE  WEATHER. 


having  a  greenish  cast,  always  show  rain.  When  dews  Ke 
plentifully  after  a  fine  day,  another  may  be  expected.  If  no 
dew,  nor  wind,  rain  will  soon  follow.  A  red  sky  that  spreads 
upwards  from  the  horizon,  generally  denotes  wind  or  rain,  or 
both ;  but  a  still  red  evening  foretells  fine  weather. 

A  haziness  in  the  air  which  fades  the  sun's  light,  and 
makes  the  orb  look  whitish — or  a  dimness  around  the  moon 
and  stars,  with  a  ring  encircling  the  former,  denote  rain.  If 
the  sun's  rays  look  white  at  setting,  or  if  it  be  shorn  of  its  rays, 
or  if  it  goes  down  into  a  bank  of  clouds  in  the  horizon,  bad 
weather  may  be  expected.  If  the  moon  looks  pale  and  dim, 
we  may  expect  rain — if  red,  wind — but  when  of  her  natural 
colour,  with  a  clear  sky,  fair  weather.  When  the  wind  veers 
about  much,  a  good  deal  of  rain  may  be  expected.  W^hen  the 
wind  follows  the  course  of  the  sun,  it  brings  a  continuance  of 
fair  weather. 

Weather  Table  according  to  the  Moon. 


Quarter  of  the  Moon. 

Summer. 

Winter. 

If  the  moon  enters 

either 

The  weather  will  be 

The  weather  will  be 

of  her  quarters  at 

12 

at 

noon. 

Very  rainy. 

Snow  and  rain. 

If  between  the  hours  of 

12  and  2,  p.m. 

. 

- 

Changeable. 

Changeable. 

2  and  4,  p.m. 

. 

_ 

Ditto. 

Fair  and  mild. 

4  and  6,  p.m. 

_ 

_ 

Fair. 

Fair. 

6  and  8,  p.m. 

Fair,ifwindatN.  N.W. 

or  N.E. 
Rainy,  if  wind  at  W. 

S.W.  or  S. 

Fair,  if  wind  at  N.  N.W. 

or  N.E.     ' 
Rain,  if  W.  S.W.  or  S. 

8  and  10,  p.m. 

_ 

. 

Ditto. 

Ditto. 

10  and  12,  night 

_ 

_ 

Fair. 

Fair. 

12  and    2,  a.m. 

_ 

_ 

Ditto. 

Fair,  with  frosts. 

2  and    4,  a.m. 

. 

. 

Cold  and  showery . 

Rain. 

4  and    6,  a.m. 

_ 

. 

Rain. 

Ditto. 

6  and    8,  a.m. 

. 

. 

Squally. 

Stormy  weather. 

8  and  10,  a.m. 

. 

- 

Changeable. 

Changeable. 

10  and  12,  noon 

- 

- 

Showery,  with  wind. 

Cold  and  rain. 

Dr.  Kirwan,  who  framed  the  foregoing  table,  (which  has 
been  proved  correct  in  Van  Diemen's  Land),  adds  the  fol- 
lowing observations : — 

1st. — When  there  has  been  no  particular  storm  about  the 


WINDS  THROUGHOUT  THE  YEAR  IN  VAN  DIEMEN's  LAND.     425 


time  of  the  spring  equinox,  if  a  storm  arise  on  or  before  the 
day  of  the  sun's  passing,  or  if  there  be  a  storm  from  any 
point  of  the  compass,  about  a  week  after  the  equinox,  then, 
in  either  of  these  cases,  the  spring  and  summer  will  be  dry, 
four  times  in  five. 

2nd. — But  if  a  storm  arise  from  the  S.W.  or  W.S.W.  on 
or  just  before  the  spring  equinox,  the  following  spring  and 
summer  will  be  wet,  five  times  in  six. 

A  table  shewing  all  the  winds  that  have  blown  during  the  year.     Obser- 
vations,taken  three  times  in  the  course  of  each  day. 


1 
1 

N. 

N.E. 

E. 

S.E. 

s. 

S.W. 

W. 

N.W. 

January, 

morning* 

12 

2 

3 

7 

0 

0 

3 

3 

noon   . 

2 

1 

9 

7 

3 

0 

0 

8 

evening 

0 

0 

1 

3 

4 

7 

3 

8 

February, 

morning     . 

5 

4 

7 

5 

1 

1 

0 

4 

noon    . 

3 

1 

6 

15      ; 

2 

0 

0 

0 

evening 

2 

0 

0 

4 

8 

2 

4 

4 

March, 

morning 

12 

2 

7 

3 

2 

I 

1 

2 

noon   . 

4 

0 

12 

6 

4 

1 

0 

1 

evening 

2 

1 

1 

3 

7 

4 

2 

4 

April, 

morning 

11 

3 

1 

0 

2 

3 

1 

6 

noon   . 

5 

1 

2 

3 

8 

4 

3 

3 

evening 

2 

2 

2 

1 

5 

6 

3 

8 

May, 

morning 

6 

2 

2 

1 

3 

1 

3 

12 

noon  . 

6 

0 

0 

0 

4 

0 

2 

17 

evening 

0 

0 

3 

0 

4 

4 

3 

11 

June, 

morning 

14 

0 

0 

2 

3 

1 

1 

9 

noon    . 

5 

0 

2 

0 

2 

2 

1 

15 

evening 

3 

0 

1 

1 

2 

1 

7 

14 

July, 

morning 

8 

0 

1 

0 

3 

0 

1 

15 

noon    . 

7 

0 

4 

0 

6 

1 

0 

U 

evening 

3 

0 

0 

0 

3 

6 

0 

9 

August, 

morning 

6 

1 

4 

0 

5 

1 

4 

9 

noon   . 

4 

2 

2 

4 

4 

4 

1 

6 

evening 

0 

0 

1 

3 

5 

7 

3 

7 

September 

morning 

8 

0 

0 

3 

4 

1 

2 

8 

noon   . 

5 

1 

2 

6 

7 

2 

1 

6 

evening 

0 

0 

1 

0 

6 

4 

6 

10 

October, 

morning 

10 

I 

2 

3 

2 

1 

3 

7 

noon  . 

8 

0 

2 

7 

4 

2 

1 

4 

evening 

2 

0 

2 

0 

7 

5 

2 

8 

November 

morning 

4 

2 

3 

1 

4 

2 

4 

8 

noon  . 

2 

0 

3 

4 

6 

2 

2 

11 

evening 

2 

0 

0 

2 

5 

1 

7 

12 

December, 

morning 

9 

2 

7 

0 

2 

2 

1 

3 

noon  . 

5 

0 

6 

4 

8 

4 

0 

3 

evening 

2 

0 

3 

4 

8 

1 

7 

3 

It  appears  from  the  foregoing,  that  the  proportion  of 
winds  from  difierent  quarters,  was  as  follows,  in  the  course  of 
the  last  year : — 


N.W 
N. 
S. 
E. 


266 
179 
156 
106 


S.E. 
W. 
S.W. 
N.E. 


102 

72 
78 
28 


4>26 


RAIN  GAUGE  FOR  VAN  DIEMEN  S  LAND. 


Rain  Table,  shewinjj  the  Quantities  that  fell  in  each  Month  of  1832,  and 
comparing  the  same  with  1831.* 


1832. 

1831. 

Months. 

Wpt  Davs        Quantity  of 
wet  Days.          inches. 

Months. 

Wet  Davs        Quantity  of 
Wet  Days.          inches. 

January 

February  .... 

March    

April  

May    

June  

July    

August 

September. ... 

October 

November.. .. 
December 

6 

7 
7 

5 
14 
11 
16 
12 
11 
16 

14 
9 

1    128 

1    512 

1    668 

605 

3  159 

4  942 
4  358 
1    839 

1  289 

2  392 

2  770 
1  117 

January 

February  .... 

March 

April  

May     

June  

July     

August 

September. . . . 

October 

November.. .. 
December .... 

10 

6 
3 

4 
5 
8 
10 
4 

7 

10 
10 
13 

2  30-40ths. 
1   21-40 
1 

23-40 
1     5-40 
1    15-40 
1      2-40 
1    10-40 

1  24-40 

2  5  40 
1      7-40 

3  5-40 

128 

26  779 

90 

18  27-40ths. 

The  seasons  appear  to  undergo  a  variation  every  nine  or 
ten  years,  varying,  however,  in  intensity  every  third  series  or 
thirty  years.  But,  as  a  general  rule,  it  may  he  truly  affirmed 
that  the  atmosphere  is  extremely  dry  and  elastic,  and  con- 
taining a  larger  proportion  of  oxygen  than  most  countries  in 
the  Old  World  ;  the  effect  of  which  is  to  fortify  and  render 
more  fecund  both  animal  and  vegetable  life,  the  stimulating 
effect  of  this  gas  on  the  lungs  being  to  strengthen  the  powers 
of  digestion  and  assimilation. 

The    Vegetable    Kingdom  —  as    may  be    expected,    is 
similar   to  that  of  the  contiguous  territory  of  New  South 

*  According  to  a  register  published  in  the  'East  India  Gazette,'  the  fall 
of  rain  at  Arracan,  in  the  month  of  July,  1830,  was  nearly  60  inches  ;  in 
August,  it  was  rather  more  than  43^  inches.  A  great  deal  had  fallen  pre- 
viously in  the  months  of  April,  May,  and  June.  The  rainy  season  in  most 
parts  of  the  tropics  yields  from  100  to  115  inches  of  water:  at  Bombay, 
106  inches.  In  the  west  of  England,  the  mean  quantity  of  rain  that  falls 
annually  is  only  57  inches. 

The  following  is  the  quantity  for  one  year,  at  the  undermentioned  places  : 
London       .        20.686  Kendal        .        53.994 

Manchester         36.140  Glasgow     .        21.331 

Liverpool  34.121  Dumfries     .        36.919 

Lancaster  .39.714 


VEGETABLE  KINGDOM — TREES.  427 

Wales.  In  many  places  there  is  no  underwood,  the  ground 
being  covered  with  tall,  ungainly  trees,  standing  at  some  dis- 
tance from  each  other,  and  running  up  to  a  great  height, 
before  they  shoot  out  their  branches.  Much  of  the  timber  of 
the  colony  is  extremely  serviceable  for  every  building  pur- 
pose, particularly  stringy  bark,  which  has  been  not  inaptly 
termed  the  oak  of  Van  Diemen's  Land,  as  well  on  account  of 
the  appearance  and  durability  of  the  wood,  as  of  the  uses  to 
which  it  is  applied.  Gum,  of  several  sorts,  almost  equal  to 
stringy  bark.  Peppermint,  another  wood  of  the  same  de- 
scription, but  particularly  used  where  facility  of  splitting  is 
required.  Among  the  ornamental  woods  come  light  wood, 
she-oak  or  beef  tree,  honeysuckle,  myrtle,  and  the  cherry- 
tree.  The  woods  that  are  most  esteemed  for  the  fitting  up 
of  houses,  and  for  cabinet-makers  and  others,  are  Huon  pine, 
black  and  silver  mimosas,  pencil  cedar,  and  sassafras. 

All  the  trees  are  evergreens,  and  some  of  them,  particu- 
larly the  mimosas,  put  forth  very  rich  blossoms  in  spring ; 
but  the  prevailing  colour  of  nearly  all  of  this  description,  has 
been  remarked  to  partake  more  or  less  of  yellow.  The  foliage 
is  generally  dark  or  sombre  green,  and  the  eye  wanders  over 
the  wide  expanse  of  dense  forest  everywhere  presented, 
searching  in  vain  for  the  relief  that  is  afforded  by  the  many 
varying  hues  of  the  deciduous  family.  The  varieties  of  shrubs 
are  many,  and  extremely  beautiful ;  and  several  of  them  have 
very  elegant  flowers.  It  is  however  difficult  to  transplant 
them ;  particularly  the  native  cherry  and  the  fern,  both  which 
far  surpass  in  beauty  the  whole  tribe  of  native  forest  trees  ; 
indeed,  the  only  way  of  doing  this,  with  a  chance  of  their 
living,  is  to  be  careful  that  there  is  a  solid  ball  of  earth,  not 
less  than  a  foot  square,  around  the  root ;  and  provided  this 
be  well  attended  to,  the  season  or  period  of  the  year,  is  of 
less  consequence  than  some  imagine.  The  winter  months 
are,  however,  generally  thought  preferable  to  any  others. 

Among  the  most  valuable  plants  yet  discovered,. may  be 
enumerated  the  pepper  tree — the  bark  of  which  has  been 
proved  to  contain  many  valuable  medicinal  qualities.  The 
tea  tree  too,  should  not  pass  unnoticed,  the  leaves  serving  at 


428  nilNCIPAL  FLORA  OF 

times  as  a  substitute  for  tliose  of  the  Chinese  plant ;  and 
although  the  beverage  cannot  be  pronounced  equally  good, 
it  has  at  least  the  recommendation  of  being  much  cheaper. 

The  following  are  a  few  of  the  principal  flora  yet  noticed — * 

Solamim  Lacinidtutn. — Jagged  leaved  nightshade,  or  kan- 
garoo apple,  pentandria  monogynia,  natural  order  Solanece. 
This  is  a  spreading  plant  of  some  beauty,  grows  in  warm 
sheltered  situations,  to  the  height  of  four  or  five  feet.  Leaves 
pinnatified  with  lanceolate  acute  segments ;  the  dark  purple 
flowers  grow  in  clusters,  at  the  end  of  the  branches.  The 
berries,  when  ripe,  are  the  size  of  a  potatoe  apple,  of  a  yel- 
lowish green  hue,  their  pulp  is  sweet,  in  some  degree  resem- 
bling the  flavour  of  a  fig. 

Corrcea  Virens. — Green  flowered  corrsea,  octandria  mono- 
gynia, nat.  ord.  Rulacece.  A  pretty  shrub,  growing  to  the 
height  of  seven  or  height  feet  along  the  rivulets  in  the  neigh- 
bourhood of  Hobart  Town  ;  leaves  heart-shaped  opposite, 
hanging  down,  they  are  hairy  and  whitish  beneath,  the  flow- 
ers are  greenish,  solitary,  and  issue  out  beneath  two  small 
oval  leaves,  towards  the  middle  of  the  stalk  are  two  leaf-like 
appendages. 

.  Corrcea  Alba. — White  flowered  corraea.  This  is  a  lower 
and  more  bushy  shrub  than  the  last,  growing  on  the  banks 
of  the  Derwent  at  Ralph's  Bay,  &c. ;  the  leaves  are  inclined 
to  oval,  opposite,  and  downy  beneath ;  flowers  white,  solitary, 
and  growing  out  from  the  base  of  the  leaves. 

Leptosj)ermum,  Lanigerum. —  Hoary  tea-tree,  Icosandria  mo- 
nogynia, nat.  ord.  Myrtacece.  One  of  the  most  common  plants 
growing  on  the  banks  of  most  of  the  rivers  and  rivulets  in  the 
island ;  it  is  a  bushy  shrub  about  five  feet  high,  covered  with 
small  oblong  leaves  ;  the  flowers  are  white,  and  soon  fall  off, 
the  flower-cup  is  covered  with  down  and  remains  after  the 
flowers  are  fallen,  the  whole  plant  has  a  hoary  appearance. 

Prostanthera  Lasidnthos. — Didynamia  gymnosperma,  nat. 
ord.  LahitcE.  This  most  beautiful  shrub  grows  to  the  height 
of  20  feet,  on  the  banks  of  the  rivulets  near  Hobart  Town ;  the 

*  Dr.  Ross  has  made  this  coinjiient  of  X\it  flora  of  the  island. 


VAN  diemen's  land.  429 

stems  that  grow  straight  from  the  root  are  but  Httle  branched, 
covered  with  a  dark  red  bark,  having  a  strong  smell;  the 
leaves  are  long,  narrow,  and  pointed,  jagged  at  the  edges, 
and  of  a  dark  green ;  the  flowers  are  helmet-shaped,  white 
with  purple  spots,  downy,  apd  soon  fall  off,  they  grow  in 
open  clusters  at  the  end  of  the  branches  ;  time  of  flowering- 
middle  of  December. 

Ranunculits. — Butter  cups,  Polyandria  polygynia,  nat.  ord. 
Ranuncidacece.  Resembles  the  British  butter-cup  in  every- 
thing but  the  root,  which  in  the  British  species  is  bulbous,  in 
this  plant  fibrous ;  common  in  the  marshes  and  plains  during 
November ;  leaves  cut  into  three  lobes  nearly  to  the  base, 
each  lobe  subdivided  into  three,  the  leaves  and  flower-stalks 
thickly  covered  with  hairs  ;  the  flower  is  elevated  on  a  long 
flower-stalk,  it  is  composed  of  five  shining  yellow  leaves. 

Patersonia  Glahrdta. — Monodelphia  triandria,  nat.  ord. 
Iridece.  A  very  common  plant  on  the  poor  land  near  Hobart 
Town ;  flowers  eai'ly  in  spring  ;  grows  to  the  height  of  two 
feet ;  leaves  growing  from  the  root,  long,  narrow,  and  sharp 
on  the  edges,  sword-shaped ;  flowers  consisting  of  six  petals 
or  leaves,  three  large,  broad,  and  rounded  at  the  edge  and 
exterior,  the  interior  much  smaller  than  the  exterior,  and 
narrow  ;  the  flowers  quickly  fade,  but  are  as  quickly  followed 
by  new  ones  ;  colour  white,  variegated  with  purple. 

Kennedia  Prostrdta,  Scarlet  Glycine. —  Diadelphia  decan- 
dria,  nat.  ord.  LeguminoscE.  This  is  a  shrubby  trailing  plant, 
which,  if  supported,  will  grow  to  some  height ;  is  common  in 
light  soils,  and  flowers  in  October ;  leaves  growing  in  threes, 
like  clover,  nearly  round  and  crumpled  at  the  edges,  above 
dark  green  and  smooth,  below  hairy  ;  the  blossoms  are  pea- 
shaped,  of  a  bright  scarlet  colour,  the  broad  petal,  or  flower- 
leaf,  with  a  blotch  of  yellowish  green  near  the  base. 

Richea  Glauca.  Syngenesia  polygamia  sequalis,  nat.  ord. 
Cinerocephalce.  Common  on  the  plains  about  October; 
growing  mostly  in  the  same  situations  as  the  butter-cup  ;  the 
leaves  grow  from  the  root,  are  about  three  inches  long,  nar- 
row, and  pointed,  the  outer  ones   being  the  broadest,  they 


430  CASUARINA,  CYPRESS,  &C. 

are  beset  with  short  down  hairs ;  the  plant,  in  this  state,  has 
a  great  resemblance  to  a  rib  grass ;  the  flower-stalk  is  about 
18  inches  in  length,  proceeding  from  the  centre  of  the  plant, 
throwing  out  leaves  during  the  whole  of  its  length  ;  the  flower 
is  composite  or  composed  of  numerous  small  florets  on  a  com- 
mon receptacle,  forming  a  head  in  the  shape  of  a  semicircle ;  of  a 
brimstone  yellow  colour ;  the  plant  when  gathered  has  a  strong 
smell. 

Aster  Argophyllus,  musk-scented  starwort,  or  musk  plant. 
• — Syngenesia  polygamia  superflua,  nat.  ord.  Composites.  An 
elegant  shrub,  growing,  in  elevated  situations,  to  the  height 
of  seven  or  eight  feet ;  the  leaves  are  about  two  inches  long, 
on  foot  stalks,  broad,  pointed,  and  toothed  at  the  edges, 
above  a  fine  dark  green,  beneath  silky  and  finely  veined,  the 
branches  have  a  white  silky  appearance ;  the  flowers  are  not 
very  ornamental,  resembling  little  stars,  white  and  in  loose 
spikes  ;  blossoms  in  November ;  the  whole  plant  has  a  strong 
smell  of  musk,  particularly  when  first  gathered. 

Casuarina  EquisetifoUa,  horsetail  casuarina,  or  he  and  she 
oak. — Moncecia  monandria,  nat.  ord.  Castiarineee.  A  large 
spreading  tree,  growing  on  most  stony  rises,  with  leaves,  or 
rather  branchlets,  hanging  down  in  bundles,  from  12  to  18  in 
length,  like  a  long  load  of  hair  or  horse's-tail,  all  jointed  from 
top  to  bottom  ;  the  male  and  female  flowers  are  on  different 
trees — the  male  blossom  is  a  cluster  of  small  red  grains  at  the 
end  of  the  branchlets,  of  course  they  are  barren — the  female 
blossom  is  a  small  red  globe,  scattered  over  the  tree  on  foot- 
stalks, and  ripening  into  a  cone,  or  apple,  similar  to  a  fir 
apple.  The  wood  is  brittle,  but  makes  very  handsome  fur- 
niture. 

Exocdrpos  Cupressiformis,  cypress  like  exocarpos. — Mo- 
ncecia pentandria.  A  tree  well  known  in  this  country  by  the 
name  of  the  native  cherry-tree,  although  resembling  the 
cherry-tree  in  no  particular ;  it  grows  about  the  height  of  15 
feet  in  the  form  of  a  cone  ;  of  a  bright  green  colour ;  it  is  des- 
titute of  leaves,  the  branches  being  divided  into  small  pendant 
branchlets  ;  the  flowers  are  very  minute,  of  the  same  colour 
as  the  branches  ;  the  nut  is  situated  upon  a  fleshy  receptacle, 


VARIETIES  OF  ACACIA.  431 

or  berry,  hanging  at  the  end  of  the  branches ;  the  berry  lias 
a  sweetish  insipid  taste ;  the  wood  is  hard,  but  attains  no 
great  size. 

Acacia  Vorticillata,  whorl  leaved  acacia. — Polygamia  mo- 
noecia,  nat.  ord.  Leguminosce.  The  leaves  of  this  plant  are  a 
strong  thorn,  placed  six  or  seven  together  in  whorls  round 
the  stem  ;  it  grows  the  height  of  10  feet,  mostly  on  the  banks 
of  rivulets  ;  the  flowers  are  yellow,  placed  in  single  cylindrical 
spikes  ;  with  a  little  care  it  forms  a  beautiful  as  well  as  an 
impenetrable  hedge. 

Acacia  Suaveolens.  —  Sweet  scented  acacia,  &c.  This 
shrub  grows  to  the  height  of  six  feet,  and  inhabits  with  acacia 
vorticillata,  but  introduced  into  many  gardens  in  Hobart 
Town  for  the  delightful  odour  it  diffuses  when  in  blossom ; 
leaves  long,  narrow,  and  pointed,  having  two  strong  nerves 
running  up  the  centre  ;  flowers  yellow,  in  globular  spikes, 
scattered  over  the  plant,  or  footstalks. 

Acacia  Myrtifolia,  myrtle-leaved  acacia. — A  low  open  grow- 
ing plant,  about  three  feet  high,  common  on  the  New  Town 
rivulet,  above  Roseway  Lodge  ;  leaves  broad,  pointed,  and 
having  a  strong  nerve  up  the  centre,  like  the  broad  leaved 
myrtle  :  colour  light  green,  with  a  reddish  brown  edge ;  flow- 
ers yellow  ;  spikes  globular  and  in  bunches. 

Acacia  Melanoxylon,  blackwood,  lightwood. — A  tree  at- 
taining the  height  of  20  feet  and  upwards ;  grows  mostly  by 
the  sides  of  rivers  ;  leaves  large,  broad,  rounded  at  the  ends  ; 
blossoms  yellow  ;  spikes  globular,  dispersed  among  the  leaves 
or  footstalks  ;  wood  hard,  dark  colour,  and  finely  veined — in 
request  for  the  cabinet-maker. 

Acacia  Decurrens,  black  wattle, — This  picturesque  tree  is 
universally  diffused  over  the  island  ;  it  delights  mostly  in 
light  soils :  the  leaves  are  very  beautiful,  being  of  a  dark 
green  colour,  and  doubly  pinnate,  i.  e.  are  divided  into  nu- 
merous leaflets,  which  are  again  subdivided  into  numerous 
smaller  ones  ;  flowers  yellow  ;  spikes  globular,  in  large 
bunches ;  in  blossom  early  in  September  ;  the  wood  is  hard, 
and  useful  to  the  cabinet-maker. 


4-32  GLOSSARY  OF  VEGETABLE   PRODUCTIONS. 

Acacia  Mollis,  silver  wattle. — This  tree  nearly  resembles 
the  black  wattle,  except  that  the  whole  tree  has  a  silvery  and 
downy  appearance,  which  the  other  has  not,  and  seems  to 
delight  in  a  higher  altitude. 

Acacia  Decipiens,  triangular  leaved  acacia.  —  A  small 
straggling  shrub,  about  two  feet  high ;  leaves  triangular, 
outer  angle  terminating  in  a  spine ;  flowers  yellow ;  spikes 
solitary,  globular,  and  placed  on  long  footstalks ;  not  very 
common. 

The  following  is  a  glossary  of  the  most  common  vegetable 
productions  of  Van  Diemen's  Land  : — 

Blue  gum  tree  {Eucalyptus  piperita) ;  white  gum  tree 
{Eucalyptus  robusta)  ;  grass  tree  {Xanthorrhoea  hastile)  ; 
beef  wood — she  oak  tree  {Casuarina  stricta) ;  swamp  oak 
tree  {Casuarina  paludosa) ;  forest  oak  tree  {Casuarina  toru- 
losd)  ;  honeysuckle  tree  {BanJcsia  integrifolia) ;  white  cedar, 
or  common  bead  tree  of  India  {Melia  axedaracli) ;  red  cedar 
tree  {allied  to  FUndersia,  Cunningham,  Cedrela  toona, 
Brown)  ;  light-wood  tree  {Ceratopetalum  gummiferum)  ;  black 
wattle  tree  {Acacia  Melanoxylon) ;  green  wattle  tree  {Acacia 
decurrens) ;  Norfolk  Island  pine  {Araucaria  excelsa) ;  cypress 
tree  {Callitris pyramidilis) ;  rosewood  tree  {Trichilia  glandu- 
losa) ;  sassafras  tree  {Cryptocarya  glaucescens) ;  tea  tree 
{Melaleuca  UnariifoUa) ;  currijong,  or  native's  cordage  tree 
{Hibiscus  hetorophyllus^ ;  cabbage  palm  tree  {Corypha  Aus- 
tralis) ;  arborescent  fern  tree  {Alsophilia  Australis  and  Dick- 
sonia  Antarctica)  ;  fern  root  {Pteris  escidenta) ;  cherry  tree 
{Exocarpus  cupressiformis) ;  Cape  gooseberry  bush  {Physa- 
lis.  edulis  ?  pubescens  ?) ;  gigantic  lily  {Doryanthes  excelsa) ; 
waratah,  or  tulip  tree  ( Talopea  speciocissima)  ;  Huon  River 
pine  {Dacrydium) ;  Adventure  Bay  pine  tree  {Podocarus 
asjleniifolia,  according  to  Labillardiere — Dacrydium?  Brown.) 

The  delicious  oranges,  lemons,  grapes,  pomegranates,  and 
a  long  list  of  others,  that  abound  in  latitudes  nearer  the 
equator,  are  unknown  here ;  but  on  the  other  hand,  every 
sort  of  fruit,  herb,  or  vegetable  that  grows  in  England,  thrives 
equally  well  in  Van  Diemen's  Land. 


ANIMAL  KINGDOM,  VAN  DIEMEN's  ISLAND.  433 

The  Animal  Kingdom  is  pretty  similar  to  that  of  New  South 
Wales  ;  it  comprises  kangaroos  of  three  different  species,  viz. 
the  forest,  the  brush,  and  the  wallaby  ;  the  chief  difference, 
however,  between  them  is  the  size.  The  forest  kangaroo  is 
quite  a  large  animal,  its  hind  quarters  weighing  from  80  to  90 
lbs.  and  it  stands  the  full  height  of  a  man.* 

The  hyaena  opossum,  or  tiger,  is  very  destructive  among 
flocks,  sometimes  measuring  six  feet  from  the  snout  to  the 
tail.  The  skin  is  beautifully  striped  with  black  and  white  on 
the  back,  while  the  belly  and  sides  are  of  a  grey  colour.  Its 
mouth  resembles  that  of  a  wolf,  with  huge  jaws,  opening 
almost  to  the  ears.  Its  legs  are  short  in  proportion  to  the 
body,  and  it  has  a  sluggish  appearance  ;  but  in  running  it 
bounds  like  a  kangaroo,  though  not  with  such  speed.  The 
female  carries  its  young  in  a  pouch,  like  most  of  the  other 
quadrupeds  of  the  colony. 

The  dasyurus  ursinus,  popularly  called  the  devil,  is  another 
animal  of  the  same  species.  It  is  extremely  ugly,  with  a 
head  something  resembling  that  of  the  otter  in  shape,  but 
out  of  proportion  when  compared  to  the  size  of  the  body  ; 
mouth  supplied  with  three  rows  of  teeth ;  legs  short,  with 
feet  like  the  feline  race ;  tail  short  and  thick,  and  skin  of  a 
sable  colour :  when  provoked  it  champs  its  teeth  with  great 
violence,  making  at  the  same  time  a  noise  not  unlike  that  of 
a  bear :  it  can  exist  a  long  time  without  food,  and  is  the  only 
quadruped  yet  found  in  these  colonies  to  be  untameable.  It 
frequents  rocky  hills,  whence  it  issues  at  night  in  search  of 
its  prey,  and  is  very  destructive  to  the  flocks. 

The  native  porcupine  {ornithorynchus  hystrix),  in  size 
resembles  the  common  hedgehog,  but  the  spines  are  ranged 
in  patches,  having  one  longer  than  the  others  protruding 
from  each  of  the  centres  ;f  it  is  perfectly  harmless  :  the  flesh 
equals  that  of  a  fowl. 

*  The  kan<Taroos  thrive  well  in  Eno^land;  and  I  am  informed,  that,  in 
one  gentleman's  park,  there  are  several  hundred  feeding  in  common  with 
the  deer. 

t  Dr.  Henderson  says,  he  heard  it  had  the  mursuphtl  pouch. 

VOL.  IV.  f  F 


434  THE  WOMBAT  OF  AUSTRALASIA. 

The  wombat  is  a  very  singular  animal,  and  when  full  grown 
will  weigh  nearly  43  lbs.  The  largest,  generally  seen,  is 
about  32  inches  in  length,  and  26  in  circumference.  The 
head  is  large,  flattish,  and  forming  an  equilateral  triangle, 
about  seven  inches  long;  neck  thick  and  short,  and  back 
arching  to  the  loins  ;  the  circumference  behind  the  fore  legs 
27  inches,  and  across  the  thickest  part  of  the  belly  31  inches. 
The  fur  is  thick,  very  strong,  and  of  a  light  sandy  or  dark 
grey  colour,  lying  upon  the  face  in  regular  order,  as  if 
combed,  ends  upwards  in  radii  from  the  nose.  The  legs  are 
extremely  short,  the  ears  sharp,  erect,  and  2-f^  inches  long ; 
eyes  small  and  sunken,  but  lively  ;  feet  formed  like  those  of  a 
badger;  tail  -^^  of  an  inch  in  length;  mouth  resembling  that, 
of  a  rabbit,  with  five  long  grass-cutting  teeth  in  front  of  each 
jaw,  like  a  kangaroo,  with  two  canine  and  eight  molares.  The 
flesh  has  the  flavour  of  that  of  a  kangaroo,  but  is  more  de- 
licate. The  food  of  the  wombat  consists  principally  of  leaves 
and  grass ;  its  movements  are  awkward,  hobbling  or  shuffling 
like  a  deer :  it  burrows,  is  mild  and  gentle  in  disposition,  but 
bites  hard  when  provoked,  and,  in  common  with  the  many  of 
other  quadrupeds  of  this  island,  is  a  night  animal. 

The  platypus  {prnithorynchus  paradoxus)  is  found  here  as 
well  as  at  New  South  Wales.  Dr.  Henderson  supposes  it  to 
be  allied  to  the  beaver.  It  swims  low  in  the  water,  frequently 
in  company  with  the  musk  duck,  and  dives  very  rapidly. 
The  body  is  about  10  inches  long,  and  about  as  many  in  cir- 
cumference ;  the  bill  is  about  two  inches  and  a  quarter  in 
length ;  and  the  nostrils  are  about  three-quarters  of  an  inch 
from  the  end.  The  eyes  are  small,  and  the  eyelids  are 
scarcely  visible,  from  being  concealed  in  the  hair;  the  ears 
are  two  slits  behind  the  eyes,  and  larger  than  the  orifices  of 
the  eyelids ;  the  teeth,  four  in  number,  one  on  each  side  of 
the  upper  and  under  jaw,  are  all  grinders ;  they  differ  from 
common  teeth  materially,  having  neither  enamel  nor  bone, 
being  composed  of  a  horny  substance  only,  connected  by  an 
irregular  surface  in  the  place  of  fangs.  When  cut  through, 
which  is  readily  done,  the  internal  structure  is  like  the  human 


THE  PLATYPUS,  OK   ORNITHORVNCHUS.  4.'3/) 

nail.  Between  the  cheek  and  the  jaw,  on  each  side  of  the 
mouth,  there  is  a  pouch,  as  in  the  monkey  tribe ;  and  upon 
the  projecting  part  of  the  posterior  portion  of  the  tongue 
there  are  two  small  pointed  horny  excrescences.  The  fore 
legs  are  short,  and  the  feet  webbed;  each  foot  has  five  toes, 
united  by  the  web,  which  is  very  broad,  and  is  continued 
beyond  the  points  of  the  toes  nearly  an  inch  ;  on  each  toe 
there  is  a  rounded  straight  nail,  which  lies  loose  upon  the 
membrane  forming  the  web.  The  hind  legs  are  nearly  of 
the  same  length  as  the  fore,  but  stronger ;  each  foot  has  five 
toes,  with  claws,  and  webbed.  The  male,  on  the  heel,  has  a 
strong  crooked  spur,  with  a  sharp  point,  which  has  a  joint 
between  it  and  the  foot,  and  is  capable  of  motion  in  two  di- 
rections ;  the  animal,  when  irritated,  ejects  through  this  spur  a 
poisonous  liquor.  When  the  point  of  it  is  brought  close  to  the 
leg,  the  spur  is  concealed  in  the  hair;  when  directed  outwards, 
it  projects  considerably,  and  is  conspicuous.  The  tail  is  about 
five  inches  long,  and  shaped  like  that  of  the  beaver.  The 
colour  of  the  male  is  of  a  dark  brown  on  the  back,  legs,  bill, 
and  tail ;  the  under  part  of  the  neck  and  belly  is  of  a  silver 
grey.  The  hair  is  of  two  kinds  ;  a  very  fine  thick  fur,  half 
an  inch  long,  and  a  curious  kind  of  hair  nearly  an  inch 
long.  The  part  nearest  the  root  has  the  appearance  of 
hair,  but  for  a  quarter  of  an  inch  towards  the  point  it  be- 
comes flat,  with  a  glossy  brightness,  which  gives  it  the  appear- 
ance of  feathers.  The  fur  or  hair  on  the  back  is  shorter  than 
that  on  the  venter.  It  is  very  shy,  and  only  found  in  unfre- 
quented places ;  suckles  its  young  at  first,  afterwards  feeding 
them  on  comminuted  insects  until  they  are  capable  of  taking 
the  water. 

There  are  several  sorts  of  wild  cats  in  the  woods,  one  of 
which  is  called  the  tiger  cat,  from  its  general  resemblance  to 
that  animal  :  others  partake  of  the  character  of  the  English 
weasel ;  they  are  all  great  enemies  to  the  poultry  yard,  and 
occasionally  aiso  to  young  lambs. 

The  kangaroo  rat  and  kangaroo  mouse  should  not  be 
omitted ;    the  latter  in  particular,   being   one  of  the  greatest 


436  BIRDS  OF  VAN  DIEMEn's  ISLAND. 

curiosities  in  the  colony  ;  it  is  a  mouse,  resembling,  as 
near  as  possible,  the  distinguishing  characteristics  of  the 
kangaroo. 

Opossums  are  of  two  or  three  sorts.  They  are  perfectly 
harmless  and  inoffensive,  living  like  squirrels,  chiefly  in  holes 
of  trees,  and  eating  the  leaves  or  branches.  Their  skins  are 
of  little  value,  and  yet  they  serve  as  a  pretext  for  much 
wanton  cruelty  on  the  part  of  some,  who  take  advantage  of 
moonlight  evenings  to  shoot  and  worry  great  numbers  of 
them. 

The  bandicoot  is  a  mischievous  little  visitor  to  potatoe 
grounds,  using  its  snout  to  turn  up  the  root,  which  it  after- 
wards devours. 

Birds  are  of  numerous  species,  and  many  of  them  of  beau- 
tiful plumage.  Emus — black,  white,  and  satin  cockatoos, 
parrots,  and  parroquets  of  great  variety,  large  black  magpies, 
the  white  or  whistling  ditto,  the  laughing  jackass,  so  called 
from  its  singular  noise,  cum  multis  aliis  of  less  size,  but  far 
more  beautiful  appearance,  serve  to  make  up  the  ornithology 
of  Van  Diemen's  Land,  in  the  class  that  belongs  neither  to 
birds  of  prey  nor  to  waterfowl. 

Among  the  first  of  these  are  eagles,  hawks  of  all  sorts, 
kites,  ravens,  and  the  common  carrion  crow.  In  the  other, 
many  varieties  of  the  gull,  pelican,  the  kingfisher,  black 
swans  of  very  majestic  appearance,  wild  ducks;  also,  the 
musk  duck,  teal,  widgeon,  and  many  others. 

Quails,  snipe,  and  a  species  of  pigeon,  of  a  splendid  bronze 
colour,  in  flavour  resembling  a  partridge  and  scarcely  inferior 
to  it,  are  the  chief  birds,  in  addition  to  waterfowl,  that  attract 
the  attention  of  sportsmen. 

Ichthyology. — The  inlets  and  bays  around  the  coast 
abound  with  fish.  The  trumpeter  is  one  of  the  most  admired 
— the  other  kinds,  which  may  be  purchased  at  Hobart  Town, 
are  salmon  (so  called  in  the  colony,  but  a  very  poor  fish), 
perch,  rock-cod,  bream,  mullet,  whitings,  flat-heads,  leather- 
jackets,  taylors,  parrots,  guard-fish,  cray-fish,  (nearly  as  good 
as   lobsters),   oysters   (good  and  plentiful),   eels,   skate,  and 


ICHTHYOLOGY.       POISONOUS  FISH.  437 

shrimps.  Some  years  ago  mackarel,  of  a  very  small  species, 
were  caught,  but  latterly  they  have  not  been  known  to  ap- 
proach the  island.  Black  fish  are  plentiful  in  the  Mersey, 
and  generally  weigh  from  five  to  fifteen  pounds ;  they  have  no 
scales. 

The  rivers  and  lakes  in  the  interior  abound  with  very  fine 
eels,  but  other  fresh- water  fish  are  of  little  note  excepting  the 
mullet,  of  which  a  considerable  quantity  is  annually  caught 
near  the  falls  at  New  Norfolk.  They  are  in  greatest  perfec- 
tion from  November  to  March,  and  afford  sport  to  the  angler, 
as  they  will  readily  rise  to  the  fly. 

A  fish  found  in  the  bays  and  on  the  shores  of  the  island, 
and  supposed  to  be  a  species  of  toad  fish,  is  a  strong  poison. 
In  the  year  1831,  the  lady  of  a  respectable  merchant  and  two 
children,  partook  of  part  of  one  of  these  fish,  which  was 
served  up  at  dinner,  and  in  the  course  of  three  hours  they 
were  all  corpses.  At  the  coroner's  inquest  the  effect  of  the 
poison  was  satisfactorily  proved  by  giving  part  of  the  fish, 
left  by  the  unfortunate  individuls,  to  two  cats,  which  soon 
became  affected.  When  both  were  in  a  dying  state,  one  had 
25  drops  of  the  arsenical  solution  introduced  into  the  stomach, 
and  rapidly  recovered,  while  the  other,  which  was  allowed  to 
take  its  chance,  quickly  died.  About  12  hours  after  death 
the  bodies  became  livid,  swollen,  with  bloody  serum  issuing 
from  all  the  external  parts,  intolerably  fetid,  and  rapidly  run- 
ning into  decomposition.  The  poison  is  of  a  powerful  seda- 
tive nature,  producing  stupor,  and  acting  upon  the  nervous 
power.  This  fish  seldom  exceeds  five  inches  in  length, 
which,  when  compared  to  its  circumference,  is  dispropor- 
tionate ;  the  back  is  the  colour  of  and  spotted  like  tortoise- 
shell,  and  the  venter  is  white,  resembUng  to  the  touch,  and 
in  appearance,  kid-skin. 

The  black  whale  resorts,  during  the  breeding  season,  to 
the  deep  estuaries  of  rivers,  and  to  the  bays  and  inlets  around 
the  island.  The  whalers  at  that  season  are  on  the  qui  vive, 
and  immediately  a  fish  is  seen,  it  is  pursued  by  them  in  boats. 
The  smallest  fishery  generally  consists  of  two  boats,  supplied 


ioS  WHALE  FISHERY,  VAN  HIEMEN's  LAND. 

with  eight  hands  each,  and  an  establishment  fixed  on  some  con- 
venient spot  on  the  shore  for  '  rendering  down'  (melting)  the 
blubber.  The  proprietor  supplies  rations,  including  spirits 
(which,  as  an  encouragement  to  the  trade,  is  not  charged 
with  duty) ;  and  instead  of  wages,  the  men  receive  shares  of 
the  profits  of  all  the  produce.  The  cost  of  the  whale  boats 
(colonial  built,  and  considered  of  a  superior  make),  gear, 
provisions,  &c.,  for  each  establishment  during  the  season, 
amounts  to  about  300/.  The  following  extract  from  the 
Colonist  newspaper,  dated  August  24th,  1832  (then  the 
whaling  season),  will  show  the  importance  which  is  attached 
to  the  success  of  the  fishery  :  — 

"  We  are  happy  this  week  to  lay  before  ovir  readers  an 
account  of  the  very  great  success  that  has  attended  our  en- 
terprising whalers.  The  latest  accounts  are  up  to  last  Sa- 
turday. Mr.  M'Lachlan's  party,  in  the  River  Derwent  and 
Recherche  Bay,  have  caught  37  fish  ;  Mr.  Hewitt's  party,  in 
Recherche  and  Adventure  Bays,  34  fish  ;  Mr.  Rett's  party, 
in  Recherche  Bay,  10  fish ;  Mr.  Long's  party,  in  Recherche 
Bay,  four  fish  ;  the  Eagle  schooner,  in  Adventure  Bay,  three 
fish  ;  Mr.  Kelly,  in  the  brig  Alar?/  and  Elizabeth,  three  fish  ; 
My-.  Meredith's  party,  in  Oyster  Bay,  six  fish : — total,  97. 
The  fish  are  exceedingly  plentiful  on  our  coast  this  season, 
and  have  not  been  known  to  be  more  numerous  at  any 
former  period."  The  quantity  of  oil  exported  will  be  found 
under  Commerce ;  the  progress  of  the  trade  is  indicated  by 
the  fact  that  in  1824  no  whale  oil  was  exported  ;  in  1825,  to 
the  value  of  1400/.  ;  in  1826,  2855/.  ;  in  1827,  9670/. ;  in 
1829,  12,313/. ;  in  1830,  18,277/. ;  and  so  on  increasing,  as  of 
course  is  also  the  exportation  of  whalebone,  the  value  of  whiclx 
is  not  included  in  these  statements. 

There  are  several  kinds  of  snakes,  some  of  them  being  ex- 
tremely venomous.  The  most  commonly  seen,  are  a  large 
black  snake,  the  diamond  snake,  and  a  smaller  brown  sort. 
In  the  reptile  family  may  be  mentioned  guanas  and  lizards, 
said  to  be  perfectly  innoxious  :  centipedes  of  two  sorts,  scor- 
pions and  tarantulas,  the  latter  may  be  often  met  with  in 
rotten  wood. 


ABORIGINES  OF  VAN  DIEMEn's  LAND — THEIR  STRENGTH.  iod 

Many  curious  and  beautiful  descriptions  of  the  beetle  are 
seen  ;  three  or  four  sorts  of  ants,  some  of  which  are  a  full 
inch  in  length,  and  sting  sharply  ;  various  sorts  of  spiders, 
mosquitoes,  &c.  &c.,  including  a  numerous  tribe  of  insects, 
such  as  are  common  in  all  countries. 

European  domesticated  animals  all  thrive,  and  increase  in 
size.* 

Population  is  here  as  in  New  South  Wales,  composed  of 
three  classes,  viz  :  the  Aborigines,  the  European  prisoners, 
and  the  white  free  inhabitants.  The  aborigines  or  blacks, 
differ  but  little  from  those  of  the  adjacent  territory  of  New 
Holland,  with  the  exception  of  the  hair  being  woolly,  the 
complexion  quite  black,  and  the  countenance  and  appearance 
more  nearly  resembling  the  African  negro  than  is  the  case 
with  the  New  South  Wales  aborigines,  notwithstanding  that 
Van  Diemen's  Island  is  so  much  colder.  In  appearance  and 
in  ingenuity  the  aborigines  of  this  island  are  inferior  to  those 
of  New  South  Wales,  and  Monsieur  Peron,  who  tried  them 
with  an  instrument  called  the  dynamometer  is  of  opinion  that 
they  are  a  weaker  race.f 

For  several  years  a  system  of  desultory  warfare  has  been 

*  European  rats  ari'l  mice  have  been  among'  the  importation  of  live 
stock,  and  have  now  made  their  way  to  all  parts  of  the  colony. 

t  The  dynamometer  employed  by  M.  Peron  (that  of  Regnier)  consisted 
of  an  elliptical  spring  one  foot  long  and  rather  narrow.  It  was  covered 
with  leather  that  it  might  not  injure  the  hand  that  compressed  it.  The 
strength  of  the  spring  was  such  as  to  exceed  that  of  any  animal  to  which 
it  might  be  applied ;  and  it  contained  a  meclianism  with  an  index  which 
indicated  tlie  quantity  of  the  power  by  which  the  spring  was  compressed. 
M.  Peron  was  the  first  to  whom  the  idea  occurred  of  employing  this  instru- 
ment for  the  purpose  of  comparing  the  strength  of  the  savage  with  that  of 
the  civilized  man  ;  and  in  the  voyage  to  the  southern  hemisphere,  under- 
taken by  the  order  of  Buonaparte,  the  following  results  were  obtained. 
The  manual  power,  eaipressed  in  French  kilogrammes,  was — Van  Diemen's 
Land,  50-6;  New  Holland,  51-8;  Timor,  587;  French,  692;  English, 
71  ■4.  M.  Peron  could  never  induce  the  natives  of  Van  Diemen's  Land  to 
try  the  strength  of  their  loins  ;  but  the  result  in  respect  to  the  others,  ex- 
pressed in  French  myriogrammes,  was — New  Holland,  HSj  Timor,  16-2; 
French,  22- 1 ;  English,  23-8. 


440  PRISONERS  AT  VAN  DIEMEN's  LAND. 

carried  on  between  the  aborigines  and  the  colonists,  arising 
out  of  a  spirit  of  revenge  on  either  side.  The  murderous  at- 
tacks of  the  aborigines  on  the  distant  and  defenceless  stock- 
keepers  and  farmers,  aroused  the  spirit  of  the  whole  country, 
and  all  the  military  and  people  capable  of  bearing  arms,  or  that 
could  be  spared  from  the  defence  of  the  stores,  formed  a  cor- 
don round  the  aborigines  so  as  to  drive  them  into  a  peninsula, 
called  Tasman's  Head,  where  it  was  intended  to  keep  them — 
supply  all  their  wants,  and  endeavour  to  civilize  them.  Great 
trouble  and  expense  was  incurred,  and  the  aborigines  broke 
through  the  cordon  as  so  many  wild  beasts  from  a  lair ;  but 
finally  by  the  humane  exertions  of  Mr.  Robinson,  aided  by 
some  of  the  more  civilized  Sydney  blacks  (sent  from  New 
South  Wales  for  the  purpose)  the  aborigines  have  removed 
themselves  to  Flinders'  island,  in  Bass's  Straits,  where  they 
are  clothed,  fed,  and  endeavours  made  to  civilize  them.  The 
total  number  of  the  aborigines  does  not  probably  exceed 
300,  and  I  fear  in  a  few  years  (owing  partly  to  the  small 
number  of  males  in  proportion  to  females),  they  will  also  have 
entirely  passed  away.* 

Prisoners. — The  number  of  transported  felons  in  the  colony 
is  upwards  of  12,000.  On  the  31st  October  1832,  the  total 
number  of  male  convicts  in  the  island,  amounted  to  11,040; 
of  these  182  were  at  the  penal  settlement  of  Macquarie  Har- 
bour ;  240  at  the  penal  settlement  of  Port  Arthur ;  46  con- 
fined in  gaols,  and  543  employed  in  chain  gangs  in  the  colony : 
making  a  total  of  921,  actually  undergoing  an  additional  se- 
verity of  punishment  which  the  colonial  regulations  assign  to 
offenders  who  have  subjected  themselves,  by  renewed  crimes, 
to  a  second  sentence  of  condemnation  after  their  arrival  in 
the  colony.  Dr.  Ross  reckons  that  not  one  in  twenty  again 
subjects  himself  to  a  second  punishment — a  proof  that  the 
moral  condition  of  the  convict  is  mvich  improved. 

*  Recent  accounts  state,  that  an  expedition  was  fitting  out  at  Van  Die- 
inen's  Land  to  explore  the  contiguous  coast  of  New  Holland,  and  fix,  if 
possible,  on  a  suitable  location  for  the  settlement  of  the  Van  Diemen 
aborigines. 


DISTRIBUTION  OF  PRISONERS.  441 

The  following  account  of  the  distribution  of  the  convicts  in 
1832,  will  shew  how  they  are  generally  employed  : — Assigned 
to  settlers,  6396;  tickets  of  leave,  1160;  constables  and  field 
police,  155  ;  artificers  on  loan  to  settlers,  267 ;  employed  in 
the  public  works,  1645;  sentence  of  transportation  expired, 
24;  free  and  conditional  pardons,  12;  invalids,  52 ;  sick  in 
hospital,  49  ;  died,  5  ;  missing,*  60  ;  at  Macquarie  Harbour, 
182;  at  Port  Arthur,  240:  confined  in  gaols,  46;  employed 
in  chain  gangs,  543;  absconded,*  204  ;  total  11,040. 

The  female  prisoners  are  in  number  about  2,000,  and  as- 
signed as  servants  to  the  settlers  in  the  same  manner  as  the 
men — (for  proceedings  regarding  which  see  the  preceding 
chapter.)  As  the  subject  of  prison  discipline  is  deservedly 
exciting  considerable  attention,  (I  would  however  rather  an 
investigation  were  made  into  the  causes  of  crime),  I  subjoin  the 
following,  relative  to  the  treatment  of  convicts  in  Van  Diemen's 
Land,  which,  together  with  the  details  given  under  New  South 
Wales,  will  enable  the  reader  to  understand  the  manner  in 
which  the  prisoners  are  disposed  of. 

All  persons  who  are  transported  to  Van  Diemen's  Land, 
without  reference  to  any  previous  circumstances  whatever,-)- 
are  either  placed  in  the  public  service,  or  are  assigned  to  pri- 
vate individuals  immediately  upon  landing,  according  to  their 
several  qualifications.  Those  who  belong  to  the  first  class, 
are  compelled  to  devote  the  whole  of  their  time  to  such  occu- 
pations as  are  allotted  to  them ;  and  in  return,  are  fed, 
clothed,  and  lodged  at  the  expense  of  the  Crown.  All  me- 
chanics and  labourers  reside  in  barracks,  built  expressly  for 
the  occasion ;  but  those  who  are  employed  as  clerks  in  any 
of  the  public  offices,  are  permitted  to  live  elsewhere,  and 
receive  a  small  pittance  varying  from  10/.  to  18/.  per  annum, 


*  The  two  items  absconded  and  missing,  include  those  whose  fate,  from 
the  first  era  of  the  settlement,  has  not  been  ascertained,  though  it  is  pretty 
well  known  that  many  of  them  are  dead. 

1 1  believe  that  recently  some  prisoners  have  been  sent  out  with  instruc- 
tions to  be  placed  in  irons  on  landing,  and  sent  to  a  penal  settlement. 
This  is  decidedly  wrong — it  is  punisiuncnt  without  reformation. 


442  CLASSIFICATION  OF  MALE  PRISONERS,  AND 

together  with  51.  for  clothing.  The  regulations  in  force  with 
respect  to  the  whole  body,  effectually  render  their  condition, 
one  of  unvarying  punishment.  They  are  not  allowed  the 
exercise  of  either  their  time  or  talents  for  their  own  advan- 
tage, nor  are  they  suffered  to  possess  property  even  if  they 
had  friends  who  would  place  such  at  their  disposal.  Those 
who  are  assigned  to  private  individuals,  must  be  bond  fide  in 
the  service  of  their  masters.  They  are  not  allowed  to  live 
away  from  his  roof — must  not  be  paid  wages  nor  work  for 
themselves — can  go  no  where  without  a  pass — in  fact,  al- 
though possessing  a  sort  of  comparative  liberty,  are  still 
under  the  closest  control  imaginable.  The  colonial  laws 
against  harbouring  prisoners  are  extremely  severe,  visiting 
with  heavy  fines,  all  transgressors  ;  and  to  which  persons  may 
very  innocently  render  themselves  liable,  so  various  and  com- 
prehensive are  the  enactments. 

The  following  classification,  so  far  as  it  may  be  practicable, 
is  in  force  throughout  the  colony.  Thus  while  the  industrious 
and  well-conducted  receive  due  encouragement,  even  beyond 
what  is  now  promulgated,  those  of  irregular  habits  are  com- 
pelled to  labour,  without  intermission,  through  the  several 
gradations,  until,  by  the  expiation  of  their  offences  and  im- 
proved demeanour,  they  may  be  considered  worthy  to  be  re- 
stored to  the  privileges  annexed  to  the  second  and  first  classes, 
or  to  the  still  higher  privilege  of  being  placed  in  the  service 
of  respectable  settlers. 

First  Class. — Consists  of  such  men,  whether  mechanics 
or  labourers,  as  from  especial  good  conduct  are  permitted 
to  sleep  out  of  barracks,  and  to  work  for  themselves  the  whole 
of  each  Saturday. 

Second  Class. — Those  for  whom  barrack  accommodation 
shall  be  provided,  and  who,  subject  to  a  continuance  of  good 
behaviour,  are  allowed  to  work  for  themselves  the  whole  of 
each  Saturday. 

T/iird  Class. — Men  employed  on  the  public  works,  who 
are  released  from  work  every  Saturday  at  noon,  subject 
however  to  the  condition  of  good  behaviour. 

Fourth  Class. — Refractory  or  disorderly  characters  worked 


THEIR  REGULATED  FOOD  AND  CLOTJIINO.  443 

in  irons,  either  in  the  towns  or  on  the  roads,  under  the  sen- 
tence of  a  Magistrate. 

Fifth  Class. — Men  of  the  most  degraded  and  incorrigible 
character,  who  are  worked  in  irons  under  the  sentence  of 
a  Magistrate,  and  kept  entirely  separate  from  other  prisoners. 

Sixth  Class. — Men  removed  to  penal  settlements,*  subject 
to  the  classification  of  the  Commandant  there. 

In  order  that  no  excuse  for  the  non-performance  of  a  just 
proportion  of  labour  may  be  adduced  by  the  convict,  it  is 
the  indispensable  duty  of  his  master  to  furnish  him  with  the 
following  rations  per  week  : — f 

Meat,  10|^  lbs ;  flour,  lOi  lbs ;  sugar,  7  ounces ;  soap,  S{  do ; 
and  salt,  2  do.  Each  servant  is  ordered  to  receive  of 
woollen  slop  clothing,  two  suits  ;  stock-keeper's  boots,  three 
pairs ;  shirts,  four ;  cap  or,  hat,  one,  per  annum.  Bedding 
to  consist  of  a  palliass  stuffed  with  w  ool,  two  blankets  and  a 
rug,  to  be  considered  the  property  of  the  master,  and  retained 
by  him  on  the  discharge  of  the  servant.  The  quality  is  required 
to  be  equal  to  those  issued  from  the  public  stores.  No  pay- 
ment of  wages  is  permitted  to  be  made  to  the  convict.^ 

The  weekly  ration  to  females  consists  of  8^-  lbs.  of  flour ; 

*  These  are  distant  stations  under  the  Governments  of  New  South  Wales 
and  Van  Diemen's  Land,  where  none  but  prisoners  and  their  f^uard  are 
allowed  to  remain  ;  and  where  the  former  are  kept  at  unremittino-  labour. 

-f-  On  reference  to  this  subject  in  the  precedin^f  chapter,  it  will  be  per- 
ceived that  the  rations  are  better  for  prisoners  in  Van  Diemen's  Land  than 
in  New  South  Wales. 

+  If  a  convict  refuse  to  work  or  neglect  his  orders,  he  is,  on  conviction, 
punished  by  a  Bench  of  Ma<j;istrates  ;  and  if  such  conduct  be  persisted  in, 
he  is  sent  to  work  on  the  road  in  chains,  and  finally  to  a  penal  settlement. 
At  Macquarie  Harbour,  one  of  the  penal  settlements,  the  convicts'  punish- 
ment is  rendered  as  severe  as  almost  any  circumstances  on  earth  may  be 
supposed  to  admit.  Shut  up  at  night  within  a  wretched  hovel,  on  a  rock 
in  the  ocean,  where  the  only  symptom  of  comfort  is  that  which  security 
presents  ;  as  soon  as  the  prisoners  are  called  from  rest  in  the  morning,  they 
are  fed  with  a  dish  of  porridge,  composed  of  flour  and  water,  with  a  little 
salt.  They  then  embark  in  boats  and  row  several  miles  to  the  wood-cutting 
stations,  where  they  continue  to  work  until  their  return  at  night,  wht-n  they 
are  supplied  with  the  only  substantial  meal  they  receive  in  the  twenty-four 
hours.     Their  labour  consists  in  cutting  up  the  trees  growing  near  the 


444         RATIONS  AND  CLOTHING  FOR   FEMALE  PRISONERS. 

5-Jlbs.  of  meat;  2  oz.  of  tea  |lb.  of  sugar,  2oz.  of  soap,  H 
oz.  of  salt. 

The  wearing  apparel  furnished,  per  annum,  is  1  cotton 
gown;  2  bed  gowns,  or  jackets;  3  shifts;  2  flannel  petti- 
coats ;  2  stuff  ditto ;  3  pairs  of  shoes ;  3  calico  caps  ;  3  pairs 
of  stockings  ;  2  neck  handkerchiefs ;  3  check  aprons ;  1 
bonnet. 

The  above  articles  of  dress  are  required  to  be  of  a  plain  and 
neat  description,  not  exceeding  the  cost  of  71.  per  annum,  and 
beyond  which  allowance  the  Lieutenant  Governor  strongly 
recommends  that  no  female  be  remunerated. 

Each  assigned  female  servant  is  also  provided  with  bed- 
ding, consisting  of  a  palliass,  stuffed  with  wool,  two  blankets, 
and  a  rug,  which  are  the  property  of  the  master,  and  retained 
by  him  on  the  discharge  of  the  servant. 

The  indulgences  that  are  open  to  prisoners  of  the  Crown, 
as  a  reward  for  good  conduct,  consist,  as  in  New  South 
Wales,  principally  of  ticJcets  of  leave,  by  which  the  holder  is 
free  from  compulsory  labour — and  emancipations,  which  re- 
store freedom,  so  far  as  regards  the  colony,  but  do  not  permit 
the  individual  to  leave  it.  But  there  are  other  intermediate 
steps  which  may  be  considered  to  partake  of  the  nature  of  in- 
dulgences, such  as  situations  in  the  police,  post-ofHce,  &c. 
that  are  only  conferred  upon  persons  of  good  character,  but 
which  open  the  road,  at  the  end  of  a  given  period,  to  certain 
and  considerable  advantages.  The  fixed  rule  with  regard  to 
indulgence  is,  undeviating  good  conduct,  and  length  of  service. 

coast,  into  heavy  logs,  which  they  carry  on  their  shoulders,  or  slide  to  the 
water's  edge,  and  form  into  rafts.  During  the  greater  part  of  this  duty 
the  convict  has  to  work  up  to  his  middle  in  water,  and  even  in  the  woods, 
from  the  moist  and  swampy  nature  of  the  country,  his  employment  is  of 
the  most  disagreeable  and  harassing  kind.  The  prospect  of  being  re- 
warded for  a  series  of  good  conduct,  by  a  return  to  the  parent  colony, 
under  the  judicious  management  and  humane  encouragement  of  the  Com- 
mandant, often  sows  the  seeds  of  reformation,  which  are  more  effectually 
nourished  when  he  is  entrusted  to  the  settler.  But  so  dreadful  is  the  pu- 
nishment, that  murder  has  not  unfrequently  been  committed,  in  order  that 
the  prisoner  n)iglit  be  remanded  to  Hobart  Town  gaol  for  the  brief  period 
prior  to  hii'  trial  and  execution. 


I 


REWARDS  FOR  GOOD  CONDUCT  IN  PRISONERS. 


4i5 


Persons  who  are  transported  for  seven  years,  must  have  resided 
four  years  in  the  colony,  before  they  are  admissible  to  a  ticket 
of  leave ;  for  fourteen,  six  ;  for  life,  eight.  Emancipations  may 
be  hoped  for  by  men  transported  for  fourteen  years  at  the 
end  of  two-thirds  of  their  sentence ;  by  those  men  who  are 
sentenced  for  life,  after  having  been  in  the  island  twelve  years ; 
but  one  single  act  that  shall  have  brought  the  individual  be- 
fore a  magistrate,  so  as  to  have  a  record  of  misbehaviour 
against  his  name,  no  matter  how  slight  its  nature,  throws  him 
back  there  is  no  saying  how  long,  and  the  claim  he  might 
fancy  he  had,  according  to  the  rule  now  laid  down,  becomes 
altogether  forfeited.*  Let  those  in  England  who  conceive 
that  transportation  is  a  state  of  ease  and  advantage,  only  re- 
side in  Van  Diemen's  Land  for  one  twelvemonth,  and  their 
opinions  will  be  changed.     In  it,  as  in  all  other  conditions  of 

*  The  health  and  mortality  of  the  prisoners  is  shewn  in  the  following' 
return  of  medical  and  surgical  diseases  treated  in  the  colonial  hospital  at 
Hobart  Town : 


Year. 

Remaining'. 

Admitted. 

Discharged. 

Died, 

Received 
31st  Dec. 

1821 

2634 

2251 

24 

59 

1822 

59 

2589 

2554 

32 

61 

1823 

61 

2331 

2288 

22 

66 

1824 

66 

4201 

4188 

18 

17 

1825 

77 

3033 

2997 

33 

86 

1826 

86 

3180 

3150 

41 

75 

1827 

75 

2514 

2492 

40 

57 

1828 

57 

2527 

2459 

67 

63 

1829 

63 

2146 

2103 

50 

56 

1830 

56 

2020 

1944 

59 

72 

1831 

72 

2913 

2837 

75 

72 

30102 

29563    j 

461 

Of  the  deaths,  7  vvere  from  abcesses,  8  ambustio,  30  anasarca,  3  aneu- 
rism, 10  apoplexia,  6  ascites,  6  asthma,  35  atrophy,  I  bronchitis,  2  caries, 
A  catarrh,  2  cephalalgia,  3  contusions,  3  cynanche  tonsillaris,  8  diarrhoea, 
56  dysentery,  1  dyspepsia,  2  dysuria,  10  enteritis,  2  epilepsy,  2  erysipelas, 
62  continued  fever,  4  fistula,  5  fracture,  1  gastritis,  14  hepatitis,  1  hernia, 
4  hematopsis,  4  hydrocephalus,  9  hydrothorax,  6  water  on  the  heart,  3 
jaundice,  15  insanity,  1  menorrhagia,  1  morbus  cordis,  2  nephritis,  1  ob- 
stipatio,  1  opthalmia,  12  paralysis,  2  peritonitis,  2  phlegmon,  2  phrenitis, 
52  consumption,  2  pleuritis,  7  pneumonia,  5  rheumatisms,  1  ruptura 
venfe  cor.,  1  scorbutus,  1  schirrus,  6  scrofula,  1  sphacelus,  4  stricture,  3 
lock  jaw,  2  tumours,  1  tympanitis,  5  ulcers,  and  15  of  wounds.  Scrofula 
and  glandular  diseases  are  rare,  acute  diseases  mild,  chronic  maladies  of  short 
duration,  and  the  length  of  life  considerable. 


446 


PROGRESSIVE  POPULATION  OF  VAN  DIEMRN  S  LAND. 


life,  those  who  behave  well  are  better  off,  in  many  respects, 
than  others  who  shew  no  signs  of  reformation ;  and  God  for- 
bid it  should  be  otherwise !  but  even  these  have  daily  reason 
to  find  that  their  degree  of  punishment  is  ample. 

Free  Population. — The  third  class,  amounting  to  from  15  to 
20,000,  is  similar  to  that  described  in  the  preceding  chapter ; 
there  are  not,  however,  such  strong  party  feelings  in  Van  Die- 
men's  Land  between  the  Emancipists  and  the  Emigrants,  and 
although  there  may  not  be  so  much  wealth  centered  in  indi- 
viduals as  in  the  sister  colony,  there  is  certainly  a  great  deal 
of  comfort  and  prosperity. 

Although  the  colony  was  only  founded  in  1804  as  a  penal 
settlement  of  New  South  Wales,  and  continued  as  such  until 
1813,  it  has  nevertheless  made  considerable  progress  in  po- 
pulation, but  unfortunately  I  have  not  the  census  as  regularly 
as  given  under  New  South  Wales  chapter. 

Population  of  Van  Diemen's  Land. 


Whites,  Free. 

Whites, 
Prisoners. 

Total. 

Persons  employed  in 

2 

a 

6 

l3 

Si 

s 

to 

"3 

S 

0 
"is 

a 
■3 
S 

3 
0 

< 

0 

s 
c 

B 
1 

S 

li 
ni 

IS 

to 
IS 

a 

1804 

68 

10 

360    '        40 

428 

50 

1816 

126P 

629 

993 

363 

1822 

220P 

1407 

4548 

348 

6757 

1755 

1825 

4093 

2272 

6448 

791 

10541 

3063 

146 

83 

192 

1828 

6419 

3056 

6724 

725 

13143 

378 1 

4233 

286 

1224 

309 

120 

250 

1830 

8351 

4623 

8877 

1318 

17228 

5941 

5664 

487 

442 

460 

163 

270 

1833 

12058 

7402 

10758 

1500 

22816 

8902 

6488 

1019 

1376 

455 

257 

379 

The  most  thickly  peopled  part  of  the  island  is  Hobart  Town 
and  its  adjoining  district,  of  which  the  white  population  was 
in  January  1832  and  1833— 


District  of 

Free. 

Convict. 

Total. 

Grand 

Hobart  Town. 

Male.    Female. 

Male. 

Female. 

Male. 

Female. 

Total. 

1832 
1833 

1 
3850     i     2776 
3102          2227 

2699 
2362 

776 
669 

6549 

5464 

3552 
2896 

10101 
8360 

Increase 

748            549 

337 

107 

1085 

656 

1741 

The  total  population  and   stock  of  the  colony  by  districts] 
was  in  1830  as  follows — 


POPULATION  AND  STOCK. 


447 


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Hobart  Town  Dist. 

New  Norfolk   

Richmond 

Clyde  or  Both  well 
Oatlands   

Oyster  Bay  

Campbell  Town  . . 
Norfolk  Plains. . . . 

Launceston 

MacquarieHarbour 
Port  Arthur 

Maria  Island    .... 
V.  Dieman's  Land 
Company's  Giant 
Unlocated  Territ. 

*;     S 


^    -a 


448 


FORM  OF  GOVERNMENT,  VAN  DIEMEN's  LAND. 


The  Form  of  Government  is  similar  to  that  of  New  South 
Wales,  the  chief  authority  being  vested  in  a  Lieut.-Governor, 
and  Executive  Council,  consisting  of  the  Lieut.-Governor, 
Chief  Justice,  Colonial  Secretary,  Treasurer,  and  senior 
Military  officer  ;  and  a  Legislative  Council,  consisting  of  the 
Lieut.-Governor,  Chief  Justice,  Colonial  Secretary,  Treasurer, 
Chaplain,  Attorney-General,  and  Collector  of  Customs,  to- 
gether with  eight  private  gentlemen  of  the  colony,  nominated 
by  the  Crown  for  life.  The  powers  and  authority  of  the 
council  have  been  detailed  under  New  South  Wales ;  the 
account  of  which  may  serve  for  this  colony  on  a  minor  scale. 

There  is  a  Supreme  Court  yf'\\\\  a  chief  and  puisne  justice  at 
Hobart  Town,  from  which  courts  are  held  in  different  parts 
of  the  island.  The  Post  Office  is  well  managed,  and  the 
following  are  the  rates  of  postages  throughout  the  island.* 


Distances. 


Miles.  Miles. 

Above    1  and  not  exceeding    20 

20  30 

30  50 

50  60 

60  80 

80  90 

90  110 

110  130 

130  150 

150  160 


<u 

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S 

Cl, 

o 

u 

Q 

H 

o* 


d. 

2 
3 
4 
5 
6 
7 
8 
9 
10 
11 


d. 

d. 

3 

4 

4 

5 

6 

8 

7 

9 

9 

12 

10 

13 

12 

16 

13 

17 

15 

20 

16 

21 

d. 

5 
6 
10 
11 
15 
16 
20 
21 
25 
26 


And  so  on  progressively  in  the  same  proportion. 

*  Distances  of  some  of  the  most  remarkable  places  in  the  Island  from 
Hobart  Town. — Roseaeath  Ferry,  9  nniles;  Stony  Point  Ferry,  11;  Brighton, 
16;  the  Crown  Inn,  Bagdad,  13;  Tea  tree  bush  (Sunbury  cottage)  19; 
Constitution  Hill,  (Swan  Inn),  23 ;  Green  Ponds,  (Stieglitz's  Inn)  29 ; 
branch  road  to  Clyde,  32  ;  Lovely  Banks  (Inn),  36  ;  Spring  Hill,  (top  of) 
40;  Jericho,  (New  Inn),  42  ;  Oatlands,  60;  Sorell  Springs,  (White  Hart) 
58 ;  Tunbridge,  (bridge,  Blackman's  River),  65 ;  Ellenthorpe  Hall,  70 ; 
Ross,  (bridge)  74  ;  Auburn  on  the  Isis,  75;  Lincoln,  on  the  Macquarie, 
88 ;  Campbell  Town,  82 ;  junction  of  St.  Paul's  and  South  Esk,  99  ;  Fingal, 
(break  o'day)  112;  Perth,  112;  Cocked  Hat  Hill,  117;  Launceston,  123; 
junction  of  Lake  River  and  Macquarie,  104;  Latour,  (Norfolk  Plains),  112; 


MILITARY  STATIONS — VAN  DIEMEN's  LAND.  449 

Military  Defence. — The  only  post  of  strength  is  a  battery 
at  Hobart  Town,  commanding  the  anchorage.  The  miUtary 
stations  are  ; — at  Hobart  Town  one  Heut.  col.,  three  majors, 
one  captain,  five  lieutenants,  two  ensigns,  one  adjutant, 
one  quarter-master,  one  surgeon,  one  asst.  surgeon,  eigh- 
teen Serjeants,  twelve  corporals,  twelve  drummers,  and  two 
hundred  and  seventeen  privates.  Staff,  one  town  adjutant, 
one  barrack  master,  one  barrack  serjeant. 

Oatlands,  one  lieut.,  one  corporal  and  fifteen  privates  ; 
Ross,  one  lieut.,  one  serjeant  and  fifteen  rank  and  file ;  Avoca, 
one  serjeant  and  eighteen  rank  and  file  ;  Fingal,  one  corporal 
and  six  privates ;  Bothwell,  one  captain,  one  serjeant  and 
twelve  privates ;  Oyster  Bay,  one  serjeant  and  fourteen 
privates ;  Richmond,  one  lieut.,  one  serjeant  and  twenty-eight 
rank  and  file  ;  Bridgewater,  one  serjeant  and  twenty-three 
rank  and  file ;  Port  Arthur,  one  captain,  one  serjeant,  and 
fifty-seven  rank  and  file ;  Eagle  Hawk  Neck,  one  lieut.,  one 
serjeant,  and  twenty-three  rank  and  file  ;  New  Norfolk,  one 
serjeant,  and  six  privates;  Great  Island,  one  ensign  and  two 

Westbury,  (Quamby's  brook)  130;  George  Town,  164  ;  New  Norfolk,  22; 
junction  of  Plenty  witb  Derwent,  28  ;  Hamilton,  (Lower  Clyde)  46  ;  Law- 
renny  House,  51 ;  Bothwell,  45  ;  Shannon,  (Hermitage)  56  ;  Sandy  Bay, 
(Mr.  Hogan's)  3;  Brown's  River,  10;  Birch's  Bay,  (Government  estab.) 
30;  Kangaroo  point,  2;  Richmond,  16 ;  Sorell,  by  Coal  River,  24  ;  Sorell, 
by  the  ferries,  1 1  ;  Clarence  Plains,  (Aylwin's  Inn)  6 ;  Muddy  Plains, 
)Mr.  Germain's)  1 1 ;  Ford  at  Prosser's  River,  35  ;  "  Three  Thumbs,"  top 
of  Centre  Hill,  2,800  feet  high,  30  ;  Little  Swan  Port,  (Lt.  Hawkins)  53 ; 
Great  Swan  Port,  Waterloo  Point,  70;  Mount  Nelson,  1,000  ft.  high,  4; 
Mount  Lewis,  700  feet,  15  ;  Mount  Royal,  900  feet,  35 ;  Southern  Moun- 
tains near  Port  Davy,  5,000  feet  70 ;  Mount  Wellington,  4,000  feet,  7  ; 
Dromedary,  1,800  feet,  15;  Mount  Field,  Jones's  River,  3,000  feet,  50; 
Peak  of  Teneriffe  or  Wylde's  Craig,  4,500  feet,  70  ;  Table  Mountain, 
Jericho,  3,800  feet,  50;  Benlomond,  4,200  feet,  112;  St.  Paul's  dome, 
2,500  feet,  106;  Quamby's  Bluff,  3,500  feet,  140;  Bishop  and  Clerk, 
Maria  Island,  3,500  feet,  50 ;  Great  Lake,  source  of  the  Shannon,  80 ; 
Sorell  Lake,  source  of  the  Clyde,  70  ;  Lake  Echo,  source  of  the  Dee,  ']0 ; 
Lake  Arthur,  source  of  Lake  River,  80 ;  Great  Lagoon,  source  of  the 
Jordan,  48  ;  Lake  Toombs',  called  by  the  native  tribes,  "  Moyeu-te-lea." 
85  miles. 

VOL.   IV.  G  G 


450  RELIGION — NUMBER  OF  CHAPLAINS^  &C. 

privates,  63rd  regiment ;  Launceston,  one  major,  commandant, 
one  captain,  one  lieutenant,  two  Serjeants,  one  drummer,  and 
sixty  rank  and  file ;  Westbiiry,  one  lieut.,  one  serjeant,  and 
twelves  privates ;  George  Town,  one  corporal  and  six  privates  ; 
Constitution  Hill,  one  captain,  one  serjeant  and  thirty  rank 
and  file. 

Guard  mounted  daily  in  Hobart  Town,  two  Serjeants,  eight 
corporals,  sixty  privates.  Total  military  force  on  the  island, 
31st  of  Dec,  1833,  21st  fusileers,  602  ;  63rd  regiment^  180: 
total,  782. 

The  Governor  of  New  South  Wales  is  ex-officio  general  of 
the  district,  which  includes  Van  Diemen's  Island,  the  Lieut.- 
Governor  of  the  colony  being  only  Colonel,  commanding  so 
far  as  concerns  the  troops  stationed  in  the  island. 

Religion. — Van  Diemen's  Island  is  under  the  diocese  of 
Calcutta  and  the  Archdeaconry  of  New  South  Wales  in 
spiritual  matters.  The  Established  Church  clergy  consists 
of  a  rural  Dean,  Senior  Chaplain,  and  seven  Chaplains ;  there 
are  three  Presbyterian  Ministers,  one  Independent,  one 
Wesleyan,  and  one  Roman  Catholic  ditto,  all  paid  by  govern- 
ment. The  senior  chaplaincy  at  Hobart  Town  is  estimated  at 
the  worth  of  £1,000.  per  annum:  this  arises  from  fees,  glebe, 
&c.  the  salary  being  for  all  the  chaplains  alike,  viz.  £250.  per 
annum.  In  several  places,  where  the  congregation  is  not 
large,  the  service  of  the  church  is  performed  by  lecturers,  a 
sort  of  lay  clergymen,  whose  utility  in  our  colonies  as  cate- 
chists,  &:c.  is  unquestionable. 

Education. — Although  deficient  in  statistics,  education  is 
being  attended  to,  as  will  be  seen  under  finance,  by  the  sums 
devoted  to  the  purpose.  The  King's  Orphan  Schools,  and 
17  elementary  schools  throughout  the  colony,  are  provided 
for  by  the  local  government.  The  King's  Orphan  Schools 
are  two,  one  for  male,  and  the  other  for  female  children. 
Those  who  are  admitted  are  of  four  classes,  viz.  : — 1.  Those 
who  are  entirely  destitute.  2.  Those  who  have  one  parent 
living.  3.  Those  who  have  both  parents  living,  but  whose 
parents  are  totally  incompetent  to  afford  them  the  means  of 


STATE  OF  EDUCATION  AND  THE  PRESS.  45 1 

education.  4.  Children,  whose  parents  may  be  enabled  to 
contribute  the  moderate  sum  which  will  be  required  for  the 
care,  maintenance,  clothing,  and  education  of  children  in  the 
King's  Schoolsjviz.    121.  per  annum. 

The  general  management  and  care  of  these  children  are 
under  competent  persons,  who  are  themselves  closely  looked 
after  by  a  committee  named  by  the  Lieutenant  Governor ; 
and  it  is  not  too  much  to  say  that,  already  have  their  good 
effects  been  sensibly  felt  in  numerous  instances  where  children 
would  otherwise  have  been  left  in  a  state  of  miserable  desti- 
tution. 

The  other  government  elementary  schools  are  for  the  ad- 
mission of  any  children  who  are  sent  there,  upon  the  payment 
of  a  small  weekly  sum.  For  this,  they  are  taught  reading, 
writing,  spelling,  and  the  other  common  rudiments  of  educa- 
tion. They  are  under  the  immediate  charge  or  superinten- 
dence of  the  clergyman  who  resides  nearest  the  place  where 
they  are  severally  established. 

Of  private  seminaries  there  are  six  male  and  nine  female  at 
Hobart  Town,  and  in  various  parts  of  the  island  six  male  and 
six  female  schools,  well  managed,  and  where  a  good  elementary 
education  is  afforded  on  reasonable  terms. 

The  Press  is  unshackled  by  stamps,  paper  excise,  ad- 
vertisement duty,  or  censorship ;  the  result  is  thus  shewn : — 
Van  Diemens  Land  Journals. — Colonial  Times,  published  on 
Tuesdays ;  Tasmanian,  on  Fridays  ;  Hobart  Town  Courier,  on 
Fridays ;  Colonist,  on  Tuesdays ;  Government  Gazette,  on 
Friday;  Trumpeter,  on  Tuesday  and  Friday;  Trumpeter  Ge- 
neral, ditto ;  Independent,  at  Launceston  on  Saturdays ; 
Launceston  Advertiser,  on  Thursdays  ;  there  are  also  a 
Monthly  Magazine,  an  Annual  and  an  Almanack.  These  news- 
papers are  not  inferior  in  size,  appearance,  or  talent,  to  their 
brethren  of  the  English  press ;  estimating  the  number  of 
free  inhabitants  at  15,000,  there  is  a  journal  for  every  1,666 
persons  :  while  in  the  United  Kingdom,  with  a  population  of 
25,000,000,  and  reckoning  the  whole  of  the  journals  at  400, 
there  would  be  only  one  newspaper  for  every  62,500  persons. 


452      RELIGIOUS  INSTITUTIONS,  MEDICAL  DEPARTMENT,  &C. 

Such  is  the  difference  between  a  heavily  taxed  and  untaxed 
press. 

There  are  several  religious,  benevolent,  and  literary  insti- 
tutions, namely,  an  Auxiliary  Bible  Society,  Van  Diemen's 
Missionary  ditto,  Wesleyan  Missionary  ditto,  Presbyterian 
Tract  ditto,  Benevolent  ditto.  Stranger's  Friend  ditto,  Sunday 
School  Union,  Inpedendent  ditto  ditto,  Mechanics  Institution, 
Wesleyan  Library,  Hobart  Town  Circulating  ditto,  Hobart 
Town  Book  Society,  Infant  School  ditto. 

Medical  Department  for  prisoners  consist  of  a  colonial 
surgeon,  six  assistant  ditto,  and  twelve  district  do.  do.  The 
hospital  at  Hobart  Town  is  large,  airy,  and  well  superintended. 

Finance. — Revenue  is  derived  from  custom  duties,  excise, 
fees,  sales  of  land,  and  quit  rents,  &c.  Goods  of  British 
manufacture  are  importable,  duty  free,  Foreign  do.  five  per 
cent,  ad  valorem.  Spirits  are  charged  with  a  duty  of  10*. 
per  gallon  on  brandy,  hollands  or  geneva,  West  India  rum  or 
British  gin  7*.  6c?.;  tobacco  1*.  Q>d.  per  lb.;  licence  to  distil  or 
sell  spirits,  25/.  per  annum.  There  is  a  license  to  bake  or 
sell  bread  5*. ;  to  slaughter  cattle  or  sheep  5*. ;  to  keep  a  dog 
on  the  chain  5*. ;  off  do.  10*.  ;  and  a  bitch  do.  1/. ;  to  keep  a 
cart  for  hire  5*. :  auctioneer's  licence  3/.  3*. ;  marriage  licence 
4/.  4*.,  and  there  are  fees,  which  are  equivalent  to  stamp  du- 
ties, on  grants  of  land,  registering  deeds,  &c.  The  charges 
affecting  ships  and  merchandize  I  give  for  the  benefit  of 
captains  of  vessels  and  traders. 

Fees  of  Secretary's  Office. — On  affixing  the  official  seal  to  the 
clearance  of  vessels  bound  to  foreign  voyages,  or  the  fisheries,  per  ton,  6(/. 

Custom  House. — Entry  of  a  British  vessel,  not  colonial,  with  merchan- 
dize, 1/.  10*.;  entry  of  a  foreign  vessel,  3/.;  permission  to  trade,  1/.  1*.; 
dues  on  each  bond,  lO.s.  6rf. ;  dues  on  each  bond  and  clearance  fee,  Is.  6d. 
— transports  are  free  from  port  charges. 

Colonial  Vessels. — Entry  and  clearance  to  the  outports,  4s. ;  fee  on  ditto, 
25. ;  entrance  and  clearance  to  the  fishery,  or  the  out  settlements,  10*. ;  fee 
on  ditto,  2s. ;  clearance  of  an  open  boat,  \s.  ;  annual  license  of  a  boat, 

2s.  e,d. 

Wharfage. — On  landing  each  cask,  bale,  or  package,  9rf. ;  on  landing 
iron,  per  ton,  9^. ;  on  landing  salt,  per  ton,  3,9. ;  on  landing  timber,  per 
1,000  feet,  2.?. ;  on  shipping  each  cask,  I>ale,  or  package,  ?>d. ;  on  shipping 


CUSTOM  HOUSE  AND  PILOTAGE  CHARGES. 


453 


iron,  per  ton,  3s. ;  colonial  produce,  when  landed  or  shipped,  is  not  sub- 
jected to  any  charge,  except  for  a  sufferance. 

Fees. — A  sufferance  to  land  or  ship  goods.  Is.;  a  warrant  to  remove 
goods  from  under  bond.  Is. ;  on  landing  each  cask  or  package  of  spirits  or 
wine,  6d. ;  on  the  registry  of  vessels  not  exceeding  40  tons,  21. ;  on  the 
registry  of  vessels  above  40  tons,  per  ton,  1*. ;  to  the  chief  clerk  on  the 
registry  of  vessels,  lOs. ;  on  indorsing  change  of  masters,  10*.;  warehouse 
rent  on  spiritous  liquors,  1*.  3d.  per  252  gallons,  for  any  period  less  than  a 
week ;  warehouse  rent  for  every  ton  of  tobacco,  Gd.  for  every  week,  or 
any  period  less  than  a  week. 

Warehouse  Charges. — For  every  pipe,  three-quarter  pipe,  or  puncheon 
of  spirits,  stowing  9^?.,  unstowing  \s.  6d. ;  for  every  half-pipe,  hogshead, 
or  barrel,  stowing  6d.,  unstowing  Is. ;  for  every  case  containing  three  or 
four  dozen  bottles,  stowing  3d.,  unstowing  4d. ;  for  every  case  containing 
a  less  quantity  than  three  dozen,  2d.,  unstowing  3d. ;  for  tobacco,  in  large 
serous,  6d.,  unstowing  9d. ;  for  tobacco,  in  cases,  3d.,  unstowing  4d. 

Rates  of  Pilotasre  at  the  Derwent. 


Draught  of  Water 

Into. 

Out. 

£.    s.    d. 

£.    s.   d. 

10  feet  and  under          .         .         .         . 

3    0  lU 

2    7    4i 

11  ditto 

3    3     4i 

2    9    3i 

12  ditto 

3     8    3 

2  13    1 

13  ditto 

3  15  m 

2  18    9i 

14  ditto 

4     6     3l 

3     6    4^ 

16  ditto 

4  19  lli 

3  17    8 

16  ditto 

5  17     0, 

4  11     0 

17  ditto 

7     I     4| 

5    9  Ui 

18  ditto 

8  13    0* 

6  14     7i 

19  ditto 

10  14     6 

8     6  10 

20  ditto 

13    3    3 

10    4     9 

At  Port  Dalrymple. 


Proceeding  above  Whirlpool  Reach. 


Remaining 
below  Whirl- 
pool Reach. 


7  feet  and  under  .... 
Above  7  feet,  per  foot 

If  the  pilot  do  not  board  the  vessel  outside  the  middle  ground  at  the 
heads  at  George  Town  ;  or  the  weather  not  permitting  his  going  outside, 
if  he  be  not  ready  to  shew  the  channel,  by  keeping  his  boat  in  the  fair  way 
until  tlie  ship  can  be  boarded,  he  shall  forfeit  one-half  of  the  pilotage  in- 
wards. For  any  number  of  inches  below  six,  no  charge  is  to  be  made  ;  for 
half  a  foot,  and  upwards,  one  foot  is  to  be  charged.     Colonial  vessels  are 


454 


CUSTOM  DUTIES  AT  HOBART  TOWN. 


exempted  from  the  payment  of  pilotage,  unless  the  master  shall  make  the 
signal  for  a  pilot,  and  accept  his  service. 

Har30ur  Dues. — At  the  Dericent. —  For  mooring  and  immooring  a 
vessel  within  the  harbour,  per  register  ton,  \d. ;  for  each  removal  of  the 
ship  within  the  harbour,  per  register  ton,  \d.;  colonial  vessels  under  80 
tons,  per  register,  to  be  exempted  from  the  payment  of  the  foregoing  dues, 
unless  the  service  of  the  harbour  master  be  specially  required. 

At  Port  Dalrymple. — For  mooring  or  unmooring  a  vessel  under  200  tons, 
15*.;  above  200  and  under  300,  1/.;  above  300  and  under  400,  1/.  10«. ; 
above  400  and  under  600,  21. ;  above  five  hundred  and  upwards,  21. ;  each 
vessel  entering  the  harbour  will  be  charged  with  two  removes ;  vessels 
belonging  to  the  port  are  not  to  pay  harbour  dues  ;  no  vessel  to  be  deemed 
colonial,  which  is  not  registered  in  Van  Dieraeu's  Land. 

The  amount  of  revenue  now  raised  in  the  island  may  be 
estimated  at  nearly  90,000/.. ;  the  proportion  that  is  Custom 
House  duties  is  thus  shewn  : — 

Duties  received  in  Van  Diemen's  Land,  at  the  Port  of  Hobart  Town, 
years  ending  6th  January. 


Duties 
Collected. 

96. 

1827. 

1828. 

1829.* 

1830.* 

183). 

1832. 

1833. 

1834. 

1835. 

3(1  Geo.  IV.,  c. 
Colonial  Acts  . 

£. 
19590 

£. 

26323 

£. 

£. 

€. 

32958 
3270 

£. 

34755 

3952 

£. 

37293 

4059 

£. 

38446 

3938 

£. 

Total. 

36228 

38707 

41352 

42384 

Disbursed. 

1546 
65 

1834 
193 

'] 

2236 
329 

27I6 
239 

27i6t 

240 

2662 

2017 
2 

turr 

Total. 
*  No  re 

1611 

s  at  the 

2027 

London  ( 

;justom  H 

2565 

ouse,  De 

2955 

cei^bei 

2956 
,  1834. 

2662 

2019 
M.  M. 

] 

Expenditure. — The  total  Civil  Establishment  of  the  Colony 
is  provided  for  by  the  inhabitants,  as  is  also  a  portion  of  the 
Convict  Charges  (without  referring  to  7000  prisoners,  sub- 
sisted by  private  individuals). 

The  disbursement  of  some  of  the  principal  items  of  the 
Colonial  Revenue  in  1834  was  as  follows  : — Lieut.  Governor's 
Salary,  2500/. ;  Chief  Justice,  1500/.  ;  Puisne  Judge,  1200/. ; 
Governor's  Establishment,  771/. ;  Executive  and  Legislative 
Councils,  638/, ;  Colonial  Sec.  deprt.  3269/. ;  Surveyor  Gen. 
deprt,  9026/, ;  Road  department,  5373/. ;  Civil  Engineer, 
8796/.;  Board  of  Assistants,  250/, ;  Colonial  Gardens,  309/; 
Colonial  Treasurer,  1486/.;  Auditor's  department,  1169/.; 
Customs  ditto,  4328/.  ;  Internal  Revenue,  693/. ;  Post  Office, 


EXPENDITURE  OF  VAN  DIEMEN's  ISLAND.  io5 

32201. ;  Inspector  of  Stock,  150/. ;  Government  Printer,  260/. ; 
Commisioners  of  Grants  Office,  168/.;  Colonial  Medical  De- 
partment, 798/.;  Harbour  Master's  ditto,  891/.;  London 
Colonial  Agent,  200/. ;  King's  Yard,  1509/. ;  Military  Esta- 
blishment, 2731.  ;  Pensions,  845/.*  Judicial  department, 
11,075/.;  including  216/.  House  Rent  to  Chief  Justice ; 
2396/.  Officers  of  Supreme  Courts  ;  1948/.  Crown  Law  Offi- 
cers ;  2681/.  Officers  of  Court  of  Requests;  and  3399/. 
Sheriff's  department,  &c. 

Ecclesiastical  and  School  department,  10,003 :  including 
4228/.  Episcopalian  Establishment,  and  Calvinists ;  5129/. 
for  Schools  of  the  Episcopalian  Establishment ;  and  645/.  for 
Presbyterian,  Wesleyan,  and  Roman  Catholic  Ministers. 

Aborigines'  Establishment  at  Flinders'  Island,  2,252/. 
Stationary,  Bookbinding,  and  Printing,  for  the  Public  De- 
partments, 2290 ;  Fuel,  800/. ;  towards  erecting  a  Custom 
House  and  Bonded  Store  at  Hobart  Town,  1000/. ;  ditto  a 
Presbyterian  Church  at  ditto,  625/. ;  Bridge  at  Ross,  500/. ; 
towards  conducting  water  to  Launceston,  1000/.  ;  Lighting 
Lamps  at  Hobart  Town,  260/.  ;  towards  erecting  a  Public 
School  at  Hobart  Town,  1250/. ;  and  several  other  items. 

The  Finance  Committee's  return  of  1828,  describes  the 
total  charge  for  that  yearf  as  195,926/. ;  of  which  one  regi- 
ment cost  16,297/.  ;  Expense  of  Transporting  Convicts  and 
Troops,  35,546/. ;  Colonial  Establishments,  46,340/. ;  Civil 
ditto  over  Convicts,  18,930  ;  Provisions,  Stores,  &c.  under 
Commissariat,  55,813  ;  Stores  from  England,  17,279;  Military. 
Allowances,  &c.  5800/. 

The  Commissariat  accounts,  printed  by  order  of  the  House 
of  Commons,  in  February,  1834,  shews  the  following  detail  of 
the  sums  issued  from  the  military  chest  of  the  colony  for  the 
year  ending  31st  March,  1833: — Pay,  &c.  of  the  troops, 
17,779/.;  staff  pay,  76/.;  half  do.  298/.;  widows'  pensions, 

*  Annual  Colonial  Pensions. — W.  Sorell,  Esq.,  retired  lieutenant  governor, 
50(V. ;  Rev.  R.  Knopwood,  chaplain,  100/. ;  G.  W.  Evans,  deputy  surveyor 
General,  200/. ;  lieutenant  Gunn  (loss  of  an  arm),  70/.  ;  IMrs.  Collins, 
widow  of  lieutenant  governor  Collins,  120/. ;  E.  Griffin,  retired  pilot,  50/. ; 
O.  Smith,  retired  overseer,  25/. ;  W.  Fletcher,  retired  constable,  10/. 

t  This  includes  the  colonial  revenue,  which,  for  1828,  amounted  to  66,000/. 


456 


REVENUE  AND  EXPENDITURE  OF  THE  COLONY. 


2821. ;  Chelsea  do.  4207/. ;  compassionate  allowance,  30/. 
Commissariat  officers'  pay,  &c.  1980/. ;  Ordnance  Department, 
176/.;  Naval  do.  605/. ;  total,  25,433/.  Army  Extraordinaries, 
24,165/,;  payments  on  account  of  the  Convict  and  Colonial 
Establishments,  70,843/.  (of  which  35,000/.  was  the  cost  of 
provisions,  forage,  fuel,  &c.  for  convicts  and  others) ; — 
making  a  grand  total  of  120,161/.,  half  of  which  is  expended 
for  the  troops  and  the  other  half  for  the  prisoners. 

The  total  charge  on  the  Imperial  Revenue  of  the  Colony 
cannot  now  be  considered  so  high  as  100,000/.  per  annum ;  be- 
cause economy  has  been  enforced  in  many  departments,  and  the 
local  revenue  now  verges  towards  that  sum.  If  Van  Diemen's 
Land  were  not  a  penal  settlement,  it  is  fully  capable  of  sup- 
porting its  own  Government  and  Establishments ;  it  cannot 
therefore  be  considered  as  a  drain  on  the  mother  country ;  on 
the  contrary  it  is  like  New  South  Wales,  a  material  aid  to  the 
home  Exchequer,  by  contributing  largely  to  the  support  of  the 
prison  population  of  England,  who,  if  kept  in  Great  Britain, 
would  be  a  heavy  tax  on  the  industry  of  the  home  portion  of 
society — to  say  nothing  of  the  free  labour  they  would  dis- 
place if  worked  for  profit  sake — or  of  the  pernicious  moral 
influence  which  they  would  exercise  on  all  who  come  within 
their  sphere;  while  the  reformation  of  the  unfortunate  beings 
themselves  would  be  materially  retarded.  The  following  table, 
prepared  at  the  Colonial  Office,  shews  the  gross  Expenditure 
and  Revenue  of  Van  Diemen's  Land  for  several  years. 


] 

Gross 
Revenue. 

REVENUE. 

EXPENDITURE. 

Years. 

Parliamentary 
Grants. 

Total. 

CivU. 

Military. 

Total. 

1822 
1823 
1824 
1825 
18-26 
1827 
1828 
1829 
1830 
1831 
1832 
1633 
1834 
1835 

£. 

23482 
220/1 
30332 
42346 
52637 
54264 
67489 
60427 

67927 
72119 

S5505 

£. 

6732 
3366 

£. 

23482 
220/1 
30332 
49078 
56003 
54264 
67489 
60427 
67927 
72119 

85505 

£. 

24367 
24434 
246S4 
27929 
49473 
58383 
63574 
43054 
60555 

£. 

32126 
19811 
1269 
976 
1696 
1092 
958 

£. 
24367 
24434 
56810 
49078 
50742 
55359 
65270 
44146 
61513 
71460 

83/27 

COMMERCE.       STAPLE  "EXPORTS — SHIPPING. 


457 


Commerce.  The  staple  products  of  Van  Diemen's  Land 
being  similar  to  those  of  New  South  Wales,  require  no  espe- 
cial comment ;  they  have  increased  considerably  of  late  years, 
but  owing  to  irregular  accounts,  I  am  not  enabled  to  lay  be- 
fore the  public  the  complete  account  I  could  wish ; — the 
following  table  I  have  prepared  from  different  returns  at  the 
London  Custom  House.* 

Value  and  Quantities  of  Exports  from  Van  Diemen's  Land. 


Articles. 

1827. 

1828. 

1831. 

1832. 

1833. 

1 
1834.            1835. 

Values. 

Values. 

Quantities  Quantities 

Quantities 

Quantities 

Wool         .         .        .        . 

jt'9089 

wfcl9l08 

bales,  3426              3283 

3539 

2831 

Mimosa  Bark   . 

894 

800 

tons,  260 

328 

313 

98 

Extract  of  Ditto 

560 

48 

casks,  44 

bags,  16 

f  tons, 100 

lcks.1354 

Whale  and  Seal  Oil 

9670 

7278 

tons,  1000 

tons,  1482 
casks,  360 

tons,  797 
casks,  5 

Wheat,  &c.      .        .        . 

4051 

9045 

bhls.  10000 

20000 

5292 

3208! 

Flour        .        .        .        . 

786 

2304 

bags,  1000 

959 

200 

Seal  and  Kangaroo  Skins 

1495 

934 

No.  6000 

9000 

8000 

Potatoes  .        .        .        . 

1997 

1599 

tons,  500 

150 

35 

545 

Live  Stock 

3830 

1433 

cattle,  210 
sheep  5872 

3 
200 

18 
100 

49 

768 

Hides        .        .        .        . 

30 

547 

Malt          .         .        .        . 

377 

Whalebone 

999 

3990 

bdls.  2000 

1871 

2029 

Unenumerated 

26134 

21031 

.. 

BariUa      .        .        .        . 

.. 

140 

Timber,  feet     . 

5000 

The  shipping  employed  in  this  trade  is  on  the  increase. 


SHIPS  INWARDS— FROM 

SHIPS  OUTWARDS— TO 

^ 

Great 

British 

Foreign 

Total 

Great 

British 

Foreign 

Total 

> 

Britain. 

Colonies. 

States. 

Inwards. 

Britain. 

Colonies. 

States. 

Outwards. 

No. 

Tons. 

No. 

Tons. 

No. 

Tons. 

No. 

Tons. 

No. 

Tons. 

No. 

Tons. 

No. 

Tons. 

No. 

Tons. 

1822 

56 

15377 

54 

15783 

1823 

15091 

1639 

16730 

15091 

1639 

16730 

1824 

20 

7246 

12 

3637 

1 

235 

33 

11116 

3 

983 

30 

10195 

2 

476 

35 

11604 

1825 

22 

8286 

25 

2999 

5 

1170 

52 

13455 

1 

271 

52 

11697 

J 

467 

54 

12435 

1826 

iq 

6844 

33 

49/3 

2 

367 

54 

12184 

8 

2532 

48 

9991 

.. 

56 

12523 

1827 

9695 

40 

6615 

5 

1000 

72 

17310 

4 

1395 

52 

11827 

5 

5203 

61 

14425 

1S2S 

34 

11505 

P4 

11500 

3 

736 

131 

23741 

11 

3326 

115 

18066 

7 

2724 

133 

24116 

1829 

41 

13165 

65 

10-13 

4 

839 

101 

24717 

16 

4513 

92 

19981 

3 

1248 

HI 

25742 

1830 

33 

11325 

52 

11202 

16 

4055 

101 

26582 

15 

4884 

66 

•15554 

11 

4607 

92 

25045 

1831 

36 

12401 

56 

10213 

2 

576 

94 

23184 

18 

5709 

83 

19504 

1 

238 

102 

25451 

1832 

50 

164S2 

qo 

14979 

2 

263 

142 

31724 

21 

6187 

103 

20277 

4 

1555 

128 

28019 

1833 

6d 

21597 

9i 

14307 

7 

1533 

167 

37442 

17 

4978  133 

27377 

9 

3395 

159 

36250 

1834 

1 

1835 

*  Returns  very  irregular,  and  no  uniformity ;  the  measures  and  weights 
should  be  those  used  in  the  New  South  Wales  Custom  House  Returns,  in 
order  to  afford  a  comparative  view  of  the  exports  of  the  two  colonies. 


4.58 


SHIPPING  OF  HOBART  TOWN  AND  LAUNCESTON. 


In  1831  there  was  a  registered  tonnage  of  2151  tons  be- 
longing to  the  colony ;  comprising  1  bark  (248  tons),  7  brigs, 
10  schooners,  4  cutters,  and  several  sloops.  The  spirit  with 
which  the  islanders  have  entered  into  the  sperm  fishery  has 
since  increased  the  amount  of  their  shipping. 

The  relative  trade  of  Hobart  Town  (the  capital),  and 
Launceston,  will  be  seen  by  the  following  London  Custom 
House  returns : — 

HOBART  TOWN. 

Vessels  entered  Inwards,  and  cleared  Outwards,  in  the  year  ending  Sth 
January,  1833,  as  compared  with  the  year  ending  5th  January,  1834. 


United  Kingdom 
New  South  Wales,  B.  V. 
Swan  River,  B.  V.  . 
King  George  Sound,  B.V. 
Mauritius,  B.  V . 
Singapore,  B.V. 
Ceylon,  B.V.  . 
Calcutta,  B.  V. 
Madras,  B.V. 
New  Zealand,  B.  V. 
South  Seas,  B.  V.    . 
Canton,  B.  V.  . 
Batavia,  B.  V. 
Ditto,  Foreign  Vessel 
U.  S.  of  America,  F.  V. 
Cape  of  Good  Hope,  B.V. 
Desolation  Island,  B.  V. 
Brazils,  B.  V.  . 
Monte  Video   . 

Total    . 


(jNo. 

•4) 
36 


Year  ending  5th  January,  1833. 


97 


Tons. 

13842 


2373 


789 
759 

243 


Men 

866 

500 

13 

196 


1763 


Outwards. 


No. 


Tons. 

3320 

12565 

405 

968 
670 


345 
536 
327 
1067 

648 


Men 
183 

783 
65 

52 


Year  ending  5th  January,  1834. 


6505 


1034 
1450 
669 


269 
320 


378 


1417  121  I  30391  1852  112 


1176 
313 


36 


26 


Outwards. 


Tons. 

2882 
17313 

879 

42 
564 
401 
400 
399 
1767 
1070 

1660 

1409 
269 


29505  1843 


Men 

155 
1035 
64 
8 
33 
31 
28 
21 

103 
97 

152 


LAUNCESTON. 

Vessels  entered  Inwards,  and  cleared  Outwards,  in  the  year  ending  5th 
January,  1833,  as  compared  with  the  year  ending  5th  January,  1834. 


Year  ending  5th  January,  1833. 

Year  ending  5th  January,  1834. 

Inwards. 

Outwards. 

Inwards. 

Outwards. 

United  Kingdom... 

British  Colonies 

No. 
9 

35 

1 

Tons. 

2640 

3803 

243 

Men 

146 

305 

10 

No. 
9 
36 

Tons. 

2867 

3930 

371 

Men 

155 
317 

18 

No. 

10 

33 

2 

1 

Tons. 

2515 

3960 

354 

222 

Men 

137 

280 

35 

No. 

8 

38 

1 

Tons. 

2096 

4498 

151 

Men 

112 

331 

11 

Sitka,  Uhering's  Straits. . 

1 

22    .. 

Total.... 

45 

6686 

461 

46 

7168 

490 

46 

7051 

474 

47 

6745 

454 

TRADE  OF  LAUNCF.STON,  VAN  DIEMEN's  LAND. 


459 


I  have  also  obtained  at  the  Custom  House  a  return  of  the 
Launceston  Exports,  which  I  subjoin,  as  shewing  the  nature 
of  the  trade  carried  on  at  that  port ;  but  I  do  not  know  whe- 
ther the  quantities  therein  stated  be  or  be  not  included  in  the 
general  table  of  Exports  before  given. 


wheat,  bushels 
Barley,  ditto 
Oats,  ditto 
Flour,  tons    . 
Mimosa  Bark,  ditto 
Wool,  bales   . 
Whale  Oil,  tons     . 
Whalebone,  ditto 
Seal  Skins,  No. 
Kangaroo  Skins,  ditto 


63273 


965 
1598 


74659 

60J 
2058i 
2202 


1265 

39i 
2553 
2310 
35^ 
3 
2083 
25735 


86174 

9593 
34 

551 
3253 

124 

n 
2469 

20459 


Duties  in  1833,    j6'17,i65 
Salaries  ..  1,310 

Warehouse  Rent         121 
Finance  Clerks,  &c.     27 


In  1834,  ^17,359 

1,500 

244 


IMPORTS. 

EXPORTS. 

From 

Great 

Britain. 

From 

British 

Colonies. 

From 
Foreign 
states. 

Total 
value  of 
Imports. 

To 

Great 

Britain. 

To 

British 

Colonies. 

To 
Foreign 
States. 

Total 
value  of 
Exports 

1822 
1823 
1824 
1825 
1826 
1827 
1828 
1829 
1830 
1831 
1832 
1833 
1834 

£. 

50000 
59935 
72759 
111469 
1570O8 
176366 
153478 

£. 

10000 

18416 
24719 
36481 
76652 
77529 
93251 

2000 

9810 

2269 

4677 
7722 
18294 
8569 

£. 

12435 
11843 
62000 
88161 
99747 
152627 
241382 
272I89 
255298 

e. 

10000 
9224 
24S15 
21056 
31915 
55335 
52031 

£. 

4500 
14613 
19633 
38169 
59266 
71115 
93742 

£. 

687 
280 
534 
207 

£. 

12611 
16530 
14500 
23837 
44498 
59912 
91460 
126984 
145980 

Monetary  System. — The  currency  is  that  of  the  Mother 
Country,  in  respect  to  value  and  denomination,  althouo-h 
dollars,  rupees,  and  other  foreign  coins,  are  in  circulation. 
British  silver  is  chiefly  used  as  a  means  of  procuring  treasury 
bills  from  the  commisariat,  for  the  purpose  of  remittances,  and 
is  consequently  hoarded  up  amongst  the  merchants  and 
bankers  until  they  have  occasion  to  remit.  By  a  standino- 
treasury  regulation,  applying  to  all  our  colonies  where  there  is 
a  commissariat,  any  party  can  obtain  a  bill  on  the  lords  com- 
missioners, at  the  rate  of  1/.  10*.  percent,  exchange,  provided 
it  be  British  silver.     The  money  that  thus  reaches  the  com- 


4()0  EFFECT  OF  TREASURY  BILLS. 

missariat  from  time  to  time,  is  again  issued  by  it,  in  payment 
of  supplies  furnished  under  the  source  of  the  third  branch  of 
revenue,  ah'eady  noticed — so  that,  it  will  at  once  appear, 
whatever  proportion  this  latter  bears  to  the  sum  remitted 
annually  for  imported  commodities,  regulates,  in  a  great 
measure,  this  part  of  the  currency,  and  either  increases  or  di- 
minishes the  real  value  of  treasury  bills,  and,  consequently, 
British  silver,  just  in  the  same  manner  that  any  other  articles 
are  influenced  by  their  relative  proportions  of  supply  and  de- 
mand. Hence,  there  are  times,  when  treasury  bills  reach  a 
premium  of  five,  six,  or  seven  per  cent.  Generally  speaking, 
however,  they  are  easily  procurable  at  about  the  one  and  a 
half  per  cent,  fixed  by  the  British  treasury. 

There  are  three  banks  at  Hobart  Town,  viz.  the  bank  of 
Van  Diemen's  Land,  the  Derwent  BanJc,  and  the  Commercial 
BanJc,  and  one  al  Launceston,  called  the  Cornwall  Bank. 

Few  colonies  have  risen  with  such  rapidity  from  poverty  to  wealth — from  no- 
thing to  importance — as  Van  Diemen's  Land.  In  1820  only  it  began  to  assume  the 
character  of  a  British  settlement;  for  previously  it  had  been  merely  a  receptacle 
for  the  worst  of  felons,  banished  from  the  great  convict  depot  of  New  South  Wales. 
In  1823,  the  establishment  of  the  first  bank  was  effected  by  a  joint  stock  company, 
and  its  issues  were  made  in  Spanish  dollars  at  5.?.  currency,  as  it  was  termed,  up  to 
that  time,  such  was  the  scarcity  of  money,  that  any  person  circulated  at  will  his 
promissory  notes  for  dollars,  and  the  parts  of  a  dollar,  even  so  low  as  three-pence; 
and  the  consequent  inconvenience,  confusion,  and  loss  to  the  holder  of  such  cur- 
rency, cannot  be  described. 

The  bank  issues,  however,  expelled  at  once  those  of  individuals,  except  for  the 
smallest  denominations,  and  they  were  gradually  displaced  by  the  introduction  of 
British  copper  coin.  In  182.5  a  Treasury  Order  fixed  the  value  of  the  Spanish 
dollar  at  4s.  Ad.  sterling  in  the  King's  possessions,  where  that  coin  was  current  for 
military  purposes ;  and,  in  1826,  one  of  the  first  acts  of  the  newly  constituted 
Legislative  Council  of  Van  Diemen's  Land  was,  to  abolish  the  denominations  of 
currency  and  dollars,  and  declare  that  all  money  transactions  should  thencefoi-ward 
be  expressed  in  pounds,  shillings,  and  pence,  sterling;  at  the  same  time,  with 
obvious  justice,  as  well  as  policy,  retaining  the  Spanish  dollar  as  a  portion  of  the 
circulating  medium,  and  making  it  a  legal  tender  in  payment  at  4s.  Ad.  sterling. 
The  result  has  been  highly  advantageous  to  the  community ;  for  this  useful  and 
almost  universal  coin,  instead  of  being  repudiated  and  left  to  find  its  way  out  of 
the  island  as  mere  silver  merchandise  (which  was  done  in  New  South  Wales),  has 
ever  since  formed  the  chief  bulk  of  the  currency,  and  amply  supplied  the  deficiency 
of  British  specie,  of  which  there  has  always  been  considerable  scarcity,  owing  to  its 
being  alone  exchangeable  with  the  Commissariat  for  bills  on  the  Home  Treasury. 
In  1827,  the  increase  of  commercial  and  agricultural  business  demanded  larger 
banking  accommodation,  and  another  joint  stock  company  was  constituted  in  Ho- 
bart-town,  called  the  Derwent  Bank;  it  is  a  Joint  Stock  Company,  each  share-, 
holder  being  responsible  to  the  whole  extent  of  his  property;  the  capital  is 
100,000/.,  divided  into  1000  .shares  of  100/.  each,  of  which  60,000/.  is  paid  up,  and 
the  balance  is  in  course  of  payment ;  the  bank  is  one  of  circulation,  deposit  and 
discount ;  and  the  depositary  of  10,000/.  of  the  Colonial  funds. 


CAPITAL,  &C.  OF  THE  VAN  DIEMEN's  LAND  BANKS.         461 

Remittances  from  India  may  be  made  by  Government  bills  drawn  on  London,  or 
in  Spanish  Dollars.  The  latter  usually  afibrd  the  most  advantageous  medium  of 
exchange,  being  a  legal  tender  in  Van  Diemen's  Land  at  4s.  4(i.  each.  The  dollars 
of  North  and  South  America  are  not  current  at  any  fixed  value. 

From  England  remittance  may  be  effected  in  British  gold  or  silver  coin  ;  in  Spa- 
nish dollars  ;  by  bills  drawn  on  the  colony  ;  or  by  a  deposit  of  the  amount  with 
the  agents  of  the  Derwent  Bank,  Messrs.  Barnett,  Hoares,  and  Co.,  Bankers,  G2, 
Lombard  Street,  London. 

The  Rates  of  Commission  charged  by  the  Denvent  Bank  are  on  receipts,  one  half  per 
cent.;  payments,  ditto ;  investments  on  mortgage,  two  and  a  half  per  cent.;  effect- 
ing remittances  from  the  colony,  one  half  per  cent. ;  drawing  or  purchasing  bills 
of  exchange,  ditto  ;  sale  of  bills  of  exchange,  ditto  ;  collecting  debts  without  legal 
process  two  per  cent.;  recovering  money  by  legal  process,  five  per  cent. 

The  Rate  of  Interest  allowed  by  the  Bank  in  account  current,  to  non-residents, 
from  the  dates  at  which  the  several  remittances  may  be  realized  in  the  colony, 
five  per  cent,  per  annum. 

In  1828  a  similar  establishment  was  formed  at  Launceston,  and  designated 
the  Cornwall  Bank;  and  in  1833  the  private  bank  of  an  individual  in  Hobart 
Town  assumed  the  same  pojiular  character  (though  its  operations  are  com- 
paratively limited),  and  is  called  the  Commercial  Bank.  Thus  there  are  three 
great  companies  for  banking  purposes  only  existing  in  that  infant  country.  The 
capital  of  the  bank  of  Van  Diemen's  Land  is  40,000Z. ;  that  of  the  Derwent  has 
recently  been  raised  from  40,000/.  to  100,000/.;  and  that  of  the  Cornwall  is  20,000/. 
The  ordinary  mode  of  accommodation  is  by  discount  of  bills  of  exchange,  payable 
at  three  months  date  ;  but  the  Derwent  bank  grants  loans  on  the  security  of  pro- 
missory notes  and  the  deposit  of  title  deeds ;  and  it  has  of  late  adopted  the  Scotch 
principle  of  allowing  cash  credits.  The  joint  capital  of  the  four  banks  paid  up  may 
be  stated  at  130,000/.,  their  paper  circulation  at  4.5,000/.  their  deposits  at  160,000/., 
and  their  discounts  at  2.50,000/.  Two  of  the  banks  have  10,000/.  each  of  the  public 
money  in  their  chests,  for  which  they  pay  the  crown  Jive  per  cent.  This  was  ar- 
ranged to  obviate  the  difficulties  which  occasionally  arose  to  the  community  from 
the  British  money  lying  long  luiappropriated  with  the  commissariat,  when  it  was 
wanted  to  exchange  for  traders'  bills,  to  make  remittance  home,  the  balance  of 
trade  having,  as  is  natural  in  a  new  country,  been  constantly  against  the  colony. 
In  no  part  of  the  world  have  banking  speculations  been  more  successful.  The  rate 
of  discount  is  te7i  per  cent,  per  annum  ;  and  yet,  so  prudent  has  been  the  manage- 
ment of  the  t\vo  first-formed  establishments,  that  they  have  not  lost  100/.  each 
from  bad  bills,  fraud,  robbery,  or  other  cause.  The  gross  amount  of  specie  may  be 
pretty  correctly  estimated  at  35,000/.  British,  and  65,000/.  Spanish — total  100,000/. 
The  rate  of  interest  on  the  first  mortgages  of  land  is  ten  per  cent.;  but  there  are 
still  some  overstanding  mortgages  at  12  and  15  per  cent.  The  Chartered  Company, 
called  the  "  Royal  Bank  of  Australia,"  which  has  been  formed  for  operations  in 
New  South  Wales,  and  Van  Diemen's  Land  is  now  preparing  to  send  out  its 
officers.  The  influx  of  so  much  additional  money  will  have  the  eflect  of  reducing 
the  rate  of  interest :  but,  if  cautiously  managed,  it  must  be  of  material  service  in  a 
country  where  nature  has  been  so  bountiful,  that  capital  and  industry  alone  are 
sufficient  for  the  accumulation  of  wealth,  independence,  and  happiness. 

Bank  of  Van  Diemen's  Land,  capital  40,000/.,  in  shares  of  50/.  each,  all  paid  up. 
Derwent  Bank,  capital  100,000/.,  in  shares  of  100/.  each,  60,000/.  paid  up.  Corn- 
wall Bank,  capital  20,000/.,  in  shares  of  50/.  each,  all  paid  up.  Commercial  Bank 
(unknown.) 

The  dividends  heretofore  paid  on  the  stock  of  the  two  first-named  banks  has 
varied  between  15  and  12  per  cent,  for  some  time. 


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AGRICULTURAL  PRODUCE  — STOCK  AND  STAPLE  ARTICLES. 


463 


Future  Prospects. — The  extraordinary  progress  which 
a  mere  handful  of  Britons  have  made  in  this  fine  island  in 
little  more  than  a  quarter  of  a  century,  is  sufficiently  indicated 
by  the  facts  contained  in  the  preceding  pages.  The  pros- 
perity of  the  inhabitants  has  been  chiefly  owing  to  their 
agricultural  industry  ;*  the  production  of  fine  woolf  will, 
doubtless,  increase  to  a  considerable  extent,  and  the  wheat  of 
the  island,  by  its  superior  quality  and  weight,  (60  to  64  lbs.  to 
the  bushel),  and  not  being  liable  to  the  weevil,  will  preserve 
that  commanding  price  in  the  London  market,  {66s.  per 
quarter),  which  it  has  already  attained.     The  introduction 


« 

Nature  of  Crops,  and  number  of  Acres  in 

sach  Crop, 

I.i-pe  Stock. 

in  Van  Diemen's  Land 

(U 

■0 

Op. 

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d 

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(U 

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Sheep 
Goats 

a 
(4 

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1810 

357 

20 

1166 

3070 

1821 

14913 

550 

34790 

170391 

1828  20357 

3864 

1573 

646 

35 

1292 

1296 

4970 

182342 

34033 

2034|  84476  553698 

708 

1829  24423 

2886 

2231 

600 

20 

1751 

1667 

4792 

429 

38801 

2514,109101  637141 

815 

1830  31155 

2749 

2395 

611 

31 

1739  2920 

22797 

1576 

65979 

3387,  85942 I6SO74O 

5oa 

1831  31007i 

40105  4i66i  17773 

55J 

1872i  55893 

8992 

621 

4222  9IO88  682128 

68» 

1832  26046i 

5471356904  1152:1 

68^ 

I8643  6024i 

i0773i 

43 

5020  81069'666l62 

737 

1833  26268 

5464 

8002 

1167 

103 

2624 

6559 

80796 

5483 

79517 

569729 

1071 

t  The  staples  of  the  colony  transmitted  to  England  are  thus  shewn,  by 
the  quantities  of  the  principal  articles  imported  into  the  United  Kingdom 
from  Van  Diemen's  Land  since  1827. 


1827. 

1828. 

1829. 

1830. 

1831. 

1832. 

1833.   1834. 

1835. 

9122 

2692 

3700 

24472 

1 
39264 

2420 

1585 

179 

196 

244 

713 

488 

57|    301    114 

202 

168    314i    150'   698 

818 

1 

192075 

528846 

925320 

993000 

1359203 

1547201 

Bark  for  tanning,  cwts. 
Bark,  extract  of,  cwts. 

Oil,  whale,  tons 

Timber,  8  inches  square 
or  upwards,  loads .... 

Whale  fins,  cwts 

Wool,  sheep's,  lbs 


The  duties  payable  in  England  upon  the  importation  of  articles,  the  pro- 
duce of  this  colony,  are— on  hides  imported  dry,  2s.  Ad.  per  cwt.,  and  wet, 
1*.  2d.  per  cwt. ;  when  tanned,  and  not  otherwise  dressed,  3f?.  per  lb.  Sheep 
skins,  undressed,  k.  per  dozen;  beef,  cured,  12s.  per  cwt.  Oil,  1*.  per 
ton.  The  following  articles  are  allowed  to  be  imported  free,  till  January 
1838  :  bark,  flax,  and  wood  for  ship-building  18  inches  square. 


464  FUTURE  PROSPECTS  OF  VAN  DIEMEn's  ISLAND. 

of  steam  engines  for  grinding  corn  will  enable  the  colonists  to 
meet  the  American  flour,  in  various  countries,  and  with  a  rich, 
juicy  beef,  and  abundance  of  salt,  there  is  no  natural  impedi- 
ment to  a  valuable  export  of  cured  provisions.  Whale  oil 
will,  doubtless,  be  still  sought  for  as  an  important  staple,  and 
as  it  has  been  recently  found  in  England  superior  to  bones 
for  turnip  and  other  cultivation,  a  better  price  will,  probably, 
be  obtained.  As  population  and  civilization  increase,  other 
articles  of  export  will  be  added  ;  the  introduction  of  steam 
navigation  on  the  Derwent  will  lead  to  the  mining  of  coal  in 
the  island,  which  will  be  the  precursor  to  the  smelting  of 
iron..  On  the  whole,  I  think  the  prospects  of  the  island  are 
very  good.  I  have  visited  few  places  which,  as  an  emigrant, 
I  would  prefer  to  Van  Diemen's  Land ;  its  romantic,  and  yet 
pastoral  scenery,  pleased  me  much ;  its  salubrious  clime  helped 
to  dissipate  the  pestilential  miasma  which  my  frame  imbibed 
on  the  noisome  shores  of  Eastern  Africa,  and  its  industrious 
and  enterprizing  farmers  with  all  the  sterling  qualities  of  the 
bold  English  yeoman,  gave  a  charm  to  nature's  rich  and  rare 
gifts.  I  trust  that  the  hydra  head  of  faction  will  not  be  per- 
mitted to  rear  itself  into  maturity  in  so  favoured  a  land  :  the 
mild  sway  of  Colonel  Arthur,  for  upwards  of  ten  years,  has 
been  of  infinite  service  to  the  whole  community,  free  and 
bond,  and  if  a  similar  course  be  persevered  in  by  his  successor, 
those  who  are  desirous  of  the  introduction  of  a  Legislative 
Assembly,  will  attain  their  object  sooner  than  by  resorting  to 
violent  language  and  party  proceedings.  I  am  aVrare  that 
Van  Diemen's  Land,  as  well  as  other  colonies,  has  its  grie- 
vances, (which  v/ill  be  treated  of  generally  in  my  colonial 
poUciJ),  but  let  those  who  possess  property  in  the  island,  or 
have  any  interest  in  its  prosperity,  beware  how  they  sanction 
the  old  custom  of  magnifying  mole-hills  into  mountains  ;  let 
them  remember  that  respectable  emigrants  with  their  capital 
will  proceed  only  to  peaceful  shores,  where  the  jarring  din 
of  politics  give  place  to  the  pleasing  and  profitable  hum  of 
industry ;  and  where  strife  and  enmity  are  suppressed  by  the 
widely  comprehensive  principles  of  Christianity. 


465 


CHAPTER  V. 

WESTERN  AUSTRALIA,  COMPRISING  SWAN  RIVER  AND 
KING  GEORGE'S  SOUND. 

LOCALITY — PHYSICAL    ASPECT— GEOLOGY — SOIL — CLIMATE — PRODUCTIONS 
— COLONIZATION — POPULATION — GOVERNMENT — FINANCES,  &f. 

In  a  national  point  of  view,  it  had  long  been  desirable  that 
the  Western  Coast  of  Australia  should  be  occupied  by  Great 
Britain ;  the  fine  colony  we  had  established  on  the  Eastern 
Coast  of  this  immense  island,  under  the  most  adverse  cir- 
cumstances, was  a  stimulus  to  the  undertaking ;  and  the 
favourable  report  of  Captain  Stirling,  R.  N.  (who  explored 
the  coast  in  H.M.S.  Success,  led,  in  1829,  to  a  proposition,  on 
the  part  ofMr.Thos.  Peel,  Sir  Francis  Vincent,  E.  W.  Schenley, 
T.  P.  Macqueen,  and  other  gentlemen,  to  further  the  views  of 
Government  in  founding  a  colony,  at  little  or  no  expense  to 
the  mother  country  :  these  gentlemen  offered  to  provide  ship- 
ping to  carry  10,000  British  subjects  (within  four  years),  from 
the  United  Kingdom  to  the  Swan  River,  to  find  them  in  pro- 
visions and  every  other  necessary,  and  to  have  three  small 
vessels  running  to  and  from  Sydney  as  occasion  might  re- 
quire. They  estimated  the  cost  of  conveying  these  emigrants 
at  £30,  per  head,  making  a  total  of  £300,000. ;  and  they  re- 
quired in  return  that  an  equivalent  should  be  granted  them 
in  land  equal  to  that  amount,  and  at  the  rate  of  \s.  6d.  per 
acre,  making  4,000,000  acres ;  out  of  which  they  engaged  to 
provide  every  male  emigrant  with  no  less  than  200  acres  of 
land,  free  of  all  rent. 

This  arrangement  was  not  carried  into  effect,  and  the  fol- 
lowing project  for  the  formation  of  the  new  colony  (without 
making  it  a  penal  settlement),  was  issued  from  the  colonial 
Office  in  1829. 

VOL.  IV.  H  H 


466    GOVERNMENT  PLAN  IN  FORMING  THE  SWAN  RIVER  COLONY. 

*  1.  His  Majesty's  Government  do  not  intend  to  incur  any  expense  in 
conveying  settlers  to  the  New  colony  on  the  Swan  River  ;  and  will  not  feel 
bound  to  defray  the  cost  of  supplying  them  with  provisions,  or  other  ne- 
cessaries, after  their  arrival  there,  nor  to  assist  their  removal  to  England, 
or  to  any  other  place,  should  they  be  desirous  of  quitting  the  colony. 

'  2.  Such  persons  as  may  arrive  in  that  settlement,  before  the  end  of  the 
year  1830,  will  receive,  in  the  order  of  their  arrival,  allotments  of  land,  free 
of  quit-rent,  proportioned  to  the  capital  which  they  may  be  prepared  to 
invest  in  the  improvement  of  land,  and  of  which  capital  they  may  be  able 
to  produce  satisfactory  proofs  to  the  Lieutenant  Governor  (or  other  officers 
administering  the  Colonial  Government),  or  to  any  two  officers  of  the  local 
Government  appointed  by  the  Lieutenant  Governor  for  that  purpose,  at  the 
rate  of  40  acres  for  every  sum  of  3/.  which  they  may  be  prepared  so  to 
invest. 

*  3.  Under  the  head  of  investment  of  capital  will  be  considered  stock  of 
every  description,  all  implements  of  husbandry,  and  other  articles  which 
may  be  applicable  to  the  purposes  of  productive  industry,  or  which  may  be 
necessary,  for  the  establishment  of  the  settler  on  the  land  where  he  is  to  be 
located.  The  amount  of  any  half-pay  or  pension  which  the  applicant  may 
receive  from  Government,  and  which  he  may  be  prepared  to  invest  as  before 
mentioned,  will  also  be  considered  as  so  much  capital. 

'  4.  Those  who  may  incur  the  expense  of  taking  out  labouring  persons, 
will  be  entitled  to  an  allotment  of  land,  at  the  rate  of  15/.,  that  is,  of  200 
acres  of  land,  for  the  passage  of  every  such  labouring  person,  over  and 
above  any  other  investment  of  capital.  In  the  class  of  'labouring  persons' 
are  included  women,  and  children  above  ten  years  old.  With  respect  to 
the  children  of  labouring  people  under  that  age,  it  is  proposed  to  allow  40 
acres  for  every  such  child,  above  three  years  old ;  80  acres  for  every  such 
child,  above  six  years  old;  and  120  for  every  such  child,  above  nine,  and 
under  ten  years  old.  Provision  will  be  made,  by  law,  at  the  earliest  op- 
portunity, for  rendering  those  capitalists,  who  may  be  engaged  in  taking 
out  labouring  persons  to  this  settlement,  liable  for  the  future  maintenance 
of  those  persons,  should  they,  from  infirmity,  or  any  other  cause,  become 
unable  to  maintain  themselves  there. 

'  5.  The  licence  to  occupy  will  be  given  to  the  settlers,  on  satisfactory 
proof  being  exhibited  to  the  Lieutenant  Governor  (or  other  officers  ad- 
ministering the  local  Government)  of  the  amount  of  property  brought  into 
the  colony,  to  be  invested  as  above  specified.  The  proofs  required  of  this 
property  will  be  such  satisfactory  vouchers  of  expenses,  as  would  be 
received  in  auditing  public  accounts.  But  the  title  to  the  land  will  not  be 
granted  in  fee  simple,  until  the  settler  has  proved,  to  the  satisfaction  of  the 
Lieutenant  Governor  (or  other  officer  administering  the  local  Government) 
that  the  sum  required  by  Article  2  (viz.  1*.  6r/.  per  acre),  has  been  actually 
expended  in  some  investment  of  the  nature  specified  in  Article  3,  or  in  the 


ESTABLISHMENT    BY  CAPTAIN  STIRLING.  4G7 

cultivation  of  the  lainl,  or  in  solid  improvements, — such  as  buildinjrs,  roads, 
or  other  works  of  that  kind. 

'  6.  Any  land,  thus  allotted,  of  which  a  fair  proportion,  at  least  one 
fourth,  shall  not  have  been  brought  into  cultivation,  or  otherwise  improved, 
to  the  satisfaction  of  the  local  Government,  within  three  years  from  the  date 
of  the  licence  of  occupation,  shall,  at  tlie  end  of  the  three  years,  be  liable 
to  one  further  payment  of  6fi.  per  acre  for  all  the  land  not  so  cultivated  or 
improved,  into  the  public  chest  of  the  settlement ;  and,  at  the  expiration 
of  seven  years  more,  so  much  of  the  whole  grant  as  shall  still  remain  in  an 
uncultivated  or  unimproved  state,  will  revert  absolutely  to  the  Crown.  And 
in  every  grant  will  be  contained  a  condition,  that,  at  any  time,  within  ten 
years  from  the  date  thereof,  the  Government  may  resume,  without  com. 
pensation,  any  land  not  then  actually  cultivated,  or  improved,  as  before- 
mentioned,  which  may  be  required  for  roads,  canals,  or  quays,  or  for  the 
site  of  public  buildings. 

'  7-  After  the  year  1830,  land  will  be  disposed  of,  to  those  settlers  who 
may  resort  to  the  colony,  on  such  conditions  as  His  Majesty's  Government 
shall  determine.' 

Captain  Stirling  was  appointed  Lieutenant  Governor  of  the 
intended  settlement,  with  a  grant  of  100,000  acres  ;  and  Mr. 
Peel  was  to  receive  250,000  acres,  on  condition  of  taking  out 
400  emigrants,  with  liberty  to  extend  the  grant  to  1,000,000 
acres,  previous  to  the  year  1840,  by  receiving  40  acres  for 
every  child  above  tliree  years,  80  for  every  child  above  six, 
up  to  ten  years  120,  and  exceeding  that  age  and  upwards  200 
acres  for  each  person  conveyed  to  the  colony ;  the  terms 
requisite  to  obtain  500,000  acres  have  been  complied  with.* 
Under  these  circumstances  a  number  of  settlers  left  England 
for  Swan  River,  Western  Australia,  in  the  beginning  of  1829, 
where  they  begkn  to  arrive  in  August,  and  to  locate  themselves 
along  the  banks  of  the  Swan  and  Canning  Rivers,  so  that  by 
the  end  of  that  year  there  were  in  the  new  colony  residents 
850 ;  nonresidents  440 ;    value  of  property,  giving  claims  to 

*  I  am  given  to  understand  that  the  parties  who  originally  proposed  the 
settlement  at  Swan  River,  were  really  without  the  means  of  carrying  the 
project  into  eflfect ;  the  grant  was  finally  made  to  Mr.  Thos.  Peel  alone,  who, 
however,  was  only  enabled  to  fulfil  its  conditions  by  Mr.  Solomon  Levy  (of 
the  firm  of  Cooper  and  Levy  at  Sydney,)  who  advanced  upwards  of  20,000/., 
receiving  in  return  a  mortgage  upon  the  whole  grant,  and  at  the  same  time 
entering  into  a  deed  of  co-partnership  with  Mr.  Peel. 


4G8  PHYSICAL  ASPECT  OF    SWAN  RIVER. 

grants  of  land,  £41,550;  lands  actually  allotted,  525,000  acres; 
locationsactually  effected,  39;  number  of  cattle,  204;  of  horses, 
57;  of  sheep  1096;  of  hogs,  106;  and  twenty-five  ships  had 
arrived  at  the  settlement  between  the  months  of  June  and 
December.  Such  was  the  commencement  of  our  new  colony 
on  the  shores  of  Western  Australia.  The  settlers  met  at  first 
(as  must  be  expected  in  all  new  countries),  with  many  diffi- 
culties, and  great  hardships  had  to  be  incurred  ;  the  land 
near  the  coast,  as  is  the  case  generally  in  New  Holland,  was 
found  poor  and  sandy  ;  but  subsequently,  on  exploring  the 
interior,  fine  pastoral  and  agricultural  tracts  have  been  dis- 
covered. A  portion  of  the  settlers  have  been  located  at 
King  George's  Sound  (lat.  35.6.20.  S.  long,  118.1.  E.)  near 
the  S.W.  extremity  of  Australia. 

With  this  introduction  to  explain  the  origin  of  the  settle- 
ment,* which  through  good  report  and  evil  report,  has  pro- 
ceeded on  in  the  path  of  energy  and  industry,  we  may  now 
examine  the  geographical  features  of  the  country. 

Physical  Aspect.  Western  Australia,  lying  between  the 
parallels  of  32.  and  35.,  and  the  meridians  of  115.  and  118. 
comprises  a  fine  extent  of  territory,  of  which  the  distinguish- 
ing features  are  three  distinct  parallel  ranges  of  primitive 
mountains,  bordering  on  the  sea-coast,  in  a  N.  and  S.  direc- 
tion. The  highest  and  easternmost  has  its  termination  near 
King  George's  Sound,  in  o5.  S.  lat.  and  118.  E.  long. — the 
second,  denominated  the  Darling  Range,  passes  behind  the 
Swan  River,  and  meets  the  sea  at  Cape  Chatham  in  34.40.  S. 
lat.,  and  115.20.  E.  long. ;  the  thin  ridge,  which  is  inferior 
in  altitude,  and  extent  has  its  southern  boundary  at  Cape 
Leuwin,  in  34.20.  S.  lat.,  and  115.  E.  long.  ;  disappearing  at 
Cape  Naturaliste,  in  the  same  meridian  in  33.30.  S.  lat.  ;  and 
on  shewing  itself  again  at  Moreshijs  Flat-topped  Range,  about 
halfway  between  Swan  River  and  Shark's  Bay,  or  about  300 
miles  to  the  N.  of  Cape  Leuwin. 

These  dividing  ranges  give  off  several  rivers,  which  flow 
E.  or  W.,  according  to  the  dip  of  the  land  at  either  side — 

*  The  foundation  of  the  colony  is  dated  from  tlie  first  June,  1829. 


KING  George's  sound.  469 

the  principal  on  the  sea-shore  being  the  Swan  and  Ca7i- 
ning,  in  32.  S.  lat. ;  the  Murray,  in  32.30.  S.  lat. ;  the  Collie, 
the  Preston,  and  a  smaller  stream  into  Port  Leschenault,  in 
33.12.  S.  lat. ;  the  Blackwood,  to  the  eastward  of  Cape  Leuwin, 
and  disemboguing  into  Flinders'  Bay ;  the  Denmark,  Kenty 
Hay,  and  Steeman,  on  the  S.  coast,  in  So.  lat.  and  nearly 
117.  long.;  and  King's  River,  falling  into  King  George's 
Sound,  in  35.6.20.  S.  lat.,  118.1.  E.  When  the  coast  is  fur- 
ther explored,  other  rivers  will  most  probably  be  found. 

On  each  of  those  rivers  locations  have  been  formed  by  our 
hardy  settlers ;  the  town  of  Freemantle  has  been  founded  at 
the  entrance  of  the  Swan  River,  Perth,  about  nine  miles  in- 
land, on  its  right  or  northern  bank  ;  and  Guildford,  about 
seven  miles  further  E.  at  the  junction  of  the  stream;  a  town, 
called  Augusta  was  founded  at  Blackwood's  River,  near  Cape 
Leuwin,  and  King  George's  Sound,  which  had  been  occupied 
by  a  detachment  of  troops  and  convicts  from  Sydney  in  1826, 
has  been  given  over  by  the  New  South  Wales  Government 
and  attached  to  the  Swan  River  Colony. 

Along  the  ocean  boundary  are  several  good  harbours ; 
that  last  mentioned,  (viz.  King  George's  Sound),  was  disco- 
vered by  Vancouver  in  1792,  and  subsequently  visited  by 
Captain  Flinders,  Commodore  Baudin,  and  Captain  King; 
and  much  frequented  by  sealing  vessels  on  account  of  the 
situation  and  excellence  of  the  harbour,  for  besides  the  outer 
sound  there  are  two  inner  basins  or  harbours,  which  are  per- 
fectly land-locked,  and  offering  every  security  for  ships  ;  the 
N.  one  (Oyster  Harbour),  being  however  rather  shoal,  and 
fronted  by  a  bar  of  sand,  with  not  more  than  13  feet  on  it  at 
high  water ;  but  at  Princess  Royal  Harbour,  situate  at  the 
back  or  W.  side  of  the  sound,  vessels  of  a  considerable  size 
may  enter  and  ride  at  their  anchors  close  to  the  shore  in  per- 
fect security.* 

Further  W.  in  116.45.  there  is  a  secure  harbour,  with  eight 
feet  on  the  bar  at  low  water ;  at  Port  Augusta,  near  Cape 

*  An  exoellcnt  panorama  of  King  George's  Sound  may  be  seen  at  Mr. 
Cross's,  in  Holborn. 


470  GEOGRAPHE  BAY,  AND  GAGe's  ROADS. 

Leuwin,  the  anchorage  is  spacious,  and  sheltered  from  the 
usual  winter  winds  from  the  N.  and  W.  but  open  to  those 
which  blow  between  S.  and  S.E. ;  the  inlet  is  of  considerable 
extent  and  leads  to  the  Blackwood  River  which  has  a  south- 
erly direction  for  15  miles,  and  a  westerly  one  10,  before  it 
ceases  to  be  navigable  for  boats.  Doubling  Cape  Leuwin, 
and  passing  to  the  northward,  we  arrive  at  the  spacious  Bay 
de  Geographe,  its  W.  side  formed  by  Cape  Naturaliste. 
There  is  good  anchorage  over  the  bay,  sheltered  from  all 
winds  except  those  from  the  N.  and  N.Wo  To  the  N.E.  of 
this  bay  is  the  little  harbour  of  Port  Leschenault.  Cockburn 
Sound,  in  32.10.  formed  by  an  inlet  of  the  sea,  between 
Garden  Island  and  the  main  land,  is  a  safe  and  extensive  an- 
chorage, and  has  been  made  easy  of  access  by  buoying  off  the 
channel  leading  into  it.  It  would  contain  1000  ships  out  of 
mortar  range  either  from  the  sea  or  land  side,  and  in  the 
hands  of  an  enemy  during  war  would  be  most  injurious  to 
our  maritime  interests,  especially  in  the  Indian  Ocean. 

Gage's  Roads,  at  the  entrance  of  Swan  River,  is  sheltered 
by  Garden,  Rottenest,  and  Peel's  Carnac  Islands,  exposed 
however  to  the  N.W.  winds.  The  Swan  and  Canning  dis- 
charge themselves  into  an  estuary  nine  miles  long,  and  from 
three  to  four  broad,  called  Melville  Water ;  the  entrance  to 
this  estuary  is  over  a  bar  of  rocks,  with  a  depth  of  only  six 
feet  at  low  water ;  the  bar  extends  about  three  quarters  of  a 
mile,  when  the  water  deepens  four  to  six  fathoms  near  the 
shore,  and  upwards  of  eight  towards  the  centre,  continuing 
thus  for  some  miles,  making  a  fine  harbour,  if  a  canal  were  cut 
so  as  to  admit  large  vessels ;  the  Swan  is  navigable  for  boats 
as  far  as  the  tide  flows,  viz.  40  miles  ; —  at  Perth,  situate  on  a 
rising  ground,  affording  some  highly  interesting  views ;  the  river 
is  half  a  mile  wide  but  shallow.  As  the  river  is  ascended,  the 
scenery  improves,  and  the  country  is  in  many  parts  extremely 
picturesque,  consisting  of  fine  upland  downs  and  park-like 
tracts ;  such  as  I  have  alluded  to  under  New  South  Wales. 

As  along  the  E.  coast  of  Australia  there  is  an  extensive  tract 
of  country,  varying  in  width  from  30  to  50  miles,  between  the 


SWAN  RIVER  emigrant's  CONDITION.  471 

sea-shore  and  the  Darhng  Mountains,  from  1200  to  1500  feet 
in  elevation :  one  of  the  peaks  of  which,  Mount  William,  rises 
to  the  height  of  3000  feet  above  the  ocean  level ;  the  distance 
across  the  range  is  from  25  to  30  miles  ;  the  land  beyond  is 
found  of  good  quality,  and  the  more  the  territory  has  been 
examined  the  more  reason  have  those  enterprizing  and  meri- 
torious individuals,  who  have  fixed  there  lot  there,  seen  good 
reason  to  be  satisfied  with  their  fortune.* 

*  An  erroneous  statement  has  been  put  forth  that  this  settlement  has 
failed  ;  it  is  unfair  and  unmanly  of  some  persons  to  be  continually  propa- 
gating such  reports,  to  the  injury  of  the  struggling  settlers ;  here  is  an 
extract  of  a  letter  from  a  settler,  on  a  small  farm,  at  Swan  River,  dated  in 
the  middle  of  1833.     It  presents  a  simple  and  beautiful  picture. 

'  I  have  great  cause  to  be  thankful  that  I  enjoy  good  health  and  spirits, 
peace  of  mind,  and  contentment,  though  I  do  not  possess  the  luxuries  of 
Old  England.  My  fare  is,  at  present,  very  simple,  and  my  style  of  living 
very  plain.  ,  I  novv  breakfast  in  the  morning  about  seven  or  eight  o'clock, 
on  milk  and  bread  :  dine  between  twelve  and  one,  on  a  piece  of  salt  or  fresh 
meat,  and  bread,  with  vegetables  :  I  sup  in  the  evening,  about  six  o'clock, 
on  bread  and  milk,  as  I  am  particularly  partial  to  milk,  and  have  no  one  to 
please  but  myself.  I,  at  present,  use  no  tea  or  sugar ;  and  as  I  drink  no 
spirits,  I  pay  neither  rent  or  taxes.  I  occasionally  allow  myself  a  little 
Cape  wine,  which  is  considered  very  wholesome,  and  is  about  five  or  six 
shillings  per  gallon.  My  mode  of  employment  is  principally  ditching, 
fencing,  or  clearing  land  ;  I  have  got  near  an  acre  of  wheat  sown,  and 
expect  to  get  three  acres  in  this  season,  and  three  roods  of  potatoes.  I 
have  made  an  engagement  with  Messrs.  C.  by  which  I  have  their  horses  to 
plough  my  land.  My  present  stock  consists  of  one  cow  and  heifer  calf,  one 
ox,  worth  about  twenty  guineas,  (which  I  intend  to  kill  soon),  and  one 
heifer,  a  year  and  a  half  old,  two  goats,  one  kangaroo  dog,  seven  fowls,  and 
eleven  chickens.  My  fowls  clear  me  al)out  3.y.  per  week  :  my  calf  I  keep 
up  as  an  inducement  for  my  cow  to  come  home  at  night :  I  only  milk  her 
once  a  day,  (and  that  is  when  she  comes  home),  when  I  get  about  three  or 
four  quarts,  leaving  a  little  for  the  calf,  as  the  cow  and  it  remain  together 
all  night.  Mrs.  J.  H.  manages  my  butter,  for  which  I  allow  her  half  of  my 
milk  :  this  is  an  accommodation  both  to  her  and  myself.  It  is  a  fortnight 
since  she  began,  and  has  got  four  and  a  half  pounds,  for  which  I  expect  to 
get  3*.  per  lb.  My  buildings  at  present  are  a  small  house,  with  two  rooms, 
a  fowl-house,  and  small  stock-yard,  with  sheds :  also  a  snial  1  boat.  I 
suppose  I  have  before  told  you  I  have  60  acres  on  the  Peninsula  farm,  and 
74.6  acres  beyond  the  mountains  ;  and  have  lately  bought  a  building  allot- 
ment in  Perth,  33  yards  by  about  90,  I  have  been  minute  in  this  state- 
ment, supposing  it  would  afiurd  you  satisfaction,  as  you  jnay  fori  a  your 


472  GEOLOGY  OF  SWAN   RIVER. 

Geology,  Mineralogy  and  Soil. — It  cannot  be  expected 
that  much  should  be  as  yet  known  on  this  head ; — as  far, 
however,  as  the  country  has  been  examined,  it  appears  to  be 
of  a  more  primitive  formation  than  that  of  New  South  Wales. 
Archdeacon  Scott  describes  a  line  of  coast,  of  more  than  30 
miles  in  length,  as  composed  of  a  highly  calcareous  sandstone, 
presenting  very  similar  mineralogical  characters  throughout 
its  whole  extent.  At  a  promontory,  about  five  miles  to  the 
north  of  the  river  Swan,  the  calcareous  sandstone  exhibits  a 
surface  in  which  are  numerous  concretions  having  the  appear- 
ance of  inclosing  vegetable  matter.  This  character  is  by  no 
means  confined  to  that  spot,  but  is  very  commonly  observed ; 
and  near  the  town  of  Freemantle,  the  sandstone  assumes  the 
appearance  of  a  thick  forest  cut  down,  about  two  or  three 

own  idea  of  what  my  prospects  are.  You  ask  what  do  I  think  to  a  young 
man  like  yourself  coming  to  Swan  River  ?  I  would  say,  if  you  would  like 
the  manner  of  life  I  have  described,  and  are  willing  to  work  your  way  as  I 
have  done,  you  need  have  no  fear  of  succeeding,  provided  your  steps  have 
the  approl)ation  of  Providence.  If  you  prefer  your  accustomed  habits  and 
mode  of  living,  with  all  attendant  consequences,  and  are  not  willing  to 
struggle  with  the  dithculties  we  have  at  first  to  contend  with,  remain  where 
you  are.  Do  not  come  to  Swan  River,  because  you  have  a  brother  there 
who  wishes  you  to  do  so :  but  should  you  choose  to  come  here  of  your  own 
free  will,  you  may  readily  conceive  I  shall  be  most  happy  to  see  you  ;  and 
I  would  say  the  same  to  mv  father,  and  any  or  all  of  my  brothers  and 
sisters,  that  I  think,  with  what  capital  they  individually  can  raise,  whether 
small  or  great,  they  might  do  much  better  here  tiian  in  England.  This 
being  the  latter  part  of  the  shipping  season,  those  who  lay  out  their 
money  in  stores,  &c.  now  will  gain,  I  have  no  doubt,  50  or  100  per  cent, 
in  the  course  of  six  months,  Messrs.  C.  have  been  unfortunate  lately ; 
they  have  had  two  cows  speared  to  death  by  the  natives :  a  third  is 
still  missing.  Our  religious  privileges  are  not  very  great,  but  I  trust 
God  is  with  us :  a  few  of  us  meet  in  class  on  a  Friday  night,  after 
which  each  member  in  general  ])rays  :  Mr.  J.  H.  is  our  leader.  Our 
Sunday  evening  service  comprises  all  the  other  means  we  have,  except  we 
occasionally  go  to  church.  Our  Guilford  service  is  given  up  for  the  present, 
in  conse(|uence  of  the  people  generally  not  shewing  a  disposition  to  attend, 
and  a  young  man  being  appointed  by  government  to  read  the  church  service, 
in  the  same  place  at  the  same  time.  Being  pressed  for  room,  I  must  now 
conclude,  recommending  you  first  to  seek  the  kingdom  of  God  and  his 
righteousness,  and  the  promise  is,  that  all  other  things  shall  be  added. 


MOUNTAIN  STRUCTURE.       LIMESTONE.  473 

feet  from  the  surface,  so  that  to  walk  on  it  becomes  extremely 
difficult,  and  even  dangerous. 

At  Mount  Eliza,  which  rises  above  Perth,  the  calcareous 
sandstone  attains  the  height  of  about  300  feet,  and  is  ob- 
served to  be  based  upon  a  ferruginous  sandstone  fitted  for 
the  purposes  of  building.  From  Perth  to  the  foot  of  Dar- 
ling's Range,  red  clay  and  white  marl  are  found  after  passing 
the  Helena  River.  Darling's  Range  is  composed,  where 
visited,  of  greenstone  and  sienite ;  clay  slate  has  been  dis- 
covered more  to  the  southward  in  the  same  range. 

The  mountains  consist  chiefly  of  various  kinds  of  granite, 
with,  at  their  bases,  what  is  supposed  to  be  trap,  a  dark, 
green,  and  black  speckled,  dull,  heavy,  hard  rock.  Abun- 
dance of  pure  quartz  is  found  every  where, — colours  various. 
At  the  top  of  the  hills  iron-stone  predominates. 

Limestone  is  found  on  or  near  the  sea  coast.  It  produces 
lime  of  the  purest  white  ;  and  much  of  it  appears  to  be 
trunks,  roots,  and  branches  of  an  extensive  forest  of  large 
trees  ;  in  some,  even  the  bark  and  annular  ring  are  visible. 
One  trunk,  or  pillar,  of  limestone,  stands  about  40  feet  high, 
perfectly  isolated  and  upright,  without  branches,  but  show- 
ing the  beginning  of  the  bole.  It  is  about  two  feet  diameter 
in  the  smallest  part.  In  all  the  limestone  are  found  imbedded 
small  samples  of  compact  porcellaneous  limestone,  about  the 
bigness  of  a  small  hand,  or  less ;  the  rest  is  either  chalky  or 
gritty. 

In  all  the  streams  about  the  colony  is  found  abundantly 
a  minute,  ponderous,  black  sand,  strongly  attractable  by 
the  magnet.*  In  the  island  of  Rottenest  is  also  a  fruitful 
mine  of  rock  salt,  which  is  used  at  table  in  its  crude  state ; 
but  from  its  taste  apparently  containing  more  salts  than  mu- 
riate of  soda.  ^\  ater  holding  iron  in  solution  is  common 
among  the  small  springs:  and  iron  stone  is  frequently  met 
with.  One  spring  is  loaded  with  a  sort  of  sweetish  tasted  alum. 

Clay  of  all  sorts  is  abundant,  brick,  fire,  pot  and  pipe  or 
china  clay,  it  is  not  certain  which. 

*  I  fownd  extensive  beds  of  a  similar  sand  at  Oi!»o,  in  Eastern  Africa  ; 
it  formed  the  banks  of  rivers,  and  was  nearly  all  taken  up  by  the  magnet. 


474  MINERALOGY  OF  SWAN  RIVER  SETTLEMENT. 

A  gentleman  settled  in  the  colony,  who  has  forwarded 
some  of  these  statements  to  the  AthencBum,  says  he  has  dis- 
covered on  the  banks  of  the  Swan,  above  Perth,  the  finest 
plaster  stone  in  the  world.  It  is  transparent  as  glass,  rhom- 
boidal,  in  plates,  with  many  internal  fractures  and  flaws  ;  some 
of  it  is  of  the  most  beautiful  satin  kind .  It  burns  in  the  heat 
of  the  bread  oven,  and  when  ground  fine,  and  mixed  with 
water,  sets  into  a  firm  hard  plaster  of  pure  white ;  but,  un- 
like plaster  of  Paris,  it  takes  twenty  minutes  to  set,  and  does 
not  form  a  milk  or  cream  with  water.  It  is  found  in  lumps, 
from  the  size  of  a  nut  to  that  of  an  egg,  bright  and  clean, 
imbedded  in  a  white  clay  marl,  mixed  with  reddish  clay  and 
sand.  If  they  were  all  burnt  together  and  ground,  would 
they  not  form  a  Roman  or  water  cement  ? 

The  same  authority  adds  that  for  the  purpose  of  esta- 
blishing a  flour  mill  on  the  river  Swan,  he  got  mill-stones  of 
the  full  size  (four  feet  diameter,  and  ten  inches  thick)  from 
the  Blue  Hills,  about  thirty-five  miles  off",  which  answered 
beautifully  —  quite  equal  to  French  burrs.  They  were  of 
granite  formation,  both  equally  hard,  but  of  very  diflerent 
qualities.  Every  part  of  them  gave  showers  of  sparkles  when 
struck  with  a  hard  steel ;  their  colours  partly  transparent, 
beautifully  crystaUized  in  plates,  part  pure  opaque  white; 
with  reddish,  grey,  black,  and  purple  spots.  The  lower  stone 
was,  to  all  appearance,  a  grey  granite,  with  no  soft  particles, 
except  here  and  there  inconsiderable  portions  of  a  micaceous 
substance  in  plates  ;  and  though  equally  hard,  it  was  dull, 
and  had  not  that  lively  cutting  quality  so  necessary  for  the 
upper  or  running-stone,  and  which  the  lower  stone  ought  not 
to  possess.  The  runner-stone  was  veined,  the  lower  not  so ; 
but  both,  if  polished  as  slabs,  would  be  exceedingly  beautiful, 
small  sjiecimens  would  not  show  their  beauty. 

I  do  not  know  that  coal  has  yet  been  seen,  but  from  the 
formation  of  the  country  it  is,  as  in  New  South  Wales  and 
Van  Diemen's  Land,  doubtless  abundant,  thus  affording 
another  point  for  our  establishment  of  steam  navigation  over 
the  world. 

The  Soil  is  various ;  large  tracts  of  the  colony  are  sandy, 


SOILS  AND  THEIR  PRODUCTIVENESS.  475 

but  not  barren  sand ;  it  carries  a  luxuriant  native  vegetation, 
and,  if  well  treated,  bears  wheat,  oats,  barley,  vegetables,  &:c. ; 
indeed,  anything,  with  manure,  and  water  in  the  summer. 
Clay  lands,  of  course,  same  as  in  England,  require  a  la- 
borious cultivation  to  make  them  produce.  They  are  too 
cold  and  wet  in  winter,  and  too  dry  and  hard  in  summer, 
without  much  judicious  work.* 

In  some  places,  the  soil  is  a  red  and  brown  loam  and  clay  ; 
in  others,  a  rich  dark  vegetable  earth,  and  as  the  country  has 
been  examined  inland,  or  to  the  E.  and  N.  it  has  been  found 
to  improve.  The  tract,  which  lies  between  the  Darling,  and 
their  parallel  range  from  the  coast  is  fit  for  every  purpose, 
and  it  is  a  further  advantage  that,  throughout  the  country, 
there  are  numerous  irrigating  streams,  while  it  is  not  pro- 
bable from  the  country  being  open  to  the  westerly  winds,  that 
long  droughts  occur  here  as  on  the  E.  coast:  the  pasturage 
also  is  so  sweet  and  nourishing,  that  cattle  of  every  kind  thrive 
rapidly,  and  crops  of  all  sorts  yield  abundantly. 

The  Lieutenant-Governor  in  his  dispatches  under  date 
Swan  River,  2nd  April,  1832,  says — 

'  The  coast  from  Gantheaume  Bay  on  the  W.  to  Doubtful 
Island  Bay  on  the  S.,  including  the  several  islets  and  rocks, 
present  the  remarkable  calcareous  substance  which  has  been 

*  A  farmer  (G.  J.),  writing  from  his  settlement  on  the  Swan  River,  to 
his  brother  in  England,  under  date  June  4th,  1833,  says — 'Crops  in  general, 
last  harvest,  were  very  abundant :  wheat,  on  the  best  soils,  averaged,  in 
several  instances,  I  have  no  doubt,  from  three  to  four  quarters  per  aire,  on 
land  that  had  been  only  once  ploughed,  and  without  manure.  Our  average 
weight  is,  I  believe,  about  65  lbs.  per  bushel.  Messrs.  C.  had  about  four 
quarters  of  barley  per  acre,  45  lb.  per  acre  bushel;  and  I  should  tliink 
oats,  on  their  best  land,  would  average  five  or  six  quarters  per  acre :  they 
are  a  beautiful  sample,  and  weigh  about  12  stone  per  sack.  I  have  growu 
some  as  fine  potatoes,  I  think,  as  I  ever  saw,  on  a  small  spot  of  laud,  with- 
out any  manure  :  the  land  was  only  once  dug,  which  was  in  August ;  the 
latter  part  of  November  it  was  trenched,  and  the  potatoes  planted.  I  took 
them  up  about  a  month  ago  :  one  potatoe  weighed  H  lb. ;  the  produce  of 
two  single  sets  to-day  weigh  between  7  and  8  lbs.,  though  they  iiave  been 
in  the  house,  in  a  dry  situation,  about  a  month.' 


476  CLIMATE  AT  SWAN  RIVER. 

supposed  to  exist  in  no  otlier  place  than  on  the  shores  of  New 
Holland  and  on  those  of  Sicily.  Although  it  serves  in  gene- 
ral as  a  kind  of  edging  to  this  part  of  the  continent,  it  is  occa- 
sionally interrupted  by  the  protrusion  of  granite  and  trap  ;  and 
it  is  in  some  places  covered  by  sand.  The  open  downs  which 
it  forms  sometimes  afford  good  sheep-keep,  and  it  burns  into 
very  fine  lime ;  but  in  general  the  soil  upon  it  is  of  little  value. 
Behind  this  sea  range  of  hills,  which  are  sometimes  800  feet 
in  height,  and  two  or  three  miles  in  breadth,  there  is  a  low 
sandy  district  which  appears  to  have  had  a  diluvial  origin, 
as  it  exhibits  occasionally  pebbles  and  detached  pieces  of  the 
older  rocks,  and  varies  from  mere  sand  to  red  loam  and  clay. 
In  some  parts  this  sandy  district  presents  considerable  por- 
tions of  very  fine  soil,  and  in  no  part  is  it  absolutely  sterile. 

*  The  banks  of  the  rivers  which  flow  through  it  are  of  the 
richest  description  of  soil ;  and  although  a  large  portion  would 
not  pay  for  cultivation  at  the  present  price  of  labour,  it  is  not 
unfit  for  grazing.  Out  of  this  sandy  plain  there  occasionally 
rise  ranges  and  detached  hills  of  primitive  formation,  the  most 
extensive  of  which  is  the  range  which  bounds  the  plain  on 
the  E.  or  landward  side,  and  extends  from  the  S.  coast  be- 
tween Cape  D'Entrecasteaux  and  Wilson's  Inlet,  northward 
to  the  30th  degree  of  latitude.  The  highest  altitude  attained 
by  these  primitive  mountains  is  about  3,500  feet,  which  is 
supposed  to  be  the  height  of  Roi  KyncrifF,  behind  King 
George's  Sound  ;  but  the  average  may  be  stated  at  1,000  feet. 
To  the  westward  of  the  principal  of  these  ranges,  is  an  inte- 
rior country  of  a  different  formation  from  that  on  the  coast, 
being  of  a  red  loamy  character.  It  appears  to  have  the 
lowest  portion  of  its  surface  about  500  feet  above  the  level 
of  the  sea,  and  discharges  all  its  water  westwardly,  or  south- 
wardly through  the  range  aforesaid.  Some  of  these  streams 
have  a  constant  current,  and  would  afford  a  supply  of  water 
in  the  dryest  months;  and,  in  general,  neither  the  interior 
nor  the  country  near  the  coast  can  be  said  to  be  badly 
watered.' 

Climate. — The  temperature  of  Swan  River  is  somewhat 


METEOROLOGICAL  TABLF.  OF  PERTH. 


IT' 


like  that  of  Naples,  warm  and  dry.  As  the  country  is  ascended 
or  traversed  S.  its  heat,  &c.  of  course  varies ;  but  everywhere 
the  climate  is  exceedingly  healthy,  and  diseases  are  less 
numerous,  and  when  they  do  occur,  less  severe  than  is 
generally  found  to  be  the  case  in  other  places.  Snow  is  never 
seen,  but  hail  of  a  lai'ge  size  (sometimes  as  big  as  marbles), 
falls  occasionally.  The  following  meteorological  table  was 
kept  at  Perth  in  1832,  a  year  of  ordinary  weather.  I  derive 
it  from  the  Army  Medical  Board  returns,  which  Sir  James 
M'Grigor  has  politely  given  me  access  to. 


Thermometer 

Barometer. 

Months. 

1 

Winds. 

Weather. 

i 

"S     ° 

•a 
<a 

s 

s 

S     s 

s 

S 

i 

January. . 

99 

80 

61 

30.10 

29.95 

29.80 

N.E.  and  S.W. 

Early  part  fine,  middle 
cloudy;    lightning  on 

the  4th. 

February 

106 

83 

60 

30.10 

29.97 

29.85 

N.E.  and  S.W. 

Eight  cloudy  days,  three 
rainy,  remainder  fine. 

March 

95 

78i 

62 

30.20 

29.90 

29.60 

N.  E.  and  S.W.  by  S. 

Generally  fine  ;  rain  on 
the  4th  and  .'ith. 

_.      April  .... 

92 

71 

50 

30.34 

30.10 

29.90 

N.E.N.W.  andS.W. 

Like  an  English  April, 
alternately  fine  and 
showery. 

■   M.y   .... 

77 

6li 

46 

30.50 

30.00 

29.50 

E.  N.E.  N.W.&S.W. 

Seventeen  days'  rain, 
with  heavy  squalls 
from  N.W. 

1  ""  ■■■ 

"4 

59 

44 

30.60 

30.20 

29.8O 

W.  S.W.  and  N.W. 

Sixteen  days'  hoar  frost; 
ice  on  the  3rd  ;  a  thun- 
der storm,  with  large 
bail. 

July    .... 

"0 

55 

40 

30.35 

29-97 

29.60 

N.  E.  N.W.  and  S.W. 

Generally  fine;  ice  on  the 
1st  and  gth  ;  a  thunder 
storm,  with  large  hail. 

August  .. 

79 

6li 

44 

30.30 

29.97 

29.65 

N.E.  and  S.W. 

Ten  days'  rain ;    heavy 

j     dews  ;    thunder  storm 

on  the  nth. 

September 

76 

63 

50 

30.30 

29.97 

29.65 

N.W.  and  S.W. 

Cloudy,  squally,  and 
rainy  ;  thunder  storm 
on  the  18th. 

October . . 

76 

63 

50 

30.25 

29.874 

29.50 

N.E.  N.W.  andS.W.JAlternately      fine      and 
1     showery  and  squally. 

November 

86 

69 

52 

30.40 

30.10 

29.8O 

S.W. 

Gale  of  wind  on  the  1st ; 
squally  on  the  gth ; 
storm  on  the  lOth. 

December 

101 

80i 

80.i 

30.10 

29.90 

29.70 

S.W.  and  N.W. 

Cloudy,  sunshine,  and 
rain ;  middle  fine. 

The  strongest  winds  are  from  the  N.W.,  those  next  in  force 
from  the  S.W.  [Off  Cape  Leuwin  the  N.W.  wind  occa- 
sionally blows  with  great  violence,  as  it  does  off  the  Cape  of 
Good  Hope  in  squalls.  In  March,  1828,  I  was  upwards  of 
three  weeks  off  Cape  Leuwin  in  a  N.W.  gale,  and  scarcely 
ever  out  of  the  meridian  of  115"  E.,  trying  to  double  this 


478  VEGETABLE  AND  ANIMAL  KINGDOMS. 

Lioness  headland,  and  pass  to  the  E. ;  we  were  sometimes  close 
in  with  the  coast,  and  it  was  far  from  being  an  inviting  shore 
to  be  cast  adrift  on.]  The  hot  winds  that  blow  from  the  N. 
are  very  sultry,  and  if  long  continued  (which  rarely  happens), 
they  shrivel  up  the  leaves  and  vegetables,  and  destroy  the 
tender  shoots  of  plants.  The  S.  and  S.W.  winds  are  the 
coolest  and  most  refreshing.  During  the  summer  months 
there  is  a  regular,  almost  daily,  land  and  sea  breeze,  the 
former  in  the  morning  from  the  E.  and  N.E.,  and  the  latter 
setting  in  about  noon  from  the  W.  and  S.W.  and  moderating 
the  heat  of  the  sun.  Few  deaths,  except  those  arising  from 
drunkenness  and  accidents  have  occurred  since  the  formation 
of  the  settlement. 

Vegetation  is  pretty  similar  to  that  of  the  E.  coast ;  the 
forest  trees  are  principally  eucalypti  (called  the  white, 
blue,  and  red  gum  tree)  banksia  (honeysuckle)  casuarinas 
(shee  and  swamp  oaks),  and  mimosas  (wattles)  are  abundant. 
A  very  fine  wood  discovered  by  the  settlers  is  called  maho- 
gany, and  the  sandal  wood  is  large  and  well  scented.  There 
is  in  fact  abundance  of  excellent  timber  fit  for  any  purpose. 
All  sort  of  European  grain  have  now  been  introduced  and 
yield  an  ample  return  for  the  smallest  attention ;  maize  and 
CaiFre  corn  thrive  luxuriantly.  Vegetables  are  of  all  kinds: 
turnips,  radishes,  onions,  eschalots,  garlic,  peas,  beet-root, 
mangel-wurzel,  celery,  cabbages,  cauliflowers,  spinach,  beans, 
potatoes,  sugar  cane,  (standing  fifteen  feet  high)  bananas, 
salad  herbs,  water-cress  (introduced  by  us),  chillis,  artichokes, 
almonds,  peaches,  apples,  vines,  pine-apples,  all  the  melon 
tribe,  water-melons,  cucumbers,  vegetable  marrow,  vegetable 
bottles,  &c.  (30  tons  of  potatoes  have  been  exported  on  trial 
to  India.) 

The  Animal  Kingdom  requires  no  separate  notice  from  the 
description  given  in  the  two  preceding  chapters;  neither  do — 

The  Aborigines  exhibit  distinct  features.  As  might  be  ex- 
pected, hostilities  have  taken  place  between  the  British  settlers 
and  natives,  and,  as  the  latter  are  great  thieves,  several  of 
them  have  been  killed  when   stealing  the  property  of  the 


POPULATION  AND  GOVERNMENT,  SWAN  RIVER,  470 

former;  retaliation  has  then  taken  place,  but  several  of  the 
tribes  near  the  settlers  have  now  become  peaceable,  and,  al- 
though J;hey  complain  that  the  settlers'  clogs  have  destroyed 
most  of  their  game,  they  admit  that  mutton  and  beef  (which 
have  been  frequently  furnished  them  by  the  humane  Governor 
Stirling)  are  not  bad  substitutes  for  opossums  and  kangaroos. 

With  regard  to  the  whites,  I  have  before  observed  that 
there  are  no  prisoners  sent  to  this  colony  ;  the  white  popula- 
tion consists  therefore  entirely  of  free  men,  and  although  many 
of  the  labourers  taken  out  were  the  refuse  of  the  workhouses 
at  home,  they  have  on  the  whole  behaved  well.  It  is  difficult 
to  estimate  the  number  of  settlers  in  the  country  owing  to  the 
scattered  manner  in  which  the  locations  have  been  formed ; 
it  is  probably  from  2,000  to  3,000,  and  when  the  colony  is 
better  explored  may  be  expected  to  increase.  The  seat  of 
government  is  at  Perth,  on  the  Swan  River,  the  territory 
around  which  is  fast  assuming  a  thriving  appearance. 

Government. — The  chief  authority  is  still  vested  in  the 
enterprising  founder  of  the  colony,  Captain  (now  Sir  James) 
Stirling,  R.N.,*  aided  by  an  Executive  and  Legislative  Coun- 
cil ;  and  there  are  about  30  magistrates  in  different  parts  of 
the  territory.  A  revenuef  is  raised  on  the  importation  and  sale 
of  spirits  ;  and  a  small  sum  annually  voted  by  the  Imperial 
Parliament  (6,000/.)  for  the  payment  of  the  Government  offi- 
cers ;  J  I  do  not,  however,  think  that  this  colony,  occupying  a 
large  extent  of  valuable  country,  has  cost  the  mother  country 
altogether  50,000/.,  a  sum  not  worth  mentioning  in  comparison 

*  Sir  Richard  Spencer  is  the  government  resident  at  King  George's 
Sound,  and  has  purchased  a  large  tract  of  hind  there.  I  understand  that 
several  respectable  settlers  have  gone  thither  from  Calcutta. 

t  The  revenue  of  the  settlement,  for  the  quarter  ending  31st  March, 
1834,  was,  on  spirits  imported,  403/. ;  on  licenses  granted  for  the  sale  of 
spirits,  514/. ;  fines  levied  in  Courts  of  Justice,  12/. ;  total,  929/. — which, 
multiplied  by  four,  will  give  nearly  4,000/.  a  year.  The  sale  of  land  will 
also  afford  a  revenue ;  its  minimum  price  is  fixed  at  5s.  per  acre. 

X  The  civil  establishment  of  Western  Australia,  with  the  salaries  attached 
to  the  offices,  is  as  follows  : — the  governor,  800/.  per  annum  (the  Executive 
Cfw«6v7  consisting  of  the  Commandant  of  the  troops,  the  Colonial  Secretary, 


480  PATRIOTISM  IN  FOUNDING  BRITISH   COLONIES. 

with  the  territory  acquired.  Two  full  companies  of  infantry 
are  stationed  at  Perth,  Augusta,  King  George's  Sound,  &c. ; 
there  is  a  small  mounted  police,  civil  and  criminal  courts  of 
law  have  been  established  ;  and  a  vessel  of  war  occasionally 
touches  at  Gage's  roads  from  the  East  India  station  on  its  way 
to  Sydney. 

Several  thousand  sheep,  and  fine  cattle  now  depasture  in 
different  parts  of  the  colony  ;  roads  are  being  formed,  and 
public  buildings  constructed ;  an  agricultural  society  estab- 
lished ;  a  newspaper  issued  weekly ;  (it  was  at  first  written ; 
but  that  indispensable  domestic  article  to  an  Englishman,  a 
printing  press,  is  now  in  full  operation  on  the  banks  of  the 
Swan.)  Wool  (of  a  very  superior  quality)  plaster  of  Paris, 
and  timber  have  been  exported  to  England ;  an  intercourse  is 
kept  up  with  New  South  Wales,  Van  Diemen's  Land,  and 
India ;  and  a  central  position  admirably  adapts  it  for  open- 
ing a  trade  with  various  parts  of  the  world ;  on  the  whole  I 
am  rejoiced  that  this  colony  has  been  established,  it  is  one  of 
those  laudable  undertakings  which  England  ought  to  be  proud 
of, — and  cold  to  the  present  and  dead  towards  the  future  must 
be  the  man  who  can  cavil  at  the  formation  of  such  establish- 
ments. I  trust  indeed  to  see  the  period  revived  in  England 
when  the  noblest  in  the  land  will  think  it  the  highest  honour 
to  be  instrumental  in  extending  the  language,  laws,  and  liber- 
ties of  England  in  the  most  distant  corners  of  the  habitable 
earth. 

the  Surveyor-General,  and  the  Advocate-General  ;  and  the  Legislative 
Council,  coraposed  of  the  aforesaid  officers,  and  such  other  gentlemen  as 
his  Majesty  may  appoint,  have  no  salaries  as  Councillors)  :  the  Colonial- 
Secretary  (who  is  also  Clerk  of  the  Council  and  Registrar),  500/.  ;  Go- 
vernor's Secretary,  150/.;  first  Clerk  to  ditto,  125/,;  second  ditto,  50/,; 
Messenger  to  Council,  50/, ;  Surveyor- General,  400/. ;  Draftsman,  150/. ; 
Clerk,  50/.;  Colonial  Chaplain,  250/. ;  Schoolmaster  at  Perth,  50/. ;  Co- 
lonial Surgeon,  27-3/. ;  Collector  of  Revenue,  200/. ;  Government  Resident 
at  King  George's  Sound  (Sir  Richard  Spencer),  100/. ;  Harbour-Master  at 
ditto,  100/. ;  Advocate-General,  200/.;  Chairman  of  Quarter  Sessions  and 
Councillor  of  Civil  Court,  300/. ;  Sheriff,  100/. ;  Clerk  of  the  Peace,  100/. ; 
Jailor,  100/.:— total,  4140/. 


481 


CHAPTER  VI. 

SOUTH    AUSTRALIA. 

ITS  SITE  AND  ADAPTATION  FOR  A  COLONY — PROJECTED  ESTABLISHMENT  OP 
SUCH,  AND  PRINCIPLE  ON  WHICH  ITS  FOUNDATION  IS  PROPOSED,  &CC. 

The  southern  shores  of  Australia  (along  which  I  coasted  a 
few  years  since)  has  often  appeared  to  me  a  most  eligible 
situation  for  a  colony,  by  reason  of  its  enjoying  a  fine  climate, 
central  position,*  excellent  harbours,  and  apparently  good  soil, 
unsubjected  probably  to  those  droughts  which  have  afflicted 
the  more  easterly  settlement  of  New  South  Wales.  Our  in- 
formation of  this  S.  coast,  extending  between  the  meridians 
of  132°  and  141°,  is  vague  and  imperfect,  and  the  following 
outline  of  the  coast  is  derived  from  the  different  voyagers, 
who  have,  at  various  times,  visited  it,  either  for  scientific 
or  mercantile  purposes. 

From  the  132"  of  E.  Long,  to  Coffin's  Bay,  situated  in 
135.15.  very  little  is  known  of  the  character  of  the  shore  or 
land.  Some  large  inlets  called  Fowler's  Bay,  Denial  Bay, 
Smoky  Bay,  and  Streaky  Bay,  and  a  large  lagoon  seen  by 
Captain  Flinders,  from  the  mast  head,  near  Point  Weyland, 
are  the  only  indications    of  valuable    roadsteads    or    rivers. 

*  This  is  shewn  by  the  sailin^f  distances  from  Port  Lincoln  to  various 
places : — 


Place. 

c 
a 

Winds. 

1 

a 
3 

Proper  Seasons. 

From  Port  Lincoln  to 
Timor 

2700 
2650 
4700 
4500 
4400 
60OO 
11500 
800 
1200 

Favoiirable  at  all  seasons. 

Ditto. 

Ditto. 

Ditto. 

Ditto. 

Ditto. 

Variable. 

Favourable. 

Favourable  in  general. 

20 
18 
33 
32 
29 
40 
105 
6 
12 

AU  times  of  the  year. 
Ditto. 

Ditto. 

Ceylon   

Ditto. 
Ditto. 

Cape  of  Good  Hope   

England    

Van  Diemen's  Land  .... 
Sidney   

Ditto. 
Ditto. 
Ditto. 
Ditto. 

VOL.  IV. 


I  I 


482  COASTS  OF  SOUTHERN  AUSTRALIA. 

These  inlets  have  never  been  thoroughly  examined,  thougli 
Captain  Flinders  remarks  he  found  in  one  part  '  much  refuse 
from  the  shore,  as  well  as  sea-weed  floating  about,  by  which 
some  hope  of  finding  a  river  was  entertained  ;'  and  subse- 
quently, '  besides  quantities  of  grass  and  branches  of  trees  or 
bushes  floating  in  the  water,  there  was  a  number  of  long 
gauze-winged  insects  topping  about  the  surface,  such  as 
frequent  fresh-water  lakes  and  swamps.'  He  also  saw  smokes 
rising  in  various  places.  In  proof  of  the  insufficiency  of  his 
survey,  Captain  Flinders  says,  '  my  examination  was  tolerably 
minute  to  be  done  wholly  in  a  ship,  but  much  still  remained 
which  boats  would  best  accomplish,  to  make  the  surveys 
complete,  especially  in  the  bays  of  the  main  land.' 

The  only  account  given  of  Coffin's  Bay  is  by  Captain 
Flinders,  who  says  it  extends  four  or  five  leagues  to  the  south- 
westward  from  Point  Sir  Isaac.  '  On  the  E.  side  of  the 
entrance,  the  shore  rises  quickly  from  the  beach  to  hills  of 
considerable  height,  well  covered  with  wood.  The  highest  of 
these  hills  I  called  Mount  Greenly ;  its  elevation  is  between  six 
and  eight  hundred  feet,  and  it  stands  very  near  the  water- 
side.    The  country  seemed  thickly  peopled.' 

The  basis  of  the  Point  he  reports  to  be  granitic,  with  an 
upper  stratum  of  calcareous  rock. 

Of  Thistle  Island,  Mr.  Westall,  who  landed  there  and  went 
a  mile  and  a  half  inland,  states  that  'the  trees  were  high  and 
the  grass  luxuriant.'  Flinders  also  remarks  that  the  '  size  of 
the  kangaroos  found  there  was  superior  to  those  found  upon 
the  western  islands,  though  much  inferior  to  the  forest  kan- 
garoos of  the  continent.'  Captain  Dillon  states  that  when  he 
was  there  in  December,  1815,  he  anchored  to  the  N.  W.  of 
the  island,  and  remained  on  shore  three  days.  Grass  was 
then  very  abundant,  as  also  was  underwood.  He  killed 
several  kangaroos  of  the  kind  called  the  '  Wallaba.'* 

*  The  number,  size,  and  fatness  of  the  kangaroos  found  on  any  spot, 
may  lead  to  a  toleraI)]y  correct  judsi^ment  as  to  the  fertility  of  the  soil.  The 
kangaroo  resembles  in  its  habits  the  deer  of  England  more  than  any  other 
European  animal,  and  feeds  upon  the  same  kind  of  herbage.     It  will. 


I 


CAPTAIN   FLINDERS  AND  MR.  AVF.STAI.L.  48.'J 

The  substratum  at  Memory  Cove  is  granite,  mostly  covered 
with  calcareous  rock,  sometimes  lying  in  loose  pieces.  The 
best  evidence  relative  to  this  spot  is  that  of  Mr.  Westall,  the 
artist,  who  landed  there  and  went  three  miles  inland.  He 
represents  the  land  as  being  very  good,  the  grass  luxuriant, 
and  the  trees  of  a  good  size.  From  reference  to  sketches 
which  he  made  at  the  time,  he  is  of  opinion  that  the  land 
between  Port  Lincoln  and  Memory  Cove  is  well  wooded,  and 
that  the  trees  are  of  good  size.  Sleaford  Mere,  a  piece  of 
water  to  the  W.  of  Memory  Cove,  is  wooded  down  to  the 
water's  edge.  Mr.  Westall  further  states  that  water  was 
'£ound  at  Memory  Cove,  and  that  it  was  good,  but  in  small 
quantities. 

A  seine  was  hauled  upon  the  beach,  and  with  such  success 
that  every  man  had  two  meals  of  fish,  and  some  to  spare  for 
salting. 

There  is  much  discrepancy  in  the  accounts  of  the  persons 
who  have  visited  Port  Lincoln  and  its  immediate  neighbour- 
hood, relative  to  its  distinguishing  features.  Captain  Flinders 
is  unfavourable  to  the  capabilities  of  that  part  of  Australia 
for  the  establishment  of  a  colony  ;f  while  the  French  navi- 
gators, Baudin  and  Freycinet,  are  quite  the  reverse;  and  this 
latter  opinion  is  corroborated  by  Captain  Goold  and  others 
who  have  since  visited  the  spot. 

The  most  recent  account  of  Spalding  Cove,  which  was  not 
visited  by  Flinders,  is  given  by  a  person  of  the  name  of  Ham- 
borg,  who  visited  it  in  May,  1832.  He  states  that  he  anchored 
on  the  eastern  side  of  the  Cove,  in  blue  clay,  in  seven  fathoms 
water,   and  that  the  position  is   safe  from  all  winds,    being 

therefore,  be  fair  to  suppose  that  the  more  plentiful  and  luxuriant  the 
herbage,  the  greater  will  be  the  number  and  size,  and  the  better  the  con- 
dition of  the  animals  feeding  thereon.  This  argument  may  be  extended  to 
the  human  race,  especially  to  those  tribes  who  depend  entirely  for  their  sub- 
sistence upon  success  in  hunting.  The  more  plentiful  the  food,  the  greater 
will  be  the  population  ;  and  that  population  will  be  more  active  and  better 
formed. 

.  *  He  lost  Mr.  Thistle  and  a  boat's  crew  there,  and  may  therefore  have 
been  indisposed  towards  tlie  place. 


484  SPALDING  COVE. 

nearly  land-locked.  He  went  about  a  mile  and  a  half  inland, 
and  found  two  streams  of  fine  water,  as  clear  as  crystal, 
running  into  Spalding  Cove  from  the  southward.  This  person 
has  travelled  much  in  Van  Diemen's  Land  and  Australia 
generally,  and  is  of  opinion  that  the  appearance  of  the  country 
resembles  Port  Augusta  rather  than  any  other  part  he  has 
seen.  Among  the  trees  he  saw  were  cedar  (which  would  cut 
into  two-feet  planks) ;  beef-wood,  tulip-wood,  stringy  bark 
(very  large),  huon  pine  and  iron  bark.  He  saw  plenty  of  wood 
which  would  serve  for  ship  and  boat  building,  and  for  spars. 
The  grass  was  about  knee-deep  and  in  great  quantity ;  it  was 
quite  green,  and  numbers  of  kangaroos  and  other  animals 
were  feeding  on  it ;  the  kangaroos  were  large  and  as  fat  as 
any  he  had  seen  elsewhere. 

The  object  of  his  visit  to  Port  Lincoln  was  to  convey 
thither  a  party  of  thirty  persons,  with  five  boats  and  the 
necessary  implements  for  catching  whales.  The  persons  whom 
he  left  had  been  there  three  previous  seasons  for  the  same 
purpose,  and  had  been  successful.  The  black  whales  are 
very  commonly  met  with  close  in-shore  ;  the  sperm  whales  not 
frequently,  being  farther  to  the  southward.  Seals  are  very 
numerous.  He  also  found  other  fish  in  great  numbers  and 
variety — amongst  them  v/ere  grey  mullet  from  71bs.  to  81bs. 
in  weight,  red  mullet  from  2lbs.  to  31bs. ;  soles,  mackerel, 
herrings,  snappers,  jew-fish,  salmon,  trumpeters,  parrot-fish, 
sting-ray,  mussels,  oysters,  cockles,  rock  cod,  turtle,  &c. 

The  natives  he  saw  were  numerous  and  peaceful.  They 
assisted  him  in  carrying  water  to  the  ship,  and  in  other 
matters.  For  a  little  tobacco,  and  with  kind  treatment,  he  is 
convinced  they  would  work  well.  These  natives,  as  well  as 
the  whalers  and  sealers,  depend  for  their  supply  of  water  on 
the  two  streams  running  into  Spalding  Cove  before  mentioned. 

Pursuing  the  line  of  coast,  the  next  place  of  importance  is 
Port  Lincoln,  properly  so  called,  by  which  is  meant  that  inlet 
S.  of  Grantham  Island,  and  in  which  Captain  Flinders  anchored 
with  the  Investigator.  What  is  known  of  the  neighbourhood 
of  this  place  is  from  the  accounts  of  Captain  Flinders,  Mr. 


PORT    LINCOLN.  485 

Westall,  Captain  Dillon,  and  the  Captains  Baudin  and 
Freycinet,  who  visited  Port  Lincoln  twice. 

Captain  Flinders  says,  'Port  Lincoln  is  certainly  a  fine  har- 
bour ;  and  it  is  much  to  be  regretted  that  it  possesses  no 
constant  run  of  fresh  water,  unless  it  should  be  in  Spalding 
Cove,  which  we  did  not  examine.  Our  pits  at  the  head  of 
the  port  will,  however,  supply  ships  at  all  times  ;  and  though 
discoloured  with  whitish  clay,  the  water  has  no  pernicious 
quality,  nor  is  it  ill-tasted.  This,  and  wood,  which  was  easily 
procured,  were  all  that  we  wanted. 

'  Of  the  climate  we  had  no  reason  to  speak  but  in  praise ; 
nor  were  we  incommoded  by  noxious  insects.  The  range  of 
the  thei'uiometer  on  board  the  ship  was  from  66.  to  78.  On 
shore  the  average  height  of  the  thermometer  at  noon  was  76.' 

Mr.  Westall  says  he  is  of  opinion  that  the  land  at  Port 
Lincoln  is  much  better  than  that  at  King  George's  Sound ; 
and  this  is  found  by  recent  experiment  to  be  very  good  land, 
and  applicable  to  all  the  purposes  of  agriculture. 

Captain  Dillon  was  at  Port  Lincoln  in  1815.  He  landed  at 
the  head  of  the  Port  and  remained  there  two  days.  The 
timber  he  saw  was  very  large  and  in  great  plenty.  The  hills 
were  covered  with  trees,  and  he  considers  the  land  to  be  very 
fertile  and  productive. 

The  accounts  of  Port  Lincoln  given  by  MM.  Baudin, 
Freycinet,  and  Peron,  are  of  a  very  encouraging  character. 
After  describing  minutely  the  geographical  position  of  the 
port,  the  following  account  is  given. 

'  On  the  western  side  of  the  gulf,  and  near  its  entrance  is 
Champagny  Port  (Port  Lincoln),  one  of  the  finest  and  most 
secure  in  New  Holland ;  in  every  part  of  it  is  an  excellent 
bottom;  the  depth  of  water,  even  close  in  with  the  land,  is 
from  ten  to  twelve  fathoms  (French),  and  such  is  the  capacity 
of  this  magnificent  Port,  that  it  is  competent  to  receive  the 
most  numerous  fleets.  In  front  of  this  port  is  Lagrange 
Island  (Boston  Island),  four  or  five  leagues  in  circumference, 
and  which,  placed  exactly  in  the  middle  of  the  mouth  of  the 
port,  leaves  on  each  side  a  passage  from  two  to  three  miles 


48G  FRENCH  OPINION  OF  roKT  LINCOLN. 

broad,  in  both  which  passages  a  vessel  can  work  with  ease 
and  security.  Finally,  as  if  nature  were  inclined,  in  favour  of 
Champagny  Port  (Port  Lincoln),  to  change  the  character  of 
monotony  and  barrenness  stamped  on  the  neighbouring  lands, 
she  has  formed  its  shores  of  gently  rising  slopes,  and  clothed 
them  with  umbrageous  forests.  We  did  not  find  any  fresh 
water  at  this  spot ;  but  the  vigour  and  liveliness  of  vegetation, 
and  the  height  of  the  country,  to  us  were  certain  indices  of 
the  existence  of  some  rivulets,  or  at  least  of  some  copious 
springs.  On  this  the  most  favoured  part  of  '  Napoleon  Land' 
(South  Australia),  there  are  certainly  numerous  tribes  of  in- 
habitants, for  the  whole  country  seemed  in  flames.  So  many 
exclusive  advantages  insure  special  importance  to  Port 
Champagny  (Port  Lincoln),  and  I  may  fearlessly  affirm  that, 
of  all  the  points  of  this  land,  this  is  the  best  adapted  for  the 
establishment  of  an  European  colony.' 

The  second  visit  of  the  same  party  was  made  a  few  weeks 
later,  when  the  impression  in  favour  of  this  spot  appears  to 
have  been  heightened.  The  subjoined  statement  was  then 
given  of  the  harbour : — 

'  This  harbour  consists  of  three  basins,  in  each  of  which 
there  is  not  less  than  ten  to  twelve  fathoms  (French)  water, 
with  a  bottom  of  muddy  sand,  and  which,  from  their  extent, 
would  be  capable  of  receiving  the  navies  of  all  Europe. 
Boston  Island  is  at  the  mouth  of  this  admirable  port,  and  it 
forms,  with  the  continent,  two  passages,  in  each  of  which  the 
largest  ships  of  war  might  work  with  safety.  The  northern 
passage  is  the  narrowest,  and  opens  into  Boston  Bay,  the 
southern  is  larger,  and  opens  on  one  side  into  the  western 
basin,  and  on  the  other  into  Spalding  Cove.  Between  the 
island  and  the  main  land  is  the  channel  Degerando,  which 
establishes  a  direct  communication  between  the  three  basins, 
and  which  at  the  same  time  offers  excellent  moorings  for  the 
most  numerous  fleets.  Two  small  islands,  placed  at  the 
mouth  of  the  southern  basin,  likewise  afford  good  shelter. 
The  same  may  be  said  of  Grantham  Island,  with  regard  to 
the  western  basin.    Shall  I  repeat  here  what  I  have  already  said 


I 


BOSTON   BAY.  487 

as  to  the  fertility  of  the  soil?  Shall  I  speak  of  the  valleys, 
M'hicli  would  seem  to  denote  corresponding  springs  or  brooks 
of  fresh  water?  Is  it  necessary  for  me  to  insist  upon  those 
numerous  fires  which  our  companions,  on  approaching  the 
port,  observed  on  all  the  neighbouring  declivities,  and  which 
would  seem  to  attest  the  existence  at  this  spot  of  a  population 
much  more  numerous  than  on  the  other  points  of  the  S.  W. 
coast  ?  Worthy  to  rival  Port  Jackson,  Port  Lincoln  is,  under 
every  point  of  view,  one  of  the  finest  harbours  in  the  world  ; 
and  of  all  those  discovered  by  us,  whether  on  the  S.  the  W. 
or  the  N.  of  New  Holland,  it  appears,  I  repeat  it,  to  be  the 
best  adapted  to  receive  an  European  colony.' 

The  only  account  of  Boston  Bay  which  has  been  received 
is  that  by  Captain  Goold,  unless  the  above  report  by  the 
French  travellers  is  intended,  as  there  is  some  reason  to 
believe  it  is,  rather  as  a  description  of  Boston  Bay  than  of 
Port  Lincoln  itself. 

Captain  Goold  anchored  in  Boston  Bay  between  the  island 
and  the  main  land,  and  resided  there  in  all  three  weeks.  He 
went  about  three  miles  inland,  and  found  the  country  was 
open  forest  land,  with  the  trees  about  forty  or  fifty  yards 
apart.  They  were  large  and  well  grown.  Amongst  them 
were  the  blue  gum,  cedar  saplings,  and  one  very  large  rose- 
wood tree.  In  digging  for  water,  he  found  the  soil  to  the 
depth  of  three  feet,  to  be  of  a  moist  heavy  nature ;  it 
was  a  black  mould,  and  under  it  was  a  bed  of  yellow  clay. 
He  did  not  go  deep  enough  for  water,  in  consequence  of  one 
of  the  crew  having  found  a  spring  which  amply  supphed  his 
wants.  This  was  just  westward  of  Point  Boston,  below  the 
high-water  mark.  There  was  plenty  of  grass,  although  much 
dried  up,  in  consequence  of  the  season  being  advanced.  He 
spent  Christmay-day  (1827)  at  Boston  Bay.  In  the  August 
following,  he  returned  thither,  and  found  water  at  the  spring 
which  had  before  supplied  him.  The  water  was  hard,  but 
very  palatable.  The  anchorage  was  good,  being  in  five 
fathoms,  close  in  shore.  While  at  anchor  in  Boston  Bay  a 
typhoon  arose  which  lasted  four  hours — it  blew  from  the 
southward ;    but   the    ship    was    not    injured   in   the   least. 


488  YOKKli's   PENINSULA. 

Typhoons   are   common  about  the    time   of  the  S.  and  W. 
monsoons ;  they  are  pecuHar  to  the  southern  seas. 

Captain  Gookl's  experience  of  Austraha  has  been  very 
considerable;  he  has  been  all  round  the  island;  but  with 
Swan  River,  King  George's  Sound,  Port  Jackson,  and 
Hunters  River,  he  is  more  particularly  acquainted.  Com- 
paring Boston  Bay  with  the  places  just  named,  he  says  that 
the  land  of  none  of  them  can  be  compared  with  Boston  Bay, 
excepting  Hunter's  River,  the  garden  and  granary  of  New 
South  Wales.  It  is  far  superior  to  all  the  rest,  and  about 
equal  to  the  last. 

Nothing  which  he  is  aware  of  can  render  the  establishment 
of  a  colony  at  Port  Lincoln  undesirable : — on  the  contrary, 
Captain  Goold  declares  that  the  harbour,  soil,  climate,  posi- 
tion for  commerce,  and  vicinity  to  excellent  fishing  grounds, 
render  the  formation  of  a  colony  there,  in  his  opinion,  highly 
desirable. 

The  only  persons  from  whom  information  relative  to  Yorke's 
Peninsula  has  been  obtained  are  Captains  Goold  and  Suther- 
land ;  the  last  of  whom  was  Captain  of  the  brig  '  Governor 
Macquarie,'  and  resided  in  the  immediate  neighbourhood  for 
several  months. 

Captain  Goold  landed  about  twenty  miles  S.  of  Point 
Riley  to  shoot  kangaroos.  He  went  about  five  miles  inland 
through  an  open  forest  country.  The  soil  was  a  light  sandy 
loam,  of  about  two  feet  deep,  upon  a  bed  of  oyster-shells  and 
gravel.  This  was  ascertained  by  the  bank  where  he  landed 
being  bare  and  about  five  feet  higher  than  the  beach.  Thus 
he  could  see  the  depth  and  nature  of  the  soil.  Dui'ing  his 
walk  he  fell  in  with  a  lagoon  about  two  miles  from  the  shore, 
and  endeavovu'ed  to  wade  it,  but  finding  it  too  deep,  he  re- 
turned and  attempted  to  round  it ;  in  this,  however,  he  was 
disappointed,  for  after  walking  about  another  mile,  he  fell  in 
with  a  river  running  S,  towards  Hardwicke  Bay.  The  river 
was  very  clear  with  good  water,  about  fifty  yards  wide,  eight 
feet  deep,  and  running  a  strong  current.  Captain  Goold  did 
not  trace  the  river;  but  finding  he  could  not  get  round  the 
lagoon,  he  returned  to  his  boat. 


KANGAROO  ISLAND.  489 

Captain  Sutherland  landed  on  Yorke's  Peninsula,  in  the 
bight  near  Corny  Point.  The  soil  was  thickly  covered  with 
timber  and  brushwood. 

Captain  Flinders  remarks,  that  '  between  Corny  Point  and 
Point  Pearce,  twenty-eight  miles  to  the  N.N.E.,  is  a  large 
bay,  well  sheltered  from  all  southern  winds,  and  none  others 
seem  to  blow  with  much  strength  here.  The  land  bends  east- 
ward about  seven  leagues  from  Corny  Point  to  the  head  of  the 
bay.' 

Kangaroo  Island  has  been  more  thoroughly  examined  than 
any  other  part  of  the  southern  coast  of  New  Holland.  The 
best  evidence  is  that  of  Captain  Sutherland,  who  resided  on 
the  island  during  seven  months. 

From  a  point  five  miles  S.  of  Point  Marsden  a  sand  spit 
runs  out  at  least  six  miles  in  a  south-easterly  direction,  which 
is  not  mentioned  in  any  of  the  English  charts. 

Captain  Sutherland  says  '  that  twenty  ships  could  moor 
within  100  yards  of  the  shore,  and  the  same  number  anchor 
in  safety  farther  off,  the  water  being  always  smooth,  sheltered 
by  the  land  from  the  N.  W.,  and  from  the  southward  by 
Kangaroo  Head,  and  from  the  N.  E.  by  Sutherland's  Shoal, 
extending  from  the  point  below  Point  Marsden  about  six 
miles,  always  dry  at  half  ebb  for  nearly  the  whole  distance. 
The  shore  is  thickly  hned  with  wood  and  shrubs,  interspersed 
with  several  high  hills  protecting  the  anchorage  :  the  opposite 
coast  on  the  main  is  Cape  Jervis,  which  I  should  judge  to  be 
about  fourteen  or  fifteen  miles  from  the  first  anchorage,  but 
nearer  to  Kangaroo  Head  by  three  or  four  miles.  The  main 
land  here  is  very  high,  and  at  the  head  of  the  bay  wears  every 
appearance  of  an  inlet  or  river. 

The  Soil. — '  The  land  wears  every  appearance  of  being 
fertile ;  a  deep  loam  with  coarse  grass,  abounding  with  kan- 
garoos and  emus  :  where  these  animals  feed,  the  grass  is 
much  better  for  pasture :  occasional  ponds  of  rain  water  are 
seen,  and  a  plentiful  supply  of  pure  spring  water  is  always 
attainable  by  digging  for  it.  The  land  here  (says  Captain 
Sutherland)  is  as  good  as  any  I  have  seen  in  Van  Diemen's 
Land.    In  the  neighbourhood  of  Sydney  I  have  not  observed 


490  CAPTAIN  Sutherland's  visit  to 

any  equal  to  it.  Trees  are  scattered  every  where  over  the 
plains — the  swamp  oak  or  beef  wood,  and  the  wattle  (both 
of  which  indicate  good  land)  are  growing  in  abundance 
here.  Close  on  the  shore,  within  from  a  quarter  to  half 
a  mile  from  the  sea,  the  wood  is  very  thick;  but  when 
this  belt  of  wood  is  passed,  you  come  on  to  an  open  country, 
covered  with  grass,  where  there  are  often  hundreds  of  acres 
without  a  tree ;  I  calculated,  by  comparison  with  New  South 
Wales  and  Van  Diemen's  Land,  there  might  be  on  this 
plain,  on  the  average,  three  or  four  trees  to  an  acre.  I  once 
crossed  the  island,  a  distance  of  about  sixty  miles  in  two 
days.  Once  passed  the  belt  of  wood  which  surrounds  the 
island,  we  walked  straight  on  end  over  the  plains,  found 
plenty  of  water  in  ponds,  saw  abundance  of  kangaroos  and 
emus,  and  met  with  no  difficulty  or  trouble.  As  we  crossed 
the  island  I  looked  to  the  right  and  left,  and  saw  every  where 
the  same  open  plains,  now  and  then  changed  in  appearance 
by  close  timber  of  great  height,  on  high  points  and  ridges  of 
land.  In  some  places  we  found  the  grass  very  high  and 
coarse  in  patches,  but  where  the  greatest  number  of  kanga- 
roos and  emus  were  found,  the  grass  was  short  and  close.  In 
the  other  places,  close  short  grass  was  found  between  the 
coarse  high  patches. 

*  While  crossing  the  island  we  saw  plenty  of  parrots  and 
wild  pigeons,  and  black  swans  on  the  lagoons. 

'  With  the  exception  of  salt,  the  timber  appears  the  principal 
production  we  have  observed  of  this  place.  The  trees  are 
the  same  as  at  New  South  Wales  and  Van  Diemen's  Land ; 
some  run  exceedingly  high  and  large  in  circumference,  and 
may  be  converted  into  every  domestic  purpose  as  well  as 
maritime  ;  as  many  may  be  found  and  selected  for  ship's  spars 
and  other  purposes  of  ship-building.  Twenty  years  ago  an 
American  ship  was  cast  away  on  the  coast,  and  the  crew  built 
a  schooner  in  Lagoon  Bay,  which  enabled  them  to  get  away, 
after  a  residence  of  several  months  on  the  island.  Salt  is 
produced  here  in  abundance  ;  I  should  say  between  two  and 
three  hundred  tons  could  be  collected  from  the  lagoon  with  a 
little  attention;  the  distance  to  the  beach  is  about   three- 


KANGAROO  ISLAND. CLIMATE.  4<91 

quarters  of  a  mile,  and  from  the  beach  to  where  ships  anchor 
about  four  miles.  This  lagoon  is  a  perfect  circle,  of  about 
three  miles  in  circumference.  The  prospect  about  this  lagoon 
is  very  pleasant.  Close  to  the  salt-water  lake  is  another  of 
fresh,  but  considerably  smaller.  It  was  at  this  spot  our 
people  erected  their  tents  while  collecting  the  salt.  Pigeons 
and  kangaroos  make  their  appearance  here  regularly  morning 
and  evening  for  water,  so  that  we  were  well  supplied  with 
fresh  provisions  for  very  little  trouble. 

*  My  attention  was  next  directed  to  the  limestone  of  the  is- 
land,— in  several  places  I  found  it  plentiful,  but  not  generally 
over  the  country.  Free-stone  and  granite  are  also  in  large 
quantities,  so  that  people  emigrating  to  this  country  would 
find  every  necessary,  as  in  Europe,  and  both  the  other 
colonies. 

*  The  Climate  appeared  to  be  very  temperate,  and  not 
subject  to  oppressive  heat,  nor  do  the  rains  fall  in  torrents  as 
at  Sydney ;  the  dews  are  heavy,  but  not  injurious  to  health, 
which  we  had  ample  opportunity  of  proving,  owing  to  the 
frequent  exposure  of  our  men,  many  of  whom  have  slept 
under  trees  and  bushes  for  several  nights  together,  and 
though  almost  wet  through,  never  experienced  any  ill  effects. 
I  had  fifteen  men  under  my  command,  and  though  they  were 
a  class  of  people  who  take  no  care  of  themselves,  not  one  of 
them  was  ill  during  our  stay,  nor  did  my  own  health  suffer  at 
all,  though  I  was  exposed  to  all  weathers  both  night  and  day. 

*  January,  when  I  reached  the  island,  is  the  middle  of  the 
summer  ;.  and  the  autumn  and  winter  elapsed  during  our  stay. 
In  the  winter  it  appeared  to  me  much  less  cold  than  in  Van 
Diemen's  Land,  and  I  observed  generally  that  the  changes  of 
temperature  are  less  sudden  and  frequent  than  in  New  South 
Wales. 

'The  winds  there  are  regular  land  and  sea  breezes,  with 
occasional  calms  ;  during  the  winter  months  strong  S.  westerly 
winds  prevail,  but  are  not  of  any  duration,  and  cannot  throw 
any  sea  into  the  anchorages  to  injure  the  shipping,  they  being 
completely  landlocked ; — a  vessel,  on  making  for  the  island, 


492  EUROPEANS  AT  KANGAROO  ISLAND. 

must  be  careful  in  not  standing  too  close  to  the  shore,  until 
they  ascertain  their  true  position,  as  several  dangers  are  still 
unexplored  on  the  southern  part  of  the  island :  this  I  would 
leave  entirely  to  the  judgment  of  the  navigator,  who  always 
ought  to  be  guided  by  circumstances. 

'There  are  no  harbours  on  the  S.  side  of  the  island,  but  in 
fine  weather  a  ship  may  anchor  for  a  few  hours  in  any  place 
along  the  coast,  but  must  be  always  ready  to  slip  in  case  of 
the  appearance  of  bad  weather.  There  are  no  natives  on  the 
island  ;*  several  Europeans  assembled  there  ;  some  who  have 
run  from  ships  that  traded  for  salt ;  others  from  Sydney  and 
Van  Diemen's  Land,  who  were  prisoners  of  the  Crown.  These 
gangs  joined  after  a  lapse  of  time,  and  became  the  terror  of 
ships  going  to  the  island  for  salt,  &c.  being  little  better  than 
pirates.  They  are  complete  savages,  living  in  bark  huts  like 
the  natives,  not  cultivating  any  thing,  but  living  entirely  on 
kangaroos,  emus,  and  small  porcupines,  and  getting  spirits 
and  tobacco  in  barter  for  the  skins  which  they  lay  up  during 
the  sealing  season.  They  dress  in  kangaroo  skins  without 
linen,  and  wear  sandals  made  of  seals  skins.  They  smell  like 
foxes.  They  have  carried  their  daring  acts  to  an  extreme, 
venturing  on  the  main  land  in  their  boats,  and  seizing  on  the 
natives,  particularly  the  women,  and  keeping  them  in  a  state 
of  slavery,  cruelly  beating  them  on  every  trifling  occasion  ; 
and  when  at  last  some  of  these  marauders  were  taken  off  the 
island  by  an  expedition  from  New  South  Wales,  these  women 
were  landed  on  the  main  with  their  children  and  dogs,  to 
procure  a  subsistence,  not  knowing  how  their  own  people 
might  treat  them  after  a  long  absence.' 

The  prevailing  winds  in  winter  are  westerly.  Kangaroo 
Island  is  five  or  six  days'  sail  from  Circular  Head,  the  estab- 
lishment of  the  Van  Diemen's  Land  Company  ;  and  a  vessel 
calling  at  the  island  from  England  would  not  be  delayed  more 
than  five  or  six  days.     The  wind  would  be  fair  if  she  kept 

*  I  passed  the  island  in  1828,  and  our  vessel  was  boarded  by  several 
sealing  and  whaling  boats,  manned  by  Europeans,  who  were  attended  by 
native  wonion.     [1^  M.  M.] 


CAPTAIN  Dillon's  opinion  of  the  country.  493 

along  the  coast.  Nepean  Bay  can  be  entered  at  all  times,  and 
the  anchorage  is  safe  all  the  year  round.  The  rise  of  the  tide 
in  the  Bay  of  Shoals  is  ten  or  eleven  feet. 

Captain  Dillon  states  that  in  the  Bay  of  Shoals  he  found 
good  anchorage  for  ships  under  300  tons,  and  safe  from  all 
winds.  The  climate  he  found  very  good,  and  the  soil  of  the 
western  coast  bore  as  fertile  an  appearance  as  the  shores  of 
Van  Diemen's  Land.  He  went  but  a  mile  inland  at  any  part, 
but  wherever  he  landed  (and  this  was  on  several  parts  of  the 
island)  timber  was  plentiful.  In  the  neighbourhood  of  the 
salt  lagoon,  it  was  open  forest  land,  but  the  trees  there  were 
not  so  large  as  on  the  western  coast.  He  saw  a  great  many 
kangaroos — they  were  the  forest  kangaroos  of  the  continent, 
and  were  larger  and  fatter  than  those  of  Van  Diemen's  Land. 

He  took  seven  tons  of  salt  on  board,  and  would  have  taken 
40  tons  more,  had  he  not  allowed  it  to  remain  on  the  bed  of 
the  lagoon  after  having  collected  it,  where  it  was  dissolved 
by  a  fall  of  rain.     He  also  took  500  seals  on  the  island. 

The  account  given  by  Richard  Wootton,  Steward  of  the 
brig  Guardian,  is  much  to  the  same  effect  as  the  preceding 
statement.  He  landed  about  12  miles  W.  of  Point  Marsden, 
with  some  shipmates  and  dogs,  to  shoot  kangaroos,  walking 
towards  Nepean  Bay,  where  his  ship  was  to  anchor.  They 
succeeded  in  killing  a  dozen  kangaroos  of  a  larger  sort  than 
the  Wallaba  species.  Where  they  landed  the  shore  was 
barren ;  but  it  continued  improving  till  they  arrived  at  Ne- 
pean Bay.  Near  the  water's  edge  on  the  N.  side  of  the 
island  the  land  was  barren;  but  about  three  or  four  miles 
from  the  shore  they  saw  large  trees.  They  dug  a  pit  about 
five  feet  deep,  and  so  found  plenty  of  very  good  water ;  they 
dug  through  sand  first,  and  then  light  earth  till  they  got  to 
the  clay,  where  they  found  water.  He  remained  on  the  island 
three  weeks,  and  the  weather  was  very  fine  the  whole  time. 

'  Towards  the  bottom  of  the  bay  is  a  kind  of  marsh,  co- 
vered with  sea-weed,  in  which  live,  buried  in  the  mud  and 
sand,  millions  of  pinn(B  marina;,  or  mussels.  These  shells 
furnish  a  silk,  equal,  in  all  respects,  to  that  obtained  from 


494  ANIMAL,  VEGETABLE,  AND  MINERAL  KINGDOMS. 

similar  animals  along  the  coasts  of  Calabria  and  Sicily ;  but 
the  European  mussels  dwell  at  a  depth  of  30  or  40  feet,  and 
the  fishery  is  attended  with  great  difficulty,  whilst  those  of 
Kangaroo  Island  are  covered  with  scarcely  25  to  30  inches 
of  water,  and  thousands  might,  with  ease,  be  collected  in  a 
few  hours.* 

'  All  the  cliffs  of  Kangaroo  Island,  seen  to  the  W.  of  the 
anchorage,  had  the  appearance  of  being  calcareous,  and  the 
loose  stones  scattered  over  the  sui'face  of  Kangaroo  Head, 
and  the  vicinity,  were  of  that  substance ;  but  the  basis  in 
this  part  seemed  to  be  of  brown  slate,  lying  in  strata  nearly 
horizontal,  and  laminae  of  quartz  were  sometimes  seen  in  the 
interstices.  In  some  places  the  slate  was  split  into  pieces  of 
a  foot  long,  or  more,  like  iron  bars,  and  had  a  shining  ore- 
like appearance ;  and  the  strata  were  there  farther  from  the 
horizontal  line  than  I  observed  them  to  be  elsewhere. 

'  A  thick  wood  covered  almost  all  that  part  of  the  island 
visible  from  the  ship  ;  but  the  trees  in  a  vegetating  state  were 
not  equal  in  size  to  the  generality  of  those  lying  on  the 
ground,  nor  to  the  dead  trees  standing  upright.  Those  on 
the  ground  were  so  abundant,  that,  in  ascending  the  higher 
land,  a  considerable  part  of  the  walk  was  made  upon  them. 
They  lay  in  all  directions,  and  were  nearly  of  the  same  size, 
and  in  the  same  progress  towards  decay ;  whence  it  would 
seem  that  they  had  not  fallen  from  age,  nor  yet  been  thrown 
down  in  a  gale  of  wind.  Some  general  conflagration,  and 
there  were  marks  apparently  of  fire  on  many  of  them,  is 
perhaps  the  sole  cause  which  can  be  reasonably  assigned. 
They  were  a  species  of  eucalyptus,  and  being  less  than  the 
fallen  trees,  had  most  probably  not  arrived  at  maturity ;  but 
the  wood  is  hard  and  solid,  and  may  thence  be  supposed  to 
grow  slowly. 

*  The  soil  of  that  part  of  Kangaroo  Island  examined  by 
us  was  judged  to  be  much  superior  to  any  before  seen,  either 
upon  the  S.  coast  of  the  continent,  or  upon  the  islands  near 

*  In  Italy,  the  silk  of  the  pinnae  marinse  is  of  great  value.  It  is  con- 
vertible into  a  fine  and  durable  stuff,  and  being  scarce,  fetches  a  high  price. 


VALLEY  OF  THE  RIVER  MURRAY.  495 

it ;  with  the  exception  of  some  portions  behind  the  harbours 
of  King  George's  Sound.  The  depth  of  the  soil  was  not 
particularly  ascertained  ;  but  from  the  thickness  of  the  wood 
it  cannot  be  very  shallow.  Some  sand  is  mixed  with  the  ve- 
getable earth,  but  not  in  any  great  proportion  ;  and  I  thought 
the  soil  superior  to  some  of  the  land  cvdtivated  at  Port  Jack- 
son, and  to  much  of  that  in  our  stony  counties  in  England.' 

Mr.  Westall  corroborates  the  reports  of  Captains  Suther- 
land and  Flinders.  He  says  that  the  land  of  Kangaroo  is- 
land is  decidedly  fertile  ;  the  trees  are  large,  but  a  number 
of  them  had  been  thrown  down  by  some  inexplicable  cause. 
Young  ones  were  growing  up  between  the  fallen  trunks,  and 
the  grass  was  thick  and  short.  A  number  of  very  large  kan- 
garoos were  found  there.  '  The  appearance  of  the  land  there,' 
says  Mr.  Westall,  *  was  decidedly  better  than  that  at  Port 
Lincoln,  and  that  again  is  better  than  the  soil  at  King 
George's  Sound.' 

Of  the  western  shore  of  Yorke's  Peninsula  nothing  is 
known,  but  Captain  Sturt  says,  '  The  valley  of  the  Murray, 
at  its  entrance,  cannot  be  less  than  four  miles  in  breadth. 
The  river  does  not  occupy  the  centre,  but  inclines  to  either 
side,  according  to  its  windings,  and  thus  the  flats  are  of 
greater  or  less  extent,  according  to  the  distance  of  the  river 
from  the  base  of  the  hills.  It  is  to  be  remarked,  that  the 
bottom  of  the  valley  is  extremely  level,  and  extensively  co- 
vered with  reeds.  From  the  latter  circumstance,  one  would 
be  led  to  infer  that  these  flats  are  subject  to  overflow,  and  no 
doubt  can  exist  as  to  the  fact  of  their  being,  at  least  partially 
if  not  wholly,  under  water  at  times.  A  country  in  a  state  of 
nature  is,  however,  so  different  from  one  in  a  state  of  cultiva- 
tion, that  it  is  hazardous  to  give  an  opinion  as  to  its  practical 
availableness,  if  I  may  use  such  a  term.  I  should  un- 
doubtedly say  the  marshes  of  the  Macquarie  were  frequently 
covered  with  water,  and  that  they  were  wholly  unfit  for  any 
one  purpose  whatever.  It  is  evident  from  the  marks  of  the 
reeds  upon  the  banks,  that  the  flood  covers  them  occasionally 
to  the  depth  of  three  feet,  and  the  reeds  are  so  densely  em- 


49G  VAST   EXTENT  OF  ALLUVIAL  SOIL. 

bodied,  and  so  close  to  the  river  side,  that  the  natives  cannot 
walk  along  it.  The  reeds  are  the  broad  flag-reed  {arundo 
j)hragenatis),  and  grow  on  a  stiff  earthy  loam,  without  any 
accompanying  vegetation ;  indeed  they  form  so  solid  a  mass 
that  the  sun  cannot  penetrate  to  the  ground  to  nourish  vege- 
tation. On  the  other  hand,  the  valley  of  the  Murray,  though 
covered  with  reeds  in  most  places,  is  not  so  in  all.  There  is 
no  mark  upon  the  reeds  by  which  to  judge  of  the  height  of 
inundation  ;  neither  are  they  of  the  same  kind  as  those  which 
cover  the  marshes  of  the  Macquarie.  They  are  the  species 
of  round  reed  of  which  the  South  Sea  islanders  make  their 
arrows,  and  stand  sufficiently  open,  not  only  to  allow  of  a 
passage  through,  but  for  the  abundant  growth  of  grass 
among  them.  Still  I  have  no  doubt  that  parts  of  the  valley 
are  subject  to  flood ;  but,  as  I  have  already  remarked,  I  do 
not  know  whether  these  parts  are  either  deeply  or  frequently 
covered.  Rain  must  fall  simultaneously  in  the  S.E.  angle  of 
the  island  in  the  intertropical  regions,  and  at  the  heads  of  all 
the  tributaries  of  the  main  stream,  ere  its  effects  can  be  felt 
in  the  lower  parts  of  the  Murray.  If  the  valley  of  the  Mur- 
ray be  not  subject  to  flood,  it  has  only  recently  gained  a 
height  above  the  influence  of  the  river,  and  still  retains  all 
the  character  of  flooded  land.  In  either  case,  however,  it 
contains  land  that  is  of  the  very  richest  kind — soil  that  is  the 
pure  accumulation  of  vegetable  matter,  and  is  as  black  as 
ebony.  If  its  hundreds  of  thousands  of  acres  were  practically 
available,  I  should  not  hesitate  to  pronounce  it  one  of  the 
richest  spots  of  equal  extent  on  earth,  and  highly  favoured  in 
other  respects.  How  far  it  is  available*  remains  to  be 
proved ;  and  an  opinion  on  either  side  would  be  hazardous, 
although  that  of  its  liability  to  flood  would,  most  probably, 
be  nearest  the  truth.     It  is,  however,  certain,  that  any  part 

*  '  Available'  means  here,  avaihible  under  the  eircumstance  of  dispersed 
and  divided  labour.  In  the  time  of  Alfred,  a  surveyor  might  have  doubted 
whether  the  rich  garden  grounds  near  Fulham,  or  the  marsh  of  the  Isle  of 
Dogs,  was  '  available.'  Captain  Sturt  had  lived  in  a  colony  where  the 
settlers  were  dispersed,  owing  partly  to  the  nature  of  the  soil,  and  the 
rapid  increase  of  herds  of  cattle  and  flocks  of  sheep. 


RICH  VALLEY  NEAR  GULF  ST.  VINCENT.         497 

of  the  valley  would  require  much  labour  before  it  could  be 
brought  under  cultivation,  and  that  even  its  most  available 
spots  would  require  almost  as  much  trouble  to  clear  them  as 
the  forest  tract,  for  nothing  is  more  difficult  to  destroy  than 
reeds.  Breaking  the  sod  would  naturally  raise  the  level  of 
the  ground,  and  lateral  drains  would  most  probably  carry  off 
all  floods  ;  but  then  the  latter  at  least  is  the  operation  of  an 
advanced  stage  of  husbandry  only.  I  would,  however,  ob- 
serve, that  there  are  many  parts  of  the  valley  decidedly  above 
the  reach  of  floods. 

*'  Immediately  behind  Cape  Jervis  there  is  a  small  bay,  in 
which,  according  to  the  information  of  the  sealers  who  fre- 
quent Kangaroo  Island,  there  is  good  and  safe  anchorage  for 
seven  months  in  the  year ;  that  is  to  say,  during  the  preva- 
lence of  the  E.  and  N.E.  winds. 

"Between  this  inlet  (on  the  east  coast  of  Gulf  St.  Vincent,) 
and  the  one  formerly  mentioned,  a  small  and  clear  stream  was 
discovered,  to  which  Captain  Barker  kindly  gave  my  name. 
On  landing,  the  party,  which  consisted  of  the  same  persons  as 
the  former  one,  found  themselves  in  a  valley,  which  opened 
direct  upon  the  bay.  It  was  confined  to  the  north  from  the 
chief  range  by  a  lateral  ridge  that  gradually  declined  towards, 
and  terminated  at,  the  rocky  point  on  which  they  had  landed. 
The  other  side  of  the  valley  was  formed  of  a  continuation  of 
the  main  range,  which  also  gradually  declined  to  the  south, 
and  appeared  to  be  connected  with  the  hills  at  the  extremity 
of  the  cape.  The  valley  was  from  nine  to  ten  miles  in  length, 
and  from  three  to  four  in  breadth.  In  crossing  it,  they  ascer- 
tained that  the  lagoon  from  which  the  schooner  had  obtained 
a  supply  of  water  was  filled  by  a  watercourse  that  came  down 
its  centre.  The  soil  in  the  valley  was  rich,  but  stony  in 
some  parts.  There  was  an  abundance  of  pasture  over  the 
whole,  from  amongst  which  they  started  numerous  kangaroos. 
The  scenery  towards  the  ranges  was  beautiful  and  romantic, 
and  the  general  appearance  of  the  country  such  as  to  delight 
the  whole  party. 

"  From  the  above  account,  it  would  appear  that  a  spot  has 

VOL.  IV.  K  K 


498  ADAPTATION  FOR  SETTLEMENT. 

at  length  been  found  upon  the  south  coast  of  New  Holland, 
to  which  the  colonists  might  venture  with  every  prospect  of 
success,  and  in  whose  valleys  the  exile  might  hope  to  build 
for  himself  and  for  his  family  a  peaceful  and  prosperous 
home.  All  who  have  ever  landed  upon  the  eastern  shore  of 
St.  Vincent's  Gulf  agree  as  to  the  richness  of  its  soil,  and  the 
abundance  of  its  pasture.  Indeed,  if  we  cast  our  eyes  upon 
the  chart,  and  examine  the  natural  features  of  the  country 
behind  Cape  Jervis,  we  shall  no  longer  wonder  at  its  differing 
in  soil  and  fertility  from  the  low  and  sandy  tracts  that  gener- 
ally prevail  along  the  shores  of  Australia.  Without  entering 
largely  into  the  consideration  of  the  more  remote  advantages 
that  would,  in  all  human  probability,  result  from  the  esta- 
blishment of  a  colony,  rather  than  a  penal  settlement,  at  St, 
Vincenfs  Gulf,  it  will  be  expedient  to  observe,  that  the 
country  immediately  behind  Cape  Jervis  may,  strictly  speak- 
ing, be  termed  a  promontory,  bounded  on  the  west  by  St,  Vin- 
cent's Gulf,  and  to  the  east  by  the  Lake  Alexandrina,  and  the 
sandy  tract  separating  that  basin  from  the  sea.  Supposing  a 
line  to  be  drawn  from  the  parallel  of  34.40.  to  the  eastward, 
it  will  strike  the  Murray  River  about  25  miles  above  the  head 
of  the  lake,  and  will  clear  the  ranges,  of  which  Mount  Lofty 
and  Mount  Barker  are  the  respective  terminations.  This  line 
will  cut  off  a  space  whose  greatest  breadth  will  be  55  miles, 
whose  length  from  north  to  south  will  be  75,  and  whose  sur- 
face exceeds  seven  millions  of  acres  ;*  from  which,  if  we  de- 
duct two  millions  for  the  unavailable  hills,  we  shall  have  five 
millions  of  acres  of  land  of  rich  soil  upon  which  no  scrub 
exists,f  and  whose  most  distant  points  are  accessible,  through 
a  level  country  on  the  one  hand,  and  by  water  on  the  other." 
A  number  of  intelligent  and  enterprizing  gentlemen  have 
patriotically  associated  themselves  together,  with  a  view  to 
founding  a  colony  on  the  coast  just  described,  without  any 
expense  to  the  mother  country,  and  on  fixed  principles  ;  the 
outline  of  which  may  be  conceived  by  the  following  leading 

♦  There  is  an  obvious  error  in  this  calculation. 

t  This  estimate  of  5,000,000  acres  of  continuous  rich  soil  is  overrated, 
I  think. 


PRINCIPLES  OF  THE  NEW  COLONY — SOUTH  AUSTRALIA.       499 

provisions  of  the  parliamentary  bill  framed  and  passed  for  the 

establishment  of  the  settlement : — 

'  The  colony  to  be  erected  into  a  province  under  the  name  of  South  Aus- 
tralia, extending  from  the  132nd  to  the  141st  degree  of  east  longitude,  and 
from  the  south  coast,  including  the  adjacent  islands,  northwards  to  the 
tropic  of  Capricorn. 

'  The  whole  of  the  territory  within  the  above  limits  to  be  open  to  settle- 
ment by  British  subjects. 

'  Not  to  be  governed  by  laws  applying  to  other  parts  of  Australia,  but 
by  those  only  expressly  enacted  for  this  colony. 

'  The  colony  in  no  case  to  be  employed  as  the  place  of  confinement  of 
transported  convicts. 

'  No  waste  or  public  lands  to  become  private  property,  save  by  one 
means  only;  viz.  by  purchase,  at  a  fixed  minimum  price,  or  as  much 
above  that  price  as  the  competition  of  public  auction  may  determine 

*  Subject  to  the  above  restriction,  and  to  the  necessity  of  previous  sur- 
veys, all  persons,  whether  residing  in  the  colony  or  Great  Britain,  to  be 
free  to  acquire  property  in  waste  or  public  land,  in  fee,  and  without  limit, 
either  as  to  quantity  or  situation. 

*  The  whole  of  the  purchase-money  of  waste  or  public  land  to  be  em- 
ployed in  conveying  labourers,  natives  of  the  British  isles,  to  the  colony. 

•The  emigrants  conveyed  to  the  colony  with  the  purchase-money  of 
waste  land,  to  be  of  the  two  sexes  in  equal  numbers  :  a  preference  amongst 
the  applicants  for  a  passage  cost-free  being  given  to  young  married  persons 
not  having  children  ;  so  that  for  any  given  outlay  of  their  money,  the  pur- 
chasers of  land  may  obtain  the  greatest  amount  of  labour  wherewith  to 
cultivate  the  land,  and  of  population  to  enhance  its  value. 

'Commissioners  to  be  appointed  by  his  Majesty  to  manage  the  disposal 
of  public  lands,  the  expenditure  of  the  purchase-money  thereof  as  an  emi- 
gration fund,  and  to  discharge  some  other  duties  relative  to  the  colony. 

*  Until  the  colony  be  settled,  and  the  sales  of  waste  or  public  lands  shall 
have  produced  a  fund  adequate  to  the  want  of  labour  in  the  colony,  the 
commissioners  to  have  authority  to  raise  money,  on  loan  by  the  issue  of 
bonds  or  otherwise,  bearing  colonial  interest,  for  the  purpose  of  conveying 
selected  labourers  to  the  colony  ;  so  that  the  first  body  of  emigrating  capi- 
talists going  out  to  buy  land,  may  from  the  first  be  supplied  with  labour. 
The  commissioners  being  empowered,  until  such  loan  or  loans  be  repaid, 
with  interest,  to  apply  all  the  proceeds  of  the  sales  of  land  in  repayment 
of  such  loans. 

'  For  defraying  (provisionally)  the  necessary  expences  of  the  commission 
and  of  the  colonial  government,  the  commissioners  to  have  authority  to 
raise  money  on  loan,  by  the  issue  of  bonds  or  otherwise,  and  provided  such 
expenditure  do  not  exceed  ^200,000  in  the  whole,  the  amount  thereof  to  be 
deemed  a  colonial  debt,  and  secured  upon  the  entire  revenue  of  the  colony. 


500  MINIMUM  PRICE  OF  LAND. 

*  The  authority  of  the  commissioners  to  continue  until  the  colony,  having 
attained  a  certain  population,  shall,  throupfh  the  means  of  a  representative 
assembly,  to  be  called  by  his  Majesty,  undertake  to  discharge  the  colonial 
debt,  and  to  defray  the  cost  of  the  future  government ;  when  the  colony  is 
to  receive  such  a  constitution  of  local  government  as  his  Majesty,  with  the 
advice  of  his  Privy  Council,  and  with  the  authority  of  Parliament,  may 
deem  most  desirable.'* 

In  addition  to  the  foregoing  abstract,  it  should  be  observed 
that  it  is  proposed  the  minbnum  price  of  all  lands  shall  be  12*. 
per  acre  {none  to  be  free  granted) — and  that  unless  there  are 
in  the  settlement  20,000  persons  in  ten  years,  the  territory 
reverts  to  the  sovereignty  of  the  crown. 

Before  offering  an  observation  on  the  important  question  of 
colonization  (which  will  be  found  fully  developed  in  my  Colonial 
Policy,)  I  may  state,  as  regards  the  South  Australian  Associa- 
tion, that  the  principle  upon  which  it  is  proposed  to  found  this 
colony  has  been  framed  with  a  view  to  meet  the  two  objections 
which  have  been  put  forth  as  regards  new  countries  :  viz. 
a  dispersion  of  the  settlers,  and  a  scarcity  of  labour.  To  ob- 
viate the  first,  it  is  proposed  that  all  the  land  in  the  colony 
shall  be  sold  at  or  above  a  fixed  minimum  price  (12*.  per  acre) 
The  Association  think,  that  if  this  price  be  sufficiently  high, 
no  person  will  purchase  land  unless  for  the  purpose  of  culti- 
vating it,  and  only  in  proportion  to  the  means  which  he  pos- 
sesses of  bringing  it  into  cultivation,  and  that  therefore  there 
will  be  no  tracts  of  appropriated  but  uncultivated  land  inter- 
posed between  the  settlers,  wasting  their  capital  and  impeding 
their  communication.  In  order  to  obviate  the  latter  evil,  it  is 
proposed,  that  all  the  money  arising  from  the  sale  of  land 
shall  be  applied  in  conveying  to  the  colony  labourers,  by  whom 
it  may  be  cultivated,  and  that  the  persons  so  conveyed 
shall  be  of  both  sexes,  in  equal  numbers,  a  preference 
being  given  to  young  married  couples.  By  this  latter  regu- 
lation it  is  contemplated,  that  the  money  though,  nominally 
paid  for  the  purchase  of  the  land,  will  be,  in  reality,  paid  ra- 
ther for  the  purpose  of  bringing  over  to  the  colony  the  labour 

*  50,000  souls  is  the  number  fixed  for  the  province  to  have  before  it  be 
lawful  for  the  Crown  to  frame  a  constitution  of  local  government  for  the 
folony. 


1 


THE  PRINCIPLES  OF  DISPERSION  AND  CONCENTRATION.       501 

requisite  for  the  cultivation  of  the  land  so  purchased ;  and 
that  as  no  land  can  be  obtained  on  any  other  terms  than  those 
specified,  and  no  land  will,  under  any  pretence  whatever,  be 
reserved,  there  will  always,  supposing  the  price  sufficiently 
high,  be  in  the  colony  labour  adequate  to  the  cultivation  of 
every  acre  of  appropriated  land. 

Favourable  as  I  am  to  the  great  principle  of  colonizing 
every  part  of  the  habitable  globe, — desirous  of  seeing  Bri- 
tons settling  wherever  an  acre  of  land  can  be  profitably  tilled, 
and  that  the  meteor  banner  of  our  country  may  be  unfurled 
on  the  most  distant  shores — I  would  wish  to  lend  my  humble 
aid  in  furtherance  of  any  plan  which  might  promote  the 
settlement  of  the  fine  and  promising  shores  of  Southern  Aus- 
tralia ;  it  is  therefore  with  much  regret  that  I  feel  myself  com- 
pelled to  differ  with  the  philanthropic,  and  I  may  add,  pat- 
riotic projectors  of  this  new  colony  as  to  the  disposal  of  land 
at  a  minimum  price  of  I2s.  per  acre  ;  several  data  are  taken 
for  granted  in  arguing  on  the  advantage  of  such  a  procedure 
by  the  Association  ;  first,  that  the  principle  of  concentrating 
the  whole  of  the  inhabitants  on  a  small  territory  is  necessary 
to  their  prosperity.  Now  this  is  an  assumption  of  a  position 
directly  controverted  by  facts ;  the  Association  refer  to  the 
Canadas  in  support  of  their  views,  they  could  not  have  chosen 
a  more  infelicitous  illustration ;  in  proof  of  which  I  refer  to 
the  facts  contained  in  my  third  volume  ;  in  Lower  Canada 
when  the  French  first  established  themselves  on  the  St.  Law- 
rence, they  were  at  war  with  the  Indians,  and  as  the  feudal 
system  was  adopted,  concentration  became  a  matter  of  ne- 
cessity in  the  first  instance,  and  of  social  policy  in  the 
second ;  the  slow  progress  of  Lower  Canada  (although 
with  the  grand  advantage  in  favour  of  the  principle  of  con- 
centration, namely,  an  alluvial  soil  on  the  St.  Lawrence 
banks,  and  which  Australia  as  will  be  shewn  possesses  not),  for 
upwards  of  a  century  has  been  shewn,  while  on  the  other 
hand,  in  Upper  Canada,  where  land  has  been  freely  granted, 
(unfortunately  in  some  instances  running  into  a  profuse  liber- 
ality, as  injurious  as  not  granting  at  all),  the  progress  of  the 


502  TOO  HIGH  PRICE  FOR  LAND. 

country  in  all  the  elements  of  social  life  has  been  truly  won- 
derful; canals  have  been  formed,  roads  made,  and  rivers 
widened ;  but  it  may  be  said  (the  Association  have  however 
overlooked  this  line  of  argument)  that  Canada  possessed  lakes 
and  canals  which  removed  the  impediment  of  dispersion; — 
however  New  South  Wales  indemonstrably  proves  that  con- 
centration is  not  essential  to  prosperity,  on  the  contrary,  in 
1813,  the  settlers  in  that  colony  feared  that  they  and  their 
cattle  would  be  half-starved  unless  they  could  cross  the  ap- 
parent impregnable  barriers  of  the  Blue  Mountains  ;  they  did 
so— scattered  themselves  over  the  land,  and  from  that  mo- 
ment gave  an  impulse  to  the  prosperity  of  the  whole  colony. 
Other  facts  will  be  adduced  in  my  Colonial  Policy  in  proof 
of  this  position ;  but  it  may  be  well  here  also  to  state  that  the 
Association  in  fixing  a  minimum  price  of  \2s.  per  acre,  with  a 
view  of  causing  all  land  taken  up  to  be  cultivated,  are  in  error 
as  to  the  nature  of  the  soil  in  Australia ;  if  the  whole  country 
were  like  the  fertile  deltas  of  the  Ganges  or  Nile,  then  indeed 
the  principle  might  be  applicable,  but  in  Australia,  more  than 
in  any  other  country  that  I  have  visited,  is  it  extremely 
difficult  to  find  good  land  in  large  continuous  tracts  ;*  a 
rich  fertile  black  mould  of  a  few  hundred  acres  will  be 
sometimes  found  suddenly  interrupted  by  several  thousand 
acres  of  a  sandy,  scrubby  ridge,  far  worse  than  Hampstead 
heath :  (the  geological  reasons  for  this  are  explained  at  p.  271). 
Would  the  Association  demand  \2s.  per  acre  for  the  barren 
heath,  and  refuse  to  sell  land  beyond  it  until  the  arid  and 
comparatively  valueless  sandy  soil  were  bought  ?  Then  it 
should  be  observed  that  South  Australia  must  be  a  pastoralf 
previous  to  its  being  a  great  agricultural,  country ; — if  the  lat- 
ter were  to  be  attempted,  where  is  the  market  for  grain,  &c  ? 
New  South  Wales,  and  Van  Diemen's  Land,  the  Cape  of  Good 
Hope,  aye,  even  Swan  River  are  beforehand  in  supplying  all 

*  The  assertion  made  by  Captain  Sturt,  at  p.  498,  requires  further  ex- 
perience before  it  can  be  relied  on  ;  that  intelligent  traveller  saw  too  little 
of  the  country  to  justify  the  statement  he  made  of  5,000,000  acres  of  rich 
soil  in  one  spot. 


DUTY  OF  GOVERNMENT  TOWARDS  COLONIAL  ASSOCIATIONS.    503 

their  own  wants ;  and  even  furnishing  a  surplus  for  exporta- 
tion wherever  a  market  can  be  obtained :  well,  then,  if  the 
colony  must  be  primarily  pastoral  (and  fine  woolled  sheep 
ought  to  be  its  first  staple)  how  could  a  farmer  afford  12s. 
an  acre,  for  several  thousand  acres,  when  SOO  sheep  will  re- 
quire upwards  of  1,000  acres  to  depasture  on  ?  Twelve  shil- 
lings per  acre  would  swallow  up,  not  merely  interest  on  his 
capital,  but  the  capital  itself  in  a  very  brief  space  of  time. 

My  limits  will  not  permit  me  to  dwell  longer  on  the  sub- 
ject ;  I  hope  to  see  a  colony  formed  in  South  Australia ;  I 
feel  confident  that  with  judicious  treatment  it  would  succeed, 
and  I  think  the  Home  Government  are  in  duty  bound,  politi- 
cally, socially,  and  commercially  to  give  every  practicable  aid 
to  any  association  or  body  of  British  subjects  who  may  pro- 
pose to  spend  their  time,  labour,  talents,  and  capital  in  plant- 
ing English  settlements  either  in  South  Australia  or  else- 
where ;  it  is  worse  than  foolish  in  designating  such  associa- 
tions as  monopolies ;  if  the  Government  of  a  country  like 
England,  be  unable  to  expend  money  in  planting  new  colo- 
nies,* it  ought  to  hold  forth  every  possible  inducement  to  the 
people  to  combine  their  wealth  and  labour  for  this  purpose, 
and  it  is  unreasonable  to  suppose  that  men  will  thus  act  with- 
out a  prospect  of  individual  advantages  immediate  or  remote. 
There  are  many  undertakings  which  can  only  be  effected 
either  by  a  Government,  or  a  powerful  community  of  in- 
dividuals with  privileges  and  powers  granted  under  authority, 
for  the  promotion  of  the  general  welfare ;  of  such  under- 
takings, colonies  are  the  most  important,  and  I  trust  that  the 
Ministers  of  the  Crown  and  Parliament  will  grant  every  con- 
stitutional aid  towards  the  successful  prosecution  of  the 
objects  of  any  Association,  which  will  establish  our  laws,  lan- 
guage and  religion,  in  any  part  of  the  earth. 

*  The  Earl  of  Egremont,  well  known  for  his  liberality  in  furthering 
every  plan  that  may  conduce  to  the  prosperity  and  happiness  of  his  fellow 
creatures,  has  set  the  landed  proprietors  of  this  country  a  patriotic  example, 
by  the  generous  aid  which  he  has  aflforded  to  his  poor  neighbours  in  en- 
abling them  to  emigrate  to  Upper  Canada,  where  their  industry  will  be 
sure  to  procure  them  even  more  than  a  comfortable  livelihood. 


504 


CHAPTER  VII. 
THE  FALKLAND  ISLANDS. 

LOCALITY  —  EXTENT  — CLIMATE  —  SOIL — HARDOURS — PRODUCTIONS,  AND 
ADVANTAGE  TO  GREAT  BRITAIN, 

The  Falkland  islands,  between  the  parallels  of  51.10.  and 
52.30.  S.  and  the  meridians  58.  and  62.  W.  (contiguous  to 
the  Straits  of  Magellan,)  so  advantageously  situated  as  a 
refreshing  port  for  our  numerous  ships  doubling  Cape  Horn, 
and  as  a  cruising  station  for  our  ships  of  war  in  the  Pacific, 
were  first  discovered  by  Sir  Richard  Hawkins  during  the 
reign  of  Queen  Elizabeth,  in  the  year  1594,  or  as  some  think, 
by  Captain  Davis,  in  1592,  an  English  navigator  under  Sir 
Thomas  Cavendish  ;  they  were  subsequently  visited  by  a  ship 
belonging  to  St.  Maloes,  from  which  they  were  called  by  the 
French,  *  the  Malouins ;'  and  also  subsequently,  by  the  Spa- 
niards, '  the  Malvinas.'  Little,  however,  was  known  of  them 
until  Commodore  Byron,  when  on  a  voyage  of  discovery  to  the 
South  Seas,  visited  them  in  January,  1765,  and  formally  took 
possession  of  them  for  his  Majesty  Geo.  III.  under  the  title  of 
*  the  Falkland  Islands,'  though  others  say  this  name  had  been 
previously  given  them  by  an  English  navigator  named  Strong, 
in  1689,  who,  after  being  there  about  fourteen  days,  described 
Egmont,  on  the  N.W.  coast  of  the  largest  island,  as  being 
the  finest  harbour  in  the  world,  capacious  enough  to  hold  all 
the  navy  of  England  in  full  security.  Geese,  ducks,  snipes, 
and  other  fowl  were  found  in  such  abundance,  that  the  sailors 
were  quite  tired  with  eating  them ;  and  in  every  part  there 
was  a  plentiful  supply  of  water. 

When  the  French  lost  the  Canadas,  a  colony  of  farmers  was 
transported  thither  by  M.  de  Bougainville,  and  about  the  same 
time  a  British  colony  was  established  at  Port  Egmont  by  Capt. 
M'Bride ;  but  their  right  to  settle  there  being  disputed  by  the 


EARLY  ACCOUNT  OF  THE  FALKLAND  ISLES.  505 

Spaniards,  M.  de  Bougainville  surrendered  the  possession  of 
his  part  to  the  latter  in  April,  1767.  Great  Britain,  however,  by 
virtue  of  her  original  discovery,  claimed  the  sovereignty,  which 
led  to  a  rupture  with  Spain  in  the  year  1770,  and  the  point 
was  warmly  and  strongly  contested  for  a  considerable  period. 
Spain,  however,  finally  conceded  our  right  to  the  islands. 

The  two  largest  of  the  islands  are  about  70  leagues  in  cir- 
cumference,  and  divided  by  a  channel  12  leagues  in  length, 
and  from  1  to  3  in  breadth.  The  harbours  are  large,  and 
well  defended  by  small  islands,  most  happily  disposed.  The 
smallest  vessels  may  ride  in  safety  ;  fresh  water  is  easily  to 
be  obtained  ;  there  is  seldom  any  thunder  or  lightning,  nor 
is  the  weather  hot  or  cold  to  any  extraordinary  degree. 
Throughout  the  year,  the  nights  are  in  general  serene  and 
fair ;  and,  upon  the  whole,  the  climate  is  favourable  to  the 
constitution.  The  depth  of  the  soil  in  the  vallies  is  more 
than  sufficient  for  the  purpose  of  ploughing. 

Since,  1767,  they  fell  into  comparative  insignificance  ;  and, 
for  many  years  past,  little  notice  has  been  taken  of  them  by 
our  government.  Ships  of  war,  on  their  passage  round  Cape 
Horn,  have  occasionally  touched  there  for  supplies  of  water, 
&c.  and  South  Sea  whalers  and  other  merchant  vessels ;  but 
the  navigation  being  little  known,  they  have  not,  until  lately, 
been  much  frequented,  although  very  nearly  in  the  track  of 
ships  homeward-bound  from  the  Pacific. 

Latterly,  however,  circumstances  arose  which  induced  the 
last  commander-in-chief  on  the  South  American  station  (Sir 
Thomas  Baker),  to  send  down  a  ship  of  war  for  the  purpose 
of  reclaiming  that  possession,  which  lapse  of  time  seemed  to 
have  rendered  almost  absolutely  abandoned.  The  Buenos 
Ayrean  Government  have,  however,  endeavoured  to  set  up 
a  claim  to  the  islands.* 

In  the  month  of  December,  1832,  Commander  Onslow,  in 
H.M.S.  Clio,  proceeded  to  Port  Egmont,  and  found  on 
Saunders'  Island  the  ruins  of  our  former  establishment.    The 

*  The  Spaniards  had  formerly  used  the  islands  as  a  prison  for  South 
American  delinquents. 


506  RE-OCCUPATION  OF  FALKLAND  ISLES. 

town  stood  on  the  S.  side  of  a  mountain  not  less  than  600 
feet  high.  The  settlers  had  extended  their  gardens  to  the 
westward,  the  remains  of  which  are  still  perceptible.  Not 
finding  any  inhabitants,  an  inscription  was  left  there,  attached 
to  a  signal  staff,  on  a  spot  which  appeared  to  be  Fort  George, 
stating,  '  That  these  islands  had  been  visited  by  his  Britannic 
Majesty's  ship  C/20,  for  the  purpose  of  exercising  the  rights 
of  sovereignty,  23d  December,  1832.'* 

During  their  stay  of  ten  days,  the  boats  were  employed  in 
examining  Brett's  Harbour,  Byron's  Sound,  Keppel's  Sound, 
and  to  the  westward  to  Point  Bay,  a  distance  of  60  miles 
from  the  Clio's  anchorage. 

At  Port  Louis,  on  E.  Falkland  Island,  a  Buenos  Ayrean 
schooner  of  war  was  lying,  and  a  small  party  of  soldiers  under 
the  same  flag  occupied  the  shore,  where  there  was  an  in- 
considerable settlement  of  foreign  persons,  chiefly  Buenos 
Ayreans,  who  were  engaged  in  catching  wild  cattle,  &c.  for 
the  supply  of  such  ships  as  occasionally  touched  there. 

Port  Louis,  at  the  head  of  Berkeley  Sound,  is  admirably 
adapted  for  vessels  to  refit  at,  under  any  circumstances,  it  is 
well  sheltered,  and  has  an  inner  harbour  for  vessels  drawing  14 
feet  of  water,  where  they  may  heave  down  with  safety  if 
requisite.  Water  is  also  good  and  plentiful ;  and,  reflecting 
on  the  number  of  vessels  passing  and  repassing  Cape  Horn, 
and  the  accidents  they  are  liable  to,  from  the  tempestuous 
weather  frequently  experienced  off  that  Cape,  the  advantage 
of  a  port  of  refuge  becomes  apparent. 

Vegetable  Productions  and  Fruits.  The  generality  of  the 
surface  of  these  islands  is  covered  with  a  turf,  or  black  peat, 
found  chiefly  above  a  yellow  clayey  soil,  and  formed  of  roots 
of  plants  in  marshy  situations ;  there  are  however  spacious 
meadows,  abundantly  watered,  and  producing  excellent  grasses, 
much  relished  by  cattle.  The  most  curious  of  the  vegetable 
productions  is  a  resinous  plant,  or  rather  excrescence,  for  it 

*  Lieutenant  H.  Smyth,  of  H.  M.  ship  Tpne,  was  subsequently  sent 
down  with  a  boat's  crew  to  settle  on  the  islands. 


VEGETABLE  AND  ANIMAL  KINGDOM.  507 

grows  from  the  earth  without  stalk,  branch,  or  leaves,  called 
the  resinous  gum  plant.  It  is  frequently  six  feet  in  diameter, 
and  18  inches  high,  and  so  strong  as  to  bear  the  weight  of  a 
man.  Its  surface  ejects  drops  of  a  tough  resinous  matter,  of 
a  yellow  colour,  and  about  the  size  of  peas,  having  a  strong 
odour,  like  turpentine.  Great  quantities  of  water  cresses, 
sorrel,  and  wild  parsley,  are  found  in  every  direction,  as  well  as 
a  small  shrub  of  the  nature  of  spruce,  which,  being  made  into 
beer  by  the  help  of  molasses,  has  proved  an  excellent  anti- 
scorbutic to  seamen  afflicted  with  scurvy  after  a  long  voyage  on 
salt  provisions.  Scarcely  any  fruits  are  found,  indeed  only 
two  fit  for  use,  which  grow  upon  creeping  plants,  and  are 
similar  to  the  mulberry  of  Europe,  and  the  liicet  of  North 
America.  Though  there  are  numerous  flowering  plants,  only 
one,  which  had  a  smell  like  that  of  a  rose,  appeared  to  yield 
any  perfume.     No  trees  have  been  met  with. 

Animals.  Only  one  species  of  animal  was  found  in  the 
island,  a  kind  of  wolf-fox,  which  Byron  describes  as  extremely 
fierce,  running  from  a  great  distance  to  attack  the  sailors 
when  they  landed,  and  even  pursuing  them  into  the  boat.  It 
is  about  the  size  of  a  shepherd's  dog,  and  kennels  under 
ground,  subsisting  on  the  seals  and  birds,  which  it  catches 
along  the  shore.  Sea  lions,  wallruses,  and  seals,  are  abun- 
dant about  the  coast,  many  of  them  of  great  size,  and  very 
fierce.  Swans,  wild  green  ducks,  teal,  and  all  kinds  of  sea- 
fowl,  are  found  in  great  numbers,  and  so  tame  were  some  of 
the  birds  when  the  first  settlers  landed  there,  that  they  would 
suffer  themselves  to  be  caught  by  the  hand,  and  often  perch 
upon  the  heads  of  the  people.  There  is  a  bird,  called  the 
grele,  of  beautiful  plumage,  and  a  kind  of  gentle  note,  whose 
flesh  is  much  esteemed,  and  which  suffers  itself  to  be  ap- 
proached so  as  to  be  knocked  down  with  a  stick ;  there  are 
also  falcons,  snipes,  owls,  curlews,  herons,  thrushes,  &c.  Fish 
are  not  so  plentiful,  but  they  consist  of  mullet,  pike,  sardini, 
gradlaw ;  and  in  the  fresh  water,  a  green  trout,  without 
scales;  all  sorts  of  small  shell-fish  are  found  around  the 
coast,  but  it  is  difficult  to  get  at  them,  or  indeed  for  a  boat  to 


508  EAST  FALKLAND  ISLAND. 

land,  on  account  of  the  prodigious  quantity  of  sea-weed  with 
which  the  shore  is  loaded.  The  tides  produce  a  curious  pheno- 
menon, they  do  not  rise  at  the  settled  calculated  periods,  but, 
just  before  high  water  the  sea  rises  and  falls  three  times  ;  and 
this  motion  is  always  more  violent  during  the  equinoxes  and 
full  moons,  at  which  time  several  coralines,  the  finest  mother- 
of-peai-1,  and  the  most  delicate  sponges  are  thrown  up  with  it ; 
and  amongst  other  shells,  a  curious  bivalve,  called  la  poulette, 
found  no  where  else  but  in  a  fossil  state. 

In  addition  to  numerous  hogs,  wild  fowl,  and  rabbits,  there 
are  several  thousand  head  of  wild  cattle  and  horses,  roaming 
over  a  large  expanse  of  delicious  pasturage. 

As  it  appears  likely  that  more  attention  will  in  future  be 
paid  to  these  islands  by  our  Government,*  I  subjoin,  for  the 
information  of  navigators  especially,  the  following  account  of 
East  (it  was  on  the  West  island  at  Port  Egmont  the  British 
settlement  was  when  forcibly  broken  up  by  the  Spaniards  in 
1770)  Falkland  Island,  drawn  up  by  M.  Vernet  (who  had 
an  establishment  at  Berkeley  Sound,  adjoining  the  ruins  of  that 
founded  by  M.  de  Bougainville  previous  to  1767,  near  Port 
Louis),  for  W.  Parish,  Esq.,  and  read  before  the  Royal  Geo- 
graphical Society,  14th  January,  1833. 

East  Falkland  Island  possesses  large  and  secure  harbours 
for  first-rate  ships  of  war,  with  facilities  for  exercising  the 
crews  on  shore  without  the  risk  of  losing  them,  and  with 
abundance  for  wild  cattle,  antiscorbutic  herbs,  and  fish,  for 
their  support. 

The  covmtry,  in  the  northern  part  of  the  island,  is  rather 
mountainous.  The  highest  part  was  called  San  Simon,  at  no 
great  distance  from  the  bottom  of  Berkeley  Sound.  The  tops 
of  the  mountains  are  thickly  strewn  with  large  boulders,  or 
detached  stones,  of  which  quantities  have  fallen,  in  some 
places,  in  lines  along  their  sides,  looking  like  rivers  of  stones ; 
these  are  alternated  with  extensive  tracts  of  marshy  ground, 

*  Within  the  last  few  years  numerous  whalers — English,  American,  and 
French,  have  been  criiisinj^  oflFand  refiitin;^  at  (he  Falkland  Isles. 


ITS  ADVANTAGES — CLIMATE. 


W 


descending  from  the  very  tops  of  the  mountains,  where  many 
large  fresh-water  ponds  are  found,  from  one  to  two  feet  deep. 
The  best  ground  is  at  the  foot  of  the  mountains,  and  of  tliis 
there  is  abundance  fit  for  cultivation,  in  plains  stretching 
from  five  to  fifteen  miles  along  the  margin  of  the  sea.  In  the 
southern  peninsula  there  is  hardly  a  rising  ground  that  can 
be  called  a  hill.  Excellent  fresh  water  is  found  everywhere, 
and  may  be  procured  either  by  digging,  or  from  the  rivulets, 
which  flow  from  the  interior  towards  the  sea,  through  valleys 
covered  with  a  rich  vegetation. 

T/ie  Climate  on  the  island  is,  on  the  whole,  temperate.  The 
temperature  never  falls  below  26.  Fahrenheit  in  the  coldest 
winter,  nor  rises  above  75.  in  the  hottest  summer ;  its  general 
range  is  from  30.  to  50.  in  winter,  50.  to  75.  in  summer.  The 
weather  is  rather  unsettled,  particularly  in  winter ;  but  the 
showers,  whether  of  rain,  snow,  or  hail,  are  generally  of  short 
duration,  and  their  effects  are  never  long  visible  on  the 
surface  of  the  ground.  Thus  floods  are  unknown;  snow 
disappears  in  few  hours,  unless  on  the  tops  of  the  moun- 
tains ;  and  ice  is  seldom  found  above  an  inch  thick.  Thunder 
and  lightning  are  of  rare  occurrence  ;  fogs  are  frequent,  espe- 
cially in  autumn  and  spring,  but  they  usually  dissipate  to- 
wards noon.  The  winter  is  rather  longer  than  the  summer, 
but  the  difference  is  not  above  a  month,  and  the  long  warm 
days  of  summer,  with  occasional  showers,  produce  a  rapid 
vegetation  in  that  season. 

The  wind  blows  commonly  from  the  north-west  in  summer, 
south-west  in  winter,  and  seldom  long  from  the  eastward  in 
either  season.  The  finest  weather  in  winter  is  when  the  wind 
draws  from  the  west  or  north-west ;  and,  in  summer,  when  it 
stands  at  north-west  or  north-east.  A  north  wind  almost  al- 
ways brings  rain,  especially  in  summer ;  and  east  and  south- 
east winds  are  constantly  accompanied  by  thick  and  wet 
wf^ather.  Snow  squalls  generally  come  from  the  S.S.E.  S.  or 
S.S.W.  Storms  are  most  frequent  at  the  changes  of  the 
seasons,  and  blow  commonly  from  S.S.W.  to  W.S.W. ;  but 
they  seldom  last  above  twenty-four  hours. 


510  MINERALS  AND  SOIL  OF  E.  FALKLAND  ISLE. 

Minerals. — There  are  marks  of  copper  ore  with  some 
pyrites,  and  the  rocks  are  chiefly  quartz.  Ores  of  different 
colours  are  common,  and  red  and  grey  slate  is  plentiful,  but 
no  mines  or  metals  have  been  ever  discovered. 

The  soil  of  East  Falkland  Island  has  been  found  well 
adapted  to  cultivation,  consisting  generally  of  from  six  to 
eight  inches  of  black  vegetable  mould,  below  which  is  either 
gravel  or  clay.  Wheat  and  flax  were  both  raised  of  quality 
equal,  if  not  superior,  to  the  seed  sown,  which  was  procured 
from  Buenos  Ayres ;  and  potatoes,  cabbage,  turnips,  and 
other  kinds  of  vegetables,  produced  largely,  and  of  excellent 
quality.  Fruit  trees  were  not  tried,  the  plants  sent  from 
Buenos  Ayrcs  having  perished  before  they  arrived. 

The  soil  also  produces  different  kinds  of  vegetables  wild, 
as  celery,  cresses,  &c.  and  many  other  esculent  plants,  the 
proper  names  of  which  were  not  known  to  the  settlers,  but 
their  palatable  taste  and  valuable  anti-scorbutic  properties 
were  abundantly  ascertained  by  them.  Among  others  is  one 
which  they  called  the  tea-plant,  growing  close  to  the  ground, 
and  producing  a  berry  of  the  size  of  a  large  pea,  white  with 
a  tinge  of  rose-colour,  and  of  exquisite  flavour.  A  decoction 
of  its  leaves  is  a  good  substitute  for  tea,^  whence  its  name.  It 
is  very  abundant. 

No  trees  grow  on  the  island ;  but  wood  for  building  was 
obtained  tolerably  easily  from  the  adjoining  Straits  of  Magel- 
lan. For  fuel,  besides  peat  and  turf,  which  are  abundant  in 
many  places,  and  may  be  procured  dry  out  of  the  penguins' 
holes,  three  kinds  of  bushes  are  found,  called  fachinal,  matajo, 
and  gruillera.  The  first  of  these  grows  straight,  from  two  to 
five  feet  high,  and  the  stem,  in  proportion  to  the  height,  is 
from  half  an  inch  to  one  inch  and  a  half  in  diameter :  small 
woods  of  this  are  found  in  all  the  valleys,  and  form  good 
cover ;  it  bears  no  fruit.  The  second  is  more  abundant  in 
the  southern  than  in  the  northern  part  of  the  island  ;  its 
trunk  is  nearly  the  thickness  of  a  man's  arm,  very  crooked, 
never  higher  than  three  feet,  and  bears  no  fruit.  The  gruil- 
lera is  the  smallest  of  the  three,  growing  close  to  the  ground, 


WILD  CATTLE— GAME,  &C.  511 

and  abundant  all  over  the  island  :  being  easily  ignited,  it 
was  chiefly  used  as  fuel  when  the  people  were  away  from  the 
settlement,  and  to  light  the  peat  fires  in  the  houses.  It  bears 
a  small  dark  red  berry  of  the  size  of  a  large  pea,  of  an  insipid 
taste. 

Herds  of  wild  horned-cattle  exist  on  the  island,  sufficient 
to  maintain  a  great  many  settlers ;  and  wild  hogs  are  abun- 
dant in  the  northern  peninsula :  wild  horses  are  also  found 
there  of  small  size,  but  very  hardy,  which,  when  broken  in, 
as  some  were  without  difficulty,  were  found  of  great  service 
to  the  settlement.  Rabbits  are  in  great  numbers,  of  a  large 
size  and  fine  fur.  Foxes  too  are  found,  but  differing  consi- 
derably from  those  of  Europe,  having  a  thick  head,  and 
coarse  fur ;  they  live  chiefly  on  geese  and  other  fowl,  which 
they  catch  at  night  when  asleep. 

Game  is  extremely  common,  especially  wild  geese  and 
ducks  ;  of  the  former  two  kinds  were  distinguished,  the  low- 
land or  kelp-geese,  and  the  upland  geese ;  the  latter  were 
much  superior  in  flavour,  the  former  being  of  a  fishy  taste, 
living  chiefly  on  mussels,  shrimps,  and  kelp.  Both  were  very 
tame,  and  the  upland  geese  were  easily  domesticated.  They 
are  finest  eating  in  autumn,  being  then  plump,  in  consequence 
of  the  abundance  at  that  season  of  tea-berries,  of  which  they 
are  very  fond :  the  rest  of  the  year  they  live  on  the  short 
grass.  They  have  a  white  neck  and  breast,  with  the  rest  of  the 
body  speckled  of  a  fine  brown  marbled  colour.  The  low- 
land gander  is  quite  white,  and  the  gODse  dark  with  a  speckled 
breast. 

Of  ducks  there  are  several  kinds.  The  loggerheaded  are 
the  largest,  and  almost  of  the  size  of  the  geese  ;  their  flesh  is 
tough  and  fishy ;  they  cannot  fly,  and  when  cut  off"  from  the 
water  are  easily  caught.  The  next  size  is  also  of  inferior 
quality,  tough  and  fishy ;  but  the  smaller  kinds,  which  are  not 
larger  than  young  pigeons,  are  deliciously  good,  and  are 
found  in  large  flocks  along  the  rivulets  and  fresh  water  ponds. 
Snipes  are  found  so  tame  that  they  were  often  killed  by  throw- 
ing ramrods  at  them.     In  addition  to  these,  a  great  variety  of 


512  SEA-BIRDS  EGGS — FISH,  SEALS,  &C. 

sea-birds  frequent  the  shores,  of  which  the  most  valuable  to 
sailors  and  settlers,  from  the  quantity  of  eggs  they  deposit, 
are  the  gulls  and  penguins.  These  birds  have  their  fixed 
rookeries,  to  which  they  resort  in  numerous  flocks  every 
spring ;  the  gulls  generally  in  green  places  near  the  shore,  or 
on  the  small  islands  in  the  bays;  the  penguins  chiefly  along 
the  steep  rocky  shores  of  the  sea.  The  eggs  of  both  are  eat-  ^ 
able  even  with  relish,  after  long  confinement  on  board  ship ; 
the  penguin's  being,  however,  the  best,  and  less  strong  than 
that  of  the  gull.  So  numerous  are  these  eggs,  that  on  one 
occasion  eight  men  gathered  60,000  in  four  or  five  days,  and 
could  easily  have  doubled  that  number  had  they  stopped  a 
few  days  longer.  Both  gulls  and  penguins  will  lay  six  or 
eight  each,  if  removed :  otherwise,  they  only  lay  two  and 
hatch  them.  The  gulls  come  first  to  their  hatching-places, 
the  penguins  a  little  later. 

Fish  abounds  in  all  the  bays  and  inlets,  especially  in  spring, 
when  they  come  to  spawn  at  the  mouths  of  the  fresh  water 
rivulets.  They  generally  enter  and  retii'e  twice  every  day,  at 
half-flood  and  half-ebb ;  and  are  in  such  numbers  that  ten  or 
twelve  men  could  always  catch  and  salt  about  GO  tons  in  less 
than  a  month.  They  were  usually  caught  by  a  sweeping-net, 
but  they  also  took  the  hook,  being  of  a  kind  between  the 
mullet  and  salmon.  Their  flavour  was  excellent ;  and  when 
salted,  they  were  considered  superior  to  the  cod ;  many  ship- 
loads might  be  procured  annually. 

Of  shell-fish  there  aye  only  mussels  and  clams ;  they  are 
very  abundant,  and  easily  gathered  on  the  beach  at  low  water. 

Seals  are  found  on  the  island,  or  rather  on  the  rocks  close 
to  it ;  and  hair-seals  (see  lions  and  elephants)  abound  along  its 
shores.  Many  black  whales  have  been  also  caught  in  its 
neighbourhood ;  in  consequence  of  which  the  island  has  of 
late  years  been  much  resorted  to  by  fishing  vessels,  English, 
American,  and  French.  Of  these,  89  touched  at  it  between 
1826  and  183L 

East  Falkland  Island  is  singularly  cut  into  by  the  sea,  form- 
ing various  good  harbours  of  easy  access  for  vessels  of  almost 
any  burthen.    In  steering  into  most  of  them,  little  other  direc- 


SAILING  INSTRUCTIONS  FOR  FALKLAND  ISLANDS.  jl2 

t'lon  is  necessary  than  to  keep  out  of  the  kelp,  which  grows 
profusely  on  all  the  rocks  ;  but  as  Berkeley  Sound  is  both  the 
most  frequented,  and  in  some  respects  the  best,  the  following 
more  specific  instructions  may  be  given  regarding  it. 

'Vessels  approaching  Berkeley  Sound  from  the  northward 
should  endeavour  to  make  the  land  ten  or  fifteen  miles  W.  of 
the  port^  the  prevailing  winds  being  westerly ;  and  when  ap- 
proaching from  the  southward  should,  in  like  manner,  make 
allowance  for  the  currents,  which  frequently  run  very  strong 
to  the  northward.  When  entering  the  Sound,  a  sufficient 
berth  must  be  given  to  a  ledge  of  rocks,  called  the  Volunteer 
Rocks,  which  run  out  from  the  N.  point  about  a  mile  and  a 
quarter ;  outside  of  which,  in  nearly  the  same  line,  at  a  further 
distance  of  about  another  mile,  is  a  single  sunken  rock,  with 
only  six  feet  water  on  it  at  low  tide.  When  these  rocks  are 
cleared,  and  the  Sound  is  fairly  entered,  there  is  no  danger, 
except  from  a  small  ledge  of  rocks  off  Eagle  Point,  about  two 
cables'  length  from  the  shore,  with  kelp  growing  all  over  it, 
and  therefore  easily  seen.  Above  this  point  the  Sound  is 
quite  clear  till  well  up,  when  a  ledge  of  five  or  six  black  rocks 
will  be  seen  on  the  N.  side,  behind  which  is  an  excellent  har- 
bour, called  Johnson's  Harbour,  with  good  holding  ground  in 
six  or  seven  fathoms,  and  greater  convenience  for  watering 
than  in  any  other  part  of  the  bay. 

'  If  a  ship,  endeavouring  to  enter  Berkeley  Sound,  find  the 
wind  blowing  hard  down,  which  is  often  the  case,  and  is  thus 
prevented  getting  to  a  suitable  anchorage  in  the  bay,  a  good 
port  exists  immediately  S.  of  the  Sound,  and  about  two  and  a 
half  miles  from  the  small  islands  in  its  mouth,  called  Port 
William,  or  Harriet's  Bay.  This  is  of  easy  access,  and  fresh 
water  may  be  easily  obtained  in  it.  In  going  in,  ships  should 
keep  on  the  N.  shore,  about  two  cables'  length  distant,  as  the 
tide  runs  strong.  The  flood  runs  to  the  southward,  and  the 
ebb  to  the  N.E.' 

To  the  S.  of  Berkeley  Sound,  the  coast  of  East  Falkland 
Island  should  not  be  approached  too  near,  particularly  in 
thick  weather ;  there  being  no  correct  chart  of  it,  and  many 
low  and  dangerous  islands  lying  off,  some  of  them  even  out  of 
sight  of  the  land,  particularly  to  the  southward. 

A  Commandant,  with  a  few  marines,  and  a  small  vessel, 
manned  from  the  squadron  on  the  South  American  station, 
should  be  placed  at  these  to  us  valuable  islands. 

VOL.  IV.  L  L 


514 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

ST.  HELENA  AND  ASCENSION  ISLANDS. 

LOCALITY — AREA — HISTORY — PHYSICAL  ABPECT,  CLIMATE,  GEOLOGY,  AND 
SOIL — VEGETATION POPULATION  —  PRODUCE  —  REVENUE  AND  EXPEN- 
DITURE, SKIPPING,  &C. 

St.  Helena  Island,  celebrated  as  the  prison  and  grave  of 
the  most  extraordinary  human  being  that  ever  tenanted  this 
earth,  is  situate  in  the  Southern  Atlantic,  within  the  limit  of 
the  S.E.  trade  winds;  in  lat.  15.15.  S.,  long.  5.49.45.  W., 
1,200  miles  from  the  coast  of  Africa,  2,000  from  that  of  Ame- 
rica, and  600  from  the  Island  of  Ascension :  its  area  being 
30,300  acres,  its  extreme  length  being  10|^  miles,  its  breadth 
6^,  and  its  circumference  about  28  miles. 

History. — St.  Helena  was  discovered  by  the  Portuguese 
navigator,  Juan  De  Nova  Castella,  on  the  21st  May,  1502,  and 
named  by  him,  in  honour  of  the  day  of  its  discovery,  after 
Saint  Helena. 

When  first  visited  the  island  was  uninhabited,  covered  by 
one  entire  forest  and  its  shores  abounding  with  turtles,  seals, 
sea-lions,  and  various  sorts  of  wild  fowl ;  its  settlement,  and 
early  improvement  in  1513,  are  attributed  to  the  debar- 
kation of  a  Portuguese  nobleman,  who  had  been  mutilated 
by  Albuquerque  for  crime  committed  in  India,  and  sent 
home  in  disgrace.  This  gentleman,  Fernandez  Lopez  by 
name,  prevailed  on  the  captain  to  set  him  on  shore,  in  pre- 
ference to  the  life  of  ignominy  he  was  destined  to  lead  in  Por- 
tugal, and  his  wishes  being  complied  with,  and  abundant 
supplies  foi'warded  to  him  by  his  commiserating  friends, 
he  quickly  brought  some  spots  under  cultivation,  and  im- 
ported hogs,  goats,  domestic  poultry,  partridges,  and  wild 
fowl,  besides  various  sorts  of  fruits  and  vegetables,  all  of 
which    increased    and    throve    exceedingly,    such     as    figs, 


EARLY  DISCOVERY  AND  SETTLEMENT  ON  ST.   HELENA.     515 

oranges,  lemons,  peach-trees,  &c.  Fernandez  was  removed 
from  his  voluntary  exile  by  orders  of  the  Portuguese  govern- 
ment in  about  four  years,  and  the  next  inhabitants  appear  to 
have  been  four  slaves  of  different  sexes,  who  escaped  from  a 
ship,  and  multiplied  to  the  number  of  20 ;  these  people  sub- 
sisted on  the  live  stock  and  fruits  which  had  increased  prodi- 
giously ;  but  the  Portuguese  being  jealous  of  their  consuming 
what  was  required  for  the  refreshment  of  the  ships,  which 
touched  here  on  their  passage  from  India,  finally  succeeded  in 
hunting  them  out,  and  destroying  them.  Tavernier  informs  us 
that,  a  Franciscan  friar  had  also  taken  up  his  abode  on  the 
island  and  led  an  austere  life  for  14  years,  when  he  died; 
though  other  accounts  say,  he  was  removed  in  consequence 
of  the  great  destructi6n  he  committed  among  the  goats,  for 
the  sake  of  trafficking  in  their  skins. 

The  Portuguese  mariners  preserved  the  secret  of  the  ex- 
istence of  St.  Helena  from  other  nations  until  1588,  when  it 
was  discovered  by  Capt.  Cavendish,  on  his  return  from  a 
circumnavigating  voyage.  He  gives  the  state  of  the  island 
very  circumstantially,  from  which  it  appears,  that  the  Portu- 
guese had  built  a  town  and  a  church :  he  found  abund- 
ance of  goats,  pigs,  and  poultry,  with  game,  wild  fowl,  and 
various  kinds  of  fruits  and  vegetables.  The  settlement  was 
afterwards  frequently  visited  by  English,  Dutch,  Spanish, 
and  Portuguese  ships  ;  the  salubrity  of  the  air,  and  the  abund- 
ance of  fresh  provisions  invigorating  their  exhausted  crews. 

It  sometimes  happened  that  ships  of  nations  at  war  with 
each  other  visited  St.  Helena  at  the  same  time — accord- 
ingly we  have  accounts  of  various  sea  fights  between  the 
Dutch  and  Spaniards  at  the  anchorage,  who  are,  moreover, 
accused  of  wantonly  destroying  the  plantations,  lest  succeeding 
visitors  should  profit  by  the  supplies  which  had  proved  so 
beneficial  to  them.  From  all  these  causes  the  island  was 
deserted  by  the  Portuguese,  when  they  acquired  possession 
of  settlements  on  the  eastern  shores  of  Africa,  and  for  some 
time  continued  desolate,  owing  to  the  wanton  excesses  which 
had    been  committed:  however,    aboiit  the  year  1643,  two 


516    DUTCH  OCCUPATION  AND  ABANDONMENT  OF   ST.  HELENA. 

Portuguese  vessels  being  wrecker! ,  their  crews  got  safe  to 
land,  and  once  more  stocked  the  island  with  cattle,  goats,  hogs, 
poultry,  &c.  In  1645  the  Dutch  took  formal  possession  of 
St.  Helena,  and  established  a  colony  ;  but  they  also  abandoned 
it,  when  settling  at  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope  in  1651. 

The  homeward  bound  English  East  India  fleet  (falling  at 
the  island  at  this  period,  took  possession  of  St.  Helena,  and 
the  East  India  Company  obtained  a  charter  for  its  possession 
from  Charles  II.  ten  years  after.  Under  the  superintendence 
in  1658  of  Capt.  Dutton,  the  first  English  Governor,  a  fort 
was  erected,  and  called  Fort  James,  in  compliment  to  the  Duke 
of  York,  the  king's  brother.  Settlers  were  encouraged  to 
emigrate  thither,  and  slaves  were  imported  from  Madagascar 
to  work  in  the  plantations.  It  is  reported  to  have  been  captured 
by  the  Dutch  in  1665,  but  of  this  event  the  accounts  are  vague 
and  doubtful,  and  the  writer  of  Rennefort's  voyage,  who 
visited  the  island  in  1666,  makes  no  mention  of  such  occur- 
rence, but  eulogizes  Governor  Stringer,  and  his  family,  for  the 
attentions  he  received,  and  describes  the  settlement  as  thriving, 
being  then  composed  of  about  50  Englishmen,  20  women,  and 
some  negroes.  Its  population  was  shortly  after  increased  by 
many,  who  had  been  reduced  by  the  great  fire  of  London, 
seeking  relief  in  the  island. 

From  1658  until  1672  various  laws  and  regulations  were 
made  by  the  Company  at  home,  or  the  Governors  of  the 
island,  of  whom  there  appears  to  have  been,  viz. — Dutton, 
Stringer,  Swallow,  Coney,  Bennett  and  Beale:  in  the  latter 
part  of  1672,  the  Dutch,  through  the  treachery  of  a  planter, 
succeeded  in  landing  in  the  night  500  men  from  an  expedi- 
tion which  had  been  repulsed  the  same  day ;  the  fort  being 
thus  attacked  in  the  rear,  the  Governor  thought  prudent  to 
abandon  it,  and  retired,  with  his  garrison  and  principal  effects, 
on  board  some  ships  in  the  roads,  taking,  however,  the  pre- 
caution of  placing  a  sloop  to  cruise  to  windward  of  St.  Helena 
to  warn  British  vessels  of  its  capture,  and  a  squadron  arriving 
soon  after  (in  May,  1673),  under  Capt.  Munden,  he  succeeded  in 
recapturing  the  island,  and,  by  keeping  the  Dutch  flag  flying 


I 


GRANTED  TO  THE  ENGLISH  EAST  INDIA  COMPANY.  517 

after  he  had  got  possession  of  the  forts,  decoyed  six  Dutch 
East  Indiamen,  as  well  as  a  ship  from  Europe,  having  a  Go- 
vernor and  reinforcements  for  the  garrison  on  board,  into  the 
roads  where  they  were  captured.  Having  formed  a  British 
garrison  by  detachments  from  the  ships,  Capt.  Munden  sailed 
for  England  with  his  prizes,  and  was  knighted. 

The  king  having  renewed  the  charter  of  the  East  India 
Company,  they  lost  no  time  in  sending  out  reinforcements  to 
St.  Helena — appointed  Capt  G.  Field,  governor,  with  a 
council  of  four  to  assist  him,  and  held  out  great  encourage- 
ment for  the  old  settlers  to  remain,  and  also  to  induce  new 
ones  to  repair  thither.  The  Company  at  home,  and  the  Go- 
vernor of  the  island,  now  passed  some  local  laws  for  the 
allotment  of  land,  and  the  management  of  the  plantations, 
and  assigned  the  service  which  each  individual  was  bound  to 
perform  for  the  defence  of  the  settlement  when  called  upon  : 
the  number  of  soldiers  were  shortly  afterwards  reduced  to 
50,  and  several  English  settlers  having  arrived  a  militia 
was  organised,  to  whom  the  defence  of  the  island  was  to  be 
principally  entrusted.  Fortifications  were  raised,  and  lines 
drawn  for  the  security  of  the  town,  which  was  required  to  be 
built  on  a  preconcerted  plan ;  but,  upwards  of  a  century 
elapsed  before  advantage  was  taken  of  placing  cannon  on 
the  heights,  which  were  only  occupied  for  look-out  stations. 

In  1676,  Dr.  Halley,  the  celebrated  astronomer,  arrived  at 
St.  Helena  for  the  purpose  of  completing  some  celestial  ob- 
servations ;  his  instruments  were  erected  on  the  hill  which 
now  bears  his  name,  when  he  observed  the  transit  of  Mercury 
over  the  sun's  disc. 

Many  taxes  having  been  imposed  on  the  settlers,  and  par- 
ticularly an  impost  laid  on  the  wood  required  to  distil  spirits 
from  potatoes,  discontent  began  again  to  assume  a  formidable 
aspect,  and  a  mutinous  disposition  spreading  amongst  the  sol- 
diers, it  broke  out  at  various  times  in  open  rebellion  on  various 
pretences,  on  many  of  which  occasions  blood  was  shed ;  in 
1684,  two  of  the  mutineers  were  hanged,  and  others  trans- 
ported, as  an  example  to   the  rest :  this  did  not,  however. 


518  IMPROVEMENTS  AT  ST.  HELENA. 

check  the  disturbances,  for  constant  insurrections  occurred, 
in  which  more  than  one  of  the  Governors  perished,*  until 
at  length  in  1700,  all  the  spirit-stills  were  suppressed  by 
order  from  England,  and  by  the  vigorous  measures  of  Go- 
vernor Roberts,  from  1708  to  1714,  the  island  was  tran- 
quilized. 

Various  plants,  shrubs,  fruit,  and  timber  trees,  were  now 
introduced ;  but  only  the  apple,  mulberry,  and  peach,  have 
become  established,  although  it  is  certain  the  cocoa  nut, 
cypress,  and  others,  may  be  propagated  with  a  little  attention. 
The  Scotch  fir  and  spruce  were  introduced  about  the  year 
1749,  also  acorns  from  which  timber  has  been  produced, 
which  now  measures  from  9  to  11  feet  in  circumference,  in 
the  most  sheltered  parts  of  the  island,  although  they  do 
not  succeed  when  exposed  to  the  trade  winds. 

Provisions  became  so  plentiful  that  a  clause  was  inserted  in 
the  charter  party  of  the  Company's  ships,  obliging  them  to 
purchase  a  certain  quantity  of  beef,  at  16*.  per  cwt. 

Governor  Brooke,  who  succeeded  Corneille  in  1787,  by 
his  firm  conduct  and  judicious  arrangements,  soon  subdued 
the  mutinous  disposition  hitherto  so  prevalent ;  and  during 
his  government  from  (1787  to  1800)  St.  Helena  was  made  a 
depot  for  training  recruits  for  the  Company's  army  in  India,  to 

*  Chronological  account  of  Governors  of  St.  Helena  : — Sir  Richard 
Munden  and  Captain  R.  Kegvvin,  1673;  Captain  G.  Field,  1674;  Major 
J.  Blackmore,  1678;  Captain  J.  Johnson,  1690;  Captain  R.  Keelinge, 
1693;  Captain  S.  Poirier,  1697;  Captain  T.  Goodwin,  1707;  Captain  J. 
Roberts,  1708;  Captain  B.Boucher,  1711;  Captain  M.  Bazett,  (acty ) 
Captain  J.  Pyke,  1714  ;  E.  Johnson,  Esq.  1719  ;  E.  Byfield,  (acty.) ;  Capt. 
J.  Smith,  1723;  Captain  J.  Pyke,  1731  ;  J.  Goodwin,  Esq.  1738;  D. 
Crisp,  1739;  R.  Jenkins,  Esq.  1740;  Major  T.  Lambert,  1741;  G.  G. 
Powel,  Esq.  1742;  Col.  D.  Dunbar,  1743;  C.  Hutchinson,  Esq.  1747; 
J.  Skottowe,  Esq.  1764  ;f  D.  Corneille,  Esq.  1782;  Col.  R.  Brooke,  1787; 
Lieut.-Col.  F.  Robson,  1801  ;  Col.  R.  Patten,  1802 ;  Lieut.-Col.  W.  Lane, 
1807;  Major  General  A.  Beatson,  1808;  Col.  M.  Wilks,  1813;  Lieut- 
Cen.  Sir  Hudson  Lowe,  1816;  T.  H.  Brooke,  Esq.  (actg.)  1821  ;  Brigadier 
Gen.  A.  Walker,  1823 ;  T.  H.  Brooke,  Esq.  (2nd  actg.)  1828 ;  Brigadier 
Gen.  C.  Dallas,  1828. 


GOVERNORS  BROOKE,  PATTEN,  AND  BEATSON.      5\i) 

the  number  of  upwards  of  12,000  soldiers.  Brooke  also  im- 
proved the  buildings,  and  strengthened  the  fortifications, 
established  a  code  of  signals,  and  rendered  the  settlement 
extremely  valuable  at  the  commencement  of  war  with  the 
Dutch  in  1795;  by  his  energetic  conduct  in  fitting  out  an 
expedition  destined  to  surprise  the  Cape,  but  that  object 
having  been  anticipated  from  home,  the  St.  Helena  squadron 
was  afterwards  employed  in  capturing  the  Dutch  homeward- 
bound  Indiamen. 

Governor  Brooke  was  succeeded  by  Col.  Patten,  in  1801-2, 
who  carried  on  the  plans  of  his  predecessor,  and  greatly  im- 
proved the  fortifications  of  the  place,  particularly  in  ren- 
dering the  guns  on  the  heights  more  effective,  and  also  in 
encouraging  a  better  mode  of  agriculture.  In  1807,  the  is- 
land was  visited  with  a  calamity  which  had  nearly  destroyed 
the  whole  population  —  a  most  inveterate  species  of  the 
measles  was  introduced  by  the  homeward-bound  fleet  from 
the  Cape,  so  fatal  in  its  effects  that,  besides  prostrating  the 
strength  of  nearly  the  whole  population,  so  as  to  render  them 
almost  incapable  of  assisting  each  other,  it  carried  off  in  two 
months  nearly  200  persons.  The  visitation  of  this  calamity 
alarmed  the  inhabitants  respecting  the  small  pox,  which, 
although  it  had  appeared,  or  had  been  introduced  by  persons 
from  England  or  the  Cape,  had  never  proved  infectious,  and 
it  was  supposed  that  something  existed  in  the  climate  of  St. 
Helena  inimical  to  its  contagiousness.  To  allay  their  apprehen- 
sions the  Governor  took  measures  to  introduce  vaccination, 
and  also  to  appoint  a  gentleman  as  vaccinating  surgeon,  and 
we  believe  no  case  of  small  pox  has  since  been  known.  In 
1807,  Governor  Patten  being  obliged  to  retire  to  England, 
on  account  of  ill  health,  was  succeeded  the  following  year  by 
Governor  Beatson — to  whose  history  of  the  island  I  am  in- 
debted for  much  information. 

In  May,  1810,  50  Chinese  labourers  were  imported  into  St. 
Helena,  and  were  found  so  useful  that  shortly  afterwards  150 
more  were  obtained:  some  husbandmen  from  England  were  also 
sent  out  with  a  view  to  improving  the  agriculture  of  the  settle- 


520  napoleon's   imprisonment   at  ST.  HELENA. 

ment ;  this  produced  a  beneficial  effect  in  extending  greatly  the 
amount  of  land  under  cultivation.  Still,  owing  to  some  mea- 
sures ordered  by  the  government  at  home,  the  price  of  pro- 
visions was  enhanced  greatly- — salt  provisions  from  the  Com- 
pany's stores,  which  in  1810  were  delivered  at  4c?.  per  lb.  reach- 
ing 13c?.  in  1813,  which,  with  the  strict  abolition  of  the  impor- 
tation, or  manufacture  of  ardent  spirits,  gave  rise  to  discontent. 
A  brewery  was  therefore  established,  and  cheap  wines  imported 
from  the  Cape  in  abundance,  and  served  out  in  rations  at  6d. 
per  pint.  At  the  close  of  1811  these  discontents  broke  out  into 
open  mutiny  as  had  several  times  before  been  the  case ;  by 
the  firm  conduct  of  the  Governor,  however,  it  was  speedily 
suppressed,  nine  of  the  ringleaders  brought  to  summary 
Court  Martial,  condemned,  and  six  of  them  executed,  after 
which  order  was  restored,  and  the  worst  characters  sent  off 
the  island. 

In  1813,  Governor  Beatson  was  superseded,  at  his  own  re- 
quest, by  Colonel  Mark  Wilks,  but  he  remained  for  several 
months  to  induct  his  successor  in  the  plans  he  had  in  progress 
for  the  improvement  of  the  settlement. 

In  1814,  it  was  resolved  to  appropriate  St.  Helena  as  a 
prison  for  Napoleon  Buonaparte, — on  the  15th  Oct.  1814,  he 
arrived  in  the  island  in  his  Majesty's  ship  Northumberland^ 
and  continued  there  a  prisoner  at  large  until  his  death,  on 
the  6th  May,  1821.  It  would  be  foreign  to  my  purpose,  and 
beyond  my  limits  to  enter  into  any  disquisition  on  the  ques- 
tion of  the  imprisonment  of  Napoleon  at  St.  Helena  ;  whether 
England  had  a  moral  right  to  detain  him  there  is,  by  no 
means,  a  settled  point ;  still  less  so  is  the  far  more  important 
question,  whether  Napoleon's  actions  were  calculated  to 
benefit,  or  to  injure  mankind ; — granted,  even,  that  Napoleon 
was  a  despot :  let  it,  however,  be  remembered  that,  he  warred 
against  tyrants  who  endeavoured  to  hold  milHons  in  bondage 
to  the  few,  or  against  imbeciles  who  desired  to  retain  the 
mass  of  their  fellow-beings  in  slavish  subjection  to  here- 
ditary rights ; — if  he  be  accused  of  usurping  sovereign  power, 
let  those  who  can  appreciate  his  genius  reflect  that,  he  was 


CHARACTER  AND  FATE  OF  NAPOLEON.  521 

endowed  with  a  capacity  of  soul  for  which  this  world  was  too 
limited,  and  that,  his  towering  mind  could  acknowledge  no 
chief;  nor  let  any  man  of  talent  forget  that  moral,  mental, 
physical  energy  was  never  exhibited  before  Napoleon  in  vain 
— he  elicited,  encouraged,  rewarded  the  brave,  the  high- 
spirited,  the  eloquent,  and  the  studious ;  his  presence  was  a 
stimulus  to  some  of  the  greatest  enterprises  that  man  has 
ever  undertaken,  and  thousands  of  gallant  heroes  cheerfully 
shed  their  precious  blood  in  the  hope  of  receiving  the  ap- 
proving smile  of  Napoleon : — yet,  more,  let  not  the  truly 
British  patriot  forget  that.  Napoleon  too  idolized  his  country  ; 
his  very  existence  was  centered  in  extending  the  glory  and 
happiness  of  his  adored  France,  whom  he  cherished  as  the 
most  ardent  lover  does  the  first  object  of  his  choice.  I  am 
not  blind  to  the  faults  of  Napoleon,  they  were  many,  and 
deep ; — he  would  have  been  more  or  less  than  mortal  were  it 
otherwise.  I  look  upon  his  meteoric  career  as  one  of  those 
extraordinary  dispensations  of  Providence,  whose  purport  is, 
to  us,  inscrutable  ;  and  when  I  contemplate  the  lofty  pinnacle 
of  grandeur  on  which  he  was  exalted — with  kings,  princes, 
and  nobles  for  his  servitors — thrones  for  his  gifts — and  em- 
pires for  his  sway, — when  I  contrast  this  summit  of  Napoleon's 
earthly  glory  with  his  narrow  and  cheerless  prison-house,  in 
the  midst  of  the  Atlantic — when  I  compare  the  gorgeous 
Tuilleries  with  the  silent,  nameless,  and  desolate  charnel- 
vault  of  St.  Helena* — I  witness  the  most  forcible  illustration 
of  the  instability  of  mere  human  greatness  that  ever  was 
presented  for  the  guidance  of  mankind,  and  I  read  in  it  a 
conclusive  confirmation  of  those  striking  lessons  with  which 
the  page  of  scripture  abounds — which  teach  that  the  race  is 
not  to  the  swift,  nor  the  battle  to  the  strong,  and  that  he  who 
giveth  not  praise  and  glory  to  Him  to  whom  praise  and  glory 

*  I  passed  an  hour  in  thought  at  the  grave  of  Napoleon,  in  1830,  and 
experienced,  for  the  first  time,  a  host  of  tumultuous  feelings,  the  intensity 
of  which  has  not  yet  passed  away.  It  is,  indeed,  worth  making  a  pilgrimage 
to  the  unchiselled  tomb  of  this  wonderful  being,  in  order  to  have  the  past, 
the  present,  and  the  future  arrayed  so  vividly  before  the  mind. 


522        THE  smuggler's  plan  for  liberating   NAl'OLEON 

are  alone  due,  is  like  unto  a  reed  shaken  by  every  blast 
of  wind, — or,  as  the  flower  of  the  field,  which  groweth  up 
and  is  cut  down,  and  no  man  knoweth  its  place.  Reader, 
excuse  this  digression  which  I  could  not  well  avoid,  and  re- 
turn with  me  unto  a  dry  detail  of  facts  which,  though  less 
congenial  to  my  mind,  is  of  far  more  utility  to  the  object  I 
have  in  view — the  welfare  of  my  country. 

During  the  residence  of  Napoleon  on  St.  Helena,  in  order 
to  prevent  his  escape,*  a  large  garrison  of  king's  troops,  and 

*  Several  projects  were  made  to  carry  off  Napoleon  from  St.  Helena. 
The  following  (as  it  appears  to  me)  impracticable  scheme  was  devised  by 
Johnson,  the  smuggler,  who  says — '  I  constructed  two  submarine  vessels, 
the  Eagle  and  Etna.  The  Eagle  was  of  the  burthen  of  114  tons,  84  feet 
in  length,  and  18  feet  beam,  propelled  by  two  steam-engines  of  40  horse 
power.  The  Etna,  the  smaller  ship,  was  40  feet  long,  and  10  feet  beam  ; 
burthen  23  tons.  These  two  vessels  would  be  propelled,  the  large  one  with 
two  engines  of  20  horse  power  each,  the  small  one  with  one  engine  of  10 
horse  power,  high  pressure,  well  arranged,  equipped  with  warlike  stores, 
and  30  well-chosen  seamen,  with  four  engineers.  They  were  also  to  take 
20  torpedos,  a  number  equal  to  the  destruction  of  20  ships,  ready  for  action 
in  case  of  my  meeting  with  any  opposition  from  the  ships  of  war  on  the 
station.  These  two  ships  were  to  be  stationed  at  a  convenient  distance 
from  the  rock  (at  St.  Helena),  abreast  of  Longwood  House,  the  highest 
point  of  the  island,  being  2,000  feet  above  the  level  of  the  sea,  and,  be- 
cause deemed  inaccessible,  of  course  unsuspected.  All  the  accessible 
points  were  well  fortified  and  guarded.  In  this  position  the  two  vessels 
were  to  lay  at  anchor,  at  a  cable's  length  from  each  other,  the  smaller 
one  close  to  the  rock,  well  fortified  with  cork  fenders,  in  order  to  guard 
against  any  injury  which  might  be  apprehended  from  the  friction  or 
beating  against  the  rock,  which  could  at  all  times  be  prevented  by  hauling 
off  or  on,  as  occasion  required.  This  smaller  ship  would  be  provided 
with  a  mechanical  chair,  capable  of  containing  one  person  on  the  seat, 
and  a  standing  foot-board  at  the  back,  so  that  the  person  at  the  back 
could  regulate  the  ascent  or  descent  at  pleasure.  Attached  to  this  chair 
would  be  a  patent  whale-line,  2,050  feet  long,  with  all  the  necessary 
apparatus  ready  when  called  for.  Thus  far  arranged,  the  vessels  were 
to  remain  submerged  during  the  day,  and  at  night  approach  the  surface. 
Every  thing  being  then  perfectly  in  order,  I  should  then  go  on  shore, 
provided  with  some  other  small  articles,  such  as  a  ball  of  strong  twine,  an 
iron  bolt  with  a  block,  which  I  would  sink  into  the  ground  at  the  top  of 
tlie  rock,  opposite  Longwood  House,  and  abreast  of  the  submarine  ships. 


FROM  ST.  HELENA,  WITH    SUB-MARINE  VESSELS.  523 

a  considerable  squadron  was  maintained  at  the  island,  which 
the  East  India  Company  placed  under  the  government  of  the 

I  should  then  obtain  my  introduction  to  his  Imperial  MajestVv^nd  com- 
municate my  plan.  The  residence  of  the  Emperor  being  surrounded  by  a 
chevaux-de-frise,  and  the  stables  being'  outside,  the  servants  only  had  access 
to  the  house.  1  proposed  that  the  coachman  should  go  into  the  house,  at 
a  certain  hour  which  should  be  fixed,  and  that  his  Majesty  should  be  pro- 
vided with  a  similar  livery,  as  well  as  myself,  the  one  in  the  character  of 
coachman,  the  other  as  groom  ;  and  that,  thus  disguised,  we  should  pass 
into  the  coach-house,  and  there  remain,  unnoticed  and  unperceived.  We 
should  then  watch  our  opportunity,  to  avoid  the  eye  of  the  frigate 
guard,  who  seldom  looked  out  in  the  direction  of  the  highest  point 
in  the  island ;  and,  on  our  arriving  at  the  spot  where  our  blocks,  &c. 
were  deposited,  I  should  make  fast  one  end  of  my  ball  of  twine  to 
the  ring,  and  heave  the  ball  down  to  my  confidential  men,  then  on  the 
look-out  below,  who  would  make  the  other  end  fast  to  the  fall  belong- 
ing to  the  mechanical  chair,  by  which  means  I  should  be  able  to  haul 
up  the  end  of  the  fall,  which  I  should  run  through  the  block,  and 
then  haul  up  the  mechanical  chair  to  the  top.  I  should  then  place 
his  Majesty  in  the  chair,  while  I  took  my  station  at  the  back,  and 
lowered  away  with  a  corresponding  weight  on  the  other  side,  until  we 
arrived  safe  at  the  bottom.  Embarked  on  board  the  Etna,  into  which  we 
should  have  lowered,  as  it  lay  close  under  the  rock.  I  should  then  cast  off 
our  moorings,  and  haul  alongside  the  Eagle,  and  remain  there  during  the 
day ;  in  the  evening  prepare  our  steam,  and  get  under  weigh  as  soon  as  it 
became  dark.  In  this  position,  I  should  propel  by  steam  until  I  had  given 
the  island  a  good  berth,  and  then  ship  our  mast  and  make  sail,  steering  for 
the  United  States.  I  calculated  that  no  hostile  ship  or  ships  could  impede 
our  progress,  so  as  to  offer  any  very  serious  obstruction,  as,  in  the  event  of 
an  attack,  I  should  haul  our  sails  and  strike  yards  and  masts,  which  would 
only  occupy  about  40  minutes,  and  then  submerge.  Under  water  we 
should  await  the  approach  of  the  enemy,  and  then,  by  the  aid  of  the  little 
Etna,  attaching  the  torpedo  to  her  bottom,  effect  her  destruction  in  15 
minutes.  On  my  arrival  at  a  secure  and  convenient  spot  on  the  coast  of 
the  United  States,  I  should  communicate  with  his  Majesty's  Government, 
through  the  medium  of  my  friend  and  patron,  the  ever-to-be-lamented 
Duke  of  York,  to  negociate  for  a  more  suitable  and  honourable  asylum  for 
his  Imperial  Majesty.  Should  my  negociations,  as  I  anticipated,  fail,  I 
should  then  address  his  Imperial  Majesty,  and  propose  his  return  to  France, 
where  he  would  meet  with  a  very  favourable  reception.  The  whole  of  the 
negociations  were  carried  on  through  O'Meara.  The  vessels  were  laid 
down  to  be  coppered,  when  news  arrived  of  the  exile's  death.' 

[Johnson  forgot  to  state  hoio  he  was  to  ascend  the  inacccssiidc  luecipice.] 


524       ST.  HELENA  TRANSFERRED  TO  THE  CROWN. 

Crown  :  in  1822,  the  whole  of  the  king's  troops  were  removed, 
and  St.  Helena  reverted  to  the  possession  of  the  East  India 
Company. 

In  March,  1823,  Brigadier-General  Walker  arrived  from 
England  as  Governor :  under  his  administration  many  judi- 
cious plans  for  the  improvement  of  the  settlement  were  per- 
severed in,  particularly  the  abolition  of  slavery,  previously 
begun,  the  establishment  of  schools,  &c. ;  he  also  encouraged 
agricultural  societies,  and  fairs,  giving  prizes  for  the  best 
cattle,  ploughing,  and  crops.  The  houses  which  had  been 
occupied  by  Buonaparte  and  his  staff  were  converted  into 
offices  for  the  Company's  farm  at  Longwood,*  and  the  amount 
of  cultivated  land  extended.  He  also  increased  the  supply 
of  water  for  shipping,  by  bringing  the  contents  of  another 
spring  to  the  reservoir,  by  which  means  there  is  now  pro- 
curable 300  tons  of  pure  water  in  the  24  hours,  which  can 
be  further  increased  if  necessary.  St.  Helena  remained  as 
the  property  of  the  East  India  Company  until  the  non- 
renewal of  the  Company's  commercial  charter  in  1833,  when 
the  Directors  declined  to  continue  burthened  with  the  ex- 
pense of  the  island,  which  it  had  retained  solely  for  the  benefit 
and  protection  of  its  shipping;  St.  Helena  is  now,  therefore, 
one  of  the  Crown  colonies ;  Commissioners  have  been  sent  out 
to  make  the  necessary  enquiries  and  alterations  for  the  trans- 
fer— the  East  India  Company's  troops,  heretofore  garrisoning 
the  forts,  will  be  removed  to  India,  and  their  place  occupied 
by  the  head-quarters  of  the  60th  rifles,  with  a  Governor  ap- 
pointed by  the  King. 

Physical  Aspect. — The  island  of  St.  Helena,  when  first 
seen  at  sea,  presents  the  appearance  of  a  small  barren  rock, 
nearly  perpendicular  on  its  northern  side,  but  gradually 
shelving  to  the  S.  On  approaching,  its  eminences  appear 
more  broken,  and  the  central  ones  covered  with  verdure  ;  on 
a  near  approach  this  view  is  again  shut  out  by  the  rugged 
and  barren  appearance  of  the  shore,  which  is  nearly  perpen- 

*  When  I  visited  them  in  1830,  Napoleon's  bed-room  was  a  cattle-stall, 
and  sheep  and  goats  sheltered  themselves  in  the  cx-cmperoi's  saloon. 


PHYSICAL  ASPECT  AND  ELEVATION  OF  ST.  HELENA.  525 

dicular,  forming  a  girdle  of  inaccessible  precipices  of  basaltic 
rocks,  some  of  them  rent  to  the  bases,  exhibiting  extensive 
chasms,  and  all  of  the  most  fantastic  shapes  that  can  be 
imagined.  On  rounding  Munden's  Point  to  the  only  anchor- 
age that  exists,  James'  Valley  Bay  on  the  N.W.,  or  leeward 
side  of  the  island,  the  eye  is  suddenly  relieved  by  a  view  of 
the  town  and  fortifications.  James'  Town  is  situate  in  a  nar- 
row valley  between  two  lofty  mountains,  and  presents  a 
pleasant  and  refreshing  appearance  from  the  trees  being  ge- 
nerally in  full  leaf — a  species  of  the  banian  of  India,  called  in 
Bengal  the  peepul  tree. 

There  is  good  anchorage  in  from  8  to  25  fathoms;  the 
tide  rising  to  the  height  of  five  feet  at  times  ;  the  surf  upon 
the  shore  is  generally  strong,  but  about  Christmas  tremendous. 
The  principal  inlets  by  which  the  island  can  be  approached 
are  Lemon  Valley,  James'  Town,  and  Rupert's  Bay  on  the 
N.W.  side,  and  Sandy  Bay  on  the  S.E. ;  all  these,  however, 
are  strongly  fortified.  Even  the  small  ravines,  where  it  might 
be  possible  to  effect  a  landing,  are  also  fortified. 

Throughout  the  whole  length  of  the  island  there  are  only  two 
plains,  the  largest  that  of  Longwood,  comprising  1,500  acres 
of  fertile  land,  sloping  to  the  S.W.  The  island  is  divided  by 
a  ridge  of  hills,  running  nearly  E.  and  W.,  but  bending  in  a 
curved  direction  to  the  S.  at  each  extremity,  and  from  this 
chain  innumerable  valleys  and  ridges  branch  oflf  generally  at 
right  angles.  The  highest  point  of  land  in  the  island  is 
Diana's  Peak,  which  rises  2,700  feet  above  the  level  of  the 
sea,  and  is  situated  towards  the  eastern  extremity.  From  the 
summit  of  this  peak  the  whole  island  lies  under  the  view,  no 
point  intercepting  the  horizon :  on  the  same  ridge  are  Cuck- 
old's Point,  2,672  feet,  and  Halley's  Mount,  2,467  feet,  which 
from  their  extreme  altitude,  are  often  enveloped  in  clouds. 
The  other  remarkable  eminences,  the  altitude  of  which  have 
been  ascertained  by  Major  Rennell,  are  Flag  Staff,  2,272, 
and  Barnscliff,  2,215,  nearer  the  coast  and  overhanging  the 
sea;  Alarm  House,  1,260,  in  the  centre  of  the  island;  High 
Knoll,  1,903  feet,  to  the  southward  of  Ladder  Hill,  and  the 


526  PICTURESQUE  VIEWS  IN  ST.  HELENA. 

official  country  residence  of  the  Governor;  Longwood  House, 
1,762  do.;  most  of  the  central  eminences  are  covered  with 
timber  and  shrubs,  consisting  of  the  cabbage  tree,  redwood, 
stringwood,  dogwood,  &c.,  and  formerly  the  greenwood  was 
to  be  found  in  great  abundance,  but,  at  present,  few  of  these 
trees  are  to  be  seen,  except  about  1,500  acres  of  an  irregular 
forest  at  Longwood,  preserved  by  order  of  the  East  India 
Company. 

St.  Helena  is  plentifully  watered  by  clear  and  wholesome 
springs,  abundant  in  every  direction :  those  issuing  from  the 
sides  of  the  hills  frequently  form  picturesque  cascades.  Roads 
have  been  formed  in  a  zig-zag  direction,  with  incredible  la- 
bour, which  now  give  easy  access  to  the  interior  of  the  island. 
For  the  space  of  a  couple  of  miles  from  James  Town,  all  ap- 
pears barren,  but  the  sight  is  soon  gratified  by  the  appear- 
ance of  verdure,  with  wooded  hills,  cultivated  lawns  and 
valleys,  and  handsome  country  residences.  Many  beautiful 
views  are  obtained  from  the  summits ;  besides  the  indigenous 
plants  of  the  island,  the  coffee  of  Arabia,  the  banian  and  bam- 
boo of  India,  the  aloe  of  Africa,  and  the  apple,  peach,  and 
mvdberry  of  Europe  are  found  to  thrive  in  the  cultivated  in- 
closures.  At  Longwood  there  is  about  1 500  acres  of  excellent 
meadow  land,  capable  of  great  fertility  when  supplied  with 
water.  From  Sandy  Bay  the  view  is  also  pleasing,  the  coun- 
try consisting  of  alternate  ridges  and  valleys,  converging  to- 
wards the  sea,  amongst  which  are  interspersed  the  houses 
and  plantations  of  the  settlers,  the  prospect  closing  with  the 
distant  ocean. 

Many  of  the  hills  are  naked  to  the  summit ;  occasionally 
the  sides  are  partially  clothed  with  a  stunted  brushwood  (as 
is  the  case  in  the  lonesome  and  desolate  looking  valley  where 
Napoleon's  grave  is  situate)*  making  the  scene  more  dreary. 

*  The  temperament  of  Napoleon  is  evinced  in  the  melancholy-looking 
spot  chosen  by  himself  as  his  last  resting  place.  The  valley  is  small,  ver- 
dant, and  completely  shut  out  (except  by  one  winding  path)  from  the  other 
parts'of  the  island  by  two  towering,  brown,  and  barren  mountains,  leaving 
no  other  object  visible,  save  the  purple  ether  and  the  light  fleecy  clouds. 


CLIMATE — AERIAL  PHENOMENON.  527 

Yet  are  there  many  sweet  spots  on  this  rock  of  the  ocean, 
and  those  who  have  been  born  in  St.  Helena  admire  its 
beauties,  and  are  strongly  attached  to  their  wild-looking  and 
rugged  home. 

The  Climate  of  this  island  is  not  ill  adapted  to  the  Euro- 
pean constitution,  indeed  it  has  been  found  congenial  to  the 
crews  of  vessels  that  have  been  kept  for  along  space  of  time  on 
salt  provisions,  and  without  vegetables.  The  thermometer  sel- 
dom rises  above  80"  in  James  Town,  and  the  heat  is  only  ex- 
cessive when  it  is  reflected  from  the  sides  of  the  valley  in  calm 
weather ;  in  the  interior  of  the  island  the  temperature  is  more 
even,  never  so  cold  as  in  England,  and  scarcely  so  hot.  The 
average  temperature  throughout  the  whole  year  has  been 
found  to  be  at  Longwood  from  56  to  68,  at  James  Town  from 
66  to  78,  and  at  Plantation  House  from  61  to  73  Fahrenheit. 

wliich  hover  about  like  aerial  messengers.  The  appearance  which  the 
clouds  assume  here  is  extremely  beautiful  and  singular,  as  the  following 
anecdote  will  evince.  In  1830,  I  was  a  passenger  in  a  French  ship  from 
India,  bound  for  Havre  de  Grace.  We  had  suffered  severe  gales  off  the 
Cape,  and,  being  without  a  good  chronometer,  lost  our  reckoning,  and 
were  cruising  about  for  several  foggy  days,  looking  for  St.  Helena.  During 
this  time,  a  very  large  bird,  resembling  an  eagle,  but  which  no  one  had 
seen  any  thing  like,  kept  hovering  about  our  ship.  Several  of  the  French 
officers  endeavoured  to  shoot  it ;  but,  although  they  were  excellent  shots, 
and  the  bird  came  close  to  us,  in  a  steady  flight,  it  escaped  injury.  Oa 
the  third  day,  while  anxiously  looking  out  ^t  noon,  I  perceived  in  the 
clouds  the  exact  figure  of  an  eagle,  in  a  half-inclined  flying  attitude,  tlie 
fleecy  wings  beautifully  tinged  with  the  hidden  sun's  rays.  Under  the 
influence  of  the  thoughts  then  passing  in  my  mind,  I  involuntarily  ex- 
claimed, *  f^oi/u  I'esprit  de  Napoleon !'  The  idea  was  electric  to  the  French- 
men around  me ;  and  an  old  officer  of  Napoleon's  guard  threw  himself  on 
his  knees,  in  the  attitude  of  prayer.  Never  shall  I  forget  the  countenances 
of  the  young  and  old,  as  they  soon  after  beheld  the  eagle-like  cloud  slowly 
resolve  itself  into  thin  air ;  while  beneath,  and  close  to  our  bark,  the  lofty 
peaks  of  St.  Helena  frowned  in  dark  and  gloomy  grandeur.  On  looking 
round,  the  bird  which,  for  three  days,  had  hovered  about  us,  (and  but  a  fevv 
moments  before  visible)  was  no  where  to  be  seen,  and  we  proceeded  be- 
neath the  embattled  cliflfs  in  thoughtful  silence. 


528 


THERMOMETRICAL  RANGE  AT  ST.  HELENA. 


State  of  the  Thermometer  (Farenheit)  at  Deadwood,  St.  Helena,  taken  by 
Dr.  Short,  Physician  to  the  Forces,  from  1st  September,  1820,  to  31st 
August,  1822. 


Range. 

Monthly 
Average 
of  Ther- 
mometer. 

Months. 

Max. 

Med. 

Min. 

State  of  the  Wind. 

January 

February  

March    

76 
76 
76 

74 
-2 

70 
71 

68 
66 

68 
72 

70 
70 
71 

70 

68 

67 
67 
66 

7ii 

71 

74 
70 
68 
64 

64 

64 

64 
65 

64 
66^ 

South  East. 
Ditto. 
Ditto. 
Ditto. 

May    

68          64 

65  I     57 

66  57 

Ditto. 

Ditto,  (one  day  westerly.) 
Ditto,             (ditto.) 

July   

August 

September 

October 

November 

December 

64 

64 
65 

66 
60 

62 

62 
62 

61 
61 

Ditto. 

Ditto. 
Ditto. 

Ditto,  (six  days  westerly.) 
Ditto. 

Yearly  Average 

71 

67 

62 

Thunder  and  lightning  are  rare,  and  the  rains,  which 
fall  most  abundantly  in  February,  are  for  the  other  months 
more  regular  than  in  other  tropical  situations.  The  higher 
peaks  and  their  vicinity  from  their  proximation  to  the  clouds, 
are  generally  visited  with  a  shower  daily,  and  cloudy  days  are 
more  frequent  than  scorching  sunny  ones.  The  atmosphere 
is,  however,  generally  so  clear  that  a  vessel  may  be  descried 
at  the  distance  of  60  miles.* 

Geology  and  Soil. — St.  Helena  is  probably  of  volcanic 
origin,  perhaps  like  the  Mauritius,  the  result  of  a  sub- 
marine convulsion  ;  or  it  is  the  lofty  peak  of  some  vast  range 
of  mountains  whose  base  is  beneath  the  ocean.     Limestone 

*  I  avail  myself  of  this  opportunity  to  state,  in  confirmation  of  what  I 
remarked,  under  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope  chapter,  in  reference  to  the  clear- 
ness of  the  atmosphere,  and  the  phenomenon  of  the  '  Flying  Dutchman,' 
that  Sir  Charles  Forbes  had,  a  few  weeks  since,  a  letter  from  a  lady  pas- 
senger on  board  the  Bucldnghamshire  Indiaman  (which  conveyed  the  Riffht 
Hon.  R.  Grant  to  Bombay),  describing  the  appearance  of  the  '  Flying 
Dutchman'  to  the  Buckinghamshire  on  her  voyage  from  St.  Helena  to  the 
Cape.  The  Dutchman  was  visible  to  all  on  board,  bearing  down,  with  all 
sail  set,  against  the  irind ! 


VEGETABLE  KINGDOM,  ST.  HELENA.  529 

is  plentiful  in  some  situations,  as  well  as  iron  ore,  but  the 
scarcity  of  fuel  prevents  the  latter  being  made  available. 
There  have  been  appearances  of  gold  and  copper,  but  not  to 
the  extent  to  encourage  mining.  There  is  a  substance  called 
terra  puzzolana,  found  in  considerable  quantities,  which  in 
conjunction  with  lime  makes  an  excellent  cement,  and  is 
therefore  used  in  forming  aqueducts,  as  it  sets  hard,  and  is 
retentive  of  water,  though  subject  to  become  speedily  foul 
by  vegetable  substances  adhering  to  its  surface. 

The  Vegetable  Kingdom  is  not  much  varied.  A  vast 
quantity  of  furze,  produced  from  seed  originally  brought  from 
England  covers  the  sides  of  the  interior  hills;  there  are 
three  kinds  of  gum  tree,  all  evergreens  and  indigenous, — the 
common,  the  bastard,  and  the  dwarf ;  all  of  them  emit  an  aro- 
matic gum,  which  renders  the  wood  pleasant  as  fuel,  for  which 
purpose  it  is  used,  and  from  the  trunks  of  the  trees  the  inhabi- 
tants obtain  in  abundance  a  sweet  fluid  which  they  call  toddy. 
The  other  native  timber  or  shrubs  are  dog-wood,  red-wood 
or  ebony,  string-wood  and  the  cabbage  tree,  of  which  the 
last  is  used  in  building.  The  oak,  pinaster,  and  cypi'ess 
thrive  very  well  where  they  have  been  planted.  The  myrtle 
grows  to  the  height  of  SO  feet,  and  the  cotton  tree  flourishes 
to  perfection.  The  fern  is  extremely  beautiful,  growing  to 
the  height  of  20  feet,  with  leaves  five  feet  in  length.  There 
is  a  shrub  which  has  been  named  sapphire^  which  the  natives 
burn  in  large  quantities,  its  ashes  producing  an  alkali  for  the 
manufacture  of  soap.  All  sorts  of  grasses  thrive  well ;  the 
wire  grass  or  dwarf  being  the  most  abundant ;  it  is  nutritious 
and  suffers  little  from  drought.  Lucern  has  also  been  suc- 
cessfully introduced :  in  short  the  soil  is  favourable  to  the 
production  of  any  European  plant  if  sheltered  from  the  sea. 

Most  kinds  of  tropical  or  European  fruits  ripen,  more  par- 
ticularly in  the  sheltered  vallies.  Vines,  oranges,  citrons, 
lemons,  figs,  pomegranates,  mulberries,  tamarinds,  mangoes, 
cocoa-nuts,  sugar  cane,  pine  apples,  &c.  thrive  well:  apples 
have  succeeded  tolerably,  but  the  climate  is  not  congenial  to 
cherries,  currants,  or  gooseberries.     The  common  blackberry 

VOL.  IV.  M  M 


530  ANIMALS,  BIRDS,  FIRII,  ScC. 

increased  to  such  an  extent  after  its  introduction  in  1780,  as 
to  cause  an  order  for  its  extirpation.  Three  successive  crops 
of  potatoes  are  often  produced  in  the  year,  and  garden  veget- 
ables, such  as  cabbages,  beans,  peas,  &c.  are  raised  on  every 
farm  in  great  abundance.  As  the  principal  object  of  the 
settlement  is  to  provide  fresh  meat  and  vegetables  for  the  re- 
freshment of  the  homeward  bound  ships,  the  cultivation  of 
corn  and  pulse  has  not  been  encouraged,  neither  is  the  cli- 
mate congenial  to  their  production  on  account  of  droughts. 
The  provisions  exported  andbrought  to  market  in  James  Town, 
and  solely  grown  on  the  island  during  the  last  five  years,  were — 

Potatoes,  bags,  eatpoi'ted  7650,  consumed  1960 ;  cabbages,  ex.  7470, 
c.  16250;  vegetables,  bunches,  e.^-.  33,800,  (7.  42,030;  pumpkins,  ^j'.  3800, 
c.  570  ;  hay,  cwts.  ex.  380,  c.  2880  ;  fowls,  ex.  27,700,  ^.20,240, ;  ducks,  ex. 
4,100,  c.  4,000;  bullocks,  ex.  260,  c.  560;  calves,  ex.  30,  c.  460;  sheep, 
220,  c.  1230;  pigs  ex.  870,  c.  390;  the  total  value  of  the  exports  of  the 
above  was  20,400/.  of  the  consumption,  24,500/. 

Animals. — Cattle  produced  from  English  stock  are  not 
numerous,  owing  to  the  great  demand  of  passing  ships; 
poultry  is  plentiful  and  well  tasted ;  and  in  some  parts  of  the 
island  rabbits  abound.  The  stock  in  the  island  consists  of 
horses  300,  horned  cattle  loOO,  sheep  and  goats  3000. 

Birds. — The  shores  abound  with  many  variety  of  sea  fowl, 
which  breed  amongst  the  cliffs.  Pheasants,  partridges,  and 
guinea  fowls,  being  strictly  preserved,  are  at  this  time  numer- 
ous ;  as  are  also  the  Java  sparrows,  which  cause  great  destruc- 
tion to  the  farmers'  crops,  canary  birds  and  red  linnets, 
the  latter  build  two  nests,  in  the  upper  one  of  which  the 
male  bird  sits  and  serenades  the  female  in  her  incubation. 

Fish  are  numerous,  and  more  than  seventy  different  kinds 
have  been  caught  on  the  coast.  Amongst  the  most  prized 
are  the  coal  fish,  which  is  very  delicate  but  scarce  ;  those 
commonly  taken  are  jacks,  congers,  soldiers,  mackarel,  albi- 
core,  bull's  eyes,  &c.  When  lying  in  St.  Helena  roadstead, 
I  have  pulled  up  fish  so  fast  as  to  be  weary  in  catching  them : 
in  general  they  are  excellent  eating.  Whales  are  sometimes 
taken  when  they  approach  the  roads.  The  flying  fish  often 
drop   on  the  rocks  when  pursued  by  the  dolphin,  &c.     In 


POPULATION,  GOVERNMENT,  MILITARY,  &;C.  531 

December  and  March  turtle  are  frequently  taken,  and  shell 
fish  are  very  abundant,  particularly  the  rock  oyster. 

The  number  of  fish  caught  near  the  island  during  the  last  five  years 
were  as  follow  : — mackarel,  1 15,300  ;  bulls'  eyes,  2500  ;  jacks,  35,900  ; 
congers,  24,000 ;  old  wives,  72,000;  soldiers,  8,400;  sandspeers,  6000  ; 
cavelliers,  6000 ;  deep-water  bull's  eyes,  3520 ;  yellow-tail,  350 ;  coal 
fish,  30 ;  cod  fish,  40  ;  silver  fish,  7050 ;  stumps,  4600 ;  long-legs,  35 ; 
bear  fish,  35  ;  turtle,  40;  five-fingers,  490;  sword-fish,  80,  (weighing  10  to 
SOlbs.  each) ;  barracootta,  50  ;  albicore,  8300,  (10  to  801bs), 

The  Population  is  estimated  at  5000,  of  whom  about  2200 
are  whites,  and  the  remainder  either  people  of  colour,  Chinese, 
or  Africans,  whom  the  East  India  Company's  Government  have 
for  several  years  liberally  and  generously  aided  to  purchase 
their  freedom.  The  total  number  of  paupers  in  the  island  is 
28,  principally  old  and  blind  people.  Those  who  are  born  in 
the  island  evince  considerable  quickness  and  talent.* 

Government. — During  the  E.  I.  Company's  sway,  the  chief 
authority  was  vested  in  a  Governor,  aided  by  a  Council,  com- 
posed of  the  principal  and  senior  Civil  Servants ;  how  it  will 
in  future  stand  is  not  yet  known. 

The  Military  has  hitherto  been  composed  of  one  regiment 
of  European  troops,  and  a  strong  artillery  in  the  service  of 
the  East  India  Company.  The  head  quarters  of  the  2nd 
battalion  60th  Rifles  will,  I  hear,  form  the  new  garrison, 
with,  I  suppose,  a  detachment  of  the  Royal  Artillery.  The 
island  is  so  well  fortified  that  properly  defended  it  may  be 
considered  impregnable.  It  has  43  stations,  protected  by 
mounted  ordnance. 

The  guns  mounted  and  ready  for  action  are, — Brass  mortars,  hov/itzers. 


*  The  baptisms  and  burials  at  St.  Helena  from  the  30th  September,  1820, 
to  the  30th  September,  1833,  were  as  follow  : — 

1826 
1827 
1828 
1899 
1830 

Total  baptisms,  2,123 — burials,  1,076. 
The  bill  of  mortality,  ending  December,  1833,  was  80 ;  of  whom  16  died 
under  1  year ;  5  under  5  years ;  5  under  10  years ;  4  from  10  to  20 ;  23 
from  20  to  40 ;  18  from  40  to  /O  ;  and  9  abovj  70  years  of  age. 


Bps. 

Brs. 

1821 

140 

90 

1822 

113 

70 

1823 

118 

57 

1824 

101 

90 

1825 

154 

125 

Bps. 

Brs. 

Bps. 

Brs, 

129 

83 

1831 

239 

73 

180 

99 

1832 

229 

89 

159 

96 

1833 

201 

70 

156 

65 

204 

68 

532 


REVENUES  AND  CHARGES  OF  ST.  HELENA. 


and  guns,  9  three-tenths  inch  mortar,  1 ;  8  inch  howitzers,  2  ;  5^  ditto,  8 
6  pounders,  14;  3  ditto,  10. — Iron,  13  inch  mortar  8;  8  inch  ditto,  2 
.32  pounders,  19;  24  ditto,  16;  18  ditto,  36;  12  ditto,  35;  9  ditto,  11 
6  ditto,  17;  4  ditto,  2 ;  3  ditto,  4  ;  swivels,  3;  Carromdes,Ci8  pounders,  4 
24  ditto,  22  ;  18  ditto,  24 ;   12  ditto,  1. 

Revenue  and  Expenditure. — Hitherto  the  charge  for  St. 
Helena  has  been  large,  unless  it  be  considered  in  the  import- 
ant view  of  an  invaluable  naval  station.  The  revenue  derived 
from  a  few  licenses  and  fines  is  small,  but  increasing  in  amount. 
The  following  is  a 

Statement  of  the  Revenues  and  Charges  of  St.  Helena. 


CHARGES. 

Revenues — viz. 
Rents,  Licenses, 

Years. 

Net  Charge. 

Civil. 

Military. 

Builflings  and 
Fortifications. 

Total 
Cliarges. 

and  Fines. 

£. 

£. 

£. 

£. 

£. 

£. 

1809-10 

12503 

69926 

2824 

85253 

1432 

83821 

1810-11 

14626 

64783 

3240 

82649 

1429 

81220 

1811-12 

17452 

61845 

3989 

83286 

1432 

81854 

1812-13 

17272 

62880 

4536 

84688 

1696 

82992 

1813-14 

20209 

70701 

6029 

96939 

1685 

95254 

1814-15 

26278 

66015 

1666 

93959 

1872 

92087 

1815-16 

23623 

178289 

2207 

(*)204H9 

2371 

201748 

1816-17 

49075 

222225 

11482 

(*)282782 

3038 

279744 

1817-18 

49634 

192498 

14875 

(*)257007 

1438 

255569 

1818-19 

61411 

215870 

19504 

(*i296785 

2693 

294092 

1819-20 

33019 

128562 

78-2 

(*)169453 

175 

169278 

1820-21 

54641 

218774 

2139 

(*)275554 

989 

274565 

1821-22 

47314 

157527 

5242 

(*)210083 

2045 

208038 

1822-23 

29475 

87083 

5395 

121953 

1860 

120093 

1823-24 

35122 

77581 

3494 

II6197 

3929 

112268 

1824-25 

28432 

77538 

5295 

111265 

1816 

109449 

1825-26 

28319 

8O616 

4493 

113428 

3015 

] 10413 

1826-27 

27172 

87297 

3974 

118443 

3943 

114500 

1827-28 

46808 

75172 

1989 

123969 

3398 

120571 

1228-29 

44507 

69072 

2058 

115637 

2583 

113654 

t  1829-30 

33288 

60359 

957 

94608 

1600 

93004 

1830-31 

28378 

56324 

1721 

86423 

379 

86044 

1831-32 

28285 

56356 

1842 

86483 

3260 

83223 

1832-33 

28581 

58020 

1734 

88335 

3050 

85285 

1833-34 

26398 

56297 

1721 

84406 

2931 

8 1475 

(*)  The  Company  have  since  been  repaid  by  His  Majesty's  Government  a  part  of  these 
Charges,  credit  for  the  amount  having  been  allowed  to  them  in  their  Account  with  Govern- 
ment, settled  by  the  Act  3  Geo.  IV.  c.  93. 

tAdd  to  this  sundry  expenses  paid  in  England— 1829-30,  11,389^.-1830-31,  14,213i.— 
1831-32,  10,929/.— 1832-33,    10,268/.— 1833-34,  10,l66/. 

The  foregoing  will  convey  a  sufficiently  distinct  idea  of  St. 
Helena,  which  as  a  maritime  station  is  of  incalculable  value  to 
a  commercial  nation :  it  is  not  the  barren  rock  that  has  been 
supposed,  nor  are  there  wanting  the  finer  elements  of  social 
life  ;  slavery  has  been  for  several  years  in  course  of  abolition; 


ASCENSION  ISLAND.  533 

public  schools  have  been  established  (eight  schools,  with 
about  500  children) ;  an  excellent  observatory,  provided  with 
every  scientific  instrument ;  and  every  effort  made  to  promote 
religious  instruction.  As  a  watering  and  refreshing  station 
for  our  homeward-bound  eastern  vessels,  St.  Helena,  even  in 
peace  time,  is  of  great  utility  ;  and  it  is  well  situate  as  a 
cruising  station  for  our  ships  of  war — as  is  also 

Ascension — contiguous  to  St.  Helena,  in  lat.  7.57.  S.  long. 
14.28.  W. ;  is  a  small  island  of  volcanic  production,  the  coast 
consisting  of  barren  rock  ;  relieved,  however,  in  some  places  by 
the  verdure  on  the  declivity  of  the  Green  Mountain.  The 
island  has  been  of  late  years  well  fortified  at  every  accessible 
part  (the  sea  breaks  on  the  island  with  tremendous  violence) 
and  garrisoned  by  a  detachment  of  marines  and  marine  artillery, 
who,  aided  by  artificers,  have  erected  a  neat  establishment 
for  their  location.  A  shaft  has  been  sunk  in  one  of  the  moun- 
tains, and  abundance  of  excellent  water  conveyed  to  the  an- 
chorage by  iron  pipes  and  hoses,  and  an  excellent  soil  was 
found  two  feet  under  the  lava  on  which  an  abundance  of 
excellent  vegetables  may  be  reared.  The  beach,  at  first  thought 
to  be  composed  of  sand,  was  found  to  consist  of  very  small  frag- 
ments of  shells ;  in  some  places  firmly  compacted  together. 
These  slabs  were  formed  of  several  layers,  of  which  the  size 
of  the  fragments  differs  in  each  layer ;  they  are  used  for  tomb- 
stones, steps  of  doors,  and  are  broken  and  burned  for  lime ; 
red  volcanic  ashes  prevail,  several  hills  entirely  exhibiting 
that  appearance.  Of  the  vegetable  kingdom,  the  euphorbia 
only  is  found  growing  in  small  tufts,  distributed  not  very  abun- 
dantly about  the  rugged  lava, — a  beautiful  object  among  such 
barren  scenes.  Sea  fowl  are  very  numerous,  and  there  are 
three  species  of  butterflies  on  the  island,  of  handsome  colours. 

Ponds  are  kept  stocked  with  turtle,  weighing  from  200  to 
800  lbs.  each,  which  may  be  bought  for  50  shillings.  Abun- 
dance of  fish  and  marine  birds  are  obtainable.  At  a  place 
called  '  The  Fair,'  the  birds  named  sea-swallows,  as  well  as 
numerous  other  aquatic  birds,  congregate  ;  the  eggs  of  the 
sea-swallows,  which  are  of  a  dirty  white  with  dark  red  spots, 


534  SHIPS  VISITING  ST.  HELENA  IN   1833. 

and  about  the  size  of  a  crow's  egg,  are  collected  at  certain 
seasons  of  the  year  in  thousands,  and  considered  delicate  and 
excellent  eating.* 

Moorings  are  laid  down  in  the  roads,  and  vessels  in  want  of 
water  and  vegetables  can  be  supplied  at  a  moderate  price. 

During  war,  these  islands  in  the  possession  of  an  enemy 
would,  as  outlying  picquets,  be  a  means  of  serious  injury  to 
our  commerce ;  during  peace  they  are  refreshing  stations,-|" 
enabling  our  seamen  to  have  at  all  times  a  friendly  haven 
under  their  lee. 

*  When  at  Algoa  Bay,  in  1825,  I  used  to  collect  thousands  of  sea  fowl 
eggs  at  the  contiguous  bird  islands,  and  they  furnished  our  mess  with 
omelets,  of  a  peculiar  but  rather  pleasing  flavor,  for  several  weeks. 
When  boiled,  the  white  of  the  egg  was  perfectly  transparent 

f  Number  of  vessels  that  received  supplies  at  the  island  in  1833  : 
British,  156  ships,  58  barques,  79  l>ngs,  and  7  schooners,  total  300, 
tonnage,  131,974,  guns  1666,  men  11,459;  American  vessels  93,  t.  26,275, 
g.  158,  m.  1,801  ;  French  51,  t.  17,478,  g.  136,  m.  1191  ;  Dutch  23,  t. 
9995,  g.  142,  m.  589;  Portuguese  3,  t.  883,  g.  14,  m.  71;  Swedish  2,  t. 
608,  g.  10,  m.40;  German  2,  t.  541,  g.  8,  m.  31;  Danish  1,  t.  145,  m. 
14.  Total,  vessels  475,  tonnage,  187,899,  guns  2,134,  men  15,196  ;  and 
162  vessels  sighted  the  island.  Of  British  vessels  touching  at  St.  Helena 
7  were  from  Algoa  Bay,  9  Batavia,  42  Bombay,  69  Calcutta,  30  Cape 
of  Good  Hope,  7  Ceylon,  23  China,  5  London,  17  Madras,  9  Manilla, 
51  Mauritius,  2  New  South  Wales,  1  Rio  Janeiro,  14  Singapore,  2  Van 
Diemen's  Land,  and  12  from  whaling  voyages  ;  of  the  above  300  vessels, 
189  were  bound  to  London,  and  51  to  Liverpool,  the  remainder  to  dififerent 
ports  in  the  United  Kingdom.  If  we  value  the  property  vested  and  era- 
barked  in  131,974  tons  of  British  shipping  at  30/.  per  ton,  we  shall  have 
nearly //Mr  millions  annually  (3,959,220/.)  indebted  for  its  better  security 
to  our  possession  of  St.  Helena. 

Prices  of  stock  and  provisions  at  St.  Helena,  in  1834 : — horned  cattle, 
from  England,  15/.  to  20/. ;  from  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope,  7/-  10*.  to  10/. ; 
sheep,  Cape,  1/.;  goats,  diito,  \0s.  ;  pigs,  weighing  lOOlbs.  1/.  10*.;  tur- 
keys 10*. ;  geose,  7*. ;  fowls,  2*. ;  horses,  20/.  ;  flour  per  lb.  2^d. ;  biscuits, 
112]bs.  1/.  English;  16*.  Cape;  oats,  per  muid.  Cape,  12*.  6d.  ;  barley, 
ditto,  11*.  6rf. ;  hops,  pocket,  30*.;  malt,  per  hogshead,  4/.  10*.;  rice, 
bag  of  KiSlbs.  12.?. ;  English  salt,  per  lb.  Id. ;  salt  (ish,  per  cwt.  1/. ;  fresh 
beef,  mutton,  &c.  6d.  to  4d.  per  11). ;  ditto,  salt  ditto,  3d.  to  4d. ;  sugar, 
2d.  to  3d.  per  lb. ;  coffee,  5r/.  to  Sd.  ;  tea,  1*.  3d.  to  2*.  6d.  per  lb. ;  wine. 
Cape,  1*.  6f/.  to  2*.  per  gallon ;  foreign  wine,  12*.  to  1/.  per  dozen  ; 
hrandy  and  gin,  1/.  per  gaUon  ;  English  beer,  9*.  per  dozen  ;  Island  ditto, 
2*.  per  gallon  ;  servants  wages,  10*.  to  15*.  per  month  with  board,  or  1*.6(/. 
per  day  without  board  ;  women,  10*.  to  20*.  per  mouth,  with  food. 


CHAPTER  IX. 

BRITISH  SETTLEMENTS  IN   WESTERN  AFRICA,   INCLUDING 
SIERRA  LEONE,  THE  GAMBIA,  AND  CAPE  COAST  CASTLE. 

LOCALITT  — AREA  —  HISTORY — PHYSICAL  ASPECT —  RIVERS — GEOLOGY — 
CLIMATE VEGETABLE  AND  ANIMAL  KINGDOMS POPULATION GOVERN- 
MENT— FINANCES — COMMERCE — SOCIAL  STATE  AND  FUTURE  PROSPECTS, 
S>C.  &C. 

None  of  the  colonies  of  England  have  been  misrepresented 
more  than  those  situate  on  the  Western  Coast  of  Africa — 
few  surpass  them  in  moral,  commercial,  and  political  interest. 
Unfortunately  my  limits  compel  brevity,  and  my  object  con- 
fines me  principally  to  commercial  details  ;  but  I  trust  before 
the  chapter  be  concluded,  the  reader  will  agree  with  me,  that 
our  possessions  on  the  shores  of  Western  Africa  are  an  im- 
portant and  essential  link  in  the  maritime  Empire  of  Britain. 
The  trade  between  Western  Africa  and  Europe  commenced 
about  the  middle  of  the  fifteenth  century,  for  we  learn  that 
in  1455,  Prince  Henry  of  Portugal  built  a  fort  on  the  island 
of  Arguin.  At  the  beginning  of  the  sixteenth  century,  the 
English,  Spaniards,  French,  Danes,  and  Dutch  had  begun  to 
send  private  ships  to  trade  on  this  coast,  but  during  the 
middle  of  this  century  the  commerce  of  each  nation  was  orga- 
nized under  the  management  of  chartered  companies,  who 
formed  establishments  on  different  parts  of  the  coast ;  built 
forts  at  the  mouths  of  several  rivers,  and  prosecuted  an  active 
trade,  the  greater  part  of  which  (as  stated  in  my  second 
volume)  was  for  slaves ;  the  English  settled  chiefly  at  Cape 
Coast  Castle  ;  the  French  at  the  mouth  of  the  Senegal,  and  at 
Goree  island ;  the  Dutch  on  the  Gambia ;  the  Portuguese  at 
St.  George  del  Mina,  the  Danes  at  Christianborg,  &c.  Each 
of  these  strong  fortresses  mounting  from  50  to  60  pieces  of 
cannon,  had  subordinate  posts  and  stations,  several  of  which 


536  PHYSICAL    ASPECT  OF  WESTERN  AFRICA. 

continue  to  this  day. — At  the  present  moment  our  settlements 
are  situate  at  Bathurst,  on  the  Gambia,  at  Sierra  Leone,  Cape 
Coast  Castle,  and  Accra,  and  a  brief  description  of  the  sea 
coast,  followed  by  a  succinct  account  of  each  settlement,  will 
be  therefore  necessary. 

Physical  aspect,  Description  and  History. — In  general 
the  coast  of  Western  Africa,  (extending  for  4,000  miles  along 
the  Atlantic,  with  an  average  breadth  of  300  miles)  is  along 
the  ocean  boundary  a  flat  country,  backed  by  ranges  of  lofty 
mountains,  which  in  some  places  approach  the  sea,  and  as  at 
Cape  Verd,  project  in  bold  headlands.  The  great  coast 
chain  runs  parallel  to  the  coast  from  W.  to  E.,  where,  afford- 
ing a  passage  for  the  disemboguing  waters  of  the  Nun  (one 
of  the  mouths  of  the  Niger)  tends  towards  the  N.E.  to  join 
or  form  the  Gebel  el  Ktimri,  or  Mountains  of  the  Moon ; 
some  of  the  peaks  of  this  range  (those  of  Cameranca,  near 
Benin)  are  said  to  be  13,000  feet  in  elevation.  It  is  only, 
however,  about  the  estuaries  of  the  great  rivers  and  along 
their  banks  that  the  country  can  be  said  to  be  flat,  in  other 
places  it  consists  of  gentle  undulations  and  rising  eminences, 
giving  considerable  beauty  to  the  landscape,  the  most  conspi- 
cuous feature  of  which  are  the  numerous  rivers  that  disem- 
bogue into  the  ocean,  most  of  them  arising  in  the  chain  of 
mountains  above  described,  and  running  a  tortuous  course  to 
the  coast. 

Among  the  principal  rivers  are  the  Senegal,  Gambia,  Rio 
Grande,  Rio  Nunez,  Kokelle,  Cameranca,  Mesurado,  Nun, 
or  Niger,  Congo  and  Coauzo.  Beginning  with  the  most 
northerly,  the  Senegal  appears  to  rise  in  the  Kong  range  of 
mountains  (heights  of  Foota  Jalloo)  in  nearly  10.  N.  lat.  and 
10.  W.  long,  where  the  Niger  is  thought  to  rise  ;  the  Senegal 
about  15.  N.  lat.  is  joined  by  several  tributary  streams,  viz. 
the  Woolery,  Faleme,  Neriko,  &c.,  and  after  passing  Galam 
and  the  falls  of  Felu,  makes  a  circuitous  bend  to  the  N.W. 
along  the  borders  of  the  desert,  and  falls  into  the  Atlantic 
at  Fort  Louis :  its  course  being  950  miles. 

The  Gambia  has  its  source  in  the  same  mountain  range  as 


RIVERS  NIGER,  RIO  GRANDE,  &C.  537 

the  Senegal  near  the  Faleme  (one  of  the  tributaries  of  the 
latter  named  river)  and  rolls  a  powerful  and  rapid  stream,  at 
first  to  the  N.W.  and  then  westerly,  falling  into  the  Atlantic, 
after  a  course  of  700  miles,  about  13.13.  N.  latitude.  The 
country  between  the  rivers  Senegal  and  Gambia  is  called 
by  the  French  the  Sene  Gambia.  The  Rio  Grande  is,  as  far 
as  we  know,*  a  large  stream,  nor  is  any  river  equal  to  the 
Gambia  met  with  until  we  arrive  at  the  bight  or  gulf  of 
Benin,  where,  for  the  space  of  above  200  miles,  there  is  a 
succession  of  large  estuaries  now  ascertained  (through  the 
persevering  enterprize  of  the  Landers)  to  be  the  mouths  of 
the  long  sought  Niger,  whose  origin  we  are  still  ignorant  of, 
and  whose  course  and  embouchures  are  still  to  a  great  extent 
unexplored ;  the  delta  of  this  mighty  stream  stretching  into 
the  interior  of  Western  Africa  for  more  than  170  miles,  occu- 
pies, it  is  supposed,  a  space  of  more  than  300  miles  along 
the  coast,  thus  forming  a  surface  of  more  than  25,000  square 
miles,  being  a  considerably  larger  area  than  is  embraced  in 
all  Ireland.  Further  south  the  Congo  or  Zaire  pours  its 
ample  volume  of  waters  into  the  broad  Atlantic,  400  miles 
having  been  navigated  during  Captain  Tuckey's  unfortunate 
expedition,  leaving  its  further  course  and  source  still  involved 
in  mystery.  Of  the  Coauzo  (though  a  large  river)  we  are^ 
not  yet  in  possession  of  sufficient  information  to  speak  posi- 
tively. With  a  knowledge  of  the  foregoing  leading  physical 
features,  we  proceed  to  examine  the  coast  more  in  detail  as 
regards  its  social,  as  well  as  geographical  divisions,  beginning 
on  the  N.  with  the  river  Senegal,  where  the  French  esta- 
blished themselves  upwards  of  a  century  since. 

Fort  St.  Louis,  the  capital,  is  situated  on  an  island  in  the 
river,   a  mere  sand-bank,  without  any  water  which  can  be 

*  Captain  Belcher,  who  surveyed  the  coast  line  here  in  1830-32,  in  the 
Etna  and  Raven,  says,  that  he  thinks  the  whole  of  the  space  between  the 
Nunez  and  Rio  Grande  is  one  great  archipelago,  and  navigable,  at  high 
water,  for  vessels  of  four  or  five  feet  draught ;  and  it  is  generally  believed  that 
canoes  can  navigate  from  Isles  de  Los  to  the  Gambia,  within  the  islands  of 
this  (supposed)  huge  archipelago.  It  is  probable  that  a  large  river  will  yet 
be  found  here.  The  Compomc,  as  far  as  explored,  is  a  very  extensive  stream. 


538     THE  SENEGAL  RIVER — FRENCH  SETTLEMENTS  THEREON. 

drunk  without  being  filtered,  and  dependent  entirely  for  pro- 
visions on  the  southern  coast,  which,  however,  yields  them  in 
abundance.  St.  Louis  never  became  a  large  settlement ; 
Golberry,  in  1786,  reckons  not  above  60  Europeans  settled 
there  for  the  purposes  of  trade.  The  military  and  civil  ser- 
vants of  government  amounted  to  600,  the  natives  to  2400. 
The  French  lost  St.  Louis  during  the  revolutionary  war,  but 
we  restored  it  to  them  on  the  friendly  peace  which  succeeded 
in  1814,  under  a  treaty  that  Portendick  was  always  to  be 
open  to  us  for  the  trade  in  gum ;  but  which  treaty  the  French 
are  at  this  instant  violating.*  The  disastrous  fate,  however, 
of  the  expedition  sent  out  in  the  Meduse  frigate  has  been  un- 
favourable to  any  attempt  to  restore  and  extend  the  prosperity 
of  the  colony.  It  is  said,  however,  to  have  experienced  an 
increase  within  the  last  few  years,  and  to  contain  now  about 
600  inhabitants.  The  original  hopes  of  its  greatness  were 
founded  on  the  supposed  identity  of  the  Senegal  with  the 
Niger,  and  on  the  prospect  of  a  communication  by  it  with  the 
the  inmost  regions  of  Africa.  All  the  efforts  founded  upon 
this  erroneous  theory  proved  of  course  abortive ;  and  the 
commercial  advantages  of  the  colony  (the  procuring  of  slaves 
not  included)  have  been  confined  to  the  gum  trade,f  and  the 
gold  trade  of  Bambouk. 

The  kingdom  of  Bambouk ^  situate  near  the   head  of  the 

*  The  French  recently  took  umbrage  at  one  of  the  chiefs  of  theTrazars, 
brought  him  a  prisoner  down  to  Port  Louis,  tried  him  by  a  drum-head 
court  martial,  and  sliot  him.  The  natives,  of  course,  have  declared  war 
against  the  French ;  the  latter  to  force  the  natives  into  a  compliance  have, 
contrary  to  the  letter  and  spirit  of  our  treaty,  blockaded  Portindick.  Will 
our  peace-seeking  rulers  put  up  also  with  this? 

f  The  gum  which,  from  this  river  and  settlement,  is  called  Gum  Senegal, 
is  the  produce  of  some  scattered  oases,  or  verdant  spots,  that  occur  in 
the  vast  desert  of  sand  to  the  N.  of  the  Senegal.  The  species  of  acacia 
from  which  it  exudes  has  every  appearance  of  a  stunted  and  desert  tree  : 
its  aspect  is  crooked  and  rough,  its  branches  are  thorny,  its  leaves  of  a  dry 
or  dirty  green.  The  mere  blowing  of  the  harmattan  causes  the  bark  to 
crack  in  numberless  places,  and  the  gum  to  flow  in  large  transparent  drops, 
which  remain  attaclied  to  the  surface.  The  harvest  of  the  gum  is  in  De- 
cember, when  tiic  JMoorish  tribes,  of  whom   the  Trazars  are  the  most 


THE  KINGDOM  OF  EAMCOUK.  539 

river,  and  so  enclosed  between  its  main  stream  and  the  great 
branches  of  the  Kokoro  and  the  Faleme,  as  to  form  almost 
a  complete  island,  is  the  next  object  of  commercial  im- 
portance to  the  French  on  the  Senegal.  It  is  almost  entirely 
a  country  of  mountains,  whence  flow  numerous  streams,  almost 
all  of  which  roll  over  golden  sands.  But  the  main  deposi- 
taries, where  the  metal  is  traced  as  it  were  to  its  source,  are 
two  mountains,  Natakon  and  Semayla.  The  former  com- 
poses almost  an  entire  mass  of  gold,  united  with  earth,  iron, 
or  emery.  The  first  four  feet  of  depth  consists  of  fat  earth, 
from  which  the  grains  of  gold  are  extracted  by  agitation  with 
water  in  a  calabash.  Afterwards  the  precious  metal  begins 
to  appear  in  small  grains  or  spangles,  and  at  20  feet  in  small 
lumps  of  from  two  to  ten  grains.  The  pieces  become  always 
larger  as  the  work  descends ;  but  as  the  natives  have  no  means 
of  propping  up  the  sides,  they  often  fall  in,  and  bury  the 
workmen.  Semayla,  a  mountain  200  feet  high,  presents  a 
different  structure.  The  gold  is  here  embedded  in  hard 
sandstone,  which  must  be  reduced  to  powder  before  the  extri- 

powerful,  break  up  from  their  usual  camps,  their  kings  anr)  princes  at  their 
head,  and  proceed  in  a  confused  and  tumultuous  crowd  to  the  forests,  of 
which  each  claims  one  or  more.  After  six  weeks  spent  in  collecting  the 
gum,  tliey  put  it  in  large  leathern  sacks,  with  which  they  load  their  camels, 
and  proceed  in  the  same  tumultuous  array  to  tlie  spot  fixed  on  for  the  gum 
market,  between  Fort  Louis  and  Podor.  This  plain,  which  is  one  of  the 
most  desolate  spots  in  nature,  is  suddenly  covered  with  an  innumerable 
multitude  of  people  enveloped  in  clouds  of  dust.  The  kings  appear  moun- 
ted on  beautiful  horses,  their  wives  seated  in  baskets  on  the  backs  of  camels, 
the  crowd  on  foot ;  the  air  resounds  with  the  cries  of  men,  women,  children, 
and  animals.  A  cannon  is  fired  as  the  signal  for  commencing  the  trade. 
A  dreadful  scene  of  wraugiiiig  and  higgling  immediately  ensues.  The 
French  accuse  the  Africans  of  most  dishonest  arts  in  order  to  euhance  the 
value  of  their  commodity.  They  themselves,  it  appears,  are  not  far  behind, 
since  they  have  not  scrupled  to  adopt  the  policy  of  insensibly  augmenting 
the  size  of  the  cantar  by  which  the  gum  is  measured,  a  change  which 
escapes  the  notice  of  their  rude  antagonists.  The  French  take  off  annually 
about  1200  tons  of  gum,  which  sells  in  Europe  at  from  70/.  to  90/.  per 
ton.  The  returns  are  taken  almost  exclusively  in  East  India  cotton  cloths 
dyed  blue,  which  are  called  pieces  of  Guinea,  and  for  which  it  has  been  in 
vain  attempted  to  substitute  the  manufacture  of  Europe. 


540         NATIONS  BORDERING  ON  THE  SENEGAL. 

cation  can  be  effected.  Part  of  it  also  is  found  in  red  marble, 
a  substance  which  to  the  natives  is  perfectly  unmanageable. 
Bambouk  is  said  to  have  been  early  conquered  by  a  Maho- 
metan force,  and  afterwards  by  the  Portuguese  ;  both  have 
been  driven  out;  and  the  French  never  made  any  serious 
attempt  to  establish  themselves  in  it. 

The  point  at  which  the  French  attempted  to  carry  on  the 
commerce  of  the  Upper  Senegal  is  at  Fort  St.  Joseph,  in  the 
kingdom  of  Galam,  or  Kajaaga.  A  voyage  thither  was  reck- 
oned to  produce  cent,  per  cent. ;  but  the  unhealthiness  of  the 
climate,  the  difficulties  of  the  navigation,  and  the  constant 
hazard  of  being  plundered  by  a  succession  of  barbarous 
chiefs,  who  occupy  the  banks,  rendered  it  a  very  precarious 
speculation.  At  present  the  fort  is  abandoned,  and  in  ruins  ; 
but  the  Serawoolies,  who  inhabit  this  fine  country,  are  among 
the  most  industrious  of  the  African  tribes,  and  have  engrossed 
the  trade  of  Bambouk,  Manding,  and  most  of  the  upper  coun- 
tries on  the  Senegal  and  Niger. 

In  descending  the  Senegal,  there  are  several  populous  and 
powerful  states,  among  which  is  that  of  Foota  Torra,  extend- 
ing considerably  both  to  the  S.  and  N.  of  the  river,  but  of 
which  the  interior  has  not  been  explored  by  Europeans.  The 
King  is  a  zealous  Mahometan,  and,  under  pretext  of  making 
converts,  has  endeavoured  to  subdue  the  almost  pagan  Darnel, 
or  Burb,  of  the  Jalofs.  The  latter,  however,  by  the  strength 
of  his  country  and  a  prudent  system  of  warfare,  has  been  able 
to  baffle  his  attempt.  On  the  middle  Senegal,  the  most  im- 
portant personage  is  the  Siratic,  who  holds  his  court  at  Ghio- 
rel,  considerably  to  the  N.  of  the  river.  Nearer  the  sea  is 
the  kingdom  of  Hoval,  governed  by  a  petty  prince,  called  the 
Greak  Brak,  which,  in  the  language  of  the  country,  signifies 
King  of  Kings.* 

The  coast  between  the  Gambia  and  Senegal  is  chiefly  oc- 
cupied by  the  kingdom  of  Kayor.     It  is  stated,  by  Golberry, 

*  I  give  these  and  several  other  details  on  the  authority  of  Murray's  En- 
cylopaedia  of  Geography j  who,  however,  does  not  state  his  authority:  it 
appears  to  be  derived  from  Golberry.  My  object  is  to  stimulate  to  further 
investigation. 


THE  SENEGAMBIA  TERRITORY.  541 

to  extend  750  miles  in  length,  and  to  contain  180,000  inhabit- 
ants, who  are  Jalofs.  At  the  little  island  of  Goree,  on  this 
coast,  the  French  have  established  the  capital  of  all  their 
African  settlements.  Its  advantages  consist  solely  in  its  al- 
most inaccessible  situation  on  a  rock,  three  sides  of  which  are 
perpendicular,  and  the  fourth  very  steep.  The  rock  is  forti- 
fied, but  not,  it  is  said,  in  the  most  skilful  manner.  The  town 
contains  7000  inhabitants,  and  presents  a  very  bustling  scene, 
being  the  entrepot  of  all  the  trade  with  the  opposite  coast, 
and  also  a  place  of  refreshment  for  French  ships  on  their  way 
to  India.  It  lies  on  the  southern  side  of  the  peninsula,  which 
terminates  in  Cape  Verde,  the  most  westerly  point  of  the 
African  continent.  Though  the  soil  be  sandy,  it  bears  a  num- 
ber of  those  immense  trees  called  Baobab,  which  give  to  the 
Cape  that  verdant  aspect  whence  its  derives  its  name.  On 
the  northern  side,  two  hills,  600  feet  high,  mark  this  striking 
geographical  position,  and  serve  as  a  guide  to  mariners. 

The  Gambia  is  almost  entirely  an  English  river ;  the  at- 
tempts to  form  settlements  upon  it  having,  for  nearly  two 
centuries,  been  confined  to  our  own  nation.  Our  settlements 
on  the  Gambia  will  be  found  subsequently  detailed. 

The  Gambia  is  bordered  on  its  N.  bank  by  several  flourishing 
little  kingdoms.  That  immediately  on  the  sea  is  Barra,  said 
to  contain  200,000  inhabitants.  The  capital  is  Barra  Inding ; 
but  the  chief  place  of  trade  is  Jillifrey.  In  the  kingdom  of 
Barra  there  are  seven  principal  towns,  with  a  family  entitled 
to  the  crown  in  each,  who  succeed  to  the  c«/?,  or  throne,  alter- 
nately. Boor  Salum  is  a  still  more  extensive  kingdom,  situated 
on  a  small  river  that  falls  into  the  Gambia,  and  containing,  it 
is  said,  300,000  inhabitants.  Above  it,  occur  successively  the 
two  smaller  kingdoms  of  Yani  and  WooUi.  The  territory  of 
all  these  states  is  flat  and  fertile,  abounding  in  rice,  grain,  and 
other  provisions.  The  inhabitants  are  chiefly  of  the  Man- 
dingo  race,  and  carry  on  a  considerable  trade  into  the  interior. 
At  Barraconda,  about  400  miles  up  the  river,  are  falls,  or 
rather  rapids,  above  which  sand-banks  and  flats  soon  render 
the  navigation  difficult. 

To  the  S.   of  the  Gambia  nothing   of  great  importance 


54S  THE  RIO  GRANDE  COUNTRY. 

occurs,  till  we  come  to  the  alluvial  estuaries  of  the  Rio  Grande, 
a  river  supposed,  as  its  name  imports,  to  be  of  some  magni- 
tude ;  but  Captain  Owen  found  it  a  mere  inlet,  i-eceiving  some 
inconsiderable  streams.  At  its  mouth  occur  a  number  of 
islands,  which,  with  a  group  opposite  to  them  in  the  open  sea, 
form  what  is  called  the  Archipelago  of  the  Bissagos.  The 
inhabitants  of  the  same  name,  called  also  Bijugas,  are  a  tall, 
robust,  warlike  people,  who  have  driven  out  the  peaceable 
race  of  the  Biafaras,  the  original  tenants,  and  have  compelled 
them  to  confine  themselves  to  the  continent  and  the  banks  of 
the  Rio  Grande.  Bissao,  the  largest  of  these  islands,  is  in- 
habited by  the  Papels,  also  warlike  and  entei'prising.  In 
1792,  an  association  was  formed  in  England,  with  a  view  to 
planting  a  settlement  in  the  island  of  Bulama;  but,  though 
no  opposition  was  made  in  the  first  instance,  the  difficulty  of 
establishing  a  new  colony  under  circumstances  so  unfavour- 
able, and  especially  amidst  the  hostility  of  these  rude  neigh- 
bours, obliged  us  to  desist.* 

Along  the  heads  of  the  Rio  Grande  lies  the  important  king- 
dom of  Foota  Jallo,  said  to  extend  about  350  miles  in  length, 
and  200  in  breadth.  It  appears  to  be  the  most  improved  of 
all  the  states  in  this  part  of  Africa.  The  inhabitants  are 
Foulahs,  and  of  the  Mahometan  faith,  but  not  bigots ;  and 
their  marabouts  are  held  in  high  reputation  for  learning. 
They  manufacture  cloths  of  considerable  fineness  ;  they  work 
in  iron  dug  from  extensive  mines  in  the  country  ;  also  in  silver, 
wood,  and  leather ;  and  they  conduct  large  caravans  into  the 
interior,  as  far  even  as  Timbuctoo  and  Cassina.  Here,  where 
they  are  the  ruling  people,  they  by  no  means  display  that 
pacific  character  which  distinguishes  the  tribes  on  the  Gambia 
and  Senegal.  They  can  bring  into  the  field  16,000  men. 
Timbo,  or  Teembo,  the  capital,  is  said  to  contain  7000  souls, 
and  Laby,  5000. 

To  the  S.  of  Foota  Jallo  is  Soolimana,  also  warlike  and 
considerable.  It  borders  on  the  Niger  in  the  highest  part  of 
its  course,  though  the  sources  of  that  river  are  placed  in  the 

*  The  Portuguese  have  lately  made  a  settlement  upon  this  island  despite 
the  remonstrances  of  Colonel  Findlay,  the  late  Governor  of  the  Gambia. 


THE  MANDINGO  AND  TIMMANEE  COUNTRY.  513 

hostile  territory  of  the  Kissi.  The  king  is  at  present  Maho- 
metan, but  the  bulk  of  the  nation  pagan.  They  are  a  gay, 
thoughtless,  stirring  race.  On  the  eastern  side  of  the  Niger 
is  the  country  of  Sangara,  still  more  extensive  and  more  war- 
like ;  the  people  of  which  would,  it  is  supposed  have  by  this 
time  conquered  Foota  Jallo,  had  they  been  united  among 
themselves.  At  present,  whenever  the  Soolimas  are  inclined 
to  go  to  war,  they  can  easily  command  10,000  auxiharies  from 
beyond  the  Niger. 

In  returning  to  the  coast,  we  pass  through  the  Koorango 
country,  inhabited  by  the  Mandingoes,  who,  as  usual  are  gay, 
thoughtless,  hospitable,  and  enterprising.  Farther  down  are 
the  Timmanees,  a  more  depraved  race,  who  were  the  chief 
agents  in  the  slave  trade.  They  are  described  as  hospitable, 
treacherous,  and  avaricious.  Captain  Laing  met  a  woman 
who  accused  her  two  children  of  witchcraft,  and  on  that 
ground  offered  to  sell  them  to  him  at  a  low  price.  Their 
agriculture  is  peculiarly  rude,  and  the  cloths  of  their  manu- 
facture very  coarse.  They  abuse  the  English  as  having  de- 
prived them  of  almost  their  only  source  of  wealth,  which 
consisted  in  the  sale  of  slaves.  This  people  are  oppressed 
by  a  singular  association  called  Purrah,  who,  united  by  a  bond 
and  always  supporting  each  other,  have  become  almost  mas- 
ters of  the  counti'y,  and  often  exercise  their  power  in  a  very 
tyrannical  manner. 

The  country  of  the  Timmanees  borders  on  that  part  of  the 
coast  where  Britain,  with  the  most  philanthropic  views,  has 
founded  the  colony  of  Sierra  Leone.  Its  principal  seat  at 
Freetown,  is  on  the  S.  side  of  the  bay,  which  receives  the 
river  formerly  called  by  the  same  name,  but  now  more  usually 
the  Rokelle,  and  which  rises  in  the  Soolimana  country  ;  it 
will  be  found  subsequently  described. 

The  space  from  Sierra  Leone  to  the  commencement  of  the 
Grain  Coast  of  Guinea,  an  extent  of  about  200  miles,  is 
chiefly  marked  by  the  entrance  into  the  sea  of  the  consider- 
able rivers  of  Sherbro  and  Mesurado.  The  former  is  navi- 
gable 20  leagues  up,  and  has  a  tolerably  large  island  at  its 
mouth.     On  the  banks  is  found  a  species  of  pearl  oyster. 


514      MESURADO  TO  CAPE  PALMAS.       LIBERIA  SETTLEMENT. 

The  Mesurado  is  a  still  larger  stream,  and  very  rapid.* 
According  to  the  natives,  it  requires  three  months'  navi- 
gation to  reach  its  source,  which  would  appear  to  be  in 
the  mountains  of  Kong,  not  very  far  from  that  of  the  Niger. 
The  banks  are  described  as  finely  wooded,  fertile,  and,  in 
many  places,  very  well  cultivated.  The  states  here  are  en- 
tirely negro  in  religion  and  manners,  none  of  the  Mahometan 
institutions  having  penetrated  so  far.  Travellers  enumerate 
the  kingdoms  of  Bulm,  Quoja,  Monon,  and  Folga,  which  they 
sometimes  even  dignify  with  the  title  of  empires.  The  sove- 
reigns are,  in  general,  absolute,  and  their  obsequies  are  cele- 
brated with  human  sacrifices,  though  not  to  the  same  frightful 
extent  as  in  some  of  the  countries  to  the  W. 

From  the  Mesurado  to  Cape  Palmas,  extends  what  is  com- 
monly called  the  Grain,  or  Malaghetta  Coast  of  Guinea.^ 
The  two  rivers  of  Sesters]:  and  Sangwin,  near  the  centre  of  the 
coast,  are  rather  considerable ;  and  their  banks  are  said  to 
be  fertile  and  populous.  The  state  of  society  seems  to  be 
nearly  the  same  as  in  the  countries  last  described ;  the  sove- 

*  The  Americans,  in  1820,  formed  a  settlement  on  this  coast,  which  was 
called  Liberia ;  while  its  capital,  on  an  island  at  the  mouth  of  the  Mesurado, 
was  named  Monrovia.  The  object  was  to  obtain  an  asylum  for  liberated 
negroes,  who,  notwithstanding'  their  emancipation,  are,  by  the  prejudices 
of  the  Americans,  regarded  as  beings  of  an  inferior  order.  In  spite  of 
disastrous  events,  which  obstructed  its  progress,  it  had  attained,  in  1830,  a 
population  of  1,500.  The  population  of  Monrovia  amounted  to  about 
700;  the  rest  were  distributed  in  eight  different  stations  along  150  miles  of 
coast  from  Cape  Mount  to  Tradetown.  The  territory  is  healthy  and  fertile, 
the  colony  has  been  well  conducted,  and  has  opened  a  friendly  intercourse 
with  the  natives,  from  which  happy  effects  are  confidently  anticipated. 

f  The  species  of  pepper  to  which  its  owes  its  name  is  produced  from  a 
small  parasitical  plant,  with  beautiful  green  leaves,  and  the  fruit  of  which, 
resembling- a  fig,  presents,  when  opened,  aromatic  grains,  forming  the  valua- 
ble part.  At  its  first  introduction  into  Europe,  where  such  articles  were 
little  known,  it  received  the  flattering  appellation  of 'Grains  of  Paradise.' 
After  the  diffusion,  however,  of  the  fine  species  of  India,  it  fell  into  total 
disrepute ;  and  this  coast,  producing  no  other  articles  of  export,  has  been 
the  least  frequented  of  any  part  of  Guinea. 

X  A  settlement,  called  St.  George's,  has  recently  been  made  at  this  River 
by  Captain  Spence. 


THE  IVORY  COAST,  WESTERN  AFRICA.  545 

reigns  absolute,  human  sacriiices  prevalent  to  a  certain  extent, 
and  also  self-immolation. 

Great  sway  is  in  the  hands  of  a  peculiar  priesthood,  called 
the  belli.  The  youthful  candidate,  for  a  place  in  this  body, 
must  qualify  himself  by  a  long  initiation,  during  which  he  is 
withdrawn  from  all  his  friends,  and  lodged  in  the  depth  of  a 
sacred  forest,  where,  it  is  said,  he  is  kept  in  a  state  of  entire 
nudity.  Among  the  tests  of  his  proficiency  is  the  perform- 
ance of  songs  and  dances,  of  a  very  extravagant  and  often 
indecent  nature  ;  but  peculiar  knowledge  is  also  supposed  to 
be  communicated  on  various  high  points ;  and  those  who 
have  gone  through  the  course  with  success,  and  are  called 
the  "  marked  of  the  belli"  look  upon  all  the  rest  of  the 
community  as  quolga,  or  idiots.  They  not  only  administer 
all  the  concerns  of  religion,  but  conduct  the  judicial  proceed- 
ings ;  most  of  which  are  made  dependent  on  some  form  of 
ordeal.  Although  the  Portuguese  have  lost  all  their  settle- 
ments in  this  part  of  Africa,  considerable  numbers  of  their 
posterity  reside  there,  mixed  with  the  natives,  by  whom  they 
are  treated  with  some  degree  of  respect. 

Beyond  Cape  Palmas,  trending  to  the  N.E.,  and  reaching 
as  far  as  Cape  Apollonia,  is  called  the  Ivory  Coast.  The 
name  is  evidently  derived  from  the  quantities  of  that  valuable 
product,  obtained  from  the  numerous  elephants  on  the  sea 
shore,  and  in  the  interior.  The  teeth  are  of  good  quality, 
and  uncommonly  large,  weighing  sometimes  not  less  than  200 
lbs.  Towards  the  E.,  at  Assinoe  and  Apollonia,  a  considerable 
quantity  of  gold  is  brought  down  from  the  countries  behind 
the  Gold  Coast.  There  is  also  a  good  deal  of  ivory  at  the 
ports  of  Cape  Lahoo,  and  Great  and  Little  Bassam.  There 
are  no  European  settlements  upon  the  coast,  except  an  Eng- 
lish fort  at  Apollonia,  which  perhaps  belongs  rather  to  the 
Gold  Coast.  Navigation  along  this,  as  well  as  the  Grain 
Coast,  requires  much  caution,  as  the  shore  is  flat  and  desti- 
tute of  any  conspicuous  land  marks,  while  a  heavy  surf,  borne 
in  from  the  whole  breadth  of  the  Atlantic,  breaks  continually 
against  it.     Early  navigators  describe  the  natives  as  the  most 

VOL.  IV.  N  N 


546  IIIE  GOLD  COAST  OF  AFRICA. 

violent  and  intractable  race  on  the  whole  African  coast. 
The  teeth  filed  to  a  point,  the  nails  long,  while  their  harsh  and 
guttural  language,  almost  resembling  the  cry  of  wild  beasts, 
inspired  disgust ;  they  have  even  been  accused  of  cannibalism; 
and  their  suspicion  of  Europeans  is  usually  said  to  be  so 
great,  that  nothing  can  induce  them  to  go  on  board  a  vessel. 
Captain  Adams,  however,  the  most  recent  visitor,  gives  a 
much  more  favourable  account :  he  even  says,  that  almost  all 
the  business  is  transacted  on  board  European  ships,  though, 
when  he  did  go  on  shore,  he  was  hospitably  received. 

From  Apollonia  to  the  Rio  Volta  extends  what  is  called 
the  Gold  Coast  of  Africa.  It  was  long  the  most  frequented 
by  European  traders,  particularly  English  and  Dutch,  both 
for  that  highly-prized  commodity  which  its  name  indicates, 
and  for  slaves,  while  so  nefarious  a  commerce  was  permitted. 
The  coast  presents  the  appearance  of  an  immense,  thick 
forest,  only  detached  spots  of  which  are  cleared  and  culti- 
vated. The  soil  near  the  sea,  being  light  and  sandy,  is 
scarcely  fit  for  any  important  tropical  product,  except  cot- 
ton ;  but  six  or  seven  miles  inland  it  improves  greatly, 
and  might  be  made  to  produce  sugar,  and  others  of  the 
richest  West  India  products,  if  the  profits  of  industry  were 
secured  to  the  inhabitants.  Maize  is  the  grain  principally 
cultivated.  The  gold,  which  forms  the  staple  commodity,  is 
chiefly  brought  down  from  mountainous  districts  far  in  the 
interior.*  In  many  places,  however,  even  upon  the  coast,  a 
small  quantity  may  be  extracted  from  the  earth  by  mere  agi- 
tation with  water  in  a  calabash.  Little  or  no  ivory  is  ex- 
ported. The  ruling  people  on  the  coast  are  the  Fantees,  a 
clever,  stirring,  turbulent  race.  They  exert  more  ingenuity 
in  the  construction  of  their  dwellings,  and  canoes,  than  the 
nations  to  the  W.  The  form  of  government  is  republican, 
and  each  village  has  a  large  public  hall,  roofed,  but  open  at 
the  sides,  where  an  assembly  is  held,  and  public  affairs  are 
debated.     The  pynins,  or  elders,  possess  considerable  autho- 

*  The  natives  understand  the  process  of  smelting  the  golden  ore,  but  the 
pure  metal  is  found  in  such  large  quantities  close  to  the  surface  as  to  require 
the  exercise  of  little  ingenuity. 


THE  DUTCH  SETTLEMENTS  AT  EL  MINA.  547 

rity,  and  the  administration  of  justice  is  chiefly  in  their 
hands. 

The  capital  of  the  British  settlements  is  at  Cape  Coast 
Castle,  subsequently  described.  To  the  W.  of  Cape  Coast, 
we  have  Dix  Cove  and  Succondee,  in  the  Ahanta  country,  a 
very  fertile  tract,  and  to  which  purer  gold  is  brought  than  to 
any  other  part  of  the  coast.  The  inhabitants  are  also  peace- 
able and  tractable,  and  the  chances  of  improvement,  as  Mr. 
Meredith  conceives,  are  on  the  whole  favourable.  The  British 
station  at  Anamaboe  was  formerly  the  great  mart  of  the  slave 
trade.  The  fort  is  compact  and  regular ;  and  in  1 807  it  with- 
stood, with  a  garrison  of  12  men,  the  attack  of  15,000  Ashan- 
tees.  Winnebah,  in  the  Agoona  country,  though  in  an  agree- 
able situation,  has  been  abandoned  ;  but  Fort  James,  at  Accra, 
would,  in  peaceable  times,  afford  great  convenience  for  trade, 
as  no  other  place  on  the  coast  has  such  extensive  intercourse 
with  the  interior.  Cape  Coast  Castle  and  Accra  are  now  the 
only  places  where  any  garrison  is  maintained. 

The  capital  of  the  Dutch  settlements,  in  this  part  of  Africa, 
is  El  Mina,  or  the  Castle ;  first  founded  by  the  Portuguese, 
and  taken  from  them  in  1637.  It  is  about  9  miles  W.  of  Cape 
Coast  Castle,  in  an  open  country,  close  to  a  large  dirty  town 
of  11,000  inhabitants.  The  fort  is  well  built,  on  a  high  situa- 
tion, and  vessels  of  100  tons  can  come  close  to  the  walls  ;  but 
its  strength  has  been  doubted.  The  Dutch  maintain  here  a 
garrison  of  100  men,  and  keep  their  establishment,  on  the 
whole,  upon  a  more  reputable  scale  than  the  British.  Their 
forts  along  the  coast  are  numerous,  but  none  now  are  garri- 
soned except  Elmina  and  Axim.  The  Danes  have  a  respect- 
able fort  near  Accra,  called  Christianborg  Castle,  and  also  one 
at  Ningo,  near  the  eastern  extremity  of  the  coast. 

The  country  behind  the  Gold  Coast,  when  first  known  to 
Europeans,  was  divided  among  a  number  of  considerable 
kingdoms  ;  Dinkira,  Akim,  Warsaw,  and  Aquamboe ;  but  all 
these  have  now  sunk  beneath  the  overwhelming  sway  of  the 
Ashantees.  This  warlike  power  has  also  reduced  the  interior 
countries  of  Gaman,  Inta,  Dagwumba,  and  others,  of  which 
some  are  more  extensive  and  populous  than  itself.    Ashantee 


548  THE  SLAVE  COAST,  WESTERN  AFRICA. 

Pi'oper  is  estimated  to  contain  14,000  square  miles,  and  about 
a  million  of  people  ;  but  this  last  number  would  be  more  than 
quadrupled,  if  we  were  to  include  all  its  subjects  and  vassals. 
The  character  of  the  Ashantees  is  detailed  under  the  head  of 
Population. 

On  the  eastern  side  of  the  Rio  Volta  commences  what 
Europeans  have  called  the  Slave  Coast,  because  slaves  were 
there  procured,  of  the  most  docile  and  tractable  character. 
It  consisted  originally  of  the  two  kingdoms  of  Whydah  and 
Ardrah,  forming  the  most  populous  and  the  best  cultivated 
part  of  the  African  coast.  The  vast  and  impenetrable  forests 
which  cover  so  much  of  the  continent  had  here  been  cut 
down,  leaving  only  what  was  requisite  for  ornament  and  con- 
venience. The  whole  country  is  said  to  have  been  like  a  gar- 
den, covered  with  fruits  and  grain  of  every  description.  Amid 
this  abundance,  the  Whydans,  having  become  luxurious  and 
effeminate,  were  unable  to  make  head  against  the  war-like 
power  of  Dahomey,  in  the  interior,  which  invaded  and  con- 
quered them  at  the  beginning  of  the  last  century.  The  first 
ravages  were  dreadful,  and  rendered  their  country  almost  a 
desert,  nor  has  its  peaceful  submission  ever  allowed  it  to  re- 
gain its  former  prosperity. 

Dahomey,  which  is  thus  predominant  both  over  the  coast 
and  over  the  interior,  to  a  depth  of  about  200  miles,  is  governed 
upon  the  same  system  as  Ashantee,  and  with  all  its  deform- 
ities, which  it  carries  to  a  still  more  violent  excess.  The 
bloody  customs  take  place  on  a  still  greater  scale ;  and  the 
bodies  of  the  victims,  instead  of  being  interred,  are  hung 
upon  the  walls  and  allowed  to  putrefy.  Human  skulls  make 
the  favourite  ornament  of  the  palaces  and  temples,  and  the 
king  is  said  to  have  his  sleeping  apartment  paved  with  them. 
His  wives  are  kept  up  to  an  equal  number  with  those  of  the 
king  of  Ashantee.  All  the  female  sex  are  considered  as 
at  the  king's  disposal,  and  an  annual  assemblage  takes 
place,  when,  having  made  a  large  selection  for  himself,  he 
distributes  the  refuse  among  his  grandees,  who  are  bound  to 
receive  them  with  the  humblest  gratitude  :  in  short,  this  fero- 
cious   race    allow   themselves   to  be  domineered    over   in   a 


THE  KINGDOM  OF  DAHOMEY.  5i9 

manner  of  which  there  is  no  example  among  the  most  timid 
and  pohshed  nations.  The  greatest  lords  in  approaching  the 
king  throw  themselves  flat  on  the  ground,  laying  their  heads 
in  the  dust ;  and  the  belief  is  instilled  into  them,  that  their 
life  belongs  entirely  to  their  sovereign,  and  that  they  ought 
never  to  hesitate  a  moment  to  sacrifice  it  in  his  service.  The 
king  of  Dahomey  has  been  lately  worsted  in  his  wars  with 
Eyeo,  by  whom  he  is  now  held  in  a  species  of  vassalage. 
His  country  consists  of  an  extensive  and  fertile  plain,  rising 
from  the  sea  by  a  gradual  ascent.  The  soil  is  a  reddish  clay 
mixed  with  sand,  and  nowhere  contains  a  stone  of  the  size  of 
a  walnut.  Though  capable  of  every  species  of  tropical  cul- 
ture, little  is  actually  produced  from  it  that  is  fitted  for  a 
foreign  market ;  so  that,  since  the  abolition  of  the  slave  trade, 
small  advantage  has  accrued  from  continuing  the  intercourse 
with  it,  and  the  English  fort  at  Whydah  has  been  abandoned. 
WhydaJi,  now  commonly  called  Griwhee,  may  be  considered 
the  port  of  Dahomey,  from  which  a  route  of  about  100  miles 
reaches  through  Favies  and  Toro  to  Abomey,  the  capital. 
Griwhee  is  situated  in  a  fertile  country,  still  highly  cultivated, 
and  is  plentifully  supplied  with  all  the  necessaries  and  conve- 
niences of  African  life.  Captain  Adams,  whose  estimates  on 
this  point  are  unusually  low,  represents  it  as  containing  about 
7,000  inhabitants.  The  despotic  and  capricious  manner, 
however,  in  which  foreign  residents  are  treated  by  the  tyrant 
of  Dahomey,  has  gradually  induced  the  different  European 
powers  to  withdraw  their  factories.  Ardrah  is  still  larger 
and  more  flourishing ;  containing,  accordhig  to  the  same  au- 
thority, 10,000  inhabitants.  It  is  situated  about  25  miles 
inland,  on  a  long  and  beautiful  lake  or  lagoon,  running  pa- 
rallel to  the  sea,  with  which  it  becomes  connected  at  its 
eastern  extremity  by  the  river  of  Lagos.  The  Ardranese  are 
industrious  in  the  manufacture  of  cotton,  interwoven  with 
silk  :  they  make  also  soap,  baskets,  and  earthenware,  and  are 
skilful  in  working  iron.  Their  market  is  the  best  regulated 
of  any  on  the  coast,  and  exhibits  the  manufactures  of  India 
and  P^urope,  tobacco  from  Brazil,  cloth  from  Eyeo  and 
Iloussa,   and   every   other   article    that    is   here   in   demand. 


550         THE  ARDRANESE THEIR  SKILL  AND  CIVILIZATION. 

Though  SO  close  to  Dahomey,  the  people  appear  to  enjoy  a 
republican  form  of  government.  A  considerable  number  of 
Mahometan  residents  have  made  their  way  hither,  and  have 
introduced  the  management  of  horses,  and  the  use  of  milk,  to 
both  of  which  the  negroes  in  general  are  strangers.  Badagry, 
though  it  has  suffered  by  recent  contests  with  liagos,  ap- 
pears by  Lander's  report,  to  be  still  a  large  and  populous 
place,  situated  in  a  fine  plain,  and  divided  into  four  districts, 
each  governed  by  a  chief,  who  assumes  the  title  of  king. 
Lagos  is  built  upon  a  small  island,  or  rather  the  bank  at  the 
point  where  this  channel  communicates  with  the  sea  on  one 
side,  and  on  the  other  with  the  Cradoo  Lake,  a  parallel  piece 
of  water.  The  town  is  scarely  a  foot  above  the  lake,  and  is 
over-run  by  water  rats  from  it.  It  has  5,000  inhabitants, 
with  a  good  deal  of  stir  and  trade.  Its  petty  despot  assumes 
all  the  airs  of  the  greatest  African  monarchs,  never  allowing 
his  courtiers  to  approach  him  unless  crawling  on  the  ground. 
Some  barbarous  customs  prevail,  such  as  impaling  alive  a 
young  female,  to  propitiate  the  goddess  who  presides  over 
rain,  and  hanging  the  heads  of  malefactors  to  some  large  trees 
at  the  end  of  the  town.  The  currency  here  consists  of  cow- 
ries, which  are  imported  in  large  quantities,  and  transmitted 
into  Houssa  and  other  interior  countries,  where  they  form 
the  universal  circulating  medium. 

At  the  termination  of  the  Cradoo  Lake  commences  a  large 
tract  of  coast,  of  a  peculiar  character,  which,  from  the  princi- 
pal state,  receives  the  name  of  Benin.  It  extends  upwards  of 
200  miles,  and  presents  a  succession  of  broad  estuaries,  now 
discovered  to  be  all  branches  of  the  Niger,  of  which  this 
country  forms  the  delta.  They  communicate  with  each  other 
by  creeks,  and,  frequently  overflowing  their  banks,  render 
the  shore  for  20  or  30  miles  inland,  a  vast  alluvial  wooded 
morass.  The  natives,  having  thus  very  extended  water  com- 
munications, are  the  most  active  traders  anywhere  in  Africa ; 
but,  except  slaves,  the  commodities  in  which  they  deal  are 
entirely  changed.  Gold  has  disappeared  ;  ivory  is  again 
found  in  considerable  plenty  ;  but  palm  oil  is  the  great  staple 
of  the  eastern  districts.     A  great  quantity  of  salt  is  made  at 


THE  BIGHT  OF  BENIN.  551 

the  mouths  of  the  rivers,  both  for  consumption  at  home  and 
in  the  interior. 

The  first  leading  feature  is  the  River  Formosa,  two  miles 
wide  at  its  mouth  ;  on  a  creek  tributary  to  it  lies  the  capital 
of  Benin.  This  city  appeared  to  Captain  Adams  the  largest 
he  had  seen  on  the  coast  of  Africa ;  he,  therefore,  probably 
under-rates  its  population  at  15,000;  being  irregularly  built, 
and  consisting  of  detached  houses,  it  occupies  an  immense 
space  of  ground.  The  surrounding  territory  is  well  cul- 
tivated, though  not  so  thoroughly  cleared  of  wood  as  that 
round  Ardrah  and  Whydah.  The  king  is  not  only  absolute, 
but  'fetiche,'  or  a  god,  in  the  eyes  of  his  subjects  ;  and  all 
offences  against  him  are  punished  in  the  most  cruel  and 
summary  manner,  not  only  as  treason,  but  impiety.  Gatto, 
about  50  miles  below,  is  the  port  of  Benin ;  accessible  to 
vessels  of  60  tons.  The  trade  on  this  river  has  greatly 
declined. 

Warre,  or  Owarri,  is  another  state  and  city,  situated  on 
another  creek,  communicating  with  the  Formosa,  on  its 
opposite  side.  It  consists  of  a  somewhat  elevated  and  beau- 
tiful island,  appearing  as  if  dropped  from  the  clouds  amidst 
the  vast  woods  and  swamps  by  which  it  is  surrounded.  Here, 
too,  the  king  is  absolute,  and  carries  polygamy  to  a  very 
great  extent.  A  recent  traveller,  happening  to  get  a  peep  into 
the  seraglio,  saw  about  50  queens,  busied  in  various  employ- 
ments from  the  toilette  to  the  washing-tub.  New  Town,  on 
the  Formosa,  is  the  port  of  Warre. 

After  doubling  Cape  Formosa,  and  passing  several  estuaries, 
we  come  to  that  of  the  Brass  River,  called  by  the  Portu- 
guese, the  River  of  Nun.  Though  not  the  largest  estuary  of 
the  Niger,  yet,  being  most  directly  in  the  line  of  the  main 
stream,  and  that  by  which  Lander  entered  the  Atlantic,  it  at 
present  enjoys  the  reputation  of  being  the  principal  channel. 
It  is  divided  into  two  branches ;  but  the  navigation  is  greatly 
impeded,  and  the  trade  limited,  by  a  dangerous  bar  at  its 
mouth.  Brass  Town  is  built  not  on  either  branch,  but  on 
one  of  the  numerous  creeks   connected  with  both,  and  in  a 


552  THE  NUN  RIVER BRASS  TOWN  AND  BONNY. 

country  overgrown  with  impenetrable  thickets  of  mangrove. 
It  is  a  poor  place,  divided  by  a  lagoon  into  two  parts,  each  of 
which  contains  about  1,000  inhabitants.  Bonny  River  forms 
the  next  important  estuary,  having  on  its  opposite  sides 
the  towns  of  Bonny  and  New  Calabar,  Being  only  a 
few  miles  up,  they  are  in  the  midst  of  the  morasses  which 
overspread  all  this  country.  The  people  support  themselves 
by  the  manufacture  of  salt,  and  they  trade  in  slaves,  and  palm 
oil.  Bonny,  in  particular,  is  become  the  great  mart  for  these 
last  commodities,  and  is  supposed  to  export  annually  about 
20,000  slaves  !  The  dealers  go  in  large  canoes  two  or  three 
days'  sail  to  Eboe,  the  great  interior  market.  The  king  is 
absolute,  and  more  barbarous  than  the  rest  of  his  brethren 
on  this  coast.  He  boasts  of  having  twice  destroyed  New  Ca- 
labar, and  ornaments  his  fetiche  house  with  the  skulls  of  ene- 
mies taken  in  battle. 

To  the  eastward  of  Bonny  is  the  estuary  of  Old  Calabar 
River,  the  broadest  of  all,  and  navigable  for  large  vessels  60 
miles  up  to  Ephraim  Town,  governed  by  a  chief,  who  assumes 
the  title  of  duke.  It  appears  to  contain  about  6,000  inhabitants, 
carrying  on  a  considerable  trade ;  and  the  duke  has  a  large 
house  filled  with  European  manufactures  and  ornaments  of 
every  kind,  received  by  him  in  presents.  This  river  is  fol- 
lowed by  that  of  Rio  del  Rey,  and  then  by  the  Rio  Came- 
roons.  The  country  yields  a  good  deal  of  ivory  and  palm 
oil.  The  continuity  of  that  vast  wooded  flat,  which  has  ex- 
tended along  the  coast  for  more  than  200  miles,  is  now  broken 
by  some  very  lofty  mountains,  the  principal  of  which  is  sup- 
posed to  reach  the  height  of  13,000  feet. 

Several  islands  lie  in  the  Bight  of  Biafra.  Fernando  Po,  in 
3.28.  N.  lat.  and  8.40.15.  E.  long.,  is  a  fine  high  large  island, 
lately  occupied  only  by  a  lawless  race,  composed  of  slaves, 
or  malefactors,  escaped  from  the  neighbouring  coast.  The 
British  government,  formed,  in  1827,  a  settlement  at  this 
island,  the  mountainous  and  picturesque  aspect  of  which 
afforded  hopes  of  a  healthy  station  :  the  settlement  is,  I  be- 
lieve, abandoned  by  government,  but  I  think   prematurely, 


FERNANDO  PO ST.  THOMAS's  ISLAND,  &C.  553 

for  as  the  island*  became  cleared  its  insalubrity  would  have 
diminished ;  and  it  would  be  an  extremely  valuable  colony 
to  Great  Britain,  from  its  vicinity  to  the  mouths  of  the 
Niger.  Prince's  Island,  situate  also  in  the  Bight  of  Benin, 
9|^  miles  long  by  6  broad,  is  high  (the  loftiest  peak,  4,000 
feet),  and  wooded.  St.  Thomas  is  large  and  fertile ;  to- 
wards its  S.  extremity  it  presents  a  mass  of  steep  eleva- 
tions, with  abrupt  craggy  faces,  and  two  or  three  pinna- 
cles, resembling  gigantic  nine-pins  :  one  half  the  island  is 
mountainous.  The  pretty  little  Isle  of  Annabona  is  inhabited 
by  a  simple  native  race,  to  the  number  of  3,000 ;  it  is  near 
3,000  feet  high,  but  its  length  does  not  exceed  four,  nor  its 
breadth  two  miles:  its  heights  are  rounded  like  those  of  Fer- 
nando Po  rather  than  peaked  and  pointed  like  Prince's  Island. 
These  islands  run  in  a  chain  to  the  S.W.  from  the  Rio  Calabar ; 
and  the  last  three  are  in  nominal  subjection  to  the  Crown  of 
Portugal 

The  next  division  of  Western  Africa  consists  of  Congo 
and  Loatigo,  the  coast  of  which  is  generally  named  Angola. 
The  principal  feature  is  the  Zaire,  or  Congo,  a  powerful  and 
rapid  river,  which  rushes  by  a  single  channel  into  the  At- 
lantic. Its  course  was  traced  upwards  by  Captain  Tuckey, 
in  his  unfortunate  expedition,  about  400  miles,  yet  nothing 
was  ascertained  as  to  its  origin  and  early  course ;  though  the 
hypothesis  of  its  forming  the  termination  of  the  Niger  is  now 
completely  refuted.  The  population  along  the  river  is  said  to 
be  small ;  the  largest  villages,  Cooloo,  Embomma,  and  Inga, 
containing  only  from  300  to  600  inhabitants.  The  interior 
capital  of  Congowar,  however,  mentioned  as  the  residence 
of  the  Blindy  N.  Congo,  to  whom  all  the  chiefs  pay  a  species 
of  vassalage,  is  probably  what  the  Portuguese  called  St. 
Salvador ;  and  where,  according  to  Mr.  Bowdich,  they  still 
maintain  a  mission ;  but  no  recent  details  have  been  obtained 
respecting  it.  There  is  a  regular  distinction  of  ranks,  the 
Chenoo,  or  chief,  hereditary  in  the  female  line  ;  the  Mafoots, 

*  Colonel  Nicholls  and  Mr.  Bcacroft  arc  still  residini;-  on  the  island. 


554         THE  CONGO  COUNTRY  AND  BENGUELA. 

or  collectors  of  the  revenue ;  the  Foomoos,  or  cultivators ; 
and  the  domestic  slaves,  which  latter  are  not  numerous. 

The  slave  trade,  for  which  alone  this  part  of  Africa  is  now 
frequented,  is  chiefly  carried  on  at  Malemba  and  Cabenda, 
on  the  N.  side  of  the  river.  Malemba  has  been  called  the 
Montpelier  of  Africa.  It  stands  on  a  hill  about  100  feet  high, 
commanding  a  beautiful  prospect  of  the  windings  of  the 
Loango  Louisa,  through  an  extensive  plain.  Its  dry  and 
elevated  situation  preserves  it  from  those  deadly  influences 
which  operate  so  fatally  on  the  health  of  mariners.  Cabenda, 
near  the  mouth  of  the  river  of  that  name,  also  a  beautiful 
city,  is  situated  at  the  foot  of  a  conical  wooded  mountain, 
and  has  been  called  the  Paradise  of  the  Coast.  It  is  a  great 
mart  for  slaves,  who  are  brought  from  the  opposite  territory 
of  Sogno. 

The  country  to  the  S.  of  Congo  is  called  Benguela,  and  its 
commerce  is  still  almost  entirely  in  the  hands  of  the  Portu- 
guese. They  frequent  the  bay  and  river  of  Ambriz,  in  which 
there  is  a  tolerable  roadstead ;  but  their  great  settlement  is 
at  St.  Paul  de  Loanda,  a  large  town  in  an  elevated  situation. 
It  is  said  to  export  annually  18,000  or  20,000  slaves,  chiefly 
to  Brazil.*  S.  Felipe  de  Benguela,  in  a  marshy  and  unhealthy 
site,  is  now  considerably  declined;  and  its  population  does 
not  exceed  3,000,  mostly  free  negroes  and  slaves.  There  is 
also  a  smaller  port,  called  Nova  Redondo.  The  Portuguese 
claim  a  certain  jurisdiction  over  the  native  states  for  several 
hundred  miles  in  the  interior,  obtaining  presents  and  pur- 
chasing slaves.  Further  inland  is  the  country  of  Jaga  Cas- 
sanga.  The  Jagas  are  celebrated  by  the  writers  of  travels, 
two  centuries  ago,  as  a  formidable  devastating  tribe,  addicted 
to  the  most  ferocious  habits  ;  and  no  change  is  since  asserted 
to  have  taken  place  in  their  character.  Behind  them,  and  in 
about  the  centre  of  the  continent,  the  nation  of  the  Molouas, 
are  represented  as  more  numerous,  more  intelligent,  and  pos- 
sessing a  higher  degree  of  industry  and  civilization  than  any 

*  It  is  a  disgrace  to  England  to  permit  the  continuance  of  this  infamous 
traffic. 


FORMATION  OF  SIERRA  LEONE  COLONY.  55o 

other  in  Africa,  under  this  latitude.  Of  tlie  remainder  of 
the  coast,  towards  our  own  territories,  in  Southern  Africa, 
little  is  known, 

Portugal  at  first  claimed  the  whole  of  the  coast  just  de- 
scribed, but  was  driven  from  it  by  the  Dutch,  who  took  El 
Mina  in  1643  ;  the  latter  were  in  turn  compelled  to  retreat 
by  the  English,  in  1661,  who  took  Cape  Coast  Castle,  and 
having  formed  an  African  Company,  commenced  the  esta- 
blishment of  forts  for  the  protection  of  trade. 

The  settlements  at  present  belonging  to  England  in  Western 
Africa  are  as  follow  : 

Sierra  Leone. — The  first  settlers  here  were  the  Portuguese ; 
shortly  afterwards,  the  English  established  themselves  upon 
Bance  Island,  in  the  middle  of  the  river.  At  the  suggestion 
of  Dr.  Smeathman,  the  negroes  discharged  from  the  army 
and  navy  after  the  American  war,  to  the  amount  of  about 
400,  with  60  whites,  were  conveyed  to  Sierra  Leone,  fur- 
nished with  all  things  necessary  to  establish  a  colony,  in  the 
year  1787  ;  and  a  piece  of  ground  20  miles  square  having 
been  purchased  from  one  of  the  native  chiefs,  a  town,  called 
Freetown,  was  founded.  A  dreadful  mortality  shortly  after- 
wards reduced  the  colonists  to  one-half,  and  a  native  chief, 
taking  advantage  of  their  weakness,  plundered  the  settlement 
in  1789,  and  drove  the  colonists  to  seek  for  shelter  in  Bance 
Island.  In  1791  and  the  following  year,  the  African  Asso- 
ciation having  become  incorporated  and  obtained  a  charter,* 
conveyed  thither  a  number  of  settlers,  among  whom  were 
the  Maroon  negroes,  who  had  been  sent  from  Jamaica  to 
Nova  Scotia.  Freetown  was  plundered  by  the  French  in  1794, 
and  so  great  was  the  disaster,  and  so  destitute  the  condition 
of  the  settlers,  that  the  company  entered  into  an  arrangement 
with  the  government  to  place  the  colony  under  their  jurisdiction. 

*  A  charter  was  granted  in  1802  to  the  Sierra  Leone  Company ;  it  was 
subsequently  revised  and  (with  some  alterations)  confirmed,  first  in  1808, 
when  the  settlement  was  transferred  to  the  Crown,  and,  finally,  in  1821, 
when  the  forts  and  possessions  of  the  late  African  Company  on  the  Gold 
Coast  were  annexed  to  Sierra  Leone. 


556  BOUNDARIES  OF  SIERRA  LEONE. 

It  was  subsequently  placed  by  the  British  Government 
under  the  management  of  the  African  Institution,  established 
for  the  improvement  of  the  Western  part  of  Africa ;  and  its 
population  was  recruited  by  sending  thither  all  slaves  cap- 
tured in  vessels  engaged  in  that  traffic.  Since  the  dissolution 
of  the  African  Company,  Sierra  Leone  has  been  again  placed 
under  the  control  of  the  crown.  (See  section  on  Govermnent.) 

The  boundaries  of  the  settlement  are  difficult  to  define  ;  in 
1787  a  tract  of  the  peninsula  of  Sierra  Leone  was  ceded  to 
England  by  the  native  chiefs  extending  1 5  miles  from  N.  to 
S.  by  4  from  E.  to  W. : — the  western  boundary  subsequently 
advanced  to  the  sea  as  far  as  the  point  of  land  called  False 
Cape.  In  the  charters  granted  to  the  Sierra  Leone  Com- 
pany in  1800,  18G9,  and  1821,  the  colony  is  described  as  the 
peninsula  of  Sierra  Leone,  bounded  on  the  N.  by  the  river  of 
that  name  ;  on  the  S.  by  the  Camaranca  River ;  on  the  E.  by 
the  River  Bunce ;  and  on  the  W.  by  the  sea.  The  peninsula, 
as  at  present  known,  is  bounded  on  the  N.  by  the  Sierra 
Leone  river ;  on  the  S.  and  W.  by  the  sea  at  Calmont  Creek, 
and  on  the  E.  by  a  line  up  the  Calmont  to  the  Watslod 
Creek,  and  down  this  last  to  the  Bunce  (which  is  in  fact  part 
of  the  Sierra  Leone  River)  constituting  a  tract,  18  miles  from 
N.  to  S.  and  12  from  E.  to  W.  By  a  convention  in  1819  be- 
tween Sir  C.  M'Carthy  and  a  Timmanee  Chief,  named  Ka 
Konka,  possessing  country  on  the  boundary  of  the  peninsula, 
that  chief  ceded  to  Great  Britain  the  unlimited  sovereignty  of 
the  lands,  known  by  the  name  of  Mar  Ports,  and  Roe  Boness, 
situate  on  the  banks  of  the  Bunce  River.  In  1824,  Ba  Mauro, 
King  of  the  North  Balloms,  ceded  to  Great  Britain  the 
islands  of  Bance,  Tasso,  Tombo,  and  all  the  other  islands  on 
the  N.  side  of  Sierra  Leone,  between  Zogrine  Point,  and  Ka 
Keeper  Creek  ;  as  well  as  the  N.  banks  of  the  river  for  one 
mile  inland  from  the  river  Conray  Bay,  on  the  W.  to  the 
Ka  Keeper  Creek,  on  the  E. ;  with  a  right  and  title  to  the 
navigation  of  the  River  Sierra  Leone,  &;c.  On  the  N.  the 
boundaries  touch   the  River  Memgo  or   Little  Learciss,  in 


PHYSICAL  ASPECT  OF  SIERRA  LEONE.  557 

8.50.  N. ;  on  the  S.  as  far  as  the  hue  which  separates  the 
King  of  Sherboro's  territory  from  that  of  the  Gallinos,  in  lat. 
70.  N.  embracing  the  estuary  of  the  Sherboro  and  its  tribu- 
taries ;  on  the  W.  the  Atlantic,  as  far  N.  as  Sierra  Leone 
River ;  and  on  the  E.  an  imaginary  hne,  imperfectly  defined. 

Our  possessions  at  Sierra  Leone*  extend  over  a  mountainous 
tract  of  country,  formed  by  two  rivers,  which  nearly  intersect 
it.  The  general  appearance  of  this  Sierra  presents  an  outline 
of  an  irregular  congeries  of  conical  mountains,  with  vallies  and 
prairies  in  their  interstices ;  the  mountains  are  covered  to 
their  summits  with  lofty  forests,  giving  to  the  distant  scenery 
a  beautiful,  rich,  and  romantic  appearance ;  the  territory  on 
the  north  side  side  of  the  I'iver  is  however  low  and  flat. 
Many  streams  of  water  descend  from  the  hills,  and  are  con- 
centrated in  a  large  basin,  called  the  Bay  of  Franca,  which  is 
considered  the  best  watering  place  along  the  whole  line  of 
coast. 

The  river  called  Sierra  Leone  is  more  properly  speaking  an 
estuary,  about  20  miles  in  length,  and  varying  in  breadth 
from  10  at  its  entrance,  between  Leopard's  Island  and  Cape 
Sierra  Leone,  to  about  4  miles  at  the  island  of  Tombo,  where 
it  terminates  ;  it  has  several  arms,  which  extend  themselves  in 
different  directions ;  the  Rokell  River  is  however  the  only 
one  which  offers  the  advantage  of  water  communication  for 
any  considerable  distance  into  the  interior ;  its  source  being- 
stated  to  be  within  30  miles  of  Fallaba,  and  200  from  Sierra 
Leone  ;  falls  or  rapids  intercept  its  course  at  Rocon,  50  or  60 
miles  from  Free-town.  The  Kates  River,  25  miles  from  Free- 
town, is  navigable  for  boats  upwards  of  70  miles. 

Free-town  the  capital,  is  built  upon  the  S.  side  of  the  Sierra 
Leone  River,  and  at  the  N.  extremity  of  the  peninsula.  It  is 
five  miles  from  Cape  Sierra  Leone,  which  is  considered  to 
mark  on  the  S.  as  Leopard  Island  does  on  the  N.  the  en- 
trance of  the  river,  to  which  the  access  is  easy  and  safe. 
Immediately  in  front  of  the  town,  the  river  forms  a  bay,  where 

*  So  called  from  the  district  havinfrbeen  the  favourite  resort  of  lions. 


558  FREE-TOWN,  SIERRA  LEONK. 

there  is  good  and  commodious  anchorage  for  vessels  of  all 
classes,  and  timber  ships,  of  400  or  500  tons  burthen  go  with 
facility  nearly  20  miles  higher  up  the  stream  for  the  purpose 
of  taking  in  their  cargoes. 

The  settlement  has  the  advantage  of  a  modern  plan  for  its 
formation ;  it  occupies  a  large  space  of  ground,  extending  in 
a  very  gentle  ascent  from  the  banks  of  the  river,  and  is  about 
three-quarters  of  a  mile  long,  with  spacious  streets,  inter- 
secting each  other  at  right  angles.  Most  of  the  houses  were 
at  first  built  of  mud  or  wood,  not  however  without  taste, 
but  many  of  the  natives  are  now  constructing  storehouses. 

The  town  is  open  to  the  river  on  the  N.,  but  on  the  S.E.  and 
W.  completely  hemmed  in  by  a  semicircular  range  of  moun- 
tains, from  12  to  1500  feet  high,  and  wooded  to  the  summit. 
The  distance  between  the  town  and  base  of  these  mountains 
varies  from  three-quarters  to  a  mile  and  a  half,  the  intervening 
space  broken  by  numerous  undulations,  the  outline  exhibiting 
the  appearance  of  a  sylvan  theatre,  replete  with  highly  pic- 
turesque scenery.  With  the  exception  of  the  cultivated  spots 
the  hills  are  thickly  clothed  to  their  summit  with  wood,  and 
ascend  almost  in  regular  gradation  towards  Leicester  Moun-. 
tain,  above  which,  the  Sugar-loaf  is  seen  to  rise  at  some  dis- 
tance in  the  rear.  The  amphitheatre  includes,  from  E.  to  W. 
a  space,  the  semi-diameter  of  which  is  nearly  a  mile,  embrac- 
ing the  town,  the  Tower  Hill,  and  a  small  portion  of  land, 
called  '  King  Tom's  Point.'  The  Tower  Hill  is  nearly  in  the 
centre  of  this  amphitheatre,  and  Free-town  stretches  from  the 
water-side  towards  its  base  ;  about  half  way  up  its  sides  are 
situate  the  fort,  the  barracks,  hospital,  and  a  Martello  tower, 
the  whole  when  viewed  from  the  sea,  forming  a  striking  coup 
(Tceil. 

Througout  the  peninsula  several  villages  have  been  formed 
at  the  following  periods:  in  1809,  Leicester;  1812,  Regent; 
1816,  Gloucester;  1817,  Kissey  and  Leopold;  1818,  Char- 
lotte, Wilberforce,  and  Bothwell;  1819,  Kent,  York,  Wel- 
lington, Waterloo.  These  villages  are  generally  situate  in  dif- 


THE  BANANAS  AND  ISLES  DE  LOS.  .559 

ferent  parts  of  the  mountain,  but  all  connected  by  good-roads 
with  each  other,  and  with  Free-town,  the  capital. 

The  Bannana  Islands,  two  in  number,  S.W.  of  Free-town, 
may  be  termed  one  island,  6  miles  in  length  and  1  in  breadth, 
and  were  ceded  to  the  Crown  in  1819  by  the  family  of  the 
Caulkers,  who  receive  for  them  an  annual  payment. 

The  Isles  de  Los,  in  N.  lat.  9.16.;  W.  long.  16.;  five  in 
number,  are  situate  about  60  miles  to  the  northward  of  Sierra 
Leone,  and  five  or  six  miles  from  the  coast,  and  were  ceded 
to  Great  Britain  by  the  Chief,  Dalla  Mahomeda,  to  whom  an 
annual  payment  is  made  for  them.  Factory  Island,  the  second 
in  extent,  is  four  and  a  half  long,  by  half  a  mile  broad ; 
they  are  however  very  valuable  for  the  trade  which  is  from 
them  carried  on  with  the  rivers  of  the  adjacent  continent, 
consisting  in  the  exchange  of  British  goods  for  hides,  ivory, 
gold  dust,  &c.* 

The  Gambia. — St.  Mary's  Island  (our  principal  settlement 
on  the  Gambia)  lies  quite  close  to  the  continentf  on  the  S.  side, 
running  nearly  E.  and  W.  about  15  miles,  but  of  very  incon- 
siderable breadth,  and  commanding  the  entrance  to  the  river 

*  There  is  also  a  considerable  commerce  in  rice  on  this  part  of  the  coast, 
some  of  which  is  exported  by  the  traders  at  Sierra  Leone  to  the  West 
Indies,  but  the  quality  is  much  injured  by  the  imperfect  process  in  use 
amongst  the  natives,  for  cleaning  it.  British  factories  have  recently  been 
established  in  several  of  the  rivers  between  the  Gambia  and  Sierra  Leone, 
particularly  at  the  Rio  Nunez,  Scarces,  &c. ;  but,  unfortunately,  the  pro- 
gress of  lawful  commerce  is  much  impeded  in  ihis  as  in  many  other  parts 
of  the  coast,  by  the  slave  trade,  which  is  carried  on  by  the  Spaniards  and 
Portuguese  to  a  very  considerable  extent,  and  with  little  interruption,  as 
this  part  of  the  coast  is  seldom  visited  by  the  ships  of  our  squadron,  ap- 
pointed to  suppress  the  trade.  They  cruize  chiefly  in  the  bight  of  Benin, 
leaving  the  windward  coast  from  the  Gambia  to  Sierra  Leone  without  pro- 
tection. There  should  never  be  less  than  one  vessel  in  that  quarter,  and 
one  vessel  could  do  little  more  than  mitigate  the  evil.  The  trade  is  carried 
on  with  so  much  cunning  in  fast  sailing  vessels,  so  well  adapted  to  the  ini- 
quitous object,  that  few  of  them  are  taken  compared  with  the  numbers  that 
escape.  A  steam  boat  in  that  part  of  the  coast  would  afford  by  far  the 
cheapest  and  most  effectual  check  to  the  traffic. 

f  Cattle  can  cross  over  at  low  water  to  Cape  St.  Mary's. 


560        MR.  forster's  patriotism  and  philanthropy. 

Gambia.  The  island  is  an  uninterrupted  flat,  somewhat 
elevated,  and  covered  with  a  thick  brush  of  underwood,  de- 
noting the  fertihty  of  the  soil.* 

*  While  this  sheet  was  going  to  press  I  received  a  letter  vvith  some  ex- 
cellent specimens  of  the  products  of  Western  Africa,  from  a  London 
merchant,  Mr.  Mathew  Forster,  who  has  zealously  and  patriotically  exerted 
himself  for  the  welfare  of  that  unfortunate  but  valuable  country.  He 
observes — 

*  It  may  add  some  interest  to  your  chapter  on  our  African  settlements  if 
you  notice  the  probable  discoveries  that  may  yet  be  made  in  the  products 
of  that  quarter  of  the  world,  which,  till  very  lately,  was  seldom  visited 
for  any  more  legitimate  article  of  produce  than  human  flesh.  I  have 
already  mentioned  to  you  that  teak  timber  for  the  purpose  of  ship-build- 
ing, and  mahogany  are  discoveries  within  the  last  twenty  years.  The  first 
importation  of  palm  oil  is  within  the  recollection  of  persons  now  alive,  and 
when  the  slave  trade  was  abolished  in  1808,  the  quantity  imported  annually 
did  not  exceed  one  or  two  hundred  tons.  The  annual  importations  now 
exceed  twelve  thousand  tons ! 

*  I  have  lately  been  attempting  to  obtain  other  oils  from  the  coast,  and  it 
was  only  yesterday  I  received  from  the  hands  of  the  oil  presser  the  result 
of  my  most  recent  experiment  on  the  ground  nut,  which  I  am  happy  to 
say  is  encouraging.  I  send  you  a  sample  of  the  oil  extracted  from  them. 
They  are  from  the  Gambia.  [It  is  a  pure  golden  coloured  oil,  vvith  a  plea- 
sant flavour,  free  from  the  frequent  rancidity  of  olive  oil.]  I  lately  re- 
ceived from  Cape  Coast  a  quantity  of  the  palm  nut  from  which  the  palm 
oil  is  previously  obtained,  for  the  purpose  of  examining  the  kernels  to  see 
whether  they  would  not  yield  an  oil  worth  extracting  ;  I  send  you  a  sample 
of  the  nuts,  and  one  of  the  candles  made  from  the  styrine  obtained  from 
them,  but  I  do  not  think  they  have  had  fair  play  in  the  management. 

*  I  also  send  you  a  sample  of  a  physic-nut  sent  home  by  Mr.  President 
Maclean  the  other  day  from  Cape  Coast,  upon  which  Mr.  Battley,  the  phar- 
maceutical chemist  has  made  some  experiments,  and  of  which  he  reports 
most  favourably.  He  states  that  the  oil  obtained  from  them  has  all  the 
valuable  qualities  of  castor  oil  in  a  stronger  degree — a  few  drops  being 
sufficient,  while  it  is  free  from  the  loathsome  taste  so  objectionable  in  cas- 
tor oil.  He  has  had  it  tried  in  the  hospitals,  where  it  has  been  reported 
favourably  of.  I  will  obtain  from  him  a  specimen  of  the  oil  for  you.  It 
is  used  as  physic  by  the  natives. 

*  If  1  am  blessed  with  health  and  life  for  a  few  years  longer,  I  do  not  de- 
spair of  increasing  tlie  number  and  value  of  our  African  imports.  It  is 
the  surest  method  of  improving  Africa  and  benefiting  the  mother  country, 


BRITISH  SETTLEMENTS  ON  THE  GAMBIA.  iiCA 

Bat  hurst  Town  is  built  on  the  E.  side  of  the  island,  on  a 
point  which  admits  of  a  strong  battery,  being  surrounded 
on  nearly  three  sides  by  the  tolerably  deep  and  rapid  river. 
The  strata  is  a  gravelly  soil,  consisting  of  the  brown  oxyd  of 
iron,  strewn  over  a  stratum  of  rock  of  the  same  composition ; 
the  other  parts  of  the  island  consists,  principally,  of  a  rich, 
dark,  loamy  mould. 

The  river  (for  navigation,  see  nautical  instructions)  from 
which  the  settlement  derives  its  name,  empties  itself  into  the 
ocean  by  a  mouth  about  nine  miles  wide  between  Cape  St. 
Mary  on  the  S.  and  the  Bird's  Island  on  the  N.  It  was 
formerly  supposed  to  be  a  branch  of  the  Niger,  but  this 
notion  was  refuted  by  Mr.  Park.  Its  sources  have  never  been 
explored  by  European  travellers,  but  it  has  been  ascertained 
to  take  its  rise  amongst  the  lofty  range  of  mountains  which 
form  the  eastern  frontier  of  Foota  falls.  It  communicates 
with  the  Senegal  River  by  the  Neriko,  and  is  called  by  the 
natives  River  Ba  Deema  in  the  upper  country.  Vessels  of 
300  tons  navigate  it  for  sixty  leagues,  and  smaller  vessels  as 
far  as  Barraconda,  250  leagues  from  the  entrance ;  here  the 
obstructions  commence  which  render  further  navigation  im- 
possible. From  December  to  June,  which  is  the  dry  season, 
the  flow  of  the  tide  is  felt,  but  in  the  rainy  season,  from  June 
to  September,  the  stream  sets  down  so  strong,  that  vessels 
cannot  stem  the  current  by  ordinary  means ;  though  no  doubt 
advantage  might  be  taken  of  navigating  by  steam  throughout 
the  year. 

There  are  two  channels  into  the  Gambia,*  the  northernmost 

and  it  becomes  a  British  merchant  to  carry  his  views  sometimes  beyond 
the  boundary  of  sordid  gain.'  [I  trust  these  sentiments  may  be  widely 
diffused  among  our  colonial  merchants.] 

*  Colonel  Findlay,  the  late  intelligent  and  humane  Governor  of  the 
Gambia,  has  justly  observed  to  me  that,  it  is  greatly  to  be  lamented  the 
British  government  have  not  yet  surveyed  the  various  large  rivers  and 
creeks  which  empty  themselves  into  the  Gambia ;  if  this  were  accom- 
plished there  can  be  no  doubt  but  an  extensive  inland  navigation  would 
follow,  which  would  increase  the  trade,  by  affording  a  more  ready  and 
friendly  intercourse  with  the  natives. 
VOL.  iV.  O  O 


562  FRENCH  ENCROACHMENTS  AT  THE  GAMBIA. 

which  has  six  or  seven  fathom  water,  is  six  miles  wide,  and 
hes  between  the  Bird's  Island  and  the  Banguion  bank,  the 
smaller  on  the  other  side  of  the  bank  and  under  Cape  St. 
Mary,  has  about  nine  feet  water.  The  river  is  at  all  times 
muddy,  and  is  infested  with  crocodiles,  and  also  inhabited  by 
the  hippopotamus.     It  abounds  with  fish  of  various  kinds. 

There  are  several  establishments  on  the  Gambia  belonging 
to  Great  Britain,  as  well  as  Bathurst.  Macarthy's  island  is 
up  the  river,  more  than  300  miles.  Fort  James  is  situated 
on  an  island  about  30  miles  up  the  river ;  it  is  only  200  yards 
long  and  50  broad,  and  was,  formerly,  strongly  fortified,  but 
the  French,  on  capturing  it  in  1688,  destroyed  the  works 
which  have  never  been  entirely  restored.  Opposite  Fort 
James  on  the  N.  bank  is  Jillifree,  in  a  healthy  situation,  and 
surrounded  by  a  fertile  district.  On  the  S.  bank  are  Vintain, 
Tancrowal,  and  Jouka  Konda,  the  first  two,  the  second  twelve 
leagues  from  Fort  James,  and  the  last,  considerably  up  the 
river.  About  a  league  above  Fort  James  on  the  S.  side 
the  River  Bittan,  flows  into  the  Gambia,  and  this  is  at  all 
times  navigable  for  large  boats  to  the  village  of  that  name, 
inhabited  by  African  Portugueze.*  The  French  have  a  factory 
called  Albredar,  about  three  miles  below  Jillifree,  which  they 
retain  possession  of,  in  defiance  of  the  treaty  of  1783,  (con- 
firmed by  the  treaty  of  Paris),  and  despite  the  repeated  re- 
monstrances of  the  English  Government.  The  following  is 
the  article  of  the  treaty  in  question: — "Art.  X.  The  most 
Christian  King  on  his  part,  guarantees  to  the  King  of  Great 
Britain  the  possessions  of  Fort  James  and  of  the  River 
Gambia."  When  Senegal  and  Goree  fell  into  our  hands  by 
conquest,  during  the  last  war,  in  1809,  the  commerce  of  the 

*  The  sovereio^nty  of  a  tract  of  country  (one  mile  inland  from  the  beach 
between  Burragadoo  Creek  and  Junkarda  Creek)  was  ceded  to  the  Kinsf  of 
Great  Britain  by  treaty  witli  the  King  and  Chiefs  of  Barra,  signed  at  Jillifree 
I5th  June,  182G,  a  small  spot  of  400  yards  by  300  yards  called  Albredar, 
near  James  Island,  excepted.  This  tract  is  extremely  valuable  from  its  po- 
sition on  the  left  bank  of  the  river  Gambia,  opposite  St.  James  and  St. 
Mary's  islands,  giving  us  a  control  of  the  navigation  of  the  stream  from  its 
entrance  to  James's  island. 


VIOLATION  OF  THE  FRES'CH  TREATY  WITH  GREAT  BRITAIN.    3()3 

Gambia  was  carried  on  by  the  English  traders  exclusively 
from  Goree.  On  the  restoration  of  those  places  to  the  French 
by  the  treaty  of  Paris,  exclusive  possession  of  the  Gambia  was 
reassured  to  us  on  the  same  footing  as  by  the  treaty  of  1783, 
and  our  settlement  at  Cape  St.  Mary's  was  immediately  formed 
for  the  protection  of  its  trade.  Shortly  afterwards,  the  French, 
for  the  purpose  of  securing  a  footing  in  the  river,  dispatched 
an  agent  from  Goree  to  establish  a  trading  post,  or  comptoir, 
as  they  call  it,  at  Albredar,  under  pretence  of  their  having 
formerly  had  a  co??iptoir  at  that  place.  Unfortunately  this 
was  not  resisted  at  the  time  by  the  English  commandant.  Col. 
Grant,  for  want  of  sufficient  information  on  the  nature  of  the 
treaties,  and  every  attempt  made  since  to  dislodge  them  by 
fair  means,  has  failed  of  success.  It  is  but  justice  to  our  go- 
vernment to  add,  that  the  most  persevering  remonstrances 
have  been  addressed  in  vain  to  the  French  government  on 
this  subject. 

Akin  to  this  conduct  on  the  part  of  the  French  is,  their 
behaviour  in  respect  to  our  right  by  treaty  to  carry  on  the 
gum  trade  with  the  Moors  at  Portindic.  That  right  is 
solemnly  guaranteed  to  us  by  the  treaty  of  1783,  (since  con- 
firmed by  the  treaty  of  Paris),  in  the  following  words  of  Art. 
XI.  "As  to  the  gum  trade,  the  English  shall  have  the  right 
of  carrying  it  on  from  the  mouth  of  the  river  St.  John,  to  the 
Bay  and  Fort  of  Portindic  inclusively:  provided  that  they 
shall  not  form  any  permanent  settlement  of  whatsoever 
nature  in  the  said  river  St.  John,  upon  the  coast  or  in  the 
Bay  of  Portindic." 

Nothing  can  be  more  clear  and  definite  than  this  article  of 
the  treaty,  which  has  been  faithfully  adhered  to  on  our  part ; 
no  permanent  (nor  even  temporary)  establishment  having  been 
formed  by  the  English  within  the  prescribed  limits.  But 
what  has  been  the  conduct  of  the  French  ?  During  the  gum 
trade  of  last  year  (1834)  under  pretence  of  a  war  with  the 
Trazar  tribe  of  Moors,  from  whom  we  obtain  our  supply  of 
gum  at  Portindic,  they  sent  from  Senegal  a  naval  force,  and 
seized  our  vessels  trading  there  ;  which,  however,  on  the  re~ 


504-  BRITISH  FORTS  ON  THE  GOLD  COAST. 

monstrance  of  Lieut.-Governor  Rendall,  they  subsequently 
gave  up,  and  it  was  supposed  that  the  outrage  would  not  be 
repeated.  In  this,  however,  the  Enghsh  traders  have  found 
themselves  mistaken :  the  desire  of  the  French  at  Senegal  to 
monopolize  the  gum  trade  is  not  to  be  restrained  by  the  faith 
of  treaties.  The  Governor  of  Senegal  has  given  notice  to  our 
Governor  at  the  Gambia  that  Portindic  is,  this  season,  to  be 
formally  and  effectively  blockaded  against  our  trade  by  French 
ships  of  war,  and  as  the  notice  has  not  been  given  in  time  to 
prevent  arrangements  being  made,  and  supplies  being  sent 
out  for  the  trade  of  the  season,  very  serious  losses  must  be 
sustained  by  the  merchants  engaged  in  the  trade.  Parallel 
to  this  is  the  conduct  of  the  French,  in  respect  to  the  fisheries 
at  Newfoundland,  as  explained  in  my  third  volume,  where,  in 
defiance  of  the  faith  of  treaties  and  of  common  justice,  they 
deny  us  the  right  of  fishing  on  the  coasts  of  our  own  colony ! 
How  long  are  these  encroachments  to  be  submitted  to  ? 

The  trade  of  the  Gambia  has  recently  suffered  severely 
from  outrages  committed  up  the  river  by  a  native  chief,  who 
has  seized  and  plundered  the  trading  vessels  belonging  to  the 
merchants  at  Bathurst.  The  most  valuable  part  of  our  traffic 
is  carried  on  high  up  the  river,  above  Macarthy's  Island, 
where  no  protection  by  government  has  yet  been  provided 
for  the  trade.  This,  by  means  of  block  houses,  might  be 
afforded  at  a  small  expence,  which  the  value  of  the  trade 
would  amply  repay.  The  immense  extent  of  the  River 
Gambia,  and  the  thickly  populated  and  fertile  country 
through  which  it  has  its  course,  will  render  it,  ultimately,  the 
most  valuable  of  our  possessions  in  that  quarter  of  the  world. 

We  now  approach  the  Gold  Coast,  the  British  forts  and 
stations  on  which  are  at  Dix  Cove,  Sucundee,  Comenda,  Cape 
Coast  Castle,  Annamaboo,  Tantum,  Winnebah,  and  Accra ; 
of  these  only  a  few  here  require  notice. 

Dix  Cove,  is  a  few  miles  to  leeward  of  Cape  Three  Points, 
affording  only  shelter  to  boats  of  15  or  20  tons  burthen,  but 
yielding  much  gold  of  a  fine  quality. 

Cape  Coast  Castle  (long  the  seat  of  the  British  Govern- 


CAPE  COAST  CASTLE. 


565 


ment  on  the  Gold  Coast,  and  residence  of  the  chief  Governor 
during  the  sovereignty  of  the  late  African  Company),  stands 
upon  a  rock  of  gneis  and  mica  slate,  about  20  feet  above  the 
level  of  the  sea,  in  lat.  5.6,  N.,  long.  1.10.  W. 

It  may  be  considered  the  centre  capital  between  Sierra 
Leone  and  the  Bights  of  Benin  and  Biafra  ;  as  also  the  great 
emporium  of  trade  for  the  introduction  of  British  manufac- 
tures, and  the  obtaining  gold  dust,  palm  oil,  and  ivory. 

The  castle  is  an  irregular  figure  of  four  sides,  with  four 
bastions  at  each  angle ;  the  whole  mounting  about  80  pieces 
of  cannon.  Two-thirds  of  the  walls  of  the  fortress  are  washed 
by  the  very  heavy  sea  which  invariably  runs  along  this  line 
of  coast,  and  it  is  well  protected  on  the  land  side. 

Within  the  Castle  is  an  extensive  line  of  spacious  buildings, 
three  stories  high,  running  N.  and  S.  dividing  the  fort  into 
nearly  two  equal  parts,  and  containing  the  government-house, 
&c. ;  a  nearly  similar  structure  runs  E.  forming  a  triangular 
space  of  considerable  extent. 

The  Cape,  on  which  the  Castle  stands,  is  an  angular  pro- 
montory, bounded  by  the  sea  on  the  S.  and  E.  sides.  It  was 
originally  settled  by  the  Portuguese,  but  the  Dutch  dispos- 
sessed them  in  a  few  years,  and  took  great  pains  to  strengthen 
the  fortifications.  Admiral  Holmes  captured  it,  and  demo- 
lished the  citadel  in  1661,  since  which  time  it  has  remained 
in  the  possession  of  Great  Britain,  having  been  confirmed  by 
the  treaty  of  Breda.  When  the  Dutch  Admiral  De  Ruyter, 
destroyed  all  the  English  factories  along  the  coast  in  1665, 
this  place  withstood  his  utmost  endeavours,  although  he 
attacked  it  with  13  men  of  war ;  the  Company,  who  ob- 
tained a  charter  in  1672,  subsequently  added  greatly  to  its 
strength  by  building  some  bastions,  though  the  fort  is  consi- 
dered to  be  too  near  the  town,  and  commanded  by  some  of 
the  houses.  Smollett,  in  his  History  of  England,  relates  a 
circumstance  relative  to  this  Castle  deserving  notice  here. 

In  1757,  the  French,  in  furtherance  of  the  plan  which  they 
have  ever  sedulously  pursued — the  ruin  of  the  British  Colo- 
nies— sent  a  naval  commander  named  de  Kersin,  to  reduce  our 


666  COUNTRY  AROUND  CAPE  COAST  CASTLE. 

forts  on  the  Coast  of  Western  Africa.     Tlie  chief  aim  was  to 
capture  Cape  Coast  Castle,  for  its  conquest  would  lead  to  the 
relinquishment  of  all  the  minor  forts.     When  Mr.  Bell,  the 
Governor,  received  intelligence  that  M.  de  Kersin  was  only  a 
few  leagues  to  windward,  his  whole  force  did  not  exceed  30 
white,  a    few  mulatto  soldiers,   half  a  barrel  of  gunpowder, 
and  a  few  crazy  guns :  Mr.  Bell  immediately  provided  gun- 
powder, and  about  50  Europeans,  from  some  vessels  on  the 
coast,  mounted  a  few  spare  cannon  upon  a  temporai'y  battery, 
assembled  1200  armed  negroes,  under  the  command  of  their 
chief, — received  the  French  squadron^  consisting  of  two  ships 
of  the  line  and  a  large  frigate,  and  poured  such  a  steady  and 
well-directed  fire  for  two  hours  into  M.  Kersin's  fleet,  that  the 
latter  thought  it  most  prudent  to  make  sail  for  the  West  In- 
dies, without  inflicting  any  great  damage  on  the  Castle. 

Cape  Coast  Castle  was  originally  surrounded  with  wood, 
but  a  large  tract  of  country  has  been  now  cleared  and 
rendered  fit  for  cultivation. 

The  native  towns  on  the  sea  coast  are  generally  built  close 
to  the  w  alls  of  the  European  forts  ;  the  houses  are  principally 
constructed  of  mud,  and  covered  with  Guinea  grass,  and  so 
crowded  together  as  to  render  it  almost  impossible  to  pass 
throvigh  the  spaces  allotted  for  streets ;  ventilation  is  of  course 
quite  out  of  the  question,  and  as  the  inhabitants  are  filthy 
beyond  description,  their  villages  are  productive  of  much 
disease  not  only  to  themselves  but  to  those  Europeans,  who 
happen  to  reside  near  them. 

To  this  description.  Cape  Coast  Town  is,  however,  an  ex- 
ception; streets  are  now  formed,  immense  masses  of  filth 
have  been  removed,  the  surrounding  hills  have  been  cleared 
of  their  luxuriant  foliage,  roads  have  been  cut,  and  the 
*  tout  ensemble'  presents  prospects  of  gratifying  improvement. 
About  five  miles  N.W.  from  Cape  Coast  Castle  is  a  small 
river,  running  in  a  southerly  direction,  and  emptying  itself 
into  the  sea  within  two  miles  of  Elmina,  forming  the  boundary 
between  the  Dutch  and  British  Possessions.* 

*  The  number  of  European  stations  on  the  Gold  Coast  \vas  at  one  time 


ANNAMABOE  AND  ACCRA  SETTLEMENTS.  567 

At  a  distance  of  about  two  miles  to  leeward  (eastward)  a 
chain  of  hills,  forming  an  irregular  amphitheatre  160  feet 
above  the  level  of  the  sea,  commences  and  runs  in  a  semicir- 
cular direction,  approaching  the  castle  at  some  places  within 
a  quarter  of  a  mile,  and  terminating  on  the  shore  about  a  mile 
to  windward.  There  are  no  mountains  within  several  miles 
of  Cape  coast  Castle,  the  highest  land  not  being  more  than  200 
feet  above  the  sea ;  nor  are  there  any  plains  of  great  extent ; 
clumps  of  hills,  with  their  corresponding  valleys,  are  however 
every  where  to  be  seen  covered  with  a  most  luxuriant  foliage 
throughout  the  year.  As  far  as  the  eye  can  reach  the  face  of 
the  country  appears  a  continued  forest,  until  the  boundaries 
of  the  Winnebah  and  Accra  territories  are  reached,  where 
extensive  verdant  plains,  are  interspersed  with  clusters  of 
trees  ;  and  chiefly  indebted  for  their  fertility  to  being  an- 
nually overflowed  during  the  rains. 

Annamaboe,  ten  miles  to  eastward  of  Cape  Coast  Castle,  is 
a  good  fortification,  of  a  quadrangular  form,  built  on  the 
extreme  margin  of  the  shore,  the  sea  washing  the  foot  of  the 
southern  boundary  wall,  and  the  town  of  Annamaboe  taking 
the  form  of  a  crescent,  embraces  it.  Tantum  and  Winnebah 
require  no  separate  notice. 

Accra  lies  in  S.S'S.  N.  lat.,  and  0.5.0.  W.  long. ;  there 
are  three  settlements  there,  English,  Dutch,  and  Danish. 
The  view  from  seaward  is  picturesque,  the  houses  white  and 
regularly  built,  and  in  their  rear,  a  large  plain,  studded  with 
*  bush,'  or  groves,  of  various  foliage.  As  the  voyager  ad- 
vances towards  the  River  Succomo  the  prospect  widens — and 
is  finally  bounded  by  high  lands,  whose  slopes  yield  excellent 
sheep  pasturage.  The  country  around  is  in  general  a  fine, 
open,  and  level  land,  with  a  sandy,  red,  and  black  soil,  or 
rich  mould. 

Accra  carries  on  a  considerable  trade  with  the  Ashantees, 

considerable ; — from  Apollonia  to  Accra,  a  distance  of  64  leagues,  there 
were,  in  1808,  of  Dutch  forts  13,  of  Danish  4,  and  of  British  10— namely 
Apoilonia,  Dix  Cove,  Succondee  and  Commenda,  to  westward  of  Cape 
Coast  Castle,  and  Annaniahoe,  Tantuin  Qnerry,  Winneltah,  Accra,  Pram- 
.prain  and  Whydah,  to  lecw  ard  of  Cape  Coast  Caslle. 


568  HUMANIZING  INFLUENCE  OF  ENGLISHMEN. 

who  bring  ivory,  gold  dust,  horses,  &c.  to  exchange  for 
romals,  silks,  tobacco,  and  rum,  creating  a  considerable  extent 
of  business,  for  the  Ashantees  are  a  shrewd  and  intelligent 
people,  well  acquainted  with  the  advantages  of  social  inter- 
course, and  greatly  superior  to  the  Fantees,  and  other  water- 
side people.  Indeed,  it  is  a  remarkable  fact,  that  the  people 
nearest  the  shore  on  the  whole  line  of  coast,  are  more  trea- 
cherous, cowardly,  and  unprincipled,  than  those  of  the  inte- 
rior ;  a  striking  proof  how  little  the  natives  have  hitherto 
benefited  by  their  intercourse  with  the  civilized  nations  of 
Europe  while  slavery  existed.  But  the  natives,  near  the 
British  forts,  are  now  receiving  daily  advantage  and  improve- 
ment from  the  residence  and  example  of  Europeans  who  are 
no  longer,  as  formerly,  engaged  in  the  slave  trade.  Mr.  Pre- 
sident Maclean,  the  present  Governor  of  Cape  Coast  Castle, 
has,  I  am  informed,  exerted  himself  with  the  most  praise- 
worthy zeal  and  ability  to  wean  the  natives  from  many  of  their 
barbarous  customs  (that  of  human  sacrifices,  on  the  death  of 
their  kings  and  chiefs  in  particular,  which  were  formerly  some- 
times performed  within  sight  of  the  castle  walls),  in  which  he 
has  been  eminently  successful,  and  for  which  he  merits  the 
thanks  of  every  friend  of  humanity. 

Mr.  Sewell,  who  resided  18  years  at  Cape  Coast  Castle, 
and  who  is  now  in  London,  says  that,  he  considers  the  natives 
on  the  Gold  Coast  more  remarkable  for  their  humanity  than 
for  their  ferocity.  It  is  true  that  under  the  influence  of  reli- 
gious fanaticism  they  perpetrate  (although  now  but  seldom) 
human  sacrifices;  but  during  the  18  years  he  resided  on  the 
coast  he  scarcely  ever  heard  of  a  murder,  or  any  other  act  of 
personal  violence  amongst  the  natives,  and  certainly  fewer  than 
amongst  an  equal  given  number  of  the  inhabitants  of  any 
nation  in  Europe. 

James  Fort,  Accra,  belongs  to  the  English ; — not  quite  a 
cannon  shot  to  leeward  lies  the  dismantled  Dutch  fortification 
of  Crevecceur ;  and  about  2^  miles  distant  from  James  Fort  is 
situated  Christianborg  Castle,  built  on  a  promontory,  and  the 
chief  settlement  in  Western  Africa  belonging  to  the  Danes. 

Nautical  Observations. — I  here  subjoin,  as  in   the  pre- 


SAILING  INSTRUCTIONS  FOR  MARINERS.  5G9 

ceding  volumes  of  this  Work,  such  Nautical  Observations  as 
may  be  useful  to  mariners — to  which  landsmen  (who  know 
nothing  of  the  perils  of  a  surf-bound  coast)  will  not,  I  trust 
object. 

Gold  Coast.  The  best  part  for  anchorage  in  Cape  Coast 
Roads  is  the  flag-staff  on  the  castle,  bearing  from  N.  to  N.W., 
in  about  six  fathoms  water.  Small  trading  craft  may  approach 
nearer,  but  as  a  very  heavy  swell  almost  constantly  sets  in, 
care  is  necessary  not  to  be  too  near  the  breakers.  The  same 
bearings  may  be  observed  at  Annamaboe  and  Accra,  but  if 
the  latter  fort  be  brought  to  bear  N. W.  half  W.,  or  N.N.W., 
in  the  depth  of  five  fathoms,  the  difliculty  which  often  arises 
in  weighing  the  anchor  will  be  lessened.  The  bottom  at  Accra 
is  a  very  stiff  clay  ;  and  if  a  ship  lies  with  the  fort  bearing  to 
the  eastward  or  north  in  six  or  seven  fathoms,  there  is  a  great 
probability  she  will  lose  her  anchor  in  attempting  to  weigh  it. 
The  strength  of  the  current  varies  considerably  along  the 
coast,  but  its  average  rate  is  one  mile  and  a  half  an  hour  to 
the  eastward.  The  sea  breeze  is  much  more  regular  than  on 
the  west  coast,  and  sets  in  earlier ;  the  land  wind  is  neither 
so  constant,  nor  of  so  long  duration. 

River  Gambia. — Bird  Island,  is  on  the  northern  shore  of 
the  River  Gambia:  the ^«^  may  be  seen  in  common  clear 
weather  from  12  to  15  miles  off;  it  bears  from  Cape  St.  Mary 
N.  by  E.  half  E.  by  compass.  This  island  may  be  approached 
from  the  westward  within  three  or  four  miles  by  any  vessel 
drawing  less  than  20  feet  water ;  houses  have  been  erected 
close  by  the  flag-staff  for  the  accommodation  of  a  pilot ;  and 
there  is  a  small  detachment  of  the  2nd  West  India  regiment 
here. 

Portindic,  Western  extremity  of  the  Sahara  Desert. — The 
tall  and  bare  palm  or  date;  tree,  just  above  the  sea  beach 
ought  to  bear  N.  E.  and  by  E.  to  a  vessel  coming  to  anchor 
in  '  Waterman's  Bay.'  The  best  anchorage  is  about  one  mile 
from  the  shore,  in  four  or  five  fathoms  water.  There  is  less 
surf  in  this  little  bay  than  in  any  other  part  of  the  Bay  of 
Portendic ;  and  the  gum  arabic  trade,  which   is  always  car- 


o^ 


0 


GEOGRAPHICAL  POSITIONS.       WEST  AFRICA. 


vied  on  with  the  Moors  afloat  is  done  there  with  the  greatest 
facihty,  safety,  and  advantage.*" 

Latitudes  and  Lon<ritu(les  of  places  on  the  western  coast  of  Africa,  and 
the  islands  adjacent,  deduced  from  the  surveys  of  His  Majesty's  ship 
*  Leven'  and  the  squadron  under  Commodore  Sir  G.  Collier : — Cape 
Bojador,  267-  N.  14-32-  W.  ;  Cape  Blanco,  20-50-  N.  17- 10-  W.;  Portendic, 
18'19-  N.  1G3-  W.  ;  Senegal,  Fort  Louis,  KiS"  N.  16-29-  W. ;  Cape  Verd, 
•  14-43-  N.  17-33-  W. ;  Cape  St.  Mary,  River  Gambia,  13  30-  N.  16-42-  W. ; 
West  Bird  Island,  do.  13-42-  N.  16-40W. ;  Cape  Roxo,  12  22.  N.  16-53-VV. ; 
JNIud  Bar,  River  Pongos,  9-67-  N.  13-56-  W. ;  Cape  Sierra  Leone,  8'30-  N. 
13- 12-  W.  ;  Free  Town,  8  SO*  N.  13-5-30.  W.,  (variation  of  the  compass 
17  deg.  17.  min.W.)  ;  Shoals  of  St.  Ann,  8-0  N.  13  40'  W.  ;  River  Gallinas, 
6-57-  N.  11-41-  W.;  Cape  Mount,  6-43-  N.  11-18  W. ;  Cape  Mesurada, 
6-13-  N.  10-44-  W.;  River  Junk,  67-  N. ;  Settra  Kroo,  4.52-  N.  8-44-  W. ; 
Cape  Palmas,  4-24-  N.  7-38-  W. ;  Lahou  Town,  4  68-  N.4  48-  VV.;  Cape 
Apollonia,  S'S'  N.  2-40-  W. ;  Cape  Three  Points,  W.  Cape,  4-45-,  27'  E. 
Cape  4-45. 1-59-  W. ;  Dixcove,  4  48'  N.  1-55-  W. ;  Tackarary,  4  53-  N.  1-42- 
W. ;  Succondee,  4-55  iN.  1-39-  W. ;  Chamah,  4  58  N.  1-34-  W. ;  Commenda, 
6-3-  N.  1-27-  W.;  Elmiua  Castle,  54.  N.  VYJ-  W. ;  Cape  Coast  Castle, 
6-6-  N.  1-10-W.;  Annamaboe,  5-10  N.  0  59-30'  W.  ;  Tantumquerry, 
5- 12-  N.  0-39-30  W. ;  Accra,  5-33- N.  0-5-0- W. ;  Prampram,  544.  N. 
0-12  30- E.;  Ningo,  546.  N.O  1830.  E. ;  River  Volta,  5-47- N.  0.51  •49-E. ; 
Cape  St.  Paul,  5-47  N.  M-49-E. ;  Quittah,  5-65-  N.  1-3-45-  E. ;  Little 
Popoe,  6-15  N.  1-45-30E. ;  Grand  Popoe,  6-19.  N.  l-57'27-  E  ;  Whydali, 
6-20-  N.  2-14-  E.;  Appee,  6-22-  N.  2  31-45-  E. ;  Porto  Novo,  6-25- xN. 
2  43-33-  E. ;  Badagry,  6-26-  N.  2-52'45.  E.  ;  River  Lagos,  6-27-  N. 
3-32-  E. ;  River  Benin,  5  46- N.  5-17- E. ;  River  dos  Escravos,  5-35-  N. 
5-20-  E. ;  River  dos  Forcados,  5-22-  N.  5-30-33.  E. ;  River  Ramos,  6  9-  N. 
6-33  30-  E. ;  River  Dodo,  450  N.  5-38-30-  E. ;  Cape  Formoso,  4-28-  N. 
6"59-15-  E. ;  River  Formoso,  or  first  river,  4-28-  N.  6-  E. ;  Cape  Nun,  or 
second  river.  4'17'  N.  610*  E.  ;  River  St.  John,  or  third  river,  4'18.  N. 
6-16-30  E.  ;  River  St.  Michael,  or  fourth  river,  4-16- N.  6.  21-45-  E.; 
River  Santa  Barbara,  or  fifth  river,  4-2()-30-  N.  6-34.  E.  j  River  St.  Bar- 
tholomew, or  sixth  river,  4'20  30"  N.  6-45. 30*  E. ;  River  Sombrero,  or 
seventh  river,  4-20-  N.  ()5230  E. ;  Foche  Point,  4-21-30-  N.  7-10-  E.,  and' 
Rough  Corner,  4-22-  N.  7-22-  E.,  (entrance  to  River  Bonny) ;  River  Old 
Calabar,  (entrance)  4-34-  N.  8  38-  E.  ;  Bembia,  Cape  and  River,  4-0-2-N. 
9-20-  E. ;  Cape  Cameroons,  3-54-  N.  9-32-  E. ;  River  Campo,  2-20-  N. 
10-3-10-  E. ;  Cape  St.  John,  1-.9- N.  9-29- E.  ; 
in  front  of  the  River  Danger,  0-58-  N.  9-26  E. ; 
9-24-  E.,  and  Round  Corner,  01 4.29-  N.  9-22- 
River.) 


I 


Corisco  Island,  E.  point 
Cape  Clara,  0-30-44-  N. 
E  ,  (entrance  to  Gaboon 


*  It  j.s  this  I)ay  which  the  French  have  recently  blockaded.    Sec  p.  563. 


GEOLOGY  AND  SOIL.       GOLD  PRODUCED.  571 

Geology  and  Soil.  On  this  head,  of  course,  nothing  more 
than  isolated  facts  can  yet  be  expected.  The  soil  in  the 
vicinity  of  Sierra  Leone,  consists  chiefly  of  a  slight  stratum 
of  brown  gravel  on  a  semi-vitrified  rock  of  the  same  colour, 
containing  a  large  portion  of  the  oxide  of  iron.  This  is 
what  is  called  the  brown  iron-stone  ;  the  red  iron  stone  is 
also  found  in  extensive  strata,  but  the  broivn  appears  to  be  the 
more  prevailing  one.  Both  these  varieties  of  haematites  are 
cellular  throughout  their  entire  substance,  strongly  indicating 
volcanic  origin ;  they  are  intersected  with  yellow  streaks, 
and  kydney-shaped  segments.  Magnetic  iron  ore  is  found 
in  the  mountains  in  small  detached  masses.  Some  of  the 
mountains  are  chiefly  composed  of  granite,  large  blocks  of 
which  are  frequently  seen  studding  the  surface  of  the  plains. 
No  limestone  has  hitherto  been  discovered  in  the  colony, 
but  fortunately  there  is  a  large  abundance  of  fossil  shells. 
Gold  is  abundant,  as  shewn  by  the  quantities  exported  to 
England  during  the  last  three  years.* 

There  is  very  little  difference  in  the  soil  of  the  coast  from 
Cape  Palmas  to  the  River  Volta;  within  five  or  six  miles  of 
the  shore  it  is  of  a  siliceous  nature ;  the  clumps  of  hills 
which  are  to  be  met  with  in  every  direction  are  composed 
principally  of  gneis  and  granite  :  mica  slate  is  found  to  enter 
into  the  composition  of  some  at  no  great  distance  from  Cape 
Coast  Castle.  These  rocks,  from  containing  large  propor- 
tions of  feldspar  and  mica,  are  rapidly  passing  into  decom- 
position, more  especially  such  as  are  exposed  to  the  influence 
of  air  and  water;  the  result  of  the  decomposition  is  the 
formation  of  a  clayey  or  an  argillaceous  soil. 

*  As  near  as  I  can  ascertain,  (gold  not  being  entered  at  the  Custom- 
house) the  following  are  the  Importations  of  African  gold  for  three  years  ; 
weight  after  melting,  taken  from  the  refiner's  books. 

lbs.    oz    dwt.  £.  s.      d. 

at  77s.  9d*      87,066  15     7i 
at  do.  79,898     4     7i 

at  do.  78,903     8     4| 

5270    5  18  ^245,868    8     7| 

*  The  quality  is  generally  above  standard,  n)aking  the  actual  value  about 
41.  per  oz. 


For  1832 

1866 

4 

12 

1833 

1712 

8 

12 

1834 

1691 

4 

14 

572  CLIMATE  OF  WESTERN  AFRICA. 

As  the  sandy  sea-coast  is  receded  from,  the  soil  is  sihceous, 
mixed  with  decayed  vegetable  or  animal  matter,  where  no 
granite  or  micaceous  rocks  intervene  ;  it  is  in  the  valleys 
where  the  rich  alluvial  soil  is  met  with,  formed  of  the  disinte- 
grated materials  of  the  surrounding  hills  (washed  down  by  the 
heavy  torrents  of  rain)  and  deposited  along  with  the  vegetable 
decomposition,  giving  richness  to  the  clayey  mould.  It  is  in 
such  valleys,  from  10  to  12  miles  inland,  that  the  natives  de- 
light to  make  extensive  plantations. 

Climate. — According  to  the  distance  N.  or  S.  of  the  equator, 
and  to  the  elevation  of  the  country,  the  temperature  and  sea- 
sons of  course  vary ;  on  the  north  of  the  Equinoctial  line 
May,  June,  July,  August,  September,  and  October,  may  be 
considered  the  wet  winter  months ;  and  the  remainder  of  the 
year  the  dry  or  summer  months ;  harmattans  and  tornadoes  are 
peculiar  to  the  latter  and  fogs  to  the  former.  The  rains  com- 
mence with  the  end  of  May  or  beginning  of  June,  and  termi- 
nate in  August.  October,  November,  and  December  are 
cold,  with  occasional  fogs.  The  winds  along  the  Gold  Coast 
may  be  divided  into  the  land  and  sea  breezes,  the  former 
from  the  N.N.W.  generally,  and  the  latter  from  the  S.W. 
W.S.W.  generally;  during  the  rains  the  land  breezes  are 
irregular.  The  land  breeze  generally  continues  from  9  a.m. 
to  7  p.m. 

The  range  of  the  thermometer  is  not  great;  during  1819 
it  did  not  rise  higher  than  95 — the  minimum  being  76,  mak- 
ing a  range  of  only  9.  In  1820  max.  84  min.  74  range  10. 
In  1821  max  86"  min.  66— range  20\  In  1822  max.  89,  min. 
74 — range  15" — and  so  on  ever  since,  with  this  exception, 
that  there  is  a  visible  change  in  the  duration  of  the  respective 
seasons ;  thus,  as  Dr.  Tedlie  in  his  valuable  Report  to  the 
Army  Medical  Board  observes,  solar  heat  alone  is  not  a  cause 
of  disease. 

The  range  of  the  thermometer  at  Sierra  Leone  is  very 
slight,  and  the  average  heat  throughout  the  year  is  82.  The 
rains  continue  for  six  months,  and  the  torrents  which  pour 
down  from  the  mountains  deluge  the  plains  beneath.     The 


METEOROLOGICAL  REGISTER  FOR  SIERRA  LEONE.  573 

mountains  in  the  vicinity  of  Free  Town  are  now,   however, 

generally  cleared    and  cultivated,-  and  the    settlement  is   as 

healthy  for  European  residents  as  any  other  tropical  climate. 

Meteorological  Table,  kept  at  the  Military  Hospital,  Free  Town. 


Fah. 
Therm. 

Barometer. 

Weather. 

Pluviameter. 

i 

i'i 

S 

a 

s 

g. 

^  CS5! 

Remarks. 

B 

a 

s 

a 

i 

■3 

S 

82 

s 

>< 
OS 

s 

1 

"a 

i 

•3 

Q 
u 

I 
31 

Q 

■a  4.. 

3    IT 

U2 

Inches  and 
Decimals. 

January.. 

87 

81 

30.10 

29.10 

29.86 

N.W.  or  sea  breeze  in  the 

afternoon  ;  harmattan 

in  the  morning. 

February- 

ss 

82 

81 

30.10 

29. 80 

29.86 

28 

Not  accurately 
measured,  on  ac- 
count of  an  acci- 

A few  slight  tornadoes, 
with  little  rain  ;  winds 
as  above. 

March    . . 

84 

80 

80 

29.96 

29.86 

29.86 

30 

1 

dent  which  hap- 
pened to  the  in- 

Winds as  above  ;  torna- 
does. 

April   .... 

84 

78 

80 

29.90 

29.86 

29.85 

26 

4 

strument. 

Winds  from  N.W.  to  S. 
W.j  ditto. 

May    .... 

84 

78 

80 

29.91 

29.8O 

29.85 

14 

12 

5 

S.E.  to  S.W. ;  no  torna- 
does. 

June   .... 

84 

734  78 

30.30 

29.85 

29.86 

14 

13 

3 

Rain  from  S.E. 

July    .... 

84 

734  78 

30.30 

29.85 

29.92 

5 

23 

3 

45.44 

Ditto ;  sultry  and  chiUy. 

August  . . 

81 

74i  77 

30.10 

29.80 

29.86 

2 

29 

45.07 

Ditto. 

September 

84 

74 

78 

30.10 

29.91 

29.89 

10 

20 

29.73 

Five  tornadoes,  E.  to  S. 

W. 
Cloudy ;  sultry  days. 

October . . 

84 

77 

78 

29.96 

29.8O 

29.92 

20 

6 

5 

10.73 

November, 

85 

78 

80   29.97 

29.86 

29.92 

21 

5 

4 

5.60 

Ditto,  ditto. 

December 

86 

80 

so;  29.97 

29.89 

29.92 

23 

4 

4 

6.94 

Ditto;  thunder  and  light- 

1 

ning  in  the  evening. 

In  the  Annual  Medical  Report  from  the  West  African  Sta- 
tion for  1832,*  I  find  these  remarks : 

'Sierra  Leone. — This  station  has  continued  during  this 
year  as  during  the  two  preceding  years,  to  maintain  its  cha- 
racter for  salubrity,  the  total  number  of  casualties  in  the  sick 
returns  is  eight ;  the  strength  being  446,  and  the  total  number 
of  sick  treated  230,  of  which  last  number  (as  in  the  preceding 
year)  more  than  one-fifth  were  cases  of  sexual  disease.' 

Not  only  are  febrile  and  other  climatorial  diseases  less  pre- 
valent than  formerly,  but  their  type  is  of  far  greater  mild- 
ness, and  during  the  years  1831-32,  and  1833,  when  most 
parts  of  the  globe  were  suffering  from  cholera  and  other  pes- 
tilential diseases,  the  British  settlements  in  West  Africa  were 
in  the  enjoyment  of  perfect  health. 


*  Transmitted  to  the  Army  Medical  Department. 


574  TORNADOS  AND  IIARMATTANS. 

The  Deputy  Inspector  of  Hospitals  at  West  Africa,  states 
in  his  official  report,  in  reference  to  the  causes  of  disease  in 
Europeans — "  Breakfast  is  taken  at  rising — at  eleven  a.m.  they 
sit  down  to  'Relish,'  consisting  of  soups,  meats,  and  the 
highest  seasoned  dishes ;  wine  is  drank  as  at  dinner,  and 
afterwards  sangaree,  or  brandy  and  water,  which  too  fre- 
quently they  continue  sipping  and  drinking  till  late  in  the 
afternoon,  sometimes  to  the  dinner  hour."  (6  p.m.)  "  In  all 
the  countries,"  says  Dr.  Nicoll,  "  which  I  have  visited,  I 
never  saw  so  much  eating  and  drinking." 

The  wet  season,  as  in  some  parts  of  India,  is  usually  ushered 
in  by  tremendous  tornados,*  or  violent  gusts  of  wind,  which 
come  from  the  eastward,  attended  by  thunder,  lightning,  and,  in 
general,  heavy  rains.  The  violence  of  the  wind  seldom  con- 
tinues longer  than  half  an  hour ;  but  the  scene  during  the 
time  it  continues  rnay  be  considered  as  one  of  the  most  awfully 
sublime  in  nature.  Its  approach  is  foretold  by  certain  ap- 
pearances, which  enable  people  to  be  on  their  guard.  A  dark 
cloud,  not  larger  than  '  a  man's  hand,'  is  indistinctly  observed 
on  the  verge  of  the  eastern  horizon.  Faint  flashes  of  lightning, 
attended  sometimes  by  very  distant  thunder,  are  then  seen  to 
vibrate  in  quick  succession.  The  clouds  in  that  quarter  be- 
come gradually  more  dense  and  black;  they  also  increase  in  bulk, 
and  appear  as  if  heaped  on  each  other.  The  thunder,  which  at 
first  was  scarcely  noticed,  or  heard  only  at  long  intervals, 
draws  nearer  by  degrees,  and  becomes  more  frequent  and  tre- 
mendous. The  blackness  of  the  clouds  increase  until  a  great 
part  of  the  heavens  seem  wrapped  in  the  darkness  of  midnight : 
and  it  is  rendered  still  more  awful,  by  being  contrasted  with  a 
gleam  of  light  which  generally  appears  in  the  western  hori- 
zon. Immediately  before  the  attack  of  the  tornado,  there  is 
either  a  light  breeze,  scarcely  perceptible,  from  the  westward, 
or,  as  is  more  common,  the  air  is  perfectly  calm  and  unusually 

*  The  Harmattan,  or  N.E.  wind,  generally  blows  once  or  twice  in  Janu- 
ary and  Fel)ruary ;  it  is  of  extreme  siccidity,  and  near  the  great  desert  of 
Sahara  in  ])articular,  accompanied  by  a  dense  haze,  occasioned  by  a  vast 
quantity  of  impalpable  powder  floating  in  the  gusty  atmosphere. 


VEGETABLE  KINGDOM.       WESTERN  AFRICA.  5iO 

still.  Men  and  animals  fly  for  shelter ;  and,  while  'expecta- 
tion stands  in  horror,'  the  thundering  storm  in  an  instant 
bursts  from  the  clouds.  It  is  impossible  for  language  to  con- 
vey a  just  idea  of  the  uproar  of  the  elements  which  then  takes 
place. 

The  temperature  of  the  air  is  greatly  affected  by  a  tornado 
(it  becomes  cool  and  clear) ;  and  it  is  not  unusual  for  the 
thermometer  to  suffer  a  depression  of  eight  or  ten  degrees 
within  two  or  three  minutes  after  the  storm  has  come  on. 
After  a  tornado,  the  body  feels  invigorated  and  more  active, 
and  the  mind  recovers  much  of  that  elasticity  which  long  con- 
tinued heat  tends  to  impair. 

Vegetable  Kingdom. — From  the  River  Senegal,  in  about 
16.  N.  lat.,  to  the  Congo,  which  is  in  upwards  of  6.  S.  lat., 
there  is  a  remarkable  uniformity  of  vegetation,  not  only  as  to 
principal  orders  and  genera,  but  even,  to  a  considerable 
extent,  in  the  species  of  which  it  consists.*  Many  of  the  trees, 
the  palms,  and  several  other  remarkable  plants,  which  cha- 
racterise the  landscape,  as  Adansonia,  Bomhax  penlandrum. 
Elms  guineensis,  Rap/ria  vinifera,  and  Pandamis  Candela- 
brum, appear  to  be  very  general  along  the  whole  extent  of 
coast.  Stercidia  acuminata,  the  seed  of  which  is  the  Cola^ 
mentioned  in  the  earliest  accounts  of  Congo,  exists,  and  is 
equally  valued  in  Guinea  and  Sierra  Leone,  and,  what  is 
remarkable,  it  bears  the  same  name  throughout  the  W.  coast. 
The  ordeal  tree,  called  by  Professor  Smith  Cassa,  and  by 
Capt.  Tuckey,  erroneously,  Acassia ;  if  not  absolutely  the 
same  plant  as  the  red  water  tree  at  Sierra  Leone  and  the 
Gold  Coast,  belongs  at  least  to  the  same  genus.  A  species 
of  the  cream  fruit,  remarkable  in  affording  a  wholesome  and 
pleasant  saccharine  fluid,  used  by  the  natives  of  Sierra  Leone 
to  quench  their  thirst,  though  belonging  to  that  generally 
deleterious  family  the  ApocynecB,  is  also  met  with.  The 
Sarcocephalus  of  Afzelius,  which  is  probably  what  he  has 
noticed  vmder  the  name  of  the  country-fig  of  Sierra  Leone,  is 

*  I  am  indel)te(l  to  IMurray's  descriptive  geography  for  a  collection  of 
(lata  relative  to  tlie  veae'able  and  animal  kingdoms  of  this  coast. 


576  ESCULENT  PLANTS,  &G. 

found  on  the  banks  of  the  Congo.  Anona  senegalensis,  whose 
fruit,  though  smaller  than  that  of  the  cultivated  species,  is 
said  to  have  a  flavour  superior  to  them  all,  and  appears  to  be 
a  general  plant  along  the  whole  extent  of  coast ;  and  Chry- 
sobalanus  Icaco,  or  a  nearly  allied  species,  is  equally  common 
from  Senegal  to  Congo. 

The  trunk  of  the  Draccena  Draco  cleaves  open  in  many 
parts,  and  distils,  at  the  time  of  the  summer  solstice,  a  fluid, 
which  condenses  into  red  tears,  soft  at  first,  afterwards  hard 
and  friable :  this  is  the  true  dragon's  blood  of  the  shops,  and 
must  not  be  confounded,  though  dry,  friable,  blood-red,  and 
inflammable,  with  other  resinous  substances,  known  under 
the  same  name,  and  derived,  the  one  from  a  species  of  Cala- 
mus {Rotang),  and  the  other  from  a  Pterocarpus.  To  the 
dragon's  blood  are  attributed  astringent,  desiccatory,  and 
incrassating  virtues.  It  is  administered  internally  for  dysen- 
tery, haemorrhage,  violent  bowel  complaints,  and  inward 
ulcers;  and  externally,  to  dry  up  running  sores,  to  heal 
wounds,  and  to  strengthen  the  gums.  The  painters  make 
use  of  it,  in  the  red  varnish  with  which  they  colour  the  Chi- 
nese boxes  and  chests.  Mr.  Sewel  informs  me  that  the  cas- 
tor nut  grows  abundantly  in  the  neighbourhood  of  Cape  Coast 
Castle,  and  also  on  most  parts  of  the  Western  Coast. 

The  Esculent  plants  of  the  Congo,  cultivated,  as  well  as 
indigenous,  are  very  similar  throughout  the  W.  coast.  On 
the  banks  of  rivers  the  principal  articles  of  vegetable  food 
are  the  Indian  corn,  or  Maize  {Zea  Mays),  Cassava,  both 
sweet  and  bitter  {Jatropha  Manihot),  two  kinds  of  pulse  ex- 
tensively cultivated ;  the  Cytisus  Cajan  and  a  Phaseolus  (?), 
with  ground  nuts  {Arachis  hypogced).  The  most  valuable 
fruits  are  plantains  {Musa  sapientum),  the  papaw  {Carica 
Papaya),  pumpkins  {Cucurbita  Pepo),  limes  and  oranges, 
pine  apples,  the  common  tamarind,  and  safu,  a  fruit  the  size 
of  a  small  plum.  One  of  the  most  important  plants,  not  only 
of  the  Congo,  but  of  the  whole  extent  of  coast,  is  Elais 
guineensis,  or  the  oil  palm,  which  also  affords  the  best  palm 
wine.   The  palm  tree  is  truly  called  the  *  natives  friend;   it 


OF  WESTERN  AFRICA.  0<  < 

supplies  wine,  oil,  fishing-lines,  hats,  baskets,  palm  nuts,  cab- 
bage, tinder,  &c.  &c.  The  wine  is  obtained  by  driving  a 
hard  peg  or  a  gimblet  into  the  cabbage-like  head  of  the 
palm,  when  a  stream  of  sweet  liquor  flows  into  a  calabash 
suspended  beneath,  and  by  the  time  it  is  filled  (six  to  eight 
hours)  fermentation  has  reduced  the  whole  into  a  milky 
tinted  pleasant  beverage ;  the  natives,  sometimes,  allow  it 
to  have  a  harsh  and  bitter  flavour ;  the  process  and  liquor 
is,  in  fact,  somewhat  similar  to  that  obtained  from  the  cocoa 
nut  blossom,  and  termed  toddy.  Wine  is  likewise  obtained 
from  two  other  palms.  Among  the  other  alimentary  plants, 
of  less  importance,  or  imperfectly  known,  are  the  shrubby 
holcus,  the  common  yam,  and  another  dioscorea,  found  wild 
only,  and  very  inferior  to  the  yam,  requiring,  it  is  said,  four 
days'  boiling  to  free  it  from  its  pernicious  qualities.  Two 
kinds  of  sugar  canes,  capsicums,  and  tobacco  are  generally 
cultivated,  according  to  the  herbarium  of  Capt.  Tuckey.  A 
second  kind  of  ground  nut,  or^esi  {Glycine  subterranea  ?), which 
is  extensively  grown  at  Madagascar,  also  appears.  A  species 
of  ximenia  (X.  americana  ?)  is  likewise  found,  the  fruit  yellow, 
the  size  oi  a  plum,  and  acid,  but  not  unpleasant,  in  the 
higher  parts  of  the  Congo,  where  it  is  generally  planted. 
An  antidesma,  perhaps  like  that  mentioned  by  Afzelius,  as 
having  a  fruit  of  the  same  size  and  taste  as  a  currant,  is  met 
with. 

The  edible  fruits*  of  Sierra  Leone  are  numerous  and 
luscious.  The  peach  of  the  negroes  {Sarcocephalus  esculen- 
tus,)  is  a  large,  fleshy,  and  solid  fruit,  hard  and  eatable 
throughout,  and  full  of  small  seeds,  not  much  unlike  a 
strawberry  in  flavour  and  consistence.  The  tree  grows 
plentifully  throughout  the  colony  of  Sierra  Leone,  10  to  15 
feet  high  ;  leaves  large  and  elliptical,  flowers  pink,  produced 
in  globular  heads,  and  seated  on  a  receptacle,  which  after- 
wards becomes  the  fruit.    The  Anona  senegalensis,  or  African 

*  Drawn  up  by  J.  Sahine,  Esq.  from  the  journal  and  notes  of  Mr.  Geo. 
Don,  who  was  engaged  by  the  London  Horticultural  Society  to  make  a  col- 
lection of  the  useful  vegetables  in  W.  Africa. 
VOL.  IV.  P  P 


5/8  VARIETY  OF  AFRICAN  FRUITS, 

custard  apple,  fruit  not  much  larger  than  a  pigeon's  egg,  and 
with  the  same  or  a  superior  flavour  to  the  rest  of  the  species. 
The  monkey-bread  {Adansonia  digitata)  is  much  used  by  the 
negroes;  its  fruit,  which  is  of  considerable  size,  and  of  an 
oblong  shape,  is  full  of  seeds,  and  tastes  like  gingerbread, 
with  a  pleasant  acid  flavour.  The  locust  tree  of  Sierra  Leone 
{Inlca  biglobosa)  is  a  beautiful  tree  when  in  blossom,  covered 
with  compact  biglobular  heads  of  fine  vermilion-coloured 
flowers,  which  are  succeeded  by  compact  bunches  of  pods, 
containing  a  yellow  farinaceous  substance,  of  which  the 
natives  are  very  fond.  It  is  mentioned  by  Park  as  affording 
an  agreeable  and  nutritive  food.  The  country  cherry  is  rare, 
growing  on  the  mountains,  and  bearing  a  small  oval  reddish 
fruit,  somewhat  like  a  plum  in  flavour,  and  produced  in  clus- 
ters on  the  topmost  branches.  An'isophyllea  laurina,  the 
monkey  apple,  is  a  fruit  of  the  size  of  a  pigeon's  egg,  red  on 
one  side  and  yellow  on  the  other,  with  a  flavour  between  the 
nectarine  and  plum.  Country  grapes  are  the  produce  of 
Vitis  ccEsia,  they  are  black,  austere,  and  acid  ;  chiefly  eaten 
by  the  negroes.  Country  currants  resemble  elder-berries, 
and  are  found  plentifully  on  the  mountains.  The  shrub 
{Fiscus  Brassii),  which  bears  the  large  fig,  grows  about  the 
colony ;  fruit  pleasant :  as  is  also  a  smaller  fig,  that  bears 
abundantly,  and  is  the  size  of  a  hazel  nut.  Wild  Guavas 
{Psidium  p^jriferuni)  are  natives  of  the  country:  Mr.  Don 
saw  and  tasted  the  fruit,  but  could  not  exactly  identify  the 
plant  with  the  West  Indian  guava.  The  hog  plum  is  the 
fruit  of  Spondinus  Myrohalanus  ;  it  is  well  tasted,  and 
sharper  than  the  plum  of  our  gardens,  but  the  stone  forms 
half  the  the  bulk  of  the  fruit.  The  grey  plum  tree  {Parina- 
rium  excelsum)  is  more  valuable  for  its  compact  and  durable 
wood  than  for  the  fruit,  Avhich,  though  large  and  abundant, 
is  dry  and  farinaceous,  with  a  very  large  stone ;  an  allied 
species,  P.  macrophyllttrn ,  is  called  by  the  colonists,  ginger- 
bread-plum. Of  four  other  fruits,  called  plums,  the  small 
pigeon  plum  {Chrysobalanus  ellipticus),  the  yellow  pigeon 
plum  (C.  hiteus),  the  black   plum  {Vitex  umhrosd),  and  the 


WILD  AND  CULTIVATED.  579 

sugar  plum ;  it  may  be  said  that  the  first  three,  though  good, 
are  inferior  to  the  latter,  which  is  sold  in  large  quantities  in 
Sierra  Leone,  and  is  one  of  the  very  best  fruits  in  the  colony. 
The  tree  is  very  handsome,  60  feet  high,  and  bears  many 
fruits  of  the  size  of  a  bullace ;  at  ten  feet  from  the  ground 
the  stem  throws  out  roots  like  a  mangrove  or  pandanus,  but  its 
botanical  affinities  are  not  known.  From  the  fruit  of  the  sweet 
pishamin  {Carpodinus  dulcis),  a  quantity  of  sweet  milky  juice 
exudes,  the  pulp  is  also  pleasant  and  sweet.     The  sour  pis- 
hamin (C  acidus)  though  sharp,  acid,  and  rather  bitter,  is 
much  relished  by  the  natives.    The  Mammee  apple  {Mammea 
africana)  is  a  lofty  tree,  with  useful  wood,  and  a  very  large 
fruit.     The  butter  and  tallow  tree  {Pentadesma  butyracea) 
abounds  in  a  yellow  greasy  juice,  to  which  it  owes  its  name, 
and  which  is  given  out  plentifully  when  the  fruit  is  cut ;  this 
is  mixed  by  the  natives  with  their  food,  on  account  of  its  tur- 
pentine flavour,  which  renders  it  disagreeable  to  the  European 
settlers.     Two  kinds  of  star  apple  {Clirysophyllum  macro- 
phyllum  and   C   obovatum)  are  very  inferior  to  the  West 
Indian  star  apple  (C.  Cainito).     Tonsella  pyrifortnis  bears  a 
rich  and  sweet  fruit,  like  a  bergamot  pear.     There  is  a  tree, 
called  pomegranate,   said  to  be  excellent :    but  having  no 
affinity  to   punica.     The  seeds  of  Sterculia  acuminata  are 
called  cola  by  the  negroes,  who  hold  them  in  great  esteem,  as 
possessing  the  same  vu'tues  as  Peruvian  bark.     They  are 
like  horsechesnuts,  and  produced  in  pods,  which  grow  two  to 
five  together.     A  somewhat  similar  seed,  named  tola,  is  used 
in  the  same  way.     Velvet  tamarinds,  the  fruit  of  Codarium 
acutifolium  are  produced  in  beautifully  black  velvety  pods, 
and  possess  an  agreeably  acid  taste,  while  brown  tamarinds 
differ  little,  except  in  the  colour  and  larger  size  of  the  pod. 
Pine  apples  both  grow  wild  and  are  cultivated  by  the  na- 
tives :  they  abound  in  the  woods  so  as  to  obstruct  the  passage 
through  them  in  every  direction,  shooting  most  vigorously, 
and  yielding  fruit  abundantly.     Two  kinds  only,  the  black 
and  white,  are  grown  at. Sierra  Leone:  though  not  so  large 
as  those  cultivated  in  England,  the  flavour  is  superior.     The 


580  THE  ANTE-DILIIVIAN  tREE. 

wild  varieties  are  innumerable ;  and  a  very  pleasant  kind   of 
wine  is  made  in  the  colony  from  the  juice. 

Besides  the  fruits  already  mentioned  as  found  wild  near 
Sierra  Leone,  the  following  are  cultivated :  plantains  {Musa 
sapientum),  bananas  ( M.  paradisiaca) ;  the  cocoa  nuts  are 
still  rare,  and  papaws  {Carica  papaya)  are  only  seen  near 
the  settlers'  houses.  Oranges  are  abundant,  and  have  now 
grown  wild:  lemons  are  rare,  but  limes  plentiful.  Cashew 
nuts  have  been  cultivated  in  large  quantities  of  late:  rose 
apples  {Eugenia  Jamhos),  and  tamarinds  from  the  West 
Indies,  love  apples  {Solanum  Lycoperstcon),  melons,  water 
melons,  cucumbers,  gourds,  &c.,  of  many  kinds  and  qualities; 
among  the  melons  some,  which  having  the  smell  of  musk,  are 
called  musk  melons.     Two  sorts  of  capsicum  are  grown. 

The  Baobab,  or  Monkey  Bread,  above  mentioned  (Adan- 
so?iia  digitata),  may  be  deemed  one  of  the  most  valuable 
productions  of  Western  Africa.  It  is  likewise  said  to  be  found 
in  Egypt  and  Abyssinia,  and  is  cultivated  in  many  of  the 
warmer  parts  of  the  world.  It  is  the  largest  known  tree; 
its  trunk  being  sometimes  no  less  than  thirty  feet  in  diameter. 
At  one  year  old,  its  diameter  is  one  inch,  and  its  height  five 
inches  :  at  30  years  old,  when  the  diameter  lit*  attained  to  two 
feet,  the  height  is  but  22  feet;  and  so  on,  till  at  1000  years 
old,  the  Baobab  is  14  feet  broad,  and  58  feet  high,  and  at  5000 
years,*  the  growth  laterally  has  so  outstripped  its  perpendi- 
cular progress,  that  the  trunk  will  be  30  feet  in  diameter,  and 
only  73  feet  in  height.  The  roots  are  of  a  most  extraordinary 
length  ;  in  a  tree  with  a  stem  77  feet  round,  the  main  branch 
or  tap  root  measures  110  feet  in  length.  The  foliage  is  not 
so  abundant  as  to  conceal  the  vast  proportion  of  the  trunk ; 

*  I  have  met  with  this  gij^antic  tree  of  a  vast  size  in  several  parts  of 
Eastern  Africa,  particularly  near  Mombas.  The  Chapultepee,  in  Mexico 
{Citpresses  districha  L.)  which  is  117  feet  in  circumference  may  be  still 
more  aj^ed  than  the  Baobab,  whose  duration  of  vitality  is  indicated  by  rings 
of  annual  growth  ;  such  statements  do  not  militate  against  Rloses'  account 
of  the  Deluge,  for  the  conveying  of  the  oCive  branch  by  the  dove  to  the 
ark,  shews  that  vegetation  was  not  destroyed. 


FRUIT  AND  QUALITIES  OF  THE  BAOBAB.  .  581 

but  it  often  happens  that  the  profusion  of  leaves  and  of  droop- 
ing boughs  almost  hide  the  stem,  and  the  whole  forms  an 
hemispherical  mass  of  verdure,  140  to  150  feet  in  diameter, 
and  60  to  70  feet  high.  The  wood  is  pale  coloured,  light,  and 
soft,  so  that  in  Abyssinia,  the  wild  bees  perforate  it,  and 
lodge  their  honey  in  the  hollow,  which  honey  is  considered 
the  best  in  the  country.  The  negroes  on  the  western  coast 
apply  these  trunks  to  a  singular  purpose.  The  tree  is 
liable  to  be  attacked  by  a  fungus,  which,  vegetating  in  the 
woody  part,  without  changing  the  colour  or  appearance,  de- 
stroys life,  and  renders  the  part  so  attacked  as  soft  as  the 
pith  of  trees  in  general.  Such  trunks  are  then  hollowed  into 
chambers,  and  within  them  are  suspended  the  dead  bodies  of 
those  to  whom  are  refused  the  honour  of  burial.  There  they 
become  mummies,  perfectly  dry  and  well  preserved,  without 
further  preparation  or  embalming,  and  are  known  by  the  name 
of  Guiriots.  The  Baobab,  like  all  plants  of  the  same  order 
(Malvacece),  is  emollient  and  mucilaginous.  The  pulverised 
leaves  constitute  lalo,  a  favourite  article  with  the  natives, 
which  they  mix  with  their  daily  food  to  diminish  excessive 
perspiration,  and  which  is  even  used  by  Europeans  in  fevers, 
diarrhoeas,  &c.  The  fruit  is  perhaps  the  most  useful  part  of 
this  tree ;  its  pulp  is  acid  and  agreeable,  and  the  juice  ex- 
pressed from  it,  mixed  with  sugar,  constitutes  a  drink  that  si 
deemed  a  specific  in  putrid  and  pestilential  fevers.  Owing  to 
these  circumstances,  the  fruit  forms  an  article  of  commerce. 
Bowdich  mentions  that  it  possesses  such  an  agreeable  flavour, 
and  is  so  abundant,  that  it  constitutes  a  principle  article  of 
food  with  the  natives,  who  season  many  of  their  dishes  with 
it,  especially  their  corn  gruel.  The  Mandingoes  convey  it  to 
the  eastern  and  southern  districts  of  Africa,  and  through  the 
medium  of  the  Arabs,  it  reaches  Morocco,  and  even  Egypt. 
If  the  fruit  be  injured,  it  is  burned,  the  ashes  being  mixed 
with  rancid  palm  oil,  and  serving  for  soap.  The  flowers  are 
large,  white,  and  handsome,  and  on  their  first  expansion, 
bear  some  resemblance,  in  their  snowy  petals  and  violet  mass 
of  stamens,   to   the  White    Poppy    (Papaver   sum n'lf cram). 


582  PLANTS  COMMON  TO  EQUINOCTIAL  AFRICA,  AMERICA,  &  ASIA. 

Both  the  flowers  and  fruit  are  pendant.     The  Baobab  tree 
loses  its  leaves  before  the  periodical  rains  come  on. 

The  Arachis  hypogaea  deserves  notice  on  account  of  the 
singular  economy  of  its  fruits.     It  belongs  to  the  very  few 
plants  which  mature  their  seeds  under  ground ;  the  flower- 
stalk,  after  the  blossom  has  withered,  bending  downwards, 
and  burying  the  germen  in  the  soil,  where  it  soon  increases  in 
bulk,  and  perfectly  ripens.  The  fruit  is  a  pod,  containing  one 
or  two  seeds,  the  size  of  small  nuts,  with  a  flavour  of  almonds  ; 
the   natives  of  several  countries  eat  them,  either  boiled  or 
fried,  and  make  very  pleasant  confections  of  them,  the  taste 
resembling  chocolate.     A  valuable  oil  is  also  extracted  from 
the  seeds  of  the  Arachis,  alike  useful  in  food  and  for  supply- 
ing lamps,  as  it  never  turns  rancid.  Many  attempts  have  been 
made  to  naturalise  this  plant  in  Europe ;  but  the  climate  is 
too  cold  for  it  every  where  north  of  the  southern  coast  of 
France. 

List  of  plants  common  to  Equinoctial  Africa,  America,  and  Asia.* — 
Gleichenia  Hermanni  Prodr.  Flor.  Nov.  Holl.  ;  Mertensia  dichotoma, 
Willd.  ;  A^rostis  Virginica,  L. ;  Cyperus  articulatus,  L.',  Cyperus  niloticus, 
Vahl.  ead.  sp. ;  Lipocarpha  argentea.  Nob. ;  Hypselyptum  argenteuin, 
FahL;  Fuirena  urabellata,  L.Jil. ;  Pistia  Stratiotes,  L. ;  Boerhaavia  muta- 
bilis,  Prodr.  Flor.  Nov.  Holl. ;  Ipomcea  pes  caprse.  Nob. ;  Convolvulus 
pes  caprse,  Z/.,  convolvulus  Brasiliensis,  L.  ead.  sp  ;  Ipomoea  pentaphylla, 
Jacqu. ;  Scoparia  dulcis,  L. ;  Heliotropium  indicum,  L. ;  Splienoclea 
zeylanica,  Goerh. ;  Ageratum  conyzoides,  L. ;  Waltheria  indica,  L., 
Waltheria  americana,  L.  ead.  sp. ;  Hibiscus  liliaceus,  L. ;  Sida  periploci- 
folia,  L. ;  Cassia  occidentalis,  L  ;  Guilandina  Bonduc,  L.,  Guilandina 
Bonducella,  L.,  ead.  sp. ;  Abrus  precatorius,  L. ;  Hedysarum  triflorum,Z/. 

Plants  common  to  Equinoctial  Africa  and  America ;  but  not  found  in 
India. — Ocloblepharum  albidum,  Heda. ;  Acrostichum  aureum,  L. ;  Era- 
grostis  ciliaris,  L.,  Poa,  ciliaris,  L. ;  Cyperus  ligularis,  L. ;  Schwenkia 
americana,  L. ;  Hyptis  obtusifolia.  Nob. ;  Struchium  (americanum)  Bejam. 
312;  Sida  juncea  Banks,  et  Soland.  3fss.  Brasit. ;  Urena  americana,  L., 
Urena  reticulata,  Cawra.  ead.  sp. ;  Malachra  radiata,  Z/.  j  Jussiaea  erecta, 
L. ;  Crotalaria  axillaris,  Hort.  Ketv.  et  Willd. ;  Pterocarpus  lunatus,  L. 

Plants  common  to  Equinoctial  Africa  and  India ;  but  not  found  in  Ame- 
rica.— Roccella  inoMoYmi?,  Ackar.  Lichenog.  440;  Perotislatifolia  Soland. 

*  From  Tuckcy's  voyage  up  the  Congo. 


TIMBER. ANIMAL  KINGDOM.  583 

in  Hort.  Keiv.  ;  Centotheca  lappacea,  Beauw.;  Eleusine  indica,  Gocrt. ; 
Flagcllaria  indica,  L. ;  Gloriosa  superba,  L, ;  Celosia  aro^entea,  L. ;  Celo- 
sia  margaritacea,  L.,  Celosia  albida  ?  IFilld. ;  ead.  sp. ;  Desraochaeta  lap- 
pacea  Decand.  ;  Grangea  (maderaspatana)  Adans. ;  Lavenia  erecta,  Sw. ; 
Oxystelma  esculentuin.  Nob.,  Periploca  esculenta,  Roxb.,  Nymphaea  lotus, 
L.,  Nympheeapubesceiis,  Willd.,  ead.  sp. ;  Hibiscus  surattensis,  L. ;  Leca 
sambucina,  L. ;  Hedysarura  pictura,  L. ;  Indigofera  iateritia,  Willd, ;  Gli- 
nus  lotoides,  L. 

List  of  Species  which  have  not  been  satisfactorily  ascertained. — Acrosti- 
chum  alcicorne,  Sw. ;  Acrostichum  stemaria,  Beauv.;  Imperata  cylindrica, 
Prodr.  Flor.  Nov.  HoU. ;  Panicum  crus-galli,  L. ;  Typba  angustifolia,  L. ; 
Giseckia  pbarnaceoides,  L. ;  Cassytha  pubescens,  Prodr.  Flor.  Nov.  Holl. ; 
Celtis  orientalis,  L. ;  Cardiospermum  graiidiflorum,  Liv.  ;  PauUiiia  pin- 
uata,  L. ;  Hydrocotyle  asiatica,  L. ;  Hedysarum  adscendens,  Siv. ;  Hedy- 
sarum  vaginale,  L. ;  Pterocarpus  Ecastopbyllum,  L. 

Tbe  native  names  of  the  different  species  of  timber  exported  from  the 
River  Sierra  Leone  for  ship  building  and  carpenter's  work  are — 1.  Co- 
Tartosar,  or  African  oak ;  2.  Tolongah,  or  brimstone  ;  3.  Bumia,  rather 
scarce  ;  4.  Cooper  ;  5.  Kon ;  6.  Conta  ;  7-  Roth  ;  8.  Wossomah  ,-  9  Jumo  ; 
10.  Backam;  ll.Topercanico  ;  12.Mooll,  the  tree  produces  vegetable  butter  • 
13.  Sop;  14.  Kelill ;  15.  Cong;  16.  African  almond;  I/-  Bombay;  18. 
Dye-wood  ;  19.  Pissaman ;  20.  Pissaman,  (no  marine  animal  of  any  kind 
attacks  it) ;  21.  black  oak;  22.  Wismore;  23.  African  cedar;  24.  White 
wismorej  25.  Cronko  ;  26.  Shiu-shinginara  ;  27-  blue  Wismore  ;  28  Ar- 
woora ;  29.  African  mammee  apple  ;  30.  Catepy ;  31.  Lowland  box- wood; 
32.  Singa-singa  marah;  33.  African  pine;  34.  Highland  box-wood;  35. 
Singuoora;  36.  Cabooco ;  37-  Brimstone ;  38.  Bessey ;  39  African  mul- 
berry ;  40.  Mangrove.  The  grain  of  several  of  these  woods  is  very  rich, 
and  the  furniture  made  therefrom  not  only  durable  but  extremely  beautiful. 
In  Mr.  Forster's  elegant  mansion  at  Hampstead,  there  are  several  articles 
of  furniture  made  from  African  mahogany,  which  would  vie  with  the  wood 
of  any  country  in  the  world  :  and  for  ship-building  the  African  teak  is  now 
generally  and  deservedly  esteemed. 

Animal  Kingdom. — Of  this  interesting  department  of 
natural  history  little  is  yet  known,  owing  to  our  slight  know- 
ledge of  the  interior;  the  species  yet  seen  are  principally 
those  met  with  around  the  European  settlements  on  the 
coast.  In  the  following  lists  are  enumerated  the  chief  qua- 
drupeds of  Western  Africa,  arranged  under  those  countries 
where  they  have  been  particularly  observed : — 

Senegal.  Cercopithecus ruber,  Red  Monkey;  Cercopithecus 
sabaeus,  Green  Monkey  ;  Megaderma  frons,  Foliaceous  Bat ; 


584  ANIMALS  OF  SltllRA  LEONE  AND  THE  CONGO. 

Taphozous  senegalensis,  Senegal  Bat ;  Oryx  besoastica  Sm. 
Senegal  Oryx;  Gazella  dama  Sm.,  Swift  Antelope;  Cerco- 
phithecus  petaurista,  Vaulting  Monkey. 

Guinea.  Cercopithecus  nictitans,  White-nosed  Monkey; 
Cercopithecus  petaurista,  Vaulting  Monkey  ;  Cercopithecus 
diana,  Palatine  Monkey;  Cercocebus  fuliginosus.  Smoky 
Monkey  ;  Cercocebus  aethiops,  Ethiopian  Monkey  ;  Cyano- 
cephalus  papio,  Guinea  Baboon  ;  Papio  Mormon,  Mandrill ; 
Papio  sylvicola,  Wood  Baboon;  Canis  cancrivorus.  Crab- 
eating  Wolf. 

Sierra  Leone  and  Congo.  Simia  troglodytes,  Chimpanzee  j 
Colobus  polycomos,  Full-bottom  Monkey  ;  Gazella  inytelopes, 
Sm.,  Broad-footed  Antelope  ;  Antilope  redunca,  Nagor  An- 
telope ;  Cephalophus  sylvicultrix  Sm.,  Bush  Antelope ;  Ce- 
phalophus  quadriscopa  Sm.,  Four-tufted  Antelope;  Cepha- 
lophus mergens,  Duckre  Antelope  ;  Cephalophus  Grimmia, 
Guinea  Antelope ;  Cephalophus  Maxwellii,  Sm.,  Maxwell's 
Antelope ;  Cephalophus  Philantomba,  Sm.,  Sierra  Leone 
Antelope;  Tragelophus  phalerata,  Sm.,  Ribbed  Antelope. 

Lions,  elephants,  panthers,  buifaloes,  hippopotami,  and 
deer  abound.  The  most  interesting  quadrupeds  of  Senegal 
appear  to  be  the  Red  Monkey,  the  Green  Monkey,  and  the 
two  Antelopes,  named  Dama  and  Scripta.  M.  Adanson  says, 
that  the  Red  Monkey  is  a  pretty  animal,  but  capricious,  mis- 
chievous, little  susceptible  of  attachment,  and  possessing  the 
distinguishing  characteristic  of  the  monkey  tribes,  ciiriosifyy 
in  a  remarkable  degree.  During  his  aquatic  excursion, 
they  descended  from  the  tops  of  the  trees  to  the  extremity 
of  the  branches,  earnestly  noticing,  and  apparently  much 
amused  by,  the  boats  passing  up  the  river.  After  a  time  they 
took  courage,  and  began  to  pelt  the  travellers  with  pieces  of 
wood,  thus  provoking  a  most  unequal  contest.  Upon  being 
fired  upon,  they  uttered  the  most  frightful  cries,  and  although 
many  were  killed,  the  survivors  returned  to  the  contest  with 
redoubled  courage,  and  with  a  most  determined  spirit :  some 
flung  stones  at  their  adversaries,  while  others  even  collected 
their  own  excrements  for  the  same  purpose. 


MONKEYS,  BABOONS,  ANTELOPES,   &C.  585 

The  Green  Monkey,  is  so  named  from  the  upper  parts  being 
of  a  greenish  yellow  colour :  the  lower  are  greyish;  tail  ter- 
minated by  a  long  pencil  of  yellow  hairs ;  face,  ears,  and  hands 
black ;  this  species  are  in  immense  numbers.  They  remain 
on  the  trees  in  large  troops,  and  preserve  the  most  profound 
silence,  even  when  they  are  wounded.  Adanson  did  not  at 
first  notice  them,  from  the  similarity  of  their  colour  to  that  of 
the  foliage,  until  they  suddenly  began  flinging  at  him  pieces 
of  the  dead  branches ;  and  although  he  killed  twenty-three 
of  them  in  less  than  an  hour,  they  did  not  appear  in  the 
least  frightened  by  the  discharge  of  his  guns.  In  confinement, 
it  is  stated  by  M.  Cuvier  to  be  remarkably  beautiful  and 
gentle  ;  fond  of  being  caressed  by  those  it  knows,  and  seldom 
exhibiting  any  malicious  propensity  :  v»'hen  fully  contented,  it 
expresses  satisfaction  by  a  peculiar  gentle  grunt,  which  may  be 
compared  to  the  syllable  gran. 

The  Dama  Antelope  so  closely  resembles  the  species  so 
named  by  M.  Riippell,  and  found  by  him  in  the  deserts  of 
Nubia,  that  they  are  probably  one  and  the  same. 

The  Harnessed  Antelojie  is  a  most  beautiful  animal,  first 
noticed  by  Adanson  by  the  native  name  of  Gerib.  It  is  about 
the  size  of  a  fallow  deer  :  the  ground  colour  of  a  bright  bay,  but 
marked  with  stripes  in  various  directions,  and  with  such  regu- 
larity as  to  give  the  idea  that  a  harness  of  some  white  mate- 
rial, was  thrown  over  its  body.  Another  species,  closely  re- 
sembling this,  named  the  Ribbed  Antelope  {A,  phalerata) 
inhabits  the  barren  plains  above  the  great  falls  of  the  Zezere> 
or  Congo.  Large  baboons,  of  the  most  grotesque  but  repul- 
sive forms,  are  common  in  this  part  of  Africa. 

The  Papiou,  or  Common  Baboon,  is  of  a  yellowish  green, 
verging  more  or  less  to  brown  ;  visage  black,  and  tail  long ; 
when  adult,  it  is  a  most  ferocious  and  disgusting  animal. 
From  the  same  country  comes  the  Mandrill  Baboon  (Simia 
Maimon  Lin.^,  of  an  olive  colour ;  its  chin  has  a  small  yellow 
beard,  and  the  cheeks  are  naked,  blue,  and  furrowed.  In  the 
adult  males,  the  nose  grows  red,  and  the  end  is  sometimes  of 
a  bright  scarlet,  while  the  buttocks  are  oi"  a  beautiful  violet. 


586  THE  SEA  COW. 

M.  Cuvier  well  remarks  that  it  is  impossible  to  conceive  an 
animal  more  extraordinary  and  more  hideous.  It  very  nearly 
attains  the  height  of  a  man,  and  is  looked  upon  by  the 
negroes  with  great  fear. 

The  Chimpanzee,  of  all  the  Apes  yet  discovered,  makes  the 
nearest  approximation  to  the  human  form.  It  was  designated 
by  Linnaeus  as  a  variety  of  the  human  species,  under  the 
name  of  Homo  troglodytes.  The  Chimpanzee  appears  to 
have  an  affinity,  if  not  identity,  with  the  large  African  apes 
so  often  mentioned  by  travellers,  or  to  the  Barris,  or  great 
Wild  Man  of  the  African  woods.  In  size  it  exceeds  that  of 
the  Orang-Otan,  and  exhibits  the  same  docility,  submissive- 
ness,  and  gentleness.  It  is  heard  of  more  especially  in  Congo. 
The  Perruque,  or  Full-bottomed  Monkey  (Colobus  poly- 
comos  Geof.J  has  the  neck  furnished  with  a  variegated  mane 
of  long  hair,  fancifully  compared  to  a  full-bottomed  wig,  but 
truly  representing  the  lion  in  its  own  family. 

Several  of  the  Antelopes  are  very  elegant.  The  Bush 
Antelope  (A,  sylmcultrix),  called  by  the  colonists  of  Sierra 
Leone  the  Bush  Goat,  is  of  a  considerable  size,  and  measures 
live  feet  in  length  ;  the  venison  is  excellent ;  it  is  not  so  fleet 
as  other  antelopes. 

The  Ducker  Antelope  (A.  mergens)  is  remarkable  for  its 
great  timidity,  being  alarmed  at  the  least  unusual  noise,  and 
concealing  itself  on  hearing  thunder.  It  lives  solitary  or  in 
pairs ;  its  peculiar  name  originates  from  its  singular  habit  of 
rising  upon  the  hind  legs  to  look  round,  making  a  blowing 
noise  with  its  nostrils,  and  then  stooping  and  flying  under 
cover  of  the  vegetation,  to  stand  and  rise  up  again.  Another 
species,  the  dodger  antelope  of  Major  Smith,  also  from 
Western  Africa,  appears  to  resemble  this  very  much. 

The  Lamantin,  or  Sea  Cow  {Manatus  senegalensis),  an  am- 
phibious quadrviped  of  great  dimensions  ;  occasionally  fre- 
quents the  mouth  of  the  Senegal.  It  is  essentially  herbivorous, 
and  of  a  mild  and  inoffensive  character.  Adanson  describes 
it  as  full  eight  feet  long,  having  some  resemblance  to  a  seal : 
four  nails  are  at  the  edge  of  the  fins,  and  the  tail  is  horizon- 


BIRDS — EAGLES,  SUN   BIRDS,   &C.  587 

tally  flat ;  the  eyes  very  small,  and  the  ears  not  visible.    The 
negroes  call  it  Cercou. 

Birds  are  in  great  variety,  and  of  unsurpassed  beauty  ;  but 
we  as  yet  know  little  of  the  ornithological  treasures  of  the 
country.  The  rapacious  birds  are  few :  only  one  species  of 
vulture  is  yet  known  to  inhabit  Western  Africa;  this  is  the 
Angola  vulture  of  Latham,  which  is  probably  the  same  with 
the  vultur  percnoj)terus  of  Egypt  and  Southern  Europe  ; 
although  Latham's  name  has  recently  been  erroneously  ap- 
plied, in  an  English  translation  of  Cuvier's  Animal  Ki?igdotn, 
to  a  totally  different  bird. 

The  Crowned  Eagle  of  Guinea  {F.  coronatus),  is  more 
than  two  feet  in  length,  or  one- third  the  size  of  the  larger 
European  eagles :  it  is  only  occasionally  seen  on  the  Gold 
Coast,  and  is  remarkable  for  a  crest  over  each  eye,  while  the 
legs  are  clothed  with  feathers  to  the  toes.  The  Senegal  Fish- 
ing Eagle  feed  almost  entirely  upon  fish,  in  the  manner  of  our 
osprey.  Five  other  falcons,  peculiar  to  this  country,  have  re- 
cently been  noticed.  The  grey-necked  shrike  {Malaconotus  oli- 
vaceus,  Sw.) ;  the  Barbary  shrike  {Malaconotus  barbarus,  Sw.), 
and  two  or  three  other  species  of  the  same  group,  equally 
conspicuous  for  the  richness  of  their  plumage,  occur  in  Sene- 
gal, and,  probably,  also  in  the  neighbouring  states.  The 
beautifully  coloured  sunbirds  {Ciymyridce,  Sw.)  are  met  with 
in  great  numbers,  sipping  nectar  from  the  numerous  blossoms, 
which  a  luxuriant  vegetation  yields.  Tha  Senegal,  the  long- 
tailed,  and  the  chalybeate,  are  three  species  of  exquisite 
beauty ;  and  not  larger  in  size  than  many  of  the  American 
humming-birds.  There  are  numerous  flocks  of  golden- co- 
loured oi'ioles  of  different  species.  Migratory  Rollers,  decked 
with  the  brightest  tints  of  azure,  purple,  and  green,  occur  in 
large  flocks ;  with  crested  hoopoes,  and  beautiful  bee-eaters. 
The  water  birds,  also,  are  but  imperfectly  known. 

The  gallinaceous  birds,  so  numerous  in  India,  and  even  in 
America,  under  the  same  parallels  of  latitude,  are  here  thought 
to  be  very  few.  Some  of  the  partridges,  loosely  mentioned  by 
travellers,  are  probably  of  that  particular  race,  called  sand 


588  SPLENDID  PLUMAGE  OF  Al'UlCAN   BIRDS. 

grouse,  found  only  in  the  hot  latitudes  of  the  Old  World  (G. 
Pterocles,  T.),  while  the  rest  cannot  be  referred  to  their  true 
species.  The  only  gallinaceous  birds  of  any  size,  peculiar  to 
tropical  Africa,  are  the  Guinea  fowl.  Of  these,  the  most 
common  species  {Ninnida  meleagris)  has  long  been  domesti- 
cated in  Europe.  In  a  wild  state,  these  birds  associate  in 
numerous  flocks  of  200  or  oOO  each :  they  chiefly  frequent 
marshes  and  morasses,  where  they  seek  for  worms,  insects, 
and  seeds.  During  the  night  they  perch  on  high  places,  and 
are  well  known  for  their  discordant  noise. 

Four  of  the  most  remarkable  land  birds  are: — 1st.  The 
Plantain-eater  {Musophaga  violacea),  as  large  as  an  ordinary 
sized  pigeon,  but  with  the  tail  much  longer ;  the  whole  plum- 
age of  a  deep  black,  highly  glossed  with  bluish  purple ;  but 
the  quill-feathers,  when  opened,  are  then  seen  to  be  of  the 
deepest  and  richest  lilac,  reflecting  violet ;  the  feathers  of  the 
head  are  of  the  same  colour,  and  so  short  and  soft  as  to 
resemble  velvet ;  the  bill  is  orange,  mixed  with  red,  its  sub- 
stance very  thick,  and  elevated  in  front  like  a  helmet.  Another 
species,  the  variegated  plantain-eater,  is  also  found  in  Senegal, 
but  its  plumage  is  plain. 

2nd.  The  Touracco,  or  Web-crest  of  Senegal,  is  of  the 
same  natural  family ;  rather  smaller  in  size,  but  living  equally 
and  exclusively  upon  fruits :  the  wings  are  also  of  a  crim- 
son lilac,  but  the  rest  of  the  body  is  green.  On  the  head  is 
a  compressed  and  erect  crest  of  thin  and  delicate  feathers.  It 
lives  in  the  deepest  forests,  and  perches  only  on  the  loftiest 
trees. 

Srd.  The  Beef-eater  {Bwphaga  africana,  L.)  receives  its 
name  from  its  habit  of  alighting  on  the  backs  of  cattle,  and 
picking  from  their  hides  the  troublesome  insects  by  which 
they  are  infested,  climbing  round  their  bodies,  much  in  the 
same  way  as  the  creepers,  or  woodpeckers  do  on  trees  :  this 
is  rendered  apparent  by  the  formation  of  their  claw  s  and  tails, 
both  of  which  are  of  the  scansorial  structure;  the  bill  also  is 
very  thick.  The  bird  is  not  so  large  as  a  thrush,  and  is 
plainly  coloured.    Another  species  is  said  to  inhabit  Abyssinia. 


ICIITIIVOT.OGY. — ENTOMOLOGY.  o89 

4th.  The  Long-shafted  Goat-sucker  (C.  macrodlpterus) 
pecuhar  to  Sierra  Leone ;  is  varied  with  brown,  yellowish, 
and  black,  much  like  the  European  species,  yet  it  is  smaller ; 
its  most  remarkable  character  is  a  very  long  single  feather, 
issuing  from  the  wing  covers,  measuring  near  20  inches,  the 
shaft  of  which  is  only  expanded  into  a  broad  web  at  the 
end.  Nature  has,  no  doubt,  designe^l  for  this  extraordinary 
appendage  some  peculiar  use. 

IcTHYOLOGY. — The  rivers  and  coasts  abound  with  many 
fish,  beautiful  in  their  colours,  or  nutritious  for  food ;  and 
there  are  swarms  of  alligators,  serpents,  and  other  reptiles. 

The  MoUusca  and  Shell-fish,  are  abundant  and  curious. 
The  voluta  cymbium  and  sccepha,  two  large  volute  shells,  the 
animal  of  which  are  carnivorous,  appear  to  be  in  profusion  in 
Senegal.  Cones,  olives,  and  various  other  predacious  races,  are 
no  less  common ;  the  Cyprcea  moneta,  or  money  cowry,  passes 
current  among  the  negro  tribes  as  coin,  of  a  very  low  value. 

Entomology  offers  an  extensive  field  for  the  naturalist. 
The  number  of  locusts  and  cicades  is  every  where  striking ; 
but  in  the  sandy  plains  thinly  covered  with  grass  their  num- 
bers are  immense,  and  their  chirping  is  intolerable ;  they 
are  seen  of  various  kinds,  sizes,  and  colours,  skipping  or 
flitting  about  in  all  directions,  at  every  step  of  the  traveller. 

The  larvae  or  caterpillars  of  all  the  beetles  that  feed  upon 
decayed  wood  are  rich  and  delicate  eating,  so  that  every 
forest  affords  the  traveller  plenty  of  nourishment,  did  he 
know  where  to  search  for  it.  The  children  in  Africa,  at 
the  proper  season,  are  busily  employed  in  digging  out  of  the 
ground  the  females  of  a  particular  sort  of  cricket,  which  are 
then  full  of  eggs,  and  so  enclosed  in  a  bag,  as  to  resemble 
part  of  the  roe  of  a  large  fish :  these,  when  roasted,  are 
deemed  very  delicate. 

The  myriads  of  ants,  which  swarm  in  tropical  Africa,  can 
scarcely  be  conceived  by  those  who  have  never  visited  hot 
climates.  They  are  of  numerous  species,  but  all  seem  intent 
on  removing  from  the  face  of  the  earth  every  animal  or  veget- 
able substance  no  longer  necessary  or  useful.     Like  the  de- 


.590  ANTS  IN  WESTERN  AFRICA. 

stroying  angel,  they  walk  steadily  forward  in  the  line  ordained 
them,  and  spare  neither  magnitude  nor  beauty,  neither  the 
living  nor  the  dead.  One  species,  which  seems  at  times  to 
have  no  fixed  habitation,  ranges  about  in  vast  armies  :  being 
armed  with  very  strong  jaws,  they  attack  whatever  animal  im- 
pedes their  progress,  and  there  is  no  escape  but  by  imme- 
diate flight,  or  instant  retreat  to  the  water.  The  inhabitants 
of  the  negro  villages,  as  Mr.  Smeathman  has  himself  wit- 
nessed, are  frequently  obliged  to  abandon  their  dwellings, 
taking  with  them  their  children,  &:c.  and  wait  until  the  ants 
have  passed.  So  numerous  are  these  hosts,  that  a  deer,  hog, 
&c.  being  killed,  and  left  on  the  ground,  in  one  night  will  have 
the  flesh  entirely  cleaned  from  the  bones,  and  made  a  com- 
plete skeleton.  There  are  near  twenty  other  species  in 
Western  Africa,  of  different  sizes  and  colours,  each  possessing 
peculiar  habits.  Some  attack  the  collections  of  the  botanist, 
and  in  spite  of  weights  laid  upon  his  books  of  drying  plants, 
get  in,  cut  the  leaves  and  flowers  to  pieces,  and  carry  them 
away !  Others  attack  all  sorts  of  victuals.  Mr.  Smeathman 
has  had  four  large  sugar  dishes  emptied  in  one  night,  when 
the  least  opening  was  left ;  some  assail  the  sideboard,  and 
cover  every  glass  that  has  had  wine  or  punch  left  in  it ;  nay, 
innumerable  multitudes  frequently  even  ascend  the  table,  and 
drown  themselves  in  the  very  bowls  and  vessels  before  you. 
{Pref.  to  Drurys  Insects,  vol.  iii.) — I  tried  in  Africa  to  pre- 
vent the  ants  ascending  my  table  by  placing  each  of  its  legs 
in  a  large  dish  of  water,  but  these  astonishing  insects  soon 
made  a  bridge  of  the  dead  bodies  of  their  comrades  ;  placing 
the  feet  of  the  table  on  globes  of  very  smooth  glass  is  a  better 
expedient  to  ward  off  this  plague. 

The  Termites,  or  white  ants  of  Western  Africa  have  had 
their  wonderful  economy  attentively  investigated  by  Mr. 
Smeathman.  They  build  pyramidal  or  conical  structures, 
divided  into  appropriate  apartments,  magazines  for  provisions, 
arched  chambers,  and  galleries  of  communication.  These  are 
so  firmly  cemented  that  they  easily  bear  the  weight  of  three 
or  four  men ;  and  on  the  plains  of  Senegal,  appear  like  the 


EXTRAORDINARY  ECONOMY  OF  THE  WHITE  ANT.     591 

villages  of  the  natives.  [I  observed  the  same  in  Eastern 
Africa.]  The  destruction  they  effect  is  wonderfully  rapid : 
they  destroy  food,  furniture,  books,  clothes,  and  timber  of 
whatever  magnitude,  leaving  merely  a  thin  surface  ;  and  in  a 
few  hours  a  large  beam  will  be  eaten  to  a  mere  shell  not 
thicker  than  writing  paper.  On  emerging  from  the  egg,  the 
insect  is  in  its  larva  state,  furnished  with  a  great  hard  head 
and  strong  toothed  jaws,  but  it  is  destitute  of  eyes.  These 
are  the  labourers,  who,  although  not  more  than  a  quarter  of 
an  inch  long,  build  these  edifices,  procure  provisions  for  the 
community,  and  take  charge  of  the  eggs.  On  changing  to  the 
pupa  state,  they  become  larger  and  more  powerful :  the  head 
is  nearly  as  big  as  the  body,  while  the  jaws  project  beyond 
the  head,  they  are  very  sharp,  but  without  teeth.  They  now 
become  soldiers,  and  assume  higher  duties  ;  never  working 
themselves,  but  superintending  the  labourers  ;  they  act  also 
as  guards  to  defend  the  common  habitations  from  intrusion 
or  violence.  When  a  breach  is  made  in  the  dwelling,  they 
rush  forward  and  defend  the  entrance  with  great  ferocity ; 
frequently  beating  their  jaws  against  the  walls  as  a  signal  to 
the  other  guards,  or  as  encouragement  to  the  labourers ;  they 
then  retire,  and  are  succeeded  by  the  labourers,  each  with  a 
burden  of  tempered  mortar  in  his  mouth,  and  who  diligently 
set  about  and  repair  the  injury.  One  soldier  appears  to  at- 
tend every  600  or  800  labourers  when  building  a  wall ;  he 
takes  no  active  part  himself,  but  frequently  makes  the  noise 
above  mentioned,  which  is  constantly  answered  by  a  loud  hiss 
from  all  the  attendants,  who,  at  this  signal,  evidently  redouble 
their  diligence.  The  next  change  brings  the  pupae,  or  sol- 
diers to  their  perfect  state  as  male  and  female  winged  insects. 
They  then  emerge  into  the  air,  either  during  the  night,  or  on 
a  damp  and  cloudy  day :  in  a  few  hours,  however,  the  solar 
heat  causes  the  wings  to  wither  and  become  dry ;  the  insects 
then  fall  to  the  ground,  and  are  eagerly  sought  after  by  hosts 
of  birds,  lizards,  and  even  by  the  negroes  themselves,  who  roast 
and  eat  them.     The  few  which  survive  this  general  destruc- 


592  POPULAT[ON  OF  WESTERN  AFRICA. 

tion  are  collected  by  the  labourers  and  soldiers,  who  enclose 
them,  by  pairs,  in  apartments  made  of  clay,  the  entrance  to 
which  is  so  narrow  that  they  cannot  migrate  ;  but  where  they 
are  diligently  fed  and  attended  by  the  labourers,  whose  bodies 
are  small  enough  to  admit  an  easy  entrance.  After  im- 
pregnation, the  abdomen  of  the  female  extends  to  an  enor- 
mous size,  exceeding  the  rest  of  her  body  nearly  2,000  times  ; 
in  which  state  it  is  filled  with  an  immense  number  of  eggs, 
protruded  to  the  amount  of  about  8,000  in  24  hours.  These 
are  instantly  taken  away  by  the  labourers,  and  conveyed  to 
separate  chambers,  where,  after  they  are  hatched,  the  young 
are  attended  and  provided  for  till  they  are  able  to  shift  for  them- 
selves, and  take  their  share  in  the  labours  of  the  community. 
{Smeathman,  Phil.  Trans,  vol.  Ixxi.) 

Other  speces  of  termites  build  their  nests  on  trees  of  an 
oval  form,  while  that  of  another  {T.  ardd)  is  cylindrical,  two 
or  three  feet  high,  terminated  by  a  round  vaulted  dome,  and 
surrounded  by  a  prominent  terrace. 

Population. — Of  the  numbers,  characters,  and  almost 
of  the  names  of  the  people  of  Western  Africa  (estimated  at 
26  to  the  square  mile,  1,200,000  square  miles,  thus  giving 
31,000,000  mouths)  we  know  very  little. 

The  three  great  negro  races  inhabit  the  country : — 

1st.  The  Foulahs,  from  Fooladoo  on  the  Upper  Senegal,  or 
of  the  same  race  with  the  Fellatahs,  in  Central  Africa,  have 
now  spread  all  over  the  banks  of  that  river,  besides  the  great 
kingdom  of  Foota  Jallo  to  the  S.,  and  many  districts  on  the 
banks  of  the  Gambia.  They  have  not  the  extreme  negro 
characteristics  ;  neither  the  deep  jet  hue,  the  flat  nose,  nor 
the  thick  lips,  on  the  contrary,  their  features  are  high,  with 
an  olive  tint,  and  an  agreeable  expression.  They  have  em- 
braced the  Mahometan  faith,  but  without  that  bigotry  which 
almost  universally  accompanies  it.  Their  manners  are  pecu- 
liarly courteous  and  gentle :  they  practice  the  most  liberal 
hospitality,  and  relieve  the  wants  not  only  of  their  own  aged 
and  infirm,   but   even  of  those  belonging  to  other  tribes. 


THE  MANDINGOES.       MUMBO  JUMBO.  593 

Their  employments  are  pastoral,  and  their  habits,  in  some 
degree,  nomadic.  Occupying  countries  where  there  is  no 
fixed  property  in  land  ;  they  drive  their  flocks,  according  to 
the  season,  to  the  tops  of  the  mountains,  or  the  banks  of  the 
rivers.  At  night  they  collect  their  herds  within  the  circle  of 
the  tents,  and  light  large  fires  to  deter  the  approach  of  wild 
beasts.  Such  is  their  good  conduct  and  industry,  that  it  is 
considered  infamous  to  injure  them,  and  a  blessing  is  said 
to  rest  on  any  territory  that  contains  one  of  their  villages. 
Their  internal  government  is  republican,  under  chiefs  of  their 
own ;  and  this  form  they  insist  upon  retaining,  even  when 
they  settle  under  a  sovereign  of  another  tribe. 

2nd.  The  Mandingoes  are  a  race  more  numerous,  and 
more  decidedly  negro,  both  in  form  and  disposition.  Though 
capable  of  great  occasional  exertion,  they  have  by  no  means 
the  steady  industry  of  the  Foulahs.  Their  employments  are 
chiefly  a  slight  agriculture,  fishing  with  nets  and  baskets, 
and,  above  all,  traffic,  in  which  their  enterprise  exceeds  that 
of  the  other  negro  races.  They  conduct  large  kafilas  to  a 
considerable  distance  in  the  interior,  and  their  language  is 
well  understood  in  all  the  commercial  districts.  They  are 
cheerful,  inquisitive,  credulous,  and  so  gay,  that  they  will 
dance  for  24  hours,  without  intermission,  to  the  sound  of  the 
drum,  or  balafon.  Polygamy  is  practiced  to  a  great  extent, 
and  the  numerous  households  to  which  it  gives  rise,  live  in 
tolerable  outward  harmony,  which  must  not,  however,  be 
considered  very  secure,  since  it  requires  to  be  cemented  by 
the  extraordinary  expedient  of  Mumbo  Jumbo.* 

*  This  bugbear  of  the  African  ladies  is  called  into  service  whenever  the 
simpler  expedients  of  scolding  or  heating  fail  to  quell  domestic  dissension. 
Mumho  Jumbo,  being  then  summoned,  arrays  himself  in  a  fantastic  coat 
hung  for  his  use  on  a  neighbouring  tree,  crowns  his  head  with  a  tuft  of 
straw,  and  soon  after  dusk  marches  into  the  market  place.  Thither  the 
unhappy  fair  one  being  summoned  dares  not  disobey,  and  the  love  of  stir 
and  mischief  causes  her  to  be  soon  followed  by  the  majority  of  her  fellow- 
citizens.  In  their  presence  she  is  stripped  naked,  and  undergoes  a  severe 
whipping,  inflicted  by  the  rod  of  Mumbo  Jumbo,  amid  the  applause  of  all 
the  spectators. 

VOL.  IV.  Q  Q 


594  THE  JALOFS,  FELOOPS,  AND  TIMMANEES. 

The  Mandingoes  have  some  tastes  more  refined  than  are 
usual  among  Africans,  particularly  in  poetry,  the  extemporary 
composition,  and  recitation  of  which  forms  one  of  their  fa- 
vourite amusements.  The  original  country  of  these  people 
is  the  elevated  territory  of  Manding ;  but  they  are  now  widely 
diffused  over  all  this  region,  and  particularly  along  the  banks 
of  the  Gambia. 

The  third  great  race  are  the  Jalofs,  who  occupy  nearly 
the  whole  of  that  inland  territory  which  intervenes  between 
the  Gambia  and  the  Senegal,  and  the  extent  of  which  is  esti- 
mated, by  Golberry,  at  4,800  leagues.  A  number  of  them 
are  subject  to  a  powerful  inland  prince,  called  Burb-y-Jalof, 
who  boasts  of  himself  as  anciently  the  sole  ruler  in  this  part 
of  Africa.  The  Jalofs,  though  of  a  deep  black  complexion, 
and  with  the  decided  negro  features,  are  considered  a  hand- 
some race.  They  boast  of  their  antiquity,  and  in  many 
respects  excel  their  neighbours.  Their  language  is  softer 
and  more  agreeable ;  they  manufacture  finer  cotton  cloths, 
and  give  them  a  superior  dye  :*  in  horsemanship  they  are  fear- 
less and  expert, — and  as  hunters  they  rival  the  Moors.  They 
possess  not,  however,  the  invention  of  writing,  and  reckon  by 
Jives  instead  of  by  tens. 

The  Feloops  are  a  wild  and  rude  race,  inhabiting  the 
shores  to  the  S.  of  the  Gambia :  their  traffic  with  us  is  car- 
ried on  through  the  Mandingo  merchants,  and  we  consequently 
know  little  of  them. 

The  Timmanees  border  on  our  colony  of  Sierra  Leone. 

The  Ashantees,  amounting,  it  is  thought,  to  1,000,000 
people,  with  3,000,000  of  dependants,  belonging  to  other 
nations,  inhabit  Ashantee  Proper,  a  region  behind  the  Gold 
Coast,  comprising  about  14,000  square  miles.  They  are  a 
very  superior  class  of  natives  to  those  on  the  coast, — manu- 

*  Mr.  Forster  lias  presented  me  with  some  specimens  of  the  cotton 
cloths  manufactured  i)y  the  natives  of  Western  Africa;  these  cloths  have 
a  softness,  weight,  and  texture,  which  our  manufacturers  at  Manchester 
cannot  equal ;  the  patterns  before  me  are  novel  and  tasteful,  proving  that 
the  African  is  not  the  dei^^raded  being'  he  has  i»een  so  unjustly  represented. 


THE  ASHANTEES  AND  DAHOMIANS.  595 

facture  excellent  cotton,  smelt  metals  and  build  large  houses. 
The  countryis  governed  by  a  king,  aided  by  four  chiefs  as  coun- 
cillors. Notwithstanding  that  the  manners  of  the  Ashantees 
are  more  polished  and  dignified  than  their  neighbours,  annual 
hecatombs  of  unfortunate  slaves  and  captives  are  offered  to 
propitiate  the  manes  of  their  ancestors  ;  and  on  the  death  of 
any  member  of  the  royal  family,  thousands  of  human  beings  are 
slain  as  attendants  for  the  next  world.  In  no  country,  indeed, 
is  life  less  valued  than  in  Africa.  The  Landers  were  dread- 
fully tormented  by  the  rude  curiosity  of  the  natives,  who 
almost  suffocated  them  by  crowding  to  and  about  their  tents. 
On  complaining  of  this  nuisance  to  the  chief  of  one  place,  he 
said,  *  Take  your  gun  and  kill  a  few ;  you  have  my  full  leave 
to  slaughter  as  many  as  you  please.  After  you  have  cut  off 
the  heads  of  some  of  them,  the  rest  will  not  molest  you.'  Po- 
lygamy is  carried  to  a  dreadful  extent ;  the  legal  allowance  of 
wives  for  the  Ashantee  monarch  is  3,000  ! 

The  Dahomians  (who  have  conquered  the  fearful  and 
effeminate  Wydans)  predominate  along  what  is  termed  the 
Slave  Coast,  and  in  the  interior  to  the  depth  of  about  200  miles ; 
their  rule  is  equal  in  barbarity  to  that  of  the  Ashantees. 
The  Fantees  manufacture  cottons  interwoven  with  silk,  earth- 
enware, iron,  soap,  &c.  ;  and  enjoy  a  republican  form  of 
government.  Other  tribes  and  nations  exist,  of  whom  we  do 
not  know  even  the  names,  but  all,  more  or  less,  sunk  in  a 
state  of  savage  barbarism.* 

*  A  few  observations  on  the  system  that  has  been  pursued  in  our  expeditions  of  discovery 
into  the  interior  of  Africa,  may  not  be  here  out  of  place.  From  the  time  of  Park  several  ex- 
peditions have  been  fitted  out  by  government,  none  of  which  have  been  attended  with  a  sue 
cess  commensurate  with  the  expectations  of  the  country,  and  the  money  expended  on  them. 
If  the  subject  were  enquired  into,  it  might  not  be  difficult  to  trace  the  failure  of  these  under- 
takings to  the  errors  committed  in  planning  and  conducting  them.  The  most  considerable 
was  that  under  Major  Peddie,  than  whom  a  more  estimable  man,  and  a  braver  officer,  never 
entered  the  field,  but,  one  more  unfitted  to  lead  an  expedition  of  discovery,  into  the  interior 
of  Africa,  could  not  well  have  been  selected.  Had  his  orders  been  to  fight  his  way  through 
the  country  no  man  would  have  done  it  better  ;  but  he  was  ill-calciilated  to  win  his  way 
through  the  unknown  regions  of  Africa  by  patience,  perseverance,  and  persuasion.  There 
are  persons  now  in  this  country  who  witnessed  what  took  place  after  the  expedition  arrived 
on  the  coast  (where  it  remained  near  twelve  months,  engag-ed  in  ill  judged  preparations  for 
the  inland  journey),  and  they  declare  that  the  attempt  may  be  considered  to  have  failed  be- 
fore the  party  left  the  shore.  They  started  with  a  numerous  train  of  camels,  and  other  ani- 
mals,  laden  with  an  immense  quantity  of  valuable  property,  for  use  as  presents  to  the  kings 


596 


POPULATION  OF  SIERRA  LEONE. 


It  is  difficult  to  obtain  corrected  statements  of  the  popula- 
tion of  our  settlements  on  this  coast.  The  most  thickly  inha- 
bited, by  British  subjects,  is  Sierra  Leone ;  the  census  of 
which,  at  two  intervals,  was  as  follows : — 


Parish. 


In  1820. 


In  1833. 


Free  Town  and  Suburbs 

Leopold 

Charlotte 

Batliurst   

Gloucester    

Regent  and  Vicinity . . . . 

Kissey  and  ditto 

Wilberforce 

Kent  and  Vicinity 

Waterloo  , 

Hasting'S   , 

Wellington  

York  

Leicester 

Villages  in  Peninsula  .  - 
Peninsula  and  Isles  . . . , 
Gambia  Island    


St.  George 
St.  Peter  . . 
St.  John  . . 
St.  James  . . 
St.  Andrew 
St.  Charles 
St.  Patrick 

St.  Paul 

St.  Edward 
St.  Michael 
St.  Thomas 
Arthur  . . . . 
St.  Henry . . 
St.  Andrew 


Total. 


2128 
222 
124 
243 
211 
583 
399 
142 
162 
149 
119 
338 
260 
26 
535 
92 
32 


1030 
90 
65 

no 
no 
349 

246 
88 
85 
75 
24 
80 
18 
17 

622 

1 


900 

76 

43 
63 
133 
156 
231 
103 
28 

67 


11 

12 
131 
23 


4785 
469 
268 
469 
563 

1218 

1033 
409 
296 
353 
195 
456 
297 
78 

1480 
115 
37 


5796  3020,2027  1678  12521    16785  1  12979   29764 


Of  the  total  population  at  Sierra  Leone  35,000,  about  200 
are  Europeans ;  the  remainder  are  either  captured  and  libe- 

or  chiefs  through  whose  territories  they  had  to  pass.  The  consequence  was,  what  those  ac- 
quainted with  tlie  natives  and  the  country  expected,  they  met  with  difficulties  at  every  step. 
The  cupidity  of  the  natives  was  excited  by  the  temptation  of  such  a  display  of  valuables  ; 
impediments  were  thrown  in  the  way  of  the  expedition,  for  the  purpose  of  arresting  the 
property  ;  this  created  delay,  with  delay  came  sickness,  despondency,  and  the  total  failure  of 
the  attempt,  upon  which  an  enormous  sum  of  money  was  entirely  thrown  away.  The  next 
expedition  was  made  under  Major  Gray,  and  was  attended  with  the  same  errors  and  the  same 
disastrous  results.  And  now,  after  having  expended  uselessly  tens  of  thousands  on  such  ill- 
planned  schemes,  government  has  gone  from  one  extreme  to  the  other,  and  cannot  spare  even 
fifty  pounds  in  aid  of  any  undertaking  for  the  like  pnrpose.  Park  and  Clapperton  were  both 
eminently  qualified  for  the  task  they  undertook  ;  but  it  may  be  questioned,  whether  the  right 
plan  has  yet  been  hit  upon  for  ensuring  success.  It  is  the  opinion  of  those  who  have  resided 
long  on  the  coast,  that  persons  should  be  selected  for  the  purpose  who  are  seasoned  to  the 
clfanate  by  a  residence  in  the  country,  and  that  they  should  set  out  attended  by  two  or  three 
natives  belonging  to  the  interior,  moderately  provided  with  the  means  of  procuring  subsist- 
ence on  the  journey,  and  to  whom  a  handsome  reward  should  be  guaranteed,  on  condition 
of  their  bringing  the  traveller  safe  back  ;  rewards  might  be  promised  to  the  chiefs  in  the  in- 
terior, on  the  same  terms.  It  is  thought  that  this  plan  affords  the  fairest  prospect  of  success. 
A  Marrabout  (Moorish  priest)  ofl'ered  to  Major  Gray,  at  Senegal,  before  he  started,  to  conduct 
him  to  Timbuctoo,  and  from  thence  to  the  salt  water  (sea)  by  the  Niger,  on  condition  of 
receiving  1,000  pieces  of  bafts  (about  j6'800.)  on  his  safe  return  back  to  Senegal.  The  offer 
was  declined,  as  not  being  in  accordance  with  his  instructions. 


SLAVES  EMANCIPATED  AT  SIERRA  LEONE.  597 

rated  slaves,*  or  their  descendants,  together  with  some 
Kroomen,  or  native  Africans,  who  ply  for  hire  in  the  settle- 
ment. Many  of  the  colonists  possess  wealth — some  of  the 
liberated  slaves  being  now  worth  upwards  of  1,000/.  sterling. 
There  are  of  course  some  instances  where  indolence  prevails, 
but  on  the  whole,  the  freed  African  shews  that  he  prizes  his 
liberty,  and  is  grateful  for  the  boon  conferred  on  him  by  the 
humanity  of  Britain.  There  are  public  schools  in  each 
parish,  and  from  3,000  to  4,000  children  daily  attend  them. 

It  is,  however,  much  to  be  lamented,  that  the  influence  of 
certain  individuals,  by  whom  the  affairs  of  the  African  insti- 
tution had  been  mainly  directed,  continued  to  sway  for  a  con- 
siderable period,  the  policy  of  government,  whereby  the 
ample  resources,  provided  by  parliament  in  furtherance  of 
the  philanthropic  objects  for  which  the  colony  was  estab- 
lished, were  applied  to  measures  of  a  transitory  nature,  con- 
nected with  the  private  pursuits  in  trade,  of  those  who 
recommended  them  in  place  of  being  spent  in  founding  a  per- 
manent system  of  moral  and  commercial  improvement  for  the 
natives  of  the  country.  The  money  was  frittered  away  in 
contracts  and  jobbing  in  the  settlement,  while  the  surrounding 
country,  with  its  countless  inhabitants,  was  left  without  an 
effort  for  its  improvement,  and  to  this  day  bears  scarcely  a  trace 
of  advantage  arising  from  all  the  money  that  has  been  devoted 

*  Abstract  of  Returns,  shewing  the  number  of  slaves  captured,  emanci- 
pated, and  registered  in  the  Mixed  Commission  Courts  at  Sierra  Leone, 
since  their  establishment  to  the  6th  day  of  February  1826. 

Died  before  Adjudication 1462 

Emancipated,  but  died  before  their 
descriptions  could  be  taken  to 

be  registered 38 

Delivered  over  to  the  Colonial  Go- 
vernment, not  emancipated  or 

registered 626 

Emancipated,  but  not  registered. .     254 
Emancipated  and  registered  ....     7122 


Captured  in  1819,. 

..     96 

1820. . 

..   465 

1821. 

. . 1399 

1822.. 

. . 2753 

1823. 

..   670 

1824. 

..1331 

1825. 

..1752 

ToFeb.  6, 1826. 

..1045 

9502 


9502 


At  Sierra  Leone  the  total  number  of  slaves  emancipated  between  June 
1819  and  January  1833  was  27,697. 


598  POPULATION  OF  THE  GAMBIA,  CAPE  COAST  CASTLE,   &C. 


to  the  colony.  No  encouragement  has  been  offered  to  the 
native  chiefs,  in  the  way  of  premiums  for  the  productions  of 
the  soil,  nor  has  any  regular  system  ever  been  adopted  for 
supplying  them  with  tools,  seeds,  or  agricultural  instruction. 
Had  this  been  done,  and  persons  been  brought  from  the 
West  Indies  capable  of  instructing  the  natives  in  planting, 
England  might,  at  this  day,  have  had  something  to  show  and 
boast  of  for  the  money  she  has  spent  in  Africa,  in  place  of 
having  to  deplore  the  consequences  of  her  ill-directed  efforts, 
and  ill-applied  resources,  which  have  so  dispirited  govern- 
ment, and  the  country,  that  the  smallest  items  are  now 
grudgingly  admitted  in  the  estimates  for  the  coast,  in  place 
of  those  reasonable  resources  which,  if  granted,  and  properly 
applied,  might  yet  realise  the  fondest  hopes  of  the  friends  of 
African  improvement. 

The  Gambia. — The  population  of  this  settlement  I  can 
only  shew  as  regards  the  Island  of  St.  ]Mary,  which  was  in 
1823,  1826,  and  1833,  thus:— 

Population  of  St.  Mary's  Island,  Gambia 


1823. 

1826. 

1833. 

Class. 

Males. 

g 

O 

(U 

■(3 

a 

1 

•a 

■a 

3 

Europeans  

37 

29 
20 
428 
140 
152 
293 
2 

8 

50-1 

36/ 

467-1 

169/ 

45 
135 

1204 
152 
309 

28 
47 

17 
679 

112 
131 

7 

2 

44  1 

14/ 

624  \ 

162/ 

30 
122 

1577 

131 

7 

31 
51 

1399 

5 
75 

1179 

36 

Ditto  children 

Blacks  

126 

Ditto  children 

2578 

Ditto  children 

Total  .. 

1101 

744 

1845 

1021 

846 

1867 

1481 

1259 

2740 

The  foregoing  does  not  include  the  garrison,  which  con- 
sists of  about  1 50  of  the  Royal  African  corps. 

The  population  of  Cape  Coast  castle  is  about  8,000 ;  of 
Accra  about  5,000 ;  of  Annamabou  about  3,000 ;  of  Dix 
Cove  about  2,000.  In  the  aggregate  we  may  estimate  the 
number  of  British  subjects,  on  the  western  coast  of  Africa,  at 
aboui  50,000,  of  whom  but  500  are  Europeans. 


GOVERNMENT  AND  FINANCES  OF  SIERRA  LEONE,  GAMBIA,  &C.  599 

Government  and  Finances. — Sierra  Leone  is  governed  by 
a  Civil  Lieutenant-Governor,  assisted  by  a  council.*  Tliere  is 
a  Chief-Justice,  and  a  Vice  Court  of  Admiralty.  Here  is  also 
established  the  mixed  commission  for  the  adjudication  of 
vessels  taken  in  the  slave  trade.  A  detachment  of  the  Royal 
African  corps  (blacks)  is  stationed  in  the  Settlement  under  a 
Lieutenant-Colonel. 

The  administration  at  the  Gambia  is  under  a  Civil  Lieu- 
tenant-Governor ;  but  no  council  has  yet  been  established  to 
assist  him,  and  the  want  of  one  has  been  repeatedly  complained 
of  by  the  settlers. 

Cape  Coast  castle  was  replaced  under  the  management  of 
the  merchants,  in  1828.  The  forts  are  governed  by  a  Pre- 
sident and  council,  according  to  certain  rules  and  regulations 
agreed  upon  with  government.  The  business  in  London  is 
managed  by  a  committee  of  three  merchants,  appointed  by 
government,  and  accountable  to  the  Secretary  of  State  for 
the  due  application  of  the  funds,  allowed  for  the  maintenance 
and  defence  of  the  settlements,  which  is  3,500/.  per  annum. 
With  this  small  sum  80  men  are  clothed,  armed,  and  main- 
tained for  the  defence  of  the  castle  ;  the  forts  kept  in  repair ; 
the  President's  salary,  and  all  other  expenses  provided  for. 

The  establishment  for  the  support  and  maintenance  of 
Cape  Coast  castle  and  Accra  is — 

*  The  following  is  the  succession  of  Governors  of  Sierra  Leone : — 
J.  Clarkson,  Esq.  superintendent,  16th  March,  1/92;  W.  Dawes,  Esq.  31st. 
Dee.  1/92;  Z.  Maeauley,  Esq.  pro  temp.  1st.  April,  1794;  W.  Dawes,  Esq. 
returns  1795;  Z.  Maeauley,  Governor,  1796;  T.  Ludiam,  Esq,  pro  temp. 
1799  ;  W.  Dawes,  4lh  January,  1801  ;  Capt.  W.  Day,  R.N.  15th  February, 
1803;  J.  Ludlara,  Esq.  28th  August,  1803;  Ditto,  pro  temp.  1st  Jan. 
1808;  T.  Perrinet  Thompson,  Esq.  27ih  July,  1808;  Captain  Columbine, 
R.  N.  12th  Feb.  1810;  Lieut.  R.  Bones,  R.  N  pro  temp.  1st  May,  1811 ; 
Lieutenant  Colonel  Maxwell,  Governor  in  Chief,  1st  July,  18il  ;  Lieut. 
Col.  McCarthy  (Lieut.  Gov.)  11  July,  1814;  Lieut.  Col.  McCarthy, 
Governor  in  Chief,  29th  Nov.  1815;  Captain  Grant,  2nd  W.  I.  Reg.  pro 
temp  25th  July,  1820;  Brig.  Gen.  M'Carthy,  Gov.  in  Chief;  from  20  N. 
to  20  S.  lat.  28th  Nov  1824.  Major  Gen.  Turner;  Major  Gen.  Sir  Niel 
Campbell;  Col.  Denham ;  Lieut.  Col.  Lumley;  Major  Rickettts ;  Col. 
Findlay;  Mr.  Temple;  Major  Campbell. 


GOO        CAPE  COAST  CASTLE  AND  ACCRA  ESTABLISHMENTS. 

Cape  Coast  castle. — President  of  the  council,  treasurer, 
warehouse  keeper,  and  commander  of  the  troops,  per  annum, 
400/. ;  secretary,  accountant,  assistant  warehouse  keeper,  and 
register,  200/. ;  captain  of  the  guard,  adjutant,  chief  engineer, 
and  surveyor,  200/. ;  surgeon,  and  superintendant  of  schools, 
200/. ;  schools,  100/. ;  80  men,  at  12/.  per  man,  960/. ;  clothing 
for  ditto,  at  2/.  10*.  per  man,  200/. ;  labourers,  male  and  fe- 
male, 400/, ;  extraordinaries,  including  ammunition,  presents, 
forts'  repairs,  stationery,  medicines,  canoe  hire,  funerals, 
non-commissioned  officers,  messengers,  &c.,  740/. 

Accra. — Officer  in  charge  of  fort,  per  annum,  100/. ;  12 
men,  at  12/.  per  man,  144/.;  clothing,  at  2/,  10.9.  per  man, 
30/. ;  labourers,  50/. ;  extraordinaries,  including  ammunition, 
presents,  forts'  repairs,  &c.,  176/. 

Home  establishment. — Secretary,  and  office  rent,  100/.  ; 
stationary,  postages,  &c.,  . — Total,  4,000/. 

The  preceding  charges  are  now  reduced  to  3,500/.,  and 
yet  with  this  trifling  amount  the  forts  are  kept  in  a  better 
state  than  when  ten  times  that  sum  was  laid  out  on  them  by 
the  colonial  authorities;  it  is,  in  fact,  a  system  of  self  govern- 
ment, which  it  would  be  very  desirable  to  extend  to  the  other 
settlements  on  this  coast.*  The  local  revenues  are  of  course 
trifling ;  the  forts  are  solely  trading  stations,  and  cannot  be  ex- 
pected to  yield  a  direct  profit.  The  statements  that  have 
been  put  forth  by  its  enemies,  relative  to  the  cost  of  Sierra 
Leone,  have  been  much  exaggerated;  but  it  grieves  me  to 
admit  that  patriotism  and  philanthropy  were,  in  this  instance, 
a  pecuniary  speculation,  yielding  a  temporary  (and  but  a 
temporary)  advantage  to  those  who  practised  on  the  christian 
principles  of  England ;  the  time  is  now,  I  trust,  gone  past 
for  allowing  jobbing  and  peculation  of  the  public  money. 

*  I  would  strongly  advise  the  formation  of  an  Association  in  London, 
(sirailar  to  the  East  India  Company,)  with  delegated  powers  of  sovereignty 
in  Western  Africa,  viz  :  empowered  to  acquire  and  possess  territory — to 
make  war  and  peace — to  form  military  establishments — and  to  possess 
trading  privileges, — such  would  be  the  most  effectual  mode  of  civilizing 
Africa,  to  whose  present  state  Hindostan  bore  so  strong  a  resemblance  pre- 
vious to  the  formation  of  our  East  Lulia  Company. — \_See  FoL  I.  Asia.] 


REVENUE  AND  EXPENDITURE  OF  SIERRA  LEONE. 


601 


The  expenditure  on  Sierra  Leone  was,  for  the  five  years 
ending  1824,  75,000/.  per  annum;  for  the  succeeding  five 
years  it  was  diminished  to  nearly  half  that  sum. 

Revenue  and  Expenditure  of  Sierra  Leone  by  a  Colonial  Office  Document. 


Years. 

REVENUE, 

EXPENDITURE. 

Colonial 
Duties. 

Parliamentary 
Grant. 

Total. 

Civil. 

Military. 

Total. 

1830 
1831 
1832 
1833 

£. 

9697 

7050 

16751 

16747 

13910 
14219 
14144 

£. 
31761 

1286 
1411 

45672 
15505 
15555 

The  military  charges  for  the  latter  years  are,  I  suppose, 
solely  for  the  militia  at  Sierra  Leone  and  the  Gambia.  In 
aid  of  the  parliamentary  grant  there  are  local  duties  collected 
upon  imports  ;  the  progress  of  which  for  Sierra  Leone  is  thus 
shewn  (the  amount  for  the  Gambia  will  be  found  under  Com- 
merce :) — 

Amount  of  duties  collected  upon  Imports  at  Sierra  Leone. 

1812  ^1922     1815  ^1816     1818  ^5124     182/  ^4846     1831  ^7265 

1813  1528     1816      2486     1819      4656     1828      4191     1832      6467 

1814  1163     1817      3096     1820      6153     1830      6839     1833      6316 

In  all  1834      7170 

The  following  is  the  estimate  of  the  charges  incurred  for 
the  civil  establishment  on  the  western  coast  of  Africa,  for 
the  year  ending  31st  March,  1835,  and  voted  by  parliament: 
Sierra  Leone — governor,  2,000/.;  chief  judge,  1,500/.;  colo- 
nial secretary,  600/. ;  king's  advocate,  500/. ;  first  writer, 
400/.;  second  ditto,  300/.;  third  ditto,  250/.:  fourth  ditto, 
200/. ;  colonial  surgeon,  500/. ;  apothecary,  100/.;  and  chaplain, 
500/.  Total,  6,800/.*  The  Gambia — lieutenant-governor, 
1000/.;  secretary,  450/.;  commandant  at  McCarthy's  Island 
(7*.  2d.  per  day),  130/. ;  surgeon,  400/. ;  chaplain,  400/. ; 
public  buildings,  831/.  Total,  3,211/.  Gold  Coast— {\iz. 
Cape  Coast  castle  and  Accra,)  3,500/.  Grand  total.  13,561/. 
The  payments  out  of  the  military  chest  at  Sierra  Leone  and 

t  The  pay  of  the  Collector  of  the  Customs  is  800/.  per  annum,  which  is 
defrayed  out  of  the  import  duties. 


G02        SllIPiMNG    KMPLOYEU  IN   THE  SlEllKA  LEONL  TKADE. 

the  Gambiaj  for  the  year  ending  olst  March,  1833,  were,  for 
Sierra  Leone — pay,  &c.  of  the  Royal  African  corps,*and  West 
India  regiments,  4,508/. ;  of  commissariat  and  ordnance  officers, 
&c.,  2,968/^. ;  army  extraordinaries  (including  7,972/.  as  pen- 
sions to  discharged  negro  soldiers  from  the  West  Indian  and 
African  regiments),  12,518/. ;  for  the  service  of  liberated 
Africans,  9,325/. ;  sundries  for  ditto,  328/. — total  for  Sierra 
Leone,  29,657/.  For  the  Gambia — African  corps,  3,155/. 
(including  746/.,  which  is  paid  out  of  the  local  revenue  for 
militia  and  volunteers) ;  commissariat  officers,  497/. ;  naval 
disbursements,  517/.;  army  extraordinaries,  11,946/.;  sun- 
dries, 3,023/.  Total  Gambia,  19,138/.  Grand  total  for 
Sierra  Leone  and  the  Gambia,  48,795/.f 

*  The  African  corps  consists  of  20  officers  and  611  non-commissioned 
officers,  and  rank  and  file  ;  the  charejes  for  which  in  the  army  estimates  are 
14,205/. 

t  The  ordnance  at  three  of  our  forts  in  Western  Africa  was,  in  1815,  as  follows: — at  Cape 
Coast  Castle— 6  42-pounders,  9  24-do.,  2  18-do.,  11  12-do.,  18  9-do.,  5  6-do.,  26  3-do.,  2  3  inch 
mortars,  1  7-do. :  at  Accra — 7  18-pounders,  5  12- do.,  4  24-do.,  9  4-do. :  a.t  An namaboe — 14 
24-pounders,  8  18-do.,  7  12-do.,  12  6  do.,  14  3-do.  The  main  advantages  arising  from  these 
forts  is  the  power  which  they  enable  us  to  exercise  for  the  suppression  of  the  slave  trade, 
and  the  security  which  they  afford  to  our  commerce,  which  increases  in  proportion  to  the 
total  suppression  of  the  traffic  in  human  beings.  Mr.  James  Swanzy,  an  officer  in  the 
service  of  the  late  African  Company  of  Merchants,  stated  in  his  evidence  before  a  Com- 
mittee of  the  House  of  Commons,  on  the  I6th  June,  1816,  that  when  he  served  on  the  coast, 
from  the  year  1789  to  1799,  the  proportion  of  the  slave  trade,  to  the  other  trade  of  the  coast, 
was  at  that  period  nine- tenths  of  the  whole  trade. 

In  the  same  Committee,  Mr.  Swanzy  (who  had  resided  10  years  on  the  Gold  Coast)  was 
asked  the  following  question  : — of  what  nature  is  the  accommodation  which  the  Forts  afford 
to  trade  i  "  Very  great ;  they  open  the  communication  with  the  interior ;  they  are  the  de- 
pots for  goods  ;  they  protect  the  British  subjects  residing  near  them  ;  by  these  means  the 
trade  is  collected,  day  by  day,  and  a  collection  of  t/tree  months  is  shipped  in  24  hours,  without 
which  no  ship  could  profitably  trade  to  the  Gold  Coast,  as  she  would  otherwise  be  obliged 
to  stay  three  mouths  at  each  point  to  collect  the  same  quantity  of  goods.  I  would  wish 
to  add  also  that,  these  forts  give  an  exclusive  trade  to  a  considerable  extent  to  the  British 
subject.  Mr.  Swanzy  was  asked  whether  the  legitimate  trade  of  the  Gold  Coast  had  in- 
creased,  or  diminished,  since  the  abolition  of  the  slave  trade  (then  only  eight  years  ago) ; 
to  which  he  answers,  "  I  should  think  the  Gold  Coast  produces  100,000  ounces  of  gold  per 
annum  :  during  the  slave  trade  not  more  was  collected  than  was  sufficient  for  the  currency 
of  the  country,  and  I  think  it  may  still  be  increased  ;  it  requires  only  exertion  to  increase  it. 

The  late  African  Committee,  in  a  letter  to  the  Lords  of  the  Treasury,  correctly  remark 
that,  '  Settlements  on  the  coast  of  Africa  are  valuable  on  two  grounds,  as  conferring  an  ex- 
clusive right  of  trade  upon  the  power  possessing  them  ;  and  second,  as  the  only  medium 
through  which  it  can  be  safely  and  advantageously  carried  on.  It  is  a  lamentable  but  cer- 
tain lact,  that  Africa  has  hitherto  been  sacrificed  to  our  West  India  colonies;  her  commerce 
has  been  confined  to  a  trade  which  seemed  to  preclude  all  advancement  in  civilization  ;  her 
cultivators  have  been  sold  to  labour  on  lands  not  their  own,  while  all  endeavours  to  promote 
cultivation,  and  improvement  in  agi-iculture,  have  been  discouraged  by  the  government  of 
this  country,  lest  her  products  should  interfere  with  those  of  our  more  favoured  colonies. 


VALUE  OF  THE  SIERRA  LEONE  COMMERCE. 


G03 


CoMxMERCE. — The  trade  of  the  different  settlements  it  is 
difficult  to  give ;  I  will  endeavour,  however,  to  convey  an  idea 
of  it,  commencing  with  that  of  Sierra  Leone. 

Sierra  Leone  Shippins;',  (years  ending  in  December.) 


SHIPS  INWARDS— FROM 

SHIPS  OUTWARDS— TO 

§ 

Great 

British 

Foreign 

Total 

Great 

British 

Foreign 

Total 

>< 

Britain. 

Colonies. 

States. 

Inwards. 

Britain. 

Colonies. 

States. 

Outwards. 

No. 

Tons. 

No. 

Tons. 

No. 

Tons. 

No. 

Tons. 

No. 

Tons. 

No. 

Tons. 

No. 

Tons. 

No. 

Tons. 

1824 

67 

18846 

15 

621 

11 

905 

93 

20372 

33 

11154 

27 

2535 

3 

314 

68 

13993 

1825 

71 

20469 

28 

2352 

4 

658 

103 

23479 

78 

23010 

28 

1890 

3 

368 

99 

25268 

182b 

68 

21675 

27 

3001 

8 

6127 

103 

25803 

68 

21675 

27 

3001 

8 

1127 

103 

25803 

1827 

32 

12818 

11 

996 

13 

2357 

56 

I617I 

38 

10999 

17 

2183 

12 

1641 

67 

44828 

1828 

38 

12774 

18 

2258 

2 

644 

58 

15676 

41 

13736 

26 

3111 

6 

1035 

73 

17882 

1829 

m 

21792 

20 

2837 

4 

447 

90 

25076 

47 

14826 

20 

2807 

8 

358 

75 

18491 

1830 

64 

22131 

24 

2373 

7 

784 

95 

26343 

60 

19369 

18 

1915 

13 

1590 

91 

22874 

1831 

59 

20381 

11 

6252 

7 

837 

77 

22478 

77 

26445 

26 

2883 

4 

416 

107 

29744 

1832 

47 

15114 

16 

2840 

2 

548 

65 

18502 

57 

17307 

9 

1079 

4 

365 

70 

19946 

1833 

50 

15536 

11 

1554 

2 

485 

63 

17575 

51 

15616 

8 

980 

59 

16596 

1834 

54 

12838 

18 

431 

1 

138 

73 

17307 

44 

14887 

33 

3188 

7 

993 

84 

19068 

Vessels  entered  Inwards,  and  cleared  Outwards,  in  the  Year  ending'  5th  of 
January,  1835,  as  compared  with  the  Year  ending  5th  of  January,  1834. 


Inwards,  1835. 

Outwards,  1835. 

Inwards,  1834. 

Outwards,  1834. 

Countries. 

No. 

Tons. 

Men 

No. 

Tons. 

Men 

No. 

Tons. 

Men 

No. 

Tons. 

Men 

United  Kingdom     . 

64 

12838 

710 

44 

14887 

688 

50 

15536 

722 

51 

15616 

677 

British  West  Indies 

1 

125 

10 

6 

954 

48 

nil. 

nil. 

nil. 

3 

299 

9.9, 

British  North  America    . 

4 

598 

31 

2 

390 

22 

4 

638 

34 

nil. 

nU. 

nil. 

Foreign  Europe,  B.V.     . 

1 

138 

10 

7 

993 

127 

nil. 

2 

26 

nil. 

nil. 

nil. 

British  Pos.  Africa,  B.  V. 

10 

•  3064 

89 

23 

1669 

127 

5 

578 

44 

4 

532 

35 

Foreign  Vessels 

3 

544 

34 

2 

175 

15 

2 

338 

22 

1 

149 

9 

Total    . 

73 

17307 

884 

84 

19068 

800 

63 

17575 

878 

65 

17515 

799 

Val 

ue  of  the  trade  of  Sierra  Leone,  from  1824  to  1834.* 

IMPORTS— FROM 

EXPORTS— TO 

a 

Great 

British 

Foreign 

Total 

Great 

British 

Foreign 

Total 

^ 

Britain. 

Colonies. 

States. 

value. 

Britain. 

Colonies. 

States. 

value. 

£ 

£ 

£ 

£ 

£ 

£ 

d? 

^ 

1824 

38596 

22714 

16528 

778:^8 

62650 

2611 

65261 

1825 

44079 

21958 

11937 

77974 

54624 

4341 

58965 

1826 

53284 

1804 

1102 

56iyo 

38950 

4569 

994 

44513 

1828 

74900 

4275 

465 

79648 

39170 

2080 

192 

41442 

1829 

106642 

2736 

308 

109686 

51379 

6475 

57854 

1830 

8 1703 

2943 

1605 

87251 

63482 

7382 

212 

71076 

1831 

100828 

2270 

1541 

104639 

78194 

2236 

840 

81280 

1832 

1833 

52900 

2588 

1676 

57164 

1834 

51805 

6023 

346 

58174 

*  The  first  eight  years  are  from  a  manuscript  Colonial  Office  document ; 
the  latter  two  years  are  from  the  Loudon  Custom  House  returns. 

With  better  views,  and  a  more  liberal  policy,  we  are  now  returned  to  our  original  object : 
the  country  promises  much  ;  and  it  has  long  been  a  subject  of  regret,  that  her  resources 
liave  never  been  called  into  action.  The  extent  of  territory  is  immeasurable,  its  fertility 
great,  and  its  products  (some  of  which  are  peculiar  to  Africa)  are  all  valuable  in  the  £uro- 
"ean  market." 


604  PRINCIPAL  EXPORTS  FROM,  AND  PRICES  OF  STAPLE 

Principal  articles  of  Export  from  Sierra  Leone — years  ending  6th  of  Jan. 


Articles. 


Timber,  loads 

Cam  Wood,  tons    

Palm  Oil,  gallons 

Ivory,  pieces  

Rice,  tons 

Bees'  Wax,  tons 

Gold,  oz 

Ox  Hides,  No 

Horns    

Copal  Gum,  casks 

Ginger  and  Arrowroot . . 

Cofifee,  hds 

Pepper,  pipes  

Indigo,  Tortoise-shell,  "j 
Planks,  India  Rub-  > 
ber.  Hemp,  &c J 


1827. 

1828. 

10742 

11114 

550 

363 

27011 

75676 

2958 

2744 

392 

107 

14 

6 

150 

£10000 

5670 

4241 

81 

3 

.. 

3 

1829. 


No  returns. 


Various  quantities.* 


Total  value  of  Exports,  £    71076  81280     58920 


18983  24048 

5921   644 

t.  364  c.  397 


3398 

200 

C.  135 

15885 

2300 

18 


1095 

784 

C.152 

6311 

3160 

96 

60 

C.469 


17761 
975 

C.  480 

5999 

875 

c.  396 

OZ.204 

28997 

5810 
133 
290 

230 


16951 

911 

C.  542 

761 

785 

C.  87 

OZ.  50 

6831 

1580 

87 

139 

327 


57164 


9223 
800 
928 
858 
558 
289 
boxes,  2 

18866 

16170 
197 

447 

6 
200 


58174 


•  It  is  difficult  to  state  the  trade  accurately,  because  the  denomination  of  the  Exports 
varies  to  different  countries. — t.  stands  for  tons,  c.  for  casks. 

Exports  from  the  River  Gambia,  in  1826,  1830,  and  in  1833. 


Estimated 

Amount 

value  in 

of  Duty 

England 

payable 

of  the  se- 

in Eng- 

veral arti- 

land on 

Articles  Exported. 

1825. 

1830. 

1833. 

cles  of 
1833. 

each 
article. 

^. 

£. 

Pure  wax,  tons 

181 

2444 

17s  J 

22815 

1755 

Ivory,  lbs. 

696  teeth 

14625 

29240 

5117 

260 

Gold,  oz.t 

922 

£00 

1139 

4556 

Tortoiseshell  . 

,        , 

1  sheU 

2  boxes 

255  lbs. 

318 

12 

Gum,  Senegal   . 

30  bags 

52  CWt. 

275  tons 

13750 

3300 

Hides,  no. 

. 

58I2S 

76471 

76900 

15380 

961 

White  rice,  tons 

}« 

82 

2725 

3545 

4091 

Rough  rice,  tons 

. 

82 

154 

67 

39 

Corn.  Bordeauxt 

266 

1711 

3636 

3151 

Cotton,  lbs.    . 

. 

14900 

124 

African  teak      . 

180'llogS§ 

502  loads 

660 

2288 

330 

Hardwood 

.       . 

,, 

48  loads 

166 

24 

Camwood,  tons 

40 

54 

744 

1043 

56 

Palm  oil,  gallons 

3443 

1819 

272 

16 

Ox  horns,  no.    . 

29e 

225 

6780 

54 

14 

Lime,  Bordeaux 

, 

1500 

3714 

1225 

135 

Ginger,  lbs. 

196 

680 

25 

3 

Horses,  no.t 

. 

9 

15 

130 

Bullocks,  no.t  . 

207 

13 

28 

Pagnes,  or  country  < 

:loths,  n 

3. 

1140 

1264 

547 

55 

Country  baskets,  no 

700 

220 

23 

5 

Arrowroot,  lbs. 

. 

4200 

105 

17 

Hemp,  tons    .... 

•• 

4 

86 

Orchilla,  lbs 

1476 

^66127 

.5^17348 

f  Large  quantities  shipped  and  not  invoiced. 


J  The  Bordeaux  is  60  gallons. 


§  The  logs  average  50  feet. 


ARTICLES  AT,  SIERRA  LEONE  AND  THE  GAMBIA. 


605 


The  following  shews  the  nature  and  quantity  of  produce  at  Sierra  Leone 


o 

a 

as 

<u 

(5 

■a 

a 

2  ° 

SO 

o 

>< 

a 

8 

a 
a 
■■a 
a 

i 

o 

1 
S 

< 

S 
bo 

.9 
C5 

1 

c 

1 

bush. 

bush. 

cwt. 

bush. 

bush. 

cwt. 

cwt. 

bush. 

bush. 

1831. 

12000 

3069 

53210 

2643 

7645 

601 

10 

20 

2642 

7238 

Average  prices 

the  same  year. 

U. 

5s.  6d. 

6d. 

5s.  6d. 

2s.  6d. 

6s. 

37*.  4rf. 

37s.  id. 

Is.  3d. 

lOt;. 

The  following  shews  the  prices  of  different  articles  in  the 
markets  at  the  Gambia  : — 

Yellow  bees'-wax,  130/.  per  ton ;  African  teak,  3/.  10*.  per  load ;  cam- 
wood, 12/.  per  ton  ;  ivory,  3^.  6d.  per  lb. 

Mahogany  of  various  kinds  at  4!.  currency,  or  3/.  9*.  4d.  sterling', 
(Exchange  dollar  at  4s.  4d.) 

Ebony  of  very  good  quality  grows  abundantly  in  Salum  River,  and  par- 
tially in  Gambia.  Dittach,  a  very  hard  and  durable  wood,  stands  well  un- 
der water,  and  is  used  in  the  construction  of  vessels,  wharfs,  &c. 

Toulacouna,  or  bitter  oil,  3*  6d.  (currency)  per  gallon. 

Cotton,  Nominal  or  barter  price,  in  the  rough,  2d.  per  lb. 

Indigo,  in  the  rough  cake,  2s.  6d.  each. 

Hemp,  made  into  ropes  or  cords,  and  sold  at  about  6d.  each. 

Potash,  al)out  5d.  per  lb. 

Honey,  retailed  in  Mandingo  country  at  2*.  6d.  per  gallon. 

Butter  same  price  as  honey.  (N.B.  The  natives  preserve  the  butter  by 
a  process  of  melting,  and  retail  it  in  the  liquid  state  at  2*.  6d.  per  gallon.) 

Cola  nut,  3s.  9d.  per  100. 

Cardamums,  sold  in  barter  among  the  natives,  at  about  10*.  the  lb.,  and 
brought  from  a  distance  in  the  interior  by  the  gold  merchants. 

Goat,  calf,  and  bullocks'  skins,  dressed  by  the  natives,  but  usually  made 
into  articles  of  use.  (The  natives  dress  these  skins  well  by  means  of  pot- 
ash and  banna  seeds.) 

Cayenne  pepper  of  all  kinds,  in  plenty 

Beef,  good,  at  3d.  (sterling)  per  lb.  Fowls,  1  to  H  dollar  per  dozen. 
Mutton,  generally  private  property,  seldom  in  market.  Goats  1  dollar  to 
li  (with  one  or  more  kids.) 

Wines,  Claret,  5  dollars  the  case.  Tea,  2  dollars  the  lb.  Dried  oysters 
(good.)     Eggs,  14  to  16  for  quarter  dollar. 


GOG       COMMERCE  OF  THE  GAMBIA   AND  CAPE  COAST  CASTLE. 

Returns  of  Imports  into  the  Port  of  BatluirGt,  Island  of  St.  Mary's,  and 
River  Gambia,  in  the  year  ending  31st  December,  1834,  shewing  also 
the  Amount  of  Duties  collected  thereon  (shillings  and  pence  excluded). 


a 

^ 

_ 

¥oi 

o 

4)   OT 

on  Spi 
gallon 

nd  Gin 
gallon 

n. 

o 

So^  . 

lO 

■gs<s 

~    M 

Q    O 

S    M 

.2 

<j^  rt  a 

.2 

T3>  >.  C 

^r  "^ 

n    " 

t-^S  *  S  s 

ll 

rt 

Quarter. 

o  52  o.  4* 

d 

§cp.S 

^> 

=-s 

^a^aoi 

lU 

a 

ending 

Q 

•c  £.2 
o  o.a 

o  a 
s:  <u 

c 

<: 

Extra  D 
rits,  \s. 

on  Bran 

and  6d 

on 

> 

§ 

^. 

Jft". 

^. 

£. 

£. 

£. 

£. 

£. 

No. 

Tons. 

31st  March. 

9152 

5653 

.'■22 

79 

32 

12 

155 

802 

31 

2787 

30th  June. 

11740 

59/4 

593 

58 

72 

23 

280 

1025 

37 

3941 

30th  Sept. 

5526 

4424 

376 

26 

36 

13 

23 

472 

28 

2793 

31st  Dec. 

16063 

4953 

618 

52 

16 

10 

19 

717 

31 

2237 

Total  for  1834 

42481 

21004 

2109 

214 

•56 

58 

477 

3016 

127 

11758 

Do.  for  1833 

23138 

15022 

1367 

153 

120 

46 

333 

2020 

,0. 

9260 

The  Exports  for  18.34  I  do  not  find  at  the  Custom  House. 

The  trade  returns  of  Cape  Coast  Castle  are  less  perfect;  I  am 
enabled,  however,  through  the  kindness  of  Mr.  Nicholls,  to 
shew  the 

Exports  from  Cape  Coast  Castle,  between  the  1st  of  August,  1829,  and 
30th  of  June,  18.34. 


Oz.  £. 

1st  Aug.  1829.  to  30th  May,  1830  Palm  Oil,  Ivory,  &c.  (11958  Gold,  included.)  value  79718 

1st  June,  1330,  to  3ist  Dec.  1830  Do.        5510  Do.  363:7 

1st  Jan.  1831,  to  30th  Sept.  1831  Do.       10888  Do.  78818 

1st  Oct.  1831,  to  31st  Dec.  1831  Do.        1255  Do.  11464 

1st  Jan.  1832,  to  30th  June,  1832  Do.        12580  Do.  87654 

1st  July,  1832,  to  31st  Dec.  1832  Do.        12117  Do.  93450 

1st  Jan.  1833,  to  31st  Dec.  1833  Do.        21475  Do.  140344 

1st  Jan.  1834,  to  30th  June,  1834  Do.       15351  Do.  106156 


91134  Oz.  of  Gold.  Total  ^'633981 


The  trade  of  Western  Africa  is  of  considerable  importance 
to  this  country,  and  yearly  increasing  ; — it  has  been  stated  by 
Mr.  M'Culloch,  in  his  Commercial  Dictionary  (a  work,  I  regret 
to  say,  abounding  in  prejudiced  views*  and  misstatements,)  at 
only  from  40,000/.  to  60,000/.  per  annum.  Let  the  following 
return  demonstrate  the  truth  of  this  assertion. 


*  For  proofs  of  this  assertion  see  my  work  on  the  *  Past  and  Present 
State  of  the  Tea-trade  of  England,  and  of  the  Continents  of  Europe  and 
America.'  as  also  my  work  on  the  *  Anglo  Eastern  Empire.' 


TRADE  OF  '  one'  LONDON  HOUSE  WITH  WESTERN   AFRICA.    G07 

Imparts  from  the  Gambia,  Sierra  Leone,  and  Cape  Coast,  by  one  mercan- 
tile house,  for  the  years  1832-33  and  1834,  will  indicate  the  importance 
of  this  trade,  which  has  so  often  been  denied. 


•d 

« 

0 

c 

si 

•a 
o 
O 

s 
<u 

s 

3 
0 

■a 

is 

i 

0 

S 
5 

0 

6 

s 
5 
"B. 

CIS 

0 

a 

c 
0 
0 
3 

s 
0 
« 

ci 
<u 

a 
'a 
0 

•a 
0 

1 

B 
ce 
0 

.0 
a 

H 

1 

1 

m 

oz. 

ton  Si 

No. 

cwt. 

Ids.  tons 

cwt. 

lbs. 

No. 

No. 

lbs. 

tons 

Ids. 

From  River  Gambia 

2938 

679 

65353 

3605 

892       2 

1818 

12179 

Gold  Coast   

23597 

17 

848 

54435 

10578 

998  1638 

Sierra  Leoiie   . . 

829 

4400 

54!    ..    1      26 

680 

3025 

..    1  .. 

300 

85 

Total. . 

27364 

679 

69753 

3676 

892 

876  2198 

1 

69639 

10578 

998  1638 

300 

85 

Summary.— Gold,  27,364  oz.,  at  4^.  per  oz.,  109,456/. ;  Gum,  Senegal,  679  tons,  at  85/.  per 
ton,  57,715/. ;  Hide.s,  69,753,  at  5a-.  each,  17,433/. ;  Bees'  Wax,  3,67-'  cwts.,  at  'I.  lOv.  per  cwt., 
27,570/.;  Gambia  Wood,  892  loads,  at  10/.  per  load,  8,920/.;  Palm  Oil,  873  tons,  at  30/.  per 
ton,  26,280/  ;  Rice,  125  tons,  at  20/.  per  ton,  2,500/.;  Elephant's  Teeth,  6j, 639  lbs.,  at  4s. 
per  lb.,  13,928/.;  Dollars,  10,578,  at  4s.  id.  per  dollar,  2,292/.;  Doubloons,  998,  at  75s.  per 
doubloon,  3,742/. ;  Guinea  Grains,  1,638  lbs.,  at  is.  per  lb.,  82/.  j  Camwood,  300  tons,  at  20/. 
per  ton,  6,000/. ;  Teak  Timber,  85  loads,  at  10/.  per  load,  850/.    Total,  276,773/. 


*  The  annual  importations  of  palm  oil  are  now  upwards  of  12,000  tons, 
which,  at  the  market  price  of  28/.  per  ton,  amounts  to  336,0001.  per  anmon ! 
giving  constant  employment  to  15,000  tons  of  shipping  I  Here  then  in  one 
article  we  have  a  value  nearly  seven  times  greater  than  Mr.  M'Culloch's 
estimate  of  the  whole  trade, — a  striking  proof  both  of  the  author's  inaccu- 
racy, and  how  little  is  generally  known  upon  the  subject.  But  it  is  on  such 
statements,  and  on  such  want  of  information  that  government,  and  the 
public,  have  been  led  to  undervalue  the  importance  of  the  trade  of  the  West 
coast  of  Africa:  and  to  such  a  length  has  this  been  carried,  that  both  in 
parliament  and  out  of  doors  it  has  been  more  than  once  suggested  to  aban- 
don our  settlements  there  as  valueless,  or  at  all  events  unworthy  the  trifling 
expenditure  now  awarded  for  their  support.  Such  settlements  may  truly 
be  regarded  as  foreign  shops  for  the  sale  of  our  goods  abroad,  and  tliose 
who  sell  in  them  the  manufactures  of  Manchester  and  Birmingham  to  the 
natives  of  Africa,  are  as  much  entitled  to  protection  from  the  mother 
country,  as  the  shopkeeper  who  sells  the  same  articles  in  Cheapside  or 
Dover. 

Importations  of  Palm  Oil  since  1828. — (Brokers'  Circular,  Jackson.) 


1828. 

1829. 

1830. 

1831. 

1832. 

1833. 

1834. 

Liverpool,  tons 
London,  Bristol,  &c. 

5656 
570 

8290 
600 

9930 
1070 

7100 
950 

10401 
1250 

1    10800 
2100 

11400 
1250 

Total    . 

6220 

8890 

11000 

8050 

U650 

1    12900 

12650 

Duty  reduced  in  July  1834  from  2s.  6d.  to  is.  3</.  per  cwt. 


608 


IMPORTS  INTO  BRITAIN  FROM  WESTERN   AFRICA. 


The  total  of  our  commerce  with  Western  Africa  for  1829, 
(the  latest  return  in  a  complete  view  before  me)  was — 

I.  Imports  into  the  United  Kingdom  in  1829,  from  the  Western  Coast 
of  Africa,  distinguishing'  their  Quantities  and  Values. 


Quantities  Imported. 

Official  Value  of  Imports. 

1     0) 

S5£ 

J3  (U 

■^  P. 

2  o 

o 
'So 

"  a. 

•5  0.  . 

0^ 

5  0 

Articles  Imported. 

Sierra  Leone,  the  Riv 
Gambia,  and  the  Coast 
tween  the  Gambia  and 
Mesurada. 

It. 

*r  aJ.2 

o  So 

oEcs 

■oH£ 

-3  0)  C 

o     ..fe 
■"  (S 

c> 

Sierra  Leone,  the  Rivi 
Gambia,  and  the  Coast 
tween  the  Gambia  and 
Mesurada. 

•as 

iJO  c 

S-s  0 

U  0  CD 
cuU'E 
g-TJ  0 
00 
0 

0.2  PL, 

■a  (u  0 
?*'  a 

0  .fi. 

5^ 

•a 
0 

je. 

£. 

^. 

.^. 

£. 

Coffee        .            .        lbs. 

1327 

6766 

82 

422 

505 

Dye  and  hard  woods,  viz. 

Barwood            .       tons 

246 

9871 

9871 

Camwood           .        tons 

103 

15 

825 

127 

952 

Ebony        .         .       tons 

12 

201 

201 

Red  or  Guinea  wood,  tons 

3 

123 

123 

Elephants'  teeth       .    cwt. 

318 

636 

1238 

1912 

3820 

7432 

13165 

Grains,  Guinea        .      lbs. 

9007 

5302 

131 

77 

208 

Gum,  copal      .          .    lbs. 

12576 

566 

423 

524 

23 

17 

565 

Senegal        .          .    cwt. 

2587 

.. 

5498 

5498 

Hides,  untanned      .    cwt. 

3696 

lllOI 

lllOI 

Oil,  palm        .           .    cwt. 

2963 

400 

7001 

169556 

2963 

400 

7001 

169556 

179921 

Skins,  calf  and  kip        cwt. 

827 

Timber,  viz. 

2606 

2 

2608 

Teak  wood        .       loads 

16015 

10207 

10207 

Wax,  bees'        .        .    cwt. 

4510 

.. 

"'64 

21486 

'306 

21792 

Other  articles,  official  value 

767 

1 

464 

614 

1847 

58107 

403 

11387 

I 88674 

258573 

This  table  does  not  include  grold  dust.  In  fact,  it  is  very  difficult  to  give  correct  tables,  or 
returns  of  the  trade  of  the  western  coast  of  Africa.  A  considerable  portion  of  the  trade  is 
conducted  on  the  ancient  system  of  "  adventures"  afloat,  or,  what  is  called,  the  "  floating 
trade."  A  ship  is  fitted  out,  and  committed,  with  her  cargo,  to  the  direction  of  the  captain, 
who  acts  as  supercargo,  and  who  trades  along  the  coast,  backwards  and  forwards,  till  he  has 
disposed  of  his  cargo,  in  barter  with  the  natives,  when  he  returns  home.  On  the  abolition  of 
the  slave  trade  this  old-fashioned  system  of  adventure  was  resumed  by  many  of  the  captains 
who  had  been  engaged  in  that  traffic  (in  which  some  of  them  had  made  considerable  sums  of 
money*),  and  who,  finding  their  former  occupation  gone,  turned  their  attention  in  this  way 
to  the  lawful  pursuits  of  trade.  It  is  a  system  of  traffic,  however,  attended  with  great  risk, 
and  wholly  dependent  for  success  on  the  honesty,  sobriety,  and  good  conduct  of  the  captain, 
and  one  which  the  increasing  security,  affiarded  by  our  settlements  on  shore,  has  already 
greatly  limited,  and  will  ultimately  supercede. 

*  It  has  often  been  remarked,  by  persons  conversant  with  the  history  of  slave  merchants, 
as  a  curious  fact,  that  there  is  scarcely  an  instance  on  record  of  money  acquired  by  the  sale 
of  our  fellow-creatures  remaining  with  the  parties,  or  of  its  having  laid  the  foundation  of 
lasting  eminence  or  prosperity  for  any  family,  notwithstanding  the  immense  sums  that  must 
have  been  amassed  in  the  pursuit  of  so  diabolical  a  traffic.  May  we  not  trace  in  this  a  proof 
of  the  retributive  justice  of  an  offended  Deity  ?  At  all  events,  it  is  consolatory  to  think  that 
few  of  our  posterity  will  have  occasion  to  look  back  and  blush  individually  for  ancestraj 
shame  on  this  account,  although  the  slave  trade  must  ever  remain  the  worst  blot  in  tlie 
page  of  our  national  history. 


BRITISH  EXPORTS  TO   WESTERN  AFRICA. 


G09 


II.  Exports  of  British  Produce  and  Manufactures  from  the  United  Kingdom 
in  1829,  to  the  Western  Coast  of  Africa,  distinguishing  their  Qucinlitie.s 
and  Values. 


Articles  Exported. 


Quantities  Exported. 


"^   o   * 

o5 


u  o 

Lc  D.  - 

wo  o 


Pi  o 


c^ii: 


dj  I 


OfBciEil  Value  of  Exports. 


:0  n! 


'  CO  -Sf  c 

o  S-" 
o  o  <3 

O  ^  E 

§■2  5 
O  o 
O 


J-  o 


o5, 


—  S  =■ 


g.T3   O 


cS-  ^ 
S  -3  5 

3   S   S 


p> 


Apparel  and  Slops 
Brass  and  Copper     .     cwt. 
Cottons,   entered  by  i     , 
theyard}y''«- 
Hosiery,  Lace,  and  small 
wares 
Glass  and  Earthenware 
Guns  and  Pistols      ,     No. 
Gunpowder        .         .    lbs. 
Hardwares  &  Cutlery,  cwt. 
Iron,    wrought    and-i  ^ 

un  wrought  I  *°''^ 
Lead  and  Shot        .      tons 
Leather,  wrought  and  un- 
wrought    .  .        .' 

Linens        .         .        yards 
Salt        .  .        bushels 

Soap  and  Candles     .     cwt. 
Stationary  of  all  sorts 
Sugar,  refined        .       cwt 
Swords  and  Cutlasses,  No, 
Wood,  viz. 

Staves  and  Casks,  packs 
Woollens,  entered  i    . 

by  the  piece  I P'^'^^^ 

by  the  yard  .  yards 

Hosiery  and  small  wares 

All  other  articles 


32S 

558187 


21I5I 

357604 

420 


527 


36502 

38440 

500 

199 
16193 

170 
196 
800 


10    77 

119484  5519O8 


2960!  14585 
25000  230400 


20 

151 

4 

35 

3818 

20 

14 

400. 

200 
3 


1285 
228 
80 


242 

681361 


37955 

1549350 

1194 

1137 


1853 
141700  I 

270 

261 
12162 

10747 

40 

650 


7\72 
1637 

41501 

218 

878 

15783 

10802 

1157 

8647 

85 

1736 
1279 
1795 
958 
590 
4048 

113 

934 

53 

161 

7560 


ID 


8961 


13 

2220 

755 

5 

210 


107882 


12468 


6-0 
360 

40049 


139 
10938 

6960 

119 

2220 
369 

174 
178 


69 


756 
435 


66 

2095 


1333 
1162 


93! 
28466 
46803 
3285 

11684 


79 
4723 
810 

478 
3040 

7164 

180 

48 
1323 

1588 


65791  164218 


9ia6 

3205 


218 

1962 

574O8 

65321 

4567 

22762 

548 

947 
1994 
6003 
2675 
1002 
1110 
7I88 

8084 

1552 

107 

1554 

11377 


350361 


Exclusive  of  the  above,  we  exported  in  1829  to  Western  Africa  ^161,431 
worth  of  British,  Colonial,  and  foreign  Merchandize,  making  a  total  of 
.^511,792,  which  is  now  considerably  increased. 

The  commerce  in  gold  dust  from  West  Africa,  as  shewn  at 
p.  606,  presents  to  us  a  prospect  of  increasing  our  circulating 
medium,  if  our  paper  currency  be  not  relaxed,  and  notwith- 
standing the  difficulty  of  arriving  at  an  estimate  of  the  value  of 
some  of  the  returns  (for  the  reasons  already  stated)  I  trust  I  have 
adduced  facts  sufficient  to  demonstrate  the  little  reliance  to 
be  placed  on  Mr.  M'Culloch's  assertion  respecting  the  trade. 

VOL.  IV.  R  R 


610    MR.  FORSTER  ON  THE  VALUE  OF  AFRICAN  COMMERCE. 

I  cannot  indeed  better  illustrate  the  mere  commercial  im- 
portance of  the  British  settlements  in  West  Africa  than  by 
placing  before  the  reader  the  following  luminous  and  truly 
patriotic  statement  drawn  up  by  M.  Forster,  Esq.,  (of  the 
mercantile  firm  of  '  Forster  and  Smith,'*  New  City  Chambers) 
in  a  letter  addressed  to  the  Secretary  of  State  for  the  Co- 
lonies ;  the  officers  of  the  Colonial  Office  are  qualified  to 
judge  whether  the  assertions  herein  made  are  in  the  slightest 
degree  exaggerated.  The  letter  is  dated  the  9th  January, 
1832. 

'  Attempts  have  frequently  been  made  to  depreciate  the  commer- 
cial importance  of  our  settlements  on  the  West  Coast  of  Africa, 
compared  with  the  cost  of  maintaining  them  :  and  conceiving  that 
Parliament  and  the  public  are  not  fully  aware  of  the  nature  and  ex- 
tent of  the  trade  dependent  on  those  settlements,  I  have  taken  the 
liberty  of  drawing  up  a  statement  shewing  the  benefit  arising  from 
them  to  the  revenue  and  national  industry  of  this  country,  which  I 
have  the  honour  herewith  to  annex  for  your  Lordship's  inspection. 

'  The  annual  direct  and  indirect  advantages  to  the  national  industry 
from  the  trade  I  estimate  as  per  Statement,  No.  1,  at  4 63,234 Z.  19s. 
and  the  annual  benefit  to  the  revenue,  as  per  Statement  No.  2,  at 

*  These  gentlemen,  with  a  view  of  opening'  to  the  natives  of  Africa  a 
market  for  their  Rice  (an  article  the  culture  of  which  the  natives  so  well  un- 
derstand), have  erected,  near  London,  at  a  very  considerable  expense,  a  Mill 
worked  by  steam,  for  cleaning  it  from  the  husk  in  this  country ;  and  have 
made  arrangements  for  largely,  importing  the  paddy  :  some  of  this  grain 
already  received  is  equal  to  the  best  Carolina,  and  superior  in  my  mind  to 
Bengal  rice.  To  parts  of  the  coast  where  the  quality  is  inferior,  they  pro- 
pose sending  Carolina  seed  to  improve  the  crops ;  indeed  they  have  al- 
ready sent  out  seed  to  the  Gambia.  They  are  thus  doing,  as  private  indi- 
viduals, what  Government  should  have  done  long  ago,  in  this  as  well  as  in 
other  articles  of  produce.  In  these  humane  and  patriotic  efforts,  it  is  grie- 
vous to  learn  that  Messrs.  Forster  and  Smith  have  had  to  contend  against 
the  vexatious  and  strenuous  opposition  of  interested  parties  who  are  de- 
sirous of  preserving  to  the  United  States  a  monopoly  of  the  rice  market  of 
England,  and  to  themselves  a  monopoly  of  cleaning  it.  American  rice, 
be  it  observed,  is  produced  entirely  by  slave  labour  in  Carolina  !  It 
is,  however,  but  justice  to  add,  that  the  Board  of  Trade  have  stood  firm 
in  defence  of  our  colonial  interests,  and  in  pliilanthropically  promoting 
the  efforts  of  Messrs.  Forster  and  Smith  to  encourage  free  labour  in  Western 
Africa. 


IMPORTANT  STAPLES  OF  WESTERN  AFRICA.  Gil 

207,873^.  13s.  exclusive  of  ship-building  materials  and  labour,  as 
also  of  some  other  minor  sources  of  national  benefit  not  enumerated. 
The  total  gain  to  the  industry  and  revenue  of  the  mother  country 
cannot  be  less  than  600,000L  per  ann\im. 

'  Within  the  last  twenty  years  the  increase  in  the  trade  in  palm 
oil,  timber,  and  bees'  wax,  has  been  very  great.  Attempts  are  mak- 
ing in  the  Gambia  and  elsewhere  on  the  coast  to  introduce  the  culti- 
vation of  some  articles  of  produce  new  to  the  trade  of  Africa  j  but 
these  endeavours  require  time  on  account  of  the  unenlightened  state 
of  the  natives,  the  very  recent  abolition  of  the  slave  trade,  and  its 
partial  continuance  by  other  nations.  In  several  cases,  however,  the 
natives  have  proved  themselves  capable  of  entertaining  new  ideas  of 
trade  and  cultivation  more  readily  than  might  have  been  expected. 
The  trade  in  teak  timber  for  ship-building  was  unknown  in  Africa 
twenty  years  ago  ;  the  annual  importation  of  that  article  from  Sierra 
Leone  at  present  is  from  fifteen  to  twenty  thousand  loads,  giving 
employment  to  nearly  twenty  thousand  tons  of  British  shipping 
annually. 

'  Fifteen  years  ago  it  was  not  known  that  mahogany  grew  in  the 
Gambia ;  since  that  period  several  thousand  loads  of  Mahogany  have 
been  imported  into  England  from  our  settlement  on  that  river  ;  and 
although  the  natives  would  not  at  first  cut  and  prepare  it  for  ship- 
ping, they  are  now  willing  to  supply  any  quantity  of  it  which  this 
market  may  require.  The  low  price  of  Honduras  mahogany,  how- 
ever, renders  it  impossible  to  afford  any  encouragement  to  their  in- 
dustry in  this  article  at  present,  but  these  instances  afford  pleasing 
and  conclusive  proofs  that  the  natives  will  turn  their  attention  to 
trade  whenever  the  opportunity  is  afforded  them. 

'  The  annual  cost  of  our  settlements  on  the  Western  Coast  of 
Africa,  as  respects  the  protection  of  our  commerce,  exclusive  of 
those  expenses  incidental  to  the  suppression  of  the  slave  trade,  which 
ought  not  to  be  charged  to  the  account  of  those  possessions,  is  better 
known  to  his  Majesty's  Government  than  to  me,  but  I  may  venture 
to  assume  that  it  bears  but  a  trifling,  indeed  insignificant,  proportion 
to  the  advantages  derived  from  the  trade  :  and  those  settlements  are 
to  be  considered  not  with  reference  to  their  present  value  alone,  but 
to  their  future  importance  as  outlets  to  British  manufactures,  when 
time  shall  have  removed  some  of  those  difficulties  which  at  present 
obstruct  the  trade.  The  policy  of  most  foreign  governments  is  di- 
rected against  our  commerce,  the  acknowledged  source  of  our  na- 


6\2  ADVANTAGES  OF  COLONIAL  POSSESSIONS. 

tional  power.  The  territorial  extent  ot  the  British  islands  is  too 
limited  ever  to  have  raised  this  empire  to  its  present  proud  pre- 
eminence in  the  scale  of  nations,  without  the  aid  of  manufactures 
and  foreign  trade  ;  consequently  I  humbly  submit,  that  every  foreign 
settlement,  which  gives  facility  to  the  sale  of  British  goods,  is  to  be 
estimated  not  only  with  reference  to  the  direct  amount  of  revenue 
received  on  the  produce  imported  from  it,  but  still  more  by  the  em- 
ployment it  affords  to  our  manufacturers,  artizans,  and  shipping. 
Without  a  large  manufacturing  population,  the  revenue  necessary  to 
pay  the  interest  of  the  national  debt  and  the  annual  cost  of  the  civil 
and  military  establishments  of  the  country  cannot  be  raised ;  hence 
the  vast  importance  of  our  foreign  possessions,  which  a  too  limited 
view  of  colonial  policy,  leads  some  persons  to  undervalue. 

'  Striking  out  of  the  public  estimates  every  charge  belonging  to 
the  account  of  the  slave  trade,  I  do  not  think  the  annual  cost  of 
maintaining  our  settlements  on  the  Western  Coast  of  Africa  exceeds 
from  twenty-five  to  thirty  thousand  pounds  per  annum,  probably  not 
so  much,  while  the  national  gain  is  considerably  above  half  a  million 
per  annum.  It  is  a  common  error  to  regard  those  settlements  in 
the  light  of  colonies  having  a  taxable  population,  from  which  they 
may  be  expected  to  raise  a  revenue  sufficient  to  maintain  themselves  : 
but  the  fact  is,  that  nothing  can  yet  be  raised  from  the  natives  for 
their  support,  while  the  protection  they  afford  is  indispensible  to 
the  protection  of  our  trade ;  a  trade  even  now  important,  and 
which  time  may  render  of  incalcidable  value,  when  the  effect  of  the 
slave  trade  shall  have  ceased  to  exercise  its  baneful  influence  over  the 
native  population. 

'  Neither  is  it  reasonable  or  politic  to  require  individuals  trading 
on  the  coast  to  contribute  towards  their  maintenance  beyond  the 
duties  they  at  present  pay  to  the  colonial  funds  on  the  goods  they 
import  from  England,  and  the  personal  services  they  are  called  upon 
to  render  as  militiamen  in  defence  of  the  forts.  I  humbly  submit, 
that  British  subjects  are  as  much  entitled  to  protection  in  carrying 
on  a  trade,  by  which  the  national  industry  is  benefited,  in  Africa  as  at 
home.  In  applying  their  industry,  and  risking  their  capital  and  health 
in  a  trade  giving  employment  and  profit  to  their  countrymen  at 
home,  and  by  which  the  national  revenue  gains  so  largely,  they  may 
surely  not  only  claim  the  protection  but  the  gratitude  of  their  coun- 
try. Besides  which,  you  cannot  invest  individuals  with  a  property 
in  public  works  necessary  for  the  defence  of  our  trading  establish- 


UTILITY  OF  THE  BRITISH  AFRICAN  FORTS.  613 

ments  in  Africa.     Individuals  change,  but  the  advantage  is  national 
and  permanent,  and  so  should  be  the  protection. 

'  By  upholding  these  forts  on  a  footing  to  command  the  respect 
of  the  natives,  our  Governors  in  charge  of  them  may  render  the  most 
important  services  in  carrying  into  effect  the  convention  recently 
concluded  with  France,  for  the  suppression  of  the  trade  in  slaves,  the 
due  execution  of  which  treaty  cannot  fail  to  produce  effects  as 
favourable  to  the  trade  and  civilization  of  Africa,  as  to  the  cause  of 
humanity,  now  hourly  violated  by  the  continuance  of  the  traffic. 
France,  America,  Holland,  and  Denmark,  have  each  their  settlements 
on  the  coast,  which  they  evince  the  utmost  anxiety  to  retain  and  en- 
courage. Our  settlements  on  the  Gold  Coast  cost  lately  only  4000Z. 
and  are  now  to  be  reduced,  I  understand,  to  3500L  per  annum  ;  and 
this  is  the  sole  expense  of  protecting  a  valuable  trade.  The  Dutch 
settlement  of  Elmina,  which  is  only  seven  miles  from  our  settlement 
at  Cape  Coast  Castle,  costs  the  Dutch  an  equal  sum  to  ours,  while 
Holland  has  not  one-twentieth  part  of  the  trade  on  the  Gold  Coast 
that  we  have. 

'  It  should  be  borne  in  mind  that  every  article  imported  from  Af- 
rica is  ill  exchange  for  goods,  and  that  consequently  it  is  one  of  the 
very  few  legitimate  trades  remaining  to  this  country.  The  article  of 
palm  oil,  which  has  increased  so  much  of  late  years,  can  be  obtained 
only  in  Africa,  and  is  already  extensively  used  as  a  substitute  for 
Russian  tallow  in  the  manufacture  of  soap,  &c.  The  recent  addi- 
tional duties  imposed  on  British  Goods  imported  into  the  Russia 
market  may  suggest  to  us  the  policy  of  cherisiiing  a  trade  which 
consumes  the  products  of  our  national  industry  without  limitation  or 
restraint  by  hostile  tariffs. 

'  The  abolition  of  the  slave  trade  took  effect  on  the  1st  of  March, 
1H08.  Twenty- three  years  is  too  short  a  period  to  effect  a  change 
in  the  character  and  pursuits  of  a  people  corrupted  by  three  centuries 
of  war  and  cruelty  consequent  on  that  traffic,  and  whose  kings  and 
chiefs  have  been  taught  by  the  sordid  slave  dealers  of  enlightened 
Europe  to  despise  and  neglect  the  pursuits  of  legitimate  commerce, 
in  favour  of  a  trade  in  the  persons  of  their  people.  Let,  however, 
those  chiefs  be  convinced  by  experience  that  they  wiU  gain  more  by 
the  labour  of  their  people  at  home,  than  by  the  sale  of  their  persons 
for  exportation,  and  you  lay  at  once  the  foundation  of  a  new  system 
under  which  war  and  treachery  shall  give  place  to  the  regenerating 


G14  ANNUAL  VALUE  OF  WESTERN  AFRICA  TRADE 

influence  of  peaceful  industry.  Europe  owes  to  Africa  a  heavy  debt 
for  the  crimes  that  have  been  committed  under  the  slave  trade.  Eng- 
land has  been  the  first  to  offer  payment  of  her  portion  of  that  debt, 
and  she  will  not  only  have  the  high  consolations  of  humanity  for 
her  reward,  but  probably,  at  no  very  distant  period,  the  advantages 
of  a  trade  with  Africa,  of  which  it  is  difficult  at  present  to  foresee 
the  extent.' 

No    I. 

Annual  value  of  Exports  from  London,  Liverpool,  and  Bristol,  to  the  West 
Coast  of  Africa,  between  the  Gambia  and  Angola,  calciUated  from  the 
amount  of  Shipments  by  the  several  Merchants  trading  to  the  Coast 
from  those  places.* 

London  and  Bristol  Exports. — Amount  of  Colonial  Goods,  58,000/. ; 
ditto  Foreign  do.  62,000/. ;  ditto  British  iHanufactures,  213,000/.  Total, 
323,000/. 

The  principal  articles  in  these  exports  are  Manchester  cottons  and  India 
piece  goods.  The  freight,  insurance,  &c.  particularly  of  the  teak  timber, 
hides,  palm  oil,  and  those  articles  collected  in  the  floating  trade,  compose 
a  large  portion  of  the  gross  import  value  of  the  returns. 

Liverpool  Exports. — Colonial  Goods,  13,000/.;  British  do.  102,500/.; 
Eoreign  do.  5,600/.     Total,  121,000/. 

Outward  freight,  duties  here  and  in  Africa,  insurance  and  shipping 
charges  15  per  cent.  666,600/.     Aggregate  amount  of  the  above,  510,600/. 

The  exports  from  Liverpool  are  chiefly  for  the  palm  oil  trade,  and  the 
cargoes  are  differently  assorted  from  those  shipped  from  Bristol  and  Lon- 
don. The  freight,  insurance,  &:c.  of  the  shipping  employed  in  the  Trade, 
constitute  a  large  portion  of  the  cost  of  the  oil.  Hence  the  large  gross 
amount  of  the  returns  compared  with  the  value  of  the  exports. 

Estimate  of  National  profit  thereon. — On  Colonial  Goods  amounting  to 

*  A  few  introductory  remarks  may  be  necessary  to  render  these  tables  more  clearly  un- 
derstood by  those  wlio  have  not  been  accustomed  to  estimate  the  importance  of  our  Foreign 
and  Colonial  trade  on  the  principles  on  which  they  are  drawn  up.  Perhaps  I  cannot  more 
clearly  illustrate  those  principles  than  by  the  foUowing  examples  : — Let  us  suppose  two 
cargoes  of  British  manufactured  goods  to  be  sent  to  Canada,  one  consisting  of  cotton 
labrics,  and  the  other  of  hardware  articles.  In  the  case  of  the  former  we  may  assume  tliat 
the  average  cost  of  the  cotton  wool  of  which  the  goods  are  made  is  about  25  per  cent,  of  the 
export  value,  the  remaining  75  per  cent,  having  been  added  to  the  value  of  the  raw  material 
by  the  application  of  British  capital  and  labour,  and  is  therefore  so  much  value  gained  to  the 
national  wealth  and  industry.  In  the  case  of  the  hardware  cargo,  the  iron  of  which  the 
articles  are  made  being  a  native  prod>iction,  we  may  assume  that  the  total  vsilue  is  an 
actual  creation  of  national  capital  and  labour.  Many  persons  limit  their  notions  of  the 
importance  of  our  Colonial  and  Foreign  trade  to  the  profits  of  the  exporter  who  ships  the 
goods  abroad,  whereas  that  is  a  point  scarcely  wortli  considering,  compared  with  the  ad- 
vantage to  the  national  industry  in  manufacturing  them.  Hence  the  importance  of  keep- 
ing open  every  possible  outlet  for  the  consumption  of  our  manufactures,  without  which  our 
capital  and  artizans  must  lie  idle,  tlie  revenue  fall  off,  and  the  wealth  and  power  of  the 
nation  rapidly  decay.  In  addition  to  this  it  may  be  stated,  that  as  every  thing  which  the 
capitalist  and  labourer  who  produce  these  goods  consume,  is  taxed  eirher  directly  or  in- 
directly, (which  tax  is  included  in  the  cost  of  production)  you  virtually  obtain  the  help  of 
the  foreign  consumer  to  pay  your  taxes,  or  in  other  words,  you  make  foreigners  contribute 
towards  tiie  national  revenue. 


ESTIMATED  BY  PROFITS  AND  DUTIES. 


615 


71,000/.  the  value  of  British  labour  in  transit  and  other  charges  (including 
profits)  may  be  estimated  at  30  per  cent  thereon,*  21,300/. ;  Foreign  ditto 
57,500/.  ditto  17,250/. ;  British  ditto  315,500/.  the  value  of  the  raw  ma- 
terial on  an  average  being  25  per  cent,  leaves  75  per  cent,  for  labour  and 
manufacturer's  profit,  236,625/.  The  shipping  employed  in  long  voyages 
in  the  palm  oil  and  floating  trade  is  about  16,083  tons,  whicli,  at  the  low 
estimate  of  9/.  per  ton  for  sailing  charges  per  annum,  amounts  to  114,747/. 
The  shipping  employed  in  short  voyages  (of  six  months)  in  the  teak  tim- 
ber, and  other  trades,  about  17,000  tons,  at  41.  10*.  per  ton,  76,500/. 
Deduct  for  raw  material  of  stores,  &c  15  per  cent.  33,187/.  !*•  Total 
ann.  gain  to  the  national  industry,  exclusive  of  ship-building,  463,234/.  19*. 

N.B.  Of  this  sum  of  463,234/.  19s.  one-third  may  be  estimated  as  paid 
to  the  revenue  in  the  consumption  of  exciseable  and  taxed  commodities, 
consumed  by  the  labourers  and  artizans  to  which  the  trade  gives  employ- 
ment, amounting  to  the  sum  of  154,411/.  13*.  carried  to  Statement  No.  2. 

No.  II. 
Estimate  of  the  annual  duty  on  Imports  from  the  British  Possessions  on 

the  West  Coast  of  Africa,  between  the  Gambia  and  Angola. 


Imports,  London  and  Bi'istol.       j 

gross  import 


Import  Duties  Thereon. 


Timber,  15,000  loads 
Bees'-wax  200  tons 
Hides  60,000     .    . 
Ivory  72  tons     .... 
Palm  oil  1,200  tons    .     . 
Sundries,  including  gum  \ 

Senegal,  &c j 

Gold  45,000  oz.  at  75*.  . 
Bills 


value. 

.€127,500  Duty 

28,000  Excise  and  Customs 
12,000  Duty 
25,200  Ditto 
36,000,  Ditto 


20,000 !  Ditto 

168,750'  Ditto 
25,000  Ditto 


nil 


i?7,500 

8,000 

500 

1,400 

3,000 

1,000 


^"442,450 

Liverpool  Imports. 
Palm  oil  9,000  tons     .     .  ^270,000  Duty 

Ivory  65  tons     ....  22,760  Ditto 

Gum  copal  15  tons     .     .  900|  Ditto 

Timber  3,000  loads     .     .  25,500|  Ditto 

Bees'-wax  camwood,  bar- 1  05,000!  Ditto 

wood,  ac J 

Gold  3,000  oz 11,250 


^€355,400 

Duty  on  policies  of  Insurance 

Ditto,  Customs  outwards  ... 

Revenue  from  Laboiu*,  as  per  Statement  No.  1. 


i:2 1,460 

i€22,500 
1,300 

840 
1,500 

1,222 


^27,362 

3,150    0 

1,500    0 

154,411  13 


Total  annual  gain  to  the  Revenue  from  this  trade    ^207,873  13 


*  On  some  articles,  on  rum  for  instance,  these  charges  are  nearer  70  than 
30  per  cent,  and  the  average  amount  cannot  be  less  than  my  estimate. 


616  SOCIAL  STATE  AND  FUTURE  PROSPECTS. 

Balance. — Gross  amount  of  imports  as  per  No.  2.  .  .  "97,850  0 
By  direct  annual  gain  to  the  Revenue,  brought 

from  No.  2.      " 207,873  13 

Balance  of  national  industry,  being  the  diflfer- 

ence  between  the  sum  of  463,234/.   19.9.  as 

per  Statement   No.   1,  and    164,411/.    13*. 

charged  to  the  Revenue  as  above         .  .        308,823     6 

Total  annual  gain  to  the  nation,  direct  and  in- 
direct, exclusive  of  ship-building,  &c.     .      .      £'516,696  19 

Nett  cost  of  Foreign  goods,  deducting  transit 

and  other  charges 89,450    0 

Cost  of  raw  materials  for  English  manufactures, 
including  Iron,  Wool,  and  other  articles, 
wholly  of  English  growth  and  production  .    .  78,875     0 

Insurance 35,000     0 

Interest  on  captital  7^  per  cent,  returns  not 
in  cash  on  an  average  in  less  than  18  months, 
merchants  in  England  and  traders'  profit  in 
Africa  . 77,828    0 


£797,850  0 
Social  State  and  Future  Prospects. — Of  the  domestic 
condition  of  the  people  in  Western  Africa  we  know  but 
little, — and  that  little  while  it  is  favourable  to  our  hopes  of 
improvement,  leads  us  to  lament  the  more,  tlie  terrible  and 
sanguinary  political  despotism  spread  over  the  whole  conti- 
nent. Our  OAvn  settlements  have  made  no  slight  progress  in 
social  improvement ;  life  and  property  are  secure,  and  example 
and  education  are  now  exercising  their  all  powerful  influence, 
tirfie,  and  a  wise  and  generous  policy  on  the  part  of  England, 
will  do  the  rest,  if  England  compel  Spain  and  Portugal  to 
cease  the  nefarious  and  extensive  slave  trade  now  carried  on 
under  their  flags.*  Sierra  Leone  and  Gambia  ought  to  be 
placed  on  a  similar  footing  of  government  with  Cape  Coast 

*  I  give  the  following  on  the  authority  of  Mr.  Nicholls,  the  Secretary 
to  the  African  Committee.  In  order  to  prevent  slave  vessels  boiuid  to  Why- 
<lah  and  Bagadry,  from  purchasing  their  cargoes  at  these  ereat  marts,  it 
would  be  desirable  that  a  soldier  or  two  should  be  placed  at  Dix  Cove  and 
Winncbah  to  hoist  the  British  flag,  and  by  British  influence  prevent  canoes 
being  supplied,  without  which  at  the  above  mentioned  ports  no  slaves  could 
be  procured.  The  Governors  of  St.  George  D'Ebnina  CDutch),  and  Chris- 
tiansl)org  (Danish),  are  imperatively  forbidden  by  iheir  respective  govern- 
ments, to  allow  the  natives  to  supply  canoes,  or  in  any  way  mix  themselves 
up  in  the  carrying  on  a  slave  trade  ;  and  this  country  in  conjunction  with 
France,  are  in  a  situation  to  comm;in(l  the  total  abolition  of  that  trade  by 
Spain  and  Portugal,  declaring  that  any  jierson  found  engaged  in  it  should  be 
considered  as  a  pirate ;  unless  some  strong  measures  are  adopted,  and  that 
speodilv,  the  b'gilimatc  African  trade  nmst  be  anniliilated,  for  t!ie  natives  will 
iu)t  ;-cJ]  [ddduce  e.\cej)l  to  those  who  jmrclias^e  their  slaves.     If  this  object 


AFRICA — PEACEFUL,  FLOURISHING  AND  FREE.  G17 

Castle  and  Accra  subject  to  the  controul  of  the  Colonial 
Office  and  Parliament.  Experience  shews,  that  by  judicious 
management  the  two  latter  settlements  are  as  well  taken 
care  of  at  present  as  when  five  times  their  existing  ex- 
penditure was  laid  out  upon  them  under  the  old  system. 
Sierra  Leone  and  its  dependencies  were  too  long  under  the 
jobbing  and  speculating  management  of  a  certain  party,  who, 
under  pretence  of  '  saving  government  the  trouble  of  thinking/ 
interfered  to  divert  the  generous  aid  of  of  the  legislature, 
granted  for  the  improvement  of  the  Africans,  into  channels  of 
private  gain.  When  the  purposes  of  this  party  were  served  and 
they  found  it  impossible  longer  to  dupe  the  British  nation,  the 
failure  (as  they  said)  of  our  settlements  in  Western  Africa  was 
owing  to  the  deleteriousness  of  the  climate,  and  the  indolence 
and  apathy  of  the  natives;  the  public,  without  examination, 
took  for  granted  the  assertions  of  men  who  made  a  cloak  of 
religion  to  cover  their  worldliness  ;  and  Western  Africa,  that 
once  excited  the  attention  of  the  best  and  noblest  in  England 
is  noM'  scarcely  thought  of,  except  by  a  few  good  men  who 
have  penetrated  the  veil  of  vice  and  folly  which  encircled  a 
cause  hallowed  in  itself,  and  even  pregnant  with  vast  benefits 
to  England.  Africa  will  yet  arise  from  the  deadly  sleep  of 
ages,  and  from  the  effects  of  three  centuries  of  unparallelled 
desolation,  which  Europe  has  spread  over  a  beautiful  and  fer- 
tile land ; — and  I  trust  Britain  will  reap  the  reward  of  a  bright 
career  of  philanthropy,  by  being  made,  through  the  medium 
of  commerce,  the  instrument  under  the  guidance  of  Provi- 
dence of  rescuing  millions  of  our  fellow  creatures  from  a  long 
night  of  ignorance,  bondage,  and  crime. 


could  he  attained,  the  natives  would  turn  their  attention  to  cultivation,  and 
by  encoiirai^ine;  the  growth  of  the  palm  nut,  in  a  few  years  the  quantity  of 
oil  would  be  so  great  as  to  preclude  the  necessity  of  Russian  tallow  l)eino- 
used  in  the  manufacture  of  soap;  moreover,  by  eradicating  wholly  slave  com- 
merce, we  would  relieve  the  country  from  the  expences  of  a  large  naval 
force,  and  also  from  another  large  item  of  expenditure,  hard  money,  for 
captured  negroes.  The  establishment  of  a  few  steam  vessels  on  the  coast 
would  be  productive  of  much  good  in  checking  the  slave  trade,  and  a  per- 
manently stationed  steamboat  for  communicating  between  the  Gambia, 
Sierra  Leone,  &c.  would  be  a  desirable  measure. 


618 


APPENDIX    A. 


OFFICIAL  AND  PUBLIC  DOCUMENTS  TO  VOL.  IV. 

HISTORY  OF  THE  BRITISH  COLONIES. 


THE  AUSTRALIAN  AGRICULTURAL  COMPANY 

Was  established  in  London  in  the  year  1824,  by  Act  of  Parliament,  5 
Geo.  IV.  cap.  86,  and  incorporated  by  Royal  Charter,  bearing  date  the 
1st  of  November,  1824.  The  capital  of  the  Company  is  declared  by  the. 
Act  to  be  one  million  sterling,  held  in  shares  of  100^.  each.  Of  this  capital 
the  sum  of  26/.  10s.  per  share,  has  been  paid  by  the  proprietors,  amounting 
to  265,000/. 

The  company  was  established,  as  declared  by  the  Act,  *  for  the  cultiva- 
tion and  improvement  of  waste  lands  in  the  colony  of  New  South  Wales 
&c.'  The  chief  object  is  the  production  of  fine  merino  wool,  for  the  supply 
of  Groat  Britain,  &c.  for  which  the  colony  of  New  South  Wales  has  very 
peculiar  advantages ;  the  fineness  of  soil  and  salubrity  of  climate  being  in 
an  extraordinary  degree  congenial  to  the  delicate  constitution  of  merino 
sheep,  which  renders  it  unnecessary,  as  in  less  favourable  climates,  to  afford 
the  flocks  artificial  protection,  by  keeping  them  under  sheds  for  a  consider- 
able part  of  the  year,  and  by  feeding  them  on  dry  food,  raised  and  prepared 
at  a  great  expence.  With  these  natural  advantages,  therefore,  together 
with  the  protection  of  British  institutions,  and  the  influence  of  capital,  it 
may  not  be  indulging  in  too  sanguine  anticipation  to  look  forward  to  the 


APPENDIX.  619 

time,  when  our  manufactures  will  derive  their  chief  supplies  of  fine  wool 
from  an  English  colony,  at  a  lower  price  than  that  at  which  they  can  now 
be  imported  from  countries,  where  the  severity  of  the  weather  renders 
artificial  treatment  necessary,  and  increases  the  cost  of  production. 

The  value  of  New  South  Wales  wool  is  attested  by  the  most  eminent 
manufacturers,  who  state  that,  independently  of  the  fineness  of  the  fibre, 
it  has  the  quality  of  being  particularly  soft  to  the  touch,  partaking  in  this 
respect,  of  the  nature  of  fur,  and  is,  therefore,  preferable  for  various 
purposes,  to  wool  of  any  other  growth. 

As  it  appears  then,  that  New  iSouth  Wales  presents  many  exclusive  ad- 
vantages for  the  extensive  production  of  fine  wool,  the  demand  for  which 
is  very  great,  and  capable  of  almost  indefinite  increase,  there  can  be  no 
doubt  that  the  establishment  of  merino  flocks  forms  the  most  important 
and  promising  object  for  the  expenditure  of  capital.  The  subordinate 
objects  of  the  Company  are — 

1st.  The  breeding  of  horses,  on  an  extensive  scale,  for  sale  iu  New  South 
Wales  and  in  India. 

2nd.  The  breeding  of  cattle  and  other  live  stock,  and  the  rising  of  corn, 
tobacco,  &c.  for  the  supply  of  residents  in  the  colony.  The  manufacture  of 
salt. 

3rd.  The  introduction,  at  a  more  distant  time,  of  wine,  olive  oil,  hemp, 
flax,  silk,  opium,  &c.  as  articles  of  export  to  Great  Britain. 

4th.  The  sale  of  their  land,  a  progressive  advance  in  the  value  of  which 
will  take  place  as  it  becomes  improved  by  cultivation,  and  by  an  increased 
population. 

The  Directors  have  it  also  in  contemplation,  at  a  more  distant  period, 
to  encourage  and  assist,  as  far  as  may  be  found  desirable,  the  emigration  of 
useful  male  and  female  settlers  from  this  country,  and  to  send  some 
families  from  the  south  of  Europe,  acquainted  with  the  mode  of  cultivating 
the  olive  and  vine. 

To  enable  the  Company  to  carry  their  objects  into  effect,  a  grant  of  one 
million  acres  of  land  was  made  to  them  in  fee  simple  by  His  Majesty's  Go- 
vernment.    This  grant  has  been  selected  in  three  locations,  viz. — 
At  Liverpool  Plains,  about  250,000  acres. 

Peel's  River,  .  .  310,000  do. 

Port  Stephens,         .  .  440,000  do. 

Of  this  territory,  the  Company  have  the  power  of  leasing,  or  selling  five 
hundred  thousand  acres,  after  the  expiration  of  five  years,  provided  the  sum 
of  one  hundred  thousand  pounds  shall  have  been  expended  on  the  land,  in 
the  formation  of  roads,  the  erection  of  buildings,  clearing,  cultivating, 
fencing,  draining,  or  other  improvements  ;  and  also  of  alienating  any  por- 
tion of  the  remaining  five  hundred  thousand  acres,  by  licence  from  His 
Majesty's  Secretary  of  State 


620  APPENDIX. 

The  Company's  Comtnissioners  speak  in  the  most  gratifying  terms  of 
the  quality  of  these  locations,  but  the  land  at  Peel's  River  appearing  to 
possess  superior  advantages  for  sheep  grazing,  the  flocks  have  been  re- 
moved from  Liverpool  Plains  to  the  district  of  Peel's  River, 

The  location  at  Liverpool  Plains  is,  for  the  present,  occupied  as' a  sta- 
tion for  horses  and  cattle. 

The  flocks  are  all  perfectly  healthy.  On  the  31st  of  March,  1834,  the  total 
numl^er  of  sheep  belonging  to  the  Company  were — French  Merino,  4940 ; 
Saxon  Merino,  2866 ;  Anglo  Merino,  1552 ;  improved  colonial,  27,254  : 
— total  of  Sheep  36,615.  Of  Horses,  thorough-l)red  and  Cleveland,  and 
the  produce  of  those  breeds,  197;  colonial  ditto,  129;  Welsh  and  Timor 
ponies,  and  their  produce,  68  -. — total,  384.  Of  ('attle,  Durham,  23 ; 
improved  colonial,  330;  Scotch,  51  ;  improved  colonial,  867;  colonial, 
1,305;  working  oxen,  227  :— total,  2,803. 

In  the  year  1825,  a  negociation  was  concluded  with  His  Majesty's  Go- 
vernment, by  which  the  mines  of  coal  in  New  South  Wales  which  had 
been  previously  worked  by  the  local  government,  were  transferred  to  the 
Company,  with  a  grant  af  2,000  acres  of  the  coal  field. 

These  mines  are  situated  at  Newcastle,  about  60  miles  to  the  N.  of  Sydney, 
at  the  S.  entrance  of  a  secure  harbour,  called  Port  Hunter,  containing  a 
sufficient  depth  of  water  for  vessels  of  about  250  tons,  and  into  which  the 
Coal  River  empties  itself.  The  entrance  to  these  mines  is  on  a  considerable 
elevation  above  the  level  ui  the  sea,  and  the  seams  of  coal  are  visible  on 
the  surface  of  the  cliff,  which  forms  the  S.  headland  of  the  harbour.  The 
country  immediately  to  the  S.  of  Port  Hunter  is  an  extensive  field  of  coal, 
of  which  the  strata  have  been  traced  for  nine  miles,  when  they  bend 
downwards,  and  sink  below  the  level  of  the  sea.  Between  the 'coal  beds 
are  strata  of  sandstone  and  of  clay  slate,  embedded  in  which  there  is  found 
abundance  of  argillaceous  iron  ore.* 

The  mines  are  within  a  short  distance  of  the  sea,  an  inclined  plane  and 
level  railway  leading  from  the  pits  mouth  to  the  wharf,  the  coal  is,  there- 
fore, shipped  with  facility. 

The  works  have  been  completed  in  a  very  superior  style,  and  the  opera- 
tions are  proceeding  most  satisfactorily.  The  sale  of  coal  has  been  steadily 
increasing  each  year  since  the  establishment  of  the  Company's  works,  and 
the  ((uality  continues  to  improve.  The  rapid  increase  of  the  town  of  Syd- 
ney, the  comparative  failure  of  wood  for  fuel  in  its  neighbourhood,  together 
with  the  increasing  introduction  of  steam  vessels  and  steam  engines,  com- 
bine to  offer  the  most  flattering  prospect  of  adding  annually  to  the  Com- 
pany's profits  in  this  important  department  of  their  undertaking, 

In  the  Company's  stud  department  a  new  field  appears  to  be  opening 


*  His  Majesty's  Government  have  also  agreed  to  grant  to  the  Cumi)any 
leases  of  any  other  minerals  which  nuxy  be  found  in  Ihc  colony. 


APPENDIX.  G21 

for  the  sale  of  the  increasing  stock,  partly  in  consequence  of  a  demand  for 
horses,  for  the  supply  of  the  East  India  cavalry,  for  which  purpose  an  officer 
is  now  residing  in  New  South  Wales,  to  continue  the  purchase  annually ; 
who  has  expressed  his  opinion  that,  after  travelling  over  most  of  the 
colony  in  the  search  of  horses,  he  had  seen  none  which  could  be  com- 
pared to  those  bred  by  the  company. 

During  the  year  1834,  '276  bales  of  wool  were  received  from  the  Com- 
pany's estate,  producing,  after  deducting  all  charges  of  freight,  &c.  above 
7,000/,     The  quality  and  condition  of  the  wool  continue  to  improve. 

512  hides  were  also  imported  during  the  same  year.  They  realized  a  net 
amount  of  208/.  13s.  6</. 

With  a  view  to  facilitate  the  export  of  coal  from  the  colony,  a  depot  has 
been  formed  at  Sydney,  affording  very  great  advantage  for  the  shipping  of 
coal  as  ballast,  at  a  reasonable  price,  thus  obviating  the  necessity  for  ships 
going  to  Newcastle  for  this  purpose. 

The  Company's  operations  at  Newcastle  commenced  in  the  year  1832  : 
the  sale  of  coal  during  the  last  year  was  nearly  8,000  tons,  being  a  con- 
siderable increase  on  the  preceeding  year.  The  coal  is  delivered  at  the  pits 
mouth  for  %'.  per  ton. 

It  may  be  anticipated  that  a  constantly  increasing  sale  will  accrue  within 
the  colony,  not  only  at  Sydney  but  at  the  various  smaller  towns  fast  rising 
into  importance  ;  and  in  contemplating  the  numerous  thickly  peopled  settle- 
ments and  ports  abounding  in  the  eastern  seas,  including  Calcutta,  Madras, 
Bombay,  Batavia,  Canton  Singapore,  the  Isle  of  France,  &c.  &c.,  to  many 
of  which  places  coals  have  fi-equently  been  shipped  from  Great  Britain,  and 
at  all  which  it  finds  a  ready  and  profitable  sale.  An  extensive  demand  for 
exportation  independently  of  the  consumption  of  the  produce  of  these 
mines,  is  likely  to  be  caused  by  steam  navigation,  which  is  now  introduced 
into  that  quarter  of  the  globe. 

Considerable  progress  has  been  made  in  the  erection  of  buildings  for  the 
manufacture  of  salt  from  sea  water  in  the  immediate  neighbourhood  of  the 
colliery,  in  a  highly  favourable  situation  for  the  purpose.  Considering  the 
increasing  demand  for  salt  for  curing  meat  in  the  colony,  together  with  the 
advantage  possessed  by  the  Company  of  having  fuel  close  at  hand,  it  may 
be  fairly  anticipated  that  this  experiment  will  be  attended  with  success. 

The  cultivation  of  the  vine  has  been  commenced,  on  a  small  scale,  at  Port 
Stephens,  with  promising  prospects. 

A  sample  of  opium,  grown  on  the  Company's  estate,  has  been  analyzed 
by  an  eminent  chemist  in  London,  and  pronounced  to  be  about  equal  to 
Egyptian  opium,  and  to  contain  about  two-thirds  the  quantity  of  Morphia, 
usually  found  in  the  best  Turkey  opium. 

The  principal  settlement  of  the  Company  is  at  Port  Stephens,  which  is 
situated  in  latitude  32.40,,  one  degree  N.  of  Sydney,  and  appears  to  consist 


622  APPENDIX. 

of  an  outer  and  an  inner  harbour,  the  outer  entrance  l)einE;  a  mile  in  width 
with  a  depth  of  thirty-six  feet  at  low  water.  After  passing  the  two  head- 
lands, the  harbour  expands  considerably,  but  at  the  distance  of  ten  miles 
from  the  entrance,  it  is  contracted,  and  divided  by  an  island,  into  two 
channels,  each  about  four  hundred  yards  wide,  which  lead  into  the  inner 
harbour ;  the  depth  of  one  of  these  channels  is  seventy-two  feet,  of  the 
other,  ninety  feet,  and  minimum  depth  of  the  passage  for  ships  throuo-h 
both  harbours,  is  thirty-six  feet,  and  extends  nearly  to  the  shore. 

The  total  population  on  the  Company's  estate  is  about  600  persons,  two- 
thirds  of  whom  are  convicts.  The  establishment  is  under  the  control  of 
the  commissioner,*  and  other  officers. 

The  Supreme  Board  of  Management  sits  in  London ;  it  consists  of  a 
Governor,  Deputy-Governor,  and  12  Directors,  the  former  are  elected  to 
serve  four  years,  of  the  latter  three  retire  annually,  and  are  eligible  to  be 
re-elected. 

The  first  dividend  on  the  Joint  Stock  of  the  Corapafiy  was  declared  on 
the  9th  September,  1834,  namely  \0s.  per  share,  or  nearly  2  per  cent,  on 
the  amount  of  capital  invested. 

I  have  been  thus  minute  in  detailing  the  proceedings  and  progress  of  this 
Company  : — 1st.  Because,  though  a  strenuous  advocate  for  rational  freedom 
in  commerce,  as  well  as  in  politics,  I  think  the  establishment  of  such  in- 
stitutions highly  beneficial  to  our  infant  settlements  (see  Art.  Commerce, 
in  my  Colonial  Policy  of  Great  Britain).  2nd.  Because  I  was  in 
New  South  Wales  when  the  Australian  Company  commenced  operations, 
and  were  most  furiously  attacked  by  certain  individuals  (one  being  lately 
killed  I  will  not  name  him)  for  party  purposes ;  none  of  the  predictions, 
then  made,  as  to  the  constitutional  danger,  and  mercantile  disadvantages  of 
the  Company  have  been  realized  after  several  years'  experience — nor  are 
they  ever  likely  to  be  so — on  the  contrary,  the  Company  has  conferred 
considerable  benefit  on  the  colonists  by  the  introduction  of  English  capital ; 
by  improved  breeds  of  sheep,  horses,  cattle,  &c.  by  making  interesting  ex- 
periments to  promote  the  growth  of  various  products ;  and  last,  not  least, 
by  having  a  body  of  respectable  English  gentlemen  resident  in  London 
sedulously  watching  over  the  aifairs  of  the  colony,  and  anxiously  endea- 
vouring to  promote  its  interests. 

*  Sir  Edward  Parry  has  been  for  some  time  the  Chief  Commissioner  of 
the  Company,  and  so  well  has  that  gallant  and  distinguished  officer  admi- 
nistered the  affairs  entrusted  to  his  management,  that  the  Company  have 
handsomely  presented  him  with  apiece  of  plate,  of  the  value  of  200  guineas, 
as  an  indication  of  their  sense  of  his  services.  Lieut.-Col.  Dumaresq  is 
the  present  Commissioner,  and  (speaking  from  a  knowledge  of  this  oft-tried 
officer  in  the  Mauritius  and  New  South  Wales)  I  do  not  think  the  Aus- 
tralian Company  could  have  made  a  better  choice. 


APPENDIX.  623 

VAN  DIEMEN's  land  COMPANY — 

Was  established  by  Act  6  Geo.  IV.,  chap,  39,  and  incorporated  by  Royal 
Charter,  1825.  The  capital  is  one  million  sterling-,  divided  into  10,000 
shares  of  100/.  each.  The  call  of  1/.  per  share  in  the  course  of  payment 
this  year  will  amount  to  171.  paid  on  each  share,  or  170,000/. 

The  general  management  of  the  affairs  of  the  Company,  in  London,  is 
vested  in  a  Governor,  Deputy-Governor,  18  Directors,  three  Auditors,  and 
the  Clerk  to  the  Company. 

The  superintendence  in  the  colony  devolves  upon  the  Chief  Agent. 

According  to  the  terms  ot  the  charter,  the  pursuits  in  which  the  Com- 
pany is  allowed  to  employ  its  capital,  are,  the  cultivation  and  improving 
such  waste  lands  as  shall  be  granted  in  pursuance  with  agreement  with 
government  (vide  particulars  in  Reports),  including,  erecting  buildings  and 
machinery  thereon,  constructing  roads,  canals,  bridges,  and  such  other 
works  as  are  requisite  to  carry  on  and  perfect  the  cultivation  ;  and  the 
sending  out  and  advancing  money  to  persons  willing  and  desirous  to  settle 
on  their  lands. 

They  have  also  liberty,  subject  to  certain  provisions,  to  open  and  work 
mines  of  coal,  iron,  and  other  minerals,  and  to  quarry,  without  restriction 
or  condition,  for  stone,  lime,  clay,  and  other  materials  for  building ;  to 
make  loans  or  advances  of  money  to  resident  colonists,  as  well  as  individuals, 
as  partnerships  on  the  securities  of  their  lands  within  the  colony  :  also  on 
mortgages,  bonds,  and  judgments  ;  to  contract  for  and  execute  any  public 
works  which  may  be  undertaken  by  the  Government  within  the  island  and 
its  dependencies  ;  to  make  loans  and  advances  upon  the  security  of  tolls, 
and  other  public  taxes  within  the  island,  &c. ;  to  make  loans  to  persons 
engaged  in  the  whale  or  local  fisheries  upon,  or  in  the  neighbourhood  of 
the  coasts  of  the  island,  for  the  purposes  of  carrying  on  the  fisheries  ;  and 
lastly  to  purchase  and  hold  houses,  wharfs,  and  other  buildings,  and  also 
lands  and  hereditaments  within  the  island,  &c. 

To  some  of  these  pursuits  and  privileges,  limits  are  assigned,  the  object, 
however,  of  which  is  not  to  debar  the  Company  from  the  exercise  of  their 
chartered  rights,  but  to  guard  against  their  interference  with  the  pursuits 
of  trade  or  banking,  from  both  of  which  they  are  interdicted. 

The  present  determination  of  the  Directors  is  to  pursue  tillage  with  the 
view  to  artificial  grasses  chiefly  at  Circular  Head,  to  encourage  the  increase 
of  the  valuable  imported  flocks  of  sheep  at  Woolworth,  to  discontinue  for 
the  present  the  attempt  to  keep  sheep  at  the  Hampshire  and  Surrey  Hills, 
and  to  convert  that  district  into  a  cattle  estate. 

The  number  of  stock  belonging  to  the  Company  ontheSlst  August  last, 
was  3,262  sheep,  1,290  cattle,  143  horses.  Number  of  acres  imder  culti- 
vation, at  one  period,  605^  acres  of  wheat,  oats,  barley,  grasses,  &c. 


624 


APPENDIX. EMIGRATION  RETURNS. 


A  Return  of  all  Emigrants  who  have  left  the  United  Kingdom  during  the  years  1833  and 
1834  ;  specifying  the  Ports  from  which  they  have  sailed,  and  tiie  Colony  to  which  they 
have  proceeded. 


To  Colonies  in 

To  United  States 

To  the  Cape  of 

To  the  Australian 

Ports  from  w 

lich      North  America. 

of  America. 

Good  Hope. 

Colonies. 

the  Emigrants 
Sailed. 

havp 

1833. 

1834. 

1833. 

1834. 

1833. 

1834. 

1833.    j     1834. 

ENGLAND 

Aberystwith 

43 

46 

— 

— 

— 

— 

— 

— 

Berwick     . 

189 

182 

21 

— 

— 

— 

— 

— 

Bideford    . 

48 

73 

149 

72 

— 

— 

— 

— 

Bridgwater 

14 

— 

— 

— 

— 

— 

— 

— 

Bristol 

162 

90 

1093 

742 

— 

— 

— 

— 

Cardiff       . 

2 

30 

54 

— 

— 

— 

— 

Carlisle 

"16 

— 

— 

— 

— 

— 

— 

Exeter 

'.           20 

18 

— 

— 

— 

— 

— 

— 

Falmouth 

49 

106 

— 

— 

— 

— 

— 

Fowey 

1 

2 

— 

Gloucester 

"12 

— 

— 

— 

— 

— 

— 

Hull 

'.          '.         731 

1198 

703 

3Q5 

— 

— 

— 

— 

Lancaster 

61 

31 

— 

— 

— 

— 

— 

— 

Liverpool 

.         718 

1395 

13405 

18440 

31 

3 

1232 

256 

Llanelly     . 

24 

— 

— 

— 

— 

— 

— 

— 

Milford      . 

35 

4 

— 

— 

— 

— 

■ — 

— 

Newcastle 

28 

87 

34 

172 

9 

Newhaven 

9 

— 

— 

— 

— 

— 

— 

Newport    . 

2 

20 

727 

240 

— 

— 

— 

— 

Padstow     , 

47 

34 

— 

— 

— 

— 

— 

— 

Plymouth 

536 

593 

122 

383 

— 

— 

— 

— 

Poole 

91 

14 

— 

— 

— 

— 

— 

— 

Portsmouth 

233 

163 

10 

— 

— 

— 

— 

— 

Rochester 

17 

22 

— 

— 

— 

— 

— 

— 

Rye    . 

123 

80 

— 

— 

— 

— 

Stockton    . 

'.         226 

m 

— 

— 

— 

— 

— 

— 

Sunderland 

24 

18 

3 

46 

— 

— 

— 

— 

Swansea    . 

42 

157 

— 

— 

— 

— 

— 

Weymouth 

55 

"Whitby      . 

42 

272 

— 

— 

— 

— 

— 

— 

Whitehaven 

.         740 

539 

— 

— 

— 

— 

— 

— 

Yarmouth 

178 

308 

— 

— 

— 

— 

— 

— 

London 

.       1516 

1167 

5709 

5357 

484 

284 

2083 

2346 

Total,  Engl 

and       5785 

6520 

22392 

25981 

516 

287 

3317 

2666 

SCOTLAND 

Aberdeen 

.       435 

747 

118 

188 

— 

— 

— 

— 

Ayr    . 

.         37 

91 

— 

— 

— 

— 

— 

— 

Campbeltown    . 

.       832 

480 

— 

— 

— , 

— 

— 

— 

Dumfries   . 

.       208 

417 

— 

— 

— 

— 

— 

— 

Dundee 

.       110 

12) 

139 

108 

— 

— 

— 

— 

Glasgow    . 

.      208 

402 

39 

— 

— 

— 

— 

Greenock 

.     1903 

13fi8 

1419 

2160 

1 

1 

40 

13 

Inverness 

.       721 

645 

— 

— 

— 

— 

— 

— 

Irvine 

.      117 

14 

— 

— 

— 

— 

— 

— 

Kirkaldy    . 

84 

71 

— 

— 

— 

— 

— 

— 

Kirkwall    . 

19 

15 

— 

— 

— 

— 

— 

— 

Leith 

.     717 

566 

230 

378 

213 

109 

Port  Glasgow   . 

16 

47 

7 

12 

Stornoway 

.       97 

— 

— 

— 

— 

— 

— 

Stranraer  . 

75 

— 

— 

— 

— 

— 

— 

— 

Thurso 

13 

17 

— 

— 

— 

— 

— 

Total,  Scotl 

and       5592 

4954 

1953 

2880 

1 

1 

253 

134 

IRELAND 

Belfast 

.      3882 

3959 

11/6 

900 

— 

— 

— 

— 

Cork 

.      1956 

5811 

— 

— 

— 

— 

— 

— 

Drogheda 

60 

131 

58 

— 

— 

— 

— 

Dublin 

.      4149 

6589 

743 

523 

— 

Galway 

284 

496 

'98 

78 

— 

— 

— 

— 

Limerick 

848 

2353 

— 

— 

— 

— 

— 

— 

Londonderry     . 

.      2747 

3647 

3316 

2097 

— 

— 

— 

— 

Newry 

.         724 

75 

— 

— 

— 

— 

— 

Sligo 

.       1326 

3179 

99 

236 

— 

— 

— 

— 

Waterford 

.       1432 

2207 

— 

— 

— 

— 

— 

— 

Wexford    . 

23 

— 

— 

— 

— 

— 

— 

— 

Westport 

214 

101 

— 

— 

~ 

Total,  Irol 

and      17431        28586     | 

4764 

4213 

-                -       1 

523 

— 

Grand  T 

Otal      28808 

40060     1 

29109 

33074 

517 

288       I 

4093 

2800 

I 


f 


Total  number  of  Emigrants,  1833,  62,527  ;  ditto,  1834,  76,22 
Custom  House,  London,  23d  Marcli,  1835. 


APPENDIX. 


SECONDARY  PUNISHMENTS,* 

ILLUSTRATED  IN  A  LETTER 

TO 

THE  RIGHT  HONOURABLE 

EDWARD   G.    STANLEY, 


Sir, 
When  you  accepted  the  Seals  of  the  Colonial  Department,  the 
expressions  you  were  reported  to  have  used  in  the  House  of  Com- 
mons (circulated  with  great  avidity  by  the  enemies  of  the  present 
system  of  prison  discipline  in  this  Colony),  gave  rise  to  feelings  of 
great  alarm ;  for  the  public  hailed  them  as  the  precursors  of  a  mode 
of  cruelty  to  the  prison  population,  which  every  Governor  has 
endeavoured  to  prevent  in  those  to  whom  the  employment  of  trans- 
ported offenders  has  been  assigned. 

In  a  debate  in  the  Imperial  Parliament  respecting  the  funds  de- 
voted to  the  support  of  the  Convict  Establishments  at  Bermuda,  a 
portion  of  the  public  press  of  this  colony  has  attributed  to  you  the 
following  expression  :  "  That  arrangements  would  be  made  to  render 
the  punishment  of  transportation  worse  than  death  ! !  /" 

The  Executive  power  in  this  Colony,  in  attempting  to  impose 
restrictions  upon  the  harsh  dispositions  of  numerous  Colonists,  has 
created  much  excitement  3  not  only  among  those  whose  conduct  has 
bordered  on  cruelty,  but  even  with  such  as  have  violated  no  Christian 
principle  in  the  treatment  of  their  assigned  servants.  This  pervading 
sentiment  can  be  traced  to  a  fancied  interference  by  the  Government 
with  the  prerogative  of  the  settler,  in  exacting  labour  alone  from 

*  For  comments  on  this  letter,  see  Chapter  on  New  South  Wales, — section 
Prison  Disci  pi  int'. 

VOL.  IV.  b 


APPENDIX. 

the  prisoner,  without  bestowing  the  least  attention  upon  his  moral 
reformation.     These  two  opposites  in  the  Colonists'  vocabulary  are 
whoUy  irreconcileable — considering,  as  they  in  common  do,  that  the 
prisoner  is  placed  in  their  custody  for  the  purpose  of  punishment 
alone,  they  view  any  system  of  discipline  which  contemplates  another 
object  as  destructive  of  their  authority,  and  generating  the  seeds  of  im- 
mediate and  dangerous  disobedience.    As  the  mode  of  transportation 
now  operates,  the  punishment  of  offenders  is  of  a  very  unequal  cha- 
racter, and  in  many  instances  calculated  to  defeat  the  objects  of  phi- 
lanthropy—  reformation, —  by  sacrificing  humanity  at  the  altar  of 
vengeance.    If  the  Government  should  resolve  to  increase  severities, 
already  too  often   destructive  of  the   best   feelings  and  hopes  of 
offenders,  it  wiU,  I  think,  be  found,  when  a  remedy  can  hardly  be 
applied,  that  evils  have  accrued,  and  a  bitter  spirit  of  hatred  been 
excited,  which,  while  it  may  not  for  years  affect  the  security  of  the 
Government,  may  be  planted  as  the  germ  of  future  disobedience, 
and  even  at  the  present  moment,  endanger  the  public  safety  by 
driving  numerous  desperadoes  into  the  woods  to  pillage  the  Colo- 
nists.    There  is  here  a  strong  and  general  sympathy  felt  among  all 
classes,  when  a  solitary  instance  of  severity  is  exposed,  beyond  that 
which   the   good   of  the   community  demands,   towards   prisoners 
arriving  in  a  strange  and  distant  land,   heart-broken  for  that  they 
have  left  for  ever,  and  separated  from  those  domestic  ties,  the  plea- 
sures of  which  they  are  destined  perhaps  never  more  to  enjoy.     I 
ask.  Sir,  with  all  possible  respect,  if   such  men  are  immediately 
doomed  to  labour  in  chains   (for  this  is  now  the  punishment  to  be 
meted  out  to  secondly  convicted  offenders),  under  the  fiery  rays  of 
an   almost  vertical    sun,  spurned  by  merciless  overseers,   scourged 
for  a  single  look  of  resentment,  to  what  must  the  system  lead  ?     I 
answer.  Sir,  unhesitatingly,  to  extensive  bushranging. 

Suppose,  for  the  sake  of  argument,  that  punishment  alone  was  to 
be  the  characteristic  feature  in  prison  discipline,  allow  me  to  enquire, 
in  what  respect  would  it  benefit  our  state  of  society  ?  What  severity 
in  this  land  can  controul  the  vicious  passions  and  depraved  natures 
nurtured  in  another  ?  Does  not  the  scaffold  seem  to  possess  suf- 
ficient horrors  to  appal  the  most  reckless  mind  ? — and  yet  in  what 
instance  has  its  terrors  operated  as  a  bar  to  the  commission  of  acts 
nf  daring  atrocity  ?     Were  a  thousand  victims  to  suffer  death  to-day 


APPENDIX. 

for  a  crime,  it  would  not  deter  others  from  heedlessly  rushiii";-  into 
the  same  vortex  to-morrow.  This,  Sir,  is  an  incontrovertible  fact, 
established  on  the  broad  basis  of  experience. 

Can  the  people  of  England  imagine  that  the  prisoners  here  are 
comfortable  ?  If  they  do,  they  cherish  an  idea  which  their  better 
sense  ought  to  teach  them  to  abandon  ;  for  thousands,  whose  bosoms 
are  capable  of  nourishing  the  sentiments  of  refinement,  are  languish- 
ing at  this  moment  in  Australia  in  broken-heartedness,  without  one 
solitary  gleam  of  hope  to  encourage  them  in  their  miserable  pil- 
grimage. And  yet  such  persons  will  frequently  tell  their  European 
friends  that  they  enjoy  prosperity ;  a  representation  seldom  indeed 
correct,  and  mainly  attributable  to  that  natural  proneness  which  even 
the  most  wretched  man  involuntarily  feels  to  lull  the  fears  of  his 
relations.  Perhaps,  also,  in  contrasting  his  individual  situation  with 
that  of  others  in  the  circle  of  his  companions  in  adversity,  he  cheers 
himself  with  the  reflection  that  he  is  rendered  subject  to  some  so- 
litary instance  of  lesser  misery  than  his  wretched  associates.  These 
representations  men  in  England  too  incautiously  seize  upon  as  the 
only  ground  for  repudiating  the  inefficacy  of  banishment  with  penal 
consequences.  With  the  view,  therefore,  of  more  distinctly  removing 
opinions  of  this  description,  I  will  shew  you.  Sir,  the  exact  condition 
in  which  the  prison  population  of  this  Colony  now  stands,  classified 
according  to  colonial  custom. 


EDUCATED  CONVICTS. 

Until,  I  believe,  the  arrival  of  General  Darling,  there  was  no 
classification  of  prisoners  attempted  :  it  therefore  devolved  upon 
that  Governor  partially  to  carry  this  measure  into  eflFect ;  and  I  take 
the  freedom  of  quoting  largely  from  one  of  the  letters  of  a  writer  in 
the  Sydney  Gazette  of  11th  February,  1832,  subscribed  "  Jn  Inde- 
pendent" on  this  subject,  to  which  I  beg  to  call  your  serious  atten- 
tion. 

"  He  (the  Governor)  deijcnded  for  the  success  of  his  experiment  upon  the 
maxim  that  where  education  has  been  implanted,  morality  may  slumber,  but 
never  die.  Hence  the  distant  settlement  of  Wellington  Valley  became  the  retreat 
of  the  decayed,  erring  fashionables,  where  they  were  placed  under  the  care  of  that 
fatherly  and  humane  gentleman,  Mr.  Maxwell,  whom  every  party  in  the  colony 
cannot  fail  to  eulogise,  whether  in  private  life,  or  in  the  exercise  of  his  public  duty  ; 

b2 


APPENDIX. 

and  adverting  to  simple  and  incontestible  facts,  I  believe  1  can  satisfy  the  most 
sceptical  opponent,  that  the  result  was  extremely  favourable ;  for,  on  a  trial  of 
thirty  prisoners  thus  selected,  not  more  than  one  has  incurred  a  colonial  sentence 
since  the  classification  was  carried  into  effect.  The  privations  consequent  upon 
their  seclusion  from  the  vices  and  blandishments  of  Sydney,  enabled  them  to  ap- 
preciate the  real  want  of  that  liberty,  and  those  rational  enjoyments  which  were 
once  within  their  reach  :  on  their  return  to  society,  they  feel,  as  we  have  seen,  a 
livelier  interest  in  the  blessings  of  domestic  felicity,  and  entertain  a  more  exalted 
view  of  the  invaluable  attributes  of  honesty.  During  former  Governments,  as  well 
as  during  part  of  General  Darling's  administration,  men  of  education  suffered  the 
most  degrading  punishments  and  privations  without  any  adequate  causes  ;  equal, 
nay  exceeding  that  to  which  the  most  abandoned  ruffian  was  subject.  1  say  worse, 
because  the  majority  of  Overseers  of  Clearing  and  other  Gangs,  under  whom  they 
were  placed  on  their  arrival  in  the  country,  had  sprung  from  the  lowest  orders,  and 
had  acquired  a  brief  authority  here,  by  acts  of  base  and  willing  subserviency,  brib- 
ery and  fraud.  The  extent  of  their  power  was  in  reality  uncircumscribed  :  their 
word  was  as  the  laws  of  the  Medes  and  Persians,  which  '  altereth  not.'  Punish- 
ment, in  fact,  followed  as  certain  as  the  threats  they  uttered  : — having  the  support 
of  their  superiors,  they  naturally  joined  with  avidity  in  depressing  men  under  their 
control  who  had  moved  in  a  higher  sphere,  or  who  possessed  superior  knowledge 
and  habits  to  themselves.  The  intelligent  and  liberal  portion  of  the  people  de- 
plored the  existence  of  such  wanton  abuses  of  authority,  and  gave  General  Darling 
full  credit  for  the  judicious  distinction  which  he  thus  attempted  to  establish." 

At  this  Establishment  the  educated  prisoners  were,  I  learn,  occu- 
pied in  manual  labor  apart  from  the  other  class  :  and  since  the  Go- 
vernment abandoned  Wellington  Valley,  the  Settlement  of  Port 
Macquarie  has  been  selected  for  their  probationary  residence.  If  the 
system  of  General  Darling  be  carried  into  operation  by  the  Authori- 
ties there,  with  the  same  discernment  as  marked  the  superintendence 
of  Mr,  Maxwell,  I  make  no  doubt  but  that  those  men  will,  after  a 
proper  knowledge  of  the  condition  into  which  crime  has  placed  them, 
return  to  society,  as  good  members  :  but  I  would  respectfully  press 
upon  the  local  Government  the  propriety  of  holding  forth  a  stimu- 
lant, by  rendering  their  removal  solely  dependant  upon  a  certain 
period  of  uninterrupted  good  conduct.  I  am.  Sir,  decidedly  op- 
posed to  that  degree  of  severity  which  nourishes  despair.  The  law 
exacts  a  fearful  tribute  by  banishment, — seclusion  from  civilized 
society. — rand  the  various  mortifying  sufferings  and  restraints  to 
which  both  classes  of  prisoners  here  are  liable  in  a  greater  or  lesser 
degree.  It  is  only  necessary  to  carry  matters  to  dire  extremes,  when 
offences  or  motives  Ju.stily  the  means  employed  to  punish.     To  tell 


APPENDIX. 

a  man  who  shows  a  manifest  wish  to  reform,  "  You  are  a  convict — 
the  law  will  punish — and  if  you  perish  during  the  ordeal,  you  are 
the  property  of  the  law — you  shall  not  amend,"  is  a  mode  of  dis- 
pensing justice  without  mercy,  contrary  to  the  established  principles 
of  British  jurisprudence,  which  I  can  never  learn  to  commend.  But 
I  am  afraid.  Sir,  you  will  be  apt  to  suppose  that  the  educated  pri- 
soners enjoying  the  favour  of  the  Government  form  a  numerous 
body.  It  is  not  so, — I  have  taken  the  trouble  of  ascertaining  the 
number  now  in  Sydney  holding  temporary  indulgences,  the  result  of 
uniformly  good  conduct,  and  they  amount  to^ve,  not  one  of  whom 
has  ever  been  placed  before  a  Magistrate  for  the  slightest  offence. 
You,  Sir,  may  collect  from  this  fact,  that  the  class  of  intelligent  con- 
victs is  scattered  over  the  country.  It  is  preposterous  to  speak  of 
Ironed  Gangs,  as  some  parties  have  recommended  for  such  men  on 
their  arrival  in  the  colony  :  a  system  more  refined  in  barbarity  can- 
not be  devised,  and  will,  I  trust,  never  be  sanctioned.  Its  tendency 
would  be,  to  render  desperation  more  desperate,  and  awfully  to  in- 
crease the  catalogue  of  human  suffering  and  crime. 

The  other  class  to  which  I  have  now  to  draw  your  attention,  are 

the 

UNEDUCATED  CONVICTS. 

As  there  is  a  very  great  difference  in  the  natural  dispositions,  and 
previous  habits  of  men,  so  ought  there  to  be  degrees  and  modes  of 
punishment  to  answer  such  differences.  I  admit  that  a  comprehen- 
sive application  of  any  such  rule  of  correction  would  infallibly  be 
attended  with  extreme  difficulty ;  but  stiU  the  system  is  capable  of 
extensive  improvement,  and  ought  not  to  be  abandoned  because  the 
duty  is  perhaps  prospectively  laborious.  Some  men  will  say  that,  ' 
the  punishment  of  criminals  ought  to  be  similar,  in  every  respect, 
because  they  have  erred.  I  envy  not  minds  that  entertain  such  sen- 
timents 5  will  they  be  defended  upon  any  principle,  that  the  same 
discipline  is  commendable,  when  it  applies  with  equal  force  to  a  man, 
hitherto  moving  in  respectable  circles,  well  educated,  and  retaining 
about  him  a  selfrespect,  unimpaired  amidst  all  the  vicissitudes  to 
which  he  has  been  liable  :  and  to  the  hardened  offender,  cradled  in 
infamy,  and  reared  to  habits  of  black  enormity,  wholly  insensible  to 
any  emotion  beyond  that  which  proceeds  from  the  gratification  of 
the  grossest  passions  ?     Besides,  can  it  be  necessary  that  the  pick- 


APPENDIX. 

pocket,  burglar,  and  worse  than  all,  the  unnatural  offender,  should 
be  placed  on  a  level  with  the  poacher,  smuggler,  or  other  unfortu- 
nate, suffering  under  a  solitary  instance  of  criminal  error  ?  Cer- 
tainly not.  The  labour  to  which  convicts  are  generally  placed,  par- 
ticularly those  of  the  uneducated  class,  consists  either  in  clearing 
timber,  and  otherwise  preparing  land  for  cultivation,  or  being  em- 
ployed as  domestic  servants.  It  may  perhaps  occur  to  you.  Sir,  as 
very  probable,  that  the  hardships  of  such  an  employment  are  not 
sufficiently  severe  on  those  who  have  committed  crimes,  since  many 
of  them  have  been  accustomed  to  such  occupations  5  but  it  is  in  the 
restraints  imposed  by  the  Local  Government,  and  the  proneness  of 
masters  to  consider  convict  servants  as  less  entitled  to  the  exercise 
of  a  humane  disposition  than  the  animals  around  them,  that  the 
punishment  consists.  Yet  the  labour  itself  is  severe,  from  its  un- 
remitting duration ;  the  heat  and  variation  of  the  climate  j  and  the 
insufficiency  and  bad  quality  of  the  food  ;  the  ration  being  pretty 
generally,  one  pound  of  beef,  and  one  pound  of  bread  per  diem,  with, 
in  some  instances,  a  trifling  occasional  allowance  of  tea  and  sugar. 
The  former  article  of  provision  is  frequently  unwholesome,  from 
being  putrid  by  reason  of  imperfect  curing,  and,  moreover,  the 
refuse  of  the  carcass  ;  and  the  latter  consists  of  a  better  sort  of  pol- 
lard, containing  barely  sufficient  farinaceous  substance  to  keep  body 
and  soul  together.* 

Should  a  single  act  of  remissness  of  labour  occur  (and  a  bare  sus- 
picion of  intention  is  proof  of  actual  offence,  according  to  the  chari- 
table lexicon  of  the  settler),  the  prisoner  is  made  to  suffer  an  infliction 
of  the  lash  5  and  I  can  assure  you.  Sir,  from  personal  observation, 
that  it  is  not  uncommon  to  see  a  poor  wretch  working  on  the  roads, 
or  labouring  in  the  fields  with  his  coarse  shirt  sticking  to  the  green 
and  tainted  flesh  of  his  lacerated  back,  and  that  too  for  the  most 
venial  offence — the  bare  neglect  of  an  order — a  word  of  insolence  or 
disrespect  (and  a  sour  look  is  so  construed),  are  held  to  be  sufficient 
grounds  for  awarding  corporal  punishment. 

*  This  fact  is  established  by  the  condemnation,  as  putrid  and  unwholesome,  of 
a  whole  ship's  cargo  of  salted  beef  forwarded  from  Sydney,  a  short  time  since,  for 
the  support  of  about  700  convicts  at  Moreton  Bay,  who,  m  consequence  of  its 
total  unfitness  as  provision,  were  reduced  to  a  state  bordering  on  starvation,  until 
a  supply  could  be  forwarded  from  head  quarters. 


APPENDIX. 

I  have  it  from  unquestionable  authoritVj  that  it  frequently  occurs 
in  the  summer  season^  that  the  eggs  of  the  blue  fly  become  inserted 
and  hatched  in  the  wounds  of  the  punished  offender,  from  which 
they  are  occasionally  extracted  by  some  humane  companion ;  but  I 
cannot  more  aptly  explain  to  you  the  lamentable  condition  of  the 
generality  of  the  prison  population,  than  by  quoting  the  editorial 
comments  of  the  Sydney  Gazette  of  the  20th  November,  1830> 
assuring  you.  Sir,  that  the  punishment  therein  described  has  not 
abated,  unless  in  the  substitution  of  twenty-five,  or  fifty,  for  one 
hundred  lashes  in  cases  of  trifling  neglect,  notwithstanding  the 
vehement  complaints  of  the  humane  gentlemen  resident  on  the 
banks  of  Hunter's  River.  In  the  publication  referred  to,  it  is 
observed,  that 

"  The  prisoners  of  dl  classes  in  Government  are  fed  with  the  coarsest  food; 
governed  with  the  most  rigid  discipline ;  subjected  to  the  stern,  and  frequently 
capricious  and  tyrannical  will  of  an  overseer ;  for  the  slightest  offence  (sometimes 
for  none  at  all — the  victim  of  false  accusation)  brought  before  a  Magistrate,  whom 
the  Government  has  armed  with  the  tremendous  powers  of  a  summary  jurisdic- 
tion, and  either  flogged,  or  sentenced  to  solitary  confinement,  or  retransported  to 
an  Iron  Gang,  where  he  must  work  in  heavy  irons,  or  to  a  Penal  Settlement, 
where  he  will  be  ruled  with  a  rod  of  iron.  If  assigned  to  a  private  individual,  he 
becomes  the  creature  of  chance.  He  may  fall  into  the  hands  of  a  kind  and  in- 
dulgent master,  who  will  reward  his  fidelity  with  suitable  acknowledgements ;  but, 
in  ninety-nine  cases  out  of  a  hundred,  he  will  find  his  employer  suspicious,  or 
whimsical,  or  a  blockhead,  not  knowing  good  conduct  from  bad,  or  a  despot,  who 
treats  him  like  a  slave,  cursing  and  abusing,  and  getting  him  flogged  for  no  rea- 
sonable cause.  He  may  be  harrassed  to  the  very  death — he  may  be  worked  like  a 
horse,  and  fed  like  a  chameleon.  The  master,  though  not  invested  by  law  with 
uncontrolled  power,  has  yet  great  authority,  which  may  be  abused  in  a  thousand 
ways  precluding  redress.  Even  his  legal  power  is  sufficiently  formidable.  A  single 
act  of  disobedience,  a  single  syllable  of  insolence,  is  a  legitimate  ground  of  com- 
plaint before  the  Magistrate,  and  is  always  severely  dealt  with.  But,  besides  the 
master's  power,  the  prisoners  are  in  some  measure  under  a  dominion  to  the  free 
population  at  large  ;  any  man  can  give  him  in  charge  without  ceremony.  If  seen 
drunk,  if  seen  tippling  in  the  public-house,  if  met  after  hours  in  the  street,  if 
unable  to  pay  his  trifling  debt,  if  impertinent — the  free  man  has  nothing  more 
to  do  than  send  him  to  the  watch-house,  and  get  him  punished.  The  poor  pri- 
soner is  at  the  mercy  of  all  men." 

Surely  this  is  neither  just  nor  politic. 

There  is.  Sir,  I  submit,  no  theory  more  fallacious  in  practice,  than 
that  which  solely  relies  upon  severity  of  treatment  for  the  moral 


APPENDIX. 

improvement  of  offenders.  The  contrary  axiom  has  been  adopted 
after  years  of  painful  experience  of  the  workings  of  the  penal  codes 
throughout  Europe^  by  men  above  every  prejudice  ;  who  are  guided 
in  their  investigations  by  the  noble  and  solid  intention  of  mitigating 
suffering  humanity,  from  unnecessary  debasement  and  cruelty,  while 
the  protection  of  society  from  the  demoralising  examples  and  acts  of 
atrocious  men,  is  also  brought  within  the  range  of  their  philanthropic 
enquiries.  By  such  men.  Sir,  it  has  been  contended  as  a  fixed  prin- 
ciple, that  whether  as  applicable  to  the  Penitentiaries,  or  Hulks,  or 
to  the  numerous  Prison  Houses  in  Australasia,  "  the  great  ends  of 
penal  legislation  are  wholly  defeated  by  blind  severity,  as  a  means  of 
leading  to  the  suppression  of  crime." 

I  shall.  Sir,  in  the  sequel,  have  occasion  to  lay  before  you  instances 
of  barbarity,  unknown  to  European  society  in  the  present  century — 
cruelties  that  might  even  blanch  the  cheek  of  the  veriest  slave-mas- 
ter 3  the  thought  of  which  will  excite  a  sympathy  in  English  bosoms, 
throwing  the  crimes  of  individuals  entirely  in  the  shade,  and  exhibit- 
ing them  as  objects  of  barbarous  persecution,  entitled  to  the  treat- 
ment of,  at  least,  English  convicts,  if  not  fellow-  men,  who  have  lostj 
for  a  time,  the  rights  of  British  subjects.  In  the  course  of  this 
display  of  fact  and  horror,  it  may  become  necessary  to  allude  indi- 
rectly to  some  of  the  parties  implicated  :  a  direct  charge  would 
involve  me  in  all  the  perplexities  of  litigation  ;  and  under  these 
circumstances,  though  I  am  precluded  from  holding  up  to  public 
execration  particular  parties,  this,  I  am  confident,  will  not  derogate 
from  the  credit  to  which  this  exposition  is  entitled.  The  facts  are 
notorious  ;  and  where  it  is  desirable,  1  wiU  accompany  my  statement 
with  collateral  evidence.  But  before  even  entering  upon  a  field  so 
pregnant  with  incidents  of  dire  atrocity,  I  crave.  Sir,  your  permission 
to  give  an  outline  of  the  political  machinery  by  which  the  Press  in 
this  Colony  is  worked  and  controlled.  Holding  a  command  of  great 
influence  over  the  passions  of  civilized  society,  those  who  respect 
the  Press,  as  giving  a  limit  to  the  progress  of  rapacity  and  ambition, 
feel  disgust  when  its  profligacy  degenerates  into  the  hands  of  fierce 
partizanship,  and  when  the  national  dignity  or  interests  are  compro- 
mised for  foul  objects  of  personal  animosity  and  individual  degrada- 
tion. In  no  Colony  under  the  British  Crown  has  the  fury  of  party 
acquired   such   an   ascendancy  ar.d  influence   as   in   this.     Religion, 


APPENDIX. 

morality,  and  the  best  feelings  of  nature  have  been  outraged  by  its 
virulence,  the  domestic  circle  shamefully  violated,  established  autho- 
rity traduced,  and  now,  alas  !  to  close  the  fearful  catalogue  of  ills 
which  have  fallen  from  this  "  palladium"  we  have  the  thunders  of 
the  Press  directed  against  mercy,  and  an  attempt  made  to  introduce 
a  sanguinary  code  of  laws  to  debase  and  fetter  thousands  of  prison- 
ers, annihilate  hope  for  ever,  and  present  the  children  of  British 
parents,  in  all  the  odious  lights  of  slavery  j — not.  Sir,  to  strike  terror 
into  the  vile,  who  revel  amidst  dissipation  and  crime  in  England,  but 
to  reduce  the  prison  population  here  to  the  lowest  possible  standard 
which  degraded  humanity  is  capable  of  enduring,  in  order  to  com- 
mand manual  labour  upon  the  same  tenure  as  the  Colonists  hold 
their  horses  and  cattle.  This  change  in  sentiment  has  been  produced 
within  the  last  few  years.  The  Sydney  Herald,  basing  its  popularity 
and  success  upon  the  Emigrant  portion  of  the  community,  is  the 
first  to  sieze  upon  every  petty  circumstance  to  disseminate  a  belief 
that  the  prison  population  is  under  no  control,  and  that  a  system  of 
extreme  coercion  is  necessary  to  prevent  our  streets  from  becoming 
the  scenes  of  tumult  and  blood.  When  I  shew  you,  Sir,  that  this 
journal  is  under  the  guidance  of  certain  disaffected  individuals  op- 
posed to  this  Government,  and  when  I  moreover  allude  to  the 
notorious  fact,  that  its  proprietors  are  merely  nominal  editors,  whose 
capacities  are  below  mediocrity,  you  will  perceive  that  the  Herald  is 
a  party  paper,  devoted  to  the  caprice  of  individuals,  and  its  assumed 
independence  entirely  devoid  of  truth.  Some  months  ago  the  settlers 
in  the  district  of  Hunter's  Rivers,  imagining  that  insubordination  (a 
word  to  which  they  give  a  thoiisand  interpretations)  had  appeared 
among  their  assigned  servants,  the  Herald  was  the  first  to  sound  the 
tocsin  of  alarm,  and  to  magnify  every  offence  into  an  act  of  open 
insubordination,  imtil  defeated  by  the  united  voice  of  the  people  in 
other  districts ;  the  compunction  of  some  persons  who  had  been 
persuaded  to  sign  a  Petition,  grounded  on  the  grossest  fallacy,  pra)- 
ing  the  Governor  for  protection,  and  at  the  same  time  advising  the 
abrogation  of  a  local  enactment,  which  had  justly  deprived  the 
Magistracy  of  exercising  certain  extensive  powers  they  had  previ' 
ously  possessed  in  their  summary  jurisdiction  ;  and  last,  though  not 
least,  the  result  of  a  public  enquiry,  which  drowned,  with  indignant 


APPENDIX. 

reproach,  the  base  misrepresentations  of  the  disaffected,  and  almost 
disloyal  agents  of  the  scheme. 

I  point  out  the  political  bias  of  this  journal,  because  I  feel  con- 
vinced that  it  will  be  referred  to  as  corroborative  of  the  lamentable 
state  of  immoraUty  which  is  alleged  to  exist  here.  As  descriptive, 
however,  of  the  real  manners  of  the  inhabitants— or  as  pourtraying 
the  sentiments  even  of  that  class  whose  interests  it  professes  to  ad- 
vocate— it  cannot  be  received  as  evidence  ;  for  though  many  would 
desire,  like  it,  to  establish  distinctions,  odious  in  themselves,  and  de- 
structive of  that  amalgamation  of  society  which  all  men  of  sound 
honour  and  discrimination  look  to  as  best  calculated  to  advance  the 
real  and  true  interests  of  the  Colony, — yet  the  great  body  of  Emi- 
grants, reconciled  to  social  intercourse  with  the  Emancipists,  both 
by  mutual  obligations,  intermarriages,  and  the  thousand  other  civi- 
lities incident  to  a  limited  society,  repudiate  even  the  implied  wish  to 
detract  from,  or  perpetuate  the  recollections  of,  the  former  state  of 
the  Emancipists.  The  Petition  from  the  "  Hunter,"  above  alluded 
to,  proceeded  from  the  following  cause  :  — 

In  March  1832,  an  Act  passed  the  Legislative  Council  of  this  Co- 
lony, limiting  the  hitherto  uncontrolled  power  of  the  Justices  in  ad- 
ministering punishment  for  certain  offences,  therein  particularly 
described.  The  extraordinary  scourgings  which  the  Magistrates 
were  accustomed  to  order,  had  excited  in  the  minds  of  all  men  the 
greatest  detestation,  and  this  Act  was  received  by  the  Colonists  with 
cordial  demonstrations  of  approval.  For  a  time  no  symptom  of  dis- 
content was  exhibited.  Confidence  between  the  Governor  and 
governed  was  not  disturbed,  until  His  Excellency  brought  the  con- 
duct of  a  Mr.  Bingle  under  review  for  inviting  a  friend,  his  guest,  to 
hold  a  Court  in  his  parlour,  to  try  certain  of  his  assigned  servants,  and 
deal  out  severe  punishment.  This  conduct  produced  a  merited  censure. 
Mr.  Bingle  appealed  to  my  Lord  Goderich,  who  approved  of  the 
Governor's  conduct,  and  hence  the  almost  immediate  preaching  up  a 
crusade  against  the  pretended  inefhcacy  of  his  measures,  and  hosti- 
lity to  his  government  by  the  partizans  of  undue  severity,  as  the  only 
probable  mode  either  of  driving  His  Excellency  into  a  dilemma  by 
which  they  might  profit  to  his  disadvantage  ;  or  of  inducing  a  change 
of  his  confidential  advisers,  for  others  more  congenial  to  their  pri- 


APPENDIX. 

vate  wishes.  The  Governor  allowed  their  party  violence  and  ani- 
mosity to  come  to  maturity  in  the  shape  of  a  Petition  for  protection, 
upon  the  imputed  ground  that  "  insubordination"  raged  among  the 
assigned  servants  of  the  Colonists  generally,  in  consequence  of  the 
limited  punishments  which  the  law  had  provided.  The  Governor  in 
this  instance  foresaw  the  unworthy  aim  of  the  Petitioners,  and  acted 
with  sound  judgment,  in  addressing  Circular  Letters  to  all  the 
Benches  of  Magistrates  in  the  Colony,  calling  upon  them  to  report 
specitically  on  the  degree  of  corporal  suffering  endured  by  prisoners 
in  those  cases,  which  the  Petitioners  impugned  as  lenient.  The 
result,  as  anticipated,  was  such  as  to  convince  the  Executive  and  the 
Country  that  the  Petition  was  wholly  groundless. 

("  CIRCULAR.) 

"  No.  33-48.  "  Colonial  Secrptan/s  Office,  Sydney, 

"\&fh  October,  1833. 
"  SIR, 

"  In  consequence  of  two  petitions  presented  to  the  Governor  and  Legislative 
Council  a  few  days  before  the  Council  terminated  its  last  Session,  in  which  peti- 
tions, it  was  amongst  other  things  stated,  that  the  amount  of  punishment  to  which 
Justices  of  the  Peace  are  empowered  by  the  Colonial  Act,  2rd  Gut.  IV.  No.  3,  to 
sentence  convicts  in  a  summary  way  was  too  small,  and  that  the  instrument 
directed  to  be  used  in  inflicting  corporal  punishments  was  so  inefficacious  as  to 
cause  the  power  of  the  Magistrates  to  be  derided,  the  Governor  was  pleased  to  com- 
mand me,  on  the  21st  August  last,  to  address  a  Circular  letter  to  the  several  Police 
Magistrates  in  the  Colony  (a  Copy  of  which  is  annexed),  directing  them  to  super- 
intend personally,  cdl  corporal  punishments  inflicted  in  their  districts,  during  the 
ensuing  month  of  September,  and  to  report  the  amount  of  bodily  suflfering  which 
the  infliction  appeared  to  produce,  when  properly  administered  with  the  standard 
instrument  issued  by  the  Principal  Superintendent  of  Convicts,  in  accordance  with 
the  intimation  given  to  the  Magistrates  of  the  Colony  in  my  Circular  letter  of  the 
1 8th  May  last,  and  further  to  report  their  opinion,  whether  such  infliction  appeared 
to  them  a  sufficient  punishment  for  the  offences  which,  by  the  afore-recited  Act, 
are  directed  to  be  punished  with  fifty  lashes. 

"  His  Excellency  now  deeming  it  important,  that  all  the  Justices  of  the  Peace  in 
the  Colony  should  be  informed  of  the  result  of  this  enquiry,  I  am  commanded  to 
transmit  to  you  copies  of  the  letters  and  Reports  of  the  Police  Magistrates  which 
have  just  been  received.  The  conclusion  to  be  drawn  from  a  consideration  of  these 
documents,  is  necessarily  this  : — that  both  the  measures  of  punishment  authorised 
by  the  law,  and  the  instrument  for  inflicting  it  are  sufficient  for  the  purposes  in- 
tended. These  facts  are  established  by  the  quantum  of  suffering  endured  by  the 
criminal  when  the  punishment  is  duly  administered,  and  by  the  gratifying   assur- 


APPENDIX. 

ance  of  the  peaceable  conduct  of  those  persons  for  whose  coercion  the  law  has 
been  passed.  At  Hyde  Park  Barrack,  where  punishments  have  been  inflicted 
strictly  according  to  regulation,  the  Superintendent  reports,  that  in  many  cases 
where  fifty  lashes  were  ordered  by  the  Court,  twenty-five  would,  in  his  opinion, 
have  been  a  sufficient  punishment ;  and  it  is  suggested  by  this  active  and  intelli- 
gent Officer,  that  the  sentence  should  be  reduced.  In  several  other  Districts  the 
punishments  are  represented  to  be  fully  sufficient.  In  those  where  it  appears  to 
have  been  less  effective,  the  cause  is  to  be  found  in  the  disrepair  of  the  instrument ; 
or  in  the  negligence,  or  possibly  the  corruption  of  the  executioner.  Against  acci- 
dents or  abuses  of  this  sort,  the  vigilance  and  superintending  control  of  the  Magis- 
trates should  have  provided  a  prompt  remedy  ;  and  it  is  not  too  much  to  say,  that 
it  is  within  the  power,  not  only  of  every  Police  Magistrate,  but  of  every  gentleman 
holding  a  Commission  of  the  Peace  in  the  Colony,  to  render  the  corporal  punish- 
ments which  he  commands  in  due  course  of  law,  to  be  as  efficiently  administered 
in  the  place  for  which  he  acts,  as  similar  punishments  are  at  Hyde  Park. 

"  The  sufficiency  of  the  law,  and  of  the  instrument  of  corporal  punishment  in  all 
cases  where  proper  superintendence  is  exercised,  being  thus  established  on  unex- 
ceptionable evidence.  His  Excellency  need  hardly  point  out  to  you  how  inexpedient, 
how  dangerous  it  would  be,  by  any  new  legislative  enactment,  to  add  to  the  severity 
of  either ;  merely  because,  in  some  instances,  the  wholesome  rigor  of  the  existing 
law  has  been  impeded  by  a  negligent  or  corrupt  execution.     In  reading  the  Reports 
which  have  been  presented,  the  Governor  could  not  fail  to  observe,  that  where 
punishments  have  been  duly  inflicted,  the  power  of  the  Magistrates  has  been  any 
thing  but  derided.     Whilst  perusing  those  painful  details.  His  Excellency  has,  in- 
deed, had  abundant  reason  to  lament  that  the  use  of  the  whip  should,  of  necessity, 
form  so  prominent  a  part  of  convict  discipline  in  New  South  Wales ;  but  believing 
it  to  be  unavoidable,  the  Governor  must  rely  on  the  activity  and  discretion  of  the 
Magistracy  for  ensuring  its  wholesome  and  sufficient  application. 
"  I  have  the  honor  to  be, 
Sir, 
"  Your  most  obedient  Servant, 
(Signed)  "  ALEXANDER  M'LEAY." 


Added  to  the  foregoing,  we  have  the  united  testimony  of  every 
other  district,  that  the  prison  population  was  under  proper  control, 
and  perfectly  obedient.  The  Sydney  Herald,  it  is  true  published  an 
account  of  a  contemplated  rising  at  Goulburn,  with  threats  of  at- 
tempted firing  of  property,  doubtless  in  order  to  aid  the  "  hue  and 
cry"  of  the  faction  with  whom  they  had  evidently  coalesced;  and  cir- 
culated from  time  dreadful  alarms  of  general  disaffection  of  the  con- 
victs, which,  on  enquiry,  were  either  discovered  to  be  totally /aZse,  or 
of  so  trumpery  a  nature  as  to  merit  the  contempt  of  both  the  Go- 
vernment, and  the  public  at  large. 


APPENDIX. 

"  Goulburn,  8th  October,  1833, 
"  SIR, 
*'  I  have  the  honor  to  acknowledge  the  receipt  of  your  letter  of  the  2Cth  ultimo, 
\vith  reference  to  an  article  in  the  Sydney  Herald  newspaper,  of  the  23d  ultimo, 
which  states  that  a  Rockite  or  incendiary  notice  had  been  affixed  upon  some  estate 
in  Argyle  by  the  convict  servants,  and  requesting  me  to  take  measures,  by  enquir- 
ing amongst  the  Magistrates  and  others  of  the  District,  whether  the  statement 
alluded  to  has  any  foundation  in  truth. 

"  In  answer,  I  beg  to  inform  you,  that,  after  every  enquiry,  I  find  the  said  state- 
ment has  no  foundation  in  truth,  as  I  cannot  suppose  it  can  bear  any  allusion  to  a 
placard  that  had  been  affixed  on  Dr.  Gibson's  farm  five  months  since,  and  which 
was  viewed  as  solely  pointing  at  that  gentleman  and  myself,  but  of  so  contemptible 
a  nature  as  never  to  have  given  me  a  second  thought. 

"  No  disposition  to  acts  of  violence  or  incendiarism,  on  the  part  of  the  convicts, 
has  been  manifested  in  the  Southern  Districts ;  nothing  of  the  sort  could  take 
place  without  my  knowledge. 

"  Indeed,  upon  all  well-regulated  estates,  the  convicts  have  given  as  little  trouble 
during  the  present,  as  in  former  years  :  so  far  as  my  own  establishments  are  con- 
cerned, I  can  say  only  one  of  my  assigned  servants  undersvent  punishment  for  the 
last  nine  months,  and  that  case  was  for  making  away  with  his  bed  and  bedding. 
"  I  have  the  honor  to  be, 
"  Sir, 
"  Your  most  obedient  Servant, 
(Signed)  "  L.  MACALISTER, 

"  Lieutenant  Mounted  Police." 
"  The  Honorable  the  Colonial  Secretary." 


Discomfiture  has  rendered  the  faction  morose  and  vindictive  in 
their  temper,  and  conceiving  that  an  honourable  submission  to  af- 
fronted authority,  is  less  dignified  than  an  unjust  resistance  against 
it,  they  have  again  taken  the  field,  and  consigned  a  Petition,  to  the 
Home  Authorities,  praying  the  Governor's  removal,  to  the  care  of 
Sir  William  Edward  Parry,  who  cannot  but  know  how  unpopular 
and  unjust  their  complaints  really  are,  and  that  the  Magistrates  hold 
an  antidote  in  their  own  hands  to  every  one  of  the  evils  complained 
of,  namely — the  eflScient  exercise  of  the  law  as  it  now  stands. 

You,  Sir,  will  naturally  ask,  in  which  way  is  it  possible  to  remedy 
those  dangerous  and  accumulating  grievances ;  to  relieve  the  Go- 
vernment from  abject  submission  to  the  presumptuous  dictation  of 
honorary  Magistrates  ;  and  yet  preserve  the  public  tranquillity  from 
any  of  those  convulsions  incidental  upon  sudden  changes,  on  the 
other.      I  admit  the  value  in  the  aggregate,  of  magisterial  services. 


APPENDIX. 

particularly  many  years  ago,  when  the  country  possessed  but  few 
enlightened  Colonists  to  administer  justice.  From  obedient  minis- 
terial officers,  they  are  now,  however,  become  more  or  less  disposed 
to  blend  party  politics  with  the  discharge  of  duty ;  and  to  withhold 
a  vigorous  administration  of  their  functions,  in  order  to  attain  the 
abolition  of  laws  and  orders  which  they  consider  as  clashing  with 
their  private  interests  and  political  feelings.  To  keep  such  a  body 
in  humour,  the  dignity  of  the  Crown  must  be  compromised,  or  its 
authority  vindicated  by  the  adoption  of  a  severe  and  necessary 
course,  which  this  Government  is  censurable  for  not  having  pursued 
the  moment  it  perceived  the  growth  of  partizanship,  opposed  to  its 
prerogative.  Had  Governor  Bourke  issued  a  new  Commission  of 
the  Peace,  and  manifested  his  just  displeasure  by  excluding  the 
names  of  the  factious  and  disobedient  persons  who  still  hold  office, 
the  hydra  would  have  been  strangled  in  its  birth.  Toleration  is 
construed  into  impunity,  and  waxing  strong  by  means  of  this  inaction 
— disrespect  towards  the  local  authorities  is  openly  manifested — 
their  opinions  treated  with  contempt  —  and  reference  about  to  be 
made  to  you,  in  England,  for  redress  of  grievances,  the  existence  of 
which  a  deliberate  enquiry  upon  the  spot  has  failed  to  discover.  I  re- 
commend. Sir,  strongly  for  your  consideration,  in  the  present  position 
of  affairs  in  the  Colony,  the  propriety  of  nominating  stipendiary 
Magistrates  to  preside  over  the  interior  Courts  of  Petty  Session. 
To  insure  confidence  in  their  integrity,  and  to  preclude  the  possibility 
of  interested  motives  being  assumed  as  possessing  a  controul  over 
their  decisions,  I  respectfully  urge  the  expediency  of  administering 
an  oath  of  office,  binding  these  Magistrates  to  hold  neither  land  nor 
stock ;  nor  engage,  either  directly  or  indirectly,  in  any  agricultural 
or  other  occupation,  while  holding  their  public  situations.  This 
would  correct  the  evil.  It  would  eradicate  the  cancer  which  now 
gnaws  the  root  of  public  tranquility,  embarrassing  the  Executive 
Authority,  and  splitting  the  Colonists  into  parties.  From  the  anxiety 
evinced  by  the  Hunter's  River  petitioners  to  increase  the  summary 
jurisdiction  of  the  Magistrates,  and  to  lend  the  decision  of  a  single 
Justice,  all  the  respect  and  authority  of  a  full  and  constituted  Bench, 
a  cursory  observer  could  see  little  to  be  dreaded ;  but  would  at  once 
accede  to  a  request  so  moderately  and  ingeniously  urged.  Convicts, 
Englishmen  would  reason,  have  been  dri\  en  beyond  the  pale  of  the 


APPENDIX. 

law  for  their  crimes,  and  it  behoves  the  authorities,  for  the  sake  of 
example,  to  hold  them  up  in  all  the  horrors  of  degraded  servitude ; 
but.  Sir,  English  convicts  carry  along  with  them  a  recollection  of 
what  they  have  been,  and  will  not  crouch  under  the  sullen  brow  and 
upreared  arm  raised  to  brutalise  their  natures.  Experience,  in  this 
Colony,  has  proved  that  rather  than  continue  subject  to  degradation 
in  its  harshest  form,  the  prisoner  will  either  seek  the  life  of  his 
oppressor,  or  fly  to  the  woods,  and  perish  on  the  scaffold  for  enor- 
mities committed  there  ;  and  he  courts  this  fate,  as  kindly  relieving 
him  from  afflictions  beyond  human  endurance.  What  additional 
severity  do  the  settlers  require  ?  If  a  convict  neglect,  or  even  rest 
from  his  labour,  he  is  liable  to  be  flogged  3  if  he  speak  disrespect- 
fully to  a  master  or  an  overseer,  he  is  also  liable  to  be  flogged  ;  if 
he  quit,  without  permission,  his  master's  farm,  he  is  liable  to  be 
flogged  ;  if  he  do  any  thing  which  in  free  men  would  not  be  noticed, 
twenty-five  or  fifty  lashes  may  be  dealt  out  to  him  with  all  ima- 
ginable indifference  :  and  yet,  as  if  the  cup  of  human  misery  were 
not  sufficiently  full,  the  merciful  and  benignant  settlers  on  the  Hun- 
ter desire  power  to  administer,  for  any  of  those  petty  offences, 
two  hundred  or  five  hundred  lashes,  as  it  may  suit  the  caprice 
of  their  High  Mightinesses  to  order. 

There  is.  Sir,  another  object  which  has  created  much  chagrin 
among  the  magistrates  ;  namely,  the  withdrawal  of  that  protection 
or  indemnity  which  the  Government  used  formerly  to  extend  on  all 
occasions  for  acts,  even  of  the  most  flagitious  kind,  professed  to 
have  been  performed  in  the  execution  of  their  office.  The  disgrace 
which  this  entailed  upon  the  administration  of  General  Darling,  will 
be  borne  in  remembrance  by  the  colonists,  when  the  other  acts  of 
his  misgovernment  will  be  forgotten.  It  was  the  fertile  source  of 
disturbance  and  oppression,  because  the  responsibility  of  the  Magis- 
trate was  merely  nominal.  The  public  purse  was  at  his  service. 
This  of  itself  ought  to  convince  the  Government  that  the  present 
Magistracy  is  most  injudiciously  upheld  ;  and  that  holding  mere 
honorary  appointments  —  anticipating  embarrassment  from  their 
whims  or  dictation — and  assuming  an  authority  which  neither  their 
services  nor  their  weight  justify  —  these  circumstances  conjoined, 
point  out  the  absolute  inexpediency  of  relying  for  co-operation  in 
the  enforcement  of  local  laws  from  men,  who  ha\  e  so  many  seeming 


APPENDIX. 

grievances  to  goad  them  on  to  obstinate  resistance,  or  crafty  evasicm 
of  their  prescribed  duties.  But  the  evil  does  not  even  terminate 
here.  Neither  the  convict  nor  his  master  has  faith  in  the  Magis- 
tracy as  a  body  j  and  why  should  they,  when  such  disgraceful  acts 
as  have  hitherto  been  exposed  are  either  justified  or  palliated  by 
them  ?  They  desire  it  to  be  pronounced  lawful  for  one  Magistrate 
to  invite  another  to  dine,  and,  while  carousing,  order  a  few  convicts 
to  be  scourged  in  the  yard,  as  a  sort  of  accompaniment  to  their 
banquet ! 

You,  Sir,  will  say  that  this  severity  cannot  be  just  :  but  I  have 
seen  men,  for  mere  venial  offences,  scourged  till  the  blood  has 
dripped  into  their  shoes  ;  and  I  have  seen  the  flesh  tainted  and  smell- 
ing on  a  living  human  body,  from  the  effects  of  severe  flagellation  ; 
the  very  maggots  writhing  about  in  a  wretch's  flesh — and  for  what  ? 
Not  for  robbery,  nor  violence — not  for  a  crime  that  threatened  dan- 
gerous consequences  to  any  one  ;  but  upon  the  charge  of  an  overseer 
that  the  prisoner  neglected  his  allotted  task.  In  this  miserable  con- 
dition is  a  convict  obliged  to  labour.  The  Colonist  considers  that 
he  is  made  of  sterner  stuff  than  other  mortals — and  sterner  he  must 
be  to  labour  in  the  fields,  exposed  to  a  burning  sun,  with  his  back 
literally  raw.  After  being  flogged,  he  must  instantly  again  to  the 
field — for  him  there  is  no  compassion.  This  is  but  a  feeble  picture 
of  the  terrific  system  which  Governor  Bourke  has  partially  corrected. 
He  has  attempted  to  apportion  punishment  to  crime  :  "  but  no," 
say  the  gentlemen  of  the  Hunter,  "  you  must  leave  a  discretion  in 
us  to  do  as  we  like."  If  the  Governor  were  to  abide  by  their  deci- 
sion in  such  matters,  if  he  showed  any  disposition  to  parley  with 
persons  in  whom  ambition  and  misrule  have  taken  deep  root,  his 
administration  would  be  pointed  at  as  one  of  imbecility,  and  the 
respect  due  to  his  station  become  a  bye- word  and  a  mockery. 

You  may  suppose.  Sir,  that  the  great  body  of  the  Colonists  who 
subsist  by  agricultural  occupations  are  decidedly  inimical  to  the 
measures  of  the  Government,  and  acquiesce  in  those  violent  petitions 
to  which  I  have  already  alluded.  The  writer  must  have  become 
lead  to  all  sense  of  truth  who  would  advance  such  a  declaration. 
Discontent  is  limited  to  the  petitioners  alone  ;  aided  they  undoubtedly 
are  in  all  their  movements  by  two  or  three  ]Members  of  the  Legisla- 
tive Council,   whose  wrath  lias  been  kindled  iigainst  the  Governor 


APPENDIX. 

for  the  liberal  view  entertained  by  him  on  the  great  point  of  Trial 
by  Jury — a  point  which  some  few  of  the  principal  leaders  of  the 
cabal  or  faction  contended  ought  never  to  be  yielded  to  the  Eman- 
cipists. They  preach  a  total  and  irrecoverable  proscription  of  civil 
immunities  to  this  body :  and  were  it  not  that  the  laws  interposed 
protection,  the  emigrant,  in  some  cases,  would  strip  the  freed 
Colonists  of  their  possessions,  and  doom  them  to  perpetual  persecu- 
tion or  servitude.  Those  men,  nurtured  in  ideas  of  exclusion,  the 
moment  they  found  His  Majesty's  Ministers  disposed  to  equalize 
the  rights  of  both  parties,  denounced  the  measure  as  hazardous  ; 
and  a  man  named  Campbell  indulged  his  gentlemanly  spleen  upon 
one  of  the  wealthiest  Emancipists  in  the  Colony,  by  a  public  and 
insulting  appeal  to  our  Supreme  Court,  from  the  jury  box  ;  an  act 
which  called  forth  the  indignant  rebuke  of  the  presiding  Judge,  as 
well  as  the  condemnation  of  every  liberal  mind.  This  party  it  is 
who,  rankling  after  defeat,  and  anxious  to  decry  the  salutary  opera- 
tion of  the  Jury  Act,  at  this  time  head  the  malcontents,  actuated  by 
various  motives  which  spring  out  of  all  or  either  of  the  causes  I 
have  pointed  out. 

The  next  observations  I  proceed  to  address  to  you.  Sir,  refer  to 
the 

EMANCIPISTS  AND  EXPIREES. 

On  reference  to  the  report  of  Mr.  Commissioner  Bigge,  it  will 
be  observed  that  this  body  has,  almost  from  the  establishment  of 
the  Colony,  had  to  contend  with  the  prejudices  of  a  portion  of  the 
free  emigrants,  who  resisted,  and  still  continue  to  resist,  by  every 
means  in  their  power,  the  advancement  of  this  people  to  the  enjoy- 
ment of  the  natural  rights  of  British  subjects.  But  these  occasional 
collisions  of  sentiment  and  feeling  reached  to  no  alarming  height 
until  the  arrival  of  Mr.  J.  H.  Bent,  and  the  subsequent  enquiry  of 
Mr.  Bigge,  when  men  of  strict  integrity,  enjoying  the  unlimited 
confidence  of  the  Government,  were  dismissed  from  their  employ- 
ment in  order  to  gratify  the  passions — I  cannot  say  judgment — of  a 
potent  party,  who  were  adverse  to  their  prosperity,  solely  because 
they  had  been  prisoners.  But  the  wealth  and  standing  acquired  after 
years  of  painful  exertion,  and  a  rigid  adherence  to  fidelity  in  their 
engagements,  was  a  resource  to  this  persecuted  body  in  their  hour 
of  trouble,  and  placed  them  upon  a  level  with  their  bitterest  foes, 

VOL.  iv.  c 


APPENDIX. 

who  vainly  attempted  to  deprive  them  of  every  hope,  and  to  cast 
them  as  diseased  limbs  from  the  body  of  the  state.  This  branch  of 
the  subject  is  very  strikingly  illustrated  by  Mr.  Bigge,  who  pub- 
lished, with  much  illiberality  of  feeling,  the  parentage,  previous  life, 
habits,  and  condition  in  society,  of  many  of  the  expirees,  who  had 
distinguished  themselves  in  the  Colony  both  by  their  many  private 
virtues  and  extensive  benevolence  ;  for  it  formed  no  part  of  his  duty, 
nor  did  it  become  the  high  public  station  he  held,  to  wound  the 
domestic  feelings  of  families,  and  to  tarnish  the  reputations  acquired 
by  many  in  this  Colony,  by  an  unjustifiable  and  aggravated  display 
pf  circumstances  which  had  taken  place  in  another  country,  and 
which  they  had  expiated  under  the  severity  of  the  law.  I  trust, 
however,  I  shall  be  enabled  to  prove,  that  this  class  of  His  Majesty's 
subjects  are  entitled  to  the  fullest  confidence  of  the  country  they 
dwell  in,  in  all  the  relations  of  social  life.  Their  silence,  indeed,  at 
a  time  when  the  most  pernicious  impressions  were  created  by  their 
implacable  enemies  against  their  character  and  interest,  renders 
them  justly  chargeable  with  criminal  negligence  of  one  of  the  first 
duties  men  of  all  gradations  in  society  owe  to  themselves. 

A  conditional  pardon,  Sir,  confers  upon  the  person  receiving  it  all 
the  rights  of  a  free  subject,  within  the  limits  of  the  Colony  only.  A 
free  pardon  restores  the  holder  to  every  right  he  could  have  enjoyed 
previous  to  the  commission  of  the  act  which  deprived  him  of  liberty. 
A  certificate  of  freedom  is  granted  to  all  persons  who  have  duly 
worked  out  the  periods  of  their  sentenced  exile,  and  it  expresses 
that  the  individual  in  whose  favour  it  is  given  is  restored  to  all  the 
rights  of  a  free  British  subject.  Yet,  in  the  very  teeth  of  this 
declaration,  a  handful  of  men,  the  self-constituted  guardians  of 
public  morality,  attempt  to  arrogate  to  themselves  the  power  of 
creating  disqualifications  of  citizenship  against  this  portion  of  their 
fellow  colonists,  which  were  never  contemplated  by  the  law,  much 
less  sanctioned  by  it.  It  appears  that  during  the  administration  of 
Governor  Macquarie,  or  from  the  commencement  of  1810  to  the 
close  of  1821,  he  granted  366  free  and  1,365  conditional  pardons, 
besides  2,319  tickets  of  leave.  It  has  been  contended,  on  various 
occasions,  that  this  extensive  exercise  of  the  prerogative  of  mercy 
was  improper,  by  throwing  upon  the  country  a  numerous  body  of 
tainted  men,  who,  by  virtue  of  this  boon,  were  enabled  to  acquire 


APPENDIX. 

property  and  consequence  to  compete  with  those  who  claim  an 
eternal  superiority  or  precedence  over  them  in  every  station  of  life. 
It  was  not  on  account  of  the  imputations  cast  on  the  moral  con- 
duct of  these  persons  that  their  emancipation  was  deemed  to  be 
destructive  to  the  public,  or  reprehensible  in  the  Government ;  but 
the  opposition  arose  from  an  insidious  and  censurable  aversion  from 
the  man  and  measure  that  thus  laboured  so  largely  to  increase  the 
competition  in  trade,  which,  though  they  condemned,  were  neverthe- 
less promoting  the  truest  interests  of  the  Colony.  I  am  not  perhaps 
justified  in  asserting  that  all  the  men  thus  indulged  deported  them- 
selves in  such  a  manner  as  to  realize  the  hopes  of  their  amended 
morals  formed  by  General  Macquarie  ;  but  this  is  certain,  that  they 
were,  and  still  continue  to  be,  the  right  hand  of  the  Colony  in  every 
commercial  enterprise ;  and  making  all  reasonable  allowance  for 
individual  cases  of  dereliction,  to  which  the  purest  societies  are 
perhaps  as  much  exposed,  I  will  be  bold  to  affirm,  that  the  general 
result  has  proved  the  mercy  thus  exercised  to  have  been  a  most 
judicious  act :  moreover,  it  was  recommended  for  adoption  by  an 
intelligent  and  liberal-minded  Committee  of  the  Commons  House  of 
Parliament  in  the  year  1812. 

If,  fourteen  years  ago,  both  Governor  Macquarie  and  Mr.  Bigge 
jointly  considered  "  that  the  wealth  of  the  country  was  chiefly  in  the 
hands  of  the  Emancipists  5"  and  the  former  "was  firmly  persuaded 
that  the  Bank  of  New  South  Wales  could  not  be  established  without 
their  co-operation  5" — in  what  condition.  Sir,  would  this  community 
be  placed  at  the  present  moment,  if  a  body  of  men  so  affluent  and 
influential,  commanding  the  good  will  of  thousands  around  them, 
were  separated  by  interest  and  affection  from  the  Emigrants  ?  The 
public  and  benevolent  institutions  of  the  country  would  vanish  into 
air ;  for  what  charitable  society  does  not  number  among  its  ardent 
supporters  a  majority,  I  may  almost  add,  of  Emancipist  Colonists  ? 
Yet  sectarians  tell  the  world  that  men  thus  benevolent  are  alone 
ruled  by  the  most  vicious  of  the  passions  !  But,  thank  God  !  such 
imputations  are  seldom  avowed ;  and,  when  adopted,  proceed  only 
from  such  men  as  consider  selfishness  a  proof  of  charity,  and  benevo- 
lence its  opposite. 

It  is  very  true.  Sir,  that  the  Emancipists  possess  a  stake  in  the 
country  infinitely  superior  to  the  Emigrants,  although  acquired  under 


APPENDIX. 

very  discouraging  circumstances ;  but  such  a  fact  affords  no  fair 
proof  of  the  inefficacy  of  penal  restraint  either  now  or  formerly.  I 
consider  it  as  a  decided  confirmation  of  a  very  just  and  liberal  axiom, 
that  instances  of  moral  turpitude  may  arise,  and  yet  leave  the  per- 
petrator, after  vindicating  the  authority  of  the  law,  a  good  and 
valuable  member  of  society  at  a  future  period.  If  it  had  been  the 
wish  of  the  Legislature  to  superadd  to  the  penalties  of  the  law,  and 
to  prevent  for  ever  the  improvement  and  return  to  society'  of  ofiFen- 
ders,  this  result  might  have  been  efficiently  attained,  by  calling  into 
existence  some  of  those  horrid  measures  that  have  so  greatly  tar- 
nished the  age  of  feudal  government.  If,  again,  the  law  contem- 
plated that,  a  person  who  once  invaded  it  was  henceforward  civiliter 
mortuum,  does  it  not  occur  to  you.  Sir,  and  to  the  world,  as  singular, 
that  a  temporary  imprisonment,  or  a  limited  exile,  should  have  been 
created,  when  they  are  expressly  calculated  to  defeat  such  a  purpose  ? 
But  it  is,  I  shoxild  hope,  almost  superfluous  to  assume  positions,  or 
to  adduce  principles  of  law  or  reason,  to  prove  that  such  an  object 
could  never  have  been  contemplated,  since  its  expediency  is  unques- 
tionable, and,  moreover,  at  direct  variance  with  the  rules  and  customs 
in  operation  here  since  the  Colony  was  formed.  The  great  consti- 
tutional authorities  of  the  nation  are  indeed  divided  in  opinion  upon 
this  important  subject ;  one  party  contending  that  a  Pardon  cannot 
restore,  while  the  other  maintains  that,  a  Pardon  under  the  Great 
Seal  "  makes  a  man  a  new  creature,  and  removes  his  incapacity  for  all 
purposes  whatever." 

In  a  population  like  that  of  the  United  Kingdom,  where  the 
tainted  character  bears  no  reasonable  proportion  to  the  pure,  policy 
might  perhaps,  render  it  advisable  to  distinguish,  after  the  expiration 
of  punishment,  persons  convicted  of  heinous  offences,  and  to  exclude 
them  from  many  civil  privileges,  in  order  to  preserve  a  moral 
ascendancy  in  the  majority  of  the  people.  This,  however,  is  rendered 
unnecessary  by  our  peculiar  national  policy,  England  throws  off 
her  tainted  subjects,  and  secures  for  them  an  asylum  where  they 
may  reform,  and  prosper ;  while  France,  confining  her  criminals  in 
her  own  natural  limits,  familiarises  her  people  to  scenes  of  suffering- 
iniquity,  and  by  keeping  up  the  continued  public  exposure  of  her 
delinquents,  renders  their  feelings  callous,  and  their  reformation  im- 
practicable.     This   system   also   tends    to    demoralise   the   national 


APPENDIX. 

character,  and  hence  crime  in  France,  according  to  Dupin,  taken  in 
the  aggregate,  is  greater  in  its  enormity  than  in  England.  From 
the  British  superior  pohcy,  we  may  attribute  the  wealth  and  respec- 
tability of  the  major  part  of  the  population  here,  who,  with  new 
scenes  of  life,  have  cherished  new  desires  ;  and  whose  reformation 
has  not  been  retarded  by  the  chilling  blast  of  scorn  in  the  land  of 
their  crime.  The  wisdom  of  our  ancestors.  Sir,  having  thus  pro- 
vided for  the  moral  reformation  of  their  erring  brethren,  there  can,  I 
think,  be  no  question,  that  they  are  fully  entitled,  upon  the  broadest 
principle  of  justice  and  expediency,  to  a  participation  in  every  law 
that  has  been  established  for  the  welfare  of  the  people.  This  was 
the  benevolent  opinion  of  Governor  Macquarie,  who  always  main- 
tained, "  that  no  retrospect  should,  in  any  case,  be  had  to  a  man's 
having  been  a  convict]"  and  however  loudly  the  remission  of  sen- 
tences may  be  condemned,  it  can  be  shewn  that  the  wealth  and 
intelligence  of  the  Colony,  principally  centre  in  the  remnant  of  the 
men,  or  their  descendants,  who  were  liberated  by  that  humane, 
and  excellent  Governor. 

It  has  been  stated  in  evidence  before  a  Committee  of  the  House 
of  Commons^  that  the  "  lower  order  of  Emancipists  are  the  most 
troublesome  part  of  the  population,"  and  by  a  convenient  mode  of 
inuendo,  an  impression  is  involuntarily  created,  that  they  are  more- 
over grossly  wicked,  and  immoral.  I  have  no  hesitation  in  very 
unequivocally  representing  to  you,  that  this  opinion  is  erroneous. 
This  traduced  class,  from  the  moment  they  become  masters  of  their 
own  exertions,  are  emulous  of  acquiring  a  respectability  of  character; 
and  although  it  is  stated,  that,  "  none  of  them  had  become  wealthy 
during  the  Government  of  General  Darling,"  I  am  prepared  to  prove, 
and  I  fearlessly  assert  that,  this  is  another  example  of  the  deficient 
knowledge  of  the  Colony,  possessed  by  the  person  who  spoke  so 
roundly  on  the  occasion ;  since,  by  the  support  and  encouragement 
which  can  always  be  commanded  by  industry  and  perseverance,  many 
Expirees  have,  in  the  course  of  the  last  few  years,  accumulated  con- 
siderable property,  and  are  now  in  the  enjoyment  of  that  comfort 
which  well-earned  wealth,  and  the  cordial  approval  of  their  liberal- 
minded  countrymen,  are  so  eminently  calculated  to  bestow.  If, 
taken  on  the  whole,  the  standard  of  morals  in  Sydney  be  loose,  and 
below  that  of  any  market  town  in  England  (which  I  am  induced  in 


APPENDIX. 

a  relative  point  of  view  to  dispute),  it  cannot  be  justly  ascribed  to 
the  prison  population  alone,  and  certainly  not  to  the  Emancipists, 
since  the  fearful  influx  of  desperate  adventurers,  decayed  and  drunken 
soldiers,  female  unfortunates,  chiefly  common  street-walkers  from 
the  most  populous  towns  of  the  Mother  Country,  and  other  charac- 
ters of  a  like  questionable  utility,  which  the  British  Government  has 
conceived  it  necessary  and  politic  to  let  loose  upon  our  society  (a 
much  greater  evil  than  the  worst  of  our  bad  harvests),  has  added 
grievously  to  the  catalogue  of  human  frailty,  with  which  the  Colony 
suflSciently  abounded.  His  Majesty's  advisers,  no  doubt,  intended 
by  this  measure  to  improve  the  moral  condition  of  the  people,  but 
the  event  has,  I  think,  already  disappointed  such  a  hope,  and  sadly 
perplexed  the  local  Government ;  since  the  inhabitants  of  Sydney 
can  distinguish  more  unbridled  dissipation  among  the  lower  order  of 
free  Emigrants,  than  is  apparent  in  any  of  the  prison  population ; 
the  instances  among  those  who  have  become  free  after  penal  servi- 
tude, will  be  found,  on  enquiry,  to  be  comparatively  rare. 

It  is  true  that  most  of  the  higher  order  of  Emigrants  maintain 
their  respectability,  although  they  form  but  a  unit  in  the  grand 
mass.  It  is  also  true  that  the  Emancipists  hold  an  equally  exalted 
station  in  moral  life ;  and  balancing  a  given  number  of  each  body 
promiscuously  selected — or  viewing  generally  the  state  of  public 
morality  in  the  Colony — it  will  be  satisfactorily  ascertained  that 
experience  and  suffering  have  corrected,  or  modified,  vices  and  pro- 
pensities in  the  Expirees  and  Emancipists,  which  the  Emigrants 
freely  indulge  in.  It  has  been  charged  against  the  former,  that  they 
are  dissolute  in  their  domestic  circles  ;  that  they  look  upon  marriage 
more  as  a  convenience  than  an  important  and  indissoluble  bond  in 
the  social  compact,  reverting  to  concubinage,  and  other  immoral 
courses  of  life,  that  either  afford  evidence  of  vicious  levity  or  de- 
praved principle,  with  a  proportionate  indifference  for  pubhc  opi 
nion.  Such  charges,  in  a  general  sense,  as  applied  to  the  Emancipist 
body,  are  most  extravagant  and  unjust.  There  are  certainly  instances 
(comparatively  few,  however,)  where  these  observations  might  apply ; 
but.  Sir,  they  are  not  confined  to  this  class  alone,  but  extend  to  the 
highest  of  the  Entiigrants,  by  whom  they  are  far  more  prevalent, — 
conducted  more  openly — and  with  greater  indecency.  Well  may  it 
be  said,   "  that  prustitutlon   is   very  general,'^ since  the  lower  orders 


APPENDIX. 

find  apt  and  privileged  professors  in  those  to  whom  they  are  desired 
to  look  up  for  example,  and  who  dwell,  with  extraordinary  pathos, 
upon  their  own  immaculate  morality  ! 

"  The  Emancipists  have  never  been  appointed,  of  late,  to  situations 
under  the  Government,  nor  to  the  Commission  of  the  Peace,  neither 
are  they  allowed  to  receive  Grants  of  Land  !"  Notwithstanding  this 
entire  exclusion  from  all  share  in  the  favours  of  the  Crown,  which 
constitute  the  chief  wealth  of  the  Emigrants,  who  enjoy  an  extent  of 
landed  estate  altogether  inadequate  to  the  capital  at  their  command  ; 
once  separate  them  from  the  Emancipists,  and  I  dare  predict  that 
they  must  become,  in  a  majority  of  cases,  actually  dependant  upon 
the  bounty  of  the  Government ;  for  of  what  avail  would  unculti- 
vated forests  prove  to  men  who  are  not  possessed  of  the  means  to 
fall  a  gum-tree,  or  grow  an  acre  of  potatoes  ?  On  the  other  hand,  it 
is  a  well  authenticated  fact,  that  the  lives  of  the  Emancipists  have 
been  devoted  to  the  improvement  of  the  lands  they  possess ;  that 
they  are  either  appropriated  to  pasturage,  or  in  the  occupation  of 
reclaimed  husbandmen,  with  a  progeny  of  fearless  spirits  around 
them  ready  to  repel  aggression,  and  to  preserve  inviolate,  for  their 
own  children,  the  free  institutions  inherited  from  their  fathers. 

Shifting  ground  from  the  father,  his  family  becomes  mixed  in  the 
next  observation  of  Mr.  De  la  Condamine  (who  was  examined  as  a 
witness  before  a  Committee  of  the  House  of  Commons,  in  1832), — 
"  there  are  in  the  Colony  Emancipists  of  very  considerable  property, 
and  considerable  commercial  influence,  but  they  are  not  associated 
with,  or  received  into  society  by  the  respectable  inhabitants ;"  and, 
moreover,  that  "  the  children  of  Emancipists  would  not  be  received 
into  the  first  society. '' — In  so  far.  Sir,  as  this  remark  applies  to  the 
fathers,  it  may  be  briefly  and  justly  answered,  that  years  of  unsullied 
integrity  have  produced  from  the  reflecting  and  liberal  Colonists,  a 
total  oblivion  of  the  past ;  and  although  the  Civil  and  Military  Au- 
thorities were,  from  the  example  and  principle  of  the  Governor, 
constrained  to  an  irksome  reserve,  such  a  feeling  had  no  existence 
in  the  minds  of  the  free  and  independent  Emigrants.  If  it  were 
thus  limited  to  the  fathers,  no  degree  of  odiiim  was  ever  considered 
as  extending  to  their  children.  Indeed  it  was  a  fact  perfectly  noto- 
rious in  the  Colony,  that  during  the  contentions  which  so  strongly 
distinguished  the  late  Government,  many  of  the  most  exalted  mem- 


APPENDIX. 

bers  of  it  would  fain  have  courted  the  support  of  the  children  of 
some  Emancipists,  and  would  have  considered  themselves  honoured 
by  their  friendship.  If,  however,  Mr.  De  la  Condamine  thus  far  de- 
rogate from  the  hereditary  character  and  respectability  of  the  young 
Australians,  he  nevertheless  does  full  justice  to  their  independent 
feelings  ;  and  when  contrasted  with  the  less  manly  sentiments  of 
his  brother  evidences,  he  carries  the  palm  for  candour. 

The  Colonists  are  well  aware,  Sir,  that  the  Government  of  General 
Darling  appeared  desirous  of  impressing  it  upon  the  minds  of  His 
Majesty's  Ministers  that,  the  manifestation  of  a  spirit  of  opposition 
to  the  then  existing  state  of  things,  and  a  wish  for  a  different,  more 
mixed,  and  independent  administration  of  public  affairs,  was  not 
extensive,  nor  participated  in  the  more  opulent  and  influential  of  the 
Colonists  5  but  the  consequence  of  a  determined  hostility  by  a  few 
disaffected  and  factious  agitators.  This  was  not  by  any  means  un- 
natural, because  an  extension  of  civil  privileges,  and  of  privileges. 
Sir,  in  which  the  Emancipists  would  have  unquestionably  partici- 
pated, must  have  disarmed  the  Government  of  much  of  its  over- 
whelming authority — equalised  the  influence  of  the  Colonists — and 
left  the  decision  of  all  points  of  public  or  private  controversy,  with 
the  enactment  of  laws,  to  the  sense  of  men  whose  nomination  would 
not  emanate  from  the  Crown  ; — a  result  which  men,  accustomed  to 
the  exclusive  direction  of  the  policy  of  the  country,  could  not  con- 
template without  alarm.  But  I  will  assure  you,  Sir,  and  my  assur- 
ance is  fully  corroborated  by  a  Petition  now,  I  believe,  in  progress 
of  presentation  to  the  Imperial  Parliament,  bearing  the  signatures  of 
upwards  of  6,000  individuals,  that  the  sentiment  is  universal,  and 
every  order  in  the  Colony  appears  to  feel  that  security  and  sound 
legislation,  with  an  implicit  confidence  in  the  Government,  must 
follow  that  measure  which  gives  to  the  people  a  voice  in  the  forma- 
tion of  those  laws  they  are  called  upon  to  obey. 

I  am,  Sir,  induced  to  believe  that  an  alarm  prevails,  lest  the 
Emancipists  should,  upon  some  occasion  of  imminent  danger,  turn 
their  influence  into  the  scale  against  the  country,  and  acquire,  under 
another  dynasty,  that  importance  which  the  British  Government 
deems  it  expedient  to  deny  them.  A  witness  named  Busby,  to 
some  points  in  whose  evidence  before  the  Committee  of  Parlia- 
ment  I    shall   take  the  freedom  of  soliciting   your  attention,   ex- 


APPENDIX. 

plicitly  states,  "  that  they"  (the  Emancipists),  "  have  placed 
themselves  at  the  head  of  a  party  opposed  to  the  Government,  and 
regard  with  hatred  every  person  who  has  avoided  association  with 
them."  I  believe  I  may  safely  say  that,  the  Man  who  cotild  make 
such  a  statement,  is  not  entitled  to  hatred,  but  a  very  different 
regard.  This  singular  assertion  is  clearly  levelled  at  the  loyalty  of 
the  Emancipist ;  but  you  may  rely.  Sir,  that  the  Crown  possesses 
no  class  of  subjects  more  loyal — none  more  attached  to  the  common 
interests  of  the  community  with  whom  they  are  associated,  than  this 
body.  When  a  powerful  portion  of  the  Emigrants  found  it  conve- 
nient, for  their  peculiar  purposes,  to  insult  the  representative  of 
Royalty,  in  the  person  of  Governor  Bligh,  the  Crown  found  a  devo- 
tion and  attachment  to  its  service,  from  the  former  body,  which  was 
vainly  demanded  from  the  free  Colonists.  Had  the  Emancipists 
been  supported  in  their  resistance  against  open  rebellion,  the  leaders 
of  that  commotion  would  have  met  the  fate  of  felons,  and  expiated 
their  traitorous  designs  on  a  public  scaffold.  Success,  however, 
made  their  treason  lawful,  and  men,  who  in  England  would  have  been 
consigned  to  exemplary  punishment,  were  here  rewarded  with  lands, 
and  taken  into  the  especial  favour  of  a  Government  which  they  had 
violently  and  disloyally  assaulted. 

In  addition  to  the  above  evidence  of  the  lojalty  of  the  Emanci- 
pists, I  request  your  perusal  of  the  following  extract  from  the  Official 
Gazette  of  the  19th  September,  1829. 

"  We  have  resided  in  this  Colony  nine  years,  and  have  seen  much  both  of  the 
free  and  of  the  freed ;  and,  since  at  this  critical  juncture  (the  passing  of  the  Jury 
Act)  we  feel  ourselves  called  upon  to  give  a  solemn  and  conscientious  opinion,  we 
do  most  unequivocally  declare  our  belief,  that  the  infirmity  of  prepossession  clings 
more  to  the  class  to  which  we  ourselves  belong,  than  to  that  of  the  Emancipists." 

Can  the  most  fastidious  Emigrant  point  out  a  single  instance 
where  an  Emancipist,  or  freed  prisoner,  sought  to  defraud  the  public 
by  flying  clandestinely  from  the  Colony  ?  And  if.  Sir,  the  relative 
state  of  morals  depended  upon  this  view  of  the  subject,  or  upon  an 
honest  attention  to  their  engagements  in  ordinary  business,  the 
calumniated  Emancipist  would  stand  eminently  superior.  Fraudu- 
lent bankruptcies,  alas  !  have  in  this  Country  been  frequent,  and 
that  too  among  the  higher  Official  Members  of  the  Government, 
who  nevertheless  still  retained  employment  under  the  moral  admi- 


APPENDIX. 

nistration  of  General  Darling.  In  fact,  it  might  in  a  manner  be 
assumed,  that  a  previous  determination  to  obtain  money  by  every 
means,  good,  bad,  or  indifferent,  has  predominated  in  the  minds  of 
several  individuals,  who,  in  the  hey-day  of  their  prosperity,  hardly 
descended  to  exchange  common  civilities  with  their  more  scrupulous 
neighbours.  The  possession  of  liberty,  and  a  brisk,  impudent  ad- 
dress, are  excellent  acquirements  in  this  heterogeneous  Colony,  par- 
ticularly when  backed  by  a  few  pounds,  which  rumour,  with  her 
many  tongues,  and  a  little  gentlemanly  necromancy,  can  soon  mag- 
nify into  thousands  :  and  hence  the  "  honest  reputation"  for  a  brief 
season  enjoyed  by  many  a  daring  swindler,  who,  bankrupt  at  home, 
flies  to  the  unsuspecting  people  of  the  Antipodes,  among  whom,  by 
reason  of  his  official  name,  or  recommendation  by  official  characters, 
he  finds  an  extensive  field  for  his  speculative  fraud.  We  thank  God, 
Sir,  such  men  have  had  their  day  with  us  ;  and  while  the  proud  and 
sensitive  sprout,  "  growing  in  his  strength,"  sneeringly  tells  the 
Emancipist,  "  You,  Sir,  have  been  a  convict  !"  well  may  he  reply, 
"  many  there  are  who  ought  to  be  so — but  none  among  us  have 
been  found  so  heartless — none  so  base — as  to  leave  the  orphan 
to  perish,  or  a  parent  to  curse  the  credulity  that  dazzled  him  to 


rum 


1" 


The  Emancipist,  Sir,  regards  this  Colony  as  his  home.  The 
Emigrant  generally  views  it  as  his  speculative  field,  and  when  inde- 
pendent of  commercial  or  agricultural  pursuits,  contemplates  his 
retirement  to  another  land.  To  whom  should  then  be  given  the 
greater  encouragement  ?  To  him  who  has  the  interest  of  the  Co- 
lony, with  the  prosperity  of  his  descendants,  at  heart ;  or  him,  who 
merely  preying  upon  its  vitals,  heeds  not,  when  he  has  accomplished 
his  aim,  whether  it  exists  merely  as  a  desart,  or  reign  the  Queen  of 
the  Southern  World  ? 

I  am  now.  Sir,  about  to  draw  your  particular  attention  to  the  cir- 
cumstances attending  the  open  turbulence  and  desperate  demeanour 
of  certain  assigned  convict  servants  in  the  employ  of  James  Mudie, 
Esq.  J.  P.,  and  his  son-in-law,  Mr.  John  Larnack,  settlers  on  the 
River  Hunter.  With  the  view  of  bringing  the  case  fully  under  your 
notice,  and  as  illustrating  the  question  of  Secondary  Punishments, 
I  shall  beg  leave  to  quote  for  your  information  a  copy  of  the  trials 
of  these  men  before  the  Supreme  C  riminal  Court,  as  they  appeared 


APPENDIX. 


in   the  Sydney   Gazette — a  journal  which  is  admitted  to   take  the 
lead  of  all  others  here  in  copiousness  and  accuracy  of  reporting. 


"  SUPREME  COURT,  Monday,  December  9. 
("  Before  the  Chief  Justice,  and  the  usual  Military  Jury.) 

"  Anthony  Hitchcock,  alias  Hath,  John  Poole,  James  Riley,  John  Perry,  David 
Jones  and  James  Ryan,  were  indicted  for  stealing  on  the  5th  November,  1833,  in 
the  dwelling-house  of  Mr.  James  Mudie,  at  Castle  Forbes,  in  the  District  of 
Patrick's  Plains,  sundry  articles,  his  property  ;  one  John  Hart,  an  inmate  therein, 
being  put  in  bodily  fear. 

"  The  Solicitor-General  stated  the  case,  and  obsei-ved,  that  the  aggravated  cir- 
cumstances attending  it,  were  such,  that  the  Crown  Officers  had  been  induced  to 
bring  the  prisoners  thus  early  to  trial,  which  would  not  otherwise  have  been  done 
until  February  next.  He  invited  the  particular  attention  of  the  Jury  to  the  case, 
as  a  conviction  upon  the  present  information,  would  subject  the  prisoners  at  the 
bar,  to  the  extreme  rigor  of  the  law  authorised  by  the  Act  of  Council,  1  Ith  Geo.  IV. 
No.  10,  which  was  re-enacted  by  the  Local  Ordinance,  2d  J'i'iliiam  IV.  No.  10. 
After  the  learned  gentleman  had  detailed  the  circumstances,  he  proceeded  to  call 
witnesses  in  support  of  the  information. 

"  John  Hart  being  sworn,  deposed,  that  he  is  an  assigned  servant  to  Mr.  John 
Larnack,  at  Major  Mudie's  at  Castle  Forbes,  Patrick's  Plains,  Hunter's  River; 
knows  the  prisoners  at  the  bar,  they  were  all  fellow-servants  of  mine ;  Poole, 
Ryan,  and  Riley,  took  the  bush  on  the  night  of  the  4th  November  last ;  they  were 
absent  on  the  morning  of  the  5th  ;  Perry  absconded  some  time  before  the  others ; 
Hitchcock  and  Jones  were  sent  to  the  lock-up  some  time  previous,  and  sentenced 
12  months  to  an  Iron  Gang;  they  were  sentenced  on  the  4th,  and  on  the  5th  they 
were  taken  away  by  Samuel  Cook,  constable ;  knows  a  man  named  Parrott,  he 
was  also  going  to  the  Iron  Gang,  and  was  in  charge  with  them  ;  I  saw  them  again 
about  12  o'clock  the  same  day  ;  I  was  in  the  kitchen,  and  saw  some  men  running 
at  the  back  part  of  the  house  ;  I  ran  out  and  one  of  the  men  presented  a  gun  at 
me,  and  desired  me  to  go  in  again  ;  one  of  them  snapped  a  piece  at  me  :  I  can't 
say  who  it  was ;  Poole,  Jones,  Riley  and  Ryan  were  there ;  the  other  was  a 
stranger  ;  they  ran  into  the  house ;  I  afterwards  saw  them  come  out  with  a  double- 
barrelled  gun,  a  fowling-piece,  and  a  musket,  which  I  am  sure  they  did  not  take  in 
with  them ;  previous  to  this,  I  had  seen  a  fowling-piece  and  a  musket  in  Mr. 
Mudie's  room ;  I  know  a  double-barrelled  piece  had  been  kept  in  Mr.  Larnack's 
room ;  I  afterwards  saw  Mrs.  Larnack  and  one  of  the  female  servants  jumping  out 
of  the  dressing-room  window ;  I  saw  Poole,  Jones,  and  the  stranger  rush  up  to 
them  from  the  house,  and  order  Mrs.  L.  to  stand,  telling  her  that  if  she  did  not, 
they  would  blow  out  her  brains ;  they  were  armed  with  guns  ;  they  compelled  her 
to  go  into  the  kitchen,  and  stationed  Riley  at  the  door  with  Mr.  L.'s  double- 
barrelled  piece  ;  I  afterwards  saw  Hitchcock  bring  the  shearers  from  the  barn  to- 
wards the  provision  store ;  he  marched  them  down  presenting  a  gun  at  them ;  I 


APPENDIX. 

did  not  see  any  one  else  ;  I  saw  them  put  forcibly  into  the  store,  and  Perry  was 
placed  over  them  ;  I  was  in  the  kitchen  which  was  opposite,  and  I  could  plainly 
see,  as  there  were  no  windows,  and  the  cases  and  doors  were  open  ;  Poole  after- 
wards came  out  of  the  house  to  the  kitchen,  which  is  about  10  or  12  yards  from 
the  former,  and  ordered  me  to  deliver  up  the  two  pistols  ;  I  told  him  I  had  not  got 
them ;  he  said  if  I  did  not  deliver  them  up  he  would  blow  out  my  brains ;  he 
searched  the  kitchen,  and  returned  to  the  house ;  I  saw  Poole  bring  a  chest  of  tea 
out,  and  pour  its  contents  into  a  bag,  which  was  held  open  by  Ryan ;  Hitchcock 
said  there  was  not  enough ;  Jones  carried  the  bag  in  again,  and  more  tea  was  put 
in  it ;  Poole  took  me  into  the  house,  and  told  me  if  I  did  not  deliver  up  the  am- 
munition he  would  blow  out  my  brains ;  he  had  a  pistol ;  I  was  taken  into  the 
parlour,  and  saw  Jones  and  the  stranger ;  Jones  was  taking  away  some  plate  out  of 
a  drawer ;  he  had  an  egg-stand  ;  I  told  him  it  was  of  no  use  for  him  to  take  it ; 
Poole  asked  for  the  ammunition  ;  I  told  him  that  they  had  got  it ;  the  stranger 
said  if  I  did  not  hold  my  noise,  he  would  blow  out  my  brains ;  he  was  armed  with 
a  fowling-piece ;  the  plate  was  taken  away,  but  I  did  not  see  by  whom  ;  I  returned 
to  the  kitchen,  being  ordered  there  by  Poole  ;  Hitchcock  was  parading  about  the 
premises  armed  with  a  musket ;  I  saw  some  flour  brought  out  of  the  store  and 
placed  in  the  yard,  also  some  pork  ;  Jones  took  some  pork  out  of  the  kitchen  ; 
Poole  went  into  the  dairy  window,  and  Jones  brought  out  a  bucket  of  milk  ;  when 
the  tea  was  being  brought  out,  Ryan  was  standing  outside  by  the  door ;  Poole  was 
inside ;  Mrs.  Larnack  was  in  the  kitchen  ;  the  flour  and  pork  came  out  of  the  pro- 
vision store ;  the  other  articles  from  the  private  store  in  the  dwelling-house ;  it 
has  but  one  door  ;  it  opens  into  the  passage,  which  is  a  part  of  the  house  ;  they  are 
both  covered  over  ;  the  plate  was  put  into  a  bag ;  at  first  I  was  alarmed,  but  when 
I  was  taken  into  the  parlour  by  Poole  I  was  not ;  I  could  not  prevent  armed  men 
from  taking  the  plate ;  they  took  the  tea  and  sugar,  and  put  it  on  a  black  mare 
which  was  ordered  out  of  the  stable  by  Hitchcock ;  the  two  horses  were  brought 
out  by  Ryan  and  Perry ;  Ryan  got  on  the  top  of  the  black  mare,  and  took  the  reins 
of  the  other  in  his  hand ;  they  were  there  three-quarters  of  an  hour  ;  they  took 
the  men  out  of  the  provision  and  put  them  in  the  wool  stores  ;  a  bucket  of  milk 
and  box  of  sugar  they  locked  up  ;  Mrs.  L.  and  the  rest  were  also  locked  up  there  ; 
they  afterwards  brought  up  the  night  watchman  and  postboy,  and  locked  us  all  up 
together ;  they  said  they  should  leave  a  sentry,  and  the  first  one  that  stirred  for  two 
hours,  they  would  blow  out  their  brains  ;  Riley  told  Mrs.  Larnack,  that  they 
wished  her  father  (Major  Mudie)  was  at  home,  and  they  would  settle  him  ;  they 
went  away,  and  Perry  staid  about  five  minutes  after  the  rest ;  in  about  a  quarter 
of  an  hour,  1  got  out  at  the  top  of  the  store,  and  knocked  the  lock  off  the  door,  but 
hearing  a  gun  fired  we  all  went  in  again  ;  six  of  them  were  armed ;  Ryan  had  a 
tomahawk,  which  contained  a  knife  and  a  saw ;  I  heard  one  of  the  men  say  he 
would  bring  in  Mr.  Larnack's  head,  and  stick  it  on  a  chimney  ;  I  have  no  doubt  of 
the  identity  of  the  prisoners  at  the  bar. 

"  Cross-examined  by  Mr.  Therry — I  have  been  three  years  an  assigned  servant  to 
Major  Mudie  ;  I  am  not  yet  entitled  to  my  ticket  of  leave,  but  expect  to  get  it  when 
due  ;  I  know  that  there  are  six  or  seven  on  the  farm  due  for  their  tickets  who  have 


APPENDIX. 

not  yet  received  them  ;  I  was  not  sent  out  to  this  Colony  for  perjury  ;  I  decline 
telling  for  what ;  I  owe  the  prisoners  no  grudge ;  we  were  good  friends ;  the 
kitchen  and  wool  stores  are  not  a  part  of  the  dwelling-house ;  Castle  Forbes  is  on 
the  Hunter ;  when  I  first  saw  Ryan  he  had  the  tomahawk  in  his  hand  ;  I  saw  the 
tea  and  sugar  brought  out  of  the  passage  door ;  I  expect  no  reward  for  what  I  am 
saying  to-day ;  I  have  had  no  conversation  about  a  reward ;  I  see  the  rations  served 
out  sometimes ;  they  are  sometimes  pretty  fair,  and  sometimes  very  bad ;  there 
was  a  great  deal  of  punishment  about  six  weeks  ago. 

"  The  Solicitor-General  rose  to  object  to  this  mode  of  cross  examination  ;  it  was 
altogether  irrelevant  to  the  case  before  the  Court,  and  he  trusted  that  His  Honor 
would  restrain  the  learned  Counsel  for  the  defence  from  making  such  remarks. 

"  Mr.  Therry  persisted  in  his  right  to  elicit  evidence  on  this  head,  which  would 
be  of  material  benefit  to  his  clients. 

"  The  Chief  Justice  was  loath  to  cramp  the  prisoners  in  their  means  of  defence, 
but  trusted  that  the  learned  Counsel  would  use  discretion  in  proposing  questions 
of  a  similar  nature  to  the  last.  He  thought  there  was  nothing  yet  asked  which 
could  be  termed  improper,  but  it  was  impossible  for  him  to  foresee  to  what  the 
present  questions  could  lead. 

"  Mr.  Rowe,  who  with  Mr.  Keith  sat  at  the  table  with  the  Solicitor-General, 
now  rose  to  support  the  arguments  of  that  Officer,  and  was  about  to  cite  some  of 
the  learned  authorities  in  behalf  of  the  objection,  when 

"  The  Chief  Justice  enquired  in  what  capacity  the  learned  Gentleman  was  about 
to  address  the  Court. 

"  Mr.  Rowe  said  that  he  attended  to  assist  the  prosecution,  at  the  instance  of 
the  prosecutor. 

"  The  Chief  Justice  doubted  whether  he  could  hear  Mr.  Rowe  in  that  capacity. 

"The  Solicitor- General  disclaimed,  on  the  part  of  his  learned  colleague  and 
himself,  any  intention  to  avail  themselves  of  the  professional  assistance  of  either  of 
his  learned  friends.  The  Crown  Officers  had  a  duty  to  perform  to  the  country  ; 
they  had  resolved  on  performing  it,  unaided,  and  the  case  now  before  the  Court 
was  in  their  entire  management. 

"  Mr.  Rowe  again  rose,  but 

"  The  Chief  Justice  was  decidedly  of  opinion  that  he  could  not  permit  him  to 
address  the  Court.  He  was  enabled  to  state,  from  his  own  experience,  that  the 
Solicitor- General  was  perfectly  competent  for  conducting  the  present  prosecution, 
which  he  observed  was  instituted  by  the  Crown,  and  not  by  a  private  individual. 

"  Mr.  Rowe  begged  to  be  allowed  to  state,  that  he  appeared  there  on  the  autho- 
rity of  the  Attorney-General,  by  whom  he  was  appointed  as  junior  Counsel  for  the 
prosecution,  and  again  requested  to  be  heard. 

"  The  Solicitor-General  did  not  intend  any  personal  disrespect  towards  his 
learned  friends,  whose  valuable  assistance  he  should  feel  happy  on  any  other  occa- 
sion to  receive,  but  must  again  disclaim  any  professional  assistance  on  the  part  of 
the  Crown,  as  the  case  was  in  his  entire  management.  At  the  same  time  he  would 
be  happy  to  attend  to  any  suggestion  they  might  feel  disposed  to  make. 

"The  Chief  Justice  regretted  exceedingly  that  his  attention  had  been  arrested 


APPENDIX. 

from  the  solemn  enquiry  now  pending — an  enquiry  in  wliich  the  fate  of  no  less 
than  six  human  lives  was  interested,  merely  for  the  sake  of  determining  professional 
right.  He  must,  once  for  all,  rule  that  Mr.  Rowe's  addressing  the  Court  was 
irregular.  The  information  was  ex  officio  presented  by  the  Attorney-General,  on 
whose  behalf  the  Solicitor-General  appeared  in  Court  to  conduct  the  case.  That 
Crown  Officer  had  already  stated  the  case,  and  he  could  not  allow  any  other  person 
to  appear  for  the  prosecution. 

"  Mr.  Therry  hoped  that  he  might  be  permitted  to  conduct  the  prisoners'  defence 
in  the  manner  he  had  already  commenced  in  his  cross-examination  of  the  witness. 
He  contended  it  was  necessary  for  the  benefit  of  his  clients,  for  whom,  as  their 
advocate  he  had  a  two -fold  duty  to  perform — first,  to  establish  their  innocence,  if 
practicable ;  and  if  not,  to  bring  circumstances  under  the  consideration  of  the 
Court,  which  would  tend  to  extenuate  the  alleged  guilt  of  the  prisoners,  and  move 
the  clemency  of  the  Judge  in  their  behalf.  He  thought  this  line  of  defence  the 
more  necessary,  in  consequence  of  the  sanguinary  local  Act,  with  which  they  had 
been  threatened — an  Act  which  went  to  deprive  them  of  their  existence  in  forty- 
eight  hours  after  conviction,  assuming  that  conviction  would  follow  the  present 
investigation. 

"  The  Chief  Justice  decided  that  evidence  to  move  the  clemency  of  the  Court,  in 
the  manner  alluded  to  by  the  learned  Counsel,  was  quite  inadmissible. 

"  Cross-examined — I  did  not  hear  any  of  the  men  complain  of  illness  then  ;  it 
was  Tuesday  the  5th  November  ;  I  have  seen  the  men  working  on  the  farm  on  a 
Sunday  ;  I  did  not  know  the  stranger,  and  I  was  always  on  good  terms  with  the 
prisoners  ;  I  was  not  in  fear  from  the  prisoners  when  in  the  parlour ;  the  stranger 
threatened  me  in  the  parlour. 

"  Re-examined — I  did  not  like  to  attack  the  three  armed  men,  and  rescue  the 
plate. 

"  George  Frost  was  called  for,  but  it  appeared  that  he  had  not  been  supoenaed, 
and  was  not  in  attendance. 

"  Samuel  Cook  being  sworn,  said,  I  am  a  constable  at  Patrick's  Plains  ;  I  recol- 
lect, on  the  5th  of  November,  I  had  three  prisoners  in  charge ;  two  are  here — the 
prisoners  Hitchcock  and  Jones  ;  the  other  was  Samuel  Powell ;  1  was  to  take  them 
to  the  Maitland  Police,  under  a  sentence  of  1 2  months  to  an  iron  gang ;  about  a  mile 
and  a  half  from  Castle  Forbes  five  men  attacked  me,  two  with  firelocks,  telling  me 
to  stand  or  they  would  shoot  me  ;  Poole,  Perry,  Ryan,  and  Riley  were  there ;  the 
other  I  did  not  know ;  it  was  he  who  spoke ;  he  snapped  his  piece,  but  it  did  not 
go  off ;  I  had  a  pistol,  but  did  not  think  it  prudent  to  resist ;  they  disarmed  me, 
and  took  the  key  from  my  pocket,  and  loosed  the  prisoners'  chains  ;  they  took  me 
into  the  bush  and  fastened  me  to  a  tree ;  they  sat  down  about  ten  yards  from  me, 
and  I  heard  them  say  they  would  make  a  grand  push ;  Parrott  refused  to  accom- 
pany them,  and  they  went  away,  leaving  him  secured  with  me ;  they  had  two  guns 
and  the  pistol  they  took  from  me  ;  when  they  left  me  they  went  in  a  direction  to- 
wards Maitland ;  it  was  between  ten  and  eleven  o'clock  in  the  forenoon  of  the  5th 
of  November. 

Cross-examined  by  Mr.  Nichols — Parrott  refused  to  go  with  the  prisoners,  and 


APPENDIX. 

attempted  to  persuade  Ryan  to  stay  with  the  constable  and  him,  but  he  said  he  was 
afraid  to  go  back ;  the  other  prisoners  did  not  threaten  him  to  my  knowledge ; 
Castle  Forbes  is  in  the  district  of  Patrick's  Plains,  at  least  I  have  always  heard  it 
so  called  ;  I  have  only  been  there  since  February ;  Maitland  Town  is  about  twenty- 
five  miles  distant  from  Major  Mudie's ;  I  have  read  in  the  papers  that  it  is  in  the 
district  of  Patrick's  Plains. 

"Daniel  Craddige  being  sworn,  deposed,  that  he  belongs  to  the  mounted  police; 
that  he  accompanied  Mr.  Robert  Scott  in  search  of  armed  party  in  November  last ; 
about  five  of  our  party  came  up  with  the  prisoners  near  Lamb's  Valley,  Mr.  Reid's 
cattle  station  in  the  mountains  ;  I  saw  three  of  them,  and  ordered  them  to  stand ; 
two  of  them  grounded  their  arms,  but  one  stood  as  if  making  ready  to  fire  at  me  ; 
I  fired  at  him ;  Mr.  Scott  passed  over  at  the  time  ;  I  turned  my  head,  and  seeing 
the  men  running  in  another  direction  up  the  gully,  I  pursued  them,  and  when  I 
came  up  with  them  I  ordered  them  to  stand,  and  they  im.mediately  grounded  their 
arms  ;  Jones  and  Perry  were  in  the  gulley  ;  the  other,  Hitchcock,  was  a  little  on 
the  range ;  I  only  saw  six  men ;  the  boy  Ryan  was  afterwards  found  concealed  in  a 
shrub ;  the  other  three  were  in  charge  of  Mr.  Scott  and  his  party ;  I  cannot  identify 
them  ; .  I  found  a  frying-pan  on  the  fire  melting  lead,  a  glue  pot,  some  tea  and  sugar, 
four  bags  and  six  coats ;  we  also  found  the  arms  now  present  when  we  took  them ; 
they  were  among  the  party ;  also  four  waistcoats,  some  flour  and  beef  in  a  bag,  and 
one  pair  of  stockings ;  we  marched  the  prisoners  to  Maitland,  which  is  about  eleven 
miles  off;  it  was  about  sixteen  or  seventeen  miles  from  Castle  Forbes;  it  was  on 
the  13th  November,  about  eleven  o'clock. 

"  By  Mr.  Therry — The  prisoners  gave  themselves  up  without  resistance ;  I  have 
been  four  years  in  that  district ;  Castle  Forbes  is  Mr.  Larnack's  residence,  and  is 
generally  called  the  district  of  Patrick's  Plains,  but  I  have  also  heard  it  called  in 
the  district  of  Maitland ;  I  had  but  little  conversation  with  the  prisoners. 

"  By  the  Solicitor-General — Lamb's  Valley  is  in  the  district  of  Maitland. 

"Alexander  Flood,  overseer  to  Messrs.  Robert  and  Helenus  Scott,  being  sworn, 
deposed,  that  he  went  with  the  last  witness  in  pursuit  of  the  prisoners  ;  their  party 
on  horseback  captured  them,  and  the  whole  of  the  prisoners  with  the  wounded 
man  were  given  in  my  charge ;  two  policemen  and  five  of  our  party  conducted 
them  to  Maitland,  and  gave  them  up  to  the  Police  Magistrate  there  ;  the  wounded 
man  was  taken  to  an  adjoining  farm ;  the  prisoners  went  quietly  ;  on  the  ground 
there  was  some  melted  lead  in  a  frying-pan,  some  lead  made  into  slugs,  tea,  sugar, 
a  cask  containing  a  small  quantity  of  rum,  and  several  other  articles ;  the  arms 
produced  were  taken  from  the  prisoners,  and  were  charged  ;  I  marked  the  arms, 
but  not  the  other  property. 

"  By  Mr.  Therry — They  marched  to  Maitland  very  quietly,  and  behaved  very 
well ;  I  know  but  little  of  the  district,  having  been  there  but  four  months ;  I  did 
not  hear  them  praise  or  dispraise  the  place  they  had  left. 

"  Robert  Cushion  being  sworn,  stated  that  he  is  a  constable  at  Maitland,  that  he 
brought  the  property  produced,  from  Maitland  with  the  prisoners,  and  that  it  was 
given  him  by  Riley,  the  chief  constable  there. 

"  By  Mr.  Therry — Did  not  know  Hitchcock  before. 


APPENDIX. 

•'  Robert  Scott  being  sworn,  deposed,  that  he  is  a  Magistrate  of  the  Territory 
and  went  in  pursuit  of  an  armed  party  of  prisoners  on  the  13th  November  last* 
assisted  by  some  black  natives ;  we  traced  them  to  Mr.  Button's,  where  we  heard 
that  seven  men  had  robbed  the  place  the  evening  before ;  we  traced  some  footsteps, 
and  about  twelve  o'clock  we  saw  some  smoke  arising  from  a  bush ;  we  saw  a  man 
running  down  from  an  eminence,  and  we  supposed  him  to  be  the  sentinel ;  we 
charged  immediately,  and  I  saw  the  mounted  policeman  (Craddige)  fire  at  some 
person  on  the  rocks ;  I  saw  three  men  running  away ;  I  dismounted  and  followed ; 
the  three  were  in  front  of  me,  the  centre  man  having  a  musket  in  his  hand ;  I 
covered  him,  and  commanded  him  again  and  again  to  lay  down  his  arms  ;  two  did 
so  ;  he  would  not,  and  I  shot  him ;  I  then  sprung  towards  the  other  two,  and  bade 
them  hold  up  their  hands,  which  they  did  ;  just  then  another  policeman  came  up 
and  my  second  overseer  and  one  or  two  of  my  servants  immediately  afterwards ;  I 
then  dismounted ;  I  believe  them  to  have  been  Riley,  Perry,  and  the  other  man 
who  was  shot ;  he  told  me  his  name  was  James  Henderson ;  neither  Riley  nor 
Perry  had  guns ;  all  the  party  called  out  to  the  prisoners  to  ground  their  arms  ; 
Hitchcock,  and,  I  believe,  Poole,  were  in  custody  of  Craddige ;  afterwards,  in 
galloping  round  the  ravine,  I  discovered  Ryan  ;  there  were  six  apprehended  on  that 
occasion,  but  I  cannot  say  whether  Perry  was  one  of  them;  the  others  I  can 
identify  ;  after  the  men  were  in  custody  I  collected  the  arms,  and  marked  them  ; 
they  are  those  produced;  Castle  Forbes  is  Major  Mudie's  residence;  it  is  part  of 
the  estate  of  Patrick's  Plains. 

"  John  Larnack,  being  duly  sworn,  deposed,  that  he  lives  at  Castle  Forbes,  which 
is  in  the  district  of  Patrick's  Plains,  Hunter's  River ;  he  left  his  residence  about 
ten  o'clock  on  the  morning  of  the  5th  of  November  last ;  and,  at  his  return,  on  the 
following  day,  he  learnt  that  the  house  had  been  plundered  of  one  double-barrelled 
fowling-piece,  two  single  ditto,  one  musket,  several  silver  table  and  tea  spoons  and 
forks,  and  other  articles  ;  he  identified  the  fowling-piece  produced  as  his  pi-operty, 
which  he  missed  from  his  room  on  that  occasion;  the  other  articles  produced 
belonged  to  Mr.  Mudie,  whose  Christian  name  is  James. 

"  Cross-examined  by  Mr.  Nichols — He  always  considered  Castle  Forbes  to  be  in 
the  district  of  Paterson's  Plains ;  knows  so  though  only  from  common  report ; 
some  of  the  prisoners  were  at  work  on  the  farm  the  day  previous  to  the  outrage  ; 
he  received  a  notice  on  Friday  evening  to  produce  a  letter  in  his  possession  ad- 
dressed to  the  Principal  Superintendent  of  Convicts  by  one  of  the  prisoners  ;  that 
letter  he  believes  is  now  at  Castle  Forbes  ;  thinks  there  was  not  sufficient  time 
since  the  serving  of  the  notice  to  obtain  the  letter. 

"  The  Solicitor-General  objected  to  the  witness  being  examined  as  to  the  purport 
of  the  letter,  it  being  but  secondary  evidence ,  he  should  also  have  felt  it  his  duty 
to  oppose  the  production  of  the  letter  itself,  had  it  been  forthcoming,  on  the  ground 
of  its  being  irrelevant  to  the  question  before  the  Court. 

"  The  Chief  Justice  held  the  objection  to  be  good. 

"  Cross-examination  continued — The  sideboard  in  which  the  plate  was  contained 
was  in  the  parlour  of  the  dwelling-house ;  the  private  store  is  entered  from  a 
covered  passage,  under  the  same  roof  as  the  dwelling-house  [a  plan  of  the  house 


APPENDIX. 

was  handed  up  to  the  Bench  by  the  witness,  who  explained  to  His  Honour,  and 
aftei-wards  to  the  Jury,  the  situation  of  the  passage  and  store  room]  ;  it  was  from 
this  private  store  that  the  tea  and  sugar  had  been  taken ;  he  missed  a  considerable 
quantity  of  it  on  his  return  home ;  was  present  when  the  prisoners  were  appre- 
hended, and  saw  the  fowling-piece  produced  taken  from  them ;  cannot  swear  to 
the  tea  and  sugar. 

"  Cross-examined  by  Mr.  Then-y — There  is  no  communication  with  any  other 
part  of  the  dwelling-house  from  the  passage  in  which  the  private  store  is  situated. 

"John  Hart  re-called  by  the  Solicitor-General — Knows  the  guns  produced  to  be 
Mr.  Mudie's  property,  with  the  exception  of  one,  which  is  Mr.  Larnack's  ;  they  are 
the  same  as  were  taken  by  the  prisoners  at  the  bar,  from  Castle  Forbes,  on  the  5th 
November  last ;  he  also  identified  part  of  the  wearing  apparel  before  the  Court  as 
belonging  to  Mr.  Mudie. 

"  This  was  the  case  for  the  prosecution. 

"  Mr.  Therry,  for  the  prisoners,  submitted  that  there  was  no  case  to  go  to  the 
Jurv,  on  the  following  grounds  : — First,  that  there  was  no  evidence  to  prove  that 
Castle  Forbes  was  the  dwelling-house  of  James  Mudie ;  secondly,  that  the  locus  in 
quo  was  wrongly  laid  in  the  information,  there  being  in  the  Colony  of  New  South 
Wales  no  such  district  as  Patrick's  Plains  ;  thirdly,  that  it  appeared  by  the  evidence 
of  the  witness  John  Hart,  he  was  not  put  in  fear  in  the  dwelling-house,  but  in  a 
detached  kitchen  at  Castle  Forbes ;  and,  fourthly,  that  the  passage  in  which  the 
private  store-room  was  situated  was  covered,  and  not  enclosed,  so  as  to  constitute 
it  a  part  of  the  dwelling-house  according  to  the  meaning  of  the  statute. 

"  The  Court  over-ruled  the  objections. 

"  The  prisoners  being  called  on  for  their  defence,  severally  urged  in  their  behalf 
the  bad  treatment  they  had  experienced  at  Castle  Forbes,  both  from  Mr.  Mudie 
•and  the  witness  Larnack. 

"  Poole  stated  that  he  had  written  a  complaint  to  the  Principal  Superintendent 
of  Convicts  of  the  bad  treatment  he  had  received,  which  had  been  intercepted  by 
Mr.  Larnack,  and  kept  back.  The  provisions  they  received  were  of  very  bad  and 
unwholesome  quality,  and  deficient  in  weight.  The  punishment  on  the  farm  was 
frequent  and  severe,  and  both  Major  Mudie  and  Mr.  Larnack  frequently  beat  the 
assigned  servants. 

"  In  support  of  the  second  objection,  Mr.  Therry  called  Samuel  Augustus  Perry, 
Esq.,  who  being  sworn,  deposed,  that  he  is  Deputy  Surveyor  General  of  New  South 
Wales,  and  that  it  is  the  duty  of  the  Surveyor  General  to  apportion  the  several  dis- 
tricts of  the  Colony.     The  chart  now  produced  is  the  Government  OflScial  Map. 

"  The  Solicitor-General  objected  to  the  chart  being  received  in  evidence,  on  the 
ground  that  it  was  a  compilation  from  the  field  charts  of  the  Surveyors,  and  there- 
fore but  secondary  testimony. 

"  The  Court  held  the  chart,  as  the  Official  Map,  to  be  good  evidence. 

"  Examination  continued — I  should  say,  from  perusing  the  chart,  that  Castle 
Forbes  is  situated  in  the  parish  of  Whittington,  county  of  Northumberland,  and 
district  of  Hunter's  River. 

"  By  the  Court — If  it  were  called,  however,  the  district  of  Patrick's  Plains,  I 
should  know  it. 

VOL.  IV.  d 


APPENDIX. 

"  The  prisoners  being  asked  if  they  had  any  other  witnesses  to  examine, 
"  Mr.  Therry  observed,  that  he  had  witnesses  in  attendance,  but  their  evidence 
being  wholly  upon  the  point  which  had  been  over-ruled  by  the  Court,  he  should 
refrain  from  calling  them.  He  hoped,  however,  that  the  sanguinary  local  law 
threatened  by  the  Solicitor-General,  would  not  be  enforced  in  the  event  of  the 
conviction  of  the  prisoners,  as  the  system  of  defence  he  had  offered,  although  over- 
ruled by  the  Court,  might  be  made  the  subject  of  representation  in  another  quarter, 
and  the  prisoners  ultimately  reap  the  benefit  of  it.  He  was  sorry  to  see  that  there 
was  a  determination  on  the  part  of  the  opposite  side  to  check  this  enquiry  ;  they 
ought  to  have  been  anxious  to  meet  it. 

"  The  Chief  Justice  proceeded  to  sum  up  the  evidence,  and  remarked  that  the 
line  of  defence  adopted  by  the  prisoners  was  altogether  inadmissible.  Our  limits 
will  not  allow  us  to  follow  His  Honour  through  his  luminous  charge  to  the  Jury, 
who,  after  a  short  deliberation,  pronounced  a  verdict  of  Guilty  against  all  the  pri- 
soners. 

"  The  prisoners  were  remanded,  and  were  directed  to  be  brought  to  trial  to- 
morrow on  a  second  indictment. 


"  Tuesday,  December  10. — (Before  the  Chief  Justice  and  a  Military  Jury.) 
"  Anthony  Hitchcock,  alias  Hath,  and  John  Poole,  were  indicted  for  maliciously 
shooting  at  Mr.  John  Larnack,  at  Castle  Forbes,  in  the  district  of  Patrick's  Plains, 
on  the  5th  November  last,  with  intent  to  kill  and  murder  him  ;  and  James  Riley, 
John  Perry,  David  Jones,  and  James  Ryan,  for  counselling,  aiding,  and  abetting  the 
said  two  first-named  prisoners  in  the  commission  of  the  said  felony.  A  second 
count  charged  the  offence  with  having  been  committed  with  intent  to  do  the  said 
John  Larnack  some  grievous  bodily  harm. 

"  The  Solicitor-General  stated  the  case,  and  called  John  Larnack,  who  being  duly 
sworn,  said,  I  reside  at  Castle  Forbes,  in  the  district  of  Patrick's  Plains,  Hunter's 
River ;  it  is  the  residence  of  Major  Mudie ;  on  the  morning  of  tlje  5th  November 
last,  I  went  to  the  river  to  superintend  sheep-washing;   between  12  and  1  o'clock 

I  heard  a  voice  exclaiming,  '  come  out  of  the  tvater  every  b y  one  of  you,  or  we'll 

blow  your  b y  brains  out ;'  on  looking  behind,  I  saw  three  men  advancing  to- 
wards me  with  guns  presented ;  some  others  were  at  a  short  distance,  apparently 
with  the  intention  of  intercepting  me,  should  I  escape  from  the  other  three ; 
Hitchcock  and  Poole  were  two  of  the  former  number,  and  Hitchcock  called  out, 
'  that  it  was  no  use  of  thinking  to  make  my  escape,  he  tvould  take  good  care  I  should 
never  take  another  man  to  Court ;'  they  were  about  10  or  12  yards  off  when  this 
took  place ;  there  was  a  general  call  from  the  prisoners  (Hitchcock  and  Poole)  to 
the  washers  to  get  out  of  the  way,  as  I  stood  between  them  and  the  prisoners, 
fearing  I  suppose  that  the  shot  from  the  latter  would  be  likely  to  take  eflfect  upon 
the  former ;  I  jumped  into  the  river  among  the  washers,  and  told  them  to  stand  by 
me,  as  I  was  certain  the  prisoners  would  not  fire  for  fear  of  hurting  them  ;  finding 
the  prisoners  still  pursuing,  I  made  the  best  of  my  way  to  the  opposite  side  of  the 
river  ;  on  turning  my  head  round,  1  saw  Hitchcock  levelling  his  piece  at  me,  and 
soon  after  I  heard  a  shot  fired,  and  on  again  looking  round,  I  perceived  Hitchcock 
to  be  enveloped  in  smoke  ;    I  liave  not  the  least  doubt  that  it  was  the  prisoner 


APPENDIX. 

Hitchcock  who  fired  at  me  ;  he  called  out  to  the  washers,  saying,  '  why  did  you  nol 
get  out  of  my  way,  I  would  hai'S  shot  him.'     There  was  a  general  cry  among  the 

party  coming  down  to  me  of  '  shoot  the  b r ;'  Poole  called  out,  'Jire  again,  I'll 

take  care  you  shall  never  get  another  man  flogged,'  and  immediately  a  second  shot 
was  fired ;  I  was  just  then  getting  out  of  the  water,  on  the  opposite  side  of  the 
river ;  I  could  not  perceive  who  fired  the  second  time ;  Hitchcock  and  Poole  now 
cried  out,  'fire  again,  let's  follow  him  ;  an  answer  was  made,  '  no,  take  care  of  your 
ammunition,  he's  almost  finished ;'  I  heard  the  voices  of  Riley,  Perry,  and  Ryan, 
and  saw  the  last-named  prisoner,  who  called  out '  settle  him .' 

"  By  the  Court — He  was  dressed  in  a  white  shirt  and  trowsers ;  I  had  not  seen 
him  before ;  on  that  morning  he  had  been  reported  to  me  as  having  absconded  on 
the  night  before ;  I  do  not  recollect  hearing  the  voice  of  Jones,  or  seeing  him 
on  that  occasion  ;  they  were  all  assigned  servants  at  Castle  Forbes ;  Ryan,  Riley, 
and  Poole  had  absconded  the  night  previous  to  this — Perry  about  ten  days  before  ; 
I  had  seen  Hitchcock  and  Poole  pass  that  morning  on  the  road  to  an  iron-gang,  in 
charge  of  a  constable ;  I  had  twelve  or  fourteen  men  with  me  washing  sheep ; 
there  are  three  of  them  in  attendance  here  to-day ;  I  made  the  best  of  my  way 
to  Mr.  Dangar's  farm,  and  returned  to  Castle  Forbes  on  the  following  day ;  on  my 
return  there  I  found  that  three  guns  had  been  taken  away  from  the  house  since  I 
had  left  it ;  when  I  left  them,  they  were  loaded  with  powder  and  buck-shot ;  had 
such  shot  have  hit  me  at  the  distance  I  stood  from  the  prisoners  when  they  fired, 
it  would  have  been  likely  to  have  killed  me ;  I  could  kill  a  kangaroo  with  it  at  that 
distance ;  the  shot  is  about  the  size  of  a  field  pea  ;  Hitchcock  was  about  ten  yards 
from  me  when  he  fired ;  none  of  the  shot  hit  me ;  I  saw  the  shot  from  the  second 
fire  fall  about  eighteen  inches  or  two  feet  from  me  in  the  sand ;  the  first  shot 
seemed  to  fall  just  by  my  side  in  the  water ;  they  scattered ;  when  the  second  shot 
was  fired,  I  should  think  the  prisoners  were  about  twenty  yards  from  me  ;  I  am 
quite  satisfied  that,  at  that  distance,  the  guns  which  I  had  seen  charged  would  kill 
a  kangaroo  ;  I  think  that  they  might  also  have  killed  a  human  being. 

"  Cross-examined  by  Mr.  Therry — This  was  on  a  Tuesday  ;  it  is  not  customary 
to  read  prayers  to  the  assigned  servants  at  Castle  Forbes  on  a  Sunday ;  it  was  done 
about  a  twelvemonth  ago,  but  the  parties  seeming  careless  about  it,  the  practice 
has  been  discontinued  ;  either  Hitchcock  was  a  very  bad  shot,  or  he  must  not  have 
intended  to  hit  me,  as  he  could  not  well  have  missed  me  at  ten  yards  distance ;  I 
cannot  say  what  might  have  been  his  intention ;  I  was  certainly  very  much 
frightened ;  I  think  I  spoke  about  the  shot  when  before  the  Bench  of  Magistrates. 
"  Mr.  Therry  called  for  the  deposition  of  this  witness,  taken  at  the  Police  Office 
on  commitment  of  the  prisoners. 

"  The  Chief  Justice  was  of  opinion  that  the  learned  Gentleman  could  not  demand 
that  document  as  a  right ;  it  was  optional  with  the  Crown  Officer  to  grant  it.  If, 
however,  there  was  any  apparent  contradiction  in  the  deposition,  it  could  be  handed 
up  to  the  Bench,  and  the  Court  would  take  notice  of  it  in  its  charge  to  the  Jury. 
"  The  Solicitor-General  declined  furnishing  Mr.  Therrj'  with  the  deposition. 
"  Cross-examination  continued — My  back  was  towards  the  prisoners  when  the 
second  shot  was  fired  ;  I  supposed  from  what  the  prisoners  both  said  and  did,  they 
intended  to  kill  me  ;  I  think  the  prisoners  have  all  been  flogged  at  Castle  Forbes. 

d2 


APPPENDIX. 

"The  Solicitor- General  rose  to  object  to  this  mode  of  cross-examination;  he 
thought  this  point  had  been  decided  by  the  Court  on  the  trial  which  took  place 
yesterday ;  he  felt  convinced  that  the  learned  Counsel  for  the  defence  acted  at  the 
suggestion  and  under  the  advice  of  some  person  not  before  the  Court,  but  he 
resisted  such  a  line  of  defence  as  irregular. 

"  Mr:  Therry  denied  the  imputation  of  the  Solicitor-General  with  great  warmth ; 
he  called  upon  that  officer  for  an  explanation  ;  he  appeared  there  as  advocate  for 
the  prisoners  at  the  bar,  by  whom  alone  he  was  instructed  as  to  the  particulars  of 
defence.  In  his  professional  capacity  he  would  listen  to  the  suggestion  of  no 
person  whatever ;  and  he  indignantly  repelled  the  insinuation  thrown  out  of  acting 
for  political  purposes  at  the  instance  of  some  one  behind  the  curtain. 

"  The  Court  was  of  opinion  it  could  not  call  upon  the  Solicitor-General  to  enter 
into  the  explanation  sought  for ;  the  learned  Judge  had  heard  and  lamented  the 
expression  alluded  to  ;  he  considered  it  an  unguarded  one,  but  hoped  it  would  rest 
there. 

"  Cross-examination  continued — I  did  not  affix  any  particular  meaning  to  the 
words  made  use  of  by  the  prisoners  respecting  their  preventing  my  ever  getting 
another  man  flogged,  except  what  I  have  before  stated  ;  1  did  not  charge  the 
fowling-piece  with  duck,  but  buck  shot ;  I  am  not  aware  of  having  before  stated 
the  transaction  differently ;  I  heard  Riley's  voice  ;  I  should  not  be  apt  to  miss  a 
man  at  the  distance  of  ten  yards  ;  what  I  have  stated  as  having  dropt  in  the  water 
and  sand,  might  have  been  either  peas  or  pebbles. 

"  John  Sawyer,  being  sworn,  deposed — I  am  a  Crown  prisoner ;  I  was  assigned 
to  Dr.  Rutherford ;  he  is  gone  to  Europe ;  I  do  not  know  whether  I  am  lent  or 
transferred  to  Major  Mudie ;  I  was  sheep-washing  at  Castle  Forbes  on  the  5th  No- 
vember ;  I  was  in  the  water ;  I  saw  five  men  coming  towards  our  party ;  there 
might  have  been  more ;  the  prisoners  Hitchcock,  Poole,  Riley,  and  Perry  were 
there  ;  the  other  man  I  did  not  know ;  the  first  I  saw  was  Hitchcock,  getting  over 
the  fence,  on  the  top  of  the  bank ;  he  had  a  gun  in  his  hand ;  he  said  to  Mr. 
Larnack,  '  Come  out  of  that,  you  villain,  and  stand  back,  you  men  ;'  Mr.  L.  jumped 
into  the  river  among  the  washers ;  Hitchcock  levelled  his  gun  at  Mr.  L.  and  fired  ; 
he  then  swung  his  hand  in  a  great  passion,  and  said  to  the  washers,  '  Why  did  not 
you  get  out  of  the  way  ?'  Poole  next  presented  his  piece  at  Mr.  L.  and  fired  from 
the  fence,  saying,  '  You  villain,  I'll  make  you  remember  your  flogging,  I  will,  you 
tyrant ;'  Riley  said  to  one  of  the  washers,  nick-named  Darby,  '  I've  a  good  mind  to 
come  down  and  blow  out  your  brains,  I  have,  you  villain  ;'  Mr.  L.  was  moving  on 
towards  the  other  side  of  the  river ;  I  did  not  see  the  third  shot  fired,  but  it  took 
place  immediately  after  the  second  ;  I  did  not  know  whether  there  was  any  shot  in 
the  guns ;  when  going  away,  Riley  said  that  any  person  who  should  move  up  the 
bank  for  the  space  of  two  hours  would  have  his  brains  blown  out ;  I  neither  saw 
Jones  nor  Ryan  ;  it  was  a  high  bank  on  which  the  prisoners  were ;  I  could  see 
them  plainly  from  where  I  stood,  which  was  close  to  the  water's  edge ;  there  was 
a  fence  on  the  top  of  the  bank. 

"  Cross-examined  by  Mr.  Therry — Hitchcock  was  fifty  yards  from  Mr.  Larnack 
when  he  fired ;  it  might  be  a  little  more  ;  I  would  not  believe  a  man  saying  it  was 
only  ten  yards ;    I  cannot  say  whether  there  was  any  shot  in  the  gun ;   I  did  not 


APPENDIX, 

xinderstand  what  the  prisoners  meant  by  flogging;  there  was  nothing  to  hinder 
them  if  they  had  liked  to  follow  Mr.  Larnack  over  the  river;  I  have  riot  a  ticket  of 
leave;  1  am  a  ploughman. 

"  Re-examined  by  the  Solicitor-General — ^There  are  three  feet  in  a  yard  ;  Hitch- 
cock was  not  near  the  water's  edge  when  he  fired ;  I  could  not  observe  whether 
there  was  any  shot  in  the  guns ;  Poole  must  have  been  nearly  seventy  yards  off 
when  he  fired  at  Mr.  Larnack. 

"  By  the  Court — Hitchcock  must  have  been  full  fifty  yards  distant  from  Mr. 
Larnack  when  he  fired. 

"  Mr.  Therry  rose  to  request  that  Mr.  Larnack,  who,  after  having  given  his 
evidence,  had  taken  his  seat  next  to  the  Solicitor-General,  be  directed  to  leave  the 
Court.  He  made  this  request  at  the  suggestion  of  one  of  the  prisoners,  who  had  a 
motive  for  doing  so. 

"The  Solicitor-General  thought  that  the  application  just  made  could  not  be 
granted,  unless  it  were  the  intention  of  the  opposite  side  to  put  Mr.  Larnack  into 
the  witness  box. 

"  The  Chief  Justice  said,  it  was  perhaps  carrying  the  rule  farther  than  was  usual, 
yet  he  would  direct  the  appUcation  to  be  complied  with.  In  that  Court  there  was 
no  respect  of  persons.     [Mr.  Larnack  accordingly  retired.] 

"  Samuel  Marsden,  being  sworn,  said — I  am  an  assigned  servant  to  Mr.  Larnack, 
at  Castle  Forbes  ;  on  the  5th  November  last  I  was  sheep-washing  there ;  I  suddenly 
heard  a  voice  say,  '  Stand  every  man  of  you  in  the  water ;'  it  said  to  Mr.  Larnack, 
'  Come  up  here,  you  villain,  you  tyrant;'  Mr.  Larnack  jumped  into  the  river 
behind  some  of  the  washers ;  Mr.  Larnack  was  now  crossing  the  river,  and  Hitch- 
cock fired  at  him ;  he  was  about  twenty  or  thirty  yards  from  him  ;  after  he  had 
fired  he  appeared  very  angry,  and,  turning  round  to  his  party,  said,  '  Fire  away, 

you  b rs ;'  I  saw  a  strange  man  fire,  who  is  not  here  ;   I  heard  the  third  shot, 

but  did  not  see  who  fired  it ;   I  did  not  see  any  one  fire  from  the  fence ;  I  heard 

Hitchcock  say,  as  Mr.  Larnack  was  crossing  the  river,  '  Let's  follow  the  b r  and 

finish  him — it  will  be  no  worse ;'   I  saw  Riley  with  a  pistol ;   he  called  out  to 

Darby,  '  I've  a  good  mind  to  blow  your  b y  old  head  off;'  the  other  replied, 

'  What  for  ?'  to  which  Riley  answered,  '  Because  you  are  a  b y  old  rogue ;'  I 

saw  there  Hitchcock,  Riley,  Perry,  and  Ryan ;  Poole  must  have  been  there ;  I 
heard  him  say,  '  You'll  flog  me,  you  b r,  I'll  learn  you  to  flog.' 

"  Cross-examined  by  Mr.  Therry — Hitchcock  might  be  about  twenty  or  thirty 
yards  off  when  he  fired  at  Mr.  Larnack ;  there  had  been  a  great  deal  of  flogging  at 
Castle  Forbes ;  1  have  been  flogged  there  myself ;  I  heard  three  shots  ;  I  do  not 
know  whether  the  guns  were  shotted  or  not ;  if  the  prisoners  had  liked,  I  think 
they  might  have  followed  Mr.  Larnack  across  the  water  and  caught  him  ;  Hitch- 
cock said,  '  Let's  follow,'  but  did  not  do  so. 

"  William  Wilson  being  sworn,  deposed  as  follows — I  am  an  assigned  servant  to 
Major  Mudie,  at  Castle  Forbes ;  I  was  sheep-washing  there  in  November  last ;  I 
heard  a  voice  say,  '  Come  up  here,  you  scoundrel ;  turning  my  head,  I  saw  Hitch- 
cock on  the  other  side  of  the  fence  ;  he  had  a  gun  in  his  hand  ;  he  presented  it  at 
Mr.  Larnack,  who  was  in  the  river,  and  fired  ;  I  did  not  see  any  shot ;  I  aftcrward.s 


APPENDIX. 

saw  Poole  fire  a  shot  from  the  fence ;  he  seemed  to  fire  at  Mr.  Larnack,  who  had 
then  nearly  arrived  at  the  opposite  side  of  the  river ;  Poole  said  before  he  fired, 
'  Pll  learn  you  to  flog ;'  Hitchcock  was  twenty-five  yards  from  the  river  when  he 
fired  ;  I  saw  Hitchcock,  Poole,  Perry,  and  Riley  there  ;  there  was  another  man  at 
some  distance,  whom  I  took  to  be  Jones,  but  as  I  did  not  see  him  distinctly,  I  will 
not  swear  it  was  him  ;  I  said  before  the  Magistrates  the  same  as  I  say  now. 

"  Cross-examined  by  Mr.  Therry — I  saw  Hitchcock  fire  towards  the  river ;  I 
heard  the  expression  made  use  of  by  the  prisoners  respecting  fiogging ;  there  had 
been  a  great  deal  of  it  at  Castle  Forbes  ;  I  thought  it  alluded  to  that ;  the  prisoners 
did  not  follow  Mr.  Larnack  across  the  river,  which  they  might  have  done  if  they 
had  liked. 

"  Re-examined  by  the  Solicitor-General — By  not  following  Mr.  Larnack,  I  sup- 
pose the  prisoners  had  no  intention  of  doing  any  harm  to  him. 

"  John  Hart,  being  sworn,  said — I  am  an  assigned  servant  to  Mr.  Larnack,  at 
Castle  Forbes ;  I  saw  all  the  prisoners  at  the  bar  at  Castle  Forbes  on  the  5th  No- 
vember last ;  they  rushed  into  the  house,  and  took  three  guns  out  of  it ;  I  did  not 
see  them  charged  the  last  time,  but  I  have  on  former  occasions  seen  them  loaded 
with  small  bird  shot ;  I  never  saw  them  charged  with  buck  shot ;  I  heard  Riley 
say  to  Mrs.  Larnack,  they  were  going  down  the  river  to  settle  her  husband ;  neither 
of  the  other  prisoners  were  present  at  the  time ;  I  heard  one  of  the  party  say  they 
would  bring  in  Larnack's  head,  and  stick  it  on  a  chimney  ;  they  were  three  quarters 
of  an  hour  on  the  premises,  and  when  they  went  away  they  locked  up  every  one  in 
a  store  ;  in  about  twenty  minutes  after  they  had  gone,  I  heard  the  report  of  a  gun ; 
it  appeared  to  be  at  some  distance. 

"  Cross-examined  by  Mr.  Nichols — I  heard  only  one  gun ;  does  not  know  in 
what  direction ;  does  not  know  whether  the  guns  were  loaded  when  taken  by  the 
prisoners. 

"  Alexander  Flood  being  sworn,  said — I  am  overseer  to  Robert  Scott,  Esq.,  and 
went  in  pursuit  of  some  armed  bushrangers  in  November  last ;  was  present  when 
the  prisoners  were  apprehended ;  they  were  given  in  charge  to  me,  with  the  arms 
found  on  them  ;  the  arms  now  produced  are  the  same  ;  they  are  two  double-bar- 
relled guns,  four  single  ditto,  one  musket,  and  two  pistols. 

"  Cross-examined  by  Mr.  Therry — The  prisoners  behaved  well  after  being  taken. 

"  Mr.  George  Spark  being  sworn,  said — I  live  at  Rusham,  Patrick's  Plains  ;  was 
present  when  the  prisoners  were  apprehended  in  Lamb's  Valley  on  the  13th  No- 
vember last ;  I  heard  Hitchcock  say,  in  presence  of  the  rest  of  the  prisoners,  that 
he  had  taken  a  good  aim  at  Larnack's  head,  but  missed  the  b r. 

"  Cross-examined  by  Mr.  Therry — Mr.  Flood  and  several  others  were  present 
■when  Hitchcock  said  this ;  they  might  also  have  heard  it ;  I  have  no  friendly  feeling 
towards  the  prisoners. 

"  Mr.  Larnack  recalled  by  the  Solicitor-General — The  three  guns  produced  were 
loaded  with  buck-shot  a  few  days  previous  to  their  being  taken  away  from  Castle 
Forbes ;  I  can  swear  they  were  charged  on  the  evening  of  the  4th  November 
last. 

"Cross-examined  by  Mr.  Therry — I  have  heard  what  was  stated  by  another 


APPENDIX. 

witness,  and  I  still  persist  in  my  former  statement  as  to  the  shot  falling  near  me, 
and  the  distance  from  which  I  was  fired  at. 

"  John  Hart  recalled  by  the  Solicitor-General — The  three  guns  produced  were 
taken  by  the  prisoners  from  Castle  Forbes,  on  the  5th  November  last ;  I  don't 
know  whether  Jones  was  present  when  the  threat  was  made  respecting  Mr.  Larnack's 
head. 

"  This  was  the  case  for  the  prosecution. 

"  Mr.  Therry  begged  to  submit  for  the  consideration  of  the  Court,  that  there 
was  no  evidence  affecting  the  prisoner  Jones  on  which  it  would  be  necessary  to 
place  him  on  his  defence. 

"  The  Chief  Justice  observed,  that  although  the  degree  of  proof  against  the  pri- 
soner Jones  was  very  slight,  yet  the  Court  would  exercise  its  discretion  in  dis- 
charging him  in  this  stage  of  the  proceedings,  as  it  might  enable  the  other  prisoners 
to  examine  him  in  their  behalf.  He  would  therefore  put  the  case  to  the  Jury  on 
its  merits,  remarking,  however,  on  the  deficiency  of  evidence  as  affecting  the  pri- 
soner Jones. 

"  On  being  called  on  for  their  defence, 

"  The  prisoner  Hitchcock  first  addressed  the  Court ;  he  said,  the  evidence  of  the 
witness  Spark  was  utterly  false ;  the  treatment  he  had  received  at  Castle  Forbes 
was  harsh  in  the  extreme  ;  he  had  been  several  years  in  the  Colony,  and  while  in 
the  employment  of  the  Crown  had  been  so  fortunate  as  to  gain  the  esteem  of  his 
superiors,  by  whom  he  was  placed  in  a  situation  of  trust  and  responsibility ;  he 
had  been  employed  in,  and  had  charge  of  the  Post-Office  in  Newcastle ;  for  a 
knowledge  of  his  general  character  there,  he  would  call  upon  a  gentleman  in  Court, 
whose  testimony  he  was  sure  was  proudly  above  comparison  with  any  of  the  wit- 
nesses who  had  sworn  against  him. 

"  The  gentleman  alluded  to.  Ensign  Zouch,  one  of  the  Jury,  was  here  sworn,  and 
stated  that  he  had  known  Hitchcock  for  about  six  months,  when  at  Newcastle 
Post-Office  ;  from  the  situation  of  his  quarters  there,  which  were  immediately  over 
the  prisoner's,  he  was  enabled  to  state  of  him,  that  he  was  a  quiet  and  well-be- 
haved trustworthy  man,  and  one  not  likely  to  be  guilty  of  such  an  outrage  as  that 
for  which  he  was  now  on  his  trial. 

"  Hitchcock  went  on  to  state,  that  it  was  to  the  unfortunate  circumstance  of  his 
being  assigned  to  the  service  of  Major  Mudie,  he  attributed  all  his  subsequent  mis- 
fortune and  present  unhappiness ;  he  had  been  in  the  possession  of  an  exemplary 
character  before  he  went  to  Major  Mudie ;  he  had  since  been  repeatedly  flogged,  by 
which,  and  by  the  unwholesome  food  he  had  subsisted  on,  his  health  had  been 
ruined,  and  life  itself  rendered  burthensome  ;  he  had  been  sentenced  to  an  iron- 
gang  for  an  offence  of  which  he  knew  nothing.  The  witnesses  who  swore  against 
him  made  their  depositions  before  the  Magistrates  in  private.  No  confronting 
with  the  accused  was  permitted,  nor  was  any  defence  called  for.  Whatever  pu- 
nishment was  threatened  by  the  master  to  his  servant,  was  sure  to  be  inflicted  by 
the  Bench,  and  this  was  the  way  in  which  justice  was  administered  on  the  Hunter. 
If  they  refused  to  labour  on  a  Sunday,  flogging  was  threatened,  and  as  surely  given. 
Servants  who  had  for  months  been  due  for  tickets  of  leave,  had  been  refused  their 


APPENDIJi. 

indulgence,  and,  if  at  all  importunate,  a  flogging  bestowed  rendered  future  appli- 
cation unnecessary.  If  the  Court  would  but  look  at  their  bare  backs,  it  would  see 
that  their  statement  was  not  exaggerated. 

"  The  prisoner  Poole  had  only  to  re-echo  what  the  last  prisoner  had  stated.  Bad 
treatment  by  Messrs.  Mudie  and  Larnack  had  brought  them  to  the  ignominious 
fate  to  which  they  were  about  to  be  consigned.  While  at  Castle  Forbes,  he  had 
addressed  a  letter  to  the  Principal  Superintendent  of  Convicts,  as  well  as  to  the 
Director  of  Public  Works,  complaining  of  this  bad  treatment.  If  it  had  been 
found  on  enquiry  that  his  statement  was  false  or  unfounded,  he  could  have  been 
summarily  punished,  but  his  representations  had  been  intercepted  by  Mr.  L.  and 
kept  back.  He  was  aware  that  any  thing  they  could  urge  in  their  behalf  would  be 
of  but  little  avail — their  doom  was  fixed  ;  but  he  solemnly  implored  the  Judge  to 
cause  an  enquiry  to  be  set  on  foot  respecting  the  treatment  of  assigned  servants  at 
Major  Mudie's,  in  order  to  prevent  others  from  being  forced  into  the  unhappy 
situation  in  which  they  were  then  placed. 

"  The  other  prisoners  severally  concurred  in  the  sentiments  expressed  by  the  twa 
first-named  prisoners. 

"  Mr.  Therry  only  rose  to  say  that  he  had  witnesses  in  attendance  on  behalf  of 
the  prisoners  ;  but  the  evidence  he  should  offer  through  them  having  been  held 
untenable,  he  must  bow  to  the  decision  of  the  Court,  in  whose  hands  he  must  now 
leave  the  case  of  his  clients. 

"  The  Chief  Justice  commenced  his  charge  by  directing  the  Jury  entirely  to  dis- 
miss from  their  minds  the  line  of  defence  adopted  by  the  prisoners  at  the  bar.  His 
Honor  observed,  that  resistance  by  violence,  such  as  was  imputed  to  the  prisoners, 
of  any  grievance,  whether  real  or  imaginary,  was  not  tolerated  by  the  law.  The 
learned  Judge  then  summed  up  the  evidence,  commenting  upon  it  as  he  proceeded 
with  his  usual  perspicuity. 

"  The  evidence  against  Jones,  His  Honor  remarked,  was  of  a  very  trifling  nature, 
but  it  was  for  the  Jury  to  decide  whether  all,  or  any  of  the  prisoners  were  guilty  or 
not  guilty  upon  the  information  before  the  Court. 

"  The  Jury,  after  a  short  deliberation,  returned  a  verdict  of  Guilty  against  all  the 
prisoners,  except  Jones,  whom  they  acquitted. 

"  The  prisoners  were  again  arraigned  on  a  capital  charge,  to  which  they  severally 
pleaded  guilty. 

"  Hitchcock  observed,  as  it  had  been  intimated  to  them  that  the  time  allotted  for 
their  existence  would  be  very  short,  and  two  capital  convictions  being  already 
recorded  against  them,  they  thought  it  unavailing  to  protract  the  present  investi- 
gation ;  they  were  now  only  anxious  to  seek  religious  consolation,  and  prepare 
themselves  for  that  great  change  which  so  shortly  awaited  them,  but  for  which,  he 
prayed  that  a  longer  day  than  as  intimated  would  be  granted. 

"  The  Solicitor-General,  commiserating  the  situation  of  the  unhappy  prisoners  at 
the  bar,  would  not  present  against  them  the  other  informations  on  the  files  of  the 
Court ;  neither  would  he  pray  judgment  against  them  under  the  provisions  of  the 
local  Act  for  the  suppression  of  bushranging  and  robbery. 

Mr.  Therry  hoped  that  as  there  was  another  tribunal  before  which  the  plea  ot 


APPENDIX. 

hiercy  might  be  raised,  and  the  extenuating  circumstances  of  the  prisoners'  case 
meet  with  due  attention,  that  the  Court  would  be  pleased  to  direct  the  stay  in 
town  for  t:«'o  or  three  days  of  the  witnesses  whom  he  had  unsuccessftilly  endea- 
voured to  produce  in  Court ;  otherwise  they  would  be  returned  to  the  interior  of 
the  country  immediately,  by  which  he  would  be  entirely  deprived  of  the  benefit  of 
their  testimony,  even  where  it  could  only  be  available. 

"  The  Chief  Justice  said  undoubtedly  there  was  another  tribunal  where  the  plea 
of  mercy  might  be  raised,  and  it  was  also  competent  for  that  tribunal  to  grant  the 
remedy  for  which  the  learned  Counsel  applied.  It  was  not  in  the  province  of  the 
Court  to  interfere,  and  he  could  make  no  order  with  respect  to  the  application  just 
made. 

"The  Solicitor-General  would  now  perform  the  painful  part  of  his  duty,  in 
praying  the  judgment  of  the  Court  upon  the  prisoners  at  the  bar. 

"  Proclamation  having  been  made, 

"  The  Chief  Justice  addressed  the  prisoners.  They  had  all,  with  the  exception 
of  one,  been  convicted  of  two  capital  felonies,  and  they  had  just  pleaded  guilty  to  a 
third  capital  indictment.  Independent  of  this,  their  crime  involved  that  of  open 
rebellion  against  their  master.  His  Honor,  after  a  very  pathetic  address,  passed  on 
the  prisoners  the  awful  sentence  of  the  law,  directing  them  to  be  executed  at  such 
time  and  place  as  His  Excellency  the  Governor  should  be  pleased  to  appoint." 


The  determination  of  the  Executive  Council  respecting  the  fate  of 
these  men,  will  be  seen  by  the  following  Extract  from  the  Sydney 
Gazette  of  the  21st  December,  1833. 

"The  two  principals  in  the  late  outrages  at  Hunter's  River,  Hitchcock  and  Poole, 
were  forwarded  to  Maitland,  by  the  steamer  Sophia  Jane,  on  Thursday  evening 
(December  19),  to  suffer  the  extreme  penalty  of  the  law  this  morning,  at  the  scene 
of  their  depredations.  The  same  awful  result  awaits  three  of  the  other  prisoners, 
at  the  usual  place  of  execution  in  Sydney,  this  morning  viz.  Riley,  Perr}^  and  Ryan. 
With  respect  to  the  last  named  prisoner,  we  think  that  the  Executive  Government 
would  do  well  to  interpose  the  Royal  clemency  in  his  behalf,  and  spare  a  human 
life,  which  we  think  is  not  imperatively  called  on  to  be  offered  up  at  the  shrine  of 
justice.  Let  it  be  remembered  that  this  prisoner  is  a  mere  boy,  some  sixteen  or 
seventeen  years  of  age ;  and,  although  we  would  not  place  implicit  credence  on 
the  statements  made  by  some  of  the  other  prisoners  when  receiving  sentence,  yet 
we  would  urge  the  extreme  probability  that  the  lad  was  in  a  great  degree  incited  to 
join  his  associates  by  the  inducements  their  greater  experience  in  crime  enabled 
them  to  lay  before  him.  We  hope,  therefore,  that  his  case  may  be  considered  a  fit 
one  for  the  exercise  of  mercy." 

The  whole  of  these  five  prisoners  were  executed.  The  other 
fJones)  was  transported  to  Norfolk  Island  for  life. 

I  will  make  no  further  comment  upon  these  extraordinary  trials. 


APPENDIX. 

than  to  express  my  cordial  approval  of  the  proceedings  of  the  Com- 
mission of  Enquiry,  under  Messrs.  Plunkett  and  Hely,  which  suc- 
ceeded them ;  and  my  sense  of  its  indispensable  necessity.  If  the 
whole  of  the  allegations  of  these  unfortunate  men  were  not  substan- 
tiated, 'enough  was  unquestionably  proved,  to  exhibit  a  deliberate 
system  of  maltreatment,  inconsistent  with  that  ordinary  benevolence 
of  disposition  enjoyed  by  the  Government,  and  which  the  most  de- 
graded of  the  human  species,  would  not  calmly  have  endured,  if  the 
means  of  redress,  by  any  alternative,  however  desperate,  were  within 
their  reach.  The  Governor,  in  communicating  his  opinion  upon  the 
result  of  this  impartial  investigation,  speaks  with  a  degree  of  cau- 
tion, to  which  there  was  no  occasion  to  resort.  His  Excellency's 
palliation  of  some  features  in  the  case,  amounts  at  best  to  a  negative 
sort  of  approval,  which  sensible  men  consider,  as  breathing  the  most 
ironical  spirit  of  condemnation.  The  Governor  censures  the  inat- 
tention of  Messrs.  Mudie  and  Larnack,  to  the  quantity  and  quality 
of  provisions  furnished  their  assigned  servants ;  and  the  Colonial 
Secretary,  by  direction  of  His  Excellency,  pointedly  alludes  to  the 
misconduct  of  the  latter  in  the  following  terms  :  -  - 

"  I  am  directed  to  observe,  that  his  Excellency  cannot  but  consider  the  conduct 
of  Mr.  Larnack  as  imprudent  in  striking  assigned  servants,  for  the  punishment  of 
whose  misconduct  the  law  has  sufficiently  provided  :  and  in  bringing  David  Jones 
before  the  Bench  at  Patrick's  Plains,  upon  the  21st  October  last,  upon  a  charge  of 
neglect  which  he  established  by  his  own  evidence ;  and  bringing  afterwards  the 
same  person  forward  a  second  time,  on  the  Same  day,  for  the  same  offence,  which 
was  established  by  a  man  named  Brampton,  so  as  to  obtain  TWO  sentences  of  fifty 
lashes  each,  Mr.  Larnack  adopted  an  unwarrantable  and  unjustifiable  proceeding." 

This  speaks  volumes  of  the  opinion  the  Government  has  formed 
of  the  merits  of  Mr.  Larnack  upon  the  occasion  j  with  reference  to 
Major  Mudie — 

"The  Governor  is  called  upon"  (says  the  same  letter)  "to  notice  the  conduct  of 
Mr.  Mudie,  in  requiring  Nagle  to  go  on  Sunday  for  a  winnowing  machine,  and 
subsequently  bringing  him  to  the  Bench,  to  be  punished  for  refusal;  in  doing 
which,  he  acted  in  a  manner  wholly  unjustifiable  ! ! !" 

Why  the  Governor  should  have  confined  his  just  censure  to  these 
acts  alone,  I  am  at  loss  to  conceive  ;  when  there  are  so  many  others 
of  ten  times  greater  enormity,  which  I  shall  submit  to  your  conside- 
ration. 

General  Bourke  has  acrjuilted  him  of  the  charges  of  tyranny  and 


APPENDIX. 

oppression,  which  the  men  who  were  executed  made  against  him : 
but  the  Governor  censures  (and  properly  so)  both  his  conduct  and 
that  of  his  son-in-law,  in  issuing  bad  and  insufficient  provisions  at 
different  times  to  their  men  ;  and  particularly  for  having  procured 
the  punishment  of  a  prisoner,  named  Nagle,  for  refusing  to  labour 
on  the  Sabbath.  With  regard  to  the  servants  who  proved  the 
charges,  in  part,  against  the  Major,  he  complains  bitterly  that,  their 
evidence  should  have  been  received  at  all ;  and  points  triumphantly 
to  some  others,  his  servants,  who,  he  says,  are  good  men,  because 
they  speak  rather  partially  of  his  equivocal  treatment.  The  reason 
which  induces  them,  however,  to  sound  his  praise  is  obvious  :  they 
are  destined  to  remain  in  his  service,  and  it  is  no  difficult  matter  to 
discover  their  motive  in  glossing  over  his  unwarrantable  behaviour. 
It  is  not  likely  they  would  seek  to  aggravate  their  cruel  treatment 
by  exposing  the  author  of  it,  but  rather  endeavour  to  soften  his 
obdurate  feelings  by  that  false  praise,  to  which  the  most  ignorant 
men  know  that  weak  and  cruel  minds  are  susceptible. 

When  it  became  apparent  that  the  Governor  would  direct  an  in- 
quisitorial proceeding,  respecting  the  causes  that  produced  so  serious 
a  convulsion  on  his  particular  farm  ;  Mr.  Mudie  wrote  to  the  Colo- 
nial Secretary,  desiring  that  particular  men  should  be  removed  from 
his  employment  as  insubordinate,  and  their  places  supplied  by  others 
of  more  accommodating  and  docile  habits.  This,  at  first  sight,  ap- 
peared a  reasonable  desire,  and  on  any  other  occasion  would  have 
been  probably  sanctioned  without  much  deliberation  ;  but  the  Go- 
vernor wisely  paused.  He  could  perceive  a  covert  purpose,  and 
what  was  it  ?  That  the  writer  might,  in  the  anticipated  enquiry, 
throw  doubt  upon  the  testimony  of  men  whom  no  stratagem  could 
debar  from  speaking  the  truth  5  and  the  Major  has  naturally  enough 
availed  himself  of  this  protection  in  the  vindication,  or  rather  recri- 
mination which  he  has  very  injudiciously  offered  to  the  Government. 

When  I  invoke.  Sir,  shame  and  obloquy  to  become  the  portion  ot 
every  master  who  starves  his  servants  in  a  Country  like  this,  where 
provisions  are  proverbially  plentiful  and  good,  I  only  echo  the  pre- 
vaihng  pubhc  sentiment  elicited  by  this  enquiry. — Submission  from 
convict  servants  is  not  only  expected  but  enforced ;  and  yet  the 
treatment  they  generally  receive  nourishes  all  the  elements  of  diso- 
bedience and  rebellion.     Reformation  is  forgotten  3  and  in  the  adop- 


APPENDIX. 

tion  of  blind  and  cruel  measures  to  repress  liberty  of  complaint,  and 
to  brutalise  the  passions,  masters  forget  (willingly  in  many  in- 
stances) that  human  beings  are  the  lamentable  victims  of  their 
wrath.  Men  speak.  Sir,  in  England,  of  the  happiness  and  comfort 
of  a  convict :  alas  !  do  but  look  on  the  picture — the  plain  and  faith- 
ful portrait  exhibited  by  the  following  extracts  from  the  published 
evidence  taken  by  unbiassed  Commissioners,  on  a  loudly-eulogised, 
and  complete  agricvdtural  establishment.  The  meat  is  proved  to  be 
nauseous  and  unpalatable.     Brown  says, — 

"  It  was  black  when  issued,  and  appeared  to  be  in  a  state  of  mortification :  it 
could  not  be  eaten." 

Nagle  "  was  obliged  to  throw  it  to  the  dogs ;  for  two  years,  good  meat  had  not 
been  issued  to  the  men  above  eight  times." 

Ponsonby,  another  witness,  adds,  "  that  the  meat  was  bad  always,  and  that  the 
weekly  ration  of  four  pounds  of  pork  (given  in  harvest  time  by  way  of  indulgence) 
it  was  morally  impossible  to  eat !" 

Cook  says,  "  I  recollect  a  bullock  breaking  his  leg,  and  the  meat  was  served  out 
to  the  men :  the  meat  was  very  bad — it  was  not  fit  for  use  the  day  after  we  got  it." 

Those  who  know  the  conditions  of  working  bullocks,  will  readily 
appreciate  the  sorry  banquet  which  a  number  of  hard-working  hun- 
gry men,  must  have  enjoyed  over  the  tough  and  tainted  sinewy  flesh 
of  an  animal  of  this  description.  Nagle,  in  his  evidence,  speaking  of 
the  meat  alluded  to  by  Brown,  adds, 

"  "What  was  served  out  was  not  good :  the  flesh  was  bruised  in  patches,  and 
would  not  take  the  salt — the  animal  was  very  poor. 

True ;  but  it  was  fit,  it  seems,  for  the  poor  servants  of  Messrs. 
Mudie  and  Larnack  to  eat. — This  witness,  in  answer  to  questions 
put  by  Mudie,  says, — 

"  I  never  said  I  was  starved;  but  I  said  the  rations  were  bad. — I  used  to  eat 
cabbage  I  had  at  the  back  of  my  hut  with  salt  (strong  symptoms  of  starvation) 
when  the  meat  would  become  short :  I  used  to  throw  the  meat  away  because  it  was 
maggotty,  and  it  used  to  stink  that  it  might  be  smelt  a  quarter  of  a  mile  off" — I  mean 
by  this  that  it  had  a  very  strong  smell." 

The  above,  Sir,  might  be  considered  as  conclusive  evidence  of  a 
system  of  mismanagement,  calculated  to  goad  men  to  acts  of  insu- 
bordination and  violence  :  but  I  will  produce  still  more  damning 
proofs.     Henry  Brown  says, — 

"  The  bullock,  Punch  (whose  flesh  was  given  as  ration  to  the  men)  lay  in  a  hole 
a  day  and  a  half,  and  he  was  served  out — he  had  his  leg  broke." 


APPENDIX. 

One  would  believe  that  this  was  a  solitary  instance  ;  but  no — the 
same  witness  adds^ — 

"  A  short  time  after,  there  was  an  old  cow  lay  alongside  a  creek,  and  George 
Frost  one  of  the  men  on  the  farm,  reported  it  on  a  Sunday :  she  lay  there  and  the 
butcher  stuck  the  beast  on  Monday,  and  it  was  served  out :  it  was  old  and  thin, 
and  the  flesh  would  not  take  salt." — He  adds,  "  This  meat  of  the  cow  was  served 
out,  but  the  greater  part  was  given  to  the  dogs.  I  have  seen  the  Overseer  take  out 
this  meat  full  of  maggots,  and  wash  the  meat,  and  throw  salt  on  it  for  the  men's 
use." 

If  a  settler  expect  labour,  he  should  at  least  supply  his  labourers 
with  sufficient  and  wholesome  sustenance.  It  will  now  be  my  duty. 
Sir,  to  point  out  to  you  that  Mr.  Larnack  has  not  only  been  guilty 
of  barbarity  in  striking  and  ill-using  prisoners,  who  were  prevented 
by  their  relative  condition  from  retaliating ;  but  has  added  to  the 
miseries  of  their  slavery — the  horrors  of  starvation.  And  now  with 
respect  to  the  Jlour  issued  by  Messrs.  Mudie  and  Larnack  to  their 
servants : — 

James  Brown — "  We  generally  get  tailings :  what  was  served  out  about  four 
months  ago  was  the  blackest,  but  not  the  worst." 

James  Harvey — "  The  flour  that  has  been  issued  within  the  last  three  months 
was  very  bad :  it  is  hardly  fit  to  be  called  flour — it  is  mixed  with  grass  seed  and 
smut — the  best  was  sent  to  Sydney,  and  the  worst  kept  for  the  men." 

Richard  Nagle — "The  flour  that  I  complain  of  being  very  bad  had  smut-balls  in 
it — rye  grass  seeds  and  garlic  was  in  it ;  the  best  of  the  wheat  was  sent  to  Sydney, 
and  the  tailings  were  left  for  the  use  of  the  men." 

Henry  Brown — "I  have  taken  some  good  wheat  (to  the  mill),  but  the  greater 
part  was  the  sweepings  and  tailings  of  it.  I  took  up  36  bushels  to  be  ground  for 
Mr.  Scott,  but  the  miller  complained  of  the  flour  being  so  bad,  and  it  was  then 
served  out  as  a  ration  ;  we  got  ten  pounds  a  week  of  it." 

[This  wheat  Mr.  Larnack  was  ashamed  to  send  for  the  servants 
of  a  neighbour,  but  he  was  not  ashamed  to  give  it  to  his  own.] 

The  above,  I  submit,  affords  ample  proof,  that  if  such  treatment 
prevails  on  large  and  well-regulated  estates  here,  the  ill-managed 
and  small  farms  are  proportionately  worse.  But  oppression.  Sir,  is 
not  confined  to  bad  food.  It  displays  itself  in  the  violated  behaviour 
of  the  master,  who  wreaks  vengeance  upon  the  unhappy  mortals, 
whom  the  British  Government  commit  to  his  paternal,  or  at  least 
humane  custody. 

Henry  Brown — "  I  saw  Mr.  Larnack  in  June  last  beat  a  boy  of  the  name  of 
Dufty,  who  was  in  my  hut,  and  is  still ;  he  beat  him  cruelly  with  a  stick  for 


APPENDIX. 

thatching  wheat  stacks,  as  thick  as  one  of  my  fingers ;  he  gave  him  several  blows, 
four  or  five ;  the  boy  is  sixteen  or  seventeen  years  old ;  on  the  following  Monday 
Mr.  Mudie  brought  him  to  Court,  and  he  got  fifty  lashes ;  Big  Brown  was  present 
when  Duffy  was  beaten ;  I  don't  recollect  who  else  was  present ;  Mr.  Larnack  beat 
Duffy  lately  when  he  had  a  sore  back  ;  I  have  seen  Mr.  Larnack  also  strike  Maurice 
Stack,  one  of  the  men,  before  he  beat  Duffy  ;  he  beat  him  on  different  days  with  a 
stick,  and  with  a  cutting  whip,  and  with  his  fists ;  he  also  beat  Dempsy ;  I  saw  him 
beat  all  these  persons  ;  Dempsy  went  from  his  own  business  to  fetch  water  for  a 
man  of  the  name  of  Cushin,  a  constable,  and  for  this  he  was  kicked  by  Mr. 
Larnack." 

This  witness  further  adds — "  I  saw  Duffy  beaten  by  Mr.  Larnack ;  it  was  not 
with  a  strap  of  leather ;  it  was  an  oak  stick  he  was  beaten  with." — "  Mr.  Larnack 
also  beat  Stack  for  neglecting  his  pigs ;  he  kicked  him  up,  and  knocked  him  down, 
and  kicked  him  when  down." 

Unmanly  and  censurable  as  this  behaviour  is,  as  applied  to  indivi- 
duals, what  opinion.  Sir,  are  we  to  form  of  the  morality  of  the  man 
who  considers  the  Holy  Sabbath  as  unworthy  of  regard ;  and  who, 
rather  than  enforce  by  his  precept  and  example.  Christian  piety  in 
those  whose  lives  have  been  too  often  passed  in  the  worst  of  profli- 
gacy, perpetuates  immorality  by  direct  command,  and  contributes  to 
its  further  growth. 

Henry  Brown — "  I  have  known  wheat  to  be  cleaned  and  bagged  on  Sunday." 
James  Harvey — "  I  have  worked  on  Sunday  loading  a  team.     I  knew  William 
Crisp  to  be  punished  (flogged)   for  refusing  to  work  on  a  Sunday ;  it  was  three 
years  ago.     Nagle  told  me  that  he  (himself)  got  twenty-five  lashes  for  refusing  to 
go  to  Mr.  Campbell's  for  a  winnowing  machine  on  a  Sunday." 

This  witness  (who  had  been  five  years  with  Mr.  Mudie)  also 
says, — 

"  I  have  received  notice  that  Divine  Service  was  to  be  performed  in  the  School- 
house  at  Patrick's  Plains  once  or  twice  during  all  the  time  I  was  at  Castle  Forbes  ; 
tirice  or  three  times  I  attended  prayers  in  the  barn ;  the  men  used  to  spend  their 
Sundays  in  washing  their  shirts,  and  fetching  wood  for  their  own  use." 

Peter  Ponsonby — "  I  have  worked  on  Sunday  at  the  request  of  my  master ;  I  did 
not  like  to  refuse  him." 

Richard  Nagle — "  I  was  only  once  punished  since  I  came  to  the  Colony — then  I 
got  25  lashes  ;  the  Overseer  of  Mr.  Mudie  reported  to  him  that  I  refused  to  go  for 
a  winnowing  machine  to  Mr.  Campbell's  on  Sunday,  and  the  same  day  that  I  re- 
fused to  drive  bullocks,  and  I  was  flogged." 

Is  it.  Sir,  surprising  that  crime  prevails  here,  when  such  aban- 
doned acts  are  sanctioned — when  a  man  is  actually  punished  by  a 
Bench  of  Magistrates  for  refusing  to  profane  the  Sabbath  ?     We 


APPENDIX. 

want  stipendiary  Magistrates.     This  is  direct  proof  of  the  injustice 
of  the  Benches  we  now  possess. 

You  will  doubtless  enquire.  Sir,  in  perusing  the  preceding  dis- 
gusting details,  why  did  not  these  men,  when  they  found  themselves 
so  grievously  oppressed,  apply  for  the  interposition  of  the  Govern- 
ment, or  the  Bench  of  Magistrates  ?  With  regard  to  the  first 
method  of  redress,  it  appears  in  evidence,  that  Mr.  Larnack  inter- 
cepted and  detained  written  complaints  of  Poole  (one  of  the  pri- 
soners executed),  addressed  to  the  Principal  Superintendent  of 
Convicts,  and  the  Director  of  Public  Works  ;  and  with  respect  to 
the  second,  it  may  be  remarked,  that  Justices  who  would  flog  a  man 
for  not  labouring  on  the  Sabbath  day  (without  any  cause  of  urgent 
necessity  having  called  for  so  great  a  deviation  from  propriety), 
would  not  feel  much  interested  in  entertaining  complaints  from  the 
assigned  servants  of  a  Brother  Magistrate,  who  might  have,  at  that 
moment,  ample  occasion  to  shake  hands  with  each  other  upon  a 
similiarity  of  treatment.  You,  Sir,  may  possibly  applaud  the  gene- 
ralship displayed,  although  you  will  certainly  condemn  the  system 
pursued,  in  subduing  appeals  for  redress  in  the  manner  exhibited  in 
the  following  : — 

James  Brown  —  "I  never  complained  to  the  Magistrates;  he  (Mr.  Mudie) 
always  told  me  I'd  get  punished  if  I  did  ;  I  have  complained  to  Mr.  Mudie  and  Mr. 
Larnack  (of  the  bad  provisions)  ;  none  of  the  other  men  complained  to  the  Magis- 
trates ;  when  any  man  was  about  to  complain,  he  was  brought  up  on  another 
charge." 

James  Harvey — "  I  never  made  any  complaint  to  the  Magistrates  ;  it  was  dan- 
gerous to  do  so ;  any  one  that  found  fault  was  considered  an  insubordinate  cha- 
racter; if  any  man.  spoke  of  it,  Mr.  Mudie  would  call  him  an  insubordinate 
character,  and  hunt  him  down." 

Mr.  Larnack  was  examined  as  a  witness  in  his  own  behalf,  and  a 
more  injudicious  and  unprecedented  measure,  could  not,  in  my  opinion, 
have  been  adopted.  To  allow  a  man  to  give  evidence  where  his 
own  conduct  was  the  subject  of  enquiry,  was  not  more  novel  than 
futile.  As  a  piece  of  cautious  sophistry,  and  meagre  exculpation,  it 
is  worthy  only  of  contempt ;  but  as  tending  either  to  shake  the 
stabihty  of  the  great  body  of  evidence  ;  or  as  negativing  even  the 
testimony  given  upon  a  any  particular  incident,  this  illegal  mode  of 
proof  entirely  fails.  The  Commissoners  certainly  shewed  an  unne- 
cessary courtesy  to  Mr.  Larnack  in  receiving  his  statement  j  but  it. 


APPENDIX. 

however,  affords  a  proof  of  the  strict  impartiality  with  which  they 
acted  ;  and  I  will  even  go  farther,  and  state,  that  no  two  gentlemen 
in  the  Colony  could  have  heen  selected  of  greater  intelligence  and 
more  honourable  independence,  than  those  composing  the  Members 
of  this  necessary  Court  of  Enquiry.  I  will  here  ask,  did  Mr.  Lar- 
nack  disprove  any  of  the  charges  respecting  the  badness  of  the  pro- 
visions ?  Did  he  shew  that  good  meat  was  given  in  lieu  of  the  bad  ? 
Did  his  equivocal  explanation  of  stopping  the  letters  of  complaint, 
look  like  the  conduct  of  a  man  conscious  of  his  own  innocence  ? 
Why  did  he  not  have  the  author  of  them  arraigned  at  the  bar  of 
justice  for  false  and  malicious  accusation  ?  Has  he,  or  Mr.  Mudie 
proved  their  conduct  towards  the  unfortunates  in  their  power,  to 
have  been  humane  ?  Or  did  they  wipe  off  the  stigma  attached  to 
the  contrary  disposition,  by  the  following  extraordinary  conduct  ? 

James  Brown — "  I  was  brought  up  two  years  ago  by  Mr.  Mudie  to  Court  for 
feigning  I  was  sick ;  a  Dr.  Sloane,  I  believe,  certified  that  I  was  able  to  work,  and 
I  was  flogged ;  I  got  fifty  lashes,  and  I  was  able  to  go  to  work  on  the  following 
day — I  was  obliged  to  go." 

Peter  Ponsonby  says — "  I  know  that  the  men  who  were  tried  were  severely 
flogged ;  Perry  was  flogged  very  often  ;  I  saw  his  back,  and  he  had  a  horrid  back  ; 
he  often  complained  that  he  had  not  enough  to  eat ;  he  used  to  call  at  my  hut  for 
a  bit  of  bread,  and  I  used  to  give  it  to  him ;  the  flour  was  very  bad ;  the  men  all 
went  up  to  complain  of  it ;  after  that  the  flour  became  a  little  better ;  I  think 
Riley  had  reason  to  complain ;  he  had  a  horrid  back,  and  Mr.  Larnack  wanted  him 
to  go  to  work,  and  for  refusing  to  work  he  was  brought  to  Court  again  and  flogged ; 
I  heard  Riley  and  Poole  say  that  they  they  would  not  get  justice  at  the  Bench  at 
Patrick's  Plains ;  I  heard  the  men  in  conversation  amongst  each  other  say  that  the 
Magistrates  were  so  friendly  to  each  other,  no  justice  would  be  done  them." 

Good  heavens  !  Is  it  in  the  power  of  pen  to  express  the  horror 
with  which  every  man,  not  lost  to  the  common  feelings  of  humanity, 
must  view  this  revolting  picture.  Nature  shudders  at  the  recital  of 
these  human  woes  ;  and  justice  in  vain  seeks  for  m^rcy,  her  sister 
in  the  judgement-seat.  Who  attempts  to  deny  these  hideous  facts, 
among  the  supporters  or  palliators  of  the  "  Mudie  cause  ?"  None, 
for  they  are  undeniable — refinements  of  barbarity,  cruelty,  and  tor- 
ture. If,  Sir,  there  be  either  justice  or  humanity  remaing  in  the 
human  breast,  I  would  invoke  it  to  my  aid,  while  I  arouse  your  just 
indignation  in  the  perusal  of  these  disgusting,  these  heart-rending 
details.  Perry  and  his  comrades  fled  to  the  bush  ;  they  attempted 
the  life  of  the  author  of  their  torments ;  and  they  perished  on  the 


APPENDIX. 

scaffold.     Was  not  death   preferable  to  a  life  of  such  protracted 
agonyof  such  frequent  and  relentless  scourging  and  starvation  ? 

William  Cook — "  Riley  (who  was  also  hanged)  had  got  a  deal  of  flogging,  and  I 
used  to  hear  it  said  he  could  not  stand  it." 

Peter  Ponsonby — "  I  often  heard  Poole  (who  was  executed)  say,  that  he  wished 
Mr.  Mudie  (who  indulged  him  occasionally)  was  at  home  :  that  he  was  afraid  he 
would  be  hanged  before  he  came :  he  told  me  it  was  Mr.  Larnack  tyrannizing  over 
him  he  was  afraid  of;  I  have  heard  Mr.  Larnack  blow  him  up,  and  call  him  a 
damned  scoundrel." 

In  fact.  Sir,  the  whole  tenor  of  the  evidence  seems  to  imply  that 
these  unhappy  men,  who  were  executed,  sought  an  ignominious 
death,  rather  than  submit  to  evils  arising  from  persecution  which 
they  were  unable  to  endure.  Is  not  transportation,  under  these  cir- 
cumstances  "  WORSE    THAN    DEATH  ?"  ! 

Mr.  Mudie  was  more  cautious  than  his  countryman  and  relative, 
Larnack.  He  contented  himself  by  merely  making  a  protest  against 
his  worst  and  most  insubordinate  servants  being  examined,  and  what 
followed  ?  His  best  were  heard,  and  particularly  his  merciful  and 
intelligent  maggot-picking  Overseer,  Crinane,  and  of  what  utihty 
were  they  ?  With  regard  to  Mr.  Mudie,  he  seems,  in  all  the  transac- 
tions of  his  farm,  to  have  confided  the  management  to  Mr.  Larnack^ 
and  kept  up  the  semblance  of  humanity  by  giving  his  servants,  now 
and  then,  cabbages  and  potatoes  (which,  by  the  bye,  the  floods  had 
spoiled),  and  a  portion  of  fair  words  and  unmeaning  counsel,,  as  a 
sort  of  palliative  for  the  entire  want  of  feeling  displayed  by  Mr. 
Larnack.  Mr.  M.  gave  a  picture  of  his  importance  as  a  Magistrate, 
thus  : — 

James  Brown  says — "Mr.  Mudie  said  he  expected  di  free  pardon  for  me  and  Mr. 
Bill,  and  we  could  not  then  expect  a  suit  of  clothing  (coaxing,  eh !) ;  on  Wednesday, 
a  month  or  three  weeks  from  yesterday,  Mr.  Mudie  told  me  that  he  had  the  power 
to  keep  any  man  on  the  farm  during  his  life,  or  to  send  him  to  Norfolk  Island,  and 
that  he  had  received  a  letter  from  the  Governor  to  that  effect,  and  to  draw  the  best 
mechanics." 

Surely,  Sir,  the  Major  was  jocular  ?  but  we  shall  see  : — 

James  Harvey  says — "  Mr.  Mudie  said  he  had  sufficient  interest  with  the  Governor 

to  send  any  man  to  Norfolk  Island  for  his  natural  life,  and  could  pick  the  best 

tradesmen  in  Sydney  for  himself." 

The  shifts  to  which  the  Major  has  been  reduced  for  evidence  to 
palliate  some  of  the  strange  charges  embodied  in  the  examinations, 
VOL.  IV.  e 


APPENDIX. 

are  as  ridiculous  as  his  assumed  importance  is  contemptible.  He 
brings  forward  Crinane,  who  being  an  insignificant  mortal,  was  not 
probably  included  in  the  merited  censure  of  the  Government ;  but 
certainly  the  link  of  his  barbarity  was  so  connected  with  the  chain 
of  facts  of  general  misconduct  at  the  establishment  of  Castle  Forbes, 
that  the  Commissioners  should  have  hesitated  before  receiving  him  as 
as  a  witness.  They  however  did  do  so  with  some  caution,  but  his 
testimony  amounts  to  no  more  than  that  he  did  not  hear  this,  nor  see 
that.  He  does  not  negative  a  single  assertion  of  any  moment ;  and 
even  if  he  were  to  contradict,  it  could  not  avail  against  such  a  host 
of  strong  corroborative  proof. 

Hugh  Thomson,  a  Scotch  Emigrant  mechanic,  deposed,  that  the 
conduct  of  Messrs.  Mudie  and  Larnack  towards  their  servants,  was 
marked  by  humanity  !  cjood  feeding  !  !  and  Benevolence  !  !  ! 
Among  other  instances  of  unblushing  effrontery  in  this  person,  we 
have  the  following  : — 

"  I  think  the  feeding  of  the  prisoners  on  the  farms  generally  in  this  Country,  that 
I  have  seen,  much  superior  to  that  of  laborers  in  Scotland.  I  consider  Mr. 
Mudie's  farm,  during  the  time  I  was  on  it,  as  well  provided  as  any  farm  I  have 
seen  here,  and,  from  the  quantity  and  quality  of  the  provisions,  equal  to  the  farm- 
ing establishments  in  Scotland." 

Mr.  Thompson  was  on  Mr.  Mudie's  farm  for  eighteen  months  ; 
he  had  not  seen  it  since  July  last,  which  was  sometime  before  Poole 
and  his  companions  absconded  :  he  was,  therefore,  not  present  at 
Castle  Forbes  during  the  absence  of  Major  Mudie,  the  identical  time 
when  the  cry  of  insubordination  resounded ;  and  when  the  faction 
were  excelling  each  other  in  attempts  to  raise  a  rebellion,  and,  of 
consequence,  an  universal  slaughter.  I  consider  this  testimony  as 
only  remarkable  for  the  gross  ignorance  of  the  witness,  expressed  in 
his  libellous  attack  upon  the  Scottish  nation,  which  virtually  amounts 
to  this — that  the  hardy  sons  of  Caledonia's  soil,  have  acquired  their 
characteristic  robustness  of  constitution,  by  having  been  fed  on  a 
composition  of  rye-grass,  smut  balls,  and  the  coarsest  of  pollard ; 
with  animal  food  bordering  on  a  state  of  putrefaction,  in  which 
maggots  have  been  engendered,  and  banCj[uetted  gloriously. 

Reviewing  generally  the  evidence  published  by  Mr.  Mudie,  it  will 
readily  occur  to  you  that  the  manifestation  of  a  spirit  of  discontent, 
and  the  subsequent  rising  and  execution  of  certain  prisoners  in  the 


APPENDIX. 

employment  of  Messrs,  Mudie  and  Larniick,  though  it  cannot  be 
palliated  by  the  fact,  evidently  originated  in  the  treatment  they  ex- 
perienced. If  even  the  men  had  risen  in  a  body,  where  the  general 
treatment  was  such  as  the  evidence  has  disclosed,  who  would  ven- 
ture, in  a  moral  point  of  view,  to  blame  them  ?  Is  the  negro  in  a 
state  of  slavery  like  this  ?  But  what  was  the  result  of  the  commo- 
tion it  produced  at  Castle  Forbes  ?  The  prisoners  on  the  adjoining 
farms,  who  were  unjustly  stigmatised  as  insubordinate,  volunteered 
to  go  in  pursuit  of  the  desperate  runaways.  They  tiew  with  alacrity 
to  the  bush,  and  assisted  in  capturing  them. 

It  may  be  laid  down  as  an  established  axiom,  tliat  the  convicts 
have  never  evinced  any  spirit  of  insubordination,  even  in  a  trifling 
degree,  without  the  ascertained  existence  of  cogent  reasons  on  their 
part,  such  as — 

1st. — The  want  of  sufficient  wholesome  food,  or 

2nd. — Unjust  or  cruel  treatment. 

In  evidence  of  this  statement,  I  desire  leave  to  look  at  those 
periods  when  bushranging  predominated.  It  will  be  found  that 
marauding  and  excesses  prevailed  most  during  times  of  scarcity, 
when  the  Colonists  were  obliged  to  import  grain  even  from  India  • 
or  when  the  prisoners  were  under  the  dominion  of  tyrants.  This 
deficiency  of  the  principal  article  of  human  food  consequently 
abridged  the  ration  given  to  prisoners  ;  but  the  same  quantity  of 
labour  and  the  same  unyielding  rigour  was  enforced,  without  the 
least  allowance  being  made  for  deficient  sustenance.  Again,  the 
most  daring  instances  of  insubordination  or  revolt  displayed  them- 
selves during  despotic  management ;  for  example,  the  dangerous 
risings  at  Castle  Hill  and  Toongabbee  were  produced  by  the  cruel 
and  unrestrained  brutality  of  the  overseers  of  the  public  gangs  in 
those  districts.  Was  not  the  serious  revolt  at  Norfolk  Island,  while 
under  the  command  of  Colonel  Foveaux,  the  consequence  of  horrible 
oppression,  where,  during  his  government,  prisoners  were  actually 
hanged  without  any  kind  of  examination  whatever,  and  floggings 
administered  with  a  barbarity  unrivalled  in  any  country  recorded  in 
the  annals  of  history  ?  In  the  time  of  General  Darling,  what  caused 
the  murders  of  Donohoe — the  plunderings  of  Walmesley  and  Webber 
— and  the  Bathurst  rising,  but  an  overweening  severity  of  discipline, 
and  an  inadequate  sufficiency  of  food.     Norfolk  Island  has,  within 


APPENDIX. 

the  last  few  weeks,  been  the  scene  of  new  butcheries.  The  system 
of  treatment  pursued  towards  the  prisoners  there  by  Colonel  Morisset 
engenders  all  those  combustibles  which  must  ignite  whenever  oppor- 
tunities offer,  and  human  life  cannot  fail  of  becoming  the  sacrifice 
to  an  injudicious  mode  of  coercion.  It  is  proper  here  to  remark, 
that  the  middle  class  of  settlers,  principally,  nay  in  some  cases  ex- 
clusively,'^composed  of  Expirees  and  Emancipists,  were  actually  on 
these  occasions,  and  particularly  at  Castle  Hill,  the  Colonial  Militia 
who  armed  themselves  in  defence  of  the  Government,  and  subdued, 
with  a  vigour  and  energy  seldom  equalled,  one  of  the  most  remark- 
able risings  which  has  yet  distinguished  the  Colony.  These,-Sir,  are 
however  but  partial  instances  of  insubordination,  when  compared 
with  the  daring  and  rebellious  purposes  of  those  who^  as  I  will  shew 
you,  were  engaged  in  the  deposition  of  Governor  Bligh.  Those 
men  boast.  Sir,  of  an  invisible  influence  in  controlling  His  Majesty's 
Ministers,  and  as  giving  a  direction  to  their  designs,  only  to  an  ex- 
tent that  will  tally  with  their  prejudices  and  interests.  All  free 
institutions  carry,  in  their  opinion,  dangerous  contagion — reforma- 
tion in  the  prison  population  is  never  viewed  with  the  least  concern  j 
and  I  assert.  Sir,  that  it  is  from  those  who  have  been  actually 
engaged  in  open  rebellion,  and  their  relations  and  partizans,  that  the 
cry  of  insubordination  has  been  accelerated,  and  His  Majesty's 
Ministers  appealed  to  by  those  loyal  and  honourable  subjects  of  our 
Sovereign,  as  the  ne  plus  ultra  of  morality  in  this  Colony ;  they 
were  rebels  during  the  unlawful  imprisonment  of  Governor  Bligh — 
enemies  to  the  generous  Macquarie — cyphers  in  the  Government  of 
the  gallant  Brisbane — gods  in  the  eyes  of  General  Darling — and 
cyphers  again  during  the  present  administration  of  the  veteran 
Bourke.  Major  M'Arthur,  of  London,  is  their  deputed  oracle,  from 
whom.  Sir,  you  will  doubtless  learn  much ;  but  it  will  be  dangerous 
to  attend  to  his  suggestions.  If  the  Government  be  rotten,  a  public 
meeting  will  soon  develope  corruption  or  injustice  ;  but  private 
cabals  and  secret  whisperings  are  always  the  artitices  of  cowards, 
who  have  private  revenge  to  consummate,  and  public  happiness  to 
murder. 

The  principles  which  gave  life  and  vigour  to  the  faction  that  has 
so  long  divided  the  best  interests  of  the  Colony,  have  been  evinced 
either  in  open  array  against  the  acts  of  the  Governor,  or  in  attempts 


APPENDIX. 

to  destroy  confidence  in  his  Government  by  the  application  of  secret 
incendiary  acts.  The  opposition  of  the  members  of  this  faction  is 
grounded — first,  upon  the  denial  of  indemnification  for  corrupt  acts, 
or  gross  errors  in  the  exercise  of  the  magisterial  functions  ;  secondly, 
from  the  refusal  of  the  Government  to  sanction  picked  Juries,  in 
which  that  faction  shall  hold  the  power  of  nomination  among  them- 
selves ;  and  thirdly,  by  the  substitution  of  fifty  lashes,  in  lieu  of  an 
almost  unlimited  discretion  of  punishment  for  oifences  of  a  trifling 
nature,  among  the  prison  population,  which  the  Justices  at  one  time 
held  joined  with  the  condemnation  of  the  abominable  practice  which 
some  few  years  since  prevailed,  of  allowing  one  Magistrate  to  invite 
his  neighbour  to  dine,  and,  while  participating  in  his  good  cheer,  sit 
also  in  judgment  upon  his  servants,  and  flog  them  from  friendship 
to  their  master. 

It  will  not.  Sir,  I  feel  confident,  be  contended  that  these  general 
regulations  of  police  are  arbitrary  or  injudicious  on  the  part  of  our 
excellent  and  highly  esteemed  ruler.  They  are,  however,  the  germ 
from  which  has  sprung  that  rancorous  hatred  to  his  Excellency  and 
his  confidential  advisers,  which  the/e«;  wish  to  communicate  to  the 
many.  Even  the  Council  which  passed  the  law  is  divided,  and  the 
Members  are  supposed  to  stand  as  follows 

FOR  THE  GOVERNOR.  OPPOSITIONISTS. 

F,  Forbes,  Esq,,  Chief  Justice.       Rev.  W.G.Brough ton.  Archdeacon. 

Colonel  Snodgrass,  C.  B.  Robert  Campbell,  Esq. 

John  Kinchella,  Esq.  At.-General.  Alexander  Berry,  Esq. 

Wm.  Lithgow,  Esq.  Aud.-Gen.      Richard  Jones,  Esq, 

John  Blaxland,  Esq.  Hannibal  Hawkins  M'Arthur,  Esq. 

Archibald  Bell,  Esq. 

DOUBTFUL. 

Burman  Lauga,  Esq,  Acting  Collector  of  Customs. 
Edward  Charles  Close,  Esq. 

NEUTRAL  FROM  NECESSITY. 
Alexander  M'Leay,  Esq.,  Colonial  Secretary. 

The  Archdeacon,  as  the  head  of  the  Church  Establishment,  with 
a  salary  of  ^2,000  a  year,  is  entitled  to  a  seat  in  the  Council.  The 
Archdeacon,  it  is  said,  stands  up  in  the  ranks  against  the  leniency  of 


APPENDIX. 

the  Governor,  but  surely  his  opposition  cannot  be  on  this  account ; 
it  appears  rather  to  be  in  consequence  of  the  desire  which  His 
Excellency  has  shown  to  cut  down  some  of  the  large  salaries  and 
allowances  which  the  Clerical  body  had  long  enjoyed,  under  the 
administration  of  General  Darling.  The  Church  Corporation  also 
has  been  dissolved,  and  the  secular  controul,  heretofore  possessed  by 
the  Clergy,  has  changed  hands — a  circumstance  which  an  ambitious 
Churchman  will  never  cease  to  avenge,  by  throwing  his  weight  into 
the  balance  against  the  measures  of  that  Government  which  has 
accomplished  the  abolition.  Yet  in  private  society  the  Archdeacon 
is  a  pious  and  virtuous  man.  The  virtual  head  of  the  faction  in 
Council,  as  well  as  in  the  Colony  generally,  is  the  M'Arthur  family, 
and  their  immediate  friends  and  dependants.  Mr.  H.  H.  M'Arthur 
is  the  nephew  of  John  M'Arthur,  Esq.,  whose  name  is  associated 
with  the  illegal  deposition  of  Governor  Bligh.  The  old  gentleman 
was  originally  one  of  the  Council,  but  becoming  imbecile,  he  ceased 
to  be  a  Member.  The  whole  of  this  family  are  determined  foes  to 
every  measure  that  has  even  the  show  oi  liberality.  They  have 
acquired  so  much  property  and  influence  under  a  close  and  despotic 
form  of  Government,  that  they  wish  its  dynasty  to  be  immortal. 
Mr.  James,  the  son  of  the  elderly  Member,  is  the  only  one  of  the 
name  who  possesses  reasonable  or  consistent  politics.  The  political 
support  of  such  a  man  as  Mr.  Hannibal  can  never  be  safe.  Assist- 
ance given  to  perpetuate  undue  severity,  and  misgovernment,  is  alike 
dangerous  to  the  ruler  and  to  the  ruled.  Mr.  Campbell  is  a  M'^Ar- 
thurite,  in  the  strictest  sense  of  the  word.  It  would  be  difficult  to 
pronounce  upon  what  principle  Mr.  Berry's  opposition  to  the  pre- 
sent administration  proceeds,  except  that,  having  been  during  the 
reign  of  misrule  an  obsequious  Darlingist,  he  stands  opposed  to  the 
liberal  form  of  Government  pursued  by  General  Bourke  His  sup- 
port, however,  would  bring  no  weight  beyond  his  single  vote,  as  he 
is  a  mere  cypher  in  affairs  of  the  State.  Mr.  Richard  Jones  is  a 
fiery  Darlingist.  He  is  said  to  be  a  moral  man — one  who  treats 
his  servants  with  leniency,  and  they  acknowledge  his  tenderness 
with  a  corresponding  anxiety  to  promote  his  interests.  This  ought, 
at  least,  to  convince  him  that  insubordination,  so  loudly  proclaimed 
to  exist,  must  proceed  in  a  great  measure  from  ill-treatment.  He  is 
known  to  have  been  formerly  a  "  high  Tory,"  and  to  be  now  a 


APPENDIX. 

"  Radical,"  and  one  of  the  Governor's  sturdiest  opponents  :  never- 
theless, I  do  not  think  he  could  assign  a  reasonable  motive  for  his 
conduct.  These  few  individuals  it  is,  who  have  gathered  around 
them  a  host  of  hornets,  to  buzz  about  and  annoy  the  Government. 
Governor  Darling,  by  the  potent  aid  of  250,000  acres  of  land,  and 
convict  mechanics  of  every  description,  silenced  every  grumbling, 
and  made  them  ever  obedient  to  his  command.  General  Bourke 
has  no  such  gifts  at  his  disposal,  and  if  he  had,  I  do  not  think  he 
would  be  anxious  to  employ  this  species  of  influence  to  stop  the 
mouths  of  the  few  who  now  agitate  the  Colony. 

If  we  look  to  the  Press,  we  shall  see  that  the  preponderance  of 
its  organs,  inclines  to  the  system  of  policy  pursued  by  the  present 
Government. 

If  we  turn  our  attention  to  the  populous  districts  of  the  Colony, 
we  shall  find  at  least  10,000  men  who  subsist  by  agricultural  occu- 
pations, perfectly  satisfied  with  the  present  order  of  things.  If  we 
observe  the  number  of  Magistrates  in  the  Commission,  we  shall  find 
136  on  the  list,  and  of  these  only  about  ten  signed  the  Petition  for 
extending  their  summary  powers. 

You  now  see.  Sir,  from  the  statement  of  facts  I  have  respectfully 
submitted  for  your  consideration,  that  the  most  direct  oppression 
and  bitter  slavery  will  inevitably  result  from  the  slightest  concession 
made  to  the  demands  of  the  Petitioners  of  Hunter's  River,  who 
require  more  power,  and  less  responsibility  in  the  punishment  of  their 
assigned  convict  servants.  You  are  here  aftbrded  correct  and  com- 
plete data  for  forming  a  deliberate  opinion  whether  or  not  General 
Bourke  acted  with  proper  vigour  and  judgement  in  his  indignant 
rejection  of  a  demand  for  the  modification  of  a  Colonial  law,  which, 
while  it  mitigated  many  terrific  features  in  the  abominable  penal  dis- 
cipline of  the  Colony,  was  still  insuflScient  to  bridle  the  dispositions 
of  all,  and  to  prevent  the  dignity  of  justice  and  humane  feeling  from 
degenerating  into  the  extremest  point  of  savage  brutality. 

Will  not  the  British  Government  exert  its  strong  arm  to  avert  the 
insidious  designs  of  a  body  of  men  who  are  arrayed  with  hostile 
front  against  the  future  destiny  of  thousands  of  their  unhappy  fellow- 
subjects.  On  you.  Sir,  will  devolve  the  sacred  duty  of  confounding 
the  representations  of  a  few  discontented  and  daring  calumniators. 
The  People  of  Australia  look  up  to  you  as  the  successful  arbiter  of 


APPENDIX. 

their  fate  in  the  impending  contest ;  and  I  but  reiterate  the  senti- 
ments of  the  great  body  of  my  fellow  Colonists,  when  I  pray  that  a 
successful  result  may  crown  your  anticipated  vindication  of  our 
rights,  and  our  most  sanguine  expectations. 

I  have  the  honour  to  be, 
SIR, 
Your  most  obedient  Servant, 

HUMANITAS, 

An  Emigrant  of  1821. 

Sydney,  New  South  Wales, 
3lst  March,  1834. 


INDEX. 


j4rea  and  Extent  of  Cape  of  Good  Hope  1.  Mauritius,  or  Isle  of 
France,  161.  Seychelles,  198.  Madagascar,  902.  New  Holland, 
•221.  New  South  Wales,  227.  Van  Dietnen's  Land,  377-  Swan 
River  and  W.  Australia,  46.5.  Falkland  Islands,  504.  St.  Helena 
and  Ascension  .514.     Western  Africa,  536. 

Africa,  Southern,  from  p.  1,  to  160. 

Africa,  Western,  from  p.  535,  to  617. 

Animal  Kingdom,  Cape  of  Good  Hope,  GQ.  Mauritius,  182.  New 
South  Wales,  287.  Van  Diemen's  Land,  433.  Falkland  Islands, 
507.     St.  Helena  and  Ascension,  530.    Western  Africa,  583. 

Accra  Fort,  West  Africa,  567. 

Australian  Agricultural  Company,  618.     ('Jppendix.J 

Ascension  Island,  533. 

Banks  of  New  South  Wales,  368.  of  Australia,  370.  of  Australasia, 
371.  of  the  Derwent,  461.  of  Van  Diemen's  Land,  460.  of  Corn- 
wall, 461.      of  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope,  140.     of  Mauritius,  193. 

Bathurst  Settlement,  at  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope,  29.  at  New  South, 
Wales,  250.     at  the  Gambia,  West  Africa,  561. 

Caffres,  their  appearance,  habits,  religion,  &c.  from  98  to  104. 

Cannibalism  in  New  South  Wales,  Sol. 

Cape  Coast  Castle,  locality,  565.    government,  599.  commerce.  610. 

Climate,  Cape  of  Good  Hope,  50.  Mauritius,  I76.  Seychelles,  199. 
New  South  Wales,  279.  Van  Diemen's  Land,  422.  Swan  River 
and  W.  Australia,  476.  St.  Helena  and  Ascension,  527-  W^estern 
Africa,  5*2. 

Convicts,  number  at  New  South  Whales,  306.  at  Van  Diemen's  Land, 
440  and  446.    Expenses  attending,  358.     treatment  of,  312. 

Commerce,  Cape  of  Good  Hope,  150.  Mauritius,  207.  Van  Die- 
men's  Land,  457.  Western  Africa,  from  p,  602  to  p.  608.  (See 
Table  facing  Introduction.) 

Discovery  of  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope,  4.  of  Mauritius,  161.  of 
Seychelles,  198.  of  Madagascar,  202.  of  New  Holland.  213.  of 
Falkland  Isles,  504.    of  St.  Helena,  514.  of  Western  Africa,  535. 

Education  at  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope,  126.    Mauritius,  195.     New 

South  Wales,  345.    Van   Diemen's  Land,  450. 
ElMina  Fortress,  W.  Africa,  .547- 
Emigration  to  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope,  158.    New  South  Wales,  307. 

Van  Diemen's  Land,  464.     Swan  River  and  W,  Australia,  471. 

female,  376.     juvenile,  159. 


\ 


INDEX. 

Falkland  Islands,  from  [>.  504  to  p.  513. 

Fernando  Po  (Island),  ^.^1. 

Finance,  Cape  of  Good  Hope,  129.     Mauritius   190.      New   South 

Wales,  349.     Van  Diemen's  Land,  452.     Swan  River,  47  9.     St. 

Helena  and  Ascension,  h?j9,.     Western  Africa,  599. 
Formation  of  Settlement  of  New  South  Wales,  227.     Cape  of  Good 

Hope,  5.     Mauritius,   162.      Van   Diemen's  Land,    3/8.     Swan 

River,   467.     St.  Helena   and   Ascension,   516.     Settlements   on 

Western  Africa,  555. 

Gambia  jRirer,  settlements  on,  559.  government,  599.  Commerce,  602. 
Geology  of  Cape   of  Good  Hope,  42.    Mauritius,  175.      Seychelles, 

175.     New  South  Wales,  266.    Van  Diemen's  Land,  4  19.    Swan 

River  and  W.  Australia,  472.    Falkland  Island.s,  510.     it.  Helena 

and  Ascension,  528.     '^Vestern  Africa,  571. 
G'overHme/;/,  Cape  of  Good  Hope,  116.    Mauritius,  188.    New  South 

Wales,  319.     Van  Diemen's  Land,  448.  Swan  River,  479.     St. 

Helena,  531.     Western  Africa  Settlements,  598. 
Geography  of  Cape  of  Good  Hope,  9.  Mauritius,  161.  Seychelles,  198. 

Madagascar,  202.     New  South  Wales,  237-     Van  Diemen's  Land, 

377-     Swan  River  and  W.  Australia,  468.     South  Australia,  481. 

Norfolk  Island,  374.      Falkland   Islands,  513.     St.  Helena  and 

Ascension  525.     Western  Africa,  536. 
Gold  imported  from  Western  Africa,  517' 

Cape  of  Good  Hope,  area  of  2.  animal  kingdom,  66.  agricultural 
stock,  150.  climate,  50.  commerce,  150.  Education,  126.  Emi- 
gration to,  158.  general  history,  2.  geology,  42.  government, 
form  of,  116.  Laws,  120.  military  defence,  119.  Monetary 
system,  135.  native  tribes,  viz.  Caffres,  &c.  99.  physical  aspect, 
9.  press,  128.  population,  80.  produce,  80.  property,  value 
of,  156.  prospects,  157.  rivers,  92.  staple  articles,  142.  Ship- 
ping, 151,  territorial  divisions,  8.  vegetable  kingdom,  59. 
wool  exportations,  148. 

JJislory  of  Cape  of  Good  Hope,  2.  Madagascar,  203.  Mauritius, 
161.  New  South  Wales,  2 16.  Van  Diemen's  Land,  377.  Falkland 
Islands,  584.    St.  Helena,  514.     \\'estern  Africa,  535. 

Mauritius,  or  Isle  of  France,  area  of,  161.  animal  kingdom,  182.  Cli- 
mate, 176.  Commerce,  207.  conquest,  I70.  dependencies,  viz. 
Seychelles,  Rodrigues,  &c.  198.  Discovery,  161.  education,  195. 
finance,  190.  geology,  175.  government,  form  of,  188.  History 
of,  161.  laws  and  courts^  189.  monetary  system  192.  monies, 
193.  military  defence  190.  mountains,  1/2.  physical  aspect,  I7I. 
press,  195.  })opuhiti()n,  204.  iin>i)erty,  210.  livers,  172.  staple 
jjroduce,  183.  sh)])ping,  207.  Seychelle  Lslands,  198.  sugar 
produced  in  Mauritius,  209.  territorial  division,  183.  vegetable 
kingdom,  182. 


INDEX. 

Military  defence,  Cape  of  Good  Hope,  1  ID.  Mauritius,  190.  New 
South  Wales,  342.  Van  Diemen's  Land,  4  49.  Swan  River  and 
W.  Australia,  480,  St.  Helena,  and  Ascension,  531.  Western 
Africa,  603. 

Monetary  System,  Cape  of  Good  Hope,  135.  Mauritius,  192.  New 
South  Wales,  3G8.     Van  Diemen's  Land,  459. 

Mineralogy,  Cape  of  Good  Hope,  42.  Mauritius,  1J6.  New  South 
Wales,  266.     Van  Diemen's  Land,  419. 

Moon,  influence  of  I77.    ditto  weather  indications,  424. 

Murder,  providential  discovery  of,  304, 

Napoleon  at  St.  Helena,  521. 

New  South  Wales,  aborigines  of,  303.  animal  kingdom,  287.  area, 
227.  aspect,  237.  coal  mines,  Appendix,  commerce,  364.  climate, 
279.  education,  344.  formation  of  settlement,  229.  finance,  348. 
geology,  266.  government,  319.  geography,  23*.  Holland,  New, 
discovery  of,  213.  extent,  216.  mail  and  stage  coaches,  338. 
mountains,  254,  monetary  system,  368.  mineralogy,  266.  pri- 
soners, number,  treatir.ent  of,  308.  property,  373.  population, 
295.  police  re^julalions,  328.  post  office,  336.  press,  344.  rivers, 
256.  religion,  344.  roads,  333.  staple  produce,  352.  social 
state  and  future  prospects,  374.  shipping,  366.  soil,  266.  steam- 
boats, 271.     territorial  divisions,  238.     vegetable  kingdom,  282. 

Penal  Settlements,  443. 

Platypus,  or  Ornythorhincus,  from  p.  2S9  and  434. 

Produce,  Cape  of  Good    Hope,  80.     Mauritius,   183.      New  South 

Wales,  358.      Van    Diemen's    Land,    463.      Swan    River,  480. 

Falkland  Islands,  511.     St.  Helena  and  Ascension,  530.     Western 

Africa,  577- 
P/?z/sicaZ  Avpecf,  Cape  of  Good  Hope,  9.  Mauritius,  I7I.    Seychelles, 

199.     New  South  Wales,  237.     Van  Diemen's  Land,  381.     Swan 

River,  468.     S.  Australia,  468.    Falkland  Islands,  513.     St.  Helena 

and  Ascension,  524.     Western  Africa,  536. 
Police  of  New  South  Wales,  328. 
Population,  Cape  Good   Hope,   SO.     Mauritius,  183,     Madagascar. 

203.     New  South  Wales,  295.     Van  Diemen's  Land,  44*.     Swan 

River,  479.  St.  Helena  and  Ascension,  531.    Western  Africa,  593. 

{See  also  Table  facing  Introduction.) 
Press,  Cape  of  Good  Hope,  128.  Mauritius,  195.  New  South  Wales, 

347.     Van  Diemen's  Land,  451.     Swan  River,  480. 
Property,  Cape  of  Good  Hope,  156.     Mauritius,  210.     New  South 

Wales,  373.    Van  Diemen's  Land,  462.     {See  Table  facing  Intro- 

ducdon.) 

Rivers,  Cape  of  Good  Hope,  33.  Mauritius,  17*2.  New  South  Wales, 
256.  Van  Diemen's  Land,  383.  Swan  River,  470.  S.  Australia, 
469.    Western  Africa,  551 


INDEX. 

Religion,  Cape  of  Good  Hope,  128.  Mauritius,  195.  New  South 
Wales,  344.     Van  Diemen's  Land,  450. 

Sailing  Instructions,  Falkland  Islands,  ,513.  for  Table  Bay,  15. 
for  Western  Africa,  56"9. 

Secondarij  Punishments,  (see  Introduction  and  Letter  lo  Lord  Stanley, 
in  Appendix). 

Shipping,  Cape  of  Good  Hope,  151.  Mauritius,  207.  New  South 
Wales,  366.  Van  Diemen's  Land,  457.  St.  Helena  and  Ascension, 
534.     Western  Africa,  601. 

Social  State  and  future  Prospects  of  Cape  Good  Hope,  157-  Mauri- 
tius, 211.  New  South  Wales,  374.  Van  Diemen's  Land,  463. 
Swan  River  and  W.  Australia,  480.  St.  Helena  and  Ascension, 
534.    Western  Africa,  517,  and  Introduction. 

Soil,  Cape  of  Good  Hope,  42.  Mauritius,  175.  New  South  Wales, 
266.  Van  Diemen's  Land,  419.  Swan  River,  472.  S.  Australia, 
489.  Falkland  Islands,  510.  St.  Helena  and  Ascension,  528. 
Western  Africa,  571. 

Sierra  Leone  Settlement,  555.  aspect,  555.  population,  596.  go- 
vernment, 598.    trade,  602.    treatment  of,  600. 

Senegal  River  and  Settlements,  537.     Seychelle  Islands,  200. 

Slavery,  effects  thereof  in  Western  Africa,  {Introduction.) 

Skeleton,  human,  297-  measurement  of  male  and  female,  298. 

Southern  Australia,  Description  of  and  projected  Colonization,  from 
p.  481  to  p.  503. 

Fan  Diemen's  Land,  history,  377-  aspect,  381.  climate,  422.  geology, 

439.     population,  animal,  and  vegetable  kingdom,  426.     trade, 

shipping  457.    agricultural  produce,  391.    value  of  property,  462. 

convicts,  and  their  treatment,  from  p.  440  to  446.     Van  Diemen's 

Land  Company,     (Appendix.) 
Vegetable   Kingdom,  Cape    of   Good    Hope,   59.      Seychelles,  200. 

New  South  Wales,  282.     Van  Diemen's  Lund,  427-     Swan  River. 

478.     Falkland   Isles,  510.     St.   Helena,  529.     Western  Africa, 

575. 

Wool  trade  of  England,  359.     importation  into  Great  Britain,  360. 
Weights  and  Measures,  Cape  of  Good  Hope,  141. 


LONDON  : 
rniNTGIj   BV  W.  NICOL,  Til,    I'AI.F..;mALF. 


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