Enterprise in Tropical Australia

Front matter

ENTERPRISE IN TROPICAL AUSTRALIA. BY G. WINDSOR EARL, M.R.A.S. LINGUIST TO THE NORTH AUSTRALIAN EXPEDITION, AND COMMISSIONER OF CROWN LANDS FOR PORT ESSINGTON. LONDON : MADDEN AND MALCOLM, LEADENHALL STREET. 1816. london: JOSEPH RICKERBY, PRfNTKR, SHERBOURN LANE, CITY. TO COMMODORE SIR J. J. GORDON BREMER K.C.B., KC.H., Ac. UNDER WHOSE SUPERINTENDENCE THE PORT ESSINGTON SETTLE- MENT WAS FOUNDED; AND WHOSE CHEERFUL PARTICIPATION IN THE LABOURS AND PRIVATIONS THAT MUST ALWAYS FALL TO THE LOT OF PIONEERS OF CIVILIZATION IN A NEW COUNTRY GAVE LIFE TO THE ENTERPRISE, AND RENDERED THAT WHICH WOULD OTHERWISE HAVE BEEN AN ARDUOUS DUTY, A PLEASING AND AGREEABLE TASK, THIS LITTLE WORK IS INSCRIBED BY HIS ATTACHED AND OBEDIENT SERVANT, THE AUTHOR. By the same Author, Will shortly be published, in One Volume Post Octavo, A GENERAL VIEW OF THE FIELDS OF COMMERCE IN THE ISLANDS AND COUNTBIES OF EASTERN ASIA. CONTENTS.

Chapter I. Expeditions To The Tropical Coasts Of Australia

Expeditions of the Dutch — Voyage of Flinders — Meets with Vessels from Macassar at the Head of the Gulf of Carpentaria — Lieutenant King's Survey — Discovery of Port Essington — The Melville Island Expedition — Early Struggles — The Raffles' Bay Settlement founded — Encounter with the Natives — Melville Island abandoned — Character of the Natives — Progress of Baffles' Bay — Settlement abandoned — The Occupation of the North Coast of Australia again proposed — Project of the French — The Port Essington Expedition fitted out . . .1

Chapter II The Port Essington Expedition

— VOYAGE THROUGH TORRES STRAIT. Departure of the Expedition from England — Arrival at Sydney — Preparations for the New Settlement — Sail for Port Essington — Rendezvous off Smoky Cape — Mount Warning* — Meet a Whaleship -Pass round Break-sea Spit — The Great Barrier Reefs — Percy Islands — CapeUpstart — Natives seen — Hoist out thedecked Boat — The Mountain Range — Anchor near the Frankland Islands — Fitzroy Island — Natives near the Hope Islands — Cape Tribulation and Captain Cook — Termination of the Mountain Range — Change in the Appearance of the Country — Visit to the Claremont Islands — Natives near Cape Direction — Recreations on Shore — Weymouth Bay and the Bird Islands — The Albany Islands — Excursion to Cape York — The Ceremony of taking Possession—Natives of Torres Strait— Booby Island — Leave Torres Strait for Port Essington CONTENTS. VI

Chapter III. Port Essington

— FOUNDING THE SETTLEMENT. Arrival at Port Essington — Appearance of the Coast — Visit from the Natives— Examination of the Harbour— Site fixed for the Settlement— Occupation and Amusements — The Springs — Topography of the Settlement — Progress of the Buildings — Wells — Alligators — Narrow Escape — Intercourse with the Natives — Detection of a Pilferer — The Schooner Essington chartered — Dutch Establishments on the Islands — Voyage of the Dourga— Settlement on New Guinea — Fate of the Lady Nelson and Stedcombe — Of the Alexander— Sail from Port Essington — Kissa — Commerce of the Island— Native Traders— The Chief of Obousa— Character of the Natives — Survivor of the Crew of the Stedcombe — Letti — Moa — Return to Kissa — Live Stock — -Arrive at Port Essington — • Wreck of the Orontes . . . .31

Chapter IV. Port Essington

— PROGRESS OF THE SETTLEMENT. Preparations for the Rainy Season — Excursion of the Britomart to Timor — Arrival of Macassar Prahus — Strange Ships upon the Coast — Arrival of Commodore D'Urville — -Lieutenant Stanley's Excursion to the Arru Islands and Timor Laut — Departure of the Prahus — Fate of Bapa Padu — Lieutenant Stewart's inland Excursion — Departure of the Alligator for Sydney — The Pelorus and Gilmore dispatched from Sydney-- Notice respecting Leases of Land — Hurricane — Her Majesty's Ship Pelorus stranded — Return of the Alligator — Trading Vessels from the Indian Archipelago — Progress of Events — Annual Visits of the Macassar Prahus — Arrival of Her Majesty's Ships North Star and Alligator — Influence of the Settlement on the neighbouring Islands of the Indian Archipelago — Arrival of a party of Marines to relieve the Garrison . . . . .54 CONTENTS. VII

Chapter V. The Cobourg Peninsula

— GEOGRAPHICAL FEATURES, SOIL, AND NATURAL PRODUCTIONS. Nature of the Country — Lakes and Streams — Rivers — Harbours — Valleys and Uplands — Wells — Trees— Patches of Indian Vegetation — Timber — Vegetable Productions — Grasses — Wild Animals — Birds — Jungle-Fowl — Water-Fowl — Irruptions of Hawks —Fish and Turtle — The Carvalho — Salmon — The Trepang Fishery . . . . .72

Chapter VI. The Cobourg Peninsula

— SEASONS AND CLIMATE. The Trade- Wind — Seasons — Temperature — Climate — Comparative salubrity of Places in the Indian Archipelago — Influences of Swamps and Mud-Banks — Straits and Land-locked Harbours — Failures of Attempts at European Settlement — Climate of the Peninsula generally . . .86

Chapter VII. General View Of Tropical Australia Capabilities For Producing Articles Of

COMMERCE. Recent Surveys — The Adelaide and Victoria Rivers — Head of the Gulf of Carpentaria — The North-east Coast — The Wild Buffalo — Pastoral Pursuits — Experiments in Culture — Tropical Vegetation — Garden Produce — Articles of Commerce — Sugar- Cane — Coffee — The Cotton-Plant : Bourbon and Pernambuco Cotton — Cotton Culture at Moreton Bay . . 99

Chapter VIII. Sources Of Labour

Effects of Climate on European Labourers — The Aborigines — Imported Labour in Tropical Settlements — Collisions of Races — CONTENTS. VIII Europeans and the Australian Aborigines — Tropical Labour — Timor Laut.— The Ki Islanders— Over-population at Kissa— The Natives of Rotti — Native Christians — Timorians — People of Ce lebes — Labour at Singapore — Malays, Chinese, and Natives of India — Cost of Labour — Advantages of employing Labourers of different Nations — Comparative Qualities of Indian, Chinese, and Malayan Labourers . . . .115

Chapter IX. Settlements In Tropical Australia As Connected With The Interests Of

THE SOUTHERN COLONIES. Tropical Plantations — Cotton Culture in India and America — European Superintendence — Tropical Colonization in the United States — Its influence on Emigration from Europe — Slave and Free Labour — Influence of the American System on Great Britain — Movement of the Australian Colonists — Progress of New South Wales — Van Dieman's Land and Port Philip — Swan River —Supposed Scarcity of Labour in New South Wales — Field of Production in the Southern Colonies — South Australia — Effects of the South Australian System on New South Wales — The late Commercial Crisis — Efforts of the Colonists to retrieve their Affairs — Petition to import Coolie Labour— The Overland Expedition to Port Essington — Efforts of the South Australian Colonists to reach the Northern Coasts — Recent Events in Europe and America as connected with the Australian Colonies — Concluding Note. . . . . .128 ERRATA.

Page 26, eight lines from tbe bottom, for " branches," read bunches. „ 46, nine lines from the bottom, for " had," read having. „ 67, ten lines from the bottom, after " year," insert 1843. „ 69, bottom line, for " 1845," read 1844. „ 136, third line from the bottom, for "parent," read present. „ 138, third line from the bottom, for " 859,357," read 359,357. ENTERPRISE, &c.

Chapter I

Expeditions to the Tropical Coasts of Australia. Expeditions of the Dutch — Voyage of Flinders — Meets with Vessels from Macassar at the Head of the Gulf of Carpentaria — Lieutenant King's Survey — Discovery of Port Essington — The Melville Island Expedition — Early Struggles — The Raffles Bay Settlement founded — Encounter with the Natives — Melville Island abandoned — Character of the Natives — Progress of Raffles Bay — Settlement abandoned — The Occupation of the North Coast of Australia again proposed — Project of the French — The Port Essington Expedition fitted out. The tropical coasts of Australia were first explored during the early part of the seventeenth century by the Dutch, who were naturally anxious to gain a knowledge ofthe countries closely bordering on their valuable possessions in the Spice Islands ; but they appear to have been satisfied with a veiy cursory examination, wliich, however, was sufficient to prove that the northern coasts possessed no natural advantages likely to tempt other European powers to establish themselves there, at a period in which commerce rather than colonization was the great object of national enterprise.

The occupation of New South Wales by the British, in 1788, tended to excite a more general interest respecting Australia than had ever previously existed; aud, in 1801, Lieut. B Flinders, in the Investigator, was dispatched from this country to complete the survey of the coasts, which had been so ably commenced by our celebrated navigator Cook. Flinders arrived at Sydney in the early part of 180-2, having traced the greater portion of the southern coasts during the passage out, and soon afterwards sailed for the north coast where he took up the survey at the north-east extreme of the continent, near the point at which the examination had been discontinued by Cap tain Cook. Upon the Wellesly Islands, at the very head of the Gulf of Carpentaria, Flinders met with traces of a people who were evidently much further advanced in civilization than any of the aboriginal tribes of Australia that had yet been encountered; and he rightly conjectured that they were only occasional visitors.

This point did not long remain in doubt, for near the north-west hom of the gulf, when about to leave the coast, he met with a fleet of large prahus, coming down before the wind from the Indian Archipelago ; and being able to communicate with the strangers through the medium of a Malayan cook on board the Investigator, he learned that they were natives of Celebes, who were in the habit of making annual visits to the north coast of Australia, for the purpose of procuring the trepang, a sea-slug, which abounds on the coast; these animals being cured, and afterwards disposed of to the Chinese who resorted to Macassar, and by whom they were highly prized as a most nutritious article of food. Sixty prahus were then upon the coast, and as each vessel carries a crew amounting on an average to thirty men, this apparently insignificant animal was of sufficient value and importance to tempt eighteen hundred men to undertake annually a long, and, to them, hazardous voyage, which must entail upon them an absence from home during at least two-thirds of the year.

The long detention of Flinders at the Mauritius, as a prisoner of war, retarded the publication ofthe narrative of his voyage until twelve years after it had terminated, and the disordered state of Europe at that time pre vented any further steps being taken with regard to the tropical coasts of Australia; but when the cessation of war enabled the government of this country to tura its attention to matters connected with the extension of our commercial interests, Lieut. King was appointed to continue the Australian survey. He commenced his labours iu a small cutter which was fitted out at Sydney in the year 1818, and during this and the three subsequent years, the survey ofthe north coast was completed. The discovery of several large rivers (two of which were accessible to ships of burthen) and of the harbour of Port Essington resulted from this examination.

Of the latter, Lieut. King states in his narrative, " As a harbour, Port Essington is equal, if not superior, to any I ever saw ; and from its proximity to the Moluccas, and its being in the direct line of communication between Port Jackson and India, as well as from its commanding situation with respect to the passage through Torres Straits, it must, at no very distant period, become a place of great trade and of very considerable importance." Lieut. King returned to England at a time in which the public mind was very much occupied with the affairs of the Indian Archipelago ; and the immense sacrifice that had been made by restoring Java and its depen dencies to the Dutch, — an act that was followed by tbe virtual prohibition of our manufactures in the newly- B restored possessions, — was fully understood and appre ciated; while, at the same time, the success that had attended the new settlement at Singapore, sen-ed to point out the way in which the shock that our com mercial interests in this part of the world had received might be in some degree remedied.

The statements of Lieut. King, coupled with the representations of parties practically acquainted with the commerce of the Indian Archipelago, were therefore not unheeded, and an expedition was fitted out to occupy the north coast of Aus tralia, the command of which was given to Captain Sir J. J. Gordon Bremer, who arrived in Sydney with the Tamar, of twenty-four guns, in July, 1821. He shortly afterwards sailed for the north coast, having under his convoy a transport and a govemment brig, conveying a detachment ofthe third regiment and forty five convicts, with stores and provisions for the new settlement. Their destination was Apsley Strait, the channel which separates Melville from Bathurst Island ; this spot having been selected for the principal settlement chiefly on account of the great rise and fall of the tide, (24 feet,) rendering it well adapted for the con struction of dry-docks, and therefore suited for a naval station.

A second settlement was to have been formed at Port Essington, in the event of such a course being deemed advisable. The expedition arrived at the latter place in September, and formal possession was taken of the coast, but fresh water not having been readily dis covered, the ships soon proceeded on their voyage to Melville Island. The settlement was formed in King's Cove, on the east side of Apsley Strait, about twelve miles within its northern entrance. A fort was built and the stores landed, after which the Tamar sailed for India, leaving behind a detachment of marines to form part of the garrison. The Lady Nelson, the government brig, remained at the settlement, with the view to her being employed in bringing supplies of stock and refreshments from the neighbouring islands. The settlement at Melville Island was unfortunate from its very commencement.

Even before the departure of the Tamar, a hostile encounter had taken place with the natives, one of whom was shot dead while attacking a party of seamen ; and they never ceased, while the garrison remained upon the island, to fall upon stragglers whenever theyhad an opportunity. Two officers ancl sevetal men were killed on different occasions, and the density of the forests enabled the natives to make their attacks with comparative impunity. The garrison also suffered considerably from scurvy, the result of long privation from nutritious food. The Lady Nelson had been dispatched to the neighbouring islands for a supply of fresh provisions soon after the departure of the Tamar, and her return was anxiously expected month after month, until at length the most sanguine gave up all hope of her reappearance.

Disease had now made rapid progress, and a schooner, the Stedcombe, which happened to visit the settlement, was hired to go in search of relief; but this vessel also was destined never to return. Vague reports were subsequently found to be current among the natives of Timor, that two small vessels had been cut off with their entire crews by the inhabitants of some of the islands lying to the east ; but beyond this nothing was learned concerning their fate up to the period in which the settlement was abandoned. At length, when almost bereft of hope, the little garrison was cheered by the arrival of a vessel from New South Wales. She was instantly dispatched to Coepang, a Dutch settlement, near the south-east extreme of Timor, and soon returned with supplies of stock and other refreshments, which speedily restored the sick ; but the remembrance of the sufferings they had endured could not readily be effaced, and a settled gloom per vaded the whole community, which was not a little increased on finding that the position of the settlement was not adapted for the purposes for which it was in tended.

The southern channel being blocked up by shoals and sand-banks, ships visiting the settlement were obliged to enter the strait by the northern mouth, where a long rocky spit projected far out to sea, while the prevailing winds, which blew directly out of the strait, added materially to the difficulties of the navigation. These circumstances probably influenced the govem ment in forming a second settlement at Raffles Bay, on the Cobourg Peninsula, a few miles to the eastward of Port Essington. The execution of this service was entrusted to Captain Stirling, of His Majesty's Ship Success, who sailed from Sydney in the year 1827, with three trans ports, conveying a detachment of troops, some convicts, and the necessary stores and implements. The eastern side of Raffles Bay was the spot selected for the settlement, and the buildings were erected in the vicinity of some ponds, which ensured an abundant supply of fresh water.

But here, as at Melville Island, the natives were not inclined to permit the strangers to take undisputed possession of their country, and commenced a series of attacks, which kept the garrison constantlyon the alert. At length Captain Smyth, the commandant, un able any longer to bear this constant annoyance, made a night attack upon their camp, and in the course of the encounter, (or rather flight, for they offered no resist ance,) several natives were killed, and the remainder driven far away. This catastrophe absolutely stunned them. They had supposed that their new visitors, like the Malays, would not dare to venture into the country, but they now felt that their only security lay in abandoning the neighbourhood of their terrible op ponents. To be fully aware of the shock the survivors received from this slaughter of their friends and relatives, it is necessary to be acquainted with the nature of their own encounters, in which the death of a single warrior entails a cessation of hostilities during several weeks, this period being occupied by one tribe in mourning over its loss, and by the other in rejoicings for the blow that has been inflicted upon the enemy.

It is very much to be regretted that this affair took place, but the safety of the garrison rendered it necessary that some steps should be taken to prevent the men from being cut off in detail ; the mode of warfare adopted by the natives, that of creeping up close to the sentries during the night, and throwing spears at them when at a distance of a few yards, rendering such an event by no means a matter of improbability. For several months subsequent to this occurrence, no natives appeared near the settlement, but at length two of the chief men ventured to approach in fear and trembling. For some time they remained in the outskirts, refusing every invitation to enter the camp, until at length a child of one of the soldiers went out and led them in by the hand. Their reception was as favourable as they could have wished, and peace was now fairly established, never again to be interrupted while the settlement was in existence.

The garrison at Melville Island remained there during two years subsequent to the occupation of Raffles Bay. The establishment was then broken up, the stores being removed to the latter settlement. The abandonment of Melville Island can scarcely be a matter for regret. The soil proved fertile, the climate good, and the timber was found to be of a highly valuable description, the vege tation possessing rather an Oriental than an Australian character; but from the general disposition of the na tives, it is scarcely probable that a friendly intercourse could ever have been established between them and their visitors. It is a singular fact, and one for which I was long unable to account, that the natives of Melville Island bear a much closer resemblance to the people of the south-west coast of New Guinea than to the more gentle savages of the adjacent continent of Australia; indeed, the latter do not recognise the Melville Island natives as being ofthe same race with themselves.

The settlement at Raffles Bay proved as prosperous, as that at Melville Island had been the reverse. In the first instance many of the garrison were attacked with scurvy, but this soon disappeared before proper reme dies. The gardens produced abundantly, and many Macassar prahus visited the settlement, the crews bar tering their commodities with the garrison for such European articles as they happened to possess ; aud altogether it was as successful as a mere military post could possibly be. But the existence of the settlement was destined to be of short duration. Captain Stirling, after his departure from Raffles Bay, had proceeded to the western coast for the purpose of examining the Swan River, and his report proved so favourable that govern ment determined to colonize the country in its neighbourhood; and as it was supposed that a commercial intercourse with the Indian Islands could be carried on as advantageously from the Swan River as from Raffles Bay, an establishment at the latter place was of course deemed to be no longer necessary.

In August, 1829, several vessels arrived from Sydney to remove the gar rison, and in a few days they sailed for New South Wales, the stores and cattle being taken to the new set tlement at the Swan River. Captain Barker, who had succeeded Captain Smyth as commandant at Raffles Bay, appears to have entertained a conviction that the settlement would eventually have become an exceedingly useful appendage to our colonial empire.* This gentle man was killed, while on his way to Sydney, by the aborigines at Encounter Bay in South Australia, where, being much addicted to geographical research, he had landed for the purpose of examining an opening that was subsequently discovered to be the embouchure of the Murray and Darling Rivers, which carry off the waters from the back of the Blue Mountains of New South Wales.

The interest that had been excited by these Northern settlements, especially in India and New South Wales, appears to have subsided soon after their abandonment, and in a few years, the circumstance of our ever having had possessions there was not generally known. In the year 1837, however, the subject of colonizing the tropi cal coasts of Australia was again revived, and many circumstances contributed to cause a considerable degree * See Dr. T. B. Wilson's " Voyage round the World," a work which contains many interesting particulars concerning these northern settlements. A valuable paper on Melville Island, by Major Campbell, will be found in the second vol. of the Transactions of the Royal Geographical Society of London. B of attention to be directed towards it. Since the aban donment of Raffles Bay, a great change had taken place in the southern or temperate regions of Australia.

New colonies had been formed upon the southern and western coasts ; and every port that afforded shelter for shipping had been taken possession of; while, from the strong tide of emigration that was setting in this direc tion, it became evident that, ere many years elapsed, every spot of countrv suited to the production of the staple export from the Australian colonies would be oc cupied ; when it would become necessary to open out those regions which, from the nature of the climate, were calculated for the growth of the numerous articles of tropical produce which form the basis of our foreign commerce. The great amount of shipping that now passed through Torres Strait, and the loss of life that had occurred from shipwreck, rendered a port of refuge in the neighbourhood an object of importance ; and it was also anticipated that a settlement in these seas would lead to a commercial intercourse with the adjacent islands of the Indian Archipelago, the produce of which was known to be of a very valuable description.

While the subject was under discussion it was discovered that a French expedition was preparing at Toulon for the express purpose of taking possession of some port on the north coast of Australia. The evident inconvenience that would have resulted from the establishment of a rival nation, midway between our Indian and our Austra lian possessions, tended to precipitate matters, and the immediate occupation of the coast became an object of importance. Her Majesty's ship Alligator, of twenty eight guns, was commissioned by Sir J. J. Gordon Bre mer to execute this piece of service, and the Britomart, a brig often guns, Lieutenant commanding, Owen Stanley, was subsequently added to the expedition ; a vessel of this description being considered as well adapted for the examination of the seas and islands contiguous to the north coast of Australia, which had hitherto been very imperfectly explored.

A party of marines, under the command of Captain John MacArthur, was embarked on board the Alligator, to constitute the garrison ofthe new settlement. The men had been selected from among the numerous volunteers who had offered themselves for the service, and each individual was acquainted with some mechanical art that would prove useful in a new country. A practical gardener, who also understood the collection of botanical specimens, was attached to the expedition ; and every article necessary for the comfort of the garrison, or to render effective the service on which they were to be employed, was most liberally supplied from the dock-yards of the port at which the expedition had been fitted out.

Chapter II

The Port Essington Expedition — Voyage through Torres Strait. Departure of the Expedition from England — Arrival at Sydney — Preparations for the New Settlement — Sail for Port Essington — Rendezvous off Smoky Cape — Mount Warning — Meet a Whaleship — Pass round Break-sea Spit — The Great Barrier Reefs — Percy Islands — Cape Upstart — Natives seen — Hoist out the decked Boat— The Mountain Range — Anchor near the Frankland Islands — Fitzroy Island — Natives near the Hope Islands — Cape Tribulation and Captain Cook — Termination of the Mountain Range — Change in the Appearance of the Country — Visit to the Claremont Islands — Natives near Cape Direction — Recreations on Shore — Weymouth Bay and the Bird Islands — The Albany Islands — Excursion to Cape York — The Ceremony of taking Possession — Natives of Torres Strait — Booby Island — Leave Torres Strait for Port Essington.

The Alligator and Britomart sailed from Plymouth in the latter part of February, 1838, but the former vessel having sustained some damage during a heavy gale in the chops of the Channel, was forced to put back. On the 10th of March we again went to sea, and made a quick passage to Teneriffe, where the Britomart had ar rived during the previous week. After a stay ofa few days, we resumed our voyage, and, touching at Rio Janeiro, the Cape of Good Hope, and South Australia, arrived safely at Sydney in July, having had continued favourable winds during the entire passage. The Britomart had proceeded direct from the Cape to Sydney, and had consequently arrived some days before us. Both vessels were snugly moored in Sydney Cove, and commenced refitting, while a number of carpenters were employed to construct the frames of several wooden tenements, which were in tended for officers' quarters, barracks, hospital, and go vernment store-houses ; in fact, to form the nucleus ot the new settlement.

Our arrival at Syrdney took place at the commencement of that period of excitement which resulted from the combined effects of the recent discovery of large tracts of fertile country by Sir Thomas Mitchell, the introduction of the South Australian system of emigration, and the high prices that were obtained for colonial wool in this country. Emigrants and capital were pouring into the colony, and the surplus stock of the colonists was disposed of at enormous prices to the new settlers, who naturally looked upon sheep-farming as the most profitable mode in which they coidd invest their capital. This, however, did not prevent our ex pedition from attracting a considerable degree of atten tion, especially on the part of the merchants, who viewed with much satisfaction the prospect that was afforded them of increasing their commercial intercourse with the islands of the Indian Archipelago.

A trade had been carried on for some years with Timor ; indeed no less than three vessels arrived from that island at Syd ney during our stay, but the fate of the Stedcombe and Lady Nelson had deterred European traders from visiting the groups that lie between Timor and New Guinea. They were now, however, to be adventured upon, and two vessels, the William, a brig, and a schooner that was named the Essington, were loaded with articles suited to the commerce of these islands ; the merchants' stores, which had been crammed pretty full by the spe culative spirit of the home manufacturers, furnishing an abundant supply. By the 16th of September the frames of the houses had been embarked on board a hired transport, the Orontes, which vessel was also loaded with nine months' provisions for the expedition, and with that endless variety of articles that is necessary for the establishment of a naval post.

On the following morning we sailed out of the harbour of Port Jackson, after a stay of two months, which had been rendered highly agreeable by the kind attentions of the residents, perhaps the more readily accorded from the circumstance of the semee on which we were employed being a very poptdar one. The ship was quite a Noah's ark. Cows, sheep, pigs, and poultry were quartered between the guns, and a number of giant kangaroo-dogs were incessantly stalking about the decks, trying to discover if there really existed any spot in which they could lie down for five minutes without being trodden upon. But whatever little incon veniences might have resulted from this state of repletion were most cheerfully submitted to, and a general feeling of pleasing anticipation appeared to pervade all ranks on board.