154 REMARKS ON MELVILLE ISLAND AND RAFFLES BAY,

none of the other vegetables have been used, except by two or three individuals, although the natives appear to almost live on the roasted yam.

"The whole of the coast that we saw, from Cape Helvitius to Croker's Island, is well wooded; and, as far as the settlers have penetrated (about four miles), they have met with a variety of valuable timber-amongst which is the lignum-vitæ, two kinds of teak, a native oak, a species of sandal-wood, and lance-wood, with several others well known and much used in India, from their not being obnoxious to the worm or white ant, which none of the above are, according to the experience of the settlers, who found these insects wherever they have been, and the largest forest trees, of particular kinds, completely destroyed by them.

"A singular characteristic of the country is, that, except just above high water mark, (where in most places it is overrun with mangroves,) there is no underwood; even in the thickest part of the forest the trees are a considerable distance apart, and between them the ground is covered with high grass, on which all the stock, whether brought from Sydney or Timor, appear to thrive very well.

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During the dry season, by setting fire to the grass, a road is made sufficient to enable them, with the assistance of draft oxen, (which they have at Melville Island,) to choose their timber, and bring it in any quantities to the settlement.

"I have landed, at the Colonial Dock-yard here', specimens of the timber at Melville Island, with the intention of sending it by the first transport to one of the dock-yards in England for the inspection of the Commissioners of the Navy. I selected a common sized tree of the teak, oak, lignum-vitæ, and blood-wood; the latter I was obliged to abandon, it being too large and heavy to carry on our decks through a boisterous latitude, I therefore only brought an arm of that tree, which, with the teak, would be very valuable at Calcutta or Madras, as well as in England.

"With respect to the soil, every thing that has been managed with the smallest knowledge of its properties, grows very well; but it would appear incredible, were I to attempt a description of the

1 Port Jackson.

BY CAPTAIN LAWS, R. N.

155

inconvenience they have experienced from not having any one familiar with the productions of a tropical climate.

"On asking if they had attempted to grow rice, I was told that they had, but little of it came up; and on further inquiry, I found they had sown the clean rice, instead of the grain in its natural state of paddy,—this will give an idea of the clumsy way things have been done in these settlements.

"At present all works are suspended under an impression that the two establishments are to be concentrated at Port Essington, which is certainly the most eligible port at present known for a principal settlement on the north coast of New Holland, being about four miles by land from Raffles Bay, and 170 by sea from Melville Island, and all three in the same degree of latitude.

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I cannot help thinking it would be a great sacrifice to abandon those settlements, now the principal privations and difficulties, necessarily attending the formation of any new colony, are surmounted. It would be better to form another at Port Essington, it being the annual rendezvous of the Malays of Macassar and Arroe Islands, who come over with the end of the easterly monsoon, to collect and cure trepang for the China market; though last year finding there was an European settlement at Raffles Bay, three proas, with about thirty men in each, took their quarters up at the fort, and collected and cured what they could, so as to sail with the end of the monsoon. The natives are particularly hostile to the Malays, which made them very glad to have the protection of the fort.

I understand that one of the objects in forming these settlements was to open a trade with the Eastern Islands and China, which would be very easy from the great number of proas (ten or twelve per day having been seen from the fort) that annually visit the coast, from Macassar and the islands eastward, to collect and cure trepang for the Canton market; most of which bartered with the Dutch residents among the different islands, sent thence from Amboyna and Batavia, and from thence to China.

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But, as a tropical climate must be uncongenial to the manual exertions of Europeans, I conceive it would be a much more efficient and less expensive plan to colonize New Holland principally from India.

156

66

PROOFS OF THE HEALTHINESS OF

Port Essington should be the penal settlement for the British possessions in the Indian seas; and every encouragement should be given to emigration from Calcutta and Madras, (in the miserable avenues of which hundreds are dying daily,) and at once a garrison should be formed, with two companies of the Ceylon regiment, with all their attendants; any of whom, by walking half a mile from the camp, would find plenty of the vegetables they had been accustomed to eat all their lives, which vegetables the English soldier (who thinks of no other resource than the commissariat) looked upon as poison.

"I had an instance of this in my own servant, (a native of Trincomalee, and of the Gentoo cast,) who, in a quarter of an hour, collected vegetables to make a curry, and therefore to him a dinner.

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At Timor as at Java, Malacca, and Penang, all the artisans are China men, who only require to know we have settlements on New Holland, to come over in great numbers, and their usefulness can only be truly estimated by those who have visited any of the above colonies."

As far as my own observations and experience go, I perfectly coincide in opinion, as to the healthiness of the climate; I was accustomed to use a great deal of exercise, even in the middle of the day, which would have been extremely hazardous in India. When Captain Laws, Captain Barker, and myself, took an excursion to Croker's Island, we were occasionally up to the middle in water, and exposed for hours to the influence of an unclouded tropical sun. We rested during the night in an open boat, subjected to the nocturnal dew; and the greatest part of next day we were again exposed to the sun; yet none of us felt the slightest ill effects from the expedition. Had we acted in the same manner in some of the other tropical cli

THE CLIMATE OF RAFFLES BAY.

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mates, we should not, in all probability, have lived forty-eight hours longer 1.

On my arrival in Raffles Bay, I found every person, not only in good health, but in good condition; and during my residence there, I observed no complaint amongst the people, (I omit those who came in the Amity from Coupang) excepting ophthalmia, which occasionally prevails, but generally in a mild form.

Every man, woman, and child left the settlement in perfect health; and, notwithstanding the melancholy accounts related of it, only three deaths occurred during the entire period of its occupation, viz., Dr. Wood, and, after his decease, (and before another medical man arrived,) a prisoner and an infant died. It may be observed, that three deaths occurred shortly after my arrival; but then it is also evident, that these casualties were not occasioned by the climate of Raffles Bay.

1 While at Coupang, I once walked a few miles into the interior during the heat of the day; hardly was I returned, when I felt very unequivocal symptoms of fever. By prompt measures, I averted the attack; but thus admonished, I was, in future, more careful in my pedestrian excursions.

CHAPTER XI.

Description of Fort Wellington-General appearance of the Land on the North Coast of New Holland-Character of the Aborigines of Raffles Bay -Recapitulatory Observations-Alleged Causes of the Abandonment of Melville Island and Raffles Bay proved to be without foundation.

THE bay (on the east side of which the camp was formed) is small, very safe, and of easy access; the water of no great depth, but sufficient for vessels of moderate burden. The fort, situated in latitude 11° 15′ 4′′ south', and in longitude 132° 24′ 57′′ east 2, was substantially built of wood, and surrounded by pallisadoes; the ground-floor served as a receptacle for provisions and stores, and above was the residence of the Commandant. To the south of the fort were the soldiers' quarters, and to the north, were those of the prisoners; to the east, the marines had erected their dwelling, on the roof of which, surmounted on a pole, were the cardinal points;-these, together with the

1

By means of many meridional altitudes of the sun, and of stars, south and north of the zenith.

2

By means of upwards of one hundred lunar observations.