tially open, and the vessel to contain a portion of watery fluid, in which were drowned ants and flies; and as the plant grew mostly in arid situations where there was little soil, it was thought that the pitcher might be a contrivance of nature to catch the rain or dew for the sustenance of the plant, instead of the fluid being an exudation from the root or leaves of the plant, as in the case of the nepenthes distillatoria. A very excellent figure of this plant is given in the Atlas of Charts. As that part of New South Wales, in which our colony usually so called, is situated, has now begun to assume a character of some importance, we shall avail ourselves of this opportunity of inquiring whether, in a national, commercial, or moral point of view, it is ever likely to answer the expectations of those who were instrumental in the establishment of it. We have abundant materials for such an inquiry, but the journal of Colonel Collins, not less valuable for being a sort of Botany Bay calendar, and the Report of a Select Committee of the House of Commons appointed to inquire into the manner in which sentences of transportation are executed,' &c. will be sufficient for our purpose. Poli We may safely venture to affirm that no colony was ever formed of such bad and intractable materials-that no colony ever had to struggle against so many difficulties and disadvantages, as that which Great Britain undertook to establish in New South Wales. tical theorists may doubt the wisdom of sending into distant banishment persons whose crimes have rendered it expedient at least, according to their own system, to put them under close restraint; but the government, on whom the practical application devolves of the measures best calculated for the prevention of crimes, and to whom society looks for its protection, would seem to be equally doubtful of the efficacy of those theories, by finding it still necessary to have recourse to the old practice of expatriating such as have been guilty of certain offences. It became a question, however, with the British government, a few years after the independence of the United States, to what part of the world the increasing number of convicts should be sent. Various situations on the continent of Africa were successively suggested; but, happily for the negroes, all of them were found to be objectionable. Another continent, however, presented itself, against which no objection appeared to lie. On this new Terra Australis no native of the old world had yet fixed his abode. The western coast of this fifth continent had, it is true, been long known to the Dutch, Portugueze, and Spanish navigators, from its being little, if it all, out of the ordinary tract to India and China, the Eastern archipelago, and the other islands in the Pacific ocean; but the eastern coast was the discovery of our celebrated Cook; Cook; and Botany Bay, on that coast, was a place de relache which seems to have afforded him and his companions much satisfaction. The variety and the luxuriance of the vegetation surrounding that bay, the new character which seemed to distinguish both plants and animals, gave a sort of éclat to this part of New South Wales which was neither forgotten nor overlooked when the question arose,-to what part of the world those unfortunate beings should be transported, whom it was deemed expedient to banish from the land that gave them birth? Botany Bay then was the spot assigned for the establishment of a new British colony; but so imperfect, as it afterwards appeared, was our knowledge of this bay, and of the neighbouring country, that when Captain Phillip, the first appointed governor, arrived there in January, 1788, with his new colony, consisting of about 1000 persons of all descriptions, not a single spot in the whole extent of Captain Cook's verdant meadows' could be discovered, where he could set down, in any way, one half that number; even supposing them to have been well disposed tractable subjects, ready to lend a helping hand to promote the object in view. Of that number, however, 564 were male, and 192 female convicts, who regarded the new country as a second Newgate on a more extended scale, and consequently as a place of punishment; the remainder, to the number of about 260, were composed of the civil and military officers, soldiers, and a few women and children. In this dilemma the governor, who was fortunately a naval officer, set sail with the Sirius, with a view of examining Port Jackson to the northward; his hopes, however, were not very sanguine when he considered that they were fixed on a spot, whose chief recommendation, according to Captain Cook, as he passed its entrance, (for he was not within it,) was, that it might afford shelter for a boat. We may readily then conceive his astonishment and delight on finding, within the tortuous entrance, a noble and capacious bay, with coves and harbours in which the united navies of the world might ride at anchor in perfect safety. To Port Jackson, therefore, Captain Phillip hastened to transfer the whole of his new colony. The point he fixed upon for their disembarkation was at the head of a cove on the southern side of the harbour, to which he gave the name of Sydney Cove. To this place it would seem he was attracted principally by a stream of fresh water, which,' as Colonel Collins observes, stole silently along through a very thick wood, the stillness of which had then, for the first time since the creation, been interrupted by the rude sound of the axe, and the downfall of its ancient inhabitants'-nemus quod nulla ceciderat atas. Here then the new settlers were put on shore; and from that moment moment commenced the cares, anxieties, and vexations of those who were entrusted with the government of the new colony. The sick were so numerous, that the first operation was to establish a hospital for their reception. Many of the convicts, who were selected to clear the ground for this purpose, set off instantly into the woods, others fled to the ships of M. La Peyrouse which had anchored in Botany Bay; and others, instead of assisting to throw up huts and other buildings to lodge themselves and the stores and provisions, secreted their working tools; petty thefts were constantly committed among themselves; and in a few days the public stores were robbed. The sailors brought spirits on shore, and the most riotous scenes of intoxication and debauchery took place. Robberies of various kinds continued to be committed; and though a liberal ration of provisions had been established which gave to the convict the same quantity and the same quality that were served out to the officer and the soldiers, this impartial distribution proved to be no security to the public store. It was found necessary, therefore, to assemble the criminal court, which, by 27 Geo. III, chap. 56, was to consist of the Judge Advocate and such six officers of the sea and land service as the governor should require to assemble for that purpose.' One criminal was sentenced to death, another to banishment, and a third to receive 300 lashes. To add to the difficulties of the new settlement, no sooner were they landed than the scurvy and dysentery broke out among the convicts, and carried off great numbers; so that at the end of the year, what by disease, deaths, and imprisonment, it was found that not more than 250 could be employed in clearing the ground for cultivation; and these few went through a very scanty portion of labour with great unwillingness. The earth had hitherto yielded them little or nothing; and their few cattle, consisting of two bulls and five cows, by the negligence of the keeper, had strayed into the woods and, after a fruitless search, were given up as irrecoverably lost. Their stores of provisions daily diminishing, without any fresh supplies arriving from home, were soou reduced to a state of lowness so exceedingly alarming, that in the second year of the new settlement, the dread of famine stared them in the face. The Guardian had been sent from England for their relief with two years provisions, stores, clothing, implements of husbandry, &c. together with a supply of live stock from the Cape of Good Hope, and 150 choice fruit trees, which had been prepared under the inspection of Sir Joseph Banks. But the Guardian was wrecked on a floating island of ice; and the first ship from England which reached the colony, after they had received intelligence of this dreadful loss, brought them, instead of a supply of provisions, a cargo cargo of 222 female convicts, a great proportion of whom were old and infirm, and more fit for an hospital than for the service of an infant colony. Another transport followed close on the heels of this vessel, having on board 218 male convicts, of whom 200 were on the sick list. Immediately afterwards two other transports arrived, in no better condition. The deaths on the passage on board these three ships were 261 men, 11 women, and two children. The convicts, it appeared, had been victualled and sent out by contract, at so much per head, not for those delivered in the colony, but for those received on board; and of course every death was a clear profit to the owners. Those who survived, were in the most miserable condition. Another transport, the Hillsborough, introduced the gaol fever in addition to the scurvy and dysentery already raging among the convicts. In this ship 95 died on the passage out of 300 embarked. Every comfort that the settlement afforded was administered to the sick; but such was the depravity of those wretched beings, that in the very last stage of existence many of them had recourse to stratagem in order to obtain a double share of wine by assuming different names and appearances. They stripped each other of their blankets, and the dying man watched with eagerness the moment of snatching away the covering of his neighbour, even before the breath was out of his body. In this period of general distress, robberies were committed by wretches too weak to receive the punishment which they so justly merited; the plea of hunger, which their squalid looks but too well justified, seldom failed to operate on the court. It was evident that neither the most poignant distress, nor the want of every necessary of life, nor sickness, wrought any amendment in the morals of the convicts. The women were so much worse than the men, that they were stated, in public orders, to be found at the bottom of every infamous transaction. The convicts, however, were not the sole malefactors in this deplorable state of the colony. Six soldiers, who kept sentry over the public stores, had contrived, by means of false keys, to carry on a successful plunder of them for the space of eight months: they were tried, condemned, and executed. The Criminal Court, it must be confessed, was not sparing in their sentences of death, but on this occasion it was absolutely necessary to make a terrible example-it failed, however, of the desired effect; and thefts continued to be so numerous that it was sometimes found necessary to assemble it two or three times a month. The rage for spirituous liquors was become so predominant, that when supplies had arrived, and the people were again put upon the full ration, orchards, gardens and huts were robbed, and every thing that could be procured, even to food and clothing, was VOL. XII. NO. XXIII. с sold sold and sacrificed for this pernicious beverage. Many of the free settlers were as strongly addicted to this abominable vice as the convicts; two of them retired to the skirts of a wood to drink spirits for a wager-one of them was found dead, the other at the last gasp. The conduct of the convicts on other occasions was not easily to be explained. They set the prison on fire at a time when they knew that twenty criminals were confined in it loaded with heavy irons, some of whom were in consequence burnt to death, and others narrowly escaped. They were compelled, as they might have assured themselves, to rebuild it by extra labour; yet a second time they set it on fire. They likewise burnt down the church, which they had also to rebuild; and set fire to the grain which was intended to feed them. Many of them betook themselves in bodies to small boats, which they cut adrift, and launched into the open ocean, where they necessarily perished in the most miserable manner. Others fled to the woods, where a fate not less deplorable awaited them. A singular species of infatuation had taken hold of the minds of a very large portion of the colonists. Some Irish convicts, who had recently arrived, propagated an idea that by tra velling through the woods to the northward they might shortly reach China, where they would be favourably received, and enjoy all the comforts and luxuries of life without labour; and so fascinating was this prospect, that scarcely a week elapsed without a party setting off to walk to China. These deluded creatures generally contrived to carry provisions sufficient to enable them to proceed so far as to prevent the possibility of a return, if they should discover their error; and the greater number of them suffered, in consequence, a miserable death in the woods. Of one party, which consisted of twenty male, and one female convict, from Ireland, who set out on this Chinese expedition, thirteen were luckily discovered, but in so weak and wretched a condition, maimed, naked, and worn to the bone by famine, that they were with difficulty recovered; the rest of the party had perished. One man, who had deserted another party, and returned in safety, reported that he saw upwards of fifty European skeletons lying in the woods, of those unhappy beings who had perished by famine in their way to China. Prompted by humanity to put a stop to a species of infatuation attended with such cruel results, the Governor assembled a party of convicts who were suspected to be watching for an opportunity of walking to this land of promise; he pointed out to them the inevitable destruction that awaited them if they still persisted in the attempt, and told them that, in order to convince them of the danger and impracticability of proceeding far into the country, he had |