ART. IV. Account of the English Colony in New South Wales, from its first Settlement in January 1788 to August 1801, with Remarks on the Dispositions, Customs, Manners, &c. of the native Inhabitants of that Country: to which are added some Particulars of New Zealand Compiled, by Permission, from the MSS. of Lieutenant-Governor KING; and an Account of a Voyage performed by Captain FLINDERS and Mr. BASS, by which the Existence of a Strait separating Van Diemen's Land from the Continent of New Holland was ascertained. Abstracted from the Journal of Mr. Bass, by Lieutenant-Col. COLLINS, of the Roval Marines, late Judge Advocate and Secretary of the Colony. vol. 2d. 4to. pp. 335. THE first volume of Mr. Collins's account of the English colony in New South Wales, was published in 1798, and contained the journal of that settlement up to the 29th of September 1796: from which date the narrative is here continued, in a similar form to the month of August 1801. The history is of that detailed circumstantial kind which the importance and novelty of the subject required. It is because we have no such minute accounts of the original settlements of the West Indian and North American provinces, that so much labour in vain, so much evitable difficulty, so much fruitless expenditure is incurred by every new enterprize of the kind. The experience of preceding colonists has in too great a degree been lost to our use; and, instead of profiting by the past miscarriages, we are often obliged, through ignorance of their precise causes, to repeat the old blunders in order to detect them. After the perusal of this most valuable and micrological information, it will probably be thought doubtful whether criminal population forms the cheapest raw material of settlement or colonization. If the expence necessary to transport, to protect, and to educate anew grown felons, was employed in patronizing the voluntary removal of adventurous paupers, it is likely that agriculture and the simpler arts would. be more speedily introduced, and more skilfully practised, than if persons unased to such occupations are, by military superintendance, compelled to attempt them, and after seven or fourteen years of involuntary apprenticeship, are suffered to withdraw their incipient utility. The facility of acquiring wealth is said to be great in New South Wales. This is a temptation strong enough to produce the wanderings of frugal industry, were not the expence of the migration so heavy. Examples of prudence and good conduct, docility to instruction, sleight in the mechanic arts, reverence for property, these are the elements of nascent civilization and durable prosperity: but thrift-spending, and intemperance, and indolence, which characterise almost all convicts, can only tend to render their own maintenance a perpetual burden, and the children they rear an unproductive anarchic mob. The savages of nature, however, are still more indiscipinable than those who wilder back into savagism from the nurseries of cultivated society. "It was distressing to observe, that every endeavour to civilize these people proved fruitless. Although they lived among the inhabitants of the different settlements, were kindly treated, fed, and often clothed, yet they were never found to possess the smallest degree of gratitude for such favours. quality as the most ignorant of his countryEven Ben-nil-long was as destitute of this men. It is an extraordinary fact, that even their children, who had been bred up among the white people, and who, from being accustomed to follow their manner of living, might have been supposed to ill relish the life of their parents, when grown up, have quitted their comfortable abodes, females as well as males, and taken to the same savage mode of living, where the supply of food be called such, and their lives perpetually in was often precarious, their comforts not to danger. As a proof of the little personal safety which they enjoyed, a young woman, the wife of a man named Ye-ra-ni-be, both of whom had been brought up in the settlement from their childhood, was cruelly murdered at the brick fields, by her husband, assisted by another native, Cole-be, who first on mode of chastising their women), and beat her dreadfully about the head (the comthen put an end to her existence by driving a spear through her heart. "When spoken to or censured for robbing the maize grounds, these people, to be revenged, were accustomed to assemble in large bodies, burn the houses of the settlers, if they stood in lonely situations, and frequently attempted to take their lives; yet they were seldom refused a little corn when they would ask for it. It was imagined that they were stimulated to this destructive conduct by some run-away convicts who were known to be among them at the time of their committing these depredations. In order to get possesion of these posts, a proclamation was issued, calling on them by name to surrender themselves within fourteen days, declaring them outlaws if they refused, and requiring the inhabitants, as they valued the peace and good order of the settlement, and their own security, to assist in apprehending and bringing them to justice. The governor also signified his determination, if any of the natives could be detected in the act of robbing the settlers, to hang one of them in chains upon a tree near the spot, as a terror to the others. Could it have been foreseen, that this was their natural temper, it would have been wiser to have kept them at a distance, and in fear, which might have been effected without so much of the severity which their conduct had sometimes compelled him to exercise towards them. But the kindness which had been shewn them, and the familiar intercourse with the white people, in which they had been indulged, tended only to make them acquainted with those concerns in which they were the most vulnerable, and brought on all the evils which they suffered from them." At page 63 occurs a coloured engraving of the ornithorhynchus, or duck-billed amphibious mole, an animal peculiar to the lagoons in New South Wales: its manners have not yet been sufficiently studied to ascertain whether it can be employed to catch fish, or render other services to man. An anecdote related in the seventh chapter, well pourtrays the vindictive manners of the native blacks. 66 December.] A circumstance occurred about the beginning of this month, that excited much interest in the town of Sydney, and great commotion among the natives. Two of these people, both of them well known in the settlement, (Cole-be, the friend of Ben-nil-long, and one of the Ye-ra-ni-bes) meeting in the town, while their bosoms were yet swelling on occasion of some former difference, attacked each other. Cole-be hal always been remarked for his activity, but Ye-ra-ni-be had more youth than his adversary, and was reckoned a perfect match for him. On closing on each other, with their clubs, until which time Cole-be had not gained any advantage over Ye-ra-ni-be, the handle of Ye-ra-ni-be's shield drew out, and in consequently fell from his grasp: while stooping to take it up, the other struck him on the head with a club, which staggered him, and followed his blow while he was in that defenceless situation. Cole-be knew that this would ensure him the appellation of jee-run, or coward, and that the friends of Ye-ra-ni-be would as cer tainly take up his cause. As the conse quences might be very serious if he should die of the blow, he thought it prudent to abscond for a while, and Ye-ra-ni-be was taken care of by some of his white friends. This happened on the 10th, and on the 16thr he died. In this interval he was constantly attended by some of his male and female associates, particularly by his two friends, Collins (for Gnung-a-Gaung-a still went by the late judge advocate's name), and Moroo-bra. On one of the nights when a most dismal song of lamentation had been sung over him, in which the women were the principal performers, his male friends, after listening for some time with great apparent attention, suddenly started up, and seizing their weapons, went off in a most savage rage, determined on revenge. Knowing pretty well where to meet with Cole-be, they beat him severely, but would not kill him, reserving that gratification of their revenge until the fate of their companion should be decided. On the following night, Collins and Mo-roo-bra attacked a relation of Cole-be's, Boo-ra-wan-ye, whom they beat about the head with such cruelty, that his recovery was doubtful. As their vengeance extends to all the family and relations of a culprit, what a misfortune it must be to be connected with a man of a choleric disposition! "Ye-ra-ni-be was buried the day after his decease, by the side of the public road, below the niilitary barracks. He was placed, by his friends, upon a large piece of bark, and laid into a grave, which was formed by them after our manner (only not so deep), they seeming in this instance to be desirous of imitating our custom. Ben-nil-long assisted at the ceremony, placing the head of the corpse, by which he stuck a beautiful war-ra-taw, and covering the body with the blanket on which he died. Being supplied with some spades, the earth was thrown in by the by-standers, during which, and indeed throughout the whole of the ceremony, the women howled and cried excessively; but this was the effect of the violent gusts of passion into which the men every moment threw themselves. At this time many spears were thrown, and some blows were inflicted with clubs; but no serious mischief ensued. On the death of Cole-be all seemned determined; for the man whose life he had in so cowardly a manner taken away, was much beloved by his countrymen. "With this design, a number of natives assembled, a few days afterwards, before the barracks, breathing revenge; at which time a young man, a relation to the object of their vengeance, received so many wounds, that he was nearly killed; and a lad, who was also related to him (Nan-bar-ray, the same who formerly lived with Mr.White, the principal surgeon), was to have been sacrificed; but he was saved for the present by the appearance of a soldier, who had been sent to the place with him for his protection; and it was thought that when the present tumult against his uncle (for Cole-be was the brother of the boy's father) had subsided, nothing more would be thought of him. "Cole-be finding that he must either submit to the trial usual on such occasions, or live in the continual apprehension of being taken off by a midnight murder and a single hand, determined to come forward, and suffer the business to be decided one way or the other. Having signified his resolution, a day was appointed, and he repaired, armed, to the place of rendezvous. The rage and violence shewn by the friends of the deceased were indescribable; and Cole-be would certainly have expiated his offence with his life, but for the interference of several of the military, before whose barrack the affair took place. Although active, and extremely au fait in the use of the shield, he was overpowered, and, falling beneath their spears, would certainly have been killed on the spot, but several soldiers rushed in, and prevented their putting him to death where he lay; he himself, from the severe wounds which he had received, being wholly incapable of making any resistance. His friends, the soldiers, lifted him from the ground, and between them bore him into the barracks. 66 many Ben-nil-long, the particular friend and companion of Cole-be, was present at this meeting; but, it was supposed, without intending to take any part in it either way. The atrocity of his friend's conduct had been such, that he could not openly espouse his quarrel; perhaps he had no stomach to the fight; and certainly, if he could avoid it, he would not, by appearing against him, add to the number of his enemies. He was armed, however, and unencumbered with clothing of any kind, and remained a silent spectator of the tumultuous scene, until the moment when the soldiers rushed in to save the life of Cole-be. His conduct here became inexplicable. On a sudden he chose to be in a rage at something or other, and threw a spear among the soldiers, which dreadfully took effect on one of them, entering at his back and coming out at the belly, close to the navel. For this he would instantly have been killed on the spot, had not Mr. Smith, the provost marshal, interfered and brought him away, boiling with the most savage rage; for he had received a blow on the head with the butt end of a musquet. "It became necessary to confine him during the night, as well to prevent the mischief with which he threatened the white, people, as to save him from the anger of the military, and on the following morning he quitted the town." The XIVth. chapter contains a very interesting account of the return of the AN. REV. VOL. I. Norfolk sloop, from a coasting voyage of discovery, and enumerates many small islands, bays and creeks, whose position and produce was in some degree ascertained by the enterprise. To Mr. Bass, who had the conduct of this expe dition, geography is indebted for the new information that a strait separates Van Diemen-land from the continent of New-Holland. This whole narrative, too long for our transcription, seems worth publishing in a separate pam phlet. Mr. Collins mentions, that in May 1800, some propositions were received from the Bengal government respecting. the transportation of Indian convicts to New South Wales. This measure could not be acceded to without consulting the British ministry; but it has no doubt received by this time their sanction; as it will offer motives for a regular intercourse with Hindostan, which cannot fail to secure many commercial accommodations and useful instructions to the colonists. It will be a means too of stocking the settlement with a far more various and mixed population, some of whom will, no doubt, introduce habits of life more adapted to the region and climate, than natives of Britain can be expected to carry out, or, by the short experience of a single generation, to acquire. A first principle of colonization is,---stock your settlement with the greatest possible variety of races and ranks of men, and after observing attentively their relative thrift, seck your recruits chiefly in those races and ranks, which are found then and there to prosper. "It was proposed by the government of Bengal to victual and maintain their convicts for one year after their landing; after which they were to be supported by the settlement. As such a description of people might be very usefully employed there, and would be far more manageable than the convicts from England or Ireland, it was hoped that the plan night meet the approbation of his majesty's ministers. "It should seem that some favourable ideas of the settlement had been obtained in India; for by the same conveyance three gentlemen of respectability addressed the governor, stating to him their desire of embarking their families and property, and becoming settlers; but as they required a ship to be sent for them, to be furnished with a certain number of convicts for a limited time, and a quantity of live stock, all of hich must be attended with a considerabl expence to the crown, the governor, though D well aware of the advantages which the colony would derive from having such persons resident among them, found himself compelled to lay their proposals before the secretary of state." A curious anecdote occurs in p. 299, illustrative of the superstitions and manners of the natives. "Information had some time before this been received of the death of Wilson, known among the natives by the name of Bun-boè. This young man, while a convict, and after he had served the period of his transportation, preferred the life of a vagabond to that of an industrious man. He had passed the greater part of his time in the woods with the natives, and was suspected of instructing them in those points where they could injure the settlers with the greatest effect, and most safety to themselves. In obedience, however, to a proclamation from the governor, he surrendered himself, and promising amendment, as nothing but a love of idleness could be fixed upon him, was forgiven; and being supplied with a musquet and ammunition, he was allowed to accompany such parties as made excursions into the woods, and at other times to shoot kangooroos and birds. By him, the first bird of paradise ever seen in this country had been shot; and it was his custom to live upon the flesh of such birds as he killed, bringing in with him their skins. "With the wood natives he had sufficient influence to persuade them that he had once been a black man, and pointed out a very old woman as his mother, who was weak and credulous enough to acknowledge him as her son. The natives who inhabit the woods are not by any means so acute as those who live upon the sea coast. This difference may perhaps be accounted for by their sequestered imanner of living, society contributing much to the exercise of the mental faculties. Wilson presumed upon this mental inability; and, having imposed himself upon them as their countryman, and created a fear and respect of his superior powers, indulged himself in taking liberties with their young females. However deficient they might be in reasoning faculties, he found to his cost that they were susceptible of wrongs; for, having appropriated against her inclinations a female to his own exclusive accommodation, her friends took an opportunity, when he was not in a condition to defend himself, to drive a spear through his body, which ended his career for this time, and left them to expect his return at some future period in the shape of another white man." In a very interesting letter from the intelligent, respectable, and unfortunate Mr. Palmer, whom the undistinguishing intolerance of a once domineering faction drove to New South Wales, a similar circumstance is mentioned. "Seven convicts," he says, "lived five years among the natives. I have repeatedly conversed with them. They were received and supported with singular kindness and hospitality. If these people are to believed, they took the whites to be the ghosts of their departed friends, whom death had made white. They enquired very particularly after their fathers, mothers, and all their relatives, and how they employed themselves." This letter is dated the 14th of August 1797. An amusing parody of the alarm in England took place in September 1800. "September.] In the beginning of this month, rumours being circulated, that the prisoners lately sent from Ireland for the crime of sedition, and for being concerned in the late rebellion in that country, had formed a plan for possesing themselves of the colotheir arrival) were in great forwardness, and ny, that their arms (pikes manufactured since their manner of attack nearly arranged; a committee of officers was appointed by the governor to examine all suspected persons, and ascertain whether any such murderous design existed. In the course of their inquiries, the committee saw occasion to imprison Harold, language and behaviour, was suspected of the Roman Catholic priest, who, from his being concerned in the intended insurrection. He then confessed that the reports of it were founded in truth, and engaged to discover it was said many hundreds had been fabriwhere the weapons were concealed, of which cated. In his confession he implicated several of his countrymen, who, on being questioned, in their turn accused several others; and the committee adjudged them all to be deserving of punishment; but Harold was never able to fulfil his engagement of producing the weapons. These he first said were buried in the ground belonging to a settler, which he pointed out; but on minutely searching every part of it, nothing like a pike could be found. Failing in this, he then said they were sunk in the lower part of the harbour; but even here they could not be discovered. He tampered with an Irishman to make a few that he could produce in support of his assertion; but the man had, unfortunately for him, been transported for having been a dealer in pikes, and declared that he would not involve himself a second time for them. He at last found a man to fabricate one out of an old hinge of a barn door, but this bore too evidently the marks of imposition to go down with every one; There was evidently a design to create an and his tale met with little or no credit. alarm; and this man Harold, from declaring that he alone, through his influence as their priest, was able to come at the facts, was pposed to be aiming solely at making himself of consequence in the colony. He had applied to the governor for permission to of ficiate as their priest; and if well affected to the government, of which there were but too many doubts, he might have been of much use to the colony in that capacity. "In consequence of these alarms, and as much as possible to do away their effects, by increasing the armed force of the colony, a certain number of the most respectable inhabitants were formed into two volunteer associations of fifty men each, and styled the Sydney and Parramatta Loyal Associated Corps. Each was commanded by a captain, with two lieutenants, and a proportionate number of non-commissioned officers. The whole were supplied with arms and ammunition, of which they were instructed in the use by some serjeants of the New South Wales corps, and their alarm-post was fixed at the front of Government House*". At p. 316 occurs a register of all the shipping which has visited Port Jackson, from various parts of the globe, whence it appears, that in however insignificant a point of view the colony may in general have been held, individuals have found in it a convenient port of refreshment and an advantageous market for speculation. Many remarks occur which tend to infuse the suspicion that for want of causing the country to be pro New South Wales spent in that country The excellent annalist of the colony in the nine years of its infancy, and assisted to overcome the first difficulties and deterring hardships, with which in that rude state it required no common fortitude and patience to struggle, no common judgment and skill to struggle with success. Yet he laments in his concluding paragraph, that this eventually proved the destruction of his brightest prospects, and that by his services there he was precluded from succeeding to the proper situation in his professional line. We are happy to hear that Mr. Addington has repaired the long neglect of his predecessors, by conferring on Mr. Collins an adapted and distinguished appointment. ART. V. Travels in Spain in 1797 and 1798. By FREDERICK AUGUSTUS FISCHER; with an Appendix on the Method of Travelling in that Country. Translated from the German. 8vo. pp. 420. "In this work the author's object was to exhibit the first impressions of a traveller, and to give a living picture of the country. He has endeavoured to note those particulars which have escaped other writers, and on which the plan of Bourgoanne only permitted him slightly to touch, as for instance the present state of literature in Spain, and the mode of travelling there, which is the subject of the appendix. The reader will therefore consider these sheets as a series of practical notes to that and other works, and in this point of view the author hopes his labours may be associated with those of that distinguished writer." BOURGOANNE's travels were translated soon after their first publication. The author who has since been embassador to Madrid, has so materially altered and improved them, as almost to make a As these were formed upon the footing of the volunteer corps in England, it is to be wished that they may as fully entitle themselves to the praise and thanks of the community which they were raised to defend, as those honourable associations have merited and gained from the.rs. |