1022 



ANNUAL REGISTER, 1S05. 



We own we are not perfectly 

 satisGed with this statement, and 

 tarious parts of the work itself 

 have too romantic a turn to conrince 

 Bsof the identity of the wri*er,orin- 

 duce us to put implicit confidciicc in 

 all the inlormation conveyed; at the 

 same time, there is strong internal 

 evidence of (he fetters in question 

 having originated from actual ac- 

 quainiatice Mi(h the country, and 

 •we know too little of South Ame- 

 rica, not to consider whatever is 

 added to our knowledge upon that 

 head, however tririing, as a serious 

 acqui>itiun. 



We pass over the early letters 

 dated from New York, as, although 

 not uninteresting, there is no novelty 

 in them to engage the reader's at- 

 tention, but proceed to those Mritfen 

 from Monte Video, on the banks of 

 the Plata, which bear a ditiereut 

 stamp and character. 



Mr. Davie, having determined 

 upon a voyage to New South Wales, 

 ■with an investment of second-hand 

 clothes, by way of a commercial 

 speculation, finds himself, by an ex- 

 traordinary vicissitude of fortune, 

 in a Spanish settlement of South 

 America, widely distant from the 

 place of his destination, and 

 •where events and eircumstances, 

 wholly unlocked for and unex- 

 pected, were to give a new shape 

 to his fortunes. But we will al- 

 low JMr. Davie to speak for bim- 

 ielf. 



" The morning afier my last com- 

 munication to you I %venton board 

 the Anne and Sarah, bound to Port 

 Jackson, with a determined resolu- 

 tion to remain there for some 

 months, in order to examine into the 

 climate, soil, produce, and colonial 

 improvements, of the island of New 

 Holland, if island it may be failed. 



Bat instead of completing my de- 

 sign—not to mention my eommeiic- 

 ing trader, Mhich might of itself 

 have engrossed a great part of my 

 time, and perhaps even turned my 

 ideas into a new channel— my whole 

 arrangement was defeated by a vio- 

 lent hurricane, which succeeded a 

 tedious calm of six-and-thiriy hours. 

 It overtook ns about six-weeks after 

 our departure from New Yoik,a 

 short distance beyond the latitude 

 of Rio Janeiro in Brazil, i had 

 been for several days much itidi'ipos- 

 ed, and during the calm particular'y 

 uneasy; but the fury of the wind 

 soon created ideas more disagreeable 

 even than sickness. I have been in 

 many storms, at sea, but never in one 

 so alarming as this : Me were borne 

 over the surface of the water with a 

 dreadful rapidity ; now elevated as 

 if to pierce the clouds that lowered 

 on our heads, and now again preci- 

 pitated into an ab}ss that seemed to 

 threaten instant annihilation. My 

 illness prevented my being of any 

 essential service, bat every man on 

 board was obliged to exert himself 

 for the general safety. For two 

 days we ran as the wind directed us : 

 on the evening of the second the 

 vessel sprung her bowsprit, and in 

 less than an hour carried away "her 

 foretopmast, and to add to our 

 distress, great part of our water 

 casks had been staved. In this 



emergency captain H called a 



council of all the people on board, 

 which consisted, besides himself, of 

 a supercargo, three passengers, a 

 mate, five seamen, and two boys; 

 when, after a short deliberation re- 

 specting the latitude we were in, 

 it was determined to make the best 

 of our way for the isle of St. Cathe- 

 rine's. Thither we accordingly 

 attempted to steer our course ; but 



the 





