CHRONICLE. 



41 



west to east, including the mud 

 on the border, is 70 arschines ; 

 and the height, above the surface 

 of the water, one fathom and a 

 half. The whole surface of the 

 island is covered with a whitish 

 stony substance. 



A letter of the 28th of May, 

 from Botany Bay, states, that three 

 of the settlers had passed the Blue 

 Mountains, forming the boundary 

 of the west and north, and had 

 discovered a fertile tract of coun- 

 try, of great extent, through the 

 whole length of which a fine river 

 runs. A settlement was about to 

 be formed in the territory thus 

 discovered, and the Governor had 

 allotted a thousand acres to each 

 of the individuals who first ven- 

 tured to pass the mountains. It 

 is added, that there had prevailed 

 a continued drought, with scarcely 

 two hours of rain, for nearly ten 

 months: 5,000 sheep, and 3,000 

 horned cattle, were starved. 



31. An account has been receiv- 

 ed from Jamaica, oftheoriginof the 

 duel which led to the death of Capt. 

 Stackpole, of the Statira. Tiie cir- 

 cumstances were as follow : — So 

 long as fouryears agoa naval officer 

 inquired of Lieut. Cecil if he knew 

 Captain Stackpole. Lieutenant 

 Cecil replied he did, and had the 

 best opinion of him as a brave 

 officer, adding at the same time, 

 that he believed him capable of 

 drawing occasionally a long bow. 

 This answer was publicly talked of 

 in the gun-room of the Statira, 

 and at length reached the ears of 

 Captain Stackpole, who having 

 ascertained that the words were 

 spoken, declared that he would 

 call Lieutenant Cecil to an account 

 when and wherever he met him. 

 It was so far fortunate that they 

 4id not meet for four years ; but 



the opportunity at last offered, 

 when the Statira was lying in the 

 harbour of Port Royal, and the 

 Argo, of which Cecil was senior 

 Lieutenant, happened to enter that 

 port. Captain S. immediately 

 sent a message to Lieutenant Cecil, 

 purporting that he must either 

 meet him, or make a suitable apo- 

 logy for the slanderous words he 

 had used. Lieutenant Cecil, in 

 reply, said, that four years having 

 elapsed since the words were 

 spoken which he was charged with 

 having uttered, it was impossible 

 for him to recollect how far they 

 were correct or not ; but as a 

 brother officer and a man of ho- 

 nour had quoted his words, he 

 could not act otherwise than avow 

 them. As to an apology, he 

 wished Captain Stackpole to un- 

 derstand, that under all the cir- 

 cumstances he should have had no 

 objection to apologize to any other 

 officer in his Majesty's navy, but 

 to him it was impossible ; the 

 Captain of the Statira being re- 

 puted throughout the navy as a 

 good shot, and had been the friend 

 and companion of Lord Camel- 

 ford. Tiie consequence was a 

 meeting between the parties on 

 the 23rd of April ; the result of 

 which was, the loss to his Majesty's 

 naval service of a brave and me- 

 ritorious officer. The challenge 

 of Captain Stackpole to fight the 

 Statira against the American fri- 

 gate the Macedonian, had endeared 

 him to the crew, and not a man 

 could refrain from tears on learn- 

 ing his fate. 



JUNE. 



3. The funeral of the Empress 

 Josephine was celebrated at the. 



