14 A HISTORY OF THE COLONY OF VICTORIA 



horizon, obscured by a smoky haze, probably from bush fires, was 

 the barren, craggy promontory of Tasmania, known as the South- 

 west Cape, then supposed to be the southern extremity of the coast 

 in which the haven of rest and reformation known as Botany Bay 

 was situated. 



The heavily timbered ranges which frowned upon the sea- 

 board were interspersed with spectral-looking patches of dead and 

 bleached eucalypti that gave a weird air of desolation to the aspect 

 of the long-wished-for land. To-day, though a century of progress 

 has rolled by and poured out all its wealth of development on the 

 adjacent lands, the spot on which the eyes of the weary voyagers 

 first rested remains practically uninhabited. Sombre and repellant 

 indeed must the outlook have been to the poor wretches to whom 

 it represented a permanent exchange for the grassy downs and 

 verdant uplands of Kent and Sussex, and the rare beauties of the 

 Devonshire coast. 



But the end was not quite reached. For a day or two after 

 falling in with the land, the wind, shifting round to the north-east, 

 blew in squalls so strong as greatly to impede the rounding of the 

 South Cape. When the fleet finally succeeded in laying their 

 northern course, the progress was very slow, and nearly a fortnight 

 elapsed before they again sighted land, which proved to be a small 

 cape about thirty miles to the south of Port Jackson. At day- 

 break on the following morning the Sirius led the way into the 

 anticipated haven, and by nine o'clock in the morning of the 20th of 

 January, 1788, all the transports were safely at anchor within the 

 sheltered harbour to which Captain Cook had given the fanciful 

 name of Botany Bay. 



Eight months and one week had elapsed since the fleet weighed 

 anchor in the Solent, and of the twelve hundred or more persons 

 who bade farewell to their native land only thirty-two died on the 

 passage. This must be regarded as a remarkably small percentage, 

 when it is borne in mind that many of these convicts were infirm 

 and sickly, physically debased and mentally depressed by poverty 

 and vicious courses, and were both ill-clad and overcrowded. 



The failure of the commander to find a suitable place for settle- 

 ment on the flat and sandy shores of the bay, and the almost 



