AUSTRALASIA. 



133 



Australa- 

 sia. 



1700-1810. 



Recom- 

 mended by 

 the French. 



Practised 

 by the Bri- 

 tish. 



with confidence, assert, that the bay of Vera Cruz, 

 situated in 15 20' south latitude, presents the great- 

 est advantages for the foundation of a large city, and 

 the establishment of a numerous colony. I can but 

 imperfectly describe the riches awaiting those Euro- 

 peans who shall visit such delightful countries ; time, 

 in unfolding them, will make amends for my inability ; 

 and I doubt not that this colony will become the 

 centre of communication and future mart for all the 

 commence of C.iili, Peru, Ternate, the Philippines, 

 and other remote kingdoms under the dominion of 

 your majesty." Quiros pledged himself for the suc- 

 cess of any enterprise which should be devised for es- 

 tablishing a colony : and, as a more ready inducement, 

 gave in detail a truly flattering picture of the soil, 

 climate, beauty, and salubrity of that and other Aus- 

 tralasian regions. We apprehend that no active mea- 

 sures were ever taken to adopt his judicious proposal. 

 The learned President de Brosses terminates his 

 work on southern navigations with an ingenious and 

 enlightened disquisition on the establishment of colo- 

 nies. He shews the various ways in which they may 

 prove useful to the mother country, either serving for 

 the deportation of criminals, or for the ends of com- 

 merce. After treating at large of the different re- 

 gions, their qualities, and defects, where settlements 

 may be made, he decides in preference of Australasia. 

 ' Any colony established in New Britain, New Gui- 

 nea, New Holland, or among the Papuans, will have 

 the clue of Ariadne at command. With time, per- 

 severance, and some expense, which cannot be re- 

 gretted, as it will return an hundred fold, all will be 

 successively attained. This, it is true, will not be 

 the work of a day. Great projects presume the ne- 

 cessity of great exertions, and these long continued. 

 The calculation of time by years belongs to indivi- 

 duals, a whole nation counts only by ages. Power- 

 ful kingdoms being adapted for extensive views, their 

 kings, animated by the love of glory, attachment to 

 their country, and benevolence towards mankind, 

 ought to consider their people as always'in existence, 

 and labour for an infinite protraction of time." M. 

 de Brosses, after reviewing the state of all the coun- 

 tries then known, seems to think that New Guinea 

 is the most favourable site for an Australasian co- 

 lony. He enters into considerable detail concern- 

 ing the persons, utensils, and materials requisite for 

 founding an establishment, and the advantages which 

 might be expected to result from it. The mode 

 to be pursued in carrying on an intercourse with 

 the natives next engages his attention : he suggests 

 what difficulties will be opposed by them, and re- 

 commends the utmost moderation in all the dealings 

 of the settlers. In a work, Terra Auslralis Cognita, 

 published ten years afterwards at Edinburgh by a 

 Scotish advocate, the same ideas are farther insisted 

 on : but this work being founded entirely on the for- 

 mer one, and possessing few claims to originality, 

 merits no farther consideration. 



"We are not aware, that, from the days of De Bras- 

 ses, the colonization of Australasia occupied the no- 

 tice of Europeans, until necessity compelled the Bri- 

 tish government to look for some distant establish- 

 ment. It had been the practice of Great Britain, 

 during many years, to transport felons to the Ameri- 



can plantations ; but the revolt, which ended in their ,Anstrala- 

 separation from the mother country, rendered it tie- 6ia- 

 eessary to provide another place for a similar purpose. i-onJisio' 

 Most of the southern navigators had approached the 

 coast of New Holland where it is bleak and barren, 

 whence disadvantageous conclusions had followed con- 

 cerning its nature. The discoveries of Captain Cook, 

 however, slewed, that the eastern parts were rich in 

 vegetable productions, that the soil was good, and the 

 climate agreeable. Government, after having sought 

 in vain for a suitable place on the coast of Africa to 

 receive transported criminals, determined, in 1785 and 

 1786, that part of Australasia should be chosen as a set- 

 tlement. In the subsequent year, several vessels laden 

 with convicts, and also carrying out the members of a 

 civil government, sailed for Botany Bay. They reached* 

 it in- safety ; and having founded a town in the vicinity, 

 began to cultivate the country. It would exceed our 

 design of exhibiting a brief sketch of the progress of 

 discovery, and general views of Australasia, to follow 

 the advancement of that colony. Thousands of Bri- 

 tish subjects compose it, and branches on a lesser scale 

 have been established elsewhere. A settlement ori- 

 ginally intended for the cultivation of the flax plant, 

 has been made on Norfolk island. More recently it 

 was proposed to establish another at Port Philip, in 

 Bass's Straits. The harbour there was said to be 

 excellent, and the qualities of the neighbouring coun- 

 try were supposed peculiarly well adapted for it. 

 Two ships of war and a merchantman, therefore, 

 sailed from England in 1803, carrying out what was* 

 necessary for accomplishing this object. The civil 

 and military departments, settlers, and convicts, were 

 all landed on the coast, where, to judge by simple 

 appearances, every thing promised fruitfulness and 

 plenty. On narrower inspection, however, none o 

 the soil nearest the shore was fit for producing escu- 

 lent vegetables ; and what at first sight were thought 

 pools of fresh water, proved only drains from swamps, 

 stagnant and deeply impregnated with the decaying 

 remains of plants. Port Philip was on the whole con- - 

 sidered an unsuitable situation, and the colony soon 

 removed to Derwent river. 



Doubts have lately been started concerning the ex- 

 pediency of retaining our present colonies in Austral- 

 asia. Whatever may be their real advantage to Bri- 

 tain, neighbouring nations have unquestionably beheld 

 them with surprise and admiration. Assuredly it 

 may excite admiration, that countries altogether un- 

 inhabited, or occupied within these very few years by 

 the rudest of all known savages, overgrown with woods, 

 and intersected by marshes, should at this early pe- 

 riod exhibit fertile plains covered with luxuriant har- 

 vests. That whole towns should be erected, and the 

 communication of the different settlements be carried 

 on through means of roads, now traversed by carriages 

 framed in the British metropolis. *'hatcattle,onceun- 

 known in the vast continent of New Holland, should 

 at present run wild in greater numbers than are sufficient 

 for the demands of a populous nation ; and that sheep, 

 equally unknown, should have seven years ago been 

 possessed in flocks of 4O00 by several of the settlers : 

 a fact which has given rise to calculations and con- 

 jectures, that they will soon produce more wool than 

 all Great Britain has occasion to consume. Safe and 



