- 4 AUSTRALASIA ILLUSTRATED. 



They were well fed, but in the tropics suffered from the confinement of their 

 narrow quarters in the hold ; and no sooner had the humanity of the captains allowed 

 them a little liberty, and permission to walk by turns on the deck, than the prisoners 

 on board the Scarborough formed a desperate conspiracy for escape, and the concessions 

 that had been granted were revoked. The Fleet reached Rio Janeiro without disaster, 

 and after "refreshing" there held over to the Cape of Good Hope, where also it called 

 to obtain fresh water and a supply of live stock for the intended colony. 



On leaving the Cape, Captain Phillip went on board the Supply, and, with three 

 fast sailing transports, proceeded ; leaving the seven slower vessels to follow as best they 

 could. The Governor's desire was to make his choice of a suitable locality, and to be pre- 

 pared to land his charges whenever they arrived. On the i8th of January, 1788, the 

 Supply stood in through the entrance to Botany Bay, and anchored in the shelter of 

 South Head, being soon after joined by the transports. Thus after a voyage of thirty- 

 six weeks from Portsmouth, during which only thirty-two lives were lost, from all causes, 

 including accidents, the Fleet arrived at its destination in safety ; justifying the comment 

 of Judge-Advocate Collins that : " This fortunate completion of it afforded even to our- 

 selves as much matter of surprise as of general satisfaction ; for in the above space of 

 time we had sailed five thousand and twenty-one leagues, had touched at the American 

 and African continents, and had at last rested within a few days' sail of the antipodes 

 of our native country, without meeting with any accident in a fleet of eleven sail, nine 

 of which were merchantmen that had never before sailed in that distant and so imper- 

 fectly explored ocean." 



Phillip's instructions to form a settlement on the shores of Botany Bay, as suggested 

 by Banks, did not meet with his approval. He found himself in a beautiful inlet, 

 seemingly round, and of some six or seven miles in diameter ; its shores were not high, 

 but behind the long curves of white and yellow beaches there were pleasant, tree-clad 

 undulations, green and fresh to eyes that had finished an eight months' voyage. But on 

 landing he was greatly disappointed ; the ground was either rocky or covered with 

 barren sand, and no water was visible, except where extensive swamps seemed to threaten, 

 in this warm climate, a plentiful experience of fever in the future. But Captain Phillip 

 had hardly finished his examination when the remaining seven vessels arrived. The Bay 

 being shallow, he could not find anchorage for all his ships in deep water, and some 

 lay dangerously exposed to the swell that rolled through the entrance. 



Longer confinement in these close vessels beneath that blazing summer sky being 

 attended with the greatest risk, Phillip was compelled to make the necessary preparations 

 for debarking, but resolved, in the meantime, to examine the inlets of the neighbouring 

 coast, in the hope of finding a better harbour than Botany Bay. With three ships' 

 boats he steered out into the Pacific, and turned north along the shore. Sailing 

 under the heavy cliffs, and along the hot and glaring beaches for a distance of eight 

 or nine miles, he passed into the little opening or boat-harbour set clown by Cook as 

 Port Jackson. On each side there frowned grim-looking rocks of considerable height ; but 

 what was his surprise to find this channel open out into a noble harbour, winding away 

 to the west in numberless arms and bays with verdant shores and sunny little islets, all 

 sleeping in sheltered silence under the delicately-tinted blue of an unbroken Australian sky. 



