3.54 PORT ESSINGTON. 



and riven in fragments by the hurricane of 1839, 

 were for the most part concealed by the fresh foliage 

 of the year ; there was scarcely anything left to com- 

 memorate that dreadful visitation, but the tombs of 

 twelve brave fellows, of the " Pelorus," who lost 

 their lives at the time. 



There was a care-worn, jaundiced appearance 

 about the settlers, that plainly revealed how little 

 suited was the climate for Europeans to labour in ; 

 and yet there had been, I was told, no positive sick- 

 ness. The hospital, however, had been enlarged, 

 and rendered a very substantial building. Captain 

 Macarthur had built a strong and well-contrived 

 blockhouse, of the excellent kind of wood, a spe- 

 cies of teak, before alluded to. A new garden also 

 had been laid out, in which the banana and pine, 

 besides many other tropical fruits, were flourishing. 

 The arrow-root and sugar-cane grown here are 

 allowed by those who have seen these plants in the 

 West Indies not to be surpassed in excellence ; 

 and the cotton from Pernambuco, and Bourbon seed, 

 has been valued in England at sixpence-halfpenny a 

 pound. The colonists were beginning to understand 

 the seasons ; they had taken out of the ground sweet 

 potatoes nearly sufficient to last them until the next 

 crop. This was the first time they had been tried. 

 I have never seen any in South America half the size. 

 In short, I may say that the settlement was fast 

 approaching the state in which was that at Raffles 

 Bay when it was abandoned. 



