POUT KSSINGTON. 361 



From the account of Lieut. P. B. Stewart,* of 

 which I have given a brief abstract in a former 

 page, it appears that there is some good land ou 

 the Peninsula, though such is decidedly not the 

 case near the settlement. 



The reports of late sent in respecting the climate 

 have, in some measure, been unfavourable ; and, as 

 I have observed, the appearance of the garrison 

 was rather sickly ; but may not this arise partly 

 from the indifferent manner in which they are 

 housed ? Small, low, thatched cottages, in a tem- 

 perature much too warm for Europeans to labour in 

 constantly, are apt to engender disease. There is, 

 besides, a mangrove swamp immediately behind the 

 settlement, which at present decreases its salubrity. 

 With regard to the range of the thermometer, it 

 has been known as low as 62°, and it is never so 

 high, by ten or twenty degrees, as I have seen it in 

 South Australia during the hot winds : the average, 

 however, is about 83°. The fact that the site of 

 Victoria lies so far from the entrance of the harbour 

 is injurious to its prosperity, as it prevents many 

 vessels from calling, and deprives it of the breezes 



* This officer has since forwarded me his route. It appears 

 that on leaving Victoria he proceeded to the south-west side of 

 the Peninsula, and followed the shore to the neck, when taking 

 an east direction he crossed it, and then pursuing a northerly 

 course made his way to Middle Head, on the side of the harbour 

 opposite the settlement. The frequent opportunities Lieut. 

 Stewart had of determining his positions by cross-bearings of the 

 islands, leave no doubt as to the correctness of his route. 



