DISCOVERY OF EASTERN AUSTRALIA 423 



provisions, but " afterwards with a moderate portion 

 of industry might undoubtedly maintain themselves 

 without assistance from England." If they formed 

 a civil government they would increase, would provide 

 a market for European commodities, and it was not to 

 be doubted that New Holland, a country larger than 

 Europe, would furnish matter of advantageous return 

 to the mother country. Banks's testimony was the main 

 cause of the choice of Botany Bay as the site of the colony. 

 And when the colony was founded, and after a prolonged 

 period of desperate misery, began to prosper, he said that 

 he had always known that this must happen. " The 

 climate and soil," he wrote in 1797, " are in my own opinion 

 superior to most that have been settled by Europeans. 

 I have always maintained that assertion grounded on 

 my own experience." 



After reading these words, we turn with interest to Banks's Banks's 

 account of his week at Botany Bay, and expect to find ^Boty 

 some glowing picture of the place which impressed his Bay soil in 

 mind so favourably. We are disappointed, and even I77 ' 

 amazed ! Not one word is there to suggest that, as he 

 walked himself tired over the light sandy soil of the South 

 Shore, tramped the sandy moors of the North, 1 or looked 

 for shells on Bare Island, he was dreaming of a British 

 colony on " soil superior to most that have been settled 

 by Europeans." He had described Tahiti as " an Arcadia." 

 He had recommended the River Thames in New Zealand 

 as " the most proper place we have yet seen for establishing 

 a colony." But we have no such winged word of suggestion 

 for Botany Bay. Reading his Journal we get the impression 

 that he thought Botany Bay to be a very good place 

 for botanists, and a very bad place for colonists. And, 

 if he thought that, he thought right. 



The curious thing is that, while Banks, the enthusiast, Cook's 

 has no word of praise for anything in Botany Bay except 

 its botany, Cook, the cautious, has praise for nearly every- 

 thing. It is Cook who describes the Bay as " spacious, 



1 He describes the soil as " very sandy and resembles somewhat 

 oar moors in England." 



