240 THE FOUNDING OF HOBART. 



the Hotiai't settlement were made by Mr. Robert Brown,* 

 the celebrated botanist, who had come to the Derwent 

 with Colhns' settlers, to examine the flora of Tasmania. 

 Lieut, Bowen had ascended the river for sOme distance 

 above Bridgewater, but on 5th March Mr. Brown, 

 accompanied by Capt. Mertho and Mr. Knopwood, set 

 out in the Ocean''s boat on a more extended exploration. 

 They wei'e three days absent, and Knopwood says they 

 reached a spot more than 40 miles from the Camp, 

 where was an extensive plain, with very few trees — pro- 

 bably Macquarie Plains. Game^kangaroo, emu, and 

 pigeons — ^was abundant. They saw many traces of the 

 blacks, who, however, carefully avoided them. Towards 

 the end of the month Brown and Humphreys, with a 

 party provisioned for ten days, made a further attempt 

 to reach the sources of tlie Derwent, but had to return 



Knopwood. disappointed. A few days later the indefatigable botanist 

 set off" alone through the bush, intending to go to the 

 Huon. He was unable to get further than the North 

 West Bay River ; but on the 1st May he and Humphreys 

 started again, and this time they succeeded in reaching 

 the Huon, returning to the Camp after an absence of 

 sixteen days. Lieut. Bowen had already been a short 

 distance up this river, and had given but a poor account 



Ibid. of the countiy. In June, William Collins, the Harbour 



Master, wefit in the white cutter to Betsy's Island, to laud 

 two refractory convicts there, and to look out for the 

 anxiously expected ship Ocean, with the rest of the people 

 from Port Phillip. From Betsy's Island Collins pro- 

 ceeded up the Huon Rtver. He was away a fortnight, 

 and on his return reported that it was a very favour- 

 able site for a settlement, with an abundance of fresh 

 water, good land, and fine trees. He saw many of 

 the natives, who were friendly and took him to their 

 camp, where there were about twenty families. Knop- 

 wood says that on this trip Collins saw three of the 

 native " catamarans, or small boats made of bark, that 

 would hold about six of them." 



Ibid, 18 .JuTie* The only other exploration recorded is Surveyor- 

 General Harris' survey of the Hobart Rivulet. Harris 

 was accompanied by Mr. Humphreys, the mineralogist, 

 and three men. They followed the rivulet to its source, 



* Robert Brown was a botanist of European reputation, and his 

 " Prodromus Florae NovEe-Hollandiae et Insulis Van Diem6n(Lond&n, 

 1810], is still a standard work. He arrived at the Derwent in the 

 Lady Nelson early in February, 1804, and returned to Port Jaekson 

 in the Ocean, 9th August in the same year. 



