UNHEALTHINESS OF PLACE. 365 



trees, hardly a green thing was to be seen, all other 

 leaves and grass being of a dull brown. The new 

 party, although they had only been there six months, 

 had every one been affected by fever, had become 

 sallow and emaciated in their appearance, and of 

 their original number of fifty, four were already 

 dead. Although this was the coolest part of their 

 year, it was still the hottest and most oppressive 

 place we had visited since we left it. 



I rode towards the head of the harbour, and to 

 the " Pig lagoon." Notwithstanding that the grass 

 in a few low swampy places was as tall as my head, 

 it was all dry and brown, and looked more like ripe 

 corn than grass. The swampy ground of the M Pig 

 lagoon" seemed to me of a very indifferent character, 

 a sandy clay, with a very " sour*' soil, that would 

 require, I should think, much management before 

 it became fertile, even for rice. 



I have been more particular in the details of this 

 account of Port Essington, because 1 have seen in print 

 such very opposite descriptions of it. I visited it, at 

 first, with preconceived notions greatly in its favour, 

 was rather disappointed in its first aspect, but con- 

 cluded we saw it under peculiarly unfavourable cir- 

 cumstances. Three subsequent visits, however, at 

 different periods of the year, including the most 

 favourable one, compelled me, with some reluctance, 

 to lay aside all the preconceived notions 1 had formed 

 of its importance and value as a British settlement. 

 1 believe it to be utterly worthless as a colony, or as 



