352 
Miscellanea . 
world to which British influence has extended, which contains 
such vast tracts of yet untrodden ground, nor any one in which 
so great a geographical problem remains to be solved as in Aus¬ 
tralia. It is, therefore, with satisfaction I have recently perused 
the report of the legislative council of Sydney, upon the endea¬ 
vour to establish an overland communication - between the settled 
districts on the south and Port Essington on the north of that 
vast continent. 
If we are to confide in the clear and decisive testimony of Sir 
Gordon Bremer, and other naval officers, including Captain Sir 
Everard Home, as well as that of Mr. Earl and Captain Mac- 
arthur, who have thoroughly examined the regions around it, we 
should be led to think that in all her schemes of future commerce 
Great Britain has rarely had it in her power to place her standard 
on a more desirable spot than Port Essington. With an outer 
harbour capable of containing the whole British navy, and an 
inner harbour in which twenty-five sail of the line can lie at ease; 
while a climate peculiarly healthy to Europeans, in which spices, 
indigo, sugar canes, the cotton, and the choicest woods, can be 
grown in abundance, whilst the sea swarms with the finest fish ; 
this port further offers the great advantage of having a quiet and 
industrious race of inhabitants in the adjacent islands, who, as 
well as the more active inhabitants of Timor and the neighbour¬ 
ing isles, and also the Chinese, are ready to flock to the settle¬ 
ment. I am indeed led to believe that no sooner shall our govern¬ 
ment render Port Essington a permanent and independent colony 
of the crown, than several rich mercantile establishments in Lon¬ 
don will at once set up establishments there, and freight large 
vessels for the trade which they would carry on through it with 
the Eastern Archipelago and China.* Already many of the en¬ 
terprising Malays resort thither for the fisheries, and are ready to 
exchange their salted fish and other products for British cottons; 
and as an entrepot it is daily becoming more important from the 
* I hear from my accomplished friend, Captain Owen Stanley, R.N., who was employed 
in surveying upwards of two years, that Port Essington has the disadvantage of being ex¬ 
posed to occasional tornadoes, inseparable perhaps from tropical stations. This intelligent 
officer is of opinion that great benefits might follow from an accurate survey of the very 
fertile and well* peopled islands to the north of Australia, and which are grouped around 
Timor. 
