An Account of the English Colony in New South Wales Volume II Part 27

The skull is rather flattened upon the upper surface: its cavity is capacious, and there is a boney process projecting from the cranium, in place of the falx or dura mater. This Mr. Home believes is not the case in any other quadruped.

The olfactory nerves are small, and so are the optic nerves; but the fifth pair, which supply the muscles of the face, are uncommonly large.

From this circ.u.mstance, we should be led, Mr. Home says, to believe, that the sensibility of the different parts of the bill is very great, and therefore that it answers the purpose of a hand, and is capable of nice discrimination in its feeling.

The eye is very small, and is nearly spherical. There is a membrana nict.i.tans; and the eyelid is very loose upon the eyeball: it is probably capable of great dilatation and contraction.

The membrana tympani is larger than in other quadrupeds of the same size.

The organs of generation in this animal have several peculiarities of a very extraordinary nature.

The male organs do not appear externally; so that the distinguishing mark of the s.e.x is the spur on the hind leg.

The t.e.s.t.i.c.l.es are situated in the cavity of the abdomen, immediately below the kidneys: they are large for the size of the animal. The epididymis is connected with the body of the t.e.s.t.i.c.l.e by a broad membrane, which admits of its lying very loose.

The p.e.n.i.s in this animal does not, as in other quadrupeds, give pa.s.sage to the urine. It is entirely appropriated to the purpose of conveying the s.e.m.e.n; and a distinct ca.n.a.l conducts the urine into the r.e.c.t.u.m, by an opening about an inch from the external orifice of the intestine. The gut at this part is defended from the acrimony of the urine, by the mucus secreted by two glands, which, probably for this reason, are very large in the male, but small in the female.

The p.e.n.i.s is short and small in its relaxed state; and its body does not appear capable of being very much enlarged when erected. The prepuce is a fold of the internal membrane of the verge of the a.n.u.s, as in the bird; and the p.e.n.i.s, when retracted, is entirely concealed.

The glans p.e.n.i.s is double; one glans having its extremity directed to the right, the other to the left: and as they supply two distinct cavities with s.e.m.e.n, they may be considered as two p.e.n.i.ses. This is an approach to the bird kind, many species of which have two. There was no appearance of vesiculae feminales.

The female organs open into the r.e.c.t.u.m, as in the bird. The v.a.g.i.n.a is 1 inches long: its internal membrane is rugous, the rugae being in a longitudinal direction. At the end of the v.a.g.i.n.a, instead of an os tincae, as in other quadrupeds, is the meatus urinarius; on each side of which is an opening leading into a cavity, resembling the horn of the uterus in the quadruped, only thinner in its coats. Each of these cavities terminates in a fallopian tube, which opens into the capsule of an ovarium. The ovaria are very small; they were not in a very perfect state of preservation, but bore a general resemblance to those of other quadrupeds.

This structure of the female organs is unlike any thing hitherto met with in quadrupeds; since in all of them that I examined, says Mr. Home, there is the body of the uterus, from which the horns go off as appendages. The opossum differs from all other animals in the structure of these parts, but has a perfectly formed uterus; nor can I suppose it wanting in any of the cla.s.s Mammalia.

This animal, having no nipples, and no regularly formed uterus, Mr. Home says, he was led to examine the female organ in birds, to see if there was any a.n.a.logy between the oviducts in any of that cla.s.s, and the two membranous uteri of this animal; but none could be observed; nor would it be easy to explain how an egg could lie in the v.a.g.i.n.a to receive its sh.e.l.l, as the urine from the bladder must pa.s.s directly over it. Finding they had no resemblance to the oviducts in birds, Mr. Home was led to compare them with the uteri of those lizards which form an egg, that is afterwards deposited in a cavity corresponding to the uterus of other animals, where it is hatched; which lizards may therefore be called ovi-viviparous; and I find, says Mr. Home, a very close resemblance between them. In these lizards there are two uteri, that open into one common ca.n.a.l, or v.a.g.i.n.a, which is extremely short; and the meatus urinarius is situated between these openings. The coats of these uteri are thinner than those of the uteri of quadrupeds of the same size.

In the ovi-viviparous dog-fish, the internal organs of the female have a very similar structure. There is therefore every reason to believe, that this animal also is ovi-viviparous in its mode of generation.

It appears, by accounts which have been received from New South Wales, that the voyage of the small brig _Lady Nelson_, commanded by Lieutenant Grant, was (notwithstanding her size, being only 60 tons burden, and the distance she had to sail) effected without her meeting with any material accident; she arriving in December 1801. Her commander was so perfectly acquainted with her good qualities, that he ventured to make the land of New Holland, in lat.i.tude 38 degrees 00 minutes south, coasting for some distance toward the eastward, and sailing through Ba.s.s Strait, in his way up to Port Jackson.

It does not appear, that this pa.s.sage of the _Lady Nelson_ through the Strait added any thing new to the discoveries which had been previously made by Captain Flinders and Mr. Ba.s.s, in the little sloop _Norfolk_, except that of having made the land about four degrees further to the westward than had been seen by those gentlemen.

By means of a few such vessels as the _Lady Nelson_, well commanded, and furnished with instruments requisite for carrying on a maritime survey, the necessary knowledge of the coast of that extensive country would soon be obtained. Governor Hunter, who is well known to be thoroughly qualified in this essential part of maritime education, has been frequently heard to say, that with a few small vessels, perhaps three or four, if he could have obtained them, or if his instructions would have permitted his building them, he would in the course of a short period have gained some acquaintance with all that part of the coast which Captain Cook had not an opportunity of examining minutely.

Large vessels, in his opinion, were not wanted for such a survey, nor were they fit for the purpose. A deposit of the stores necessary for this service could be made at the princ.i.p.al settlement, where such vessels, whenever requisite, might refit or repair. Large ships are proper to be employed only when they are to survey an unknown coast, where supplies are not to be had; this rendering it expedient that they should be sufficiently capacious to carry a considerable stock of provisions and stores for all their purposes. The small vessel, if caught upon a lee sh.o.r.e, and unable to work off, has a chance of finding security for anchorage where a large ship cannot; and if no such shelter offer, she has in her favour a greater probability of saving her crew by running on sh.o.r.e; her light draught of water admitting her to approach the land much nearer than could the large vessel.

Dispatches have been recently received at Lord Hobart's office from New South Wales, dated in August 1801, by which it appears, that the quant.i.ty of salt provisions remaining in store in the beginning of the year, being very inconsiderable, and it being possible that accidents might happen to ships sent from England with meat, the governor had judged it necessary to send the _Porpoise_ to the island of Otaheite, for the purpose of salting pork for the use of the colony: and as it was absolutely necessary to send thither a quant.i.ty of salt for this purpose (an article which the colony could not furnish), he fortunately was enabled to purchase about fifteen tons of salt from the master of a whaler which put in there from one of the Cape de Verd islands. On this voyage the _Porpoise_ sailed in the month of May 1801, and her commander, Lieutenant Scott, was furnished, in addition to very ample instructions for his guidance, with a letter from the governor to p.o.r.narre, the king of Otaheite, urging him to give Mr. Scott every protection and a.s.sistance in the execution of the business on which he was sent to the island, and recommending particularly to his care such of the missionaries as resided in the place. It was pointed out to him how much this conduct would ensure his majesty the favourable opinion of King George; and Mr. Scott was provided with a quant.i.ty of such articles for barter as were likely to please the eye as well as be useful to the people whom he might have to deal with; among which were some red and yellow cloth, some tomahawks, axes, knives, scissors, shirts, jackets, etc.: and, as nothing was more likely to ensure success than a handsome present to his Majesty, a mantle and some other articles of dress decorated with red feathers, together with six muskets and some ammunition, were given to Mr. Scott to be presented to the king.

Directions were also sent to the lieutenant-governor at Norfolk Island, to salt a quant.i.ty of pork for the use of the princ.i.p.al settlement.

The governor had likewise entered into a contract with a merchant in India, to freight a ship with cattle and rice, after the arrival of which he was of opinion that further supplies of cattle might be unnecessary, the stock in the country, independent of the wild herd, being very considerable. That herd was grown very furious, and, having got among the mountains to the westward, rendered any attempts to take them dangerous and useless.

The _Lady Nelson_ brig had been in Ba.s.s Strait, and surveyed Western port, where she found a very good harbour. She had also been, in company with the _Francis_ (colonial schooner), to Hunter river, where they took in between them 45 tons of coal, which were exchanged with the master of the _Cornwallis_, for a quant.i.ty of nails and iron, articles that were much wanted; thus, for the first time, making the natural produce of the country contribute to its wants.

The _Francis_ being nearly worn out, the governor had purchased a vessel called the _Harbinger_, to be employed in going to and from Norfolk Island, the service of the _Porpoise_ being required for longer voyages. The _Supply_, which had been long since condemned, was fitting up as a hulk to receive such convicts as were incorrigible, in which capacity she might still be very useful. It was intended that the _Lady Nelson_ should, at the proper season, be employed in an accurate survey of Ba.s.s Strait.

Accounts having been received of the Union between the Two Kingdoms, that event was celebrated on the 4th of June 1801, and on that occasion the new union flag was for the first time displayed in New South Wales. The governor took that opportunity of releasing several of the Irish insurgents who had been in confinement.

It appeared, on examining the registers of the several terms of transportation of the convicts, that the clerks, who necessarily had had access to them, had altered the sentences of about two hundred prisoners, receiving a gratuity from each equal to ten or twelve pounds. This was a very serious evil; and proper steps to guard against it in future have been taken both at home and in the colony.

That necessary inst.i.tution, the Orphan School, had been carried into effect, and the house which had been purchased for the reception of the children was occupied by them.

It appeared, upon collecting the accounts of the expenses attending the erecting of the county gaol, that that building had cost the sum of 3954 the greatest part of which had been paid by a.s.sessments upon individuals.

Every encouragement was given to promote the growth of wool fit for the purpose of manufacturing, and three hundred and six yards of blanketing had been made from what had been produced in the year preceding the date of the dispatches, from the flocks belonging to government and to individuals. In five months four hundred and seventy-two yards of flax had been manufactured into linen.

The colony continued healthy. In July 1801 there were one hundred and eighteen persons on the surgeon's list.

The spirit of adventure, which still manifested itself in the arrival of ships upon speculation, received some check in the governor's sending back three vessels that had arrived from Bengal, on board of which were not less than fifty-four thousand gallons of spirits and wine.

A quant.i.ty of copper coin having been received, the governor published a table of all the specie legally in circulation within the colony, affixing the following rates to each, at which they should be considered and be a legal tender in all payments or transactions within the territory, viz.

TABLE OF SPECIE

A guinea 1 2 0 A rupee 0 2 6 A johannes 4 0 0 A Dutch guilder 0 2 0 A half ditto 2 0 0 An English shilling 0 1 1 A ducat 0 9 6 A copper coin of 1 oz 0 0 2 A gold mohur 1 17 6 A ditto of oz 0 0 1 A paG.o.da 0 8 0 A ditto of oz 0 0 0 A Spanish dollar 0 5 0

And as the supply of copper was sent to relieve the inconvenience under which persons who wanted to make small payments laboured, no sum exceeding 5 was to be deemed a legal tender in this money. It was also declared, that the exporting or importing (except from the treasury) of any sum of the copper coin exceeding 5 should be punished by a forfeiture and fine of treble the value of the sum so exported or imported.

Several ships had arrived from India, England, and America, most of which had brought, upon speculation, cargoes consisting of wine, spirits, tobacco, teas, sugar, hardware, wearing apparel, etc, etc. the sale of which was, with the governor's approbation, advertised by the commissary, and publicly sold to all descriptions of people.

It appears, that from these ships

59,294 gallons of spirits ) had been imported.

30,896 gallons of wines )

26,974 gallons of spirits ) had been landed.

8,896 gallons of wines )

And, 32,320 gallons of spirits ) had been sent away.

22,000 gallons of wines )

Three ships had arrived with convicts, viz.

The _Royal Admiral_, on the 22nd of November 1800.

_Luz. St. Anne_, on the 21st of February 1801.

_Earl Cornwallis_, on the 12th of June following.

On the 30th of June 1801, there were in the settlement, five thousand five hundred and forty-seven persons of all descriptions, of whom seven hundred and seventy-six were children. At Norfolk Island the whole number of persons was nine hundred and sixty-one, making a total of six thousand five hundred and eight persons under the authority of the governor.

At Norfolk Island it was fortunately discovered, on the 14th of December 1800, that a plot had been formed by some of the convicts to murder the officers, and, getting possession of the island, to liberate themselves.

Two of the ringleaders were immediately executed.

Major Foveaux, the lieutenant-governor, had found, what had been so much wanted and hitherto unknown, a good landing-place for boats and small craft, in Anson's Bay, where there were four and five fathoms of water within a few yards of the sh.o.r.e, which was a fine sandy beach, and the pa.s.sage free from rocks or shoals.

The following was the state of the live stock, and ground in cultivation, in New South Wales: