1790 The duty of the people is by the Governor's consideration lessened, in proportion to their stinted allowance, and they have every afternoon to themselves for attending to the main concern-how to subsist. His excellency has kindly taken into his mess those of Phillip's the officers who were shipwrecked; and his disinterested conduct in sharing the public inconveniences merits every encomium. kindness. Fantastick Early and late do I look with anxious eyes toward the sea; and at times, when the day was fast setting and the shadows of the evening stretched out, I have been deceived with some fantastick little cloud, which, as it condensed or expanded by such a light, for little clouds. a short time has amused impatient imagination into a momentary idea that it was a vessel altering her sail and position while steering in for the haven; when, in an instant, it has assumed a form so unlike what the mind was intent upon, or has become so greatly extended, as fully to certify me of its flimsy texture and fleeting existence. Surely our countrymen cannot altogether have forgotten us, or Forgotten have been vainly led by any silly, sanguine representations from at home. hence, to trust that we could make it out tolerably well without their assistance. The occasions that call me to town are only sometimes to draw provisions, which is done weekly. On these occasions I generally dine out; for in our visitings it has long been the custom to put Dining out. your bread at least in your pocket; and the usual form of salutation is, "Will you bring your bread and come and see me?" The Governor too, on whom I always wait when up at Camp, usually detains me to dine with him. D.S. A footnote to this letter informs us that the writer's name was Daniel Southwell; and another note, written by the person to whom the letter was sent, contained an extract from a former letter written by Southwell, in which he described the entrance of the First Fleet into Port Jackson : Soon after (in January, 1788) we had sight of the harbour, and The fleet at 4 p.m. were in the entrance between the north and south heads, coming in. the ships all standing after us. At length we saw the Supply, seemingly up in the woods amongst the trees, occasioned by the meandering windings of this beautiful harbour, and before sunset the whole of our fleet were safely anchored near our consort, in a most commodious reef known as Sidney Cove. To this note was added the following description of Port Jackson :- Though the party who had made a prior visit to this place were so warm in their praises as to draw upon themselves the charge of exaggeration, it must be confessed they did no more than justice to its merits. As a place for shipping it is perfectly 1790 and its scenery. landlocked, and has several capital arms furnished with many inlets, coves, and bays, where whole fleets might lay in safety, The harbour with good water under them and fine holding ground at the bottom. Indeed nothing can be conceived more picturesque than the appearance of the country while running up this extraordinary haven. The land on all sides is high and covered with an exuberance of trees. Toward the water, craggy rocks and vast declivities are everywhere to be seen. The scene is beautifully heightened by a number of small islands dispersed here and there, on which, with a little help of the imagination, you discover charming seats and verdant vistas, superb buildings, grand ruins of stately edifices, &c., which, as we passed, were only visible at intervals, the view being every now and then agreeably interrupted by the intervention of some proud eminences, or lost in the labyrinths of the groves that so abound in this fascinating scenery. The novelty of this picture was still increased by the frequent appearance of the natives, who now and then, posting themselves high on the Mourir pour rocks upon some conspicuous overhanging cliff, would brandish la patrie. their spears as though to dispute our passage. There was a something frantick in the manner of these petty veterans, their menacing gestures being occasionally interrupted by long considerings and excessive fits of laughter, in which there seemed to be more of agitation than of those pleasing emotions that usually excite risibility. Spanish colonisation. DESERTED COLONIES. IN 1581, a powerful armament was fitted out by Phillip the Second of Spain, for the purpose of fortifying certain points on the shores of the First Angostura, or narrows, in the Straits of Magalhanes, in order to guard the passage against English ships, and also for the purpose of founding a colony there. At that time the Straits were regarded as the key of the Pacific Ocean, the passage round Cape Horn not being then known to navigators. Twenty-three ships were equipped for the expedition, and three thousand five hundred men were put on board, including many artificers, with large stores of ammunition and ordnance. The fleet was formed into three divisions, one of which was to proceed to Chili, and a second to Brazil, while the third was to remain in the Straits, under Sarmiento. the command of Pedro Sarmiento, at whose suggestion the enter prise had been undertaken. The whole fleet was directed to sail in company to the Straits for the purpose of assisting Sarmiento in planting the intended colony. The ships sailed from Seville in September, but a succession of disasters reduced their number to laid out. such an extent that only five of them, with five hundred and thirty 1584-6 persons on board, entered the Straits in February, 1584. One of the ships ran aground and was wrecked there, while three of the others sailed away in the night-time for Spain, leaving Sarmiento with only one ship, four hundred men, and thirty women, with provisions for eight months. The foundations of two towns- Two towns named Nombre de Jesus and San Felipe-having been laid, Sarmiento sailed for Brazil in order to obtain supplies. Still pursued by misfortune, his ship was driven on the coast and wrecked, while another vessel which he had chartered and loaded with provisions for the colony was unable to reach the Straits. Sarmiento then sailed for Spain, and the colonists were left to their fate- Deserted. which is thus described in Burney's History of the Discoveries in the South Sea, vol. ii, p. 68 :— January the 6th [1586] Mr. Cavendish [an Englishman who had fitted out three small ships for a buccaneering cruise against the Spaniards] arrived at the entrance of the Straits of Magalhanes, and in the evening anchored with his squadron near the First Angostura. During the night, lights were observed on the north Rescue. shore, which were supposed to be intended as signals to the ships, and lights were shown in answer. The next morning the General went in a boat to the northern side of the Strait, and as the boat ran along by the land three men were seen on shore, who made signals by waving a white flag. The General stood in, and when A white flag. the boat drew near the men on shore enquired in the Spanish language to what country the ships belonged. These men were Spanish soldiers, part of the garrison that had been brought from Europe by Sarmiento to guard the Strait. The General, who had received information, before he left England, of the distressed condition of the Spaniards in this part of the world, and which no doubt was confirmed by the appearance of these men, ordered one of his people, who understood the Spanish language, to tell them that the ships were English; but that if they chose to embark with him he would carry them to Peru. The Spaniards, on hearing to what nation the people in the boat belonged, said they would not trust National themselves with the English for fear that they should be thrown hatred. overboard. The Englishman answered that they might safely embark, for the English were better Christians than the Spaniards. After this dialogue, the Spaniards resolved to abide by their own determination;. but, after a short consultation among themselves, they agreed in opinion that it could not be worse to trust the English than to stay where they were certain to perish. They accordingly called after the boat, which returned to the shore, and one of the Spaniards stepped into her. The General enquired of him what other Spaniards were on shore, and was answered, that 1584-6 Deserted again. The survivor's account. besides the three that he had seen there were fifteen more (twelve men and three women). The General then desired that two soldiers, the companions of him who had embarked, should be instructed to go to the other Spaniards and inform them that if they desired to leave the place they should come to the shore nearest the ships and he would receive them all on board. With this message the two soldiers departed, and the boat left the shore. When the General arrived on board he found the wind favourable for advancing up the Strait; upon which, without any waiting, he ordered the anchors to be taken up, and the ships immediately sailed forward, leaving the wretched remains of the Spanish colony with this cruel disappointment added to their other miseries, and utterly abandoned of man-both friend and foe. The Spaniard who was received into the English ships was named Tomé Hernandez. From a public declaration which he made many years afterwards has been received all that is known of the history of this neglected colony subsequent to the departure of Sarmiento from the Strait. The following is a summary of the account given by Hernandez :— The Spanish settlers were landed from the ships in February, 1584. In the latter part of May, their General was forced out of the Strait by a gale of wind, and there remained no vessel with the colony. In August, the Spaniards who had been left at Nombre de Jesus judged it necessary to quit that station and to remove to the town of San Felipe, to which place they travelled by land, but sustenance for so many people could not be obtained at San Felipe; and Captain Andres de Viedma, who commanded after the departure of Sarmiento, sent two hundred men back to Nombre de Jesus, who had no other means to support themselves in the journey than by seeking for shell-fish along the coast. Many died during the winter. The ensuing spring and summer were passed in constant and anxious expectation of the return of Sarmiento, and of receiving relief from the Spanish colonies in South America; but neither Sarmiento nor relief of any kind arrived. When the summer was far advanced, Viedma, who remained with the people at the town of San Felipe, caused two small barks to be built, in which he emAttempt to barked with all the people who were then living at that place, being fifty-five in number-fifty men and five women. (Hernandez has described the time so indistinctly that it appears uncertain whether this event took place in the beginning of 1585 or of 1586.) Expecta tions of relief. escape. Another wreck. They set sail towards the eastern entrance of the Strait; but when they proceeded only six leagues from San Felipe, one of the barks was cast on the rocks and wrecked. This accident was entirely occasioned by there not being among them any mariners who could manage the vessel. The people got from the wreck safe to the land, but the remaining bark was not large enough to carry the whole; and this loss, with their want of a stock of provisions suffi cient for a sea voyage, made them for the present relinquish the 1763-5 project of quitting the Strait. To increase the means of subsistence, it was determined to separate the people into small divisions. About twenty returned to San Felipe: the remainder spread themselves in small parties along the coast. Some ground had been cleared and sown with grain; but their agricultural attempts were not productive. Pretty, in his account of the voyage of Mr. Cavendish, has related that during the time the Spaniards were in the Strait "they could never have anything to grow or in anywise Hostile prosper, and on the other side, the Indians preyed on them." It is probable that the natives, with whom the Spaniards were not upon friendly terms, destroyed their crops and prevented their deriving assistance from the cultivation of the ground. natives. A short time before the arrival of the vessels of Mr. Cavendish, all who remained living of the parties along the coast, and of the Reduced to people of San Felipe, joined; their number being reduced by hunger eighteen. and sickness to eighteen (fifteen men and three women). town. In the town of San Felipe, many lay dead in their houses, and a dead even in their clothes, those who were left alive not having strength or spirits to bury their deceased companions. The town at length became so tainted that the survivors could not longer remain in it. Some among them proposed that they should attempt to go by land to the River de la Plate; but the smallness of their number, their exhausted strength, and the danger of finding the natives everywhere hostile, were objections to this plan; and the majority trusting to the arrival of some ship for their deliverance, it was therefore agreed to travel to the first settlement (Nombre de Jesus). In their journey along the coast, they passed many dead bodies of their countrymen who had perished in seeking for subsistence, or in travelling from one to the other settlement, and some who had been killed by the natives. colonisa The history of the French colony sent out in 1763 to Cayenne French (French Guiana) forms another illustration of the same kind. tion. "Choiseul, the Prime Minister, having obtained for himself and his cousin Praslin a concession of the country between the Kourou and the Marone, sent out about twelve thousand volunteer colonists, mainly from Alsace and Lorraine [which had been ceded to France in 1697]. They were landed at the mouth of the Kourou, where no preparation had been made for their reception, and where even water was not to be obtained. The necessary tools for tillage were wanting. By 1765, no more than nine hundred and eighteen colonists remained alive, and these were a famished, fever-stricken band. Some A long investigation by the Parliament of Paris proved only that blundered. some one had blundered."-Encyclopædia Britannica, Art. Guiana. one had |