ays with regard to Australia. From
the time of Dampier it had been supposed that the whole of this
continent must be the same flat and miserable desert as the part he
described. Cook's account, on the other hand, represented the eastern
coast as a country full of beauty and promise. Now, it so happened that,
shortly after Cook's return, the English nation had to deal with a great
difficulty in regard to its criminal population. In 1776 the United
States declared their independence, and the English then found they
could no longer send their convicts over to Virginia, as they had
formerly done. In a short time the gaols of England were crowded with
felons. It became necessary to select a new place of transportation;
and, just as this difficulty arose, Captain Cook's voyages called
attention to a land in every way suited for such a purpose, both by
reason of its fertility and of its great distance. Viscount Sydney,
therefore, determined to send out a party to Botany Bay, in order to
found a convict settlement there; and in May, 1787, a fleet was ready to
sail. It consisted of the _Sirius_ war-ship, its tender the _Supply_,
together with six transports for the convicts, and three ships for
carrying the stores. Of the convicts, five hundred and fifty were men
and two hundred and twenty were women. To guard these, there were on
board two hundred soldiers. Captain Phillip was appointed Governor of
the colony, Captain Hunter was second in command, and Mr. Collins went
out as judge-advocate, to preside in the military courts, which it was
intended to establish for the administration of justice. On the 18th,
19th, and 20th of January, 1788, the vessels arrived, one after another,
in Botany Bay, after a voyage of eight months, during which many of the
convicts had died from diseases brought on by so long a confinement.

#2. Port Jackson.#--As soon as the ships had anchored in Botany Bay,
convicts were landed and commenced to clear the timber from a portion of
the land; but a day or two was sufficient to show the unsuitability of
Botany Bay for such a settlement. Its waters were so shallow that the
ships could not enter it properly, and had to lie near the Heads, where
the great waves of the Pacific rolled in on them by night and day.
Governor Phillip, therefore, took three boats, and sailed out to search
for some more convenient harbour. As he passed along the coast he turned
to examine the opening which Captain Cook had called P