cy of fresh water not being found at this place it was
determined to proceed to Melville Island, where they arrived on the 30th,
and commenced forming the settlement of Fort Dundas in Apsley Strait.
This settlement, however, after an existence of four years, was abandoned
on March 31st, 1829, in consequence of the continued unfavourable
accounts transmitted to the Home Government. Hostilities with the natives
had early commenced, and several lives were lost on either side.

RAFFLES BAY SETTLEMENT.

Meanwhile in anticipation of the abandonment of Melville Island, it had
been resolved to found a second settlement upon the north coast of
Australia. For this purpose, H.M.S. Success, Captain Stirling, with a
convoy of three vessels conveying troops, convicts, stores, and
provisions, sailed from Sydney, and arrived at Raffles Bay on June 17th,
1827. Next day the new settlement of Fort Wellington was formed. A grand
error was made in the very beginning, for the site was chosen behind a
mudbank, dry at low tides, in order to secure proximity to a lagoon of
fresh water, which after all disappeared towards the close of the dry
season. At first the natives committed many depredations, chiefly during
the night. About a month after the founding of the settlement, it was
thought necessary to order the sentries to fire upon the natives whenever
they approached, and on one occasion they were greeted with a discharge
of grape-shot. At length one of the soldiers was speared, and in reprisal
a party was sent out, which, coming unexpectedly upon a camp of natives,
killed and wounded several, including a woman and two children. When the
Bugis paid their annual visit to the coast several prahus remained to
fish for trepang under the protection of the settlement. Of the
healthiness of the place the medical officer states: "There is no endemic
disease here. The climate of the place surpasses every other as far as I
know, which is equally as near the equator; and were it not for the great
height of atmospheric temperature, I should consider this one of the best
in the world." However, two years after the foundation of the settlement,
when hostilities with the natives had ceased, and a friendly intercourse
had been established--when the Bugis had already taken advantage of the
protection of Europeans to carry on the trepang fishery in the bay--when
the reported unhealthiness of the climate had never exhibited itself--in
short when the settlement