in every countenance. "About ship," exclaimed the captain; immediately the ship's head was turned from the land, and, steering as near the wind as possible, we proceeded towards the open sea. After sailing in this direction for some time, the ship was again turned towards the shore; but the wind, which during the forenoon had been so favourable, was now against us, and as soon as we could distinguish the flag-staff on the coast, we found ourselves farther from it than before. The wind increased; and as the evening advanced, a storm came on, which raged with fearful violence. The night was unusually dark ; the long and heavy waves of the Pacific rolled in foam around our vessel; the stormy wind howled through the rigging; all hands were on deck, and twice or thrice, while in the act of turning the ship from the land, the sails were rent by the tempest; while the hoarse and hollow roaring of the breakers, and the occasional glimmering of lights on the coast, combined to convince us of our situation, and the proximity of our danger. The depression of spirits, resulting from the disappointment, which had been more or less felt by all on board, the noise of the tempest, the vociferations and frequent imprecations of the officers, the hurried steps, rattling of ropes and cordage, and almost incessant labours of the seamen on deck, and the heavy and violent motion of the vessel, which detached from their fastenings, and dashed with violence from one side of the ship to the other, chests of drawers, trunks, and barrels, that had remained secure during the voyage, produced a state of mind peculiarly distressing. The darkness and general disorder that prevailed in the cabin, with the constant apprehension of striking on some fatal rock, that might lie unseen near the craggy and iron-bound shore, and of being either ingulfed in the mighty deep, or wrecked on the inhospitable coast, rendered the night altogether one of the most alarming and anxious that we had passed since our departure from England. Amidst the confusion by which we were surrounded, we experienced comparative composure of mind, in reliance on the protection of the Most High, "When o'er the fearful depth we hung, We knew He was not slow to hear, In such a season, confidence in Him who holdeth the wind in its fists, and the waters in the hollow of his hand, can alone impart serenity and support. As the morning advanced, the storm abated; and at sunrise we found ourselves at a considerable distance from the shore. Contrary winds kept us out at sea for nearly a fortnight, which was by far the most irksome part of our voyage. At length we again approached the coast, and were delighted, as we sailed along it on the morning of the eleventh day, to behold a pilot-boat steering towards us. Our vessel had been several times seen from the shore, since the day of our first disappointment; and as soon as we had appeared in sight this morning, the governor of New South Wales, then at Sydney, had despatched a pilot, with orders to go out even sixty miles, rather than return without bringing the vessel in. The pilot boarded us about twenty miles from Port Jackson, and conducted us safely within the heads, in the evening of the same day. Early the next morning, we proceeded to Sydney Cove, where we cast anchor on the 22d of July, after a passage, including our stay in Rio Janeiro, of only a few days more than six months. Five months elapsed before we could meet with a conveyance to the Society Islands. This detention, however, favoured me with an opportunity of visiting the chief settlements of New South Wales, and beholding several of the rare and interesting animals and vegetable productions of that important colony. I was happy also to experience, during this period, the friendship and attentions of the Rev. S. Marsden, senior chaplain of the colony, the steady and indefatigable friend of Missions and Missionaries in the South Seas. resided at Paramatta, where we passed the greater part of our stay in New South Wales, in the family of the late Mr. Hassel, formerly a Missionary in Tahiti. He The settlements in New South Wales are important and prosperous; the whole population is about 40,000, and the colony will, perhaps at no very remote period, be inferior to few attached to the parent country. Combining, in its ample range of territory, every variety of climate in the temperate and torrid zones, it is at once adapted to the growth of the corn of Europe, and the culture of cotton, coffee, sugar, tobacco, and other valuable productions of those countries which lie within the tropics. The supply of labour furnished by the convict population, in agriculture or the mechanic arts, enables the settler to prosecute his plans of local improvement or distant commerce; while the exile is here favoured with an opportunity of retrieving his character, and securing the enjoyment of liberty and comparative comfort. The number of individuals, of intelligence and enterprise, who, as settlers, have transferred to this country their families and their capital, has elevated the tone of moral feeling and public sentiment, among the more respectable classes of society. The enterprise and activity of the merchants of Sydney, and the public spirit, industry, and perseverance of the grazier and the agriculturist, are rapidly augmenting the resources of the colony itself, and increasing its relative importance. Although the moral and religious state of its population may not have received so much attention as the peculiar character of the lower classes have required, it has not been neglected. Orphan schools have been established, and liberally supported, and other benevolent institutions have been founded. A bible society has for some years existed, and in no part of the world would the influence of its precepts be more salutary. In addition to these means, the indefatigable labours of the clergymen of the church of England, and other communions, cannot but be highly valuable to the inhabitants of this rising colony. In company with Mr. S. O. Hassel, I made several excursions into the interior of the country, where we frequently saw the inhabitants more completely in a state of nature, than those we met with in the vicinity of the principal towns. The aborigines are but thinly spread over that part of New Holland bordering on the colony; and though the population has been estimated at three millions, I am disposed to think that, notwithstanding the geographical extent of the country, it does not contain so many inhabitants. Their appearance is generally repulsive, their faces looking more deformed from their often wearing a skewer through the cartilage of the nose. Their colour is dark olive or black, and their hair rather crisped than woolly, In proportion to the body, their limbs are small and weak, while their gait is awkward. Excepting in the neighbourhood of the chief towns, they were usually destitute of clothing, though armed with a spear or lance, with which, even at a great distance, they are fatal marksmen. They are represented as indolent, and cruel. Agriculture is unknown among them, although the indigenous preductions of the country yield them little if any subsistence. Their food is scanty, precarious, and loathsome, sometimes consisting of grubs and reptiles taken in the hollow or decayed trees of the forest. Occasionally, however, they procure excellent fish from the sea, or the lakes, rivers, &c. Their dwellings are low huts of bark, which afford but a mere temporary shelter from the weather. They appear, in physical structure, and other respects, to resemble the inhabitants of Papua, or New Guinea, and of the interior of Sumatra, and other large islands of the Asiatic archipelago. They are a distinct people from the inhabitants of New Zealand or the South Sea Islands, altogether inferior to them, and apparently the lowest grade of human kind. Their habits are fugitive and migratory, and this has perhaps greatly contributed to the failure of the benevolent attempts that have been made, by the government and others, to meliorate their condition, and elevate their character. The school for aboriginal children, under the patronage of the government, was a most interesting institution: I frequently visited it, and was surprised to learn that, though treated with every kindness, the young scholars, when an opportunity occurred, frequently left the school, and fled to their native woods, where every effort to discover their retreat, or to reclaim them, proved |
