February.] A portable canvas house, brought over for the governor, was erected on the East side of the cove (which was named Sydney, in compliment to the principal secretary of state for the home department) where also a small body of convicts was put under tents.  The detachment of marines was encamped at the head of the cove near the stream, and on the West side was placed the main body of the convicts.  The women did not disembark until the 6th of February; when, every person belonging to the settlement being landed, the numbers amounted to 1030 persons.  The tents for the sick were placed on the West side, and it was observed with concern that their numbers were fast increasing.  The scurvy, that had not appeared during the passage, now broke out, which, aided by a dysentery, began to fill the hospital, and several died.  In addition to the medicines that were administered, every species of esculent plants that could be found in the country were procured for them; wild celery, spinach, and parsley, fortunately grew in abundance about the settlement; those who were in health, as well as the sick, were very glad to introduce them into their messes, and found them a pleasant as well as wholesome addition to the ration of salt provisions.

The public stock, consisting of one bull, four cows, one bull-calf, one stallion, three mares, and three colts (one of which was a stone-colt) were landed on the East point of the cove, where they remained until they had cropped the little pasturage it afforded; and were then removed to a spot at the head of the adjoining cove, that was cleared for a small farm, intended to be placed under the direction of a person brought out by the governor.

Some ground having been prepared near his excellency’s house on the East side, the plants from Rio-de-Janeiro and the Cape of Good Hope were safely brought on shore in a few days; and we soon had the satisfaction of seeing the grape, the fig, the orange, the pear, and the apple, the delicious fruits of the Old, taking root and establishing themselves in our New World.

As soon as the hurry and tumult necessarily attending the disembarkation had a little subsided, the governor caused his Majesty’s commission, appointing him to be his captain-general and governor in chief in and over the territory of New South Wales and its dependencies, to be publicly read, together with the letters patent for establishing the courts of civil and criminal judicature in the territory, the extent of which, until this publication of it, was but little known even among ourselves.  It was now found to extend from Cape York (the extremity of the coast to the northward) in the latitude of 20 degrees 37 minutes South, to the South Cape (the southern extremity of the coast) in the latitude of 43 degrees 39 minutes South; and inland to the westward as far as 135 degrees of East longitude, comprehending all the islands adjacent in the Pacific Ocean, within the latitudes of the above-mentioned capes.