Chapter VIII.

February 1788

Description of Port Jackson and the adjacent country—­The Governor’s
commission read—­his Speech—­his humane resolutions respecting the
Natives—­difficulties in erecting huts and other buildings—­departure of
Lieutenant King to Norfolk Island. 
A View in Port Jackson.

Port Jackson was not visited or explored by Captain Cook; it was seen only at the distance of between two or three miles from the coast:  had any good fortune conducted him into that harbour, he would have found it much more worthy of his attention as a seaman, than that in which he passed a week.  Governor Phillip himself pronounces it to be a harbour, in extent and security, superior to any he has ever seen:  and the most experienced navigators who were with him fully concur in that opinion.  From an entrance not more than two miles across, Port Jackson gradually extends into a noble and capacious bason; having soundings sufficient for the largest vessels, and space to accommodate, in perfect security, any number that could be assembled.  It runs chiefly in a western direction, about thirteen miles into the country, and contains not less than an hundred small coves, formed by narrow necks of land, whose projections afford admirable shelter from all winds.  Sydney Cove lies on the South side of the harbour, between five and six miles from the entrance.  The necks of land that form the coves are mostly covered with timber, yet so rocky that it is not easy to comprehend how the trees could have found sufficient nourishment to bring them to so considerable a magnitude; but the soil between the rocks is very good, and into those spaces the principal roots have found their way.  The soil in other parts of the coast immediately about Port Jackson is of various qualities.  That neck of land which divides the south end of the harbour from the sea is chiefly sand.  Between Sydney Cove and Botany Bay the first space is occupied by a wood, in some parts a mile and a half, in others three miles across; beyond that, is a kind of heath, poor, sandy, and full of swamps.  As far as the eye can reach to the westward, the country is one continued wood.  The head of the bay in Port Jackson, seemed at first to offer some advantages of ground, but as it is partly left dry at low water, and as the winds are much obstructed there by the woods and by the windings of the channel, it was deemed that it must probably be unhealthful, till the country can be cleared.

There are several parts of the harbour in which the trees stand at a greater distance from each other than in Sydney Cove; some of these which have small runs of water, and a promising soil, Governor Phillip purposed to cultivate as soon as hands could be spared; but the advantage of being able to land the stores and provisions with so much ease, unavoidably determined his choice of a place for the principal settlement.  Had it been attempted to remove those necessaries