An Account of the English Colony in New South Wales, Volume 1: With Remarks on the Dispositions, Customs, Manners, Etc. of The; Native Inhabitants of That Country. to Which Are Added, Some; Particulars of New Zealand; Compiled, By Permission, From; The Mss. of Lieutenant-Governor King.Collins, David
History
An Account of the English Colony in New South Wales, Volume 1: With Remarks on the Dispositions, Customs, Manners, Etc. of The; Native Inhabitants of That Country. to Which Are Added, Some; Particulars of New Zealand; Compiled, By Permission, From; The Mss. of Lieutenant-Governor King.
Collins, David
New South Wales -- Description and travel
The commodore presented the lieutenant-governor with two drawings of this
settlement, and one of Parramatta, done in Indian ink, by F. Brambila;
together with a copy of the astronomical observations which had been made
at the observatory, and at Parramatta. From these it appeared that the
longitude of the observatory which they had erected at the Point, deduced
from forty-two sets of distances of the sun and moon, taken on the
morning of the 2nd of this month, was 151 degrees 18 minutes 8 seconds E
from Greenwich; and the latitude, 33 degrees 51 minutes 28 seconds S. The
latitude of the governor's house at Parramatta was 33 degrees 48 minutes
0 seconds S; and the distance west from the observatory about nineteen
miles.
The commodore left a packet with dispatches for the Spanish ambassador at
the court of London, to be forwarded by the first ship which should
depart hence direct for England; and on the 12th both ships sailed. Their
future route was never exactly spoken of by them; but, from what the
officers occasionally threw out, it appeared that they expected to be in
Europe in about fourteen months from their departure. They spoke of
visiting the Society and Friendly Islands, and of proceeding again to the
coast of South America.
As it had been the general wish to render the residence of these
strangers among us as pleasant as our situation would allow, we received
with great satisfaction the expressions of regret which they testified at
their departure, a regret that was at least equally felt on our part. Our
society was very small; we could not therefore but sensibly feel the
departure of these gentlemen, who united to much scientific knowledge
those qualities of the heart which render men amiable in society; and the
names of Malaspina, Bustamante, Tova, Espinosa, Concha, Cevallos,
Murphy*, Robredo, Quintano, Viana, Novales, Pineda**, Bauza, Heencke***,
Nee***, Ravenet****, and Brambila****, were not likely to be soon
forgotten by the officers of this settlement. During their stay here, the
greatest harmony subsisted between the seamen of the two ships and our
people, the latter in but few instances exercising their nimble-fingered
talents among them; such, however, as did choose to hazard a display, and
were detected, were severely punished.
[* This gentleman was of Irish extraction.]
[** Brother of D. A. Pineda.]
[*** The botanists.]
[**** The limner, and landscape-painter.]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account