I now set the two sawyers and two carpenters to work in building houses; one man was employed in making a crab to heave the boat by, another attended the live-stock, and the remainder were busied in clearing ground at Mount George, and Arthur's Vale. By the 17th, the rain was almost incessant, and, as I had every reason to suppose it would continue so three or four months longer, which would endanger the health of those who lived in tents; I caused the provisions to be removed from the store-house to a cellar under my house, which was dry, and the stores I put into a loft; and, as five men and three women lived at present in tents, I put them into the store-house, until they could build huts for themselves. The whole settlement were now well sheltered, except the surgeon and the midshipman; for whom I proposed to begin a house immediately. On the 18th, the shell of my house was finished: its dimensions were twenty-four feet long by twelve feet wide, and eight feet under the eaves: the sides and roof were weather-boarded. I sent the boat out this afternoon, and she returned with fifty very fine fish, which were issued out as usual. I set out on the 19th, with an intention of tracing the rivulet which runs through Arthur's Vale, to its source, and likewise to examine the extent of the valley; but, after wandering about the greatest part of the day, I returned back, much fatigued, and all the cloaths torn off my back by the briars and the entangled state of the woods. Arthur's Vale is situated between the north side of Mount George and the opposite hills: its direction is about north-north-west into the interior part of the island. The bottom of this valley, in some places, is not more than thirty yards wide; in others, at least three hundred. The hills on each side are cloathed with a thick forest; their ascent is not too steep for cultivation, and the soil is excellent, being a fat brown earth. A very fine rivulet runs through this vale, sufficiently large to turn any number of mills. As the bank of the sea-shore is considerably above the level of the rivulet, it sinks into the earth; and, after passing under the bank, it forces a passage for itself through a fissure of the rock, on Stony Beach and Turtle Bay, between high and low water marks, where it boils up with great force, and is excellent water. As the whole of this water is not carried off by the passage just mentioned, sufficient to keep the low ground clear, what does not pass under the bank, overflows the lower part of the valley, for the space of half a mile: this swamp might be drained by cutting a channel for the rivulet to empty itself on the sea-shore; but the operation would require time and a number of hands, and, when finished, it is not clear but that the force of the sea would soon fill the channel up again.