Page:Rambles in Australia (IA ramblesinaustral00grewiala).pdf/233

should have missed Sydney Harbour. When exploring the east coast of Australia in the "Endeavour," a ship of 368 tons, he spent some time in Botany Bay in the spring of 1770, where he buried one of his men, took in wood and water, and made some ineffectual attempts at friendly negotiation with the natives. He gave the bay the name by which it was afterwards known because of the "great quantity of plants, that Mr. Banks and Dr. Solander collected in this place." He then sailed away to the North, passing Sydney Harbour at two or three miles' distance; merely noting that "there was there a good bay or harbour, in which there appeared to be good anchorage," which he called Port Jackson. Here, years later, after the revolt of the American colonies; when the English Government was faced with the difficulty of disposing of the convicts, who had been formerly shipped to America; a scheme was set on foot, partly through the initiation of Lord Sydney, for shipping them to Botany Bay, and founding a colony there. An expedition was sent out under Captain Philip, the first governor of the colony. The fleet sailed in May, seventeen years after Captain Cook's exploration of the coast of New South Wales, as he had named it, and took thirty-six weeks to reach Botany Bay by way of the Cape and Brazil;