314 KING. COLLINS. BUCKLEY. point of Tiew to remain at, lyithout subjecting the Crown to the certain expensive prospect of the soil not being equal to raise anything for the support of the Bottlement.** He had not desii'ed to fix upon any site without hearing from England, The reports of Mr. Murray and Captain Flinders had led King to adopt Port Phillip temporarily as a site, but he yielded to the later reports of others. He left it to Collins to decide whether to remove to the Derwenfc or to Port Dalryniple. He sent ample information as to both places, of the former of which Lieut. Bowen, the officer in command, spoke highly. Kiug wrote at great length, and sent various stores to Collins. He sent an order to Lieut, Bowen to transfer the command at the Derwent if Collins should decide to go thither, and chartered the Ocean for four months to assist Collins. The convicts generally behaved well at Port Phillip. Twelve absconded. Some returned : some were recaptured. Two were unaccounted for^and Collins **took it for granted they had perished/' One of them, Buckley, fell into the hands of the natives, whose numbers had alarmed Collins, They treated him Immanelj^ and in 1835 he was found enjoying their hospitality, when John Batman headed an expedition formed to take possession of the land which Collins abandoned in 1804. Governor King did not resist the entreaties of Collins. He wrote (1st March 1804) to the Secretary of State:
- 'By the Ocean, and a boat, I received letters from the
Lt--Governor reporting the badness of the soil and the ^ want of fresh water as decided objections against Port fl Phillip being eligible for an agricultural settlement. . . • I cannot but regret that Port Phillip has been deemed unfit for a i>rincipal establishment. The receipt of the report of Grimes, with the chart of the ^ Yarra-Yarra, had no effect upon Collins. It deprived him H of the plea of want of water, but it furnished fresh evidence ™ of a savage population. Tuckey had encountered from one .to two hundred of the dreaded natives at the north-w^est, ^ 'and Collins was not inclined to qualify his first report to ( King, that in order to settle ** at the upper part of the harbour, wind] is full of natives, I should rec[uire four I I
