Page:History of Australia, Rusden 1897.djvu/61

---

which naturally enough exeifcetl the idea of Noah's ark." On tha l*2th Nov. the ships left Table Bay. After much baffling wind, being only eighty leagues eastward of the Cape on the 25th Nov., Phillip left the Sirins and went on board the Sappli/,^"^ hoping to examine the country at Botany Bay, and fix upon the best site for the colony before the arrival of the transports. Lieutenant P. G. King accompanied Phillip in the Supplify which reached Botany Bay on the 18th Jan., 1788. bu the 19th the Alexander, Srarhorfnigh, and Fnendshij^ arrived, and on the 20th the Sinus, with the remainder of the convoy, the whole fleet having rounded Van Diemen'a Land in their course. Phillip was not satisfied with any site at Botany Bay, and on the 22nrl he proceeded, with tliree boats, *' toA examine Port Jackson, a bay mentioned by Captain Cook, immediately to the north. Here all doubt and disappoint- ment vanished. The prime necessity of a noble harbour for shipping was doubtless first in Phillip *8 thoughts, and such a harbour he said he found in the finest in the world, in which a thousand sail of the line might ride in the most perfect security." But no one ever entered Port Jackson — with its jutting promontories, its retreating coves, its fringe of shrubs and trees interspersed with brilliant flowers, its picturesque rocksj its apparently unending wealtli and variety of shapes and windings, whether of water or of land — without feeling within him a spring of wondering pleasure. With such feelings the breasts of Phillip and his companions must have glowed. But work was his immediate object. He promptly examined the different coves, and selected one which he named Sydney Cove, after Lord Sydney, the Secretary of State. There he found a spring of water available for close-anchoring ahips. Fresh from visiting Eio Janeiro, he yet told Lord Sydney: '* This harbour is in -"• Note,— Tliis arrangement was aiit.ici£Mit«(l in EogUiinl. On the .Ith May Lord Sydney (probably moved by PhilUp) aigniried the King's pleasiire that the Admiralty should *^iuthorize Captain Phillip, upon his lea^ving the Cape of Good Hope, to proceed, if he thinks fit, to the said coast of New South Wales iii the Supplij tender, Icavio|; the convoy to bii eHCOrted by the Sirius to the rendezvous which he ntay hx upoD»"