164 PHILLIP 1791 expressions of opinion on the part of Tench's contempo- May. raries. It is well worthy of note that all who were at all qualified to form an opinion — especially Phillip, Hunter, and Collins, as well as Tench — seem to have formed a high opinion of the natives they met with, and to have been animated by the kindliest feelings towards them, notwith- standing their occasional outbreaks of savagery. As to Their quick- their mental capacity, Tench did not hesitate to declare that perception. '^ the nativcs of New South Wales possess a considerable portion of that acumen, or sharpness of intellect, which bespeaks genius.* In following the course of Phillip's explorations — which are not always easily made out from the only records of them that have come down to us — the reader will find con- Dawes's sidcrable assistance in a chart of the country constructed
- ^***^ by Lieutenant Dawes, bearing date March, 1791. It will
be seen that the whole extent of the country of which Phillip and his contemporaries had acquired any knowledge lay between Botany Bay and Broken Bay, and was practi- caPy bounded to the west by the rivers Hawkesbury and Nepean. The country beyond the Nepean had been pene- trated, in December, 1789, as far as the hill marked Mount strugRies Twiss ou the chart; but the difficulties attending any at-- expiorers. tempt to explore in that direction are amusingly indicated by the remarks which Dawes has sprinkled over his map. Beyond Mount Twiss another mountain was seen, named Bound Hill ; and we are told that ^^ of this hill the Governor desired that the summit might be attained, if possible ; but on arriving at the western brow of it, a rugged country between it and Round Hill appeared." At another part we Topography read that '^ all this country, as far as the eye can reach from difficulties, very high hills, appears very mountainous and covered with trees." Statements of this kind may be taken to represent all that was then known of the country between the rivers and the Blue Mountains. But of Phillip's energy and
- Complete Account, p. 188.
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