46 PREPARATIONS 1787 March. Port Stephens. No more convicts. Natives protected. IsUnd women. Exile. Hostilities. Salary and allowances. And, on a later occasion, lie wrote another series of memoranda on similar points : — It must be left to me to fix at Botany Baj^ if I find it a proper place; if not, to go to a port a few leagues to the northward, where there appears to be a good harbour and several islands. As the natives are very expert in setting fire to the grass, the having an island to secure our stock would be a great advanta.ge, and there 13 none in or off Botany Bay.* It certainly will nob be advisable to send out any more convicts till my situation is known ; and the strength of the garrison must always be in proportion to the number of convicts, till the garrison is of a certain force. Any man who takes the life of a native will be put on his trial the same as if he had killed one of the garrison. This appears to me not only just, but good policy. These women from the islands cannot be sent for till provision is made to receive them, and they will certainly be free to choose husbands, or to live in private within certain bounds. Any insults offered to them will be punished with severity, and this their situa- tion will required A power to exile to New Zealand any convict that may be con- demned under certain circumstances appears to me very necessary, and may be attended with good consequences. Instructions how to proceed in case of being opposed by any European ships when I arrive on the coast. How and when are the contingent expenses to be drawn for, and on whom ? Mr. Rose informed me that I was to receive as Governor, £ Allowed for a secretary, £ Allowed for paper, £ What is the authority which fixes these appointments ? It will be seen from his last queries that up to this time Phillip had, apparently, been more mindful of the
- Phillip had evidently read Captain Cook's account of the attempt made
by the natives on the Endeavour Kiver to bum his tents by setting fire to the grass, on the 9th July, 1770, because he would not give them any turtle. But as Cook made no mention of " several islands" in Port Jackson, while he described Port Stephens as an inlet sheltered from all winds, with " three small islands" at the entrance, Phillip was probably thinking of that port. Hawkesworth, vol. iii, p. 608. Digitized by Google
