Page:History of New South Wales from the records, Volume 1.djvu/356

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246 THB CHRONICLES 1790 adrancmg towards Barbarism in its decay^ represented by an ancient Indian gazing wistfully into the child's face^ and '^ mattering to himself all the while/' A few lines enable him to describe the troops and pris- oners at work on the shores of Sydney Cove, immediately after their landing : — The scene, to an indifferent spectator at leisnre to contmnplate Foimdinff a it^ would have been highly picturesque and amusing. In one place, a party cutting down the woods; a second, setting up a blade- smith's forge ; a third, dragging along a load of stones or provisions ; here an officer pitching his marquee, with a detachment of troops parading on one side of him, and a cook's fire blazing up on the other.* White's In the following year appeared Surgeon Whitens Journal of a Voyage to New South Walesf — another fine qnarto^ somewhat resembling Phillip's Voyage in appearance and contents. Mr. White had the great advantage of a taste for natural history, and was consequently in a position to enliven as well as to illustrate his pages by descriptions of the new world of animal and vegetable life in which he found himself. The birds are exceedingly well drawn and coloured ; but a curious difference may be noticed between Natuna the representations of the same specimens in "White's Jour- nal and in Phillip's Voyage. The cassowary, the parrots and the cockatoos, for instance, which adorn the two volumes, have very little resemblance with each other when placed side by side for comparison ; and as they all purport to be drawn and coloured from nature, it is not easy to account for the difference. So far as the history of the settlement is concerned. White's volume is not of mnch importance ; the

  • Miratnr molem ^neas, magalia quondam ; .

Miratur portas, strepitumque, et strata viaram. Instant ardentes Tyrii : pars dncere mnros, Moliiique arcem, et manibua subvolvere aaxa ; Pars optare locum tecto, et concludere sulco. Hie Dortus alii effodiunt ; hie aka theatris Funaamenta locant alii, immanesoue columnas KapibuB excidunt, scenis decora alta faturis. i£neid, I, 418. t Post, p. 58Z histoxy. Digitized by Google