SKETCH. Ixiii The cliange which Banks brought about in public opinion with respect to the climate, soil, and natural resources of New South Wales cannot bo thoroughly understood utitil we have realised what that opinion actually was in his time. Until he spoke on the subject, the general estimate of New Holland — as it was then called — ^was unfavourable to the last degree ; and that this estimate extended throughout Europe is evident from the fact that in an age when all the sea-faring nations were particularly active in seeking new fields for commercial operations, not one of them made any serious attempt to establish trading posts on its shores — still less to occupy the country. The Dutch settlements in Java and the Spanish in Peru placed facilities for the purpose in the hands of their merchants which would not have been neglected, if there had been any tendency to believe in the prospect of commercial returns for the enterprise. During the third quarter of the last century, the French had begun to look to the South Seas as a promising field for exploration if not for commercial ventures ; but they, too, were so possessed with the universal belief that New Holland was not worth the cost of an expedition, that none was sent to it. It seems to have been looked at in much the same light as we have been accustomed to look at Africa — a sort of Dark Continent, with a hot climate and a barren soil, peopled with miserable savages, and incapable of being turned to any good account. The general impression with respect to it, as a field for colonisation, may be seen in the account which de Brosses gives of it, when speaking of the different places in the South Seas that might be occupied for that pur- pose. His object was to point out the advantages that might be obtained by the establishment of colonies in that part of the world, and consequently he had no reason to depreciate the countries he described : New Zealand and Van Diemen's Land are too distant [for colonising purposes], being situated towards the south pole and altogether unknown. Digitized by Google
