not been
improperly placed. Governor Phillip observes, that they, as first
settlers, laboured under some inconvenience from not being able
to employ the convicts in agriculture on the spot where the
provisions and stores were landed; but this was the only
inconvenience, as having the convicts at some distance from the
military was attended with many advantages.

When the governor first arrived, he had little time to look
round him, as his instructions particularly pointed out, that he
was not to delay the disembarking of the people, with a view of
searching for a better situation than what Botany-Bay might
afford. He was obliged to look farther, but did not think himself
at liberty to continue his searches after he had been
Sydney-Cove.

Had he seen the country near the head of the harbour, he might
have been induced to have made the settlement there, but nothing
was known of that part of the country, until the creek which runs
up to Rose-hill was discovered, in a journey that the governor
made to the westward, three months after they landed; and
although he was then fully satisfied of the goodness of the soil,
and saw the advantages of that situation, most of the stores and
provisions were landed, and it required some little time to do
away the general opinion, that such a situation could not be
healthy, and that he was inclined to think himself, until he had
examined the country for some miles round, and was satisfied that
there was a free circulation of air, in the goodness of which,
few places equal it. The numbers of people, who had been settled
at Rose-Hill, on an average for eighteen months, exceeded one
hundred; and during that time they had only two deaths: a woman,
who had been subject to a dropsy, and a marine, who had been
there but a very short time before he died.

It is in that part of the country, that the governor proposed
employing the convicts in agriculture, and in the neighbourhood
of which, he proposed fixing the first settlers who might be sent
out.

The impossibility of conveying stores and provisions for any
distance inland obliged the governor to mark out the first
township near Rose-Hill, where there is a considerable extent of
good land: the sea-coast does not offer any situation within
their reach at present, which is calculated for a town, whose
inhabitants are to be employed in agriculture.

In order to know in what time a man might be able to cultivate
a sufficient quantity of g