Page:An account of the English colony in New South Wales.djvu/53

 P. II.

March.] in March the Governor, accompanied by some officers, went by water to survey the harbour of Broken Bay; which proved equal in magnitude to Port Jackson, but the land in general was very high, and in most parts rocky and barren. The weather turned out very unfavourable to this excursion in a country where the residence for each night was to be provided for by the travellers themselves; and some of the party returned with dysenteric complaints. The weather at Port Jackson had been equally adverse to labour; and the Governor found, at his return, upwards of two hundred patients under the surgeon's care, in consequence of the heavy rains that had fallen. A building for the reception of the sick was now absolutely necessary, and one was put in hand, to be divided into a dispensary (all the hospital-stores being at that time under tents), a ward for the troops, and another for the convicts. The heavy rains also pointed out the