Page:History of New South Wales from the records, Volume 1.djvu/255

 AND EXPLORATION. 151 influences of nature. Some of the little gardens which had 1789 thus been planted in the wilderness were afterwards visited Jane, and found to be thriving, while others showed no return for the labour. This little instance of carefulness and fore- thought is characteristic of Phillip. Some of our subsequent explorers adopted a similar practice during their journeys in the far interior. It was on the same principle — suggested probably by Sir Joseph Banks — ^that Captain Cook used to leave pigs on the islands he visited ; but in none of these cooVs cases were the benevolent anticipations realised, either as ^ ** to the pigs or the gardens. On the rising of the tide, the explorers returned to the river in the hope that they would soon be able to trace it to its source. They had not gone more than half a mile beyond the foot of Richmond Hill when they found the stream again dividing into two narrow branches, from one of which the water came down with a rush over a fall of stones apparently The nver lying across its entrance. They now understood the noise of falling waters which had attracted their attention while lying round their camp fires on the previous evening. Not- withstanding the noise, however, there was not depth enough for the boats to proceed any further ; they were therefore The search ■ii'T • 1 1 T'l-Ti i> abandoned. obliged to give up the search, and with it the hope of Teneriffe, the Cape, and Timor. On leaving Hanover Bay, where he had made a earden, he wrote : — **I considered what a blessing to the country these plants must eventually prove, if they should continue to thrive as they had yet done ; and as I called to mind how much forethought and care their transportation had occasioned, I would very gladly have passed a year or two of my life in watching over them, and seeing them attain to a useful maturity. One large pumpkin plant in particular claimed my notice. The tropical warmth and rain, and the virgin soil in which it grew, had imparted to it a rich luxuriance ; it did not creep along the ground, but its long shoots were spreading upwards amongst the trees. The younff cocoa-nuts grew humbly amidst the wild plants and reeds — their worth unknown. Most of these plants I had placed in the eround myself, and had watched their early progress ; now they must be left to their fate." Eleven Timor ponies were turned out at the same place : — giving a very valuable race of horses to this country. The companions of our weary wanderings were turned loose, — a new race upon the land ; and, as we trusted, to become the progenitors of a numerous herd. " — Journals, p. 236. Planting vegetables on the islands they called at was a common prac- tice among the whalers ; Memoirs of Joseph Holt, vol. ii, p. 353. Digitized by Google
 * ' Two good mares which were among them might possibly be tlie means of