Page:History of New South Wales from the records, Volume 1.djvu/50

xl chapter in which Botany Bay is described in the account of Cook's first voyage was written by the editor, Hawkesworth, from the journals kept by Cook and Banks. It is unfortunate that we can only conjecture from internal evidence which portion of the material was supplied by one and which by the other ; still more so that instead of having their descriptions of the country in their own words, we have merely a reproduction of them by the editor. The impression made upon Banks in particular by his examination of the country was so deep that it lasted throughout his life ; but there is no indication of it in Hawkesworth's narrative. There is nothing in it to show that Banks had formed any opinion of the country as a field for settlement ; and yet. there can be no doubt that his mind was full of that idea while he was walking about the shores of Botany Bay. It is equally certain that from the time he returned to England in July, 1771, to the end of his days, he never lost his interest in it ; that he used every means in his power to promote the occupation of the country by the Government ; that he took a very active part in the measures ultimately adopted for that purpose ; and that he watched over the varying fortunes of the little colony with as much anxiety as if he had held a grant from the Crown of the whole territory, after the fashion in which such grants were made in the days of Sir Walter Raleigh.

Why it was that he thought so much of the country is a matter not easily understood at first sight. As a piece of scenery, Botany Bay could hardly be compared with Queen Charlotte's Sound in New Zealand, where the Endeavour had been lying for three weeks shortly before she reached our coasts ; but with all its charms of winding bays and coves, and hills covered with impenetrable forests, echoing the melody of birds which "seemed to be like small bells, most exquisitely tuned," the Sound did not make any other impression on Banks than that of the transient