The Few Remarks Which I Was Able To Make On The Country Through Which We
Had Passed, Were Such As Will Not Tempt Adventurers To Visit It On The Score
Of Pleasure Or Advantage.
The soil of every part of the peninsula,
which we had traversed, is shallow and sandy, and its productions meagre
and wretched.
When forced to quit the sand, we were condemned to drag through
morasses, or to clamber over rocks, unrefreshed by streams, and unmarked
by diversity. Of the soil I brought away several specimens.
Our first expedition having so totally failed, the governor resolved to try
the fate of a second; and the 'painful pre-eminence' again devolved on me.
The orders under which I was commanded to act differing in no respect
from the last, I resolved to try once more to surprise the village
beforementioned. And in order to deceive the natives, and prevent them
from again frustrating our design by promulgating it, we feigned that
our preparations were directed against Broken Bay; and that the man who had
wounded the governor was the object of punishment. It was now also determined,
being full moon, that our operations should be carried on in the night,
both for the sake of secrecy, and for avoiding the extreme heat of the day.
A little before sun-set on the evening of the 22nd, we marched.
Lieutenant Abbot, and ensign Prentice, of the New South Wales corps,
were the two officers under my command, and with three sergeants,
three corporals, and thirty privates, completed the detachment.
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