Heads in January 1836, instead of beholding a verdant country interspersed with fine
houses, the line of yellowish cliffs reminded him of the coast of Patagonia. Only a
solitary lighthouse, built of white stone, told them they were near a great and populous
city. Entering the harbour the shores of horizontally stratified sandstone lined with
thin, scrubby trees immediately told him of the country’s sterility. He could only write
that the country looked a little like England after reaching Sydney Cove and seeing it
filled with large sailing ships, surrounded by warehouses, two- and three-storey stone
houses and nice cottages. In a letter to his sister Susan he describes his despair after
learning there was no mail for the Beagle:
On coming to Anchor I was full of eager expectations; but a damp was soon thrown over the
whole scene by the news that there was not a single letter for the Beagle. - None of you at
home, can imagine what grief this is. There is no help for it: We did not formerly expect to
have arrived here so soon, and so farewell letters. – The same fate will follow us to the Cape
of Good Hope and probably when we reach England, I shall not have received a letter dated
within the last 18 months. And now that I have told my pitiable story. I feel much inclined
to sit down and have a good cry.It was Joseph Banks who in 1779 suggested to a House of Commons committee
that Botany Bay would be a suitable site for a penal colony. His continued interest
View of Sydney Cove, Augustus Earle, 1826, National Gallery of Australia82 Where Australia Collides with Asia
http://www.ebook3000.com