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I shall begin with the climate, which is very healthy, being neither hot nor cold, but exceeding temperate. It ne ver freezes, nor is there heat enough for ripening melons; I think, at least, not without enclosures, of which I have none. It is rather windy, but no severe gales as yet. In the winter and spring it rains often, rendering it very disagreeable to us, who have but a sorry Jaackstraw's hut, thatched with coarse grass, without floor, &c. But we have weeks together as fine weather as summer, and vegetation goes on finely through the year. All the hardy kinds of kitchen garden stuff flourish better in winter than summer, as in the latter they are apt to run for seed, such as cabbage, French, Lapland, and round turnips, beet, carrots, parsnips, pease, raddish, lettuce, onion, parsley, &c. Potatoes suit the soil, which is a light one, and composed, for the most part, of vegetable mould. A stream of water, which might vie with many celebrated streams. There are three constant streams on this north side of the island. The land is covered with wood quite up to the mountains, but of a creeping kind of shrub, many of the size of an appletree. Ships may procure what wood and water they may want for all culinary purposes. Of land fit for cultivation, I think there are 3 or 400 acres on this side, including a fine meadow of about 12 or 15 acres on this cattle may feed the year round. I have a small flock of geese, which give me no trouble to feed, as they find abundance of green herbage throughout the year; and as I do not mean to kill any of them, except, perhaps, some spare ganders, until I have 50 breeding geese, I may expect in a little time to have a good stock of them. Dunghill fowls breed three or four times a-year. I have one now setting for the fourth time, and think she will make out to bring the fifth set of chickens before winter. Of ducks I have only ten; having lost all my turkeys, Muscovy ducks, and all of the English ducks, except three, by their eating fish-guts last winter. I have a piece of ground, about 10 or 12 acres, containing two ponds, where the sea elephants abound; here I have 8 sows, and 4 boars quite tame; all of which, save 5, we have caught on the island, of which there are many more; some we have shot,

and some knocked down, &c. All this stock, together with ourselves, live at present on the flesh of the elephant. The pigs, however, may live altogether on herbage where they are; for which purpose, indeed, I put them down there; but I give them an elephant once in ten or fifteen days to keep them in heart. The dandelion grows here in the greatest luxuriance, and very abundant. All the wild pigs live on those, and on a very pleasant smelling strawberry-leaved kind of geranium, We have shot a few wild goats, of which there are, I suppose, 12 or 16 left. I want a few sheep, tame goats, and rabbits, to stock the island with game. We have the little black cock in great numbers, and, in the fall, are very fat and delicate. We caught some hundreds last year with a dog, but I have none proper for them, such as a terrier would be. The mountains are covered with albatross, mollahs, petrals, sea-hens, &c.; and a great deal of feathers might be had, if people were to attend to it.

"For the waters, they are well furnished. Fish are had at any time for the trouble of taking them, whenever the sea is smooth enough to fish from the rocks. We have no boat, and of course cannot have them so often as we want them; but on a kind of raft of six pieces we push off on a smooth time, and take many sheephead crayfish, gramper, and large mackerel. From the rocks, which is the mode we are obliged to take, we supply ourselves sometimes, but are obliged to use a large piece of elephant meat to entice them near enough the rock. A boat would be victuals and drink to us. In the deep waters there are large fish, as cavallas, and a kind fat as salmon, and I have no doubt but very large gramper are to be found there. Sea-elephants are plenty, and they pup yearly, coming up in the months of August and September for that purpose. bout a month or five weeks they take the male, and then go off to feed, and in six weeks come up, and remain a month or two to shed their old coat, and get a new one, and from that time are, for the most part, lying in the sun asleep. The males, however, stay off longer, as they are more exhausted by their commerce with the females, and are three times longer, of course require a longer period to feed. Their

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food is chiefly kelp, but I have found squid in their stomach. During the pupping season, the black-fish are very numerous, and equally rapacious, always on the look-out for the elephants, great or small, young or old. I have seen them attack old ones, and carry young ones off. They run themselves aground on the beach very often, so that we lance them frequently, and shoot into them. This last season I think 1000 pups we brought forth on this island, and as many more on the other two; and I suppose, when I passed near those islands, in the passage out to Bengal, in the Grand Turk, they must have been almost innumerable; seeing some parties or other have been oiling here ever since, and so many yet remain. If they are not disturbed for two or three years, the increase must be great and profitable, especially if their skins are attended to, and salted. We have killed about 80 since we landed, and suppose we shall kill about two a-week through the year. We have made about 1000 gallons of oil, for the purpose of buying a boat, if possible. Of seals we have not taken a dozen. Our situation, like all new settlers, has not been very comfortable. We have not ate bread these six months; that parcel you supplied me with lasted about that time. But turnips have been bread to us. I hope to have as many potatoes in three or four months as will always stand by us while we remain on the Island, but cloth I shall want, and must depend upon vessels for a supply of them. The prospect of one day making something of the oil and skins of the elephant and seals, from the fish and other matters, consoles me for all other privations. I shall now submit, for your consideration, a proposal which may perhaps be feasable, and which you may, on reflection, adopt, viz. to join me in the business of making oil and skins on these islands. The mode I shall recommend will be simple, and the least expensive that can be undertaken, that is, to buy a small fishing schooner of about 50 tons, such as may often be had in the spring, or late in the fall, in Cape Cod, for 500 S., and if you wish to give your brother Jonson employment for a year or two, send him here in her with ten or twelve men. Two or three of those

kind of boats called at Cape Cod half boats; a kind of whale boat which cost about 25S.there, with provision enough for twelve months. For the purpose of saving the oil, a cistern, as they have at the Cape of Good Hope, should be made; stones enough are on the spot; lime and a mason or two (many of a roving disposition may be found in these times cheap), with a frame suitable to the size of the cistern, with boards, &c. to cover and make it tight. A plaud flooring to support the casks, which should be filled from a small wooden pump let down into the cistern. The building would answer for the men to live in. Some hhds. salt, which, at Cape D. cost 50 per hhd., and two or three asses to carry blubber and skins from a distance; for the greatest part of the work of the oilers is to carry the blubber to the coppers. Two boilers of iron, holding from 60 to 90 gallons each, with ladle, skimmer, cooler, strainer, knives, steel, grindstone, beaming knives, a clank for beams, &c. By the time a vessel gets here, I shall be able to supply a considerable part of their daily food from my pigs, potatoes, and other vegetables, besides fish, &c. A cistern, 40 feet long, 15 feet wide, and 10 feet deep, would contain from 1000 to 1100 barrels, which may be made in fifteen months, if the boilers are kept properly going. And as the elephant in general makes about a barrel of oil, though some of the males will produce 100 gallons, of course there would be as many skins as barrels of oil, besides, at least, 1000 pup skins, which are very fine and pretty, and would, no doubt, average a dollar each. The oil in the cistern would require barrels to carry it to market, but if it remained for some time it would be always safe, and growing better for standing to settle; and, as the cistern would last many years, the expense once defrayed, either by oil, skins, &c., it may be always kept full at very little expense, and ready to ship whenever a market was to be found for it. If the proposal should be relished, I should like to be jointly concerned in it, but, as I have no money to advance, I could only, at the first, lend my assistance towards completing the business, while it would be your part to furnish the means to get it once underway.

"I do not in the above estimates include the seal-skins, but there are many about these islands; and perhaps 1000 or 1200 might be taken in 15 or 18 months, without neglecting any other part of the business, or costing a farthing to obtain them. Fish would be an article worth attending to, as they are, when salted and dried, very fine, and such as I have seen at the Isle of France for S.6 the 110lbs. ; that however, and the seal-skins, may remain in the back-ground, making use of them when occasion may require to fill a small vessel with an assorted cargo of oil, skins, fish, &c. for the Rio market, if it be thought proper. Oil was worth 50 cts. when you were there, and that is more than it is worth in America, and a much nearer market. Empty pipes are plenty at Rio, and cheap, and put in proper order might be stowed in the hold, and filled from the cistern by means of btts. or half-btts., and carried on board with great ease and safety, and the casks always fresh furnished, if the oil sold at Rio. Even if the oil sold at Rio for 30 cts. per gallon, it would be worth pursuing; for the cistern only once filled, could, with very little aid from men and a few asses, be always kept full, and the small craft may make what speed she pleases to take it away, besides the means of being so readily furnished with casks, and the vicinity of the market to the cistern. Elephant skins, I have seen in an English paper, sell well in London; why then may not Rio furnish a market for them also, when well salted and dried, seeing so many English merchants and agents are constantly buying up every thing which will answer as remittances, &c.; and surely, being a Roman Catholic country, the fish would sell as well as in most places? Upon the whole, I feel satisfied, that a voyage (if a voyage it may be called, the interest of which would not cease with the end of that voyage) of the kind would in the present times answer very well, and your brother Jonson would find it abundant opportunity and encouragement for his well-known talents and abilities. At any rate, the oil fit would not be great, say S.2000, and the benefit would be lasting to you. The men may be had upon shares; and

when the cistern becomes full, new arrangements can be made with the crew; if necessary, bear in your mind that one ass is equal to two men in carrying blubber, consequently four or six asses, with three men, would equal a crew of ten or fifteen men, eight or ten of whom would require very dif ferent provision from asses, the latter finding food at every step. Two men at the boiler, and one to load the asses and drive them, would be the work of many men, and save great expences in provisions and shares of the oil as wages.

"I leave it now to your consideration how far it will suit you to enter into a concern of the kind. At any rate, the business should begin small, in order to see first what may be done (there is no doubt in my mind but it will succeed and become very lucra tive), what I have related above respecting the elephant, seal-fish, &c. may be relied upon; and I could, with two or three more men, procure in a season a ton of feathers equal to any in the market. Should any vessel be bound to the Cape, or round it, do drop me a line to inform me of the receipt of this if it comes to hand. Respects to your brother Jonson; and believe me, with great respect, your obedient servant, J. LAMBERT."

The original of this Letter is in my possession;-it was brought by Captain Beville from Tristan d'Acunha after the death of Mr

Lambert. ALEXR. WALTON.

Plants on the Island of Tristan.

1. Dock. 2. Celery. 3. Parsnip. 4. Fern.

5. Sweet Herb.

6. Geranium.

7. Wormwood.

8. Grass, called Tussue.

9. Do. Small.

10. Do. Round Species in Tufts, 11. Ice Plant.

12. Creeping Moss. 13. Berry Bush.

14. A Trailer like Sweet Briar, 15. Do.

16. Samphire.

17. Dandelion.

18. A plant growing like Fern. 19. Tree.

LETTER FROM LIEUTENANT KING,

NOW EMPLOYED IN COMPLETING A SURVEY OF NEW HOLLAND.

[It is known that our Government, anxi, ous for the completion of a survey of New Holland, has sent an expedition, under Lieutenant King of the Royal Navy (son of Governor King), to examine all the coast of that immense country which has not been already visited and laid down by British navigators. We are extremely obliged to a Friend, who has communicated to us a private letter from Lieutenant King, which gives some account of his proceedings down to the middle of June last, and which, slight as it is, will interest our readers; and the

more, because some unfounded reports were in circulation of the loss of the Mermaid (Lieutenant King's vessel), and of all her crew, in the preceding February. The French expedition, which sailed long after Lieutenant King, for this coast, will find themselves anticipated by Lieutenant King's visit. EDITOR.}

H. M. Cutter, Mermaid, Timor, June 11, 1818.

DEAR SIR,

Ir is with much pleasure that I have met with an opportunity of forwarding a brief account of my first proceedings; the more so that I have been enabled to ascertain the most particular points pointed out in my instructions, viz. the Great Bay of Van Diemen, and the opening to the eastward of the north-west Cape, and behind the Rosemary islands. These I have examined with the greatest care; and I trust that, although not fortunate enough to meet with any opening to the eastward of the north-west Cape, I shall not be considered to have lost my time. The size of the vessel I am in, puts it out of my power to form a finished chart; but, having every thing in right form and order, I shall not be long after my arrival ere I shall be able to finish one, to send to the Admiralty by the first following opportunity, as well as a detailed account of my proceedings. Suffice for me at present to say, that the north coast, and, I fear, the whole of the north-west coast of New Holland, will turn out to be entirely unprofitable for any settlement or improvement; for, as yet, we have seen nothing to offer the least inducement towards colonization. The natural productions are, in fact, nothing but the sago, which, in some parts on the

north coast, is abundant. There appears to be very little land that could be brought into any cultivation; and that is so surrounded with marshes and overflowings of the sea, that it could be made little use of. The country, as far as 12° 38" south, to which point I ascended a river which I discovered at the bottom of Van Diemen's Gulf, was not an atom better.

The coast about Exmouth's Gulf (an opening to the south-east of the N. W. Cape), is truly deplorable, worse than any description I have seen of the Deserts of Arabia. During the night, as well as the day, the heat is almost insufferable; the soil producing nothing useful for man that we could discover; but the tracks of natives in many parts convinced us, that human beings existed in this condemned corner of Australia. Emic tracks were also seen.

The natives on the north coast were very annoying; and though I did every thing I could to conciliate them, and bore many things from them without resentment, yet I was obliged once or twice to fire in self-defence. I am now sufficiently convinced that we cannot hope to be able to maintain peace with them, acquainted as they are with the Malays, who have, whereever they land, when fishing for trefan, battles with them, in which the Malays use musquetry, to which, of course, the Australians are become so accustomed, that I do not think they have such a dread of fire-arms as might be imagined. From a conversation I had with the Rajah of a fleet of proas who were at anchor here, and who fish on the coast of Australia every year, I confirmed the above observation; and learnt further, that no rivers, except what are produced by the rains in the rainy season, are known to them. The coast is called by them "Marega," and the natives "Maregas." The Rajah described them to me as treacherous and cruel; but that character so well applies to his own nation, that if it is the case (of which I have little doubt), they may have been the pupils of the Malays themselves.

As to our health, we fortunately passed through the trying time of the change of the monsoon without any sickness; and we are all without exception well. I am, &c.

PHILIP P. KING, Lt. R. N.

ON THE STOCKS, OR PUBLIC FUNDS.

MR EDITOR, IN a former communication on this subject, I had proceeded so far as to explain the general principle of the transactions between government and the original lender, who advances money for the public use, as well as the manner in which the latter transfers or sells to others the bills or securities which he receives for the money so advanced. For the sake of illustration I conceived it necessary to take a very simple case, though in doing so I was under the necessity of representing the transaction in a somewhat different point of view from what actually takes place. Presuming, however, that such of your readers as really desire information upon the subject, have made themselves masters of my former communication, I shall now, with your leave, proceed to give a more particular, as well as a more correct account of the public funds, and of the transactions to which they give rise.

If, as was formerly supposed, the bills or securities which the lender receives for his money, uniformly bore interest at 5 per cent. on the sum specified in the bill, it is obvious that the whole national debt would consist simply of 5 per cent. stock, because it is these securities that constitute what is called government stock. Our rulers, however, for reasons afterwards to be explained, have thought it expedient to grant securities to the pub lic creditor, bearing a lower rate of interest, viz. 4, but in most cases only 3 per cent. on the sum specified in such securities; and it is this circumstance that has given rise to the various denominations of 3, 4, and 5 per cent. stock. But though government thus fixes the rate at which its own securities are to bear interest, it must not be supposed that it actually borrows money at 3, or even at 4 per cent. Notwithstanding the superiority of government credit to that of companies or individuals, the minister who transacts the loan, on the part of the state, is seldom able to borrow at a rate much below the legal interest of 5 per cent.; and in proportion as he lowers the rate at which the securities are to bear interest, in the same proportion must he increase the nominal amount of the securities VOL. IV.

granted. To explain this by an example, let it be supposed that government wishes to borrow £100, and that the bills or securities, to be granted, are to bear interest at 4 per cent. on the sum specified in the bill; but that the lender refuses to take less than 5 per cent. for the money that he advances. It is obvious, that the only way in which a bargain can be concluded is, by government granting to the lender, for the £100 borrowed, an acknowledgement for such a sum as at 4 per cent. will yield an annual interest of £5. Now, at 4 per cent., it will require £125 to yield £5 of interest; and consequently, for every £100 Sterling borrowed on 4 per cent. securities, government actually grants to the lender an acknowledgement for £125; or, which is the same thing, for every £80 Sterling borrowed, au acknowledgement is granted for £100. In like manner, when the government securities bear only 3 per cent. the lender receives an acknowledgement of £100 for every £60 Sterling which he advances, and in both cases actually lends his money at the rate of 5 per cent. interest. These two species of securities constitute what are called 3 and 4 per cent. stock, and their price is affected in the same way, and by the same circumstances, as that of the 5 per cent.

The term stook, in its proper acceptation, denotes that capital with which a trading company, as the Bank of England or East India Company, carries on trade; and a stockholder or partner is one who has advanced a certain share of that capital, and is thereby entitled to draw a proportional share of the concern. The term, therefore, cannot, strictly speaking, be applied to government securities, because then the capital or sum advanced is not employed in bringing in an immediate return of profit, but is actually expended without the smallest prospect of being recovered. At the same time, the public creditor is in a situation in many respects so similar to a partner in a mercantile concern, and the word stockholder has been so long and so generally applied to him, that the application may now be considered as sanctioned by use. The term fund is sometimes substituted for that of stock, and the person who purchases government securities is said to invest his money in the public funds. This 20

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