The Sun.
London, England, 1838-12-21 00:00:00

" The object of this work," says Mr. James, the author,
" was neither fame nor profit, but to give a short and fami-
liar, rather than a full and laboured, account of the new
colony in Australia ; and instead of indulging in fanciful or
florid descriptions of the country or climate, to give a few
dry
recatncLssimapltle details
ogetiie of f
altogether practical,
pra
etaicctasi a ;:—
andn i t
is word,n no more
oAr . Jam
es's
object haanjeus's
s-
-1 tice to him to say, that it has been successfully fulfilled.
Hi E. work gives us by far the best, and, to all appearance,
the most impartial, account we have yet had, of that new
Australian colony and its capital city, Adelaide, which are
so full of promise on paper, and to which emigrants are
continually flocking from all quarters of England, in the
confident hope that they are journeying; like the Israelites
of old, to a land flowing with milk and honey. The author
commences his volume by these serviceable suggestions :
" The best ships always sail from London to our eastern
colonies, and were I going out again to the colony, I should
never think of embarking at Liverpool or any other out-port,
bus decidedly from London. When you have found a suitable
vessel, I would not recommend any person to drive a bargain
with the agents or captain. The existing competition among
ship-owners will prevent any advantage being taken of the
party applying for accommodation, and it should, when con-
cluded, be committed to paper, for there is nothing like black
and white in these matters, for the word of a ship-broker, with
some honourable exceptions, is not good for much."
After a few further practical hints, chiefly respecting the
sum to be paid for the passage to either of the ports of
Australia or Van Diemen's Land, which, it seems, is "se-
venty pounds for a single gentleman's cabin," Mr. James
proceeds to give some interesting particulars respecting the
mode in which one's time is spent on board :
" At seven o'clock in the morning every body generally
rises, and is on eleck by eight bells, or eight o'clock, by which
time the decks are dry, awning spread, and you touch your
bat to the captain or officer of the watch, and take a turn or
two before breakfast, which is on table punctually at half-past
eight, and consists of curry and rice with pickles, cold
chicken, sausages, ham or tongue, liver and bacon, pork or
mutton chops, with hot potatoes, rolls, tea, coffee, toast and
butter; it is, in short, a sort of dinner, with the addition of
tea and coffee. The morning is spent 'till half-past eleven
o'clock in reading, writing, walking, talking, .Ic. ; and at
about twelve the passengers go into the cabin or cuddy to
lunch. This is not a formal meal, and is conducted without
fuss or ceremony, and merely consists of a glass of bottled
porter or ale, a crust of bread and cheese, and a slice of cold
ham, while the ladies perhaps are satisfied with a glass of wine
in their own cabins. At three o'clock comes the dinner. The
ladies always attend the table, and by their neat and pretty
dresses add much to the pleasure and beauty of the feast. All
the art of the cook and steward have been called In aid to
make a show for dinner, which besides a clean damask table-
cloth, and a profusion of silver and glass, consists invariably
of soup, followed by roast and boiled meat, fowls, geese, tur-
key, ducks, mutton, or pork, curry and rice, hash and ham ;
and is concluded by two sorts of pies and puddings, with a
dessert of almonds, raisins, figs, nuts and apples, all washed
down with as much porter, ale, port and sherry, as you like,
and generally on Sundays with a glass or two of champagne.
This makes the afternoon fly pleasantly away, and by the time
your last cigar is finished, and you have tired yourself with
walking on deck, tea and coffee is announced for those who
choose it, at seven o'clock, and then the pleasantest part of
the twenty-four hours commences; viz., the evening, which
is either passed at cards, chess, reading, music, -dancing, or
walking arm-in-arm with the ladies on the quarter-deck. At
nine o'clock those who may require a little supper have only
to say so to the steward, and a bit of something cold and a
glass of grog, or a cigar, finishes the evening, and at ten,
or half-past ten o'clock, the passsengers mostly turn in, and
all the lamps and candles are extinguished."
The voyage, Mr. James tells us, ought to be performed
by every vessel which puts forth pretensions to superior
speed, in twelve weeks, at the rate of a thousand miles a
week, which is the fair average running of a good ship ; he
adds however, that allowances should always be made for
light winds and calms near the equator, and that therefore
it is the best way to estimate the voyage as one of rather
more than fourteen weeks' duration. Our author's account
of Port Adelaide, which is intended to he the chief port of the
new colony, is far from favourable. After sailing up a narrow
and muddy creek with shoals on either side, leading out from
St. Vincent's Gulf, the ship anchors off the Port, whose
shores resemble the worst parts of the coast of Essex below
the Nore ; in fact, constitute "an uninhabitable swamp,"
where there is only one spot of land free from inundations,
which is called the Sand Hill, where one or two grog shops,
made of branches of trees, are seen, a few native blacks
stark-naked, and a large iron store painted white, belonging
to the Commissioners. " This," says Mr. James, "is Port
Adelaide !" The town or city—which boasts the same regal
ron not. seem
o
muchemtfocobuerse,
frombettthe Port,er.l
It is about
n miles
" And is altogether on too large a scale. There are
sprinkled up and down the place a few substantial buildings;
seven
but the rest of the dwellings are made of very slight materials,
and the number of canvas tents and marquees give some parts
patronymic—does
distant,does ninl
of the settlement the appearance of a camp. The principal
streets have been laid out in the survey of the town,
a hundred and thirty-two feet wide, which is nearly twice the
width of Portland-place : and the squares are all on such a
scale of magnitude, that if there were any inhabitants in them,
a cab would almost be required to get across them ! The town,
including the Palk-lands, is already eight miles round with
three thousand inhabitants only."

Every black, however, has its white, and Adelaide'City
is a verification of this old proverb. Its site, and the in-
judicious plans for its laying out, are the chief—indeed the
only—objections which Mr. James urges against it ; in
every other respect it abounds in advantages. The soil in
the neighbourhood is fertile, and not ill-watered ; the cli-
mate is genial and salubrious ; the " labouring classes" are
respectable and satisfied with their position ; and the " fe-
males contrast very favourably with the rubbish of Sydney."
Labour," adds our author, " is the best capital you can
have, and the wages are so high that a commonly conducted
man can maintain himself and family in greater plenty than
a gentleman ; whence it follows as a matter of course that
there is not much scope in the colony for the talents of edu-
cated men without some capital." It is better, we are told,
to have little or nothing to do with land except in the way of
renting it ; for good as it is in many places, it is not worth
more than five shillings per acre, which it would be mad-
ness to give in a country requiring ten acres to feed a sheep.
After describing, the state of society at Adelaide, which all
things considered, is highly satisfactory, Mr. James tells the
following striking anecdote, from which we draw this useful
inference—namely, that the erection of a gallows, and the
appointment of a Jack Ketch, are among the first steps in
civilization that should be made by an infant colony. A
scientific Old Bailey gallows is the surest possible test of a
highly civilized state of society :
I was present at the Court House in Adelaide, to hear
his Honour, Judge Jickling, pass sentence of death on Magee,
an Irish Catholic, who had been found guilty of forcibly en-
tering the sitting-room of Samuel Smart, Esq., Sheriff of the
colony, and maliciously shooting at him with intent to kill.
After sentence had been pronounced, who was to be Jack
Ketch, was the first question asked in the morning, and the
last at night. Five pounds were offered, and then ten ; but
it was all in vain ; no man would accept the proffered reward ;
and it will probably never he known who the individual was
who hanged the first capital convict in South Australia. On
the morning of the execution, one thousand persons, and a
half of them females, were seen hastening to a wide spreading
gum tree, to see the -ceremony. It was the only suitable tree
on government land adjacent to the town, and was selected as
being furnished with a large projecting, horizontal bough. At
nine o'clock the procession was discovered coming through
the trees; there were were about ten of the newly mounted
police, besides the sixteen marines, forming the whole mili-
tary force of the colony ; then followed a common cart
drawn by two horses, in which was seated the culprit,
on a deal coffin, with his arms loosely tied behind him.
With him was seated on the coffin a man in a horrid
mask, grotesquely daubed beneath the eyes with white
paint, having one hump on his hack and another on his breast.
As the procession advanced, the well-known service for the
burial of the dead was heard from the mouth of the colonial
chaplain, the Rev. Mr. Howard. While the last finisher of the
law was busied in adjusting the rope, Magee, in a firm and
audible voice, confessed the crime of which the jury had found
him guilty ; and as soon as the cap had been drawn over his
face, and the prayers were concluded, a motion was made that
all was ready, and, with a whip or two of the leading horse,
the cart was drawn away, and the poor sufferer launched
into eternity. But here commenced one of the most frightful
and appalling sights that ever, perhaps, will be again witnessed
in the colony I The noose had been so badly managed that
the knot, instead of the ear, came right under the chin of the
dying man ; and as the cart was very slowly drawn from
under him, he did not fall, but merely slid off; and there he
was, hanging in the air, uttering the most excruciating cries
of Oh God, oh Christ, save me 1' and to make it worse,
he had been so badly pinioned that he got both his hands
up to the rope above his head, to prevent his choking,
and to ease the strain upon his neck. What was to be done ?
Jack Ketch was gone. Fetch him back,' was vociferated by
the crowd, and one of the mounted police was dispatched after
him, full gallop. All this time the poor banging man was ut-
tering the same piercing cries that might have been heard a
quarter of a mile off, " Lord save me !-Christ have mercy upon
me I" and nobody knew what to do. Some cried' cut him
down,' while others urged the marines to shoot him, to put an
end to his sufferings ; whilst the poor wretch was making the
most powerful efforts, with his hands up to the rope, to prevent