It appears that the death of every individual, without exception, must be followed by the shedding of blood; nor is it evident that in this respect, any difference is made between intentional and accidental death. In the infliction of injury, the lex talionis is observed with punctilious nicety, and precisely to the same extent is the injury returned. There does not seem any ne cessity that enmity shall subsist between the vic tim who thus suffers, alter the death of an individual, and him who draws his blood : it rather appears an indispensible ceremony, and the sufferer may be af terwards cherished and protected by his assailant. Whoever sheds blood must submit to expose him self to have spears thrown at him, but he is entitled to employ a si.ield in his defence, and to practise all possible agility in avoiding them. Nevertheless, persons in this predicament are often unsuccess ful, and dangerous wounds ensue.
So far as can be collected, the aborigines of Bo tany Bay are utter strangers to religion, and no be lief of a Supreme Being prevails among them. In distinct gesticulations, indeed, have prompted some Europeans to suppose the reverse, and also that they entertained vague ideas of a relation between the heavens and a person deceased ; but it is not clearly known that any thing like the belief of a future state has hitherto engrossed their reflection. Per haps our knowledge of their language and customs is still too imperfect to decide on the fact; yet there is reason to conclude, that mankind must have made a certain progress from barbarism, before religious sentiments occupy their minds. Nevertheless, super stition is extremely prevalent among the rude and un cultivated savages of Botany Bay ; they believe in spirits, and are averse to pass a grave. In the dis posal of their dead a remarkable variety is observed, according to the state of the departed person. The young are deposited in the earth, while the bodies of those who have passed the middle age are reduced to ashes ; and on both these occasions many ceremonies are practised. A husband has been seen to raise a fu neral pile to his wife ; first the ground was excavated some inches deep, and the cavity covered with sticks and brush-wood three feet high ; then a sufficient quan tity of wood having been procured, grass was spread over the whole, and the corpse, borne by men, placed on it, with the head northward. The fishing appa ratus, and other little articles belonging to the de ceased, were put in a basket by her side ; and the husband having laid some large logs over the body, one kindled the pile, which soon blazed into a flame.
On the following day, the husband raked together the ashes of his wife, and formed a small tumulus, with scrupulous attention to its shape and neatness ; after which he placed a log of wood on each side, and deposited on the top the piece of bark with which he had accomplished its construction. His work being finished, this untutored savage stood, with folded arms, intently gazing on what the natural affec tions of man told him contained the only remains of what he had once held in love and estimation. But the disposal of the dead by the natives is not always equally simple : the surviving infant is buried alive with its departed mother, a custom which scarce ex ists in all the world besides : the father himself lays it in the grave, and is the first to heap the earth upon his trembling child.
It is not preserved in geographical records, that •any navigator preceding Captain Cook had visited Botany Bay ; nor was it then supposed that it would be a place of much importance to Britain. The se paration of the American colonies, however, whither criminals from this island were wont to be transport ed, rendered it necessary to select some other distant region for the same purpose. After an interval of several years, Botany Bay was condescended on by government : and the advantages of a fertile country, a salubrious climate, and a safe and capacious har bour for shipping, counterbalanced the inconveniences attendant on the length of time which voyages would necessarily occupy.
Ample preparations were therefore made for esta blishing a settlement at Botany Bay, which might reach to an unlimited extent. Stores, utensils, and the materials essential in founding a town, were col lected together ; and an entire hospital was construct ed in England, portable, because the pieces might be disjoined, and requiring nothing more than simple union on attaining the place of destination. A fleet of eleven vessels, containing 760 male and female con victs, banished for crimes of every description, sailed from Portsmouth in May 1787, and in eight months cast anchor in Botany Bay, without any intervening accident. In the course of the voyage, a design, which has been since frequently renewed, was har boured by the convicts for taking the vessels, but it was discovered in good time, and the ringleaders pu nished.