With few exceptions, everyone was dissatisfied, and anxiously looked forward to the happy time when the party should be relieved, or the settlement finally abandoned.

The unhealthiness* of the place, so often denied, had now shown itself in an unequivocal manner; everyone had suffered from repeated attacks of intermittent fever, and another fever of a more deadly character had occasionally made its appearance, and, operating upon previously debilitated constitutions, frequently proved fatal.
(*Footnote.

As illustration of this point, I would direct attention to the following tabular view of the Detachment of Marines at Port Essington, from the time of the arrival of the SECOND party to their final departure, embracing a period of five years.

I have not been able to procure any authentic statement of the mortality among the FIRST party.
November 19th, 1844: Found there: 1 officer, 0 men.
Arrived by Cadet: 3 officers, 52 men.
1847: Arrived by Freak: 2 officers, 6 men.
Total: 6 officers, 58 men.
Died: 1 officer, 12 men.
Were invalided: 1 officer, 13 men.
November 30th, 1849: Were taken away by Meander: 4 officers, 33 men.
Total: 6 officers, 58 men.
I may remark that, although it would obviously be unjust to suppose that all the cases of death and invaliding are to be attributed to the effects of the climate, yet the loss of the services of twenty-seven men out of fifty-eight in five years by these means, clearly proves the unhealthiness of the place.

Another may be added to the list, for Captain Macarthur was shortly afterwards invalided in Sydney, a victim to the climate of Port Essington.) There can, I think, be little doubt that much of the unhealthiness of the garrison depended upon local influences.