distinguished by the name of Preservation Island. From thence the Colonial schooner had arrived with what remained of the property. As soon as she was unloaded, the property was put up to sale for the benefit of the underwriters; when the little effect of the governor’s recommendation of patience was seen, by the most enormous prices being paid for every article. The money that should have been expended in the cultivation and improvement of their farms was thus lavishly thrown away; and it happened, fortunately enough for the underwriters that the wheat of this last season had been received into the public granary, and immediately paid for. Twenty-two shillings were paid at this sale for one common cup and saucer.
Wishing to obtain some further information respecting the salt-hill seen by Wilson and his companions in their late excursion, the governor had sent Henry Hacking thither. At his return he produced some specimens of various veins of salt which he fell in with in different places, of 10 and 12 feet in depth. He reported, that he found the country every where intersected with narrow, but deep and rapid branches of fresh water rivers, over some of which he was obliged to swim; others he was able to ford.
Having been directed to seek for the wild cattle while in their neighbourhood, he reported, that about five or six miles from the place where we usually found them, he suddenly fell in with the most numerous herd that he had yet seen; in which he counted 170 very distinctly, and afterwards saw a few stragglers. It was some satisfaction to know that they were perfectly safe.
By the _Francis_, the governor received one of the animals on which the people had chiefly lived during their abode on Preservation Island. It was brought to him alive, but thin and faint for want of food, which, owing to its state of confinement on board the vessel, it would never take. It, however, appeared to recover on shore; and, although during the short time it lived, it was not observed to eat during the day, yet there was reason to think it was not so abstemious in the night. It was offered flesh; but this it would not touch, although it was supposed to visit the nests of the puffin which burrowed on the island.
This animal had been found to the southward and south-westward, by Wilson and his companions, who shot one, and, in their want of provisions, might be said to feast upon it. They observed, that it resembled pork in flavour, though not in colour, being red and coarse. It was very fat, as were the kangaroos which they found in the interior; differing in that point very widely from any kangaroos which had been before seen; not a particle of fat having ever been found on one of them.
The mountain natives named this new animal Wombat, and said it was good eating; but it was wholly unknown to those who were admitted into the settlement.
The men who, in the beginning of January last, had boarded and carried off the boat belonging to Owen Cavanagh, were heard of again. About the latter end of this month, a report was brought in, that a piratical boat was infesting the harbour of Broken Bay, and the Hawkesbury. The day following, the governor received a letter signed by these men, in which they professed to repent of their former conduct, and implored forgiveness. They said, they had been wrecked about 400 miles to the northward, when they with difficulty got on shore, saving as much of the remains of Cavanagh’s boat as enabled them to build a smaller, in which they had returned, and surrendered themselves to justice; pretending to have had their eyes opened to the danger with which attempts at desertion from the colony must ever be attended, and promising to convince the minds of their ignorant countrymen that every such attempt must be followed by inevitable ruin. The language of this letter was far above the capacity of any of the party; and the part of their story which related to their building a boat capable of carrying the whole number so great a distance wore very little appearance of probability. The truth was, they had by some means reached as far as Broken Bay, where they had been lurking about for some days; meaning, no doubt, to seize the first boat loaded with grain which they might be able to secure, and then put off again for as long a time as their provisions would last. They certainly proposed to live by piracy; but not being able with their small boat to come up with any of the boats which they pursued, and being no longer able to exist without provisions, added to the danger they were always in of being pursued and at length taken, they preferred giving themselves up. They were armed with five muskets; and certainly had the will as well as the ability to do a great deal of mischief. They were placed in confinement, and charges preferred against them for piracy.
This was absolutely necessary; as the suffering such offences to pass with impunity would have been productive of the greatest evil. Crimes would have been multiplied on crimes, which the officers who composed the court of criminal judicature would certainly have deemed unnecessary. The utmost vigilance was constantly requisite to guard against robberies both on the land and water. It was impossible, in such a community as this, to have a police too strict, or to be sufficiently aware at all times of such a nest of villains. Many examples had been made; but, after a few days had elapsed, they were forgotten; and every act of lenity or indulgence was found to be ruinous to the welfare and comfort of the whole. It was to be hoped, however, that the introduction of more of the better, and fewer of the worst sort of characters, would in due time give the balance a favourable turn.
In each grant of land to individuals from the crown, there was a clause, expressly reserving for the use of government such of the timber which might be growing thereon as should be deemed fit for naval purposes. The wanton destruction of this timber occasioned the publication of an order in the month of December 1795, prohibiting the cutting it down. The practice, however, continuing from time to time (for of what avail were orders among such a disorderly set of people), the _Sydney_ schooner was sent round to the Hawkesbury, to make a seizure of a quantity of timber that had been cut down by individuals for private sale. This seizure was of some consequence just at this time; as the governor was building a brig to replace the _Supply_ (from 125 to 150 tons burden), which had been condemned by survey as totally unfit for the future service of the settlement, and a large boat, a new Cumberland, in the room of that which had been taken away by the crew. The colony was at this time in such want of naval stores of every kind, that the ruin of all the floating craft, so lately in good condition, was nearly effected. The bottoms of the boats were destroyed by the worms, for want of pitch, tar, paint, and oil; and in order to enable the Colonial schooner to proceed to Norfolk Island (for which place she was preparing to sail, in company with the _Reliance_), it had been necessary to reduce part of the _Supply’s_ sails, and convert them to her use.
Arrivals from England, with provisions as well as stores, were now rather anxiously expected, as 16 months had elapsed since the last were received. Public works of all kinds went on slowly; the servants of government being but few in proportion to the labour to be performed by them, and all kinds of implements bad in quality, and scarce. A few slops were served to the male convicts in the beginning of this month, they being nearly naked, and the store unable to supply them with covering.
The tower of the new wind-mill was, under all these disadvantages, completed, and the machinery put in hand. This tower was of large dimensions, being 30 feet in height, and erected on a rock which was considerably higher than the surrounding ground. The wheel was four feet in thickness, and the diameter within was 20 feet.
There was very little intermission of rain, thunder, and lightning, during the whole of the month.
April.] This month opened with a necessary act of justice. Five men were capitally convicted, before the court of criminal judicature, of seizing two boats, the property of individuals, with an intent of escaping from the colony. One man was capitally convicted of a robbery; three were transported to Norfolk Island for 14 years; one for 7; one was adjudged corporal punishment, and one acquitted.
Two of the five that were condemned for seizing the boats suffered death at Sydney, after a week’s preparation for that awful moment. Their companions were respited at the place of execution. They were all extremely penitent, confessed the justice of their sentence, and acknowledged how much mischief they had done, and how much more they meditated, had they not been overtaken by justice.
One man, for robbery, was executed at Parramatta, George Mitton, who certainly was a very fit subject for an example. He had been twice pardoned when under sentence of death; once in Ireland; and once in this country, by the present governor, for an offence similar to that for which he now suffered.
These melancholy instances, had they been properly attended to, must have shown to the convicts not only the difficulty which accompanied every attempt to escape privately from the colony, and the danger to which those who made the trial exposed themselves, but the certainty of meeting that punishment which the various crimes that they committed on such occasions so highly merited. The governor, in an order which he now published, was desirous of calling back to the recollection of these misguided people, who had been, either through ignorance, or through the profligacy of their dispositions, so readily prevailed upon to engage in such dangerous enterprises, that they would find an attention to the advice which he had so often given them the most effectual means of ensuring their real happiness. They would also recollect, that an information was given him on the 19th of January last, in which he appeared to have foreseen, and had pointed out to those piratical gangs who wished to make their escape from hence, what would be the fate of those who were of least use to the general plan of such gangs, that they would probably, if in danger at sea in their boat, be thrown overboard to lighten her, or be landed on some part of the coast, where, beyond a doubt, they would perish. How far this prediction had been verified, those who were concerned in taking off the settlers’ boat, and who might now be in the settlement, could best tell. It was well known, that they had treacherously left seven men upon a desolate island far to the southward, where they must have perished for want, had they not been discovered in a most miraculous manner. He wished those facts to be impressed upon the minds of the whole colony; they would then probably discover in what their real interest consisted, and on what their true happiness depended. To be honest and industrious had been often hewn to be the most certain means of procuring those blessings.
Mitton, before he was executed, confessed in a moment of penitence, that many robberies had been concerted, and were to have been committed by him and some others. He mentioned, as their chief instigator upon these occasions, a woman of the name of Robley (the wife of a blacksmith at Sydney), who received all the property which they might collect in this way. Dreading this discovery, she found it convenient to offer to accuse others, or she would inevitably have been convicted herself.
It was reported by a native woman from the Hawkesbury, that she had seen the two mares which were stolen some time since from Parramatta, and that they were in the neighbourhood of that river. She also mentioned, that one of the men who went off with them had been killed by the natives, and that the other had perished with hunger.
The proprietors of this valuable article of stock were rather unfortunate in the care of it, notwithstanding the high price which it bore. The acting commissary lost a very fine mare, through the stupidity of an Irish servant, who put a short halter round her neck, with a running knot, by which she was strangled in the night; and information had been received of the death of two foals belonging to government. This accident proceeded from want of proper care in those who were appointed to look after them; but unfortunately, though they were often changed, the change was never found to be for the better.
When Hacking was sent to the salt-hill in the preceding month, he was accompanied by Wilson and another man, who were directed to penetrate as far into the interior of the country as the provisions which they were able to carry would permit them. They returned after an absence of three weeks, and reported that they had been about 140 miles in a direction SW by S from Prospect Hill. In the course of their journey they travelled over a vast variety of country, and fell in with more salt-hills. They also met with many narrow rivers or creeks (with which the country appeared to be much intersected), and found some very extensive tracts of open luxuriant ground, as well as much unpromising land. They ascended several hills of great height, from which their prospect was extensive, and whence they discovered mountains rising upon mountains to the westward; all of which appeared exceedingly high. They did not, however, meet a single native in all their journey (a proof that the human race was but thinly scattered over the interior part of this extensive country); but they brought with them another of those beautiful birds before described.
Wishing to ascertain the truth of every report that tended to improve our knowledge of the internal advantages which this country possessed, the governor sent a small party, with some natives, to determine whether there was any salt in the neighbourhood of Broken Bay. Captain Waterhouse (of the _Reliance_), who undertook the search, found the place that had been described, and also discovered some salt; but it had been produced by the spray of the sea near which it laid, and which, breaking over some rocky parts of the shore in bad weather, and draining down behind, had occasioned the accumulation of a large quantity of that article among the sand, and upon the adjacent rocks.
The settlers, although certainly undeserving of the attention which they met with from the governor, were constantly laying their complaints before him. He now received a petition from them, in which they represented the great distress that they laboured under, as well from the high wages which they gave to hired servants for working their ground, as from the immense price which they paid for every article necessary to carry on that business. On this account, they requested that the price of maize might be continued at the same rate as in the last year.
The governor, sensible of their distresses, and ever ready to listen to any reasonable application which those distresses might induce them to make, gave directions to the commissary to receive it at the price which they petitioned for. But, as it was no less his duty to diminish the heavy expenses of the colony, than it was his wish to render the situation of the industrious farmer easy and comfortable, they were informed, that they must very shortly look forward to a reduction in the price of grain of every kind.
They laboured, however, under another evil, which was the effect of an unbounded rage for traffic that pervaded nearly the whole settlement. The delivery of grain into the public storehouses, when open for that purpose, was so completely monopolised, that the settlers had but few opportunities of getting the full value for their crops. A few words will place this iniquitous combination in its proper light. The settler found himself thrust out from the granary, by a man whose greater opulence created greater influence. He was then driven by his necessities to dispose of his grain for less than half its value. To whom did he dispose of it! to the very man whose greater opulence enabled him to purchase it, and whose greater influence could get it received into the public store!
Orders had been repeatedly issued on this very subject, the store-keepers being most pointedly directed to give the preference to the man whose grain was the produce of his own labour; and if any favour were shown, to let it be to the poor but industrious settler who might be encumbered with a large family. But these necessary and humane directions had been too often frustrated by circumstances which were carefully kept from the knowledge of the governor; it was, however, proved to him, that on occasion of the store at the Hawkesbury being opened for the reception of 1500 bushels of wheat, the whole was engrossed by two or three of these opulent traders, to the exclusion and injury of others, and the petty farmers in general. The store-keeper was not dismissed, because a better might not have been found; but the governor directed, that half the quantity of wheat thus partially and improperly put in should be taken away, and room made for the accommodation of the settlers.
A report prevailed at this time among the labouring people, particularly the Irish, who were always foremost in every mischief and discontent, that an old woman had prophesied the arrival of several French frigates, or larger ships of war, who were, after destroying the settlement, to liberate and take off the whole of the convicts. The rapidity with which this ridiculous tale was circulated is incredible. The effect was such as might have been expected. One refractory fellow, while working in a numerous gang at Toongabbie, threw down his hoe, advanced before the rest, and gave three cheers for liberty. This for a while seemed well received; but, a magistrate fortunately being at hand, the business was put an end to, by securing the advocate for liberty, tying him up in the field, and giving him a severe flogging.
A few days after he had been informed of this circumstance, the governor visited the working gangs at Toongabbie. On his return to Parramatta, he met the prophetess upon the road, a very old Scotch woman, who, as soon as she discovered the governor, held up her hands, and begged that he would listen to her for a few minutes, while she would endeavour to contradict the malicious reports which had been propagated in her name. She said, that she had heard that he was offended with her; which he assured her depended upon the truth of the information which he had received. This, she was anxious to convince him, was totally false, and had proceeded from a bad man, who, as she made a little beer, and sold it to the labouring people, had called for some one day at her hut, and entered into conversation with her about the expected arrival of ships with stores from England. This induced the old woman to recount a dream which she had had the night before, and from which she was led to hope that ships would soon arrive. Out of this conversation and dream, a story had been fabricated, purporting that this harmless old creature had prophesied many extraordinary things; so that she had the credit of all the absurd and extravagant additions which some designing and wicked villains had made to the original story.
The governor told her that he saw through the whole business, and desired that she would no longer be uneasy about the impression which the first account had made upon him. With this condescension she appeared to be highly gratified; for she had been under much distress and vexation before she met with this accidental opportunity of showing him from whence this mischievous story had originated.
The timber for the new wind-mill was brought in during this month; and the floor of the government house having given way, the carpenters were employed to repair it.
Arrivals from England were now hourly expected, as strong gales had blown for some time from the southward.
CHAPTER XI
Some Irishmen providentially saved from perishing The _Nautilus_ arrives from Otaheite
Missionaries
Order respecting the sawyers
The _Barwell_ arrives with convicts A judge-advocate sent out
Information
The _Reliance_ and _Schooner_ sail for Norfolk Island Information sent thither
Natives
Works and weather in May
June
Ground fixed on for the missionaries The Hunter arrives from Bengal
Regulations
The commander of the _Sydney Cove_ dies A decked boat arrives from Norfolk Island Maize harvest completed
Weather
May.] In the afternoon of the 2nd of this month, certain Irishmen, who had been for some time employed in searching for a road to China (that delirium still remaining unsubdued among them), were brought in by one of the settlers upon George’s river. They had been wandering through the woods, until they were near perishing for want of food, and were discovered in a most unlooked-for manner. Some people in going from Botany Bay up George’s river had lost their way, the weather being exceedingly hazy, by following a branch of that river which had never been looked into. By this mistake, they fell in with these people, whose ignorance of the country had led them down upon a point of land which was placed between two waters, where they had been for nine days, unable to find their way back, and must soon have perished, had it not been for the accidental mistake of the people in the boat. The account which they gave of their travels and distresses was not worth giving a place to here, being nothing more than what might be conjectured.
It was hoped, however, that their appearance, for they were weak and languid when brought in, together with their story, would teach their countrymen a little more wisdom.
While such vagabonds as these were roaming about the country, the safety of the stock was much endangered. A fine bull calf belonging to an officer was about this time taken from the herd; and, though considerable rewards were offered for the discovery of the offender, nothing transpired that could lead to it. This was a serious evil; for the care and attention of years might in one night’s time be destroyed, by the villainy of a few of these lawless people. It was, however, visible that the improvement which had taken place in the civil police within the last two years had considerably checked the commission of robberies of every kind.
In the evening of the 14th, a small brig, the _Nautilus_, arrived from the island of Otaheite, in very great distress. This little vessel had been unfortunate in losing her passage to the NW coast of America, and had been at Kamschatka, the Sandwich Islands, and Otaheite. Being exceedingly infirm and worn out, the master found it impossible to effect the repairs which his vessel wanted at either of those places, and had touched at Otaheite for such refreshment as the crew required, determining to endeavour in their very leaky condition to reach this port, where they hoped to receive such assistance as might enable them to get to India.
On their arrival at Otaheite, they found that the missionaries, who had been sent thither from England for the purpose of propagating the Christian religion, were not on so comfortable a footing with the natives as could have been wished, being in a manner shut up within their little fortress. The natives had made use of threats, and had signified an intention of taking off their women (several of the missionaries having been accompanied by their wives and families). The arrival at Otaheite of this little vessel in some degree relieved them from the anxiety under which they had for some time laboured, and they determined to quit the island in her, if it should be practicable. Her commander, Mr. Bishop, showed them every attention which the shattered state of the brig would admit; embarked men, women, and children, to the number of 19; and, though with infinite difficulty, brought them in safety to this port, the vessel being so extremely leaky, that it required the labour of the whole company to keep her above water. She was not able to bring them all away, six or seven remaining upon the island, whose fate was certainly very precarious. Those who had arrived were treated by the colonists with every attention, and every possible relief administered to their distresses.
The deceptions and impositions which were daily in practice among the labouring part of the colony, to the great injury of the concerns of government, rendered it highly expedient that the governor, who had those concerns to attend to, should be assisted by trusty and active persons in every situation where public works might be carrying on. Having made some discoveries of this nature in the department of the sawyers, he issued a public order, specifying the hours which should be employed in every branch of public labour. This had by no means been the first attempt to check the impositions of these people; but it was found, that the private concerns of those who should superintend the various public works occupied so much of their time, that their duty was either wholly neglected or carelessly performed. This created such a relaxation of discipline, that a repetition of orders and regulations were from time to time published, to keep the labouring people constantly in mind that they were the servants of the crown, and remind those who were appointed to look after them, that they had neglected that duty which should ever have been their first and principal consideration.
The expected signal for a vessel was at length made at the South Head on the morning of the 18th; and in the afternoon the ship _Barwell_ arrived from England, with male convicts, some stores, and provisions. It must be supposed, that while the mother country was engaged in such a war as then subsisted, she would not spare from the service of the state any other than the most worthless characters, who, instead of assisting in the public defence against the common enemy, were employed in perpetrating private injuries. The weakness of the public gangs, however, was such, that this allotment of villainy was considered as an acquisition to the general strength, and it was hoped that they might be employed to advantage.
The _Barwell_, touching at the Cape of Good Hope, brought an account of the loss of the _Lady Shore_ transport in her passage to this settlement, having on board about 60 convicts, three only of whom were males, and a large assortment of all kinds of stores which had been so long and so much wanted. There was also a complete company of recruits for the New South Wales Corps on board, to whom was owing the loss of the ship; for, after murdering the commander, Mr. Wilcox, and his first mate, they took possession of the ship, and carried her into Rio de la Plata, where she was delivered up to the Spaniards. This ship, besides the public stores, had a great deal of private property on board, and was a serious loss to the colony.
It will be seen, by referring to the former account of this settlement, that an accident happened to his Majesty’s ship the _Guardian_, whereby much public and private property was prevented from reaching the settlement. This made only the second misfortune that had happened to ships coming from England in the course of 11 years; and, when it is considered, that the major part of them were filled with people who would have run any hazard rather than reach the place of their destination, it may be matter of surprise and satisfaction that so few had occurred.
In the _Barwell_ arrived another judge-advocate*, in the room of Captain Collins, who had resigned that situation. It was also signified, that two ships, the _Buffalo_ and the _Porpoise_, were fitting for the service of the colony in the room of the _Reliance_ and the _Supply_.
[* Mr. Richard Dore.]
Instructions had also been received from his Majesty’s ministers by the governor, upon some points on which he had requested orders, particularly relative to the number of labouring people who had for such a length of time been allowed to the civil and military officers at the public expense. By these instructions, the number was now limited to two; and such others as they might be disposed to employ were to be maintained and clothed by their employers; or, if fed and clothed at the public expense, to be paid for to government at a certain rate, which payment might be made in the produce of the farms that they were employed to cultivate.
The distance at which the settlement was placed from the mother country was such, that the victories of one year were succeeded by those of another before the fame of them reached the colony. By this ship accounts were first received of the complete victory gained by the superior abilities of Earl St. Vincent over the Spanish fleet, and of the brilliant conquest of the Dutch fleet obtained by Lord Duncan.
Among the convicts who were received by the _Barwell_ were some useful mechanics; a real acquisition, as the governor would thereby be enabled to discharge some free people, whom he had been obliged to hire for various necessary and unavoidable purposes.
On the 29th, the _Reliance_ and _Francis_ schooner sailed for Norfolk Island, carrying with them such a proportion of the stores received by the _Barwell_ as could be spared. On board of the _Reliance_ were sent 100 casks of salt provisions, and 1200 bushels of wheat, an article to which the soil and temperature of the island was not favourable.
As the governor had received several petitions and complaints from the settlers there, he caused the following order to be printed and sent thither for their information:
From the nature of the difficulties of which the settlers upon Norfolk island have complained, difficulties which have not until very lately been known to have an existence, the governor is led to suspect, that the same rage for traffic, and an intemperate indulgence in some of those destructive gratifications which have so effectually ruined many of the most forward and promising settlers in New South Wales, have reached Norfolk Island.
His Excellency, from an earnest desire to promote the prosperity of the island, and the true happiness of its inhabitants, has, since his arrival in this country, availed himself of every opportunity of forwarding for their accommodation a share of such little comforts, as accidental ships may have brought hither. But he is sorry to observe, that, instead of those attentions being felt as an advantage, they appear only to operate as an incitement to more extensive dealings; a circumstance which he foresees must end in the ruin of many of the settlers, for whose welfare he is extremely anxious. He therefore urges them not to be led away from their real interest, by speculative ideas, or a desire of indulging in dangerous gratifications, squandering the whole produce of their hard labour in trifles, or in scenes of dissipation which must eventually end in their complete ruin. He desires that they will persevere with patience in the management of their farms, and the rearing of stock; and assures them, that he has taken such steps as he hopes will incline the government to consider the inconveniences which are sustained in this distant part of the world, and induce them to adopt such measures as will procure the colonists, before long, every European article that they may have occasion for at a very moderate expense; and by that means put an effectual stop to the impositions under which the industrious settlers have too long laboured.
Toward the latter end of the month, the settlers at the northern farms were much annoyed by the natives, who came down in a body, and burnt several of their houses. This was the more unfortunate, as those farms appeared to have had some industry bestowed upon them; and it had not been thrown away; for the land was of a superior quality, and the surrounding country exceedingly picturesque and well-adapted for cultivation.
The bricklayers were not idle during this month at the new granary at Sydney, and were also employed in erecting a house for the master boat-builder. The timber carriages drawn by oxen were employed in bringing in the beams and joists for the new granary; and a gang was sent up the harbour to cut crooked timber for the boat-builder. The maize granary at Parramatta was also in a state of forwardness.
On the 14th there was a squall of wind from the southward, attended with a shower of hall stones of an uncommon size, many of them measuring six inches in circumference, and appearing to be an accumulation of smaller hall stones, which had adhered together by the intensity of the cold in the higher region of the air, until they became of the above size. Much rain fell in this month.
June.] His Majesty’s birthday was observed on the 4th, with all the respect and attention which were so peculiarly its due.
On the 6th, the governor went up to Parramatta, in order to travel into the northern district in search of a proper place for settling as farmers such of the missionaries, lately arrived from Otaheite, as were disposed to continue in the settlement. He also proposed to fix there some free settlers* who had been lately sent out by the government, if he should find a sufficiency of good ground. On a minute examination of the country, he had every reason to pronounce it superior to any that had been yet seen, and in quantity equal to the establishment of several families. The land was not only good and well watered, but every where easily cleared, and at the convenient distance of five or six miles from Parramatta. Being satisfied with the eligibility of the situation, he recommended it to the missionaries; but some of them appeared so undetermined, that there was reason to believe some officious person had been giving them advice which might not terminate to their advantage. A few, however, resolved to settle there, and received such a proportion of tools, grain, and assistance, as could be spared them.
[* Of this description of people four had arrived, with their families, in the _Barwell_.]
The house of Campbell and Clarke at Calcutta, not discouraged by the fate of their unfortunate ship, the _Sydney Cove_ (of which they were the proprietors), fitted out another, a snow, which, in compliment to the governor, they named the _Hunter_, and sent her down with an assortment of India goods, and a few cows and horses. She arrived on the 10th of this month; when the governor, to crush as much as possible the spirit of monopoly which had so long subsisted, gave public notice that a ship had arrived from Bengal with a cargo of goods for sale; and, in order that every inhabitant might have an opportunity of purchasing whatever his circumstances might afford, he gave directions, that no part of the cargo should be disposed of, until the settlers in the different districts had stated to him what sums of money they could severally raise. A day was fixed for them to give in this account; and it was recommended to them to choose some person capable of managing their concerns, and in whose hands they could deposit their money, which, it was to be understood, must be in government notes then in their possession, and not those which they could purchase upon the strength of their crops.
It was also ordered, that no boat or person whatsoever should attempt to board any ship arriving in the harbour, until she should be properly secured in the Cove, and the master had been with the governor and received the port orders. The pilot-boat, or such other as might be sent with an officer to bring up the public dispatches, were not included in this regulation, which certainly, with the preceding, seemed calculated more for general than private advantage.
Captain Hamilton, the commander of the _Sydney Cove_, survived the arrival of the _Hunter_ but a few days. He never recovered from the distresses and hardships which he suffered on the loss of his ship, and died exceedingly regretted by all who had the pleasure of his acquaintance.
Many complaints having been made, that the people who were employed in bringing grain upon freight from the Hawkesbury to Sydney were in the habit of practising a variety of impositions upon the farmers, and among others by the use of false measures, the governor, desirous to put an early stop to such a species of robbery, directed the magistrates of Sydney and Parramatta to issue their orders for all measures to be forthwith brought to the public store at Sydney, there to be proved and marked; and to signify, that any measure which might be used without such mark would subject the owner to a prosecution.
How perpetually was invention at work on the one hand to impose, and on the other to provide a remedy against the evil! No one, from the picture of his arduous situation which these and the preceding pages have held up, will envy the office of the governor, or of those officers who supported his authority, or think that they cheaply earned the salaries that they were allowed.
The necessity of a vessel to keep up a more frequent intercourse with Norfolk Island, having been much felt by the want of various stores for the use of the inhabitants, occasioned Captain Townson, the commanding officer, to construct a small decked boat, sloop rigged, in which he sent his letters to this port, where she arrived on the 15th; but through the want of a harbour at that island, a want that must ever be felt, they were obliged to launch her from the shore, and proceed immediately to sea, whether she was sufficiently tight or not. The consequence was, that she proved very leaky; but with two pumps, which they fortunately had fitted on board her, they were able to keep the water under.*
[* A man upon the island had sufficient ingenuity to make a quadrant for navigating this vessel.]
The maize harvest on the part of government was all got in during this month; but some of the new buildings were rather retarded by the rain which fell toward the latter end of it.
CHAPTER XII
Three southern whalers arrive, and an American from the Isle of France A transport with female convicts arrives from England _Reliance_ arrives from Norfolk Island
Information
John Raynor executed
Profligacy of the female part of the settlement August
Civil regulations
The Sabbath neglected
Attendance enforced
Two whalers arrive
Public works
A native girl killed
Consequences
An extraordinary custom among them
September
The _Barwell_ sails for China, and the _Hunter_ for New Zealand The bones of two horses found
Whalers sail
Public works
Weather
Fears for the approaching harvest
July.] The month opened with the arrival of the _Cornwall_, Southern whaler, the master of which brought an account, that some Spanish cruisers having appeared off Cape Horn, the whalers of the southern fishery were directed to pass into these seas during the war. This ship was directly followed by two others, the _Eliza_ from the Cape of Good Hope, and the _Sally_.
This circumstance was likely to be attended with some advantages to the settlement. The whale fishing on the coast would be effectually tried, and the position of shoals, or the existence of harbours or rivers, be ascertained.
Having in a few days refitted their ships, the three whalers sailed upon their fishing voyages.
Previous to their departure, the _Argo_, a small American schooner, arrived, last from the Isle of France, having on board a cargo of salt provisions, some French brandy, and other articles, upon speculation; all of which was brought to a good market. From the circumstance of this ship’s coming from the Mauritius, the governor entertained some jealousy; and, as it was not impossible or improbable but that, under neutral colours, a spy might be concealed, he judged it necessary to put the battery on Point Maskelyne into a more secure and respectable state, and to construct two redoubts in proper and convenient situations.
The ready sale which the speculators who called here constantly found for their cargoes, together with the ruinous traffic which was carried on by means of the monopolies that existed in opposition to every order and endeavour to prevent them, would, beyond a doubt, without the establishment of a public store on the part of government, keep the settlers and others in a continual state of beggary, and extremely retard the progressive improvement of the colony.
On the 18th arrived the _Britannia_ whaler from England, with 94 female convicts, who were forthwith landed, and some of them were sent to Parramatta and Toongabbie. The cattle that were brought in the _Hunter_, and which were sold by auction at this time, were not greater objects of contest than were these females, the number of women in the settlements bearing no proportion to the men.
The _Reliance_ and _Francis_ schooner, which had been sent to Norfolk Island at the latter end of May, returned the 25th and 27th of this month, having been absent on that service about 60 days, 27 of which were taken up by the _Reliance_ on her passage back, she meeting with blowing weather and much sea the whole way.
By her, the officer commanding on the island wrote, that a most improper association had been entered into by the settlers and others which they termed the Fraternal Society of Norfolk Island; and which, among others, had for its object the uniting for the purpose of distressing the government, by withholding the produce of their farms from the store; in consequence of some misconduct on the part of the store-keepers, who suffered the same monopoly to take place there, as was complained of in New South Wales. They wrote at the same time to the governor, positively denying their giving any name to their meeting but heavily complaining; that, after much expense and trouble in rearing swine, the store-keepers would not receive it.
The governor highly censured this manner of assembling, and, in a printed notice which he sent thither, pointed out to the inhabitants, that if they felt themselves labouring under any grievance real or supposed, they were to submit their complaints respectfully to the officer in the direction of the settlement, by one or two persons chosen for that purpose, and not by a numerous body of people. Every other mode of procuring redress was highly illegal, and could only tend to expose those who might be concerned to a very considerable degree of danger.
It was necessary to assemble the court of criminal judicature once in this month for the trial of an incorrigible offender, John Raynor. who was convicted of house-breaking, and whose fate had been often merited and long predicted. He left a letter, previous to his execution, in which he enumerated the many offences that he had committed, and denied several with which he had been charged.
Great complaints were now made of the profligacy of the women; who, probably from having met with more indulgence on account of their sex than their general conduct entitled them to, were grown so idle and insolent, that they were unwilling to do any thing but nurse their children; an excuse from labour which very few were without. Were their value to be estimated by the fine children with which they had increased and multiplied the numbers in the settlement, they certainly would have been found to deserve every care and attention as useful members of society; but their vices were too conspicuous and prominent to admit of much palliation.
The heavy rains which had fallen in part of this and the preceding month having very much damaged the public road between Sydney and Parramatta, two gangs were employed in repairing them. The weather was much colder than common at this season, and in the interior part of the country there was a sharp frost during the night.
August.] An order having been given in the beginning of the month for assembling the court of civil judicature, a recommendation to the inhabitants was added, that when any bargain, contract, or agreement, was made, between any party or parties, on any subject whatsoever, the same should be reduced to writing, specifying in direct and clear terms what the nature of such bargain or contract might be, and causing the same to be properly witnessed, and subscribed by the parties concerned. This measure was calculated to prevent disputes, litigation, and misunderstandings, among the inhabitants, as well as to do away the great inconvenience which the members of the court experienced every time they were convened, from the loose and careless manner in which business was brought before them.
On the 1st day of this month the regulation directed by government, relative to the number of public servants which the officers were allowed to retain, was put in force.
The abandoned and dissipated disposition of most of those who were or had been convicts, so much to be regretted and so often mentioned, was particularly manifest in a shameful abuse of the Sabbath, and a profane ridicule with which every thing sacred was treated. A conduct so derogatory to every Christian principle had from time to time been severely reprobated; but it had now arrived at a height that called for the exertion of every advocate for morality to subdue. Observing, that, instead of employing the Sunday in the performance of those duties for which that day was set apart, it was passed in the indulgence of every abominable act of dissipation, the overseers of the different gangs were strictly ordered to see their men mustered every Sunday morning, and to attend with them at church. The superintendants and constables were to see this order complied with, and that the women (who, to their disgrace, were far worse than the men) were strictly looked after and made to attend divine service regularly. And, as example might do something, the officers were not only to send a certain number of their servants, but they were also called upon, civil and military, to assist in the execution of this order; to the meaning of which, the magistrates were required in a particular degree to pay their attention, in compelling a due obedience thereto, by preventing the opening of the licensed public houses during the hours of divine service as well as any irregularity on the day appropriated to the performance thereof.
In the evening of the 20th, the _Pomona_ and _Diana_, whalers belonging to the southern fishery, anchored in the Cove. They brought an account of much disturbance and disaffection in Ireland. Too much of the same evil spirit seemed to prevail here among the late importations from that kingdom.
Wishing to have that part of the coast examined in which a strait was supposed to exist (between the latitude of 39 degrees 00 minutes S and the land hitherto deemed the southern Promontory of New Holland, and called Van Diemen’s land), the governor resolved on sending Lieutenant Flinders and Mr. Bass of the _Reliance_ on that service, in the _Norfolk_, the small decked boat which had lately arrived from Norfolk Island, and began fitting her properly for the voyage.
The battery on Point Maskelyne was nearly completed in this month. A few carpenters were employed in laying a floor in Government House, and other repairs; but several of the public works were nearly at a stand, many of the sawyers being in the hospital. The powder magazine having been found upon examination to be in a very insecure and dangerous state, the powder was taken out and sent on board the _Supply_. This removal was the more necessary, as an attempt had been made to open the door of the magazine in the night. The weather was bad; and it was supposed that the sentinel, whose box was thrown down and broken, had endeavoured to shelter himself in the magazine.
The agricultural hands were employed in breaking up ground for maize in the vicinity of Parramatta, and others were endeavouring to prepare materials for a water-mill there.
The natives about this time excited a great deal of interest.
A young woman (nearly related to Bennillong), who had resided from her infancy in the settlement, was most inhumanly murdered; and a native of the Botany Bay district had driven a spear through the body of the lad Nanbarrey. The name of the good-tempered girl (for such she was) was War-re-weer; but, to distinguish her from others of the same name, an addition was given to her in the settlement from a personal defect that she had. Being blind of one eye, she was called, War-re-weer Wo-gul Mi, the latter words signifying one eye. The circumstance of this girl’s being killed, and Nanbarrey wounded, occasioned much violence on the part of their friends and relations, of which number were Cole-be and Bennillong; the former of whom, falling in with the man who had wounded the boy, revenged his treatment of him so fully that he died of his wounds the following morning. Bennillong, in consequence of this, was attacked, when alone, by two men; when he defended himself with much address, and would have defied and foiled them both, had they kept fairly and openly in his front; but one of them, with the treachery common to those savage people, contrived to skulk behind, and throw a spear into his side, the weapon penetrating seven inches into the cavity of his body, and, from its direction, being supposed to have wounded the intestines. He was taken on board the _Reliance_, where at first the wound was attended with some unfavourable symptoms, nothing remaining upon his stomach.
Gaining every day some further knowledge of the inhuman habits and customs of these people, their being so thinly scattered through the country ceased to be a matter of surprise. It was almost daily seen, that from some trifling cause or other they were continually living in a state of warfare; to this must be added their brutal treatment of their women, who are themselves equally destructive to the measure of population, by the horrid and cruel custom of endeavouring to cause a miscarriage, which their female acquaintance effect by pressing the body in such a way, as to destroy the infant in the womb; which violence not infrequently occasions the death of the unnatural mother also. To this they have recourse, to avoid the trouble of carrying the infant about when born, which, when it is very young, or at the breast, is the duty of the woman. The operation for this destructive purpose is termed Mee-bra. The burying an infant (when at the breast) with the mother*, if she should die, is another shocking cause of the thinness of population among them. The fact that such an operation as the Mee-bra was practised by these wretched people was communicated by one of the natives to the principal surgeon of the settlement.
[* See Vol. I Appendix XI, viz: ‘When the body was placed in the grave, the bye-standers were amazed to see the father himself place the living child in it with the mother. Having laid the child down, he threw upon it a large stone, and the grave was instantly filled in by the other natives. The whole business was so momentary, that our people had not time or presence of mind sufficient to prevent it; and on speaking about it to Cole-be, be, so far from thinking it inhuman, justified the extraordinary act by assuring us that as no woman could be found to nurse the child it must die a much worse death than that to which he had put it. As a similar circumstance occurred a short time after, we have every reason to suppose the custom always prevails among them; and this may in some degree account for the thinness of population which has been observed among the natives of the country.’]
The death of the young man who was slain by Cole-be was to be revenged, and a body of the southern or Tag-a-ry natives gave battle to those of Sydney for that purpose several days after. The contest was carried on with much desperation on both sides; three natives were killed, and several others wounded, among whom was Bennillong, who, having perfectly recovered of his late dangerous wound, appeared and fought on this occasion as the friend of Cole-be.
The weather in the last month was remarked to be uncommonly cold. In the latter part of this it was excessively sultry, and the wind high, which set many parts of the country on fire, and destroyed some property. The surveyor-general’s house, and every article in it, was consumed by one of these conflagrations.
September.] The _Barwell_ being ready for sea, she dropped down the harbour on the 12th, and sailed the 17th of this month for China. Captain Cameron, her commander, was allowed to receive on board about 50 persons who had completed their period of transportation, and politely offered to touch at Norfolk Island, for the purpose of landing any people whom the governor might have occasion to send thither. In this ship Mr. Robert Campbell, who arrived here in the _Hunter_ from Bengal, took his passage to China. By this gentleman the governor addressed a letter to the governor-general of India, informing his lordship, that having transmitted to the Secretary of State copies of the letters upon the subject of raising recruits in this country for the army in India, which had been received in the year 1796*, by the officers who were sent from Calcutta in the _Britannia_, it was the opinion of his Majesty’s ministers, that the inconveniences attending such a measure would more than counter-balance the advantages of it, and that permission for that purpose could not therefore be granted.
[* See Vol I Ch. XXXI, viz ‘On board of this ship arrived two officers of the Bengal army, Lieutenant Campbell and Mr. Phillips, a surgeon of the military establishment for the purpose of raising two hundred recruits from among those people who had served their respective terms of transportation. They were to be regularly enlisted and attested, and were to receive bounty-money; and a provisional engagement was made with Mr. Raven, to convey them to India, if no other service should offer for his ship.’]
Indeed, had it been adopted, the army in India could not have been much benefited; since, if the recruiting officers were nice as to the point of character, small would be the number of their recruits, and, if not overnice in this particular, small would be the portion of morality that they would introduce.
In order to encourage as far as possible the rearing of swine in the colony, as well as of every other kind of live stock, a circumstance that must not only prove a great benefit to the public, but be also highly to the advantage of those who devoted a part of their time to this useful purpose, and which, from the advanced state of the private farms, might now be done with far less trouble and expense than formerly, the settlers and others were informed, that when any individual should have prepared a number of such animals fit for the public store, they might make the same known to the commissary, who, in order to prevent any unnecessary expense to the feeder, would give immediate notice of the day and place when and where he would receive them. He was also at liberty to enter into an agreement or contract for a certain length of time, and on such conditions as should be agreed, with any person who would engage to furnish the public store either at Sydney, Parramatta, or the Hawkesbury, with any certain quantity at stated periods.
The commander of the _Hunter_ snow, Mr. Fern, having found, like most of those who had preceded him, that a voyage to New South Wales was not a bad speculation, resolved on deriving some profit from his return. It was understood at his departure, which was on the 20th, that he was bound for New Zealand, for the purpose of cutting spars to load with back to Bengal.*
[* Mr. Robert Campbell, who returned some time after to Port Jackson, mentioned, that Captain Fern proceeded to the river Thames in New Zealand, where his people cut down a quantity of very fine spars, sufficient to load his vessel; but, being rather short of hands, he could not have shipped them, had not the natives with much alacrity and good humour assisted his people in getting them to the water’s side. See Vol I Ch. XXVIII, viz: ‘In the course of that time they cut down upwards of two hundred very fine trees, from sixty to one hundred and forty feet in length, fit for any use that the East India Company’s ships might require. The longest of these trees measured three feet and a half in the butt, and differed from the Norfolk Island pines in having the turpentine in the centre of the tree instead of between the bark and the wood. . . .’]
Two men, who had been exploring the country to the northwest of Richmond Hill and of the river Hawkesbury, fell in with the bones of two mares which had been stolen some time since from Parramatta. It was very probable, that the people who stole them had, after some time and experience, found that travelling was not quite so practicable in this country as they had imagined, and that, not being able to procure a supply of food, they had been compelled by hunger to the necessity of destroying their cattle, and living upon them as long as they could possibly cat of them; after which they, no doubt, followed such route as their judgment was capable of pointing out; but, unfortunately for them, they could not have known which way they went. The bones of the mares, the heads of which the men brought in to prevent any doubt of their story, were found at not more than a good day’s journey from the Hawkesbury, which river they had no doubt crossed at one of its branches higher up, where there are many fordable places.
Some of the whalers that were in the harbour, proceeding on their fishery, the town was freed from the nuisance of their seamen, who could not resist the two temptations, spirits and women, so peculiarly calculated every where to lead them astray. The masters of the ships made many complaints that they could not keep their people on board.
At Sydney the walls of the granary were completed, and part of the roof got up. The battery also was finished.
The weather during the month had been so very sultry and dry, that there was every appearance of being completely disappointed in the sanguine expectations which had been entertained of a most abundant wheat harvest. The pasture and garden grounds also were suffering exceedingly through want of rain.
CHAPTER XIII
The _Semiramis_ arrives from Rhode Island The church at Sydney burnt
Reflections
Some vessels sail; the _Norfolk_ for Van Dieman’s Land; The _Francis_ for Norfolk Island
Another fire in the town
A ship arrives from the Cape with cattle Works in hand
Bennillong
The governor’s steward destroys himself An order respecting the women
A battery erected
Weather
State of the harvest
Irish
The _Francis_ returns; and the _Nautilus_ The _Eliza_ from Sea
Information
Three deaths
One good character recorded
Disorders
Public works
Great heat
Returns of stock, and land in cultivation
October.] Another adventurer entered the port on the 1st of this month, viz the _Semiramis_ from Rhode Island, bound to China. She made her passage in three months and nine days. The master reported, that when he left the States, they were thought to be on the eve of a rupture with France.
Between seven and eight o’clock in the evening of this day, the church on the east side of the cove was discovered to be on fire. Every assistance, as far as numbers could be useful, was given, but ineffectually; for the building being covered with thatch, which was at this time exceedingly dry and combustible, it was completely consumed in an hour.
This was a great loss, for during the working days of the week the building was used as a school, in which from 150 to 200 children were educated, under the immediate inspection of Mr. Johnson, the clergyman. As it stood entirely alone, and no person was suffered to remain in it after the school hours, there was not any doubt that this atrocious act was the effect of design, and the consequence of the late order which had been given out and had been rigidly executed, enforcing attendance on divine service; and in the view of rendering, by the destruction of the building, the Sabbath a day of as little decency and sobriety as any other in the week. The perpetrators of this mischief were, however, disappointed in their expectation; for the governor, justly deeming this to have been the motive, and highly irritated at such a shameful act, resolved, if no convenient place could immediately be found for the performance of public worship, that, instead of Sunday being employed as each should propose to himself, the whole of the labouring gangs should be employed on that day in erecting another building for the purpose; it happened, however, that a large storehouse was just at that time finished; and, not being immediately wanted, it was fitted up as a church; and thus not a single Sunday was lost by this wicked design.
For the discovery of the offender a reward of L30 was offered, together with absolute emancipation to the informer if a convict, and a recommendation to the master of any ship to take him or her from the colony. But it was seen with concern, that rewards and punishments alike failed in their effect.
This circumstance must impress upon the mind of every one who may read this account, to what a dreadful state of profligacy the colony had arrived, which, alarming as it was, must have been still worse, had it not been for the civil police which fortunately had been established; for a more wicked, abandoned, and irreligious set of people had never been brought together before in any part of the colony. The hope of their amendment seemed every day to lessen. The spirit of trade (not that liberal spirit which characterises the British trader, but a mean, selfish, avaricious passion, that hesitated not at any means to be gratified) proved the source of every evil under which the settlers laboured.
Notwithstanding this picture of their vices, the colony was at this time, generally speaking, in perfect health. For want of slop clothing and bedding, indeed, they were much distressed; but on this or any other account they were little deserving of any commiseration.
Since the last failure of those ill-considered attempts of the Irish to escape from the colony, no further schemes of that nature had been planned; but, as a matter of common justice to them, it was much wished that regular accounts of the dates of their conviction, and their several terms of transportation, might be sent out. They had been informed, that a promise to this effect had been made by government.
On the 7th, the two Americans, the _Semiramis_, and _Argo_ schooner, sailed for China. At the same time the _Nautilus_ brig, and _Norfolk_ long-boat, sailed for Van Diemen’s land. The _Nautilus_, which had been in extreme distress for every kind of repair, was completely put in order here; and, as the two young men who had the care and direction of the speculation on which she was fitted out from India, had been very unfortunate through the infirmities of their vessel, and other causes, they were determined to try, during this season, what the seal-fishing among the islands to the southward might produce.
On the day following, the _Francis_ sailed for Norfolk Island, with a few women and some stores for that settlement. As it was intended, that on her return she should examine the shoal said to have been discovered to the northward of Lord Howe Island, and make, if possible, and ascertain the situation of, the island discovered in 1788 by Lieutenant Shortland in the _Alexander_ transport, and named by him Sir Charles Middleton island, Lieutenant John Shortland, of the _Reliance_, a son of the above officer, was sent in the _Francis_, and was charged with the sole direction of the vessel upon that service.
In the _Norfolk_ were Lieutenant Flinders and Mr. Bass, who were instructed to examine the existence of the strait supposed to divide Van Diemen’s land from the continent.
The rage for trade already spoken of, which prevailed so universally in the colony, occasioned such a continued scene of contention and litigation among the people, that much public inconvenience was experienced in the liberties which were taken of imprisoning the public servants of the crown for debts contracted with many of the petty dealers; notwithstanding an order which was given out in the year 1788, by the late Governor Phillip, in which the colony was informed, that the convicts (by whom were meant the public servants of the crown) had no property of their own, their clothing, their time, and their labour, being the property of government, and not at their own disposal. This order having worn out of their recollection, it became necessary to renew it, to prevent that loss of labour on the public works which imprisoning their persons so improperly must occasion. Notice was therefore given, that the public servants of the crown were not to be detained from their duty by imprisoning their persons in this way; and if any person should be desirous of accommodating them with credit, it must be wholly and absolutely upon the strength of their own good faith in the integrity of such people, and not under the idea that they could arrest and imprison them according to the forms of law; and it was to be generally understood, that government would by no means dispense with the labour of its servants for the partial accommodation of any private dealings whatever.
On the evening of the 11th, another fire happened in the town of Sydney, which, but for a great deal of care and activity, might have burnt all the houses on the east side. A row of buildings which had been lately erected for the nurses and other persons employed about the hospital, was set on fire, and totally consumed. The flames very nearly reached the boat-yard, in which were many concerns of value.
On the 20th, an American ship, the _Ann and Hope_, anchored in Botany Bay, unfavourable winds having prevented her getting up so far as Port Jackson. As the master only wanted a little wood and water, three days were sufficient to procure them; and at the end of that period he sailed for China. He certainly was either pressed for time, or had nothing on board that he could part with, as the ships of his country had always found it worth their while to refresh at Port Jackson.
Toward the latter end of the month the governor visited the settlers at the Hawkesbury; and while he was there made some useful regulations among the sawyers, who had fixed their own portion of public labour. He gave notice, that a session should be held quarterly for settling all civil concerns; and made some other local arrangements, which, if attended to, would have conduced essentially to the welfare of the settlers, whose farms he found promising plenty, but whose houses and persons wore the appearance of poverty and beggary, they converting all the produce of their farms to the unworthy purpose of purchasing a pernicious spirit that must ever keep them poor.
In the evening of the 27th, the ship _Marquis Cornwallis_ arrived from the Cape of Good Hope, with a cargo of cattle on government account, consisting of 158 cows and 20 bulls, exclusive of a few on private account. When they were landed, a few appeared weakly; but, in general, they were in as good health as any that had been before landed, after a voyage of such extent; and would certainly prove a vast acquisition to the colony; part of the cows being a mixed breed between the Cape and English cattle, and the whole appearing to be under the age of two years and a half.
With the _Marquis Cornwallis_ arrived the _Indispensable_, a southern whaler, commanded by Mr. Wilkinson, who had twice before visited the settlement; but he sailed again immediately.
In this month the foundation of a stone building intended for a church was laid at Sydney. It was to be 150 feet in length, and 52 in breadth. Preparations were making for a similar building at Parramatta, which was to be of smaller dimensions than this at Sydney.
The weather proved much too dry and sultry for the harvest. Some rain fell toward the latter end of the month; but it was greatly feared that it came too late to be of much benefit to the wheat or maize.
November.] Twice had the criminal court of judicature lately met for the trial of various offenders; one of whom, being clearly convicted of wilful perjury, stood in the pillory pursuant to his sentence.
Instead of living peaceably and pleasantly at the governor’s house, as he certainly might always have done, Bennillong preferred the rude and dangerous society of his own countrymen, visiting the settlement only when induced by the recollection of the comforts which he could no where else obtain. Word was now brought in, of his having been again severely wounded in a contest with some of the natives. This man had lately received and recovered of several wounds, any one of which would have been sufficient to have destroyed a European. But these people in general owed their existence more to their good habit of body (living free from the use of spirituous liquors and the luxuries of the table) than to any other cause. Unless this be admitted, it will be difficult to account for their surviving the desperate wounds which they have been often known to receive.
An instance of the fatal effects of misguided conduct, and a too late sense of criminality, occurred in the tragical end of Nathaniel Franklyn, the governor’s steward. This man, whom he brought from England, had the whole care and management of the governor’s domestic concerns entrusted to him. He had been repeatedly cautioned by his master against the many artful and designing acquaintances which he had formed in the town, and was pointedly desired to be aware of not suffering himself to be influenced by their opinions. It was proved that he had not had fortitude enough to withstand their solicitations, but had consented to rob the governor to a very considerable amount, abusing the confidence he had placed in him, and making use of his name in a most iniquitous manner. Of the infamy of his conduct he was at last sensible, and, retiring into the shrubbery in the garden of the governor’s house, shot himself through the head.
The wretched state of the settlement appeared but too plainly from this melancholy circumstance.
The complaints which were daily made of the refractory and disobedient conduct of the convict women rendered it absolutely necessary that some steps should be instantly taken to make them more clearly understand the nature of their situation in this country, and the duties that they were liable to perform. The governor, therefore, judged it proper to desire that every officer or other housekeeper in the settlement, who might have female servants in their families, would immediately forward to the judge-advocate’s office the names of such as they employed. He also forbade them to protect from public labour any but those whom they were permitted to retain; and when at any time they were desirous of discharging from their employment any servant of this description, they were to send an intimation thereof, together with a character of the person, to the same office. As they had never been limited in the number of women servants which they considered requisite to their domestic concerns, it was hoped that they would afford every assistance in their power, which might lead to the detection of imposition, and serve to correct any abuse of such indulgence.
To the list of public buildings, which, young as was the settlement, time had overthrown, was now added the government-house at Parramatta; the roof of which falling-in in some bad weather, the building was surveyed, and found so weak and decayed as not to admit of repairs. It was therefore determined to take this entirely down, and erect a new one; for which purpose a gang of brickmakers was shortly after sent up there.
At this place and at Toongabbie additional stock-yards were preparing for the cattle lately arrived; and materials were collecting for building a church and water-mill at Parramatta.
At Sydney the ship’s company of the _Supply_ were actively and usefully employed in constructing a half-moon battery on the east point of the cove, where stood the house built by Governor Phillip for Bennillong, in those days when it was thought an object of some moment to soothe and conciliate the friendship of that savage.
There was but little variation in the weather, except that on the 25th there was a violent burst of thunder, attended with partial whirlwinds, by which several buildings were much damaged.
December.] At the departure of the ship _Marquis Cornwallis_ for Bengal, which was on the 3rd of this month, several convicts were taken from the settlement without permission. This evil could alone be checked by severe prosecutions and penalties.
The harvest which was begun in the last, was completed in this month. In the abundance that was expected, every one was disappointed; for, owing to a most tedious and unfortunate drought during ten months, the wheat did not turn out more than one-third of what, from the quantity of ground sown with that grain, there was a reasonable expectation of its producing, had the season been moderately favourable. This was the more seriously felt, as at one time a hope was entertained of reaping grain sufficient to supply the colony with bread for two years.
The conclusion of the harvest was productive of a slight disturbance among the Irish convicts at Toongabbie. Having, each man and woman who had been employed, received a small quantity of spirits and water, which had been ordered them, it produced at first cheerfulness and play, but terminated in riot and ill-humour; a circumstance not uncommon with that class of people. They were, however, easily separated and sent to their respective huts.
On the 19th, the _Francis_ schooner arrived from Norfolk Island, where all were in good health. Lieutenant Shortland, who had received directions to search for Sir Charles Middleton Island and shoal, on his return produced his journal and a chart of the various traverses which he had made in quest of the island, and compared them with those made formerly by Lieutenant (now Captain) Ball in his Majesty’s armed brig _Supply_, who had been sent by Governor Phillip expressly on the same pursuit. The extensive range taken by those two officers in the search, and their not having met with even any indications of land near that situation, left little reason to believe in the existence of the island. That of the shoal was not so doubtful; and, although Mr. Shortland did not fall in with it, yet, as a shoal had been seen by two or three different persons near the spot in which that reef was laid down, there was much reason to believe that a dangerous bank or shoal did somewhere thereabout exist; but its exact situation in point of latitude and longitude had not yet been correctly fixed, nor was its extent supposed to be so great as was at first believed.
On the evening of the 25th, which had been duly observed as Christmas Day, the _Nautilus_ arrived from the southward. She had been at Preservation Island, where, and among the neighbouring islands, she had been tolerably successful in seal-catching. The master left 14 of his people on the island of Cape Barren, to provide as many skins and as much oil as they could against his return. Those with which he now arrived were in a few days sold by auction.
The two whalers, the _Indispensable_ and _Britannia_, which had been fishing on the coast, returned on the 29th for a few days to repair some defects and refresh their crews. They had cruised chiefly from the latitude of 32 degrees 00 minutes to 35 degrees 00 minutes, and not farther from the coast than from 20 to 30 leagues, and thought themselves rather successful for the time (only two months), the one having got 54, and the other 60 tons of spermaceti oil.
The _Eliza_ (more wisely) put into Botany Bay, to wood and water. She, although much longer at seal had not been so successful, having got only 45 tons of oil. The master of this ship stated, that he saw off the NE part of New Caledonia a ship on shore upon a reef, the lower masts of which were above water, and one of the tops was on the mast. The weather was thick and hazy, and blew too fresh to allow him to send to examine her; but a piece of a boat, which he took to be part of a whale boat, floating near him, he judged the wreck to be that of a whaler. He also fell in with a very dangerous and extensive shoal, lying NNW about 40 leagues from Sandy Cape, upon the coast of New South Wales. It was so large, that, finding himself entered upon it, and unable to get back, it took him from nine in the morning until six in the evening, going at the rate of six knots (or miles) an hour, before he ran through it.
Thus already did the settlement and the public at large derive some advantage from the fishing on the coast, by the discovery of this shoal.
There happened three deaths in this month which were out of the common way: a woman at the Hawkesbury died of the bite of a snake; another woman was drowned in attempting to land at Norfolk island; and on the 19th died, very suddenly, Mr. Stephenson, the store-keeper at Sydney. As his death was not exactly in the common way, so neither had been the latter part of his life; indeed, all that part of it which he had passed in this country; for, by an upright conduct, and a faithful discharge of the duties of the office with which he had been entrusted, he secured to himself the approbation of his superiors while living, and their good name at his death.
Stephenson had been emancipated for his orderly behaviour, and to enable him to execute the office of store-keeper.
The annual election of constables recurring about this time, the magistrates were desired to be very particular in their selection of the persons returned to them for that purpose; as there was reason to fear, from the frequent escapes of prisoners from the different gaols, that the constables had been tampered with, so shamefully to neglect their duty.
The wheat harvest being over, and the country, as happened generally at this season of the year, every where on fire, those who were engaged in farming were reminded of the necessity of their exerting themselves by every practicable means to secure their crops, when stacked, against accident by fire. As yet, none had been heard of. In the early part of the month Farenheit’s thermometer at the Hawkesbury stood at 107 degrees in the shade.
Many people were at this time much afflicted with inflammations of the eyes*, attended with extreme pain, and supposed by the medical gentlemen to be occasioned by the excessive dry and sultry weather which had prevailed for a considerable time. Dysenteric complaints were also very common, which were attributed to the water, most of the runs and springs having been nearly dried up. The tanks which were cut in the rocks below the stream by order of Governor Phillip had proved of infinite utility.
[* In the month of April 1794 and 1796, several adults and children were troubled with an inflammation of the eyes, which was then attributed to the variable and unsettled weather that had for some time prevailed. It must be remarked, that the present appearance of this complaint was in the summer, the former in the winter season.]
The seamen belonging to the _Supply_ completed their half-moon battery in this month, and part of that ship’s guns were mounted in it.
In addition to other public works, some people were employed in white-washing the houses in the town of Sydney, and repairing such of the buildings as required it; an attention highly necessary at least once in every year, for the preservation of works, the re-construction of which, when suffered to fall to decay, was attended with a great expense.
The live stock and the ground in cultivation had been considerably increased in this year, as will be seen by comparing the following account of each with the return of the preceding year.
LIVE STOCK
Horses 44
Mares 73
Horned Cattle
Bulls and Oxen 163
Cows 258
Hogs 2867
Sheep
Male 1459
Female 2443
Goats
Male 787
Female 1880
LAND IN CULTIVATION
Acres in Wheat 4659
Acres in Maize 1453
Acres in Barley 571/2
It will appear from this account, which is brought down to the month of August, and taken up from that month in the preceding year, that the goats had not increased so much as the sheep. Many had of course been slaughtered; but they were found to be afflicted with diseases which carried them off in numbers, while the sheep were seen to thrive better.
CHAPTER XIV
Certificates granted to convicts
Reasons for so doing
Unruly behaviour of the Irish
Agricultural concerns look ill
The _Norfolk_ sloop returns from Van Dieman’s Land Particulars
Twofold Bay described
The natives there
Kent’s Group
Furneaux’s Islands
Preservation Island
Curious petrifaction there
Cape Barren Island
The wombat described
1799.]
January.] On the second of this month, certificates were granted to such convicts as had completed their several terms of transportation.
That none might have it in their power to make a plea of any injustice being exercised upon them with respect to that critical point their servitude, it had been made a rule, three or four times in the year, to issue discharge certificates to such as were found, on consulting the proper documents, to be entitled to them; and, if desirous of being at their own disposal, to strike them off from the victualling books. Many convicts having been sent out, who had not more than two years to serve after their arrival, proved, by claiming their discharge, a considerable drawback on field-labour, as well in Norfolk Island as in New South Wales. But this was not the only evil. In this way there were let loose upon the public a number of idle and worthless characters, who, not having any means of getting out of the country, became a dangerous and troublesome pest. They refused all kind of labour, but continued to form connections with the equally worthless part of the other inhabitants, who, from their domestic situations, had an opportunity of affording the best information where robberies and burglaries could be most readily committed. They also consumed a vast proportion of the provision which was raised in the colony. Still, as the law had spent its force against them, there was no denying them the restoration of their rights as free people. The convicts in general had suffered much through want of clothing and bedding. Indeed, during the late harvest, several gangs were seen labouring in the fields, as free of clothing of any kind as the savages of the country. This had made them insolent; and anonymous letters were dropped, in which were threatenings of what would be done at the proper season.
At this time, when the certificates were granted, a numerous body of the Irish convicts, many of whom had but lately arrived, insisted that ‘their times were out,’ and could not be persuaded that they were mistaken by any remonstrance or argument. They grew noisy and insolent, and even made use of threats; upon which a few of the most forward and daring were secured, and instantly punished; after which they were ordered to go peaceably back to their work. They had also taken up the idea that Ireland had shaken off its connection with England, and that they were no longer to be considered as convicts under the British government. This was a most pernicious idea to be entertained by such a lawless set of people, and required the strong arm of government to eradicate it.
Agricultural concerns at this time wore a most unpromising appearance. The wheat proved little better than straw or chaff, and the maize was burnt up in the ground for want of rain. From the establishment of the settlement, so much continued drought and suffocating heat had not been experienced. The country was now in flames; the wind northerly and parching; and some showers of rain, which fell on the 7th, were of no advantage, being immediately taken up again by the excessive heat of the sun.
On the 12th, the _Norfolk_ sloop arrived, with Lieutenant Flinders and Mr. Bass, from the examination of Van Diemen’s land.
As the result of this little voyage was the complete knowledge of the existence of a strait separating Van Diemen’s land from the continent of New Holland, it may not be improper to enter with some degree of minuteness into the particulars of it; and the writer of these pages feels much gratification in being enabled to do this, from the accurate and pleasing journal of Mr. Bass, with the perusal and use of which he has been favoured.
The _Norfolk_ sailed, as has been already stated, upon this voyage of discovery about the 7th of October last, with Lieutenant Flinders and Mr. Bass; and on the 11th, when nearly off Cape Howe, being met by a fresh gale at SW they bore up, and anchored in Twofold Bay. This bay had been visited by Mr. Bass when he was on the coast in the whale boat; but he had not at that time so good an opportunity of examining it as he desired, and now had. He found Twofold Bay situated at the southern end of a short chain of hummocky hills, one part of which is much more conspicuous than the rest, and lies immediately behind the bay. The land on the west side, being a part of this chain of hills, is high and rocky. The shore is divided into steep cliff heads, with small intermediate beaches; the one formed by the most prominent of the ridges, the others by the sand thrown up at the foot of their valleys. Behind the beaches are ponds of brackish water.
The abruptness and sudden rise of the hills for the most part permit the vegetable earth to be washed down into the vallies as fast as it is formed. Some of the more gradual slopes retain a sufficiency of it to produce a thick coat of tolerably succulent grass; but the soil partakes too much of the stony quality of the higher parts to be capable of cultivation.
The dark luxuriant foliage of the valleys points out the advantages which they had received from the impoverished hills. Their soil is rich and deep, but their extent is narrow and limited. Some three or four hundred acres of excellent soil might be found upon the edges of the ponds, and by the sides of the occasional drains that supply them with the fresh part of their water.
Both hill and valley produce large timber and brush-wood of various heights; upon the hills, the brush grows in small clumps; while in the valleys it not only covers the whole surface, but is also bound together by creeping vines, of every size between small twine and a seven inch hawser.
In the SW corner of the bay, is a lagoon, or small inlet, that communicates with the sea, through the beach at the back of which it lies. The chain of hills here runs back to some little distance from the water, and leaves a few square miles of rather good ground, through which the inlet was found to take its course in a winding direction to the SW for six or eight miles, where it ends in small swamps and marshes. Large boats might enter this place at a third flood, and proceed to the farther part of it. Upon its banks from five to seven hundred acres of a light sandy soil might be picked out, in patches of from fifty to a hundred acres each; but on the side next the mountain it soon became stony, and on that next the lagoon it was wet and salt.
The country along the back of the bay lies in rounded stony hills scarcely fit for pasturage, but covered with timber, and patches of short brush.
On the south side was another shallow inlet, larger than that on the SW running in by the end of a beach, and winding along to the SSW with little or no cultivable or low ground upon its borders. The returning tide did not allow time enough to proceed to the head of it.
On the eastern side, the hills being neither steep nor prominent, some extensive slopes of tolerably good, though sandy soil, have been formed. Several which extended to the water, being well covered with grass and thinly set with timber, had a pleasing appearance from the bay, and resembled some of the most beautiful parts of Mount Edgecumbe, near Plymouth. Speaking generally of the land round the bay, it might be said to be much more barren that productive; that there are several patches of tolerably good, and some few of excellent soil; but by far the greater part is incapable of cultivation, and fit only for pasturage.
The most common timber is a sort of gum tree, the bark of which along the trunk is that of the iron bark of Port Jackson; and its leaf, that of the blue gum tree; but its branches toward the head are of a yellow colour, smooth, and resembling the barked limbs of trees. The wood is longer grained, and more tough, splitting easier and more true than any other species of the gum tree.
The natives are, in person, similar to those living about Port Jackson, but their language was perfectly unintelligible. They used canoes, of which they seemed very careful; for on his rowing round the point of Snug Cove, when Mr. Bass was on his first visit to this bay in the whale boat, a party of them paddled hastily on shore, taking their canoes upon their heads, and running off with them into the woods. They, however, did not appear so shy of their visitors now as they had formerly been; and there was reason to believe that a friendly intercourse might have been easily established with them.
Not meeting with any grass trees, and the few spears that were seen being made of solid wood, it may be conjectured that the light grass reed spear used by the natives of Port Jackson is unknown among these people, as well as the use of the throwing-stick.
But very few marks of the kangaroo were seen. Both quadrupeds and birds appeared to be less numerous here than in other places. The dogs found a porcupine ant-eaters, but they could make no impression on him; he escaped from them by burrowing in the loose sand, not head foremost, but sinking himself directly downwards, and presenting his prickly back opposed to his adversaries.
There were a few ducks, teal, herons, cranes, and a bird named from its bill the Red-bill, upon the lagoons, with some small flights of curlew and plover of a beautiful feather.
The rocks consist of hardened clay, in which are mixed great numbers of small stones, variously tinged, some with red, others with yellow. Small portions of calcareous spar lie scattered about the surface of the rocky ground; strata of which are deposited irregularly in fissures formed in the body of the rocks themselves.
Leaving Twofold Bay upon a favourable shift of wind, the sloop proceeded to the southward, and on the 17th made a small cluster of islands, in latitude 38 degrees 16 minutes, which now bears the name of Kent’s Group (a compliment to the commander of his Majesty’s ship _Supply_). These are six or seven in number, and of various sizes. Their height is very considerable, and as irregular in figure as can well be imagined in land whose hummocks are no one of them more lofty than another. This small group appears to be formed of granite, which is imperfectly concealed by long straggling dwarfish brush, and some few still more diminutive trees, and seems cursed with a sterility that might safely bid defiance to Chinese industry itself. Nature is either working very slowly with those islands, or has altogether ceased to work upon them, since a more wild deserted place is not easily to be met with. Even the birds seemed not to frequent them in their usual numbers. There was, in short, nothing that could tempt our explorers to land.
Having passed Kent’s Group standing to the southward, the next morning Furneaux’s Islands were in sight, and on the following day they anchored at Preservation Island, which is one of them. These islands, from what was seen of them during this run along their shore, and what had been seen of them before by Mr. Bass, appear to consist of two kinds, perfectly dissimilar in figure, and most probably of very unequal ages, but alike in the materials of which they are formed. Both kinds are of granite; but the one is low, and rather level, with a soil of sand covered with low brush and tufted grass: the other is remarkably high, bold, and rocky, and cut into a variety of singular peaks and knobs. Some little vegetable soil lies upon these, and the vegetation is large; trees even of a tolerable size are produced in some places. There are attached to some parts of these high islands slips of low sandy land, of a similar height with the lower islands, and probably coeval with them.
Preservation Island, which takes its respectable name from having preserved the crew of the ship _Sydney Cove_, arranges itself in the humble class of islands, and is of a very moderate height. A surface of sand, varying in depth, and mixed in different scanty proportions with vegetable soil, scarcely hides from view the base, which is of granite. In several places vast blocks of this stone lie scattered about, as free from vegetation and the injuries of weather as if they had fallen but yesterday: and, what is remarkable, most of them, probably all, are evidently detached from the stone upon which they rest, so entirely that they might be dragged from the places where they lie, if it were thought worth while to apply a power sufficient to produce so useless an effect. It should seem then that these loose blocks have fallen from some place higher than that upon which they were found; but that is impossible, for they are higher than any other part of the island. And the supposition that the injuries of the air and the rain caused the removal of that part of the granite which might originally have been of a corresponding height with these remaining blocks, seems hardly admissible in the present instance. Perhaps subterraneous or volcanic fire may have caused this curious appearance.
The great bulk of these blocks renders them so conspicuous, that the attention is first struck with them upon approaching the island. But, besides granite, there is on the north side, where the island is particularly low and narrow, a slip of calcareous earth, of a few hundred yards in length, which discovers itself near the broken surface of the water. It is not for the most part pure, for broken pieces of the granite are mixed with it in various proportions. Some parts are a mere mass of these broken pieces cemented together by the calcareous matter; whilst others are an almost perfect chalk, and are capable of being burnt into excellent lime. Broken sea shells and other exuviae of marine animals are apparent throughout the whole mass.
Upon the beach at the foot of this chalky rock, was found a very considerable quantity of the black metallic particles which appear in the granite as black shining specks, and are in all probability grains of tin.
To find this small bed of the remains of shell animals, of which chalk is formed wherever found, in such an unexpected situation, excited some surprise; and Mr. Bass endeavoured to investigate the cause of this deposit, by examining the form of the neighbouring parts of the island.
The result of his inquiries and conjectures amounted to this: that as traces of the sea, and of the effects of running waters, were plainly discernible in many parts of the island, and more particularly in the vicinity of this deposit of chalk and granite, it seemed highly probable that it had been formed by two streams of the tide, which, when the island was yet beneath the surface of the sea, having swept round a large lump of rocks, then met and formed an eddy, where every substance would fall to the bottom. The lump of rocks is now a rocky knoll, which runs tapering from the opposite side of the island toward the chalk. On each side of it is a gap, through which the two streams appear to have passed.
The vegetation on the island seems brown and starved. It consists of a few stunted trees; several patches of brush, close set and almost impenetrable; large tufts of sour and wiry grass, and abundance of low saltish plants, chiefly of the creeping kind.
A small spot upon the east end of the island presented a phenomenon which seemed not easily explicable by any known laws of that class of natural history to which it alone was referable.
Amidst a patch of naked sand, upon one of the highest parts of the island, at not less than 100 feet above the level of the sea, within the limits of a few hundred yards square, were lying scattered about a number of short broken branches of old dead trees, of from one to three inches in diameter, and seemingly of a kind similar to the large brush wood. Amid these broken branches were seen sticking up several white stony stumps, of sizes ranging between the above diameters, and in height from a foot to a foot and a half. Their peculiar form, together with a number of prongs of their own quality, projecting in different directions from around their base, and entering the ground in the manner of roots, presented themselves to the mind of an observer, with a striking resemblance to the stumps and roots of small trees. These were extremely brittle, the slightest blow with a stick, or with each other, being sufficient to break them short off; and when taken into the hand, many of them broke to pieces with their own weight.
On being broken transversely, it was immediately seen that the internal part was divided into interior or central, exterior or cortical. The exterior part, which in different specimens occupied various proportions of the whole, resembled a fine white and soft grit-stone; but acids being applied, showed it to be combined with a considerable portion of calcareous matter. The interior or central part was always circular, but seldom found of the same diameter, or of the same composition, on any two stumps. In some the calcareous and sandy matter had taken such entire possession, that every fragment of the wood was completely obliterated; but yet a faint central ring remained. In others was a centre of chalk, beautifully white, that crumbled between the fingers to the finest powder; some consisted of chalk and brown earth, in various quantities, and some others had detained a few frail portions of their woody fibres, the spaces between which were filled up with chalky earth.
It appeared, that when the people of the _Sydney Cove_ first came upon the island, the pieces of dead branches that at this time were lying round the stumps, then formed, with them, the stem and branches of dead trees complete. But by the time Mr. Bass visited the place, the hands of curiosity, and the frolics of an unruly horse that was saved from the wreck, had reduced them to the state already described.
Mr. Bass had been told from good authority, that when the trees were in a complete state, the diameter of the dead wood of the stem that rose immediately from the stoney part was equal to the diameter of that part; and also that a living leaf was seen upon the uppermost branches of one of them. But he could never learn whether the stony part of the stem was of an equal height in all the trees.
To ascertain to what depth the petrification had extended, Mr. Bass scratched away the sand from the foot of many of the stumps, and in no instance found it to have proceeded more than three or four inches beneath the surface of the sand, as it then lay; for at that depth the brown and crumbling remains of the root came into view. There were, indeed, parts of the roots which had undergone an alteration similar to that which had taken place in the stems: but these tended to establish the limits of the petrifying power; for they had felt it only either at their first outset from the bottom of the stems, or when, being obstructed in their progress, they had of necessity arched upwards toward the surface.
In attempting to account for the cause that had operated to produce this change in the structure of the lower parts of the stems of these trees, Mr. Bass feels the utmost diffidence. He found that all his conjectures which were best supported by existing facts, led him to place them among petrifications; although no strict analogy could be seen between them and the subjects usually met with of this kind.
Admitting them, however, as petrifications, it is certain that there must once have existed a pond in which the petrifying water was contained; but the ground in their neighbourhood retained no positive traces of any such receptacle. There were, indeed, near them, some few lumps or banks consisting of sand, and a little vegetable earth which was held together by dead roots of small trees, and elevated above the rest of the ground, to the height of five, six, or eight feet; but the relative position of these with each other was so confused and irregular, that nothing but the necessity of a once existing reservoir could ever lead any one to conjecture that these might have been parts of its bank. Mr. Bass, however, rather concluded that this must have been the case, and that the remainder of the bank had been torn away, and the pond itself annihilated by some violent effort of an unknown power.
Notwithstanding the narrow limits of the island, abundance of small kangaroos were found to inhabit its brushy parts; but so many had been destroyed by the people of the _Sydney Cove_, that they had now become scarce.
The sooty petrel had appropriated a certain grassy part of the island to herself, and retained her position with a degree of obstinacy not easily to be overcome. For although it so happened, that the storehouse for the wrecked cargo was erected upon the spot, and the people for more than a year drew the favourite part of their food from these birds, and were besides continually walking over their habitations, yet at the end of that time the returning flights in the evening were as numerous as they had been observed to be upon their first arrival.
When Mr. Hamilton, the commander of the _Sydney Cove_, quitted the house, he left two hens sitting upon their eggs, some breeding pigeons, and a bag of rice; but no traces were now to be discovered either of the birds or their food. It is probable, that so long as this little colony continued within doors, it did well; but that, when forced by its necessities to go abroad in quest of food, it fell a quiet sacrifice to the rapacity of the hawks.
Several snakes with venomous fangs were found here; but, no person having been bitten by them, the degree of their power was unknown.
The water of the island was thought to have been injurious to the health of the people of the _Sydney Cove_. It was supposed to contain arsenic, which was highly probable from an experiment that was made with the metallic particles, which were taken to be tin. A large fume of what bore many marks of arsenic arose from the crucible during the time of smelting it. Water was very scarce while these people were upon the island; but, owing to some unusual falls of rain, several little runs and swamps were found by Mr. Bass; and a low piece of ground where they had deposited their dead was now a pond of an excellent quality.
Although he had seen but few of the low islands of Furneaux, yet Mr. Bass had not any doubt but that this account of Preservation Island would in general answer for the description of any of them.
He next proceeds to describe what little he saw of Cape Barren Island, which he understood, from the people of the _Nautilus_ snow, who had been there sealing, was an exact specimen of those of the higher kind, so far as they had observed of them.
Cape Barren Island, which takes its name from the cape so called by Captain Furneaux, is a small island when compared with that lying to the northward of it. From what was seen of it in the sloop, it could only be conjectured that these two were separate islands; but Mr. Bishop had passed in the _Nautilus_ through the channel that divides them.
Mr. Bass did not land upon the large island, and it is only of the southern end of Cape Barren Island that he could speak from his own particular observation.
This island is one of those of the higher kind that consist of both high and low land. The high part is composed of granite, in many places almost bare, in others poorly clothed with moderate sized gum trees, which draw their support through some small quantity of vegetable earth lodged by the broken blocks and fragments of the stone, and some straggling brush-wood shooting up round the trees, and completing the appearance of a continued vegetation.
The base of the low part is granite; its surface chiefly sand; its produce, variety of brush, with some few small gum trees, and a species of fir, that grows tall and straight to the height of 20 or 25 feet. There are within the body of the brush several clear spots, where the ground is partly rocky or sandy, partly wet and spongy. These are somewhat enlivened by beautiful flowering heath, and low shrubs, but have upon the whole a dark sombrous aspect, too much resembling the barren heaths of Hampshire.
A grass tree grows here, similar in every respect to that about Port Jackson, except that no reed, neither living nor dead, could be found to belong to it. It is certain, however, that there must be a reed, or a flowering part of some kind. In the brushes, where the sandy soil is somewhat ameliorated by the decay of vegetation, a few tufts of indifferent grass might be seen; but the greater part of it was the coarse wiry sort that grows in hassocks.
It is singular, that a place wherein food seemed to be so scarce should yet be so thickly inhabited by the small brush kangaroo, and a new quadruped, which was also a grass-eater.
This animal, being a new one, appears to deserve a particular description. The Wombat (or, as it is called by the natives of Port Jackson, the Womback) is a squat, thick, short-legged, and rather inactive quadruped, with great appearance of stumpy strength, and somewhat bigger than a large turnspit dog. Its figure and movements, if they do not exactly resemble those of the bear, at least strongly remind one of that animal.
Its length, from the tip of the tail to the tip of the nose, is thirty-one inches, of which its body takes up twenty-three and five-tenths. The head is seven inches, and the tail five-tenths. Its circumference behind the forelegs, twenty-seven inches; across the thickest part of the belly, thirty-one inches. Its weight by hand is somewhat between twenty-five and thirty pounds. The hair is coarse, and about one inch or one inch and five tenths in length, thinly set upon the belly, thicker on the back and head, and thickest upon the loins and rump; the colour of it a light sandy brown, of varying shades, but darkest along the back.
The head is large and flattish, and, when looking the animal full in the face, seems, excluding the ears, to form nearly an equilateral triangle, any side of which is about seven inches and five tenths in length, but the upper side, or that which constitutes the breadth of the head, is rather the shortest. The hair upon the face lies in regular order, as if it were combed, with its ends pointed upwards in a kind of radii, from the nose their centre.
The ears are sharp and erect, of two inches and three-tenths in length, stand well asunder, and are in nowise disproportionate. The eyes are small, and rather sunken than prominent, but quick and lively. They are placed about two inches and five tenths asunder, a little below the centre of the imaginary triangle towards the nose. The nice co-adaptation of their ciliary processes, which are covered with a fine hair, seems to afford the animal an extraordinary power of excluding whatever might be hurtful.
The nose is large or spreading, the nostrils large, long, and capable of being closed. They stand angularly with each other, and a channel is continued from them towards the upper lip, which is divided like the hare’s. The whiskers are rather thick and strong, and are in length from two to three inches and five tenths.
The opening of its mouth is small; it contains five long grass-cutting teeth in the front of each jaw, like those of the kangaroo; within them is a vacancy for an inch or more, then appear two small canine teeth of equal height with, and so much similar to, eight molars situated behind, as scarcely to be distinguishable from them. The whole number in both jaws amount to twenty-four.
The neck is thick and short, and greatly restrains the motions of the head, which, according to the common expression, looks as if it was stuck upon the shoulders.
From the neck the back arches a little as far as the loins, whence it goes off at a flat slope to the hindmost parts, where not any tail is visible. A tail, however, may be found by carefully passing the finger over the flat slope in a line with the backbone. After separating the hairs, it is seen of some five tenths of an inch in length, and from three to one tenth of an inch in diameter, naked, except for a few short fine hairs near its end. This curious tall seemed to hold a much bolder proportion in the young than in the full-grown animal.
The fore legs are very strong and muscular: their length, to the sole of the paw, is five inches five tenths, and the distance between them is five inches and five tenths. The paws are fleshy, round, and large, being one inch and nine tenths in diameter. Their claws are five in number, attached to as many short digitations. The three middle claws are strong, and about eight or nine tenths of an inch in length; the thumb and little finger claws are also strong, but shorter than the others, being only from six to seven tenths of an inch. The fleshy root of the thumb claw is smaller and more flexible than the others. The sole of the paw is hard, and the upper part is covered with the common hair, down to the roots of the claws which it overhangs. The hind legs are less strong and muscular than the fore; their length, to the sole, is five inches and five tenths; the distance between, seven inches and five tenths. The hind paw is longer than the fore, but not less fleshy; its length is two inches and seven tenths, its breadth two inches and six tenths. The claws are four in number: the three inner ones are less strong, but about two tenths of an inch longer than the longest of the fore claws; and there is a fleshy spur in the place of a thumb claw. The whole paw has a curve, which throws its fore part rather inward.
In size the two sexes are nearly the same, but the female is perhaps rather the heaviest.
In the opinion of Mr. Bass, this Wombat seemed to be very economically made; but he thought it unnecessary to give an account of its internal structure in his journal.
This animal has not any claim to swiftness of foot, as most men could run it down. Its pace is hobbling or shuffling, something like the awkward gait of a bear. In disposition it is mild and gentle, as becomes a grass-eater; but it bites hard, and is furious when provoked. Mr. Bass never heard its voice but at that time; it was a low cry, between a hissing and a whizzing, which could not be heard at a distance of more than thirty or forty yards. He chased one, and with his hands under his belly suddenly lifted him off the ground without hurting him, and laid him upon his back along his arm, like a child. It made no noise, nor any effort to escape, not even a struggle. Its countenance was placid and undisturbed, and it seemed as contented as if it had been nursed by Mr. Bass* from its infancy. He carried the beast upwards of a mile, and often shifted him from arm to arm, sometimes laying him upon his shoulder, all of which he took in good part; until, being obliged to secure his legs while he went into the brush to cut a specimen of a new wood, the creature’s anger arose with the pinching of the twine; he whizzed with all his might, kicked and scratched most furiously, and snapped off a piece from the elbow of Mr. Bass’s Jacket with his grass-cutting teeth. Their friendship was here at an end, and the creature remained implacable all the way to the boat, ceasing to kick only when he was exhausted.
[* The kangaroo, and some other animals in New South Wales, were remarkable for being domesticated as soon as taken.]
This circumstance seemed to indicate, that with kind treatment the Wombat might soon be rendered extremely docile, and probably affectionate; but let his tutor beware of giving him provocation, at least if he should be full grown.
Besides Furneaux’s Islands, the Wombat inhabits, as has been seen, the mountains to the westward of Port Jackson. In both these places its habitation is under ground, being admirably formed for burrowing, but to what depth it descends does not seem to be ascertained. According to the