Chapter 58

Alarming State of the provisions The _William_ arrives with supplies from England, and the _Arthur_ from Bengal The amor patriae natural to man in all parts of the earth Information Mr. Bampton Captain Bligh _Admiral Barrington_ transport lost Full ration issued Ingratitude and just punishment of the settlers Buffin's corn-mill set to work Gaming Honesty of a native The _Daedalus_ arrives from America Information Female inconstancy, and its consequences The _Arthur_ sails The _Francis_ returns from Norfolk Island A boat stolen Natives killed A new mill Disorder in the eyes prevalent

March.] To save as much of the seed-wheat as possible, a deduction of two pounds was made in the allowance of that article which was served to the convicts on Saturday the first of the month. The provision-store was never in so reduced a state as at this time; one serving of salt-meat alone remained, and that was to be the food of only half a week. After that period, the prospect, unless we were speedily relieved, was miserable; mere bread and water appeared to be the portion of by far the greater part of the inhabitants of these settlements, of that part too whose bodily labour must be called forth to restore plenty, and attain such a state of independence on the parent country as would render delay or accident in the transport of supplies a matter of much less moment to the colony than it had ever hitherto been considered.

As at this time the stock of swine in the possession of individuals was rather considerable, some saving of the salt provisions, it was thought, might be made, by purchasing a quantity sufficient to issue to the military at the rate of four pounds and a half to each man for the week, in lieu of the three pounds of salt meat. A quantity was therefore purchased by the commissary and issued in the above proportion, the soldiers receiving the fresh instead of the salt provisions (to which latter they must have given the preference, being able to make them go the farthest) with that cheerfulness which at all times marked their conduct when compliance with any wish of their commanding-officer was the question.

Both public and private stock appeared to be threatened with destruction. The sheep and goats in the colony were not numbered far within one thousand. The cows had increased that species of stock by thirteen calves, which were produced in the last year. The exact number of hogs was not, nor could it well be ascertained; it must, however, have been considerable, as every industrious convict had been able to keep one or more breeding sows. All this wore, indeed, the appearance of a resource; yet what would it all have been (admitting that an equal partition had been made) when distributed among upwards of three thousand people? But an equal partition of private stock, as most of this was such, could not have been expected. The officers holding this stock in their own hands would certainly take care to keep it there, and from it would naturally supply their own people. How far, in an hour of such distress, the convicts would have sat quietly down on their return from labouring in the field to their scanty portion of bread and water, and looked patiently on while others were keeping want and hunger at a distance by the daily enjoyment of a comfortable meal of fresh viands? was a question with many who thought of their situation.

Happily, however, for all descriptions of people, they were not this time to be put to the trial.

On Saturday the 8th, at the critical moment when the doors of the provision-store had closed, and the convicts had received their last allowance of the salt provisions which remained, the signal for a sail was made at the South Head. We expected a ship from India in pursuance of the contract entered into with Mr. Bampton, who had been absent from us nearly eleven months. We also looked daily for the return of the _Daedalus_. We hoped for a ship from England. But whence the ship came for which the signal had been made was to remain for some time unknown. One boat alone, with an officer, went down; (in compliance with an order which had some days before been given to that purpose;) and on its return at night we were told that a ship with English colours flying had stood into the harbour as far as Middle-head; but meeting with a heavy squall of wind at south, in which she split her fore-top-sail, was compelled again to put to sea. It was conjectured that she was a stranger; for if any person on board her had had any knowledge of the harbour, she might have been run with much ease from the Middle-head into safety in Spring-cove. The officer who went down (Captain Johnston) unfortunately could not board her, such a sea ran within the Heads; and the wind blew with so much violence as to render any attempt to get near her extremely dangerous.

At night the wind increased with much rain, and morning was anxiously looked for, to tell us where and who the stranger was. Nothing more however was known of her during that day (Sunday), the same causes as those of the preceding day operating against our receiving any other information, than that she was to be seen from the flagstaff, whence in the evening word was brought up over land, that another vessel, a brig, was in sight.

Anxiety and curiosity, now strained to the utmost, were obliged to wait the passing of another night; but about three o'clock on Monday the 10th, the wind and weather having both changed, to our great satisfaction we saw the ship _William_, Mr. William Folger of London master, anchor safely in the cove. With her also came up the _Arthur_, a small brig of about ninety-five tons, from Bengal.

The _William_, we found, had sailed from the river Thames on the first of July last, whence she proceeded to Cork, where she took on board a cargo of beef and pork for this colony*; but had not an ounce of flour. She left Ireland on the 20th of September, having waited some weeks for a convoy, (the war with France in which England was engaged having rendered the protection of some of his Majesty's ships necessary,) and made her passage to this country by the route of Rio de Janeiro. She arrived at that port on the 22nd day of November; left it the third of the following month; and made Van Dieman's Land on the second of this month. Mr. Folger reported, that his weather from the American coast to this port had been in general good.

[* She had likewise on board a machine for dressing flour; a small quantity of iron; two pairs of millstones and some tools for the smiths; all which were received in the river.]

We learned that Governor Phillip reached England in the _Atlantic_ on the 21st of May last. That ship (which it may be remembered sailed from this place on the 11th of December 1792) passed Cape Horn on the 17th of the following January; anchored at Rio de Janeiro on the 7th of February; and sailed thence on the 4th of March; arriving in the channel without any interruption, save what was given by a French privateer which chased her when within forty-eight hours sail of the land. The natives Bennillong and Yem-mer-ra-wan-nie were well, but not sufficiently divested of the genuine, natural love for liberty and their native country, to prefer London with its pleasures and its abundance to the woods of New South Wales. They requested that their wives might be taught to expect their return in the course of this year. Had it been possible to eradicate in any breast that love for the place of our birth, or where we have lived and grown from infancy to manhood, which is implanted in us by the kind hand of Nature, it surely would have been effected on two natives of New Holland, whose country did not possess a single charm in the eye even of a savage inhabitant of New Zealand.* But we now found that in every breast that sentiment is the same; and that a love for our native country is not the result of her being the seat of arts and arms; the residence of worth, beauty, truth, justice; of all the virtues that adorn and dignify human nature; and of all the pleasures and enjoyments that render life valuable; but that it can be excited even in a land where wretchedness, want, and ignorance have laid their iron hands on the inhabitants, and marked with misery all their days and nights.

[* The New Zealanders who were brought hither in the _Daedalus_ in April last expressed both here and at Norfolk Island the utmost abhorrence of this country and its inhabitants.]

In the _William_ arrived an assistant-chaplain, the Rev. Mr. Marsden, to divide the religious duties of the colony with Mr. Johnson.

Had it been known on the evening of the 8th, when the report was received that the ship had been blown out to sea, that she contained so valuable a cargo as four months beef and pork (eleven hundred and seventy-three barrels of the former, and nine hundred and seven of the latter) at the full ration, how would our anxiety have been increased upon her account, particularly as it still lived in our remembrance, that the _Justinian_ with a similar cargo, after making the North of this harbour, was blown off to the Northward, was three weeks before she regained the port, and was once within that time nearly lost in a heavy gale of wind! Had the _William_ been blown off the coast for three weeks, how deeply would distress have been felt in these settlements!

The brig from Bengal had on board a small quantity of beef and pork; some sugar, Bengal rum, and coarse callicoes.

To the great surprise and regret of every one, it was heard from Mr. Barber the master, that at the time of his departure from Calcutta, no accounts had been received of the arrival of Mr. Bampton in any port in India.

As well at his departure from Norfolk Island, as when he quitted this place, he had expressed his resolution of attempting a passage between this country and New Guinea, in the hope of being, if successful, the first to establish a fact that would be attended with singular advantages to his Majesty's settlements in this part of the world.

Captain Bligh, of the happy conclusion of whose second voyage for the bread fruit we now heard by the _William_, was particularly instructed to survey the straits which separate New Holland from New Guinea. By the accounts of this voyage which reached us, we found that the two ships _Providence_ and _Assistance_ were twenty days from their entrance into the strait to their finding themselves again in an open sea. The navigation through this passage was described as the most dangerous ever performed by any navigator, abounding in every direction with islands, breakers, and shoals, through which they pursued their course with the utmost difficulty. In one day, on anchoring to avoid danger, the _Providence_ broke two of her anchors; and as the eastern monsoon was blowing, (the month of September 1792,) and the passage which they were exploring was extremely narrow, it became impossible to beat back. From some of the islands, eight canoes formed the daring attempt of attacking the armed tender, and with their arrows killed one and wounded two of the seamen. Some of these canoes were sixty or seventy feet long, and in one of them twenty-two persons were counted.

This account excited many apprehensions for Mr. Bampton's safety. On taking his leave of Lieutenant-governor King, he assured him that he hoped to see Norfolk Island again in November, expecting to be here early in the month of October. It was known that he had on board some articles of merchandise which he meant to dispose of at Batavia; but by accounts received at Calcutta from that place a very short time before the _Arthur_ sailed, he had not touched at that port. It was therefore more than probable, that both the _Shah Hormuzear_ and _Chesterfield_ had been wrecked on some of the shoals with which the strait abounded, and that their officers and people, taking to their long-boats, had fallen sacrifices to the natives who had attacked the _Assistance_, by whose guns many had been wounded in their attempt to carry that vessel.

To the disappointment which the colony sustained from the failure of the contract already mentioned for cattle and provisions which were to have been brought hither by Mr. Bampton, was added the regret which every thinking being among us felt on contemplating the calamitous moments that had, in all probability, brought destruction on so many of our fellow-creatures.

Mr. Barber also informed us, that Captain Patrickson, who was here in the _Philadelphia_ brig in October 1792, had purchased or hired a large ship, on board of which he had actually put a quantity of provisions and other articles, with which he designed to return to this country; but under some apprehension that his cargo might possibly not be purchased, he gave up the intention, and when the _Arthur_ sailed was left proceeding to Europe under Imperial colours.

The Government of Bengal too had advertised for terms to freight a vessel for this country with cattle and provisions; but were diverted from the design by the equipment of the armaments which it was necessary to enter into at that time.

Thus had the infant colony of New South Wales still been doomed to be the sport of contingency, the jarring interests of men co-operating with the dangers of the sea to throw obstacles in the way of that long-desired independence which would free the mother country from a heavy expense, and would deliver the colonists from the constant apprehension under which they laboured, of being one day left to seek their subsistence among the woods of the country, or along the shores of its coast*.

[* It had been proposed, on the account reaching Bengal of the loss of his Majesty's ship _Guardian_, to raise by subscription a sum sufficient to purchase and freight a ship with provisions to this country; but, from some accident or other, this benevolent purpose was never put in execution.]

The report of the probable loss of the _Admiral Barrington_ transport which was received here in February 1793, was now confirmed. It appeared, that after sailing from Batavia she reached so near her port as to be in sight of the shipping at Bombay, but was driven off the coast by a gale of wind, in which she was forced on shore on one of the Malouine Islands, where she was wrecked, and her crew (the master, chief mate, and surgeon excepted) were murdered by the natives. These people saved themselves by swimming to an East-India country ship which was riding at anchor near the island.

The sight of two vessels at anchor in the cove laden with provisions gave at this time greater satisfaction than had been known on any other arrival; for never before had the colony verged so near to the point of being without a pound of salt provisions. On Monday the 10th (the issuing-day to the civil and military), when all were served their provisions, there remained only eighteen hundred and three pounds of salt meat in store; and even this quantity had been saved by issuing fresh pork to the non-commissioned officers and men of the regiment on the two last serving-days*.

[* Saved on the 3rd and 10th of March by issuing fresh pork to the non-commissioned officers and privates of the New South Wales corps, their wives and children, 1803 lbs

There were issued to the above people, fresh pork, 5099 lbs

The hogs that were purchased on this occasion from individuals cost government the sum of £254 19s 6d]

In consequence of these fortunate arrivals, the full ration of salt meat was ordered to be issued; and as soon as part of the cargo was got on shore from the storeship, the deficiency on the last serving days was completed to the full allowance. The last of the wheat was served on the 17th (a proper quantity being reserved for seed) and on the next provision-day ten pounds of Indian corn were substituted instead of the allowance of wheat. Nothing but dire necessity could have induced the gathering and issuing this article in its present unripened state, the whole of it being soft, full of juice, and wholly unfit to grind. Had the settlers, with only a common share of honesty, returned the wheat which they had received from Government to sow their grounds the last season, the reproach which they drew upon themselves, by not stepping forward at this moment to assist Government, would not have been incurred; but though, to an individual, they all knew the anxiety which every one felt for the preservation of the seed-wheat, yet when applied to, and told (in addition to the sum of ten shillings per bushel) that any quantity which they might choose to put into the store should be brought from their farms without any expence of carriage to them, they all, or nearly all, pleaded an insufficiency to crop their ground for the ensuing season; a plea that was well known to be made without a shadow of truth. In consequence of this refusal, for their excuses amounted to as much, the lieutenant-governor directed all those settlers*, whose limited time** for being victualled from the public stores had expired, to be struck off the provision list, and left to provide for themselves, a very just punishment for their ingratitude; for some had been fed and supplied from the colonial stores for more than twelve months beyond the time prescribed for them when they were settled. This indulgence had been continued to them from quarter to quarter on account of bad crops, unfavourable seasons, and the reduced ration, with which all of them, more or less, had had to struggle; and every accommodation had constantly been afforded them which was consistent with the situation of the colony. It was, however, now seen, that they were not the description of settlers from whom, whatever indulgences they might receive, Government had any assistance to expect; their principal object was their own immediate interest; and to serve that, they would forget every claim which the public had upon them.

[* Sixty-three in number]

[** Eighteen months]

The small cargo of salt provisions brought by the brig from Bengal was purchased on account of Government for £307 16s; the beef at five-pence and the pork at eight-pence per pound; the remainder of her cargo was purchased by the officers of the civil and military departments. The cargo of the _William_, which arrived in very good order, was all landed, and the ship cleared and discharged from Government employ on the 28th.

The Rev. Mr. Marsden entered on the duties of his function the first Sunday after his arrival, preaching to the military in a barrack prepared for the occasion in the forenoon, and to the convicts at the church erected by Mr. Johnson in the afternoon.

On the day when the _William_ anchored in the cove Buffin's new mill was completed and set to work; and Wilkinson' s was in some forwardness. At first it went rather heavily; but in a few days, with nine men's labour, it ground sixty-three pounds of wheat in seventeen minutes. It must be observed, that not any mill was yet erected in the colony whereat corn was ground for the public, the military as well as the convicts grinding their own grain themselves. Whenever wind or water-mills should be erected, this labour would be saved, and the allowance of wheat or Indian corn be issued ground and dressed.

The late distress of the colony was not found to have made any amendment in the morals of the convicts. Gaming still prevailed among them in its fullest extent; and a theft which was committed at one of these meetings showed how far it was carried. Among those who made a daily practice of gaming was one who, in his situation as an overseer, had given such offence to some of his fellow-prisoners, that a plan was formed to plunder him the first time that he should have a sum worthy of their attention. He was accordingly surrounded when engaged at play, by a party who, watching their opportunity, rushed upon him when he had won a stake of five-and-twenty dollars, and, in the confusion that ensued, secured the whole. He was, however, fortunate enough to seize one of them, with ten of the dollars in his hand, but was not able to recover any more. The man whom he secured proved to be Samuel Wright, who in the month of July last had been reprieved at the foot of the gallows; so soon had he forgotten the terror of that moment. On this circumstance being reported to the lieutenant-governor, Wright received an immediate corporal punishment.

McKoy, the overseer, confessed that gaming had been for many years his profession and subsistence, though born of honest and reputable parents; and he acknowledged, that but for his pursuit of that vice he should never have visited this country in the situation of a convict.

A better principle showed itself shortly after in Ca-ru-ey, a native youth, who, from long residence among us, had contracted some of our distinctions between good and ill. Being fishing one morning in his canoe near the lieutenant-governor's farm, he perceived some convicts gathering and secreting the Indian corn which grew there; and, knowing that acts of that nature were always punished, he instantly came to the settlement, and gave an account of what he had seen, in time to secure the offenders on the spot, with the corn in their possession.

As he made no secret of what he had done, it was apprehended that some revenge might, if they were punished, be levelled at him on a future opportunity, they were therefore pardoned; but Ca-ru-ey was nevertheless applauded and recompensed for his attention and honesty.

Among other articles of information received by the _William_, we were assured, that it had been industriously circulated in England, that there was not in this country either grass for graminivorous animals, or vegetables for the use of man. This report was, however, rather forcibly contradicted by the abundant increase of all descriptions of live stock at this time in the colony, and by the plenty which was to be found in every garden, whether cultivated by the officer or by the convict. A striking instance of this plenty occurred at Parramatta a few days before the arrival of the storeship, when six tons and two hundred weight of potatoes were gathered as the produce of only three quarters of an acre of ground. From the then reduced state of the stores, they were sold for fifty pounds.

Mutton was sold in this month for one shilling and nine-pence per pound.

April.] in the forenoon of Thursday the 3rd of April, the signal was made at the South Head for a sail, and about four o'clock the _Daedalus_ storeship anchored in the cove from the north-west coast of America; but last from Owhyhee, one of the Sandwich Islands, from which place she sailed on the 8th day of February last.

Lieutenant Hanson, on his arrival at Nootka Sound the 8th of last October, found only a letter from Captain Vancouver, directing him to follow the _Discovery_ to another port; between which and Nootka he fortunately met with her and the _Chatham_, and was afterwards obliged to proceed with them to the Sandwich Islands, before Captain Vancouver could take out of the _Daedalus_ the stores which were consigned to his charge. The harbour of Nootka was still in the hands of the Spaniards, and some jealousy on their part prevented the delivery of the stores from the vessel in any of the Spanish ports on the coast.

Mr. Hanson was informed, that three natives of Whahoo (the island whereat his predecessor in the _Daedalus_, Lieutenant Hergest, with the astronomer, Mr. Gootch, and the seaman were killed) had been delivered up by the chief of the island to Captain Vancouver, for the purpose of being offered as an expiatory sacrifice for those murders; and that they were accordingly, after remaining some short time on board the _Discovery_, taken one by one into a canoe, and put to death alongside that ship by one of their chiefs. A pistol was the instrument made use of on this occasion, which certainly was as extraordinary as unexpected.

The great accommodation which those islands proved to ships trading on the north-west coast of America rendered it absolutely necessary, that the inhabitants should be made to understand that we never would nor could pass unnoticed an act of such atrocity. With this view Captain Vancouver had demanded of the chief of Whahoo the murderers of Mr. Hergest and his unfortunate companions. It was not supposed that the people sacrificed were the actual perpetrators of these murders; but that an equal number of the natives had been given up as an atonement for the Europeans we had lost.

The native of this country who accompanied Lieutenant Hanson we had the satisfaction of seeing return safe in the _Daedalus_. He had conducted himself with the greatest propriety during the voyage, readily complying with whatever was required of him, and not incurring, in any one instance, the dislike or ill-will of any person on board the ship. Wherever he went he readily adopted the manners of those about him; and when at Owhyhee, having discovered that favours from the females were to be procured at the easy exchange of a looking-glass, a nail, or a knife, he was not backward in presenting his little offering, and was as well received as any of the white people in the ship. It was noticed too that he always displayed some taste in selecting the object of his attentions. The king of Owhyhee earnestly wished to detain him on the island, making splendid offers to Mr. Hanson, of canoes, warlike instruments, and other curiosities, to purchase him; but if Mr. Hanson had been willing to have left him, Collins would not have consented, being very anxious to return to New South Wales.

He did not appear to have acquired much of our language during his excursion; but seemed to comprehend a great deal more than he could find words to express.

On his arrival at Sydney he found his wife, whom he had left in a state of pregnancy, in the possession of another native, a very fine young fellow, who since his coming among us had gone by the name of Wyatt. The circumstance of his return, and the novelty of his appearance, being habited like one of us, and very clean, drew many of his countrymen about him; and among others his rival, and his wife. Wyatt and Collins eyed each other with indignant sullenness, while the poor wife (who had recently been delivered of a female child, which shortly after died) appeared terrified, and as if not knowing which to cling to as her protector, but expecting that she should be the sufferer, whether ascertained to belong to her former or her present husband. A few days, however, determined the point: her travelled husband shivered a spear with Wyatt, who was wounded in the contest, and the wife became the prize of the victor, who, after thus ascertaining his right by arms, seemed indifferent about the reward, and was soon after seen traversing the country in search of another wife.

Three young gentlemen of the _Discovery_ and _Chatham's_ quarterdecks arrived here in the _Daedalus_, to procure passages from hence to England. Among them was the Honourable Thomas Pitt, who on his arrival here first learnt the death of his father, the late Lord Camelford.

Captain Vancouver not having room for all the provisions which were sent him from the public stores of this settlement, the greatest part of them were returned.

While the _Daedalus_ was in the morning standing in for the harbour, the _Arthur_ went out, bound to that part of the world from which she was just arrived, the north-west coast of America. Four convicts whose terms of transportation had expired were permitted to quit the colony in her. She also took away the carpenter of the _Fairy_, American brig, who had been left on shore dangerously ill when Mr. Rogers sailed, but who had perfectly recovered through the great attention and medical assistance which he received at the hospital.

The day following the arrival of the _Daedalus_, the _Francis_ schooner returned from Norfolk Island, having been absent five weeks and one day. In her arrived the Rev. Mr. Bayne, the chaplain of the New South Wales corps, and Mr. Grimes, the deputy-surveyor of lands, with some few other passengers.

Lieutenant-governor King's second crop of Indian corn had been so productive, that he was enabled to make an offer of sending five thousand bushels of that article to this colony, if required.

The peace and good order which universally prevailed at Norfolk Island having rendered unnecessary the keeping together the settlers as a militia, they had some time before the arrival of the _Francis_ returned to their several avocations on their respective farms.

Notwithstanding the ill success which had hitherto attended the endeavours of the Irish convicts stationed at Toongabbie and Parramatta to find a way from this country to China, a few of them were again hardy enough to attempt effecting their escape, and getting thither in a small boat, which they took from a settler, and with which they got out of the harbour in the night of the 12th of this month. They had furnished themselves with some provisions; but the wretchedness of their boat must have ensured to them the same end which certainly befel Tarwood and his companions, particularly as it blew a gale of wind the day succeeding their departure. It was at first imagined that they would be heard of at the Hawkesbury; but there could be little doubt of their having perished.

From the settlement on the banks of that river the best reports continued to be received from time to time: every where the settlers found a rich black mould of several feet depth, and one man had in three months planted and dug a crop of potatoes. The natives, however, had given them such interruption, as induced a necessity for firing upon them, by which, it was said, one man was killed.

At Toongabbie, where the Indian corn was growing, their visits and their depredations were so frequent and extensive, that the watchmen stationed for the protection of the corn-grounds were obliged to fire on them, and one party, considerable in number, after having been driven off, returning directly to the plunder, was pursued by the watchmen for several miles, when a contest ensued, in which the natives were worsted, and three were left dead on the spot. The watchmen had so often come in with accounts of this nature, that, apprehensive lest the present transaction should not be credited, they brought in with them, as a testimonial not to be doubted, the head of one of those whom they had slain. With this witness to support them, they told many wonderful circumstances of the pursuit and subsequent fight, which they stated to have taken place at least fourteen miles from the settlement, and to have been very desperately and obstinately sustained on the part of the natives. It was remarked, however, that not one of the watchmen had received the slightest injury, a circumstance that threw a shade over their story, which, but for the production of the head, would have been altogether disbelieved.

Whatever might have been the truth, it is certain that a party of natives appeared the following day about the corn grounds, but conducted themselves with a great deal of caution, stationing one of their party upon the stump of a tree which commanded an extensive view of the cultivated grounds, and retreating the instant they perceived themselves to be observed.

From the quantities of husks and leaves of corn which were found scattered about the dwelling places of these people, their depredations this season must have been very extensive.

At Sydney a large party of natives assembled for the purpose of burning the body of Carradah, the native mentioned in the transactions of the month of December last, by the name of Midjer Bool. He had been put to death while asleep in the night by some people who were inimical to his tribe; and the natives who witnessed the performance of the last rite assured us, that when the murderers should be discovered several severe contests would ensue. It was at this time that the rencounter between Collins and Wyatt took place; and some other points of honour which remained unsettled were then determined, not without much violence and bloodshed, though no one was killed.

Cropping the ground with wheat formed the general and most material labour of this month. On the public account nearly four hundred acres were so sown with that essential grain. At this time wheat bore the price of twenty shillings a bushel.

The crops of Indian corn in general turned out very productive. An officer who held an allotment of an hundred acres near Parramatta, from each acre of nineteen, on a light sandy soil, gathered fifty bushels of shelled corn; and a patch of Caffre corn, growing in the like soil, produced the same quantity per acre. This grain had been introduced into our settlement from the Cape of Good Hope by Captain Paterson, and was found to answer well for fattening of stock. No one having attempted to separate the farinaceous part of the grain from the husk, which was of an astringent quality, no judgment had been formed of its utility as a flour; but some who had ground it and mixed the whole together into a paste pronounced it to be equal to any preparation of oatmeal

Wilkinson's grinding machine was set in motion this month. It was a walking mill, upon a larger construction than that at Parramatta. The diameter of the wheel in which the men walked was twenty-two feet, and it required six people to work it. Those who had been in both mills (this and Buffin's, which was worked by capstan-bars and nine men) gave the preference to the latter; and in a few days it was found to merit it; for, from the variety and number of the wheels in Wilkinson's machinery, something was constantly wrong about it. Finding, after a fair trial, that it was imperfect, it was taken to pieces; and Buffin was employed to replace it by another mill upon the same principle as that which he had himself constructed; and Wilkinson returned to Parramatta.

An inflammation of the eyes appeared to be a disorder generally prevalent among all descriptions of people at this time. It raged at first among children; but when got into a house, hardly any person in it escaped the complaint. It was accounted for by the variable and unsettled weather which we had during this month.