An Account of the English Colony in New South Wales Volume I Part 34

[* The whole number in the settlement amounted to one thousand and eight persons.]

The settlement had been so healthy, that no loss by death had happened since we last heard from them; and when the schooner sailed very few people were sick. There had died, between the 20th of November 1791 (the date of Lieutenant-governor King's return to the command at Norfolk Island) and the 27th of January 1794, only one soldier, forty male convicts, three female convicts, and nineteen children, making a total of sixty-three persons, in two years and sixty-eight days; and ninety-five*

children had been born. Every description of stock, except some Cape sheep which did not breed, was equally healthy as the inhabitants, and were increasing fast.

[* By the commissary's books there were, on the 20th of February 1794, two hundred and fifty-four children in the three settlements here. On the 30th of January, by Lieutenant-governor King's return, there were one hundred and forty-eight children at Norfolk; making a total of four hundred and two children here and at Norfolk Island.]

On the 22nd of October the _Boddingtons_ and _Sugar Cane_ touched at that island, for the purpose of landing John Cole, a convict who had secreted himself on board the former of these s.h.i.+ps. Many articles of comfort were sold among the settlers and others from the _Sugar Cane_.

On the 2nd of the succeeding month Mr. Raven called there in the _Britannia_, in his way to Bengal, to procure a supply of fresh provisions and vegetables for his people.

The two natives of New Zealand, who had been sent to Mr. King in April last by the _Shah Hormuzear_, having completed the purpose for which they had been sent thither, by giving such instruction in the process of preparing the flax plant, that even with very bad materials a few hands could manufacture thirty yards of good canvas in a week; and having manifested much anxiety, on the appearance of any s.h.i.+p, to return to their friends and native country, though treated with every attention and kindness that could dispel their fears and conciliate their good opinion; Mr. King thought this a favourable opportunity of gratifying their wishes; and that he might himself be a witness of their not experiencing on the voyage any interruption to the good treatment they had met with from every one while under his care, he determined to accompany them himself. He accordingly giving Mr. Raven the necessary order, embarked on board of the _Britannia_, with a guard from the New South Wales corps, and sailed for New Zealand on the 9th. Their pa.s.sage thither was short; for on the fourth day, having rounded the North Cape, the two natives were landed among some of their friends and acquaintance, though not exactly at the district whereat their families and kindred resided (the Bay of islands); and Mr. King returned to Norfolk Island on the 18th, having been ten days on board the _Britannia_. Captain Nepean, who was proceeding in that s.h.i.+p to Europe by the way of India, remained on sh.o.r.e in the government of Norfolk Island during Mr. King's absence; but, on his return, reimbarked in the _Britannia_; and on the 20th of the same month she sailed on the further prosecution of her voyage.

It was not imagined that this delay in the _Britannia's_ voyage would be of any consequence, as Mr. Raven purposed making what is called the Eastern Pa.s.sage; that is, between the south end of Mindanao and Borneo; and it was known that the eastern monsoon did not set well in, nor was attended with good weather in those seas before December or January.

Mr. King found himself compelled to send by the _Francis_ ten soldiers of the detachment of the New South Wales corps on duty there, under a charge of mutinous behaviour. A jealousy which had grown up between the soldiers and the free men, settlers and others, occasioned by some acts of violence and improper behaviour on either side, broke out in the evening of the 18th of last month, at a place in which the lieutenant-governor had permitted plays to be represented by the convicts, as an innocent recreation after labour. Mr. King, who was present, having thought it necessary to order one of the soldiers into confinement when the play was ended, the detachment repaired to their own commanding-officer, and demanded the release of their comrade. On his declaring his inability to comply with such request, they signified a resolution to release him themselves; upon which the officer remonstrated with them, and they dispersed. It did not appear that they made any attempts to release the prisoner; but on the following morning, when the lieutenant-governor was made acquainted with the above circ.u.mstances, he convened all the officers in the settlement, and laid before them what he had heard, together with an account of a determination among the soldiers, to release from the halberts any of their comrades who should be ordered punishment for any offence or injury done to a settler; all of which he had caused to be authenticated upon oath. The result of this meeting was, that the detachment should be disarmed, and that the settlers late of the marines, and _Sirius's_ s.h.i.+p's company, should be embodied and armed as a militia. This resolution was accordingly put in execution on the 21st, by sending the detachment from their quarters unarmed, upon different duties; while the new-raised militia took possession of their arms. On their return, twenty were selected as mutineers to be sent to this place, the remainder returning to their duty immediately, but of that number ten were, after a few days confinement, pardoned and liberated; and two days after Mr. King had restored good order in the settlement the _Francis_ appeared. By her he sent the ten prisoners under a guard of an officer and as many soldiers as the vessel could conveniently receive.

A court of inquiry, composed of the officers of the regiment present at Sydney, was a.s.sembled immediately after the arrival of the _Francis_, to inquire into the complaint which had accompanied the soldiers from Norfolk Island; when, after five days deliberation, and examination of papers, witnesses, etc. they reported, that the conduct of the soldiers, in disobeying the orders of their officers, was reprehensible; but, on considering the provocations which had given birth to that disobedience.

they recommended them to their commanding officer's clemency.

On the 27th the schooner sailed a second time for Norfolk Island, for the purpose of conveying two officers of the New South Wales corps, and some non-commissioned officers and privates, in lieu of those who had been sent hither, and without whom the detachment on duty there would have been too much weakened.

The natives were again troublesome this month. Two several accounts were sent down from Parramatta, of their having attacked, robbed, and beaten some of the settlers' wives who were repa.s.sing between their farms and Parramatta; and great quant.i.ties of corn continued to be stolen by them.

One of these women (married to Trace, a settler at the foot of Prospect Hill) was so severely wounded by a party who robbed and stripped her of some of her wearing apparel, that she lay for a long time dangerously ill at the hospital. It was said, that the people who committed this and other acts of violence and cruelty were occasional visitors with others at Sydney. Could their persons have been properly identified, the lieutenant-governor would have taken serious notice of the offenders.

Notwithstanding the woods were infested by these people, numbers of the male convicts, idle, and dreading labour as a greater evil than the risk of being murdered, absented from the new settlements, and, after wandering about for a few days, got at length to Sydney almost naked, and so nearly starved, that in most cases humanity interfered between them and the punishment which they merited. They in general pleaded the insufficiency of the present ration to support a labouring man; but it was well known that the labour required was infinitely short of what might have been justly exacted from them, even had the ration been much less. They mostly wrought by tasks, which were so proportioned to their situation, that after the hour of ten in the forenoon their time was left at their own disposal; and many found employment from settlers and other individuals who had the means of paying them for their labour. At this period, it was true, the labouring convict was menaced with the probability of suffering greater want than had ever been before experienced in the settlement. On Sat.u.r.day the 22nd (the last provision-day in this month) there remained in store a quant.i.ty of salt meat only sufficient for the inhabitants until the middle of the second week in the next month, at which time there would not be an ounce of provisions left, if some supplies did not arrive before that period. But even this situation, bad as it certainly was, was still alleviated by the a.s.sistance that the officers, settlers, and others were able to afford to those whom they either retained in their service or occasionally hired for labour as they wanted them. Some who were off the store, and who well remembered their own distresses in the years 1789 and 1791, declared, that with a little industry, and being allowed the indulgence of going out in a boat, they could, even at this time, earn a better subsistence than if they were employed by Government, and fed from a full store.

Nothing was lost; even the shark was found to be a certain supply; the oil which was procured from the liver was sold at one s.h.i.+lling the quart, and but very few houses in the colony were fortunate enough to enjoy the pleasant light of a candle.

The seed-wheat as yet escaped, and might remain untouched for another fortnight. The Indian corn was ripening; and it was hoped, that by making some little deduction from the wheat, it would be ready in time to save all the seed that had been reserved for the next season. To lose the seed-wheat would be to repel every advance which had been made toward supporting ourselves, and to crush every hope of independence. All that had been done in cultivation, every acre which was preparing for the ensuing crop, would long have remained a memorial of our distress; and where existed the mind that could have returned to the labour of the field with that cheerful spirit or energy that would have been necessary to ensure future success?

The watch at Parramatta, under the direction of Barrington the constable, ever on the look-out for the murderers of Lewis, detected a man of bad character in offering a dollar in payment for some article that he had purchased, and which dollar appeared to have been buried in the ground.

He had been taken up before, and on searching him at that time was not in possession of any money. As nothing more, however, than this circ.u.mstance was adduced against him, he was discharged, it being admitted that he might have earned something since that time by his labour.

The foundation of a second barrack for soldiers at Sydney was begun in the latter part of this month; and Baughan's mill-house was covered in with tiles.

Mutton was this month sold for one s.h.i.+lling and nine-pence per pound. The Bengal sheep, by crossing the breed with the Cape ram, were found to improve considerably in appearance and size.

CHAPTER XXV

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 Ingrat.i.tude 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 Sat.u.r.day 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 quant.i.ty 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 quant.i.ty 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 part.i.tion had been made) when distributed among upwards of three thousand people? But an equal part.i.tion 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 Sat.u.r.day 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 s.h.i.+p 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 s.h.i.+p from England. But whence the s.h.i.+p 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 s.h.i.+p 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 pa.s.sing 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 s.h.i.+p _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 s.h.i.+ps necessary,) and made her pa.s.sage 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 quant.i.ty 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 s.h.i.+p (which it may be remembered sailed from this place on the 11th of December 1792) pa.s.sed Cape Horn on the 17th of the following January; anch.o.r.ed 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 a.s.sistant-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 s.h.i.+p 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 quant.i.ty of beef and pork; some sugar, Bengal rum, and coa.r.s.e 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 pa.s.sage 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 s.h.i.+ps _Providence_ and _a.s.sistance_ were twenty days from their entrance into the strait to their finding themselves again in an open sea. The navigation through this pa.s.sage 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 pa.s.sage 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 a.s.sured 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 _a.s.sistance_, 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 s.h.i.+p, on board of which he had actually put a quant.i.ty 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 sh.o.r.es of its coast*.

[* It had been proposed, on the account reaching Bengal of the loss of his Majesty's s.h.i.+p _Guardian_, to raise by subscription a sum sufficient to purchase and freight a s.h.i.+p 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 s.h.i.+pping at Bombay, but was driven off the coast by a gale of wind, in which she was forced on sh.o.r.e 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 s.h.i.+p 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 quant.i.ty had been saved by issuing fresh pork to the non-commissioned officers and men of the regiment on the two last serving-days*.