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 repassing between their farms and Parramatta; and great quantities 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 Saturday the 22nd (the last provision-day in this month) there remained in store a quantity 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 assistance 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 shilling 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 circumstance 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 shilling 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
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.