Bannelong and his wife came in soon afterwards, and Governor Phillip charged him with taking the fish from the two colonists, which he denied; saying he had been a great way off; but when the two persons were sent for, and he found himself known, he entered into a long conversation, the purport of which was, an endeavour to justify himself; and this he did with an insolence that explained itself very clearly: he frequently mentioned the man who had been wounded, and threatened revenge; but appearing to recollect himself, he offered the governor his hand, which not being accepted, he grew violent, and seemed inclined to make use of his stick. One of the centinels was now called in, as it was much feared he would do some violent act, that would oblige Governor Phillip to order him to be put to death; for his behaviour was the height of savage insolence, and would have been immediately punished in any other person; but this man had so often made use of the word be-ah-nah, that they wished to bring him to reason without proceeding to force; especially, as it was suggested by an officer who was in the room, that he might not be understood clearly, and the governor was very unwilling to destroy the confidence Bannelong had for some time placed in him, which the slightest punishment or confinement would have done: he therefore told him to come near, for he was then standing at some distance, but he refused and went away.
Bannelong had not left the governor with any intention of returning; for, in passing the wheelwright's shop, the workmen being at dinner, he stole a hatchet, with which, though pursued he got clear off.
In the afternoon of the 3d, the surgeon and some others went to the place where the wounded native was said to be, having directions to bring him to the hospital, if there were any hopes of his recovery.
When they got to the spot to which the native boy and girl, who were in the boat, directed them, two natives appeared; one of whom, having been concerned in stealing the potatoes, kept at a distance; the other came near enough to converse with them, and said, the man they were in search of was dead, in an adjoining cove, whither they went and found his body. The ball had passed through the shoulder, and had cut the subclavian artery: the body was warm, and as his friends had left it covered with some boughs and fern, it was probable they did not intend either to bury or burn it. It proved to be the man who had thrown the fiz-gig; and as there was a necessity for firing on him, the taking place of the ball was rather to be wished for.
The woman who had been deserted by her husband, after remaining eight or ten days at Governor Phillip's house, went away on the 5th of January, and was reconciled to him again; his first wife now lived with another man, but she frequently visited Sydney, and was said to have granted favours to several of the convicts.
All the wheat and barley was now housed, except what was sown very late, and yielded better than could have been expected after the long drought. On the 18th, her Majesty's birthday was celebrated with the customary marks of respect. The Supply, having been put into thorough repair, sailed out of the cove on the 19th, with provisions and stores for Norfolk Island; but the wind coming round to the south-east, she was obliged to anchor, and did not get out of the harbour till the 22d.
The game-keeper, who was wounded on the 9th of December, as hath already been related, died on the 20th of January: his death was sudden, as at one time he was thought to be in a very fair way of recovery, being able to walk about. On opening the body, it appeared that the lungs on the left side, which had been wounded, were entirely wasted away: the pleura firmly adhered to the ribs for some inches round the wound; several of the small stones with which the spear had been armed, were found adhering to the side, and the rib against which the spear had broke, was splintered.
A considerable quantity of ground was now cleared, and large enclosures were made for cattle, which there was reason to hope would be brought from the Cape of Good Hope, by the ships daily expected to arrive with the remainder of the corps raised for the service of this country, and the convicts from Ireland.
The person who had hitherto superintended the labour of the convicts, died on the 28th of January. This man left England with Governor Phillip, as a servant; but he had employed him in the public service from their first landing, and few men, who may hereafter be placed in his situation, will attain that ascendency which he had over the convicts, or be able to go through so much fatigue. He was replaced by a superintendant who came from England in the last ships.
The Dutch vessel, which had been hired at Batavia to bring provisions purchased for the Colony, and which arrived at Port Jackson on the 17th of December, 1790, was cleared, and was ready for sea by the 5th of February. The provisions brought in her consisted of one hundred and seventy-one barrels of beef, one hundred and seventy-two barrels of pork, thirty-nine barrels of flour, one thousand pounds of sugar, and seventy thousand pounds of rice: five pounds in the hundred were to be allowed as loss on the rice; and after that deduction, there was a deficiency of forty-two thousand nine hundred pounds; for which, the master of the vessel would only allow the commissary at the rate of one halfpenny a pound; or, if paid in butter, at the rate of one pound of butter for eighteen pounds of rice: he had rice and flour on board, which he called his own property; and as he was a foreigner, and particularly circumstanced, the commissary was ordered to accept the butter in lieu of the deficiency of rice.