This vessel was hired by the officer, who commanded the Supply armed tender, and who was obliged to accept her at three hundred and fifty tons measurement, though she did not measure three hundred tons: the freight for bringing the provisions was fixed at twenty-eight thousand rix-dollars; bills for which had been given at Batavia. The master on his arrival, said, that after leaving Port Jackson, he should proceed to New Guinea in search of spices, which that island was supposed to produce; he was also to stop at Timur and several other settlements before he returned to Batavia: at the same time, he offered the vessel for sale, or to lett her on freight; but as he conjectured that the colony wanted such a vessel, his demands were exorbitant. He first valued her at sixty thousand rix-dollars, and before he was ready to sail, he offered her for two and thirty thousand rix-dollars. If she was hired, he talked of eleven pounds sterling per month; but no attention being paid to any of these demands, he came down to forty shillings sterling a ton per month, if let on freight to carry the officers and seamen who had belonged to the Sirius to England; that freight to be paid until the vessel should return to Batavia. He was now ready to sail, and finding no attention would be paid to any such proposals, he offered to sell the vessel for thirty thousand rix-dollars, or to go to England on freight at forty shillings per ton; the vessel to be continued in pay for two months after her arrival at Portsmouth or Plymouth; or to have twenty thousand rix-dollars for the voyage.
A considerable time had passed since Governor Phillip had reason to expect the arrival of some ships from England, and he wished to secure a vessel for sending home the officers and men who had belonged to the Sirius, or to send for a farther supply of provisions, should no ships arrive before the month of March: the Dutch vessel was, therefore, hired at twenty shillings per ton.
Two native youths who had frequently left Governor Phillip's house, in order to have their front teeth drawn, had now been absent several days for that purpose. They were seen in a bay down the harbour on the 8th of February, where a considerable number of the natives were assembled, it was supposed not less than a hundred, including women and children. Most of the men were painted, and it should seem that they were assembled for the purpose of drawing the front teeth from several men and boys. Soon afterwards, the two youths returned to the governor's; they had their heads bound round with rushes, which were split, and the white side was put outwards: several pieces of reed were stuck through this fillet and came over the forehead; their arms were likewise bound round and ornamented in the same manner, and each had a black streak on his breast, which was broad at one end, and terminated in a point. They had lost their front teeth, and considering their manner of drawing teeth in this country, it was not surprising to see that one of them had lost a piece of his jaw-bone, which was driven out with the tooth.
Both these boys appeared to be in pain, but they would not own it, and seemed to value themselves on having undergone the operation; though why it is performed, or why the females lose a part of the little finger, could not as yet be learnt.
The weather was very close and sultry, and the natives having fired the country for several miles round, the wind, which blew strong on the 12th, was heated to a very extraordinary degree, particularly at Rose-Hill, where the country was on fire for several miles to the northward and southward.
Great numbers of parroquets were picked up under the trees, and the bats, which had been seen frequently flying about Rose-Hill soon after the evening closed in, and were supposed to go to the southward every night, and return to the northward before the day broke, now appeared in immense numbers: thousands of them were hanging on the branches of the trees, and many dropped down, unable to bear the burning winds.
The head of this bat strongly resembles that of a fox, and the wings of many of them extend three feet ten inches: Governor Phillip saw one which measured upwards of four feet from the tip of each wing. Some were taken alive, and would eat boiled rice, or other food readily out of the hand, and in a few days were as domestic as if they had been bred in the house: the governor had one, a female, that would hang by one leg a whole day without changing its position; and in that pendant situation, with its breast neatly covered with one of its wings, it ate whatever was offered it, lapping out of the hand like a cat. Their smell is stronger than that of a fox; they are very fat, and are reckoned by the natives excellent food. From the numbers which fell into the brook at Rose-Hill, the water was tainted for several days, and it was supposed that more than twenty thousand of them were seen within the space of one mile.
The dry weather still continued, and many runs of water which were considerable at this season the last year, were now dried up; but the brook at Rose-Hill, though greatly reduced, was still a run of water that would supply more inhabitants than that settlement is likely to contain for many years; and in all the ponds there was plenty of good water; nor had the dry weather affected a spring that rises on the side of a hill, the water of which is better than what the brook affords. At Sydney, the run of water was now very small, but was sufficient for all culinary purposes; and should it hereafter be found necessary, wells may easily be made: a well at Governor Phillip's house was very little affected by the drought.
The natives continued to visit Sydney after Bannelong stole the hatchet, and behaved in a manner that gave every one reason to think he never would return; this, however, was not the case; for, after having frequently visited the fishing-boats, and made many enquiries to know if Governor Phillip was angry, and would shoot him, he ventured to go to the hospital, and seemed very desirous of knowing if he might come to the governor's house; at the same time, he named a man who, he said, had stolen the hatchet, and denied having ever used any threats: however, not being satisfied with the answers which were given to him, he went away.
But some days afterwards he came to the governor's, who, happening to be in the yard when he came to the gate, ordered him away. He was seen soon afterwards, and as he appeared very desirous of being received again, and disclaimed any knowledge of the hatchet, or any intention of revenging the death of the native who had been shot, Governor Phillip appeared to believe him, and he was permitted to come into the yard, which was always open to the natives, and some bread and fish were given him; but he was no longer permitted to enter the house; this was putting him on a level with the other natives, and he appeared to feel his degradation; but it did not prevent him from repeating his visits very frequently.