W!17-6 H IT E ’ s J O U R N A L OF' Ä
1788. knowledge of, or concern in, robbing Lieutenant^ Puzer.
He further faid, * that- he - did not recoiled how ‘he cjcame !tó .*
Captain Lieutenant Meredith’s tent, or any circumftance
relative. to it. | However, finoè he - received his dentbrice, he
has' ednfefied that -he rohbed Lieutenant FuzCrv and gave
him information where to find the articles he had been'
robbed o f: he at-the fame- time acknowledged that he
entered Mr. Meredith’s marquee .’with an intention- tc^rob
him, doubting not but he fliould be. ablehó make his efcape
undifcovered, as every one feemed fo fully engaged on the
•pleafores of the day. *
When he and Corbett were brought to the fatal tree:, they
{particularly Payton) addreffed the convicts, in a- pathè-tie1,
eloquent, and welf-dirêéted 'fpeech. He acknowledged fthè
juftice of his fentence ; a- féntence, whi-ch (he-fatid) he^-had
long’ defervqd. He added, that he hoped and-trufte'd that
the ignominious death he was about to fiiffery would fervè
as a .caution and warning to thofe who faw and heafcl-him.
They both. prayed moft - fervently,- begging forgivenefs of ’an
offended G o d . They likewife hoped, that thofe whom
they had injured, would not, only forgive them,T-a's they
: themfelves did all mankind, but offer up "their. prayers to
a merciful
VO%A'd'E TO NEW S O U t H WALES. ■ 177
ä merciful Redeemers’that, though - f o great finners, they
!might be ‘received .into that bl’ifs, which the 'good and vir- ^
'tubus bnlyY.ead .either r deferve' or | They were now
turned • o ff; and in 'ij^fagorrizing; moments? of the leparatipn
of the, foul,'From the body.feemed to embrace each other;
The execution o f“thefe uiihappyjyouths, the eldeft of whom
was not twenty-four yeais of agej which feemed'.to 1 make a
greater- impreflion on the conyi£ts -‘than - any circumftance
hadd^fie^meu.their landing,'will indqpe;jthem, it--is to
-be/hpped, to change their, conduct, and'to adopt a better
mode, o f life1 than, ' l am forrycto fay,'.they, haye ».hithertopurfudd.*?
m , I ' * 7 ' - ' "•
The principal bufinefs now going forward, is the,ere£tihg
huts for the marines and' c-on.vi£ts$ with the cabbage-tree;
We, have been here-nearly^foc months, and four officers only
as yet'got hutsf'"when the reft .wilt be provided with them
feems uncertain; but.this'J well know, that living in tents,
as the* rainy feafon’ hay Commenced', is truly uncomfortable,
and likely -to givb; a: fevere .tiial to the ftrangeft and moft
robuft conftitutioh".
V ^ T h e trees o f f his. coüntrysafo;immehfely large, and clear
of-branches to an amazing height. While - Handing, many.
a o f