la 6
fome of them appeared fo undetermined, that there was reafon to
believe fome officious perfon had been giving them advice which
might not terminate to their advantage. A few, however, refolved
to fettle there, and received fuch a proportion o f tools, grain, and
affiftance, as could be fpared them.
The houfe o f Campbell and Clarke at Calcutta, not difcouraged
by the fate o f their unfortunate Chip, the Sydney-cove (of which
they were the proprietors), fitted out another, a fnow, which, in
compliment to the governor, they named the Hunter, and fent her
down with an affortment o f India goods, and a few cows and
horfes. She arrived on the 10th o f this month; when the governor,
to crufh as much as poffible the fpirit o f monopoly which
had fo long fubfifted, gave public notice that a Ihip had arrived
from Bengal with a cargo o f goods for fale.; and, in order that
every inhabitant might have .an opportunity of purchafing whatever
his circumftances might afford, he gave directions, that no part o f
the cargo ffiould be difpofed of, until the fettlers in the different
diftrids had Jlated to him what fums o f money they could feve-
rally raife. A day was fixed for them to give in this account 5
and it was recommended to them to choofe fome perfon capable o f
managing their concerns, and in whofe hands they could depofit
their money, which, it was to be underftood, muft be in government
notes then in their poffeffion, and not thofe which they could
purchafe upon the ftrength of their crops.
It was alio ordered, that no boat or perfon whatfoever ffiould
attempt to board any ffiip arriving in the harbour, until ffie ffiould
be properly fecured in the Cove, and the matter had been with the
governor and received the port orders. The pilot-boat, or fuch
other as might be fent with an officer to bring up the public dispatches,
were not included in this regulation, which certainly, with
the preceding, feemed calculated more for general than private advantage.
*3 Captain
Captain Hamilton, the commander of the Sydney-cove, furvived
the arrival o f the Hunter but a few days. He never recovered from
the diftreffes and hardffiips which he fuffered on the lofs o f his
ffiip, and died exceedingly regretted by all who had the pleafure of
his acquaintance.
Many complaints having been made, that the people who were
employed in bringing grain upon freight from the Hawkeffiury to
Sydney were in the habit o f pradifing a variety o f impofitions upon
the farmers, and among others by the ufe of falfe meafures, the
governor, defirous to put an'early flop to fuch a fpecies o f robbery,
direded the magiftrates o f Sydney and Parramatta to iffue their orders
for all meafures to be forthwith brought to the public ftore at
Sydney, there to be proved and marked ; and to fignify, that any
meafure which might be ufed without fuch mark would fubjed the
owner to a profecution.
How perpetually Was invention at work on the one hand to im-
pofe, and on the other to provide a remedy againft the e v il! No
one from the pidure o f his arduous fituation which thefe and the
preceding pages have held up, will envy the office o f the governor,
or o f thofe officers who fupported his authority, or think that they
cheaply earned the falariesthat they were allowed.
The neceffity of a veffel to keep up a more frequentintercourfe with
Norfolk-Ifland, having been much felt by the want of various ftores
for the ufe of the inhabitants, occafioned Captain Townfon, the
commanding officer, to conftrud a fmall decked boat, Hoop rigged,
in which he fent his letters to this port, where ffie arrived on the
15 th ; but through the want of a harbour at that illand, a want that
muft ever be felt, they were obliged to launch her from the ffiore,
and proceed immediately to fea, whether ffie was fufficiently tight
or not. The coniequence was, that ffie proved very leaky; but