morning, written by James Cox, and left at a place where he was accustomed to work in his leisure hours as a cabinet-maker, conjuring her to give over the pursuit of the vices which, he told her, prevailed in the settlement, leaving to her what little property he did not take with him, and assigning as a reason for his flight the severity of his situation, being transported for life, without the prospect of any mitigation, or hope of ever quitting the country, but by the means he was about to adopt.  It was conjectured that they would steer for Timor, or Batavia, as their assistance and information were derived from the Dutch snow.

The situation of these people was very different from that of Tarwood and his associates, who were but ill provided for an undertaking so perilous; but Bryant had long availed himself of the opportunities given him by selling fish to collect provisions together, and his boat was a very good one, and in excellent order; so that there was little reason to doubt their reaching Timor, if no dissension prevailed among them, and they had but prudence enough to guard against the natives wherever they might land.  William Morton was said to know something of navigation; James Cox had endeavoured to acquire such information on the subject as might serve him whenever a fit occasion should present itself, and Bryant and Bird knew perfectly well how to manage a boat.  What story they could invent on their arrival at any port, sufficiently plausible to prevent suspicion of their real characters, it was not easy to imagine.

The depredations committed on the Indian corn at Rose Hill were so frequent and so extensive, that it became absolutely necessary to punish such offenders as were detected with a severity that might deter others; to this end, iron collars of seven pounds weight were ordered as a punishment for flagrant offenders, who were also linked together by a chain, without which precaution they would still have continued to plunder the public grounds.  The baker at that settlement absconded with a quantity of flour with which he had been entrusted, belonging to the military on duty there, and other persons.  He was taken some days afterward in the woods near Sydney.  It must be remarked, however, that all these thefts were for the procuring of provisions, and that offences of any other tendency were very seldom heard of.

Some time in this month, James Ruse, the first settler in this country, who had been upon his ground about fifteen months, having got in his crop of corn, declared himself desirous of relinquishing his claim to any further provisions from the store, and said that he was able to support himself by the produce of his farm.  He had shown himself an industrious man; and the governor, being satisfied that he could do without any further aid from the stores, consented to his proposal, and informed him that he should be forthwith put in possession of an allotment of thirty acres of ground in the situation he then occupied.