The Ceres, having been discharged from government employ, sailed in the beginning of the month for Canton.  Being well manned, the master was not in want of any hands from this place; but eight convicts found means to secrete themselves on board a day or two before she sailed.  They were however, by the great vigilance of Mr. Hedley, discovered in time to be sent back to their labour.  Among them we were not surprised to find two or three of the last importation from Ireland.

We lost four persons by death during this month.  On the 6th died of a severe dysentery, Richard Hudson, the sergeant-major of the New South Wales corps.  At three in the morning of the 16th Mr. Joseph Gerald breathed his last.  A consumption which accompanied him from England, and which all his wishes and efforts to shake off could not overcome, at length brought him to that period when, perhaps, his strong enlightened mind must have perceived how full of vanity and vexation of spirit were the busiest concerns of this world; and into what a narrow limit was now to be thrust that frame which but of late trod firmly in the walk of life, elate and glowing with youthful hope, glorying in being a martyr to the cause which he termed that of Freedom, and considering as an honour that exile which brought him to an untimely grave.* He was followed in three days after by another victim to mistaken opinions, Mr. William Skirving.  A dysentery was the apparent cause of his death, but his heart was broken.  In the hope of receiving remittances from England, which might enable him to proceed with spirit and success in farming, of which he appeared to have a thorough knowledge, he had purchased from different persons, who had ground to sell, about one hundred acres of land adjacent to the town of Sydney.  He soon found that a farm near the sea-coast was of no great value.  His attention and his efforts to cultivate the ground were of no avail.  Remittances he received none; he contracted some little debts, and found himself neglected by that party for whom he had sacrificed the dearest connexions in life, a wife and family; and finally yielded to the pressure of this accumulated weight.  Among us, he was a pious, honest, worthy character.  In this settlement his political principles never manifested themselves; but all his solicitude seemed to be to evince himself the friend of human nature. Requiescat in pace!

[* He was buried in the garden of a little spot of ground which he had purchased at Farm Cove.  Mr. F. Palmer, we understood, had written his epitaph at large.]

CHAPTER XXXI

Slops served
Orders
Licences granted
The Supply returns from Norfolk Island
The Susan from North America and the Indispensable from England
A Criminal and Civil Court held
Sick
Thefts committed
The Britannia arrives from Bengal
Mr. Raven’s opinion as to the time of making