142 HISTORY OF 



distributed among the settlers, which afforded 

 them that protection which it would have been 

 well had they deserved. 



On the 31st of May, anchored in the Cove, 

 the Endeavour, of 800 tons, from Bombay, under 

 the command of Mr. Bampton, with 13-2 head 

 of cattle, some rice, and all the other articles 

 except the salted provisions contracted for by 

 Lieutenant-Governor Grose. The Britannia 

 sailed for India on the 1 8th. The usual attend- 

 ants on a short ration shortly appeared ; private 

 stocks were robbed, and huts broke open ; but 

 as many were caught, ^rascal, to prevent that 

 detection he would probably meet with, if he 

 broke into a hut, hit upon a new plan ; he stole 

 a greyhound, which he killed, and sold to the 

 hungry for kangaroo, at nine-pence per pound. 

 The Providence, of 28 guns, Capt, Broughton, 

 from England, arrived, she had been driven 

 Northward as far as Port Stephens, where Capt 

 Broughton found and took on board four 

 miserable objects of men, who had escaped from 

 Sydney, in 1790, and from the wretched boat 

 which they stole, every one thought they 

 must have been drowned. The tale they told 

 furnished amusement to gaping crowds for 

 some days; it seemed that having made Port 

 Stephens, they lived like the savages, but the 

 food bv no means agreed with them. ' Each had 

 a name and a wife given him by the natives, and 

 two of them had children. The natives fed 

 them, and they were considered by them as un- 

 fortunate creatures, entitled to their protection, 



