NOT EUQENESIC. 51 



Hence may be explained the small increase of the population 

 during the first periods of the colony and the considerable de- 

 crease which corresponds to the period from 1825 to 1830. 

 In 1845, according to Henricq, 1 New South Wales had, since 

 its foundation, already received 90,000 convicts of both sexes, 

 beyond an unknown but considerable number of voluntary emi- 

 grants, yet the whole population consisted only of 85,000 in- 

 dividuals. At the same period there were in the free class 

 but three females to five males, and among the convicts one 

 woman to twelve men. In the colony of Hobart Town, in Tas- 

 mania, the disproportion was somewhat less, for there were 

 five free females to seven males, and one female convict to 

 twelve men. 



It is difficult to believe that the free men deprived of women 

 were all gifted with the virtue of continency. But admitting 

 this for a moment, we cannot entertain the same opinion with 

 regard to the convicts, which are certainly not chosen from the 

 most virtuous classes of Great Britain. It must be noticed 

 that the female convicts are not public women in the colony. 

 The government accords certain advantages to convicts who 

 contract legitimate marriages ; this is the first step towards 

 their liberation, and when a vessel arrives with a cargo of 

 females they are readily espoused by the convicts. Nine- 

 tenths, therefore, of the latter are entirely deprived of white 

 women. On the other hand they procure gins (the name of 

 Australian females) with the greatest facility, and thoiigh it 

 may not be known that many of them cohabit with the females, 

 it may be easily divined and affirmed. " The women of the 

 people of Port Jackson," says Lesson, " look out for and excite 

 the white men, and prostitute themselves for a glass of 

 brandy." 2 



After observing that these tribes live chiefly from the pro- 

 duce of the chase, and come to town to exchange their fish for 

 fish-hooks, bread, or rum, Cunningham adds that this trade 



1 Henricq, Histoire de I' Oceanic, Paris, 1845. 



2 Lesson, Voyage autour du Monde, t. ii, p. 291. It was in 1S24 that the 

 author lived in New South Wales. Under the name of Port Jackson he 

 comprises all the region of which Sydney is the capital. 



E 2 



