I INTRODUCTION 25 



whose autobiography, a work of perspicuous 

 honesty and indifferent grammar, affords us a 

 most trustworthy account of the condition of the 

 penal settlements, and illustrates the adventurous 

 career of his own genius or impudence. Cash, a 

 young man of family, who was transported from 

 Ireland for manslaughter, might, from his charac- 

 teristics of independence, frankness, and a kind of 

 mental and physical adaptability, have been an 

 ideal pioneer ; but a bad start and a fiery temper, 

 which in the unsettled state of the country oc- 

 casionally led him to commit more or less justifiable 

 homicide, forced him to take to the bush, where, 

 in a series of depredations on the settlers and armed 

 encounters with the police, he reigned a recognized 

 king. In many of his adventures he unaffectedly 

 acted the part of an historic Starlight, and pro- 

 tected his victims from the depravity of his 

 companions in arms, and the reality of his inter- 

 vention is completely proved by the fact that, when 

 he was taken red-handed and without a show of 

 defence, the most influential settlers, manv of 

 whom he had robbed, signed a petition that his 

 life might be spared. The petition was narrowly 

 granted, and after serving a long term in the penal 

 settlement at Norfolk Island, Cash was liberated 

 and ended his days as the proprietor of a farm at 

 Hobart and a most respected citizen. His most 

 daring exploit was the escape from Port Arthur 

 across the narrow peninsula of Eagle Hawk 

 Neck, which was guarded not only by armed 



