OF NEW SOUTH WALES. 209 



prisoners, inspect the ship daily, and administer punishment, even unto 

 death if necessary. The surgeon also has control over the master of 

 the vessel, and his regulations. The master and mates, on receiving 

 a certificate from the surgeon, are allowed a small sum for every 

 convict landed, in addition to their pay. 



The criminals have prison fare, and are supplied with w T ooden-ware 

 for their eating utensils, which are kept in very nice order. The 

 quarter-deck is barricadoed near the main-mast, abaft of which all the 

 arms and accoutrements of the guard and vessel are kept. The 

 master and officers are usually lodged in the poop-cabin. The pri- 

 soners are habituated to the discipline of the ship, on board the hulks, 

 before leaving England. The usual, and most effectual, punishment 

 for misbehaviour is to place the culprit in a narrow box on deck, in 

 which he is compelled to stand erect. This punishment is said to be 

 effectual in reducing the most refractory male convicts to order, but ' 

 it was not found so efficacious in the female convict-ship ; for, when 

 put in the box, they would bawl so loudly, and use their tongues so 

 freely, that it was found necessary to increase the punishment by 

 placing a cistern of water on the top of the box. This was turned 

 over upon those who persist in using their tongues, and acted on the 

 occupant as a shower-bath, the cooling effect of which was always and 

 quickly efficacious in quieting them. I was informed that more than 

 tw r o such show r ers were never required to subdue the most turbulent. 



I was struck with the ruddy, healthy, and athletic looks of the 

 young convicts that were arriving, and from their deportment and 

 countenances I should hardly have been inclined to believe that they 

 had been the perpetrators of heinous crimes. 



I am not at all surprised that many of the settlers of the colony 

 should be opposed to the change in the assignment system ; for when 

 such a fine body of men is seen, the reason is easily understood, as the 

 possession of such strong and hale persons to all intents and purposes 

 as slaves, and at the expense of their maintenance alone, must be very 

 lucrative to those requiring labourers. I am, on the other hand, at a 

 loss to conceive how the assignment system can be looked upon in any 

 other light than as a great evil, which must be abolished if it be 

 designed to make the inhabitants of New South Wales a moral 

 community, and to reform the convicts. It acts most unequally on the 

 parties, and is a barrier to the reformation that the punishment of 

 transportation is intended to effect. 



The convicts on arriving are sent to the barracks at Sydney. The 

 government selects from them such mechanics as are required for the 

 public service, and then the numerous applicants for labourers are 

 vol. ii. S2 27 



