144 ACCOUNT OF THE ENGLISH COLONY [September, 



folk Ifland ; and the Mary Ann returned from that fettlement on the 

 8th, having been abfent only four weeks and two days* The con- 

 yi&s, ftores, and provifions were all fafely landed ; but an unexpected 

 furf rifing at the back of the reef, filled the only boat (a Greenland 

 whale boat) which the matter took with him, and (he was daflied 

 upon the reef, and ftove : the people fortunately faved themfelves by 

 iwimming. 



From Norfolk Ifland they learned, that the crops of wheat then in 

 the ground prornifed well, having been fown a month earlier than 

 thofe of the laft feafon. Of the public ground ninety acres were in 

 wheat, and one hundred in Indian corn : of the ground cleared by 

 the eonvicls, and cultivated by themfelves for their own maintenance, 

 there were riot lefs at the departure of the tranfport, than two hun- 

 dred and fifty acres. Some prifoners having been fent from Norfolk 

 Ifland, the criminal court was alTembled on the 15th for the trial of 

 one of them for a capital offence committed there ; but for want of 

 fufficient evidence he was acquitted. Great inconvenience was expe- 

 rienced from having to fend prifoners from that ifland with all the 

 neceiTary witneffes. In the cafe juft mentioned, the profecutor was a 

 fettler, who, being obliged to leave his farm for the time, the bufinefs 

 of which was neceflarily fufpended until his return, was ruined ; and 

 one of the witnefies was in nearly the fame fituation. But as the 

 courts in New South Wales would always be the fuperior courts, it 

 was not eafy to devife a remedy for thefe inconveniences. 



On the 2 1 ft, his Majefty's fhip Gorgon, of forty-four guns, com- 

 manded by Captain John Parker, anchored within the heads. She 

 had failed from England on the 15th of March laft, touching at the 

 iflands of Teneriffe and St. Jago, and at the Cape of Good Hope, 

 where me remained fix weeks, taking in three bulls, twenty-three 

 cows, fixty -eight fheep, eleven hogs, two hundred fruit-trees, a quan- 

 tity of garden-feed, and other articles for the colony. Unfortunately, 

 the bulls and feven of the cows died ; but a bull-calf, which had been 

 produced on board, arrived in good condition. 



Six 



