1792.] OF NEW SOUTH WALES. 



This (hip, with the Admiral Barrington for India, failed on the 6th, 

 and the Salamander and Britannia on the 7th. By thefe fhips the 

 colony loft fome ufeful people whom it could ill fpare ; but who, 

 their terms of tranfportation having expired, would not be induced to 

 remain in the fettlement, and could not be prevented from quitting it. 



By the commiflary's report of the mufter, it appeared that forty- 

 four men and nine women were abfent and unaccounted for ; in 

 which number were included thofe who were wandering in the 

 woods, feeking for a new fettlement, or endeavouring to get into the 

 path to China ! Of thefe people many, after lingering a long time, 

 and exifting merely on roots and wild berries, perifhed miferably. 

 Others found their way in, after being abfent feveral weeks, and re- 

 ported the fate of their wretched companions, being themfelves re- 

 duced to nearly the fame condition, worn down and exhaufted with 

 fatigue and want of proper fuftenance. 



Yet, although the appearance of thefe people confirmed their ac- 

 count of what they had undergone, others were ftill found ignorant 

 and weak enough to run into the woods, imprelTed with the idea of 

 either reaching China by land, or finding a new fettlement where la- 

 bour would not be impofed on them, and where the inhabitants were 

 civil and peaceable. Two of thefe wretches, at the time of their 

 abfconding, met a convict in their way, not far from the new 

 grounds, whom they robbed of his provifions, and beat in fo cruel a 

 manner that, after languiming for fome time, he died. He defcribed 

 their perfons and mentioned their names, with the precife circum- 

 flances attending their treatment of him ; and it was hoped that they 

 would have lived to return, and receive the reward of their crime ; 

 but one of their companions, who furvived them, brought in an 

 account of their having miferablv ended a wicked exiftence in the 

 woods. 



Several people died at Parramatta, fome of whom were at labour, 



apparently in health, and died in four-and-twenty hours. An ex- 

 traordinary 



