1 66 ACCOUNT OF THE ENGLISH COLONY [April, 



with four pounds of pork, to each woman. The children received 

 the ufual proportion. To fuch alterations the fettle ment had now 

 for fome years been habituated ; and, although it was well known 

 that they never were impofed but- when the ftate of the ftores ren- 

 dered them abfolutely neceffary, it was impoffible to meet the re- 

 duction without reflecting, that the eftablilhed ration would have 

 been adequate to every want; the plea of hunger could not have been 

 advanced as the motive and excufe for thefts ; and difeafe would not 

 have met fo powerful an ally in its ravages among the debilitated and 

 emaciated objects which the gaols had crowded into tranfports, and 

 the tranfports landed in thefe fettlements. 



The works in hand were, building brick huts at Sydney for con- 

 victs, confifling of two apartments, each hut being twenty-fix feet in 

 front, and fourteen feet in width, and intended to contain ten people, 

 with a fuitable allotment of garden ground ; completing tanks for 

 water ; widening the bridges, &c. One day in each week was dedi- 

 cated to the ifTuing of provifions; and the labour of the other five 

 (with interruptions from bad weather, and the plea of the reduced ra- 

 tion) did not amount in all to three good working days. 



At Parramatta the principal labour was getting in and houfing the 

 maize, and preparing ground for the next year's grain. The foun- 

 dations of a town-hall and an hofpital were laid. The town-hall was 

 intended to include a market-place for the fale of grain, fifh, poultry, 

 live flock, wearing apparel, and every other article that convicts 

 might purchafe or fell. An order eftablifhing this regulation had 

 been given out at Parramatta, and a clerk of the market appointed to 

 regifter every commodity that was brought for barter or fale ; direct- 

 ing, in the cafe of non-compliance, the forfeiture both of the pur- 

 chafe-money and of the article ; to be given, one moiety to the infor- 

 mer, and the other to the hofpital for the benefit of the fick. This 

 order was meant to prevent the felling or interchanging of ftolen 

 goods among the convicts, which prevailed to a great degree. 



It 



