ACCOUNT OF THE ENGLISH COLONY [January, ' 



formed of bricklayers, brick-makers, timber-carriage men, &c. &c. 

 to Parramatta and Toongabbe, there to prepare the ground for wheat 

 for the enfuing feafon. At the mufter which had been lately taken, 

 fifty people were found without any employment, whofe fervices ftill 

 belonged to the public ; mo ft of thefe were laid hold of, and fent to 

 hard labour ; and it appeared at the fame time that fome were at large 

 in the woods, runaways and vagabonds. 



On the day following, the colonial fchooner failed for the river, 

 having on board a mill, provifions, &c. for the fettlers there. A mi- 

 litary guard was alfo ordered, the commanding officer of which was 

 to introduce fome regulations among the fettlers, and to prevent, by 

 the effect of his prefence and authority, the cominiffion of thofe enor- 

 mities which difgraced that fettlement. 



In the courfe of the month, as a convict entered the door of his hut, 

 he was bit in the foot by a black fnake ; the effect was, an immediate 

 fwelling of the foot, leg, and thigh, and a large tumour in the groin. 

 The Surgeon was fortunately able to reduce all thofe fwellings by fre- 

 quently bathing the parts with oil, and faved the man's life without 

 having recourfe to amputation. While the inhabitants had lived in a 

 wood, and might naturally have expected to have been troubled with 

 them, fnakes and other reptiles were by no means fo often feen, as 

 fince, by clearing and opening the country about them, the natives 

 had not had opportunities of fetting the woods fo frequently on fire. 

 But now they were often met in the different paths about the fettle- 

 ments, balking at mid-day in the funfhine, and particularly after a 

 fhower of rain. 



Much was heard and feen of the natives in the month of Janu- 

 ary. At the Hawkefbury a man had been wounded by fome of the 

 wood tribe. Two female natives were murdered not far from the 

 town of Sydney during the night ; and another victim, alfo a female, 

 of Pe-mul-wy's party, having been fecured by the males of a tribe 

 inimical to him, was dragged into the woods, where they exercifed 



