rested for that night under the shade of the trees and as near as possible to the cattle, hoping in the morning to be gratified again with a sight of them, perhaps with some addition to their numbers. Although they could by no supposition be any other than the cattle in question, yet the governor, in order to have the utmost positive proof of this that could be obtained, gave orders to Hacking and the two other attendants, to endeavour in the morning to get near enough to kill one of the calves, and as the cattle that had been lost were of the Cape breed, an examination as to this point, would he thought leave no possible doubt of the fact he wished to establish. The three men took a station next day with their guns; but while waiting for the passing of the herd, which was now perceived to consist of upwards of sixty, young and old, they were furiously attacked by a bull, which for their own safety they were obliged to kill. This being a fullgrown animal, was still better suited to their purpose than a younger one. He was found to have all the distinctive marks of the Cape breed, such as wide-spreading horns, a moderate rising or hump between the shoulders and a short thin tail. The party being seven or eight and thirty miles from Paramatta, could

take with them but a small quantity of the beef. The remainder they were compelled to leave upon the spot to the birds and wild dogs, greatly to the regret of the governor and every one, as fresh meat of every sort was particularly desirable at this time for the use of the hospital. They resolved however to carry away as much as they could, in a return of so great length through the woods. They considered themselves as recompensed for their fatigue, by being enabled to display, as a trophy of their useful success, and which might serve as an earnest of future abundance, the first sample of forest beef which the colony had afforded.

The month of November this year, was marked by the introduction into New South Wales, of a printing-press. It was at first employed merely for the convenience of government, in the printing of public acts and documents; but the time could not be far off when books, the pride of mankind in every age, would be its object. New Holland may speedily herself have her poets, historians and philosophers. If hunger, as has been asserted, is the cradle of genius, the colony has not been without its advantages; but the abundance which follows in the train of commerce and liberty, is a much better pledge.

Several native boys, from twelve to fourteen years of age, were at this time living amongst the settlers in the different districts, and were found extremely useful for field labour. The quantity of ground they could hoe in a given time, was greater than what was done by any equal number of convicts. Some of these boys were allowed a ration of provisions from the public stores.

It was about this period calculated, that the produce of the colony in grain, began to be nearly equivalent to its consumption from crop

to crop.

The close of this year was distinguished by a meteorological phenomenon. A shower of large pieces of ice passed over the colony in a N.W. direction. It was fortunate indeed that it was not more general, as the mischief it did where it fell, was considerable. The standing wheat was cut to pieces, the large, thick stalks of the Indian corn were broken, many shrubs were destroyed, and trees battered as if by shot. The pieces of ice, after having been long enough on the ground to lose some part of their size, were found to be in general from six to eight inches long and two fingers at least in thickness.

CHAPTER XX.

Discovery of Coal.-Population.-Live Stock. Lands in Cultivation.

THIS year (1796) was distinguished by the discovery of coal in the colony. The people of a fishing-boat that had come back from a bay near Port Stephens, which is situated about seventy miles to the north of Port Jackson, brought in with them several large pieces, which they had found at no great distance from the beach, on the surface of the ground. Not long after this, there was found southward of Botany Bay, about seven leagues from Point Solander, in the face of a range of steep cliffs washed by the sea, a stratum of coal, in breadth about six feet and extending eight or nine miles along the coast. Near the tops of the precipices were also observed patches of the same substance.

Theatrical amusements will hardly at this period be expected to be enumerated amongst those of Sydney, yet we find that a small playhouse was opened for public admission, at

which the representations are said to have been not contemptible.

A drinking mania, as it has been emphatically called, prevailed at this time. The colony had always suffered more or less from this pernicious excess, and its prevention, particularly by the prohibition of distillation, had been a constant object of the different governors and commandants; but it may be doubted, (as was suggested by a military officer of rank, when examined on the affairs of New South Wales before a committee of the House of Commons), whether these methods may not have been in part the cause of the evil complained of. Ebriety, though incorrigible in some individual instances, may perhaps, as a common or general evil, be itself its best cure. opinion seems founded in human nature, and actual experience is decidedly favourable to it in the instances of those countries that produce wine. The severe, but not too severe, regulation of British law, by which the drunkard is made answerable when sober for his actions when drunk, seems to fulfil what may expected from legislation on this point.

The

be

Mr. Skirving did not long survive his arrival in the colony. He died on the 19th of March. "In the hope" says Colonel Collins "of re