erishing from famine, in consequence of the non-arrival of
store ships from England. Captain Tench, in his interesting work on New
South Wales, thus describes the situation and feelings of himself and
his fellow settlers:--"We had now (that is, in the beginning of 1790)
been two years in the country, and thirty-two months from England, in
which long period no supplies, except what had been procured from the
Cape of Good Hope, had reached us. Famine was approaching with gigantic
strides, and gloom and dejection overspread every countenance. Still, we
were on the tiptoe of expectation. If thunder broke at a distance, or a
fowling piece of louder than ordinary report resounded in the woods, '_A
gun from a ship!_' was echoed on every side, and nothing but hurry and
agitation prevailed. As we had removed from Botany Bay to Port Jackson,
it was judged necessary to fix a party of seamen on a high cliff called
South Head, at the entrance of the harbour, on which a flag was ordered
to be hoisted whenever a ship might appear, which should serve as a
direction to her and as a signal of approach to us. Here, on the summit
of a hill, did we sweep the horizon every morning from day-light until
the sun sunk, in the hope of seeing a sail. At every fleeting speck
which arose from the bosom of the ocean, the heart bounded, and the
telescope was lifted to the eye. If a ship appeared here, we knew that
she must be bound to us; for on the shore of this vast ocean, the
largest in the world, we were the only community which possessed the art
of navigation, and languished for intercourse with civilised society. In
March, vigorous measures were become necessary. The _Sirius_ was ordered
to prepare for a voyage to China, but she was shortly after wrecked. On
the 27th of this month, the following order was issued:--'Parole--Honor;
countersign--Example. The expected supply of provisions not having yet
arrived, makes it necessary to reduce the present ration, to render the
mentioned allowance to every person in the settlement without
distinction. Four pounds of flour, two pounds and a half of pork, and
one pound and a half of rice per week.' The flour was afterwards reduced
nearly one half, and the other articles in a less proportion. The pork
had been salted between three and four years, and every grain of rice
was a moving body. We soon left off boiling the pork, as it had become
so old and dry, that it shrunk one half. We toasted it before the fire