the first fleet were at anchor off
Teneriffe, John Powers slipped down into a boat attached to the
_Alexander_ transport. He boarded a foreign ship: his offer to enter as
seaman was refused. He then landed beneath some insuperable rocks:
assisted by the governor of the island, his retreat was soon found.

Such was the first absconder. The determination to escape from New South
Wales, induced the prisoners to listen to every project, and to commit
their lives to boats of the most imperfect structure, in which they were
usually lost. But Bryant, an expiree, his wife and two children, and
seven convicts, escaped in a small fishing boat (1790). He had purchased
a compass and quadrant, and obtained a chart of his intended course.
They provided food for the voyage, and the boat was in excellent trim;
they were met at Timor by the crew of the _Pandora_, sent to the
southern seas to arrest the mutineers of the _Bounty_. Bryant professed
to have suffered shipwreck: he was kindly received by the Dutch. He died
at Batavia; also one of his children and two of his companions: the rest
were afterwards seized, and conveyed to England, where the story of
their sufferings excited the public compassion, and they were merely
detained in Newgate for the unexpired term of their sentence.[180]

Their nautical intrepidity and their comparative success, inspirited
future attempts. But the most celebrated project was concocted by Irish
convicts, who proposed an overland passage to China! Of forty-four men
and nine women absent, the greater part perished on this curious
enterprise.[181] Some, after the absence of several weeks, re-appeared,
exhausted with fatigue and hunger. The Governor, finding it impossible
to prevent elopement by punishment, attempted to convince them by
experience. He furnished some of the strongest with provisions, and
appointed them conductors, that they might proceed as far as possible
towards the desired land: they returned, only partially convinced that
flight in that direction was hopeless.

The imagination of the prisoners pictured an elysium beyond the
mountains. A seductive rumour long prevailed, that in the interior a
community of white persons were living in primitive innocence; but many
years elapsed, ere the notion obtained the consistence of a story. In
1833, an account was circulated in England, that white people were found
several days journey from the north coast of New Holland, in a village
enclosed by a