he same
wild and inaccessible kind of country. The summits of these rocks were of
iron stone, large fragments of which had covered the intermediate
valleys, in which water of a reddish tinge was observed to stagnate in
many spots. The soil midway up the ascent appeared good, and afforded
shelter and food for several red kangaroos. The ground every where bore
signs of being frequently visited by high winds; for on the sides exposed
to the south and south-east it was strewed with the trunks of large
trees. They saw but one native in this desolate region, and he fled from
their approach, preferring the enjoyments of his rocks and woods, with
liberty, to any intercourse with them. These hills appearing to extend
very far to the northward an impassable barrier seemed fixed to the
westward; and southward, and little hope was left of our extending
cultivation beyond the limits of the county of Cumberland.

On the following day the _Francis_ schooner returned from Norfolk Island,
having been absent about eight weeks and three days. Her passage thither
was made in ten days, and her return in thirty-eight days, having met
with very bad weather.

From Mr. King we learned that his harvest had been prodigiously
productive. He had purchased from the first crops which the settlers
brought to market upwards of eleven thousand bushels of maize; and bills
for the amount were drawn by him in favour of the respective settlers;
but, requiring the sanction of the lieutenant-governor, they were now
sent to Port Jackson. Mr. King had been partly induced to make this
provisional kind of purchase, under an idea that the corn would be
acceptable at Port Jackson, and also in compliance with the conditions on
which the settlers had received their respective allotments under the
regulations of Governor Phillip; that is to say, that their overplus
grain and stock should be purchased from them at a fair market price.
Being, however, well stocked with that article already, the
lieutenant-governor did not think himself justifiable in putting the
crown to so great an expense (nearly three thousand pounds sterling) and
declined accepting the bills.

Had we been in want of maize, Mr. King could have supplied us with twenty
thousand bushels of it, much of which must now inevitably perish, unless
the settlers would, agreeably to a notification which the governor
intended to send them by the first opportunity, receive their corn again
from the public store