hat none of those
persons who had obtained licences should presume to carry on a traffic
with settlers or others who might have grain to dispose of, by paying for
such grain in spirits. He assured them, that should any persons he
thereafter discovered to have carried on so destructive a trade, their
licences would immediately be recalled, and such steps taken for their
further punishment as they might be thought to deserve. He also desired
it might be understood, that trading with spirits to the extent which he
found practised was strictly forbidden to others, as well as to those who
had licensed public houses.

The practice of purchasing the crops of the settlers for spirits had too
long prevailed in the settlement; and the governor thought it absolutely
necessary, by all the means in his power, to put an end to it; for it was
not possible that a farmer who should be idle enough to throw away the
labour of twelve months, for the gratification of a few gallons of
poisonous spirits, could expect to thrive, or enjoy those comforts which
were only to be procured by sobriety and industry. From such characters
he determined to withdraw the assistance of government, since when left
to themselves they would have less time to waste in drunkenness and riot.

In the night of the 19th of this month some thieves broke into the house
of William Miller, (a young man who, on account of his good behaviour,
had been allowed to exercise the trade of a baker,) and stole articles to
the amount of fifty-six pounds, mostly property not belonging to himself.
Suspicion falling upon some people off the store, they were apprehended;
but in the morning the greater part of what had been stolen was found
placed in a garden where it could be easily discovered, and restored to
the owner.

On the day following, the governor, with a small party, undertook a
second excursion to the retreat of the cattle. A few days previous to the
governor's departure, Mr. Bass, the surgeon of the _Reliance_, and two
companions, set off in an attempt to round the mountains to the westward;
but having soon attained the summit of the highest, they saw at the
distance of forty or fifty miles another range of mountains, extending to
the northward and southward. Mr. Bass reported, that he passed over some
very fine land, and he brought in some specimens of a light wood which he
met with.

The governor was not long absent. He saw the cattle ranging as before,
although not