on travelling carriages,
four iron twelve-pounders, and two iron six-pounders, were landed; the
transports, which were chartered for China, were clearing; the long-boats
of the ships in the cove were employed in bringing up cabbage-tree from
the lower part of the harbour, where it grew in great abundance, and was
found, when cut into proper lengths, very fit for the purpose of erecting
temporary huts, the posts and plates of which being made of the pine of
this country, and the sides and ends filled with lengths of the
cabbage-tree, plastered over with clay, formed a very good hovel. The
roofs were generally thatched with the grass of the gum-rush; some were
covered with clay, but several of these failed, the weight of the clay
and heavy rain soon destroying them.

A gang of convicts was employed, under the direction of a person who
understood the business, in making bricks at a spot about a mile from the
settlement, at the head of Long Cove; at which place also two acres of
ground were marked out for such officers as were willing to cultivate
them and raise a little grain for their stock; it not being the intention
of government to give any grants of land until the necessary accounts of
the country, and of what expectations were likely to be formed from it,
should be received.

Great inconvenience was found from the necessity that subsisted of
suffering the stock of individuals to run loose amongst the tents and
huts; much damage in particular was sustained by hogs, who frequently
forced their way into them while the owners were at labour and destroyed
and damaged whatever they met with. At first these losses were usually
made good from the store, as it was unreasonable to expect labour where
the labourer did not receive the proper sustenance; but this being soon
found to open a door to much imposition, and to give rise to many
fabricated tales of injuries that never existed, an order was given, that
any hog caught trespassing was to be killed by the person who actually
received any damage from it.

The principal street of the intended town was marked out at the head of
the cove, and its dimensions were extensive. The government-house was to
be constructed on the summit of a hill commanding a capital view of Long
Cove, and other parts of the harbour; but this was to be a work of
after-consideration; for the present, as the ground was not cleared, it
was sufficient to point out the situation and define the limits of