in the
cove from Plymouth, whence she sailed with two other transports, and
parted with them about five weeks since in bad weather between Rio de
Janeiro and this port, the passage from which had not been more than ten
weeks. She had on board a sergeant's party of the new corps as a guard to
two hundred and twenty male convicts, eighteen of whom died on the
passage. The remainder came in very healthy, there being only nine sick
on board. The evening before her arrival she stood into a capacious bay,
situated between Long Nose and Cape St. George, where they found good
anchorage and deep water. Lieutenant Richard Bowen, the naval agent on
board, who landed, described the soil to be sandy, and the country
thickly covered with timber. He did not see any natives, but found a
canoe upon the beach, whose owners perhaps were not far off. This canoe,
by Lieutenant Bowen's account, appeared to be on a somewhat stronger
construction than the canoes of Port Jackson.

The signal for another sail was made the next morning at the Lookout, and
about one o'clock the _Salamander_ transport arrived. She sailed from
England under Lieutenant Bowen's orders, with a sergeant's party of the
new corps and one hundred and sixty male convicts on board, one hundred
and fifty-five of whom she brought in all healthy, except one man who was
in the sick list. The party arrived without the sergeant, he having
deserted on their leaving England.

Both these transports having brought a supply of provisions calculated to
serve nine months for the convicts that were embarked, the governor
directed the commissary to issue the full ration of provisions, serving
rice in lieu of peas; the reduced ration having continued from Saturday
the 2nd day of last April to Saturday the 27th of August; twenty-one
weeks.

A party of one hundred convicts were sent from the Atlantic to
Parramatta, the remainder were landed and disposed of at Sydney. The
_Salamander_ was ordered to proceed to Norfolk Island with the people and
the cargo she had on board.

There were at this time not less than seventy persons from the _Matilda_
and _Atlantic_ under medical treatment, being weak, emaciated, and unfit
for any kind of labour; and the list was increasing. It might have been
supposed that on changing from the unwholesome air of a ship's
between-decks to the purer air of this country, the weak would have
gathered strength; but it had been observed, that in general soon after
la