; but having unfortunately and most indiscreetly suffered
this man to know, not only that he had such a sum, but where he kept it,
Gray availed himself of a convenient opportunity, and carried off the
whole sum, together with a shirt which lay in his way. On being taken up
(for suspicion was directly fixed on him) he readily acknowledged the
theft, and either was, or pretended to be, very much in liquor. On being
urged to restore the property, he sent the watchmen to search for it in
different places, but without directing them to the spot where he had
concealed it. At last he was taken out himself, when accidentally meeting
the lieutenant-governor he threw himself on the ground, pretending to be
in a fit; on which he was directly ordered to be tied up and punished
with one hundred lashes. After this he would not make any discovery, and
was sent to the hospital. The drummer who had suffered so materially by
this wretch, although the object of pity, yet, knowing as he must have
done the character of the man, was certainly entitled to no small degree
of blame for trusting with a secret of such importance to his family a
man who he must have known could not have withstood so great a temptation.

The lieutenant-governor proposing to open and cultivate the ground
commonly known by the name of the Kangaroo Ground, situate to the
westward of the town of Sydney between that settlement and Parramatta, a
gang of convicts was sent from the latter place for that purpose. The
soil here was much better for agriculture than that immediately adjoining
to the town of Sydney, and the ground lay well for cultivation; but it
had hitherto been neglected, from its being deficient in the very
essential requisite of water; on which account Parramatta had been
preferred to it. The eligibility of cultivating it was however now going
to be tried; and, permission having been received by the _Bellona_ to
grant lands to those officers who might desire it, provided the
situations of the allotments were such as might be advantageous to _bona
fide_ settlers hereafter, if they ever should fall into such hands,
several officers chose this as the spot which they would cultivate, and
allotments of one hundred acres each were marked out for the clergyman
(who, to obtain a grant here, relinquished his right to cultivate the
land allotted for the maintenance of a minister), for the principal
surgeon, and for two officers of the corps.

February.] The settlers