omforts had been
procured for them; he had distinguished them from the convicts in the
ration of provisions; he had allowed them to build themselves comfortable
huts, permitting them while so employed the use of the public boats; he
had indulged them with women; and, in a word, have never refused any of
them a request which did not militate against the rules of the service,
or of the discipline which he had laid down for the New South Wales
corps; at the same time, however, to prevent these indulgencies from
falling into contempt, they were counterbalanced by a certainty of their
being withdrawn when abused, and flagrant offenders were sure of meeting
with punishment: yet there were many among them who were so ungrateful
for the benefits which they received, and so unmindful of their own
interest and accommodation, that they behaved ill whenever they had an
opportunity.

The parties who had been sent after the runaways, by dividing themselves,
fell in with them near Toongabbie on the 6th. and secured them without
any opposition.

There were at this time in the New South Wales corps, distributed among
the different companies, thirty recruits who had been selected from among
the convicts as people of good characters, and, having formerly been in
the army, were permitted to enlist. These people had conducted themselves
with remarkable propriety, one man only excepted, who had some time since
been punished by the sentence of a court-martial, and who afterwards
misbehaving was discharged from the corps. They were in general enlisted
for life, a condition to which they subscribed on being attested; and
such as had a long time to serve under their sentence, were emancipated
on the above condition.

On the 7th the _Boddingtons_ transport anchored in the cove from Ireland,
having sailed from Cork on the 15th of February last, with one hundred
and twenty-four male, and twenty female convicts of that kingdom on
board, provisions calculated to serve them nine months* after their
arrival, and a proportion of clothing for twelve months. As a guard,
there was embarked a subaltern's party of the New South Wales corps; and
this precaution was found to have been very necessary, the ignorance of
the Irish convicts having displayed itself in an absurd scheme to take
the ship; but which was happily frustrated by the vigilance and activity
of the master** and the officers.

[* Two hundred and twenty-eight barrels of flour; one hundred an