nsiderable quantity of ground was now cleared, and large
enclosures were made for cattle, which there was reason to hope
would be brought from the Cape of Good Hope, by the ships daily
expected to arrive with the remainder of the corps raised for the
service of this country, and the convicts from Ireland.

The person who had hitherto superintended the labour of the
convicts, died on the 28th of January. This man left England with
Governor Phillip, as a servant; but he had employed him in the
public service from their first landing, and few men, who may
hereafter be placed in his situation, will attain that ascendency
which he had over the convicts, or be able to go through so much
fatigue. He was replaced by a superintendant who came from
England in the last ships.

The Dutch vessel, which had been hired at Batavia to bring
provisions purchased for the Colony, and which arrived at Port
Jackson on the 17th of December, 1790, was cleared, and was ready
for sea by the 5th of February. The provisions brought in her
consisted of one hundred and seventy-one barrels of beef, one
hundred and seventy-two barrels of pork, thirty-nine barrels of
flour, one thousand pounds of sugar, and seventy thousand pounds
of rice: five pounds in the hundred were to be allowed as loss on
the rice; and after that deduction, there was a deficiency of
forty-two thousand nine hundred pounds; for which, the master of
the vessel would only allow the commissary at the rate of one
halfpenny a pound; or, if paid in butter, at the rate of one
pound of butter for eighteen pounds of rice: he had rice and
flour on board, which he called his own property; and as he was a
foreigner, and particularly circumstanced, the commissary was
ordered to accept the butter in lieu of the deficiency of
rice.

This vessel was hired by the officer, who commanded the Supply
armed tender, and who was obliged to accept her at three hundred
and fifty tons measurement, though she did not measure three
hundred tons: the freight for bringing the provisions was fixed
at twenty-eight thousand rix-dollars; bills for which had been
given at Batavia. The master on his arrival, said, that after
leaving Port Jackson, he should proceed to New Guinea in search
of spices, which that island was supposed to produce; he was also
to stop at Timur and several other settlements before he returned
to Batavia: at the same time, he offered the vessel for sale, or
to lett her on freight; but as