had the stores admited
of its being given to the hogs. Five pounds of this rice were
estimated as only equal to two pounds of flour, with respect to
the nourishment it afforded, and this estimation was deemed
pretty just.

It being the intention of government, that as the time for
which the convicts were sentenced, expired, they should be
permitted to become settlers; those who chose to accept this
bounty were received as such, and lands were granted them in the
following proportion; viz. Thirty acres to the single men, fifty
acres to those who were married, and ten acres more for every
child. It had been proposed to victual and cloath them from the
public store for twelve months, from the time they became
settlers; but to encourage those who first offered themselves,
Governor Phillip promised to cloath and support them for eighteen
months from the public stores: they were to have the necessary
tools and implements of husbandry, with seeds and grain to sow
the ground the first year; two young sow pigs were also to be
given to each settler, which was all the governor's stock would
afford, and it has already been observed, that they had no live
stock in the settlement belonging to the crown. On these
conditions, twenty-seven convicts were admitted settlers; twelve
of them were fixed at the foot of Prospect-Hill, four miles from
Parramatta, and fifteen, at some ponds, an eligible situation
about two miles to the northward of those settlers who were
placed on the creek leading to Parramatta.

In laying out the different allotments, an intermediate space,
equal to what was granted the settler, was retained between every
two allotments, for the benefit of the crown; and as this set
them at some distance from each other, and there being a wood
between every two settlers, in which the natives might conceal
themselves, if they were inclined to mischief, several musquets
were distributed amongst the settlers, and they took possession
of their allotments on the 18th of July, and began to erect their
huts: however, very few days elapsed before a large body of the
natives appeared in the grounds of one of the new settlers at
Prospect-Hill, who, alarmed at the sight of a number of natives,
(by his account more than a hundred) fired off his musquet and
retreated; this, of course, encouraged them, and they advanced,
and set fire to his hut, which was nearly finished.--On hearing
the report of a musquet, another settler took up hi