ottles of spirit; and it was
no idle boast, that a keg of rum was then worth more than a common farm.
Their hopeless and dissipated state is remarked in every document of the
times: their frail dwellings soon exhibited all the signs of decay, and
their ground was exhausted by continual cropping. Thus the exhilarating
influences of youth and vigour, usual in the first steps of
colonisation, were here unknown, and a civilising agency rarely
counteracted the social evils which prevailed. The transactions of those
early days are scarcely colonial: charged with debauch and outrage, they
denote a time of social disorganisation--the dark ages found in the
history of every country, where men have been their own masters, and
remote from a public opinion, which cannot be corrupted or controlled.

There were, however, a few settlers from Norfolk Island, distinguished
from the rest by their enterprise and diligence, and who rose to wealth;
but in glancing down the list, a colonist observes how few have retained
their heritage.

During the administration of Colonel Collins, the progress of the colony
was barely perceptible. There were no roads in the interior; no public
buildings: the house of the governor was a mere cottage, too mean for
the accommodation of a modern mechanic.

The transfer commenced at the close of 1805. The _Sydney_, Captain
Forrest, was employed to convey to the Derwent a party of the settlers,
and the stock belonging to the governor-in-chief: this was purchased by
Mr. George Guest, who sold the sheep at L5 per head, and was repaid in
cattle. In the _Sydney_, Joseph Holt, now discharged from restraint,
visited Van Diemen's Land, and contributed to its welfare by his
agricultural and pastoral experience. He found Collins still living in
a tent. A few acres of land had been cultivated at New Town by convicts,
in charge of Clarke, the superintendent: cattle had arrived from Bengal,
and sheep from Port Jackson; but the progress of the settlement had
hitherto been slow.

In New South Wales,[55] gangs of men, stripped to the waist, labored
together, and were exposed to rigorous discipline, common to slaves.
These methods of tillage were introduced into Van Diemen's Land, where
as yet there were no fields prepared for the plough, nor beast of
draught to facilitate human toil. The chief overseers were not skilled
in cultivation: one had been a shoemaker, the other a tailor; and while
they were expecting large return