rom any part of England or
Scotland, than had at any time been derived from 300 of these people,
with all the attention that could be paid to them. Had 200 families of
decent labouring farmers been sent out as settlers a few years since, and
had a few convicts to assist them been placed wholly under their
direction and authority, the cultivation would have been much farther
advanced; and, in point of provisions, those families would have been
living in luxury. More grain than could be consumed would have been
grown, instead of crops which in some years were barely sufficient to
last until the following harvest.

These people were brought to trial for a theft which they were stated to
have committed, but of which there was not any positive proof, and they
were acquitted. There was not any doubt of their having associated with
and instructed the natives how to commit, with the least hazard to
themselves, the various depredations which the settlers had sustained
from them; yet there was no proof of this, at least no proof whereby they
might have been capitally punished, nothing short of which would ever be
sufficient to prevent this dangerous intercourse.

After exciting some apprehensions for her safety, his Majesty's ship the
_Reliance _anchored in the Cove on the 26th, from the Cape of Good
Hope, having had a very stormy passage, with 26 cows, 3 bulls, and about
60 sheep on board, on government account. She had been extremely leaky
all the voyage; and it must be remembered, that the other colonial ship,
the _Supply_, arrived in a very infirm state.*

[* At her departure from the Cape, it was generally conjectured
that she would never reach the settlement; but her commander,
Lieutenant William Kent, considered and felt the design of his voyage to
be of so much importance to the colony, that he determined to run every
risk; and fortunately, though with great difficulty, he succeeded.]

A most unexpected and unaccountable desertion took place in the night
after the arrival of the _Reliance_. Two boys belonging to that ship
carried away a small two-oared boat, in which they intended to proceed to
the southward, and there join the natives. Being pursued, they were
brought back, and gave the above account of their scheme; to effect
which, they had provided themselves with a boat-cloak to sleep in, a pair
of pistols, a small quantity of gun-powder, and 50 cakes of portable
soup. That any one who had been accustomed to the h