t of the harbour; but even here
they could not be discovered. He tampered with an Irishman, to make a few
that he could produce in support of his assertion; but the man had,
unfortunately for him, been transported for having been a dealer in
pikes, and declared that he would not involve himself a second time for
them. He at last found a man to fabricate one out of an old hinge of a
barn door, but this bore too evidently the marks of imposition to go down
with every one; and his tale met with little or no credit. There was
evidently a design to create an alarm; and this man Harold, from
declaring that he alone, through his influence as their priest, was able
to come at the facts, was supposed to be aiming solely at making himself
of consequence in the colony. He had applied to the governor for
permission to officiate as their priest; and if well affected to the
government, of which there were but too many doubts, he might have been
of much use to the colony in that capacity.

In consequence of these alarms, and as much as possible to do away their
effects, by increasing the armed force of the colony, a certain number of
the most respectable inhabitants were formed into two volunteer
associations of fifty men each, and styled the Sydney and Parramatta
Loyal Associated Corps. Each was commanded by a Captain, with two
Lieutenants, and a proportionate number of non-commissioned officers. The
whole were supplied with arms and ammunition, of which they were
instructed in the use by some sergeants of the New South Wales corps, and
their alarm-post was fixed at the front of Government House.*

[* As these were formed upon the footing of the volunteer corps
in England, it is to be wished that they may as fully entitle
themselves to the praise and thanks of the community which they were
raised to defend, as those honourable associations have merited and
gained from theirs.]

It having been reported, that coal had been found upon the banks of
George's river, the governor visited the place, and on examination found
many indications of the existence of coal, that useful fossil, of which,
shortly after, a vein was discovered on the west-side of Garden Island
cove.

On the 21st, the American ship _John Jay_ arrived, after a passage
of four months and four days, from Rhode Island, bound to China. She had
on board a quantity of salt beef and pork, which was purchased by
government, at the rate of seven-pence three farthings per pound