the Cape
of Good Hope, when we spoke a man of war, who asked us the same question,
and then I wished I had."

To have prosecuted inquiry farther would have only served to increase
disappointment and chagrin. We therefore quitted the ship, wondering and
lamenting that so large a portion of plain undisguised honesty should be so
totally unconnected with a common share of intelligence, and acquaintance
with the feelings and habits of other men.

By the governor's letters we learned that a large fleet of transports, with
convicts on board, and His Majesty's ship Gorgon, (Captain Parker)
might soon be expected to arrive. The following intelligence which they
contained, was also made public.

That such convicts as had served their period of transportation, were not
to be compelled to remain in the colony; but that no temptation should be
offered to induce them to quit it, as there existed but too much reason to
believe, that they would return to former practices; that those who might
choose to settle in the country should have portions of land, subject to
stipulated restrictions, and a portion of provisions assigned to them
on signifying their inclinations; and that it was expected, that those
convicts who might be possessed of means to transport themselves from the
country, would leave it free of all incumbrances of a public nature.

The rest of the fleet continued to drop in, in this and the two succeeding
months. The state of the convicts whom they brought out, though
infinitely preferable to what the fleet of last year had landed, was not
unexceptionable. Three of the ships had naval agents on board to control
them. Consequently, if complaint had existed there, it would have been
immediately redressed. Exclusive of these, the 'Salamander', (Captain
Nichols) who, of 155 men lost only five; and the 'William and Anne'
(Captain Buncker) who of 187 men lost only seven, I find most worthy of
honourable mention. In the list of convicts brought out was Barrington, of
famous memory.

Two of these ships also added to our geographic knowledge of the country.
The 'Atlantic', under the direction of Lieutenant Bowen, a naval agent, ran
into a harbour between Van Diemen's land, and Port Jackson, in latitude 35
degrees 12 minutes south, longitude 151 degrees east, to which, in honour
of Sir John Jervis, Knight of the Bath, Mr. Bowen gave the name of Port
Jervis. Here was found good anchoring ground with a fine depth of water,
wi