8; but never, until this moment, had the alarm been
repeated. The affrighted inhabitants rushed out of their houses,
in momentary expectation of destruction; nor did they dare to
return until the shock had passed by, and the apprehensions which
it had produced had entirely subsided.

In the earlier days of the settlement, the settlers on the
Hawkesbury (a river of great extent in the interior of the
country, the course of which is traced in the annexed chart) had
been much annoyed by the frequent overflowings of that capacious
river. In the month of March, 1801, the most severe visitation of
this nature had occurred, which had destroyed the promise of an
abundant harvest, spread desolation through the farms in that
district, destroyed numerous habitations, and caused the loss of
several of the unfortunate settlers and others. At the melancholy
period alluded to, the colony in this quarter was just reaching a
degree of ease and comfort, from the judicious plans put into
execution by that "father of the people" Governor
Hunter, and the assistance he gave them as an encouragement to
industrious exertion. Scarcely, however, had they begun to revive
after this calamity--scarcely had they repaired the ravages
occasioned by this tremendous inundation--scarcely had the
desolated lands once more confessed the power of cultivation,
before those ill-fated settlers were doomed to experience a
repetition of the destructive calamity; and on the 2d of March,
1801, the river again overflowed its banks, and rushed
impetuously to renew its former devastations. Flocks and herds
were swept away by its irresistible influence; the houses, which
had been re-built, were once more levelled to the earth; and a
settler was deprived of his existence, after witnessing the
catastrophe which had robbed him of the whole of his possessions.
The waters of the Hawkesbury, at those periods of inundation,
would rise seventy or eighty feet above their accustomed level;
and it is easy for the mind to picture to itself the
inexpressibly mournful consequences which must necessarily accrue
from such a circumstance. Neither was this overflowing an event
of rare occurrence, but was to be constantly expected after a
long continuance of the rainy seasons, when the torrents which
rushed from the mountainous ridges which overlooked the channel
of the river never failed to produce a rapid swelling of its
waters, and to cause an inundation of greater or less extent,