country to farming work, works about the same howers as in England; they live as the master do, and is paid for his labour 201. a year, and receives of his master the same cloathing as he would get as if he was working for Goverment, or 3 pounds in lieu of the slops per year. If he thinks his master works him to hard, he can, if he thinks proper, demand his government-work to be measured out to him; then when he has done it, he can go to work for any of the neighbors. If his master dont wish to imploy him in his over time, and gets paid for his work as a free man. A man as can work can get a Goverment day's work done in 4 hours. When he his doing his Goverment work for his master, he gets no wages only his cloathing. Men that actually works for Goverment, they meet at 6 o'clock in summer and 8 in winter, goes home to breakfast at 9 o'clock and returns at 10, and works till 3 at noon, then goes where they think proper till morning; on Saturday they work while 10 o'clock, then one man out of a mess of 6 goes to the store for their provishions. Then on Sunday, every man that is at work for Goverment comes to church in the morning, falls in 2 deep a very long line in front of the church, and oppesite each gang stand the Oversear; then the Superintender with his Cleark walks down and asks the Oversear if his men are all their, and if he sees any man not clean shaved, or with a dirty shirt on, he calls a constable and sends him to goal while Monday morning; and a second time sends him to goal every day after he has done his work for a week; and if any man is absent from church without lief, he is treated in a simular way; and if that wont do, they sometimes get what we call a civel check, 25 lashes, which cures them in jeneral the first dressing.

Now we will return again to say what sentance men are liable to. If they get more than 2 year for a crime, they are sent to a place call'd the Coal River, about 400 miles by water, some for 7 year, 14 year, and life. There they work at geting coales up to there middle in water. Then if they transgress again, they are sent by the madjestrate up to the lime burners. They make lime out of oyster shells; they can't stand that work long, for it is very unholesome and gets into there eyes and blinds them; gets the same provishions as usual. If they commit any murder, which is very frequently the case, they are sent to Sydney and try'd for it, and if found guilty, they are taken back, and as neer to the spot as possable executed. A great many murders committed, and in jeneral by the Irish people.

A man after he has served his master 3 years, and no complaint, is entitled to a ticket of leave, that is to go any ware and work for himself, but receives nothing out of the stores. The regular way of obtaining a ticket of leave, is in first place to get a petition signed by your master, the parson of the town you belong to, and by the mad

If it is a Judge's sentance, his former sentance stands still till his collonian one is done, then it begins again; but if a madjestrate's sentance his old sentance goes on,

jestrates of the same place; the Governor receives petitions the first Monday in the month, then you take or send your petition to Goverment House; then next 1st Monday you must go yourself, and the Governor if he thinks proper will signe it; and if the man conducts himself for a few years longar, 4 or 5, the Governor will give him an emansipation, by petitioning him in same way as before; and that will make him quite free in the country.

FEMALE CONVICTS.

When they first arrive in the Colony, the same ceremony is performed by the governor as with the men, then it is left to the Superintender to dispose of them as he thinks proper; almost any person can take a woman of the stores, if they are agreeable to go; if not, she is sent up to the factory at Parramatta, there will be imploy'd in picking wool, carding wool, spining and makeing a sort of coarse cloath, woolen, such as the goat gang ware; they work from 8 o'clock in the morning till 3 in the afternoon, then go where they think proper while morning; they get nearly as much to eat as a man; if they neglect there work, they get confined in the goall at night, untill they fetch up there work, and if commit any robery, they are sent to the coal river, the way they are punished there is, by wearing a steel collor, but no work to speak of for them to do; all they want is to get down to Sydney, and be their own mistresses, then they think they are at home again, they will dress themselves up and go to the flash houses, and at night to the danceing house's, then they are happy; I have known women when they are at the factory—I do mean to say, very nice young women as you could wish to see, actually marry an old man, as ragged as possable, and perhaps he lives 20 or 30 miles up the country, and no house perhaps within 5 or 6 miles of him, right up in the bush, where you can see nothing but the trees; but there is a polesy in that, this man is a free man, and when they are married it makes her free, then after she has stop'd a day or two, she will make some excuse which a woman is never at a loss for, to come down to Sydney, she will get what money she can of him, the (Old Fool) but dont return again; very frequently the constables will go in those houses at Sydney, if they see a strange girl, and she cannot produce a pass, or a sertificate of her marriage, he will put her in the goal and cause her to be sent back to the factory; if its her first offence, it is sometimes look'd over, but if she runs away again, she is confin'd in the goal, and a log of wood chain'd to her leg.

If a woman's husband or man is in the country, they are not compel'd to live with each other if they dont think proper, but if the woman lives with another man, and the man wants her himself, if he can bring any two people to say, they know they was married in England, then the man can demand his wife; they obtain there liberty in the colony the same way as a man; if a woman comes free into the country, it makes her husband free, if he is there; women are very much indicted to drinking.

Mrs. Hyatt, when she first came into the colony, was taken of the stores, by Mrs. Lord, an old acquaintance of hers and as well as of Pats. Her husband is a very rich merchant, and Mrs. H was her housekeeper for a year or two, until her husband came over, then Mr. Lord put him and her in a house to sell all sorts of goods for him by commishion, and 2 days in a week sells by ouction; I suppose they are not geting much less than from 3 to 4 pounds a week clear money, and when I left was very comfortable.

When Mrs. Pedley came into the country, she was taken of the stores by Sam Foster, she remaind at Sam's some time, then went to live at Mrs. Hyatts old place, housekeeper to Mr. Lord, I suppose she liv'd there 15 months; at the expiration of that time, an old friend of his came from up the country to reside at Sydney, there they renew'd there acquaintance, and in a very little time they agreed to live togather. Pat took some little property over with her, and he being a very steady man, they soon got things about them very comfortable. He makes sieves of difrant sorts, and sends a great many to India, and when I came away, he was weaveing cloath-woolen, as fine as any as is made in the colony; and she has one child; but all her taulk is about Noah; her daughter Sarah is married to a saddle and harness maker, and lives at Windsor, she has one child; I could say a deal more about the difrant ways of the Colony, but I think Mrs. T- will be tyard of reading what I have rote.

CONTINUED.

When Governor Philipps first went into the country, he took with him some stock of all sorts. About 3 weeks after he arriv'd in the Colony, he miss'd 2 cows and a calf. They could not be found any ware; neither was they seen by any one for nearly 3 years after. They had increas'd, but could not be secured by any means. As the Colony gets inhabited, they still keep geting back in amongst the trees, what we call the Bush. At this time there are many hundreds of them. They are always very fat, and of the Europeon and buffelo breed. The Governor wont allow any one to kill any of them, but it is suppos'd that many of the calves is speard by the blacks. men apprehended, and brought to Sydney for trial, and was cast for death for it, but the Governor thought proper to respite them, they was sent to Coal River for life. They took with them a great many casks and a deal of sault, and went up the country a long ways, and shot them there. They would pickel the beef, and send it to Sydney. I suppose they was at that game nearly 2 years, the way it was discovered the farmers up the country could not get their men to do any work. Meat was so cheap, they got as fat as hogs at last. Some of the farmers

There was 2

The gaoler's wife for whom the account was written; it might have been entitled Mrs. T's Areadia.-Ed.

went to the Governor and gave information and the 2 men was apprehended. This was in my time in 1814.

I have known graziers at times loose a deal of stock. Sometimes there is a great drouth in the Colony; in consequence of that they are obliged to moove there hurds a long way up the country where there is plenty of water to be got, at a place call'd the Blue Mountain River, and that river in dry time, is where the wild cattle comes to drink; there they mix togather and its impossable to part them. I knew one gentleman to loose 60 head of cattle, and never got any of them back again; and several more people serv'd in the same way, but not to loose so many; (that was in my time) but now in a dry time, the stock is sent to another place call'd Bathwith's Plaines, a place which Mr. Evan's discovered. The beast in that country has a great knowledge of the bush. I have known sometimes of a Friday 20 or 30 fat beasts come to Sydney, for the goverment stores; and some are more wilder than the rest; and when they come to see a town and many people walking about, they dont know what to make of it, I have known very frequently one or two break away from the flock, they always get back again in 4 or 5 days. The stock keepers give themselves no trouble after them as they are sure to come back; and what is more singular, they go threw the bush, and if they fall in with any cattle, they will feed with them an hour or two, and off again, and never is seen to go threw a turnpike. The bullocks is very stubbun; in that country there is a deal of them broke in to draw. Government work a deal of them in timber carriages. They way they brake them in is, they are drove into a stock yard with some tame ones, then they (the men) get a long pole, with a rope and a noose at the end of it, and throw it over there horns. There is a stump of a tree in the yard, with a ring drove into it, then they draw the young bullocks head as close up to the tree as possable, and puts a yoke on, and drives an old bullock up to him, and yokes them up togather, turns them out into the paddock again for 2 or 3 days till he gets quite tame. I have known young bullocks, when the rope is first put round there horns, jump up a great hight and drop down dead. The way they get a bullock up when he lays down sulky is, to get some mud and stop there nostrills up, then they will jump up immediately, if there is no mud, they put there tails between 2 sticks and keep rubing till they get up. There is a deal of sheep in the country. The gentleman I liv'd with, yous'd to have all his sheep down to be shorn once a year, and in that year he had 3000 ewes, besides there lambs, and many had 2 lambs. Then he had a flock of Spanish sheep, 2 flocks of weathers, and a many rams. is one or two people there which has more sheep than him. Sheep dont run so large as here, but the wool is a deal finer; neither have they so much wool on them. Several people has more than a thousand head of horned cattle, and more than 30 brood mares. Horses dont run very large; but very compact pretty horses they are; the Europion breed; but not any of the waggon kind.

There

When I first went into the country, in 1810, I knew a middling kind of a horse sold for a 100 guineas, and when I left it, the same sort of a horse could be bought at 16 pounds, but dare say they will be geting dearer now, as almost every ship that goes to India takes horses to Betavy.

The natives of the bay are quite black; great strong idle fellows, with no ingenuity whatever. They walk about as naked as when they came into the world. They are common enough to be seen in Sydney; but not so numerous as they are up the country. You will seldom see above 4 or 5 togather; but if you go up the country, you can see in one tribe I suppose, 30 or 40, sometimes moor; when they have any thing with them, you will always see the woman carry it; such as there speers and waddies. Speers is about 7 or 8 feet long, and as thick as a man's thumb; very light, it is a very little tapering. At the thin end they fasten in small pieces of flint stone with gum, which they get of trees, there waddy is almost like a constables staff, only thicker. These are there war instruments. They will threw there speers to a great nicety; you can allways tell when they are going to war, or when penance is going to be done; when you see a great many blacks, men, women, and children; there faces is all made read, and all down there necks; when they go to war, each man as a shield made of very hard wood, likewise 3 or 4 speers and a waddy. They form a line in front of each other, about 30 or 40 yards; the women and children stand at some little distance behind, then one man will step out a yard or two in front, likewise a man from the opposite side the same; they will begin dancing and putting themselves in a many positions; then they will throw what spears they have at each other; then they will draw back, and 2 more do the same; and so on for an hower or two; not very often as they get speard; when they are speard, it is in general in the foot, or threw the shield into the nuckels. When a man is speard he must draw flesh and all before he can extricate it. While they are fighting, the woman and children make a dreadfull noise. Sometimes after they have thrown all the spears, they will begin with their waddies. When they strike a blow, the one that receives it holds his head down for the other to hit him; and in that kind of way they keep fighting. They never try to defend themselves, but receive all the blows on the head; there heads will puff up in very large lumps, and its almost impossable to hurt them; while they are fighting the women and children will make a very frightfull noise.

When a black fellow takes a wife, its very seldom they take one of their own tribe; but when they meet another tribe, if there is a woman that any of them wishe to make their wife, the man will run amongst them and lay hold of the woman he fancies by the legs or harm, and will drag her I suppose 3 or 400 yards on the grown, and beats her most unmercifully. Nothing is said by any of the tribes; but the first time they meet again, they appoint a place where and when this man is