Page:Admiral Phillip.djvu/220

 but employment of a suitable nature created for those who would otherwise consume leisure in idle pursuits only.'

The total number of persons of all descriptions in New South Wales and its dependency, Norfolk Island, on the 26th of November 1791, was, adds Tench, 4059. They were distributed as follows: at Sydney, 1259; at Rose Hill, 1628; at Norfolk Island, 1172.

By the ships of the Second and Third Fleets there arrived 'The New South Wales Corps,' a regiment of infantry raised in England to do duty in the settlement in place of the marines, whose commanding officer. Major Ross, it will be remembered, was left at Norfolk Island by the Sirius.

The Major shall, in the following letter to Grenville, dated 29th August 1790, himself tell us how he fared at the island:—

'I think I may venture to say that if Providence had not worked a miracle in our favour, there would have been but few of us found alive when those ships [the Justinian and the Surprize] arrived to our relief. And further, I think I may venture to assure you, and the rest of His Majesty's ministers, that, with respect to clearing and cultivating land on this island, I have established such a plan which, if pursued, will render it unnecessary ever to send any flour here. On the contrary, in one year from the first of next January, the island will be able to spare