Page:Admiral Phillip.djvu/95

 now to be seen men, women and children lying dead.'

After the death of Arabanoo, who fell a victim to the smallpox, Phillip determined to repeat his civilising experiment, and in November 1789 two more natives were captured, Coleby and Bennilong; the last named is entitled to some notice here, for he was the first true Australian to visit England.

Mrs Macarthur, wife of Captain Macarthur, who introduced the merino sheep to the colony in 1790, in a letter to friends in England, says:—

'Amongst the unhappy objects' (i.e., those suffering from the smallpox) 'who were discovered were a boy and a girl; these were brought in, and from the humanity of the clergyman, who took the girl, and of the principal surgeon, Mr White, who took the boy, they were both saved. After they began to learn English and to make us understand them, it was imagined &hellip; that if a man or two could be brought to reside with us, that some valuable information might be obtained respecting the interior parts of the country.

'With this view the Governor left no means untried to effect an intimacy with them, but every endeavour of that sort, as before, prov'd ineffectual. &hellip; Despairing to gain their confidence by fair means, the Governor ordered that two men should be taken by force. This was done. The poor fellows &hellip; exhibited the strongest marks of terror and