Page:Diary of ten years.djvu/175

 157 The suit was brought by a Sydney man, who had chartered a vessel; verdict for defendants. Another action by the same man against Henderson, (captain of the Cornwallis), for running against his boat; damages laid at £500; verdict 40s. There were several other serious and nice actions; two were by part owners of a ship, for £500 each, shares of profits made in several voyages. I am tired of law, and in need of rest. No wonder, as I have been sleeping for a week on a brick floor, with a carpet bag for a pillow. Got the well dug about two feet deeper, and sunk a barrel in it; the water is cool and delicious at the depth of about sixteen feet. Found a diamond snake round a tree, it was almost five feet long; skinned it, and have the skin in a bottle.

17th.—Went to some swampy ground full of springs to look for ducks; shot a brace, besides a water hen and a cockatoo. I was actually driven out of the swamps by leeches, several of them sticking to my legs. I cannot compare these swamps to any marshes with which you are familiar; perhaps a tract of ground covered with old willows and green weeds, with here and there open spaces of deeper water, is the nearest resemblance I can supply. Fine receptacles for wild ducks, of which the dogs sprung up a dozen to-day; but I was so hemmed in by the trees, that I could not get a shot; and not having room to look about me, I slipped up to the neck in a hole; wetted my powder-flask, but kept my gun dry: so terminated the day's sport. My new men going to turn out for higher wages, though one gets £2 per month as shepherd, and the other £1 per month as cowherd; the former may go, especially as the sheep which I expected from Sydney have not arrived; nor do the good people either there or at Van Diemen's Land appear in a hurry to send them, which is provoking, as a little exertion in this way, by Government or individuals, would soon render us an independent colony.