Page:Diary of ten years.djvu/437

 419 also. By the Shepherd I have one letter dated so long ago as May, 1840; but no other letter. As the Heroine is looked for hourly, I must have a little patience.



Nov. 27th.—As it is most likely that I shall take this letter home myself, I shall merely make entries to serve as memoranda I find myself much perplexed by having some of my goods mixed up in the same packages with goods of yours; for, as I must sell your things by auction, or dispose of them at once to some storekeeper, the packages must first be opened to take out my things. This gives the rest a ragged, tossed, unpacked appearance and injures their sale. I have no means of knowing the quality of your goods, as I have only seen the invoice. The tap and screw appear to be excessively dear, or they are not the thing we want here. It will cost me nearly £40 when erected, and no profit that we get on our wool will bear that.

Dec. 5th.—I have been busied all the week. The captain of the Shepherd will not take our wool except by measurement, at the rate of £6 a ton. This would amount actually to nearly £50 a ton weight! A bale measures 33 feet, packed without a screw. What can stand that? Our wool, with the enormous charges upon it, costs upwards of one shilling a pound weight to sell it in the London market, and by the last accounts we have got about 1s. 3d. a pound. If the settlers give this, the captain will load and sail early next month; if not he threatens to sail immediately. I asked the Governor to allow me to "retire on half pay" just now, so that I might make some preparation. He said there were so many important questions before the Council now that he would beg of me to remain as long as I could. As we were about to sit down to dinner the two Messrs. Lennard came here and dined with us. They were on their way to York. One of them has just arrived in the colony.

There is a French vessel here, the Ville de Bordeaux, which