Page:History of New South Wales from the records, Volume 1.djvu/415

 RUSHCUTTERS' BAY. 301 The barracks and all buildings in future will be covered with 1788 shingles, which we now make from a tree like the pine-tree in 9Jaiy. appearance, the wood resembling the English oak. The monotony of daily life in the Camp was ever and anon disturbed by a sudden alarm of an outrage committed by the natives. At this time they were swarming in the on the neighbourhood of the settlement, always on the look out for unarmed stragglers whom they could pick off from behind a gum-tree, and whose lives were taken without scrapie in revenge for the canoes and fishing-tackle stolen from them on the beaches. According to native law, it was not at all necessary to identify the thief ; the tribe to Native law. which he belonged was held responsible for his act, and had to pay the penalty. The memory of one of these tragedies is perpetuated in the name given to a bay in the harbour, still known as Rushcutters' Bay. Phillip's ac- count of the matter presents one of the best sides of his character : — The 30th of May two men employed collecting thatch at some The two distance from the camp were found dead. One of them had four '^ ®" "• spears in him, one of which had passed through his body ; the other was found at some distance, dead, but without any apparent injury. This was a veiy unfortunate circumstance, and the more as it will be impossible to discover the people who committed the murder, and I am still persuaded the natives are not the aggres- sors. These men had been seen with one of their canoes, but I was not informed of that circumstance for some days. Though I did not mean to punish any of the natives for killing these people, which it is more than probable they did in their own defence, or in defending their canoes, I wished to see them ; and, as they had carried away the rushcutters' tools, I thought they might be found out and some explanation take place, for which purpose I went out wiUi a small party the next day, and landed where the men wero killed ; but after traversing the country more than twenty miles, Expedition we got to the north shore of Botany Bay without meeting any of *° ^**"y- the natives ; thero we saw about twenty canoes fishing. It was then sunset, and as we made our fires and slept on the beach, I did not doubt but some of them would join us, but not Digitized by Google