Page:History of New South Wales from the records, Volume 2.djvu/165

 PROGBESS APT£E ABKIVAL OF SECOND FLEET. 137 whom little labour can be expected/'"*^ Tbe returns, enclosed ^^^ with Phillip's letter of 17th July, 1790, show that the number of men employed in clearing and cultivating the land at Rose Hill was only 113, not one of whom was capable of doing a ^ood day's work. Although there were many fresh mouths to fill, the producing power of the community had not been materially increased. Five or six months would have to elapse before the labourers in the field could be reinforced with effect, and by the expiration of that period harvest-time would have arrived. In other words, the season would be lost. According to the return alluded to above, there were at Number of r^, *i convicts at work at Sydney 316 male convicts, some of whom were con- Sydney and . . . . Rose Hill. valescents, while the number incapacitated by sickness was 413. At Rose Hill 154 were employed, and 25 were sick. In the face of these difficulties, Phillip acted with prompti- tude and sagacity. On the site where Parramatta now stands Foundation he immediately laid out a town on regular lines, the principal Pamunatta. street of which was to contain huts for the accommodation of the convicts of the Second Fleet. This street, which is identical with the present George-street, Parramatta, ran from the public landing-place up to the foot of the'' Crescent'* or rising ground on which still stands the old Government House. The huts were built of wattle and plaster, with thatched roofs. As a precaution against fire, the street was formed with a width of 200 feet ; and the huts were separ- ated from each other, according to Phillip, by spaces of 100 feet.t Each hut was to contain ten convicts; and sufficient ground was allowed, in each case, for a vegetable-garden. Captain Tench visited the ''town'^ in November, 1790, and reported upon the progress which had been made. Thirty- Architec- two of the huts were completed. They were each 24 feet by Parramatta. 12, and were divided into two rooms, '' in one of which is a fireplace and brick chimney." Some of the huts contained t AocozdiDg to CoUins, the spaoe between each hut ma onlj 60 feet..
 * Historical Becords, yol. i, part 2, p. 359.