Page:History of New South Wales from the records, Volume 2.djvu/178

 150 PROGRESS OF THE SETTLEMENT 1791 fugitives had nothing to choose between death from starva- tion, or the spears of the natives, and return to the settle- ment, where they were sure to be severely punished. There Convict^ seemed, however, to be an impression in the minds of some knowledge, of the couvicts that it was possible to escape by land to some other country. One party of absconders, according to their own account, set out with the object of getting to China, but it was generally supposed that '' this improbable tale was only a cover to the real design, which might be to procure boats, and get on board the transports after they had left the Cove.^'^ Eacapees It is a noticeablc fact that the convicts who seemed most generally newarxivata. anxious to make their escape were newcomers, rather than those who had lived for a time in the colony. On the 1st November, 1791, twenty-one convicts (including one woman) who had arrived by the Queen about five weeks beiore, went off into the bush bound for '^ China.'' Most of them were dis- covered a few days afterwards, and brought back in a ''state of deplorable wretchedness, naked, and nearly worn out by hunger,'* but three of the party, who were found in the neighbourhood of Narrabeen, ''notwithstanding their situa- tion, did not readily give themselves up." They said nothing about China, but confessed that they had gone into the bush Abhorrence to escape work ; and so determined were they not to labour, if they could help it, that a few days after their capture they again absconded. At the muster ordered in January, 1792, there were over fifty absentees.f Phillip before this had frequently complained of the indo- lence of the convicts, but among the new arrivals the ♦ Collins, Tol. i, p. 185. t " By the Commissarj's report of the muster it appeared, that forty-four men and nine women were absent and unaccounted for ; among which num- ber were included those who were wandering in the woods, seeking for a new settlement, or endeavouring to ^et into the path to China ! Of these people, many, after lingering a long tmie, and existing merely on roots and wild berries, perished miserably. Others found their way in, after being absent seyeral weeks, and reported the fate of their wretched companions, being themselyes reduced to nearly the same condition, worn down and ezhauBted with fatigue and want of proper sustenance.'* — lb., p. 195.