Page:History of New South Wales from the records, Volume 2.djvu/261

 SETTIiEHENT IN 1792. 219 ment ; and from the Governor downwards the ration received i''^ by every man was the same. The civil and military officers^ and others who had the means^ were able to supplement their allowance with game and fish^ obtained in small quan- oame and tities^ and with luxuries purchased from the masters of the transports^ who sold their goods at exorbitant prices* But the bulk of the people had only the ration^ and they were half-starved. The healthy suffered severely — ^the sick perished. In the despatches little is said about the sofferings of miseries of the people, but CoUins's account enables one to form some idea of the deplorable condition of things in the settlement at this time. Many of the convicts who arrived by the vessels of the Third Meet had never recovered from the privations they endured on the voyage, and died in great numbers. During the month of November, 1 791, fifty- four of these convicts died, and at the end of it five hundred were still under medical treatment. The total number of ■deaths during the year was one hundred and seventy-one.''^ In the seven months following the arrival of the Third Fleet no less than two hundred and eighty-eight deaths occurred, |^*°^ the record for the previous seven months being but nineteen. The sick-list, on the 29th March, 1792, was four hundred and twenty-nine, of whom only eighteen were free.f The month of April, 1792, opened, according to Collins, "with a dreadful sick-list, and with death making rapid strides amongst ub."J At the beginning of May only fifty of the ^"^^^^ male convicts brought by the Queen in September, 1791, were living. The number landed is not stated in the despatches, but Collins, in his Account of New South Wales, gives it as one hundred and twenty-two. According to the official list, the number embarked was one hundred and ' seventy-five, § so that the survivors numberedless than a third of the number sent out. During the year 1792 four • Oolliiw, ToL i, pp. 189, 194. t Historical Becorda, toL i, part 2, p. 596. X GollinB, Tol. i, p. 204. § Historical Records, toL i, part 2, p. 463.