Page:History of New South Wales from the records, Volume 2.djvu/263

 SETTLEMENT IN 1792. 221 except a few casks of salted pork, sent as an experiment. ^'^^ Yet her arrival, according to Collins, was the cause of " in- expressible joy." A " gleam of sunshine penetrated every- a "^rieam of one capable of reflection,'' and the community was so excited that " we all felt alike^ and found it impossible to sit for one minute seriously down to any business or accustomed pur- suit." When people of all ranks were thrown into raptures by the arrival of a vessel loaded with unpalatable food, the situation of the colony may be understood. Although the arrival of the Atlantic removed the imme- diate prospect of starvation, the supplies from England were still awaited with eagerness. As no animal food had been received, it became necessary to reduce the allowance of pork per week from four pounds to two — adding, as a set off, a pound of rice and a quart of pease to the ration. The Britannia, the long-expected storeship, arrived on the The 26th July, 1792. She had sailed from England — not in the arrivoa with autumn of 1791, as promised, but on the 15th February, 1792 flour. — seven months after the Pitt — and carried a good supply of beef, pork, and flour.* The people were now put upon a ^^ ^^^ fair allowance of food, but it was still far below the "estab- ino«Med- lished ration," which was equivalent to that allowed to troops serving in foreign parts, with the exception of spirits.t For the present all anxiety was removed, and '^ universal satis- faction'' was felt. But had the Britannia been a month longer on the voyage the allowance from the store would have been reduced to a small quantity of vegetable food, and meat would have disappeared altogether from the ration.f hither, ba?ingon hoard twelve months' clothing for the convicts, four months' flour, and eight months' beef and pork for every description of persons in the settlements, at full allowance, calculating their numbers a^ four thousand six hundred and thirty-niuA, which it was at Home supposed they might amount to after the arrival of the Pitt."— Collins, vol. i, p. ^{23. t The ration now consisted of 4 lb. of maise, 3 lb. of soujee, 7 lb. of beef or 4 lb. of pork, 3 pints of pease or dholl, and i lb. of rice. — lb., p. 224. tib.
 * " The Britannia was the first of three ships that were to be despatched