Page:History of New South Wales from the records, Volume 2.djvu/43

 THS ITAIQNE OF 1789-90. 27 f dUowing passage in Phillip's letter to Nepean of 16tli April : ^^"'^ — ^' Although the live stock in the settlement is Tery incon- siderable, I was desirous of what there is being given up for the publick, but the general opinion was that the hogs (which are the principal part of our live stock) were^ most of them, so poor that those which would be found fit to kill would not be an object; the Commissary has purchased isome, which have been served to the people."* Whatever relief was ultimately gained by sending off so large a swarm from the hive, the advantage was not im- mediately felt, except by those convicts who exchanged huts in garden-grounds. The gardens, indeed, were of little use to anyone for a time, for the convicts, whose food was OonWcte reduced stage by stage until it was less than half the usual to work. ration, were too weak to do much work. Indeed labour was scarcely expected from them.t Upon the officers and civilians who were left behind the departure of so many people produced a depressing efEect. "The military quarters," says Collins, "had a deserted aspect, and the whole settlement appeared as if famine had ^gg^ ^g already thinned it of half its numbers. The little society that was in the place was broken up, and every man seemed left to brood in solitary silence over the dreary prospect before him.^'J The long-expected ships appeared to be as far ofE as ever, and the only thing that could be anticipated with anything like confidence was the posting of a General Order making a further reduction in the scanty allowance of food. • Historical Becords, toI. i, part 2, p. 881. With reference to tliis, Colling writes (vol. i| pp. 105» 106) :— '* It was proposed to take all the hogs in the settlement as public property, but as it was absolutely necessary to keep some breeding sows, and the stock being small and rery poor, that idea was abaodoned." t "The incTitable consequence of this scarcity of proTisions ensued ; labour stood nearly suspended for want of eneriry to proceed; and the countenances of the people plainly bespoke the hardships they underwent." — lb., 109. tlb.,p. lOi.
 * ' wretched hovels '* or " no shelter at all '^ for comfortable