第55章

This man had been allowed to settle,on a belief,from his own assurance,that his term of transportation was expired;but it was afterwards discovered that he had been cast for life.Hereupon he grew desperate,and declared he would rather perish at once than remain as a convict.He disappeared a week ago and has never since been heard of.Were I compelled to settle in New South Wales,I should fix my residence here,both from the appearance of the soil,and its proximity to Rose Hill.A corporal and two privates are encamped here to guard this settlement,as at Prospect.

Proceeded to the settlement called the Ponds,a name which I suppose it derived from several ponds of water which are near the farms.

Here reside the fourteen following settlers.

Men's names.|Trades.|Number of |Number of acres ||acres in each |in cultivation.

allotment.

Thomas Kelly Servant 3011/2

William Hubbard,and wife Plasterer 5021/4

Curtis Brand,and wife Carpenter 503

John Ramsay,and wife Seaman 5031/2

William Field ---3021/2

John Richards Stone-cutter 30)41/2

John Summers Husbandman 30)

--Varnell ---301

Anthony Rope,and wife,and two children Bricklayer 701

Joseph Bishop,and wife None 5011/2

Mathew Everingham,and wife Attorney's clerk 502

John Anderson,and wife ---502

Edward Elliot Husbandman 30)2

Joseph Marshall Weaver 30)

[They (Richards and Summers)cultivate in partnership.]

[A convict who means to settle here;and is permitted to work in his leisure hours.]

[They (Elliot and Marshall)cultivate in partnership.]

The Prospect Hill terms of settlement extend to this place.My private remarks were not many.Some spots which I passed over I thought desirable,particularly Ramsay's farm;and he deserves a good spot,for he is a civil,sober,industrious man.Besides his corn land,he has a well laid out little garden,in which I found him and his wife busily at work.

He praised her industry to me;and said he did not doubt of succeeding.

It is not often seen that sailors make good farmers;but this man I think bids fair to contradict the observation.The gentleman of no trade (his own words to me)will,I apprehend,at the conclusion of the time when victualling from the store is to cease,have the honour of returning to drag a timber or brick cart for his maintenance.The little maize he has planted is done in so slovenly a style as to promise a very poor crop.

He who looks forward to eat grapes from his own vine,and to sit under the shade of his own fig-tree,must labour in every country.

He must exert more than ordinary activity.The attorney's clerk I also thought out of his province.I dare believe that he finds cultivating his own land not half so easy a task as he formerly found that of stringing together volumes of tautology to encumber,or convey away,that of his neighbour.Hubbard's farm,and Kelly's also,deserve regard,from being better managed than most of the others.The people here complain sadly of a destructive grub which destroys the young plants of maize.

Many of the settlers have been obliged to plant twice,nay thrice,on the same land,from the depredations of these reptiles.There is the same guard here as at the other settlements.

Nothing now remains for inspection but the farms on the river side.

December 7th.Went to Scheffer's farm.I found him at home,conversed with him,and walked with him over all his cultivated ground.He had 140acres granted to him,fourteen of which are in cultivation,twelve in maize,one in wheat and one in vines and tobacco.He has besides twenty-three acres on which the trees are cut down but not burnt off the land.

He resigned his appointment and began his farm last May,and had at first five convicts to assist him;he has now four.All his maize,except three acres,is mean.This he thinks may be attributed to three causes:

a middling soil;too dry a spring;and from the ground not being sufficiently pulverized before the seed was put into it.The wheat is thin and poor:he does not reckon its produce at more than eight or nine bushels.

His vines,900in number,are flourishing,and will,he supposes,bear fruit next year.His tobacco plants are not very luxuriant:to these two last articles he means principally to direct his exertions.He says (and truly)that they will always be saleable and profitable.On one of the boundaries of his land is plenty of water.A very good brick house is nearly completed for his use,by the governor;and in the meantime he lives in a very decent one,which was built for him on his settling here.

He is to be supplied with provisions from the public store,and with medical assistance for eighteen months,reckoning from last May.

At the expiration of this period he is bound to support himself and the four convicts are to be withdrawn.But if he shall then,or at any future period,declare himself able to maintain a moderate number of these people for their labour,they will be assigned to him.

Mr.Scheffer is a man of industry and respectable character.He came out to this country as superintendant of convicts,at a salary of forty pounds per annum,and brought with him a daughter of twelve years old.He is by birth a Hessian,and served in America,in a corps of Yaghers,with the rank of lieutenant.He never was professionally,in any part of life,a farmer,but he told me,that his father owned a small estate on the banks of the Rhine,on which he resided,and that he had always been fond of looking at and assisting in his labours,particularly in the vineyard.

In walking along,he more than once shook his head and made some mortifying observations on the soil of his present domain,compared with the banks of his native stream.He assured me that (exclusive of the sacrifice of his salary)he has expended more than forty pounds in advancing his ground to the state in which I saw it.Of the probability of success in his undertaking,he spoke with moderation and good sense.Sometimes he said he had almost despaired,and had often balanced about relinquishing it;