Page:History of New South Wales from the records, Volume 1.djvu/136

38 PREPARATIONS 1787 to prevent their making any attempt on them. The cattle and stock would be likewise properly secured, and the ground marked out for the convicts ; for lists of those intended to be sent being given to the commanding officers, mentioning their age, crimes, trades, and character, they might be so divided as to render few- changes necessary, and the provisions would be ready for issuing without any waste. But if convicts, provisions, &c., must be landed a few days after the ships' arrival, and consequently nearly iiiconveni- ^^ ^^^ same time, great inconvenience will arise, and to keep the hended!*^'* convicts more than a few days on board, after they get into a port, considering the length of time which they must inevitably be con- fined, may be attended with consequences easier to conceive than to point out in a letter. Add to this, fevers of a malignant kind may make it necessary to have a second hospital P^Mniiiar ^ ship's company is landed, huts raised, and the sick provided S tiieawe. ^^^ ^^ * couple of days ; but here the greater number are convicts, in whom no confidence can be placed, and against whom both person and provisions are to be guarded. Everything necessary for the settlement would be received at the Cape on board by the commanding officer, and nothing left for the transports but a certain proportion of live stock. Manage- The confining the convicts on board the ships requires some £S2d.°" consideration. Sickness must be the consequence in so long a voyage (six months may be allowed for iSLe voyage — that is, from the time of leaving England to the arrival in Botany Bay), and disagreeable consequences may be feared if they have the liberty of the deck. The sooner the crimes and behaviour of these people are known the better, as they may be divided, and the greatest villains particularly guarded against in one transport. The women. The women in general, I should suppose, possess neither virtue nor honesty. But there may be some for theft who still retain some degree of virtue, and these should be permitted to keep together, and strict orders to the master of the transport be given that they are not abused and insulted by the ship's company — which is said to have been the case too often when they were sent to America. iu-aiids in At the ports we put into for water, &c., there may be some sick ^^ that may have fever of such a nature that it may be necessary for the safety of the rest to remove them out of the ship. In such a case, how am I to act 1 Digitized by Google