Page:History of New South Wales from the records, Volume 1.djvu/369

THE GHKQNICIJ2S OF SYDNEY OQVE. 257 versation and inquiry.*' It did not occur to Collins, or any 17M-1808 of his friends, that the pigs were only carrying out the prin- ciple on which Lord Sydney had acted in populating the colony — an excess of maJee to females, by four to one. Another event which might have induced a less serious chronicler to relax was the first performance of a play by The first the convicts, " in a hut fitted up for the occasion." They ^ '** were allowed to amuse themselves in this manner on the occasion of his Majesty's birthday in 1789, Farquiar's comedy — the Recruiting Officer — being the piece selected. A sketch of the performance, a copy of the prologue, or any other information of the kind, might well have found a place in the chronicler's pages ; but he confines himself to the RiBtim remark that the performers professed no higher aim than 'humbly to excite a smile,' and their efforts to please were not miattended with success." Collins having left the colony in September, 1796, and remained in England until he received his commission as Lieutenant-Governor of the projected colony at Port Phillip in 1803, the materials for the second volume of his work,, published in 1802, were necessarily furnished by another hand; but whose the hand that furnished them was not mentioned by him, and consequently the authorship of the An unknown second volume was never made known. There is no diffi- cuhy, however, in discovering the author; internal evidence being quite sufficient to show that the journal which forms the contents of the volume was written by Governor Hunter. He left the colony in September, 1800, and the narrative closes with an account of his embarkation. The only allusion made by Collins to the question of authorship is in his preface, in which he says that the very flattering reception which his first volume had met with had induced Um to continue his labours in the character of historian ; Governor Hunter. having been furnished with materials for this purpose, on the authenticity of which I can safely stake my credit." So far as style is concerned, there is a good deal more resem- blance than contrast between the two volumes; Hunter Digitized by Google