Page:History of New South Wales from the records, Volume 1.djvu/387

DOUBTFUL PROSPECTS. §75 ^ays great quantities are caugBt, but never sufficient to save any 1786 pflcrt of the proviBions, and at times fish are scarce. 15 Uacf. Your lordship will, I presume, see the necessity of a regular supply of provisions for four or five years ; and of cloathing, shoes, ProvMaBi and frocks in the greatest proportion* The necessary implements *° ■ '^^ for husbandry, and for clearing the ground, brought out, will with difficulty be made to serve the time that is necessary for sending out a fresh supply. Phillip had not been long in the country before he began ^he food to feel more than doubtful about the prospect of obtaining *J^®*****°- sufficient snppliea from it to keep his people alive. He saw that little or nothing could be expected from the cultivation of the soil for some time, partly because the land in the neighbourhood of the settlement was unfit for the purpose^ cultivation. and partly because there were no men in it who had any practical knowledge of farming. Had it been otherwise, there would still have remained the necessity of storing the crops raised during the first two years for seed, the supply sent out in the first instance having proved worthless. As he explained in a subsequent despatch, *^ all the seed wheat, and the greatest part of the other grains and seeds seed. brought from England, had been heated in the long passage,'^ and very little of what was sown had vegetated. Equal difficulties were experienced with the live stock. Sheep and cattle did not seem to thrive on the native ^^ *°<* grasses; the sheep were killed by them, and the cattle escaped into the interior in search of better feed as soon as l^ey got loose. The natural resources of the country in tke shape of fish and wild game were too uncertain ^i> ^^ to depend upon. The fish deserted the harbour at the approack of winter, and even in summer the supply was never sufficient to prove a substitute for ordinary rations. As soon as the pressure of hunger began to be felt, fishing and shooting parties were organised and despatched in difierent directions ; but with all their efforts they could not do more than furnish small quantities of fresk food, invaluable no doubt to people who had to live mainly on Digitized by Google