FAMINE AND FLOGGING.
43
50, 75,—beside my house, and some fine cattle. We are never without a chest ot tea in the house; we use two in the year. I have paid £40 for a chest of tea in this colony. Tea is a great comfort."
Mrs. Smith's Statement.
"I have seen Dr. —— take a woman who was in the family way, with a rope round her, and duck her in the water at Queen's-wharf. The laws were bad then. If a gentleman wanted a man's wife, he would send the husband to Norfolk Island. I have seen a man flogged for pulling six turnips instead of five. One —— was overseer, the biggest villain that ever lived delighted in torment. He used to walk up and down and rub his hands when the blood ran. When he walked out, the flogger walked behind him. He died a miserable death maggots ate him up; not a man could be found to bury him. I have seen six men executed for stealing 21 lbs. of flour. I have seen a man struck when at work with a handspike, and killed on the spot. I have seen men in tears round Governor ———, begging for food. He would mock them with ' Yes, yes, gentlemen; I'll make you comfortable; give you a nightcap and a pair of stockings!'"
Mrs. Smith was blind: she acted as she spoke, and wept on recalling the horrors of her early life. The house was large, and crowded with furniture. Smith presented Mrs. C. with a pistol as a souvenir, which he pulled out of his belt, saying, " You may depend on it!"
Henry Hale.
Well's Creek, Hawkesbury River, 4th Oct., 1845.
"I arrived in the third fleet on the 16th of October, 1791; it was on a Sunday we landed. The ship's name was Barrington, Captain Marsh. I was sent to Toongabbie. For nine months there I was on five ounces of flour a day—when weighed out, barely four; served daily. In those days we were yoked to draw timber, twenty-five in gang. The sticks were six feet long; six men abreast. We held the stick behind us, and dragged with our hands. One man came ashore in the Pitt; his name was Dixon; he was a guardsman. He was put to the drag; it soon did for him. He began on a Thursday and died on the Saturday, as he was dragging a load down Constitution-hill. There were thirteen hundred died there in six months. Men used to carry trees on their shoulders. How they used to die! The men were weak—dreadfully weak—for want of food. A man named Gibraltar was hung for stealing a loaf out of the governor's kitchen. He got down the chimney, stole the loaf, had a trial, and was hung the next day at sunrise. At this time a full ration was allowed to the governor's dog. This was Governor ——. I have seen seventy men flogged at night twenty-five lashes each. On Sunday evening they used to read the laws. If any man was found out of camp he got twenty-five. The women used to be punished with iron collars. In Governor King's time they used to douse them overboard. They killed one. Dr. —— was a great tyrant. Mine is a life grant from Governor Bourke—fourteen acres. I grow tobacco, wheat, and corn; just enough to make a living."
