In Their Flight One Was Killed,
And Seven Were Wounded, For The Most Part Very Severely:
Those who had
the good fortune to outstrip their comrades and arrive in camp, first gave
the alarm; and a detachment of marines, under an officer, was ordered
to march to their relief.
The officer arrived too late to repel the Indians;
but he brought in the body of the man that was killed, and put an end
to the pursuit. The governor was justly incensed at what had happened,
and instituted the most rigorous scrutiny into the cause which had produced it.
At first the convicts were unanimous in affirming, that they were
quietly picking sweet-tea*, when they were without provocation assaulted
by the natives, with whom they had no wish to quarrel. Some of them, however,
more irresolute than the rest, at last disclosed the purpose for which
the expedition had been undertaken; and the whole were ordered to be
severely flogged: Arabanoo was present at the infliction of the punishment;
and was made to comprehend the cause and the necessity of it; but he displayed
on the occasion symptoms of disgust and terror only.
[*A vegetable creeper found growing on the rocks, which yields,
on infusion in hot water, a sweet astringent taste, whence it derives
its name: to its virtues the healthy state of the soldiery and convicts
must be greatly attributed. It was drank universally.]
On the 24th instant the 'Supply' arrived from Norfolk Island,
and Lord Howe Island, bringing from the latter place three turtles.
An awful and terrible example of justice took place towards the close
of this month, which I record with regret, but which it would be disingenuous
to suppress. Six marines, the flower of our battalion, were hanged
by the public executioner, on the sentence of a criminal court,
composed entirely of their own officers, for having at various times
robbed the public stores of flour, meat, spirits, tobacco,
and many other articles.
CHAPTER IV.
Transactions of the Colony in April and May, 1789.
An extraordinary calamity was now observed among the natives. Repeated
accounts brought by our boats of finding bodies of the Indians in all the coves
and inlets of the harbour, caused the gentlemen of our hospital to procure
some of them for the purposes of examination and anatomy. On inspection,
it appeared that all the parties had died a natural death: pustules,
similar to those occasioned by the small pox, were thickly spread
on the bodies; but how a disease, to which our former observations had led us
to suppose them strangers, could at once have introduced itself,
and have spread so widely, seemed inexplicable.* Whatever might be the cause,
the existence of the malady could no longer be doubted. Intelligence
was brought that an Indian family lay sick in a neighbouring cove:
the governor, attended by Arabanoo, and a surgeon, went in a boat immediately
to the spot. Here they found an old man stretched before a few lighted sticks,
and a boy of nine or ten years old pouring water on his head, from a shell
which he held in his hand: near them lay a female child dead,
and a little farther off, its unfortunate mother: the body of the woman
shewed that famine, superadded to disease, had occasioned her death:
eruptions covered the poor boy from head to foot; and the old man was
so reduced, that he was with difficulty got into the boat. Their situation
rendered them incapable of escape, and they quietly submitted to be led away.
Arabanoo, contrary to his usual character, seemed at first unwilling
to render them any assistance; but his shyness soon wore off, and he treated
them with the kindest attention. Nor would he leave the place until
he had buried the corpse of the child: that of the woman he did not see
from its situation; and as his countrymen did not point it out,
the governor ordered that it should not be shown to him. He scooped a grave
in the sand with his hands, of no peculiarity of shape, which he lined
completely with grass, and put the body into it, covering it also with grass;
and then he filled up the hole, and raised over it a small mound with the earth
which had been removed. Here the ceremony ended, unaccompanied
by any invocation to a superior being, or any attendant circumstance
whence an inference of their religious opinions could be deduced.
[*No solution of this difficulty had been given when I left the country,
in December, 1791. I can, therefore, only propose queries for the ingenuity
of others to exercise itself upon: is it a disease indigenous to the country?
Did the French ships under Monsieur de Peyrouse introduce it? Let it be
remembered that they had now been departed more than a year; and we had never
heard of its existence on board of them. Had it travelled across the continent
from its western shore, where Dampier and other European voyagers
had formerly landed? Was it introduced by Mr. Cook? Did we give it birth
here? No person among us had been afflicted with the disorder
since we had quitted the Cape of Good Hope, seventeen months before.
It is true, that our surgeons had brought out variolous matter in bottles;
but to infer that it was produced from this cause were a supposition
so wild as to be unworthy of consideration.]
An uninhabited house, near the hospital, was allotted for their reception,
and a cradle prepared for each of them. By the encouragement of Arabanoo,
who assured them of protection, and the soothing behaviour of our medical
gentlemen, they became at once reconciled to us, and looked happy and grateful
at the change of their situation. Sickness and hunger had, however,
so much exhausted the old man, that little hope was entertained
of his recovery. As he pointed frequently to his throat, at the instance
of Arabanoo, he tried to wash it with a gargle which was given to him;
but the obstructed, tender state of the part rendered it impracticable.
'Bado, bado' (water), was his cry:
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