shed and intended, and on passing a
small island laying off the coast he discovered a smoke, and
supposed it to have been made by some natives, with whom he wished
to have an opportunity of conversing. On approaching the shore he
found the men were white, and had some clothing on, and when he
came near he observed two of them take to the water and swim off.
They proved to be seven of a gang of fourteen convicts who escaped
from hence in a boat on the 2nd of October last, and who had been
treacherously left on this desolate island by the other seven, who
returned northward. The boat, it seems, was too small for their
whole number, and when they arrived at Broken Bay they boarded
another boat [lying] in the Hawkesbury with fifty-six bushels of
wheat on board; then they went off with her to the northward,
leaving their old boat on shore.

"These poor distressed wretches" (the seven convicts discovered by
Bass), "who were chiefly Irish, would have endeavoured to travel
northward and thrown themselves upon His Majesty's mercy, but were
not able to get from this miserable island to the mainland. Mr.
Bass' boat was too small to accommodate them with a passage, and,
as his provision was nearly expended, he could only help them to
the mainland, where he furnished them with a musket and ammunition
and a pocket compass, with lines and fish-hooks. Two of the seven
were very ill, and those he took into his boat, and shared his
provisions with the other five, giving them the best directions in
his power how to proceed, the distance" (to Sydney) "being not
less than five hundred miles. He recommended them to keep along
the coast the better to enable them to get food. Indeed, the
difficulties of the country and the possibility of meeting hostile
natives are considerations which will occasion doubts of their
ever being able to reach us.

"When they parted with Mr. Bass and his crew, who gave them what
cloaths they could spare, some tears were shed on both sides. The
whale-boat arrived in this port after an absence of twelve weeks,
and Mr. Bass delivered to me his observations on this adventur'g
expedition. I find he made several excursions into the interior of
the country wherever he had an opportunity. It will be sufficient
to say that he found in general a barren, unpromising country,
wi