ne and just in his character; his face, though pinched and pale with
ill-health, had a sweet and benevolent expression; no better man could
have been selected to fill the difficult position he held with so much
credit to himself. He received a handsome pension from the British
Government, and retired to spend his life in English society. Major
Grose and Captain Patterson took charge of the colony for the next three
years; but in 1795 Captain Hunter, who, after the loss of his ship, the
_Sirius_, had returned to England, arrived in Sydney to occupy the
position of Governor.

#8. Governor Hunter.#--By this time affairs had passed their crisis, and
were beginning to be favourable. About sixty convicts, whose sentences
had expired, had received grants of land, and, now that they were
working for themselves, had become successful farmers. Governor Hunter
brought out a number of free settlers, to whom he gave land near the
Hawkesbury; and, after a time, more than six thousand acres were covered
with crops of wheat and maize. There was now no fear of famine, and the
settlement grew to be comfortable in most respects. Unfortunately, the
more recent attempts to import cattle with which to stock the farms had
proved more or less unsuccessful; so that the discovery of a fine herd
of sixty wandering through the meadows of the Hawkesbury was hailed with
great delight. These were the descendants of the cattle which had been
lost from Governor Phillip's herd some years before.

#9. State of the Settlement.#--Twelve years after the foundation of
the colony, its population amounted to between six and seven thousand
persons. These were all settled near Sydney, which was a straggling town
with one main street 200 feet wide, running up the valley from Sydney
Cove, while on the slopes at either side the huts of the convicts were
stationed far apart and each in a fenced-in plot of ground. On the
little hills overlooking the cove, a number of big, bare, stone
buildings were the Government quarters and barracks for the soldiers.

[Illustration: TOWN AND COVE OF SYDNEY IN 1798.
(Compare with page 169.)]

Attempts had been made to penetrate to the west, though without success.
The rugged chain of the Blue Mountains was an impassable barrier.
Seventy miles north of Sydney a fine river--the Hunter--had been
discovered by Lieutenant Shortland while in pursuit of some runaway
convicts who had stolen a boat. Signs of coal having