d
names given him, and given with several ceremonies. Wives also were
allotted them, and one or two had children. They were never required to
go out on any occasion of hostility, and were in general supplied by the
natives with fish or other food, being considered by them (for so their
situation only could be construed) as unfortunate strangers thrown upon
their shore from the mouth of the yawning deep, and entitled to their
protection. They told us a ridiculous story, that the natives appeared to
worship them, often assuring them, when they began to understand each
other, that they were undoubtedly the ancestors of some of them who had
fallen in battle, and had returned from the sea to visit them again; and
one native appeared firmly to believe that his father was come back in
the person of either Lee or Connoway, and took him to the spot where his
body had been burnt. On being told that immense numbers of people existed
far beyond their little knowledge, they instantly pronounced them to be
the spirits of their countrymen, which, after death, had migrated into
other regions.

It appeared from these four men, that the language to the northward
differed wholly from any that we knew. Among the natives who lived with
us, there were none who understood all that they said, and of those who
occasionally came in, one only could converse with them. He was a very
fine lad, of the name of Wur-gan. His mother had been born and bred
beyond the mountains, but one luckless day, paying a visit with some of
her tribe to the banks of the Dee-rab-bun (for so the Hawkesbury was
named) she was forcibly prevented returning, and, being obliged to submit
to the embraces of an amorous and powerful Be-dia-gal, the fruit of her
visit was this boy. Speaking herself more dialects than one, she taught
her son all she knew, and he, being of quick parts, and a roving
disposition, caught all the different dialects from Botany Bay to Port
Stephens.

We understood that Lieutenant-governor Grose in the _Daedalus_ had
reached Rio de Janeiro in eleven weeks from his sailing hence, and that
all on board were in health.

Public labour was scarcely anywhere performed in this month, owing to the
extreme badness of the weather which prevailed. The rain and wind were so
violent for some days after the arrival of the _Providence_, that neither
that ship nor the _Endeavour_ had much communication with the shore.
Accounts were received from the Hawkesbury, that