ivil and
military establishment waited upon the governor, and paid their respects
to his excellency in honor of the day. At one o'clock the ships of war
again fired twenty-one guns each; and the transports in the cove made up
the same number between them, according to their irregular method on
those occasions. The officers of the navy and settlement were entertained
by the governor at dinner, and, among other toasts, named and fixed the
boundaries of the first _county_ in his Majesty's territory of New South
Wales. This was called Cumberland County, in honor of his Majesty's
second brother; and the limits of it to the northward were fixed by the
northernmost point of Broken Bay, to the southward by the southernmost
point of Broken [sic] Bay, and to the westward by Lansdown and Carmarthen
Hills (the name given to the range of mountains seen by the governor in
an excursion to the northward). At sunset the ships of war paid their
last compliment to his Majesty by a third time firing twenty-one guns
each. At night several bonfires were lighted; and, by an allowance of
spirits given on this particular occasion, every person in the colony was
enabled to drink his Majesty's health.

Some of the worst among the convicts availed themselves of the
opportunity that was given them in the evening, by the absence of several
of the officers and people from their tents and huts, to commit
depredations. One officer on going to his tent found a man in it, whom
with some difficulty he secured, after wounding him with his sword. The
tent of another was broken into, and several articles of wearing apparel
stolen out of it; and many smaller thefts of provisions and clothing were
committed among the convicts. Several people were taken into custody, and
two were afterwards tried and executed. One of these had absconded, and
lived in the woods for nineteen days, existing by what he was able to
procure by nocturnal depredations among the huts and stock of
individuals. His visits for this purpose were so frequent and daring,
that it became absolutely necessary to proclaim him an outlaw, as well as
to declare that no person must harbour him after such proclamation.

Exemplary punishments seemed about this period to be growing daily more
necessary. Stock was often killed, huts and tents broke open, and
provisions constantly stolen about the latter end of the week; for among
the convicts there were many who knew not how to husband their provisions