found a considerable quantity of a yellow coloured
ore, which, upon its being tried, appeared to have a certain
proportion of gold in it; at this time the governor happened to
be absent on a short excursion into the country, to the
northward: the report having been made to the
lieutenant-governor, he, of course, examined the man, who had
made the discovery, and who told his story with so much
plausibility, that it was not doubted but an ore of some kind had
been sound.

Dailey was interrogated as to the place, but this he refused
to give any information of until the return of the governor, to
whom he would give a full account of the discovery, provided he
would grant him what the discoverer considered as but a small
compensation for so valuable an acquisition; this reward was, (as
there were ships upon the point of sailing) his own and a
particular woman convict's enlargement, and a passage in one of
the ships to England, together with a specified sum of money,
which I do not now recollect. The lieutenant-governor insisted,
that as he had already mentioned the discovery he had made, he
should also show what part of the country it was in, otherwise he
might expect punishment, for daring to impose upon those officers
to whom he had related this business: the fear of punishment
disposed him to incline a little, though apparently with much
reluctance; he proposed to the lieutenant-governor, that an
officer should be sent down the harbour with him, for the mine,
which, he said, was in the lower part of the harbour, and near
the sea shore, and he would show the place to the officer.

Accordingly, an officer, with a corporal and two or three
private soldiers were sent with him; he landed where he said the
walk would be but short, and they entered the wood in their way
to the mine; soon after they got among the bushes, he applied for
permission to go to one side for a minute upon some necessary
occasion, which was granted him; the officer continued there some
hours without seeing the discoverer again, who, immediately on
getting out of his sight, had pushed off for the camp by land,
for he knew the road very well, and he had cunning enough to
persuade the officer to send the boat away as soon as they had
landed, as he supposed he would not choose to quit the place
until a good guard came down; for which purpose, the officer was
to have dispatched a man by land, as soon as he arrived at the
place, and was satisfied that it