filled. No suits could be prosecuted by the crown in
the local court, and vague threats of disfavor were the only means of
recovery: these were understood as formalities. The crown, by the
prohibition of distillation, prevented a consumption of grain, and until
a fixed price was given corn had been sometimes of no value whatever. A
partial market was assured, to prevent the total neglect of agriculture.
The patronage, of course, led to official corruption: many officers
received wheat from their servants in commutation of labor, and some of
more than usual inferiority was thus admitted by a Launceston
commandant, a refugee Frenchman, who threatened to transport the
storekeeper for calling in question its quality. The Commissioner Bigge
recommended the bounty should be entirely abolished, distillation
permitted, and supplies purchased by tender. A deficiency could be no
longer apprehended. There were 7,400 inhabitants, at the close of 1821,
who possessed 15,000 cultivated acres, 35,000 horned cattle, 170,000
sheep, 550 horses, and 5,000 swine. With such resources, the danger of
famine finally disappeared.

The herds were composed chiefly of Bengal cattle, imported at an early
period; but the emigrants introduced the most valued of the English
breeds, which have entirely supplanted the early stock. The herbage and
the climate are equally favorable to the increase of cattle.

The interior of the country being quiet, tickets of occupation were
granted to settlers, who were enabled to establish large herds and
flocks on the lands of the crown. The scarcity of provision in New South
Wales soon created a considerable demand for the produce of this
country, and in 1820 meat, to the value of L10,000, was purchased by the
crown for exportation.[110]

Macquarie, when his administration was drawing to a close, came on a
tour of inspection to Van Diemen's Land. He arrived in the _Midas_. The
squally weather, which prevented his immediate landing, gave time to
prepare for his reception. He disembarked on the 24th April, 1821,
saluted from the battery, and by the military, who lined the road to the
government house. At his former visit in 1810, the population did not
exceed 1,500. A few scattered and miserable huts, separated by
thoroughfares but half recovered from the forests, then constituted the
capital, which had now acquired something of an English aspect: there
were 426 houses, and 2,700 souls.

Few scenes are more pleasing