ntion at work on the one hand to impose, and on
the other to provide a remedy against the evil! No one, from the picture
of his arduous situation which these and the preceding pages have held
up, will envy the office of the governor, or of those officers who
supported his authority, or think that they cheaply earned the salaries
that they were allowed.

The necessity of a vessel to keep up a more frequent intercourse with
Norfolk Island, having been much felt by the want of various stores for
the use of the inhabitants, occasioned Captain Townson, the commanding
officer, to construct a small decked boat, sloop rigged, in which he sent
his letters to this port, where she arrived on the 15th; but through the
want of a harbour at that island, a want that must ever be felt, they
were obliged to launch her from the shore, and proceed immediately to
sea, whether she was sufficiently tight or not. The consequence was, that
she proved very leaky; but with two pumps, which they fortunately had
fitted on board her, they were able to keep the water under.*

[* A man upon the island had sufficient ingenuity to make a
quadrant for navigating this vessel.]

The maize harvest on the part of government was all got in during this
month; but some of the new buildings were rather retarded by the rain
which fell toward the latter end of it.

CHAPTER XII

Three southern whalers arrive, and an American from the Isle of France
A transport with female convicts arrives from England
_Reliance_ arrives from Norfolk Island
Information
John Raynor executed
Profligacy of the female part of the settlement
August
Civil regulations
The Sabbath neglected
Attendance enforced
Two whalers arrive
Public works
A native girl killed
Consequences
An extraordinary custom among them
September
The _Barwell_ sails for China, and the _Hunter_ for New Zealand
The bones of two horses found
Whalers sail
Public works
Weather
Fears for the approaching harvest

July.] The month opened with the arrival of the _Cornwall_, Southern
whaler, the master of which brought an account, that some Spanish
cruisers having appeared off Cape Horn, the whalers of the southern
fishery were directed to pass into these seas during the war. This ship
was directly followed by two others, the _Eliza_ from the Cape of
Good Hope, and the _Sally_.

This circumstance was likely to be attended with some advantages to the
settlement. The whale fishing on the coast wo