loss which the sufferers had sustained. In a few days this extraordinary
collection of water had found its way to the sea, and, the river
regaining its usual level, the settlers set about new cropping their
grounds; for which purpose they made application for seed wheat, that
certainly could not be refused; their other application, for bedding and
clothing, it was not so easy to comply with, from the poverty of the
public stores in these articles.

This fertile spot had, in some seasons, produced from fifteen to twenty
thousand bushels of wheat, and might justly be termed the granary of New
South Wales.

To relieve the inhabitants in some degree from the contemplation of these
distresses, the _Rebecca_, a whaler, came into the Cove from the
Cape of Good Hope, bringing authentic accounts of Lord Nelson's memorable
and brilliant victory over the French fleet at the mouth of the Nile.
This decisive battle was announced to the settlement in a public order,
and by a discharge of all the artillery in the colony.

The master of the _Rebecca_, having brought out a few articles for
sale, chartered the _Nautilus_ to take them to Norfolk island,
thinking to find a better market for them there than at this place, where
the late unsuccessful harvest had neither filled the granary of the
public nor the pocket of the settler. She sailed with this cargo in the
course of a few days.

On the 9th, the _Britannia_ whaler came in from sea, to repair some
damages which she had sustained in bad weather. She had been rather
successful in her fishery, having procured twenty-five tons of spermaceti
oil since her departure; and the master reported, that, had the weather
been more moderate, he should have been enabled to have more than half
filled his ship.

The criminal court was only once assembled during this month; when one
man was condemned to death for a burglary, and another* transported for
fourteen years to Norfolk Island.

[* This man, Isaac Nichols, an overseer, had been accused of
receiving stolen goods; but from some circumstances which occurred on the
trial, the sentence was respited until his Majesty's pleasure could be
taken.]

The civil court was also assembled for the decision of private causes, in
which it was engaged during a week.

Among other public works in hand were, the raising the walls of the new
gaol, laying the upper floor of the wind-mill, and erecting the churches
at Sydney and Parramatta. Most of these bui