er's taking the reins of government
a cow was sold for 80_l._, a horse cost 90_l._, and a Cape sheep 7_l._
10_s._ Other prices were in proportion; fresh meat was very scarce, and
the various attempts to import live stock had been far from successful.
Still a _beginning_ had been made, and it is astonishing how rapidly
rural wealth began to multiply in New South Wales, after the difficulties
of the first eight or ten years had been overcome.

Captain Hunter was rather fond of exploring the unknown country which
extended behind, or to the northward or southward of, the narrow limits
of the British colony: and during his administration its boundaries were
considerably enlarged, and some valuable discoveries were made. One of
the most important of these was a discovery which served to prove the
claim of the colony to be called New South Wales, from its resemblance
to the country whence its name was taken, in one production at least. In
1796, some persons returned from fishing in a bay considerably to the
northward of Port Jackson, and brought with them several large pieces of
_coal_, which they said that they had found at some little distance from
the beach, lying in quantities on the surface of the ground. This was
the first knowledge obtained by the settlers of the value of the
productions of the coast at the mouth of the river Hunter, and at the
place where coals were found so abundantly there now exists a township,
furnishing the whole colony with a supply of that useful article,
besides having a large trade in lime, which is made from the
oyster-shells that are found there in immense quantities. The
appropriate name of this township is Newcastle.

Many needful and praiseworthy regulations were made by Captain Hunter,
who endeavoured to enforce attendance on Divine service, and the proper
observance of the Sunday; and who took great pains also to discover and
punish those encroachments upon the public stores which had been
continually made. The convicts whose time of punishment had expired,
but who were unable to get a passage to England, were frequently more
troublesome and ill-disposed, being less under authority than the others
were. These emancipists, as they were called, would occasionally indeed
withdraw from receiving the ration allowed by Government; but then it
was only in the hope of avoiding labour, and living by pillage. Or else
these men, together with others not less ill-disposed than themselve