surprising and successful dexterity. There can be little doubt that many support themselves wholly in this manner, as idle fellows are to be met with constantly prowling about, under various pretences, but notoriously intent on plunder, or mischief of some kind, which is still dear to their hearts. Of this description chiefly were the wretches whom I noticed skulking around the Factory at Parramatta, corrupting some of the women there, and persecuting others.

Various means have been adopted to restrain the irregularities of convicts thus at large, and punishinents of a summary kind are frequently inflicted. Of these, the most severe next to that of death is transportation to the Coal River, which is ordered usually by His Honour the Judge Advocate, or a Bench of Magistrates, for a term of years, or for life, as the enormity of the offence may require. Convicts dread this mode of punishment very much, because they are there compelled to work in chains from sun-rise till sun-set, and are subject also to other restrictions of a highly penal description. The rigour of this sentence is, however, frequently relaxed in degree, as the criminal shows signs of amendment; and in very few cases is it found necessary to subject any of the convicts to a repetition of that sentence. Punishment by flogging is sometimes resorted to, and the infliction, which may be ordered by any Magistrate on conviction, seldom exceeds twenty-five lashes.

For females, it is considered sufficiently severe to confine them for a limited time to constant labour in the Factory at Parramatta ; but enough has been said on that subject to satisfy that they can benefit but

very little from such a discipline. The restraint produced by those punishments generally has some effect in preventing crime; but that of sending offenders to the Coal River, to which punishment females as well as males are liable, appears the most dreaded, and crimes are evidently less frequent than might be expected in a population composed of such mischievous materials.

CHAPTER V.

SITUATION AND DUTIES OF THE SURGEON
SUPERINTENDENT.

As the welfare of the convicts, and their advance, ment or retrocession in moral reformation, depend materially upon the exertion, apathy, or capability of the Surgeon Superintendent, it may not be out of place, or destitute of interest, to say something regarding the duties attached to that appointment.

The transportation of convicts to the colony seems entirely a mercantile concern, in which the Government contracts, as a private individual would, with the ship-owner for the conveyance of a certain number of tons, at a fixed rate, and the tonnage is estimated according to the ship's register. In this case, Government supplies provisions for the prisoners, besides other necessary stores, which are placed under the charge of the Master, to be afterwards issued on proper occasions.

A premium of fifty pounds is held out to the Master for a faithful discharge of his duty; and satisfactory vouchers for the correctness of his conduct, and humane treatment of the prisoners while on board, signed by the Governor of the colony, and the Surgeon Superintendent of the ship, must be produced for that

purpose. This part part of his duty is independent of his concerns as Commander, and the proper treatment of his sailors, with which the Government have no right to interfere, save as far as it relates to the state of discipline maintained on board, to prevent mutiny, or improper conduct of the sailors, by which the security and management of the prisoners may be endangered or interrupted.

The following extract from the printed Instructions furnished by the Navy Board to the Master, may serve to show the exactness required of him in this respect. "For your guidance in the particular line of duty allotted to the Surgeon of the Morley, we inclose a copy of our Instructions to him, in order that you may regulate yourself accordingly; and we refer you to the 24th article of those Instructions against the prostitution of the female convicts in the vessel under your cominand, which you are to consider as equally applying to yourself, and of which we enjoin your strictest observance, both in your own conduct, and in the exercise of your authority over all the persons under your controul; and the like certificate from the Governor of New South Wales, of your adherence to these directions, will be required before the gratuity allowed on your return will be taken into consideration."

The article in the Surgeon's Instructions, to which the above has reference, runs as follows: "In consequence of a communication from the Secretary of State, relative to the state of prostitution in which it is represented the female convicts, during the passage to New South Wales, have been permitted to live with

the officers and seamen of the ships in which they were embarked, we desire that you will take the most particular care to prevent the prostitution of the female convicts who may be embarked, as far as possible, and, independently of showing a good example in this respect, that you will not, under any pretence whatever, suffer any officer or seaman to live with a woman on the passage; and we inform you that instructions have been given by the Secretary of State to the Governor of New South Wales, to examine whether these directions have been fully complied with; and that to enable you to receive your gratuity, it is necessary that you should procure a certificate from His Excellency, as to the measures taken by you to enforce these regulations through the ship; when it will be considered how far your conduct entitles you to such gratuity,"

In former times the owners of ships chartered for the conveyance of convicts to the colonies, and used also to contract for victualling them during the voy, age, and were even at liberty to provide persons of their own choice to act as surgeons. With what qualifications, intellectual or moral, those medical gentlemen entered on the duties of this most important branch of the service, it is not my purpose here to inquire. But the ship-owner in those days contracted for a certain number to be embarked, without any stipulation being entered into for landing them safely at the place of destination ;—a material distinction, as is evident when it is considered, that it was by no means uncommon for a ship of this description to have from forty to seventy deaths, and upwards, in the

;