An Account of the English Colony in New South Wales, Volume 1: With Remarks on the Dispositions, Customs, Manners, Etc. of The; Native Inhabitants of That Country. to Which Are Added, Some; Particulars of New Zealand; Compiled, By Permission, From; The Mss. of Lieutenant-Governor King.Collins, David
History
An Account of the English Colony in New South Wales, Volume 1: With Remarks on the Dispositions, Customs, Manners, Etc. of The; Native Inhabitants of That Country. to Which Are Added, Some; Particulars of New Zealand; Compiled, By Permission, From; The Mss. of Lieutenant-Governor King.
Collins, David
New South Wales -- Description and travel
July.] On the first of this month the _Daedalus_ sailed to convey to
Captain Vancouver the provisions and stores which had been required by
that officer. Lieutenant Hanson, the naval agent on board, received the
most pointed orders for the ship to return to this port immediately after
having executed the service on which she was then going. The _Daedalus_
was considered as a colonial ship; and nothing but Captain Vancouver's
express requisition to have the stores and provisions which were on board
her (the stores being chiefly articles of traffic) sent back to him, to
enable him to fulfil the instructions he had received, would have induced
the lieutenant-governor, in the present state of the colony, to have
parted with her, when it was not improbable that her services might be
wanting to procure supplies, and at no very distant period, if ships did
not arrive.
The _Daedalus_ being, like other ships which had preceded her, short of
hands, the master was permitted to recruit his numbers here, and took
with him six convicts, who had served their several terms of
transportation, and were of good character; and two seamen, who had been
left behind from other ships. The extensive population of the islands at
some of which the _Daedalus_ might have occasion to touch rendered it
absolutely necessary that she should be completely manned; as we well
knew the readiness with which, at all times, their inhabitants availed
themselves of any inferiority or weakness which they might discover
among us.
On board of the _Daedalus_ also was embarked a native of this country,
who was sent by the lieutenant-governor for the purpose of acquiring our
language. Lieutenant Hanson was directed by no means to leave him at
Nootka, but, if he survived the voyage, to bring him back safe to his
friends and countrymen. His native names were Gnung-a gnung-a,
Mur-re-mur-gan; but he had for a long time entirely lost them, even among
his own people, who called him 'Collins,' after the judge-advocate, whose
name he had adopted on the first day of his coming among us. He was a man
of a more gentle disposition than most of his associates; and, from the
confidence he placed in us, very readily undertook the voyage, although
he left behind him a young wife (a sister of Bennillong who accompanied
Governor Phillip) of whom he always appeared extremely fond.
On Saturday the 6th the intended change took place in the ration; and it
being a week on which pork was to be issued, three pounds of that
article were served instead of four. The other articles remained the
same.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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