The governor, well knowing, from his former habits, that if he punished and sent him to hard labour, he would quickly rejoin his late companions, thought it more advisable to endeavour to make him useful even in the mode of living which he seemed to prefer; he therefore pardoned him, and proposed his attempting, with the assistance of his friends, to take some of the convicts who were at large in the woods; two of whom had, just before Wilson's appearance, stolen two mares, the property of private individuals, but which were allowed to be kept during the night in a stable belonging to government. Wilson, among other articles of information, mentioned, that he had been upwards of 100 miles in every direction round the settlement. In the course of his travelling he had noticed several animals, which, from his description, had not been seen in any of the districts; and to the northwest of the head of the Hawkesbury, he came upon a very extensive tract of open and well-watered country, where he had seen a bird of the pheasant species, and a quadruped, which he said was larger than a dog, having its hind parts thin, and bearing no proportion to the shoulders, which were strong and large. It is not improbable, that Wilson invented these circumstances in the hope of obtaining some attention, and thereby averting the punishment which he expected, and well knew that he had long deserved. If it be painful to the writer of these sheets to find little else than crimes and their consequences to record, how much more painful must it have been to have lived where they were daily committed. Particularly so must it have proved to the gentleman who was in the chief direction of the settlement, who found himself either obliged to punish with severity, or to be fearful even of administering justice in mercy, lest that mercy should prove detrimental in the end, by encouraging others to offend in the hope of impunity.