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 themselves, would play every possible trick to obtain their allowance from the public stores, when they were not entitled, or to get more than their allowances, when they had a certain claim. To put a check upon such practices, the governor, in 1796, had a general muster of all descriptions of people in every part of the colony at the same hour, so that it would be no longer possible, as on former occasions, for one person to manage to answer to his name in two different places, and to draw provisions from both stores. Very shortly after this general muster, the governor made a journey to the banks of the River Hawkesbury, where there is some of the richest land in the colony, but on his return, he had the mortification of seeing a stack of wheat belonging to Government burnt, containing 800 bushels, and it was not certain whether this fire was accidental, since the destruction thus caused made room for as many bushels as were destroyed, which must be