Thus there were among the free adults only twenty-seven women for a hundred men, that is to say, that seventy-three men in a hundred were absolutely prevented from marrying. The relative proportion of convicts of the two sexes is not indicated in the above account, but it is known that originally the male convicts formed the great majority, and that there were ever afterwards far fewer women than men. In 1825[64] the number of inhabitants amounted to nearly 50,000; but from this period the convicts were mostly sent to Van Diemen’s Land, and the white population of Australia diminished rapidly from not receiving regular reinforcements. In 1836 there were only 36,598 of all classes. Free men 13,456 } ” women 7,474 } 20,930 Convicts men 14,135 } ” women 1,513 } 15,668 ------ 36,598 There were thus, among the convicts, only one woman to nine men, and among the free population one woman to two men.[65] Hence may be explained the small increase of the population during the first periods of the colony and the considerable decrease which corresponds to the period from 1825 to 1830. In 1845, according to Henricq,[66] New South Wales had, since its foundation, already received 90,000 convicts of both sexes, beyond an unknown but considerable number of voluntary emigrants, yet the whole population consisted only of 85,000 individuals. At the same period there were in the free class but three females to five males, and among the convicts one woman to twelve men. In the colony of Hobart Town, in Tasmania, the disproportion was somewhat less, for there were five free females to seven males, and one female convict to twelve men. It is difficult to believe that the free men deprived of women were all gifted with the virtue of continency. But admitting this for a moment, we cannot entertain the same opinion with regard to the convicts, which are certainly not chosen from the most virtuous classes of Great Britain. It must be noticed that the female convicts are not public women in the colony. The government accords certain advantages to convicts who contract legitimate marriages; this is the first step towards their liberation, and when a vessel arrives with a cargo of females they are readily espoused by the convicts. Nine-tenths, therefore, of the latter are entirely deprived of white women. On the other hand they procure _gins_ (the name of Australian females) with the greatest facility, and though it may not be known that many of them cohabit with the females, it may be easily divined and affirmed. “The women of the people of Port Jackson,” says Lesson, “look out for and excite the white men, and prostitute themselves for _a glass of brandy_.”[67]