[Footnote 145: "The sight was awfully grand. The pilot commanded all below, but I said I should like to see the end of it: they counted off eleven feet; we drew seven and a half: there were but seven in the hollow of the sea! At this moment a large billow carried us forward on its raging head. The pilot's countenance relaxed: he looked like a man reprieved under the gallows."--_Backhouse's Narrative._] [Footnote 146: Barnes: _Par. Pap._, 1837.] [Footnote 147: Ibid.] [Footnote 148: _Tasmanian Journal_, vol. ii. p. 205.] [Footnote 149: _Backhouse's Narrative._] [Footnote 150: Ibid.] [Footnote 151: They called to the men, as they ascended the scaffold--"Good-by, Bob; good-by, Jack."--_Par. Pap._] [Footnote 152: To describe this region, requires the awful coloring of Milton:-- "Rocks, caves, lakes, fens, bogs, dens, and shades of death, Where all life dies; death lives; and nature breeds Perverse; all monstrous, all prodigious things; _Abominable_; UNUTTERABLE!" _Paradise Lost_, book ii.] [Footnote 153: _Sydney Cove, 17th July_, 1790. "The consequence of a failure of a crop, when we no longer depend upon any supplies from Great Britain, will be obvious; and to guard against which is one reason for my being so desirous of having a few settlers, to whom, as the first, I think every possible encouragement should be given. In them I should have some resource, and amongst them proper people might be found to act in different capacities, at little or no expense to government; for, as the number of convicts and others increase, civil magistrates, &c. will be necessary."] [Footnote 154: _Par. Papers_, 1792; quoted by Saxe Bannister, Esq.] [Footnote 155: Besides the reference in Collins, several modern writers have alluded to this fact; but in conversation with Mr. G. W. Walker, the author has been given to understand, that neither he nor his colleague, Mr. Backhouse, ever heard of this projected emigration. The correspondence upon the subject would probably disclose more clearly the ultimate views of the imperial government. Dr. Laing assigns, for the relinquishment of the project, a refusal to extend the laws of England to the settlement,--but gives no authority.] SECTION X. The spirit of the Commissioner's propositions was embodied by the home government, and its offers were published in various forms; chiefly, indeed, by the diligence of adventurers who, to freight their ships, filled volumes, and depicted in lively colors the beauty of the colonies. The intending settler was told, that not only would he find cheap land and cheap labor, but a large return for his produce.