their apprehension of any insult. It was perhaps fortunate that
my gun did not go off; as I was so displeased at their treachery,
that it is highly probable I might have shot one of them.

On comparing the accounts, which were taken by the different
boats employed upon this business, it appeared that we had
seen--Canoes 67--men 94--women 34--children 9,--which is by no
means a just account of the numbers who, at that time, lived in
and about this harbour; for I have since seen in one part of the
harbour more than that number.

On the 27th, the Supply tender arrived from Norfolk Island,
where she had been with a quantity of provisions and stores for
that settlement; she brought the melancholy account of the loss
of Mr. James Cunningham, and four others, who were drowned in the
surf, by their boat being overset in landing the stores from the
Supply; so exceedingly difficult of access is the shore of that
island, from an almost continual surf breaking on a reef which
encompasses the coast on that part where the settlement is
formed.

In this month a report prevailed in the settlement, which
seemed at first to gain some credit:--It was, that one
-Dailey_, a convict, had discovered a piece of ground,
wherein he had found a considerable quantity of a yellow coloured
ore, which, upon its being tried, appeared to have a certain
proportion of gold in it; at this time the governor happened to
be absent on a short excursion into the country, to the
northward: the report having been made to the
lieutenant-governor, he, of course, examined the man, who had