some sow thistles and a musk duck, and the pull to Port Fairy was
hard and long. They landed about four o'clock in the afternoon, and
Captain Mills told them not to eat anything, saying he would give
them something better. At that time there was a liquor called "black
strap," brought out in the convict ships for the use of the
prisoners, and it was sold with the ships' surplus stores in Sydney
and Hobarton. Mills had some of it at Port Fairy. He now put a
kettle full of it on the fire, and when it was warmed gave each man a
half a pint to begin with. He then told them to go and get supper,
and afterwards he gave each of them another half pint.

Rum was in those days a very profitable article of commerce, and the
trade in it was monopolised by the Government officers, civil and
military. Like flour in the back settlements of the United States,
it was reckoned "ekal to cash," and was made to do the office of the
pagoda tree in India, which rained dollars at every shake.

The boat that was lost by Smith at the Hopkins was found in good
condition, half filled with sand. Joe Wilson went for it afterwards,
and brought it back to Port Fairy. He was a native of Sydney, and
nephew of Raibey of Launceston, and was murdered not long afterwards
at the White Hills. He was sent by Raibey on horseback to Hobarton
to buy the revenue cutter 'Charlotte', which had been advertised for
sale. He was shot by a man who was waiting for him behind a tree.
He fell from his horse, and although he begged hard for his life, the
man beat out his brains with the gun. The murderer took all the
money Wilson had, which was only one five-pound note, the number of
which Raibey knew. A woman tried to pass it in Launceston, and her
statements led to the discovery and conviction of the murderer, who
was hanged in chains at the White Hills, and the gibbet remained