During this month the governor made an excursion to the westward, but he
reached no farther than the banks of the Hawkesbury, and returned to Rose
Hill on the 6th, without making any discovery of the least importance. At
that settlement, the Indian corn was nearly all gathered off the ground;
but it could not be said to have been all gathered in, for much of it had
been stolen by the convicts. So great a desire for tobacco prevailed
among these people, that a man was known to have given the greatest part
of his week's provisions for a small quantity of that article; and it was
sold, the produce of the place, for ten and even fifteen shillings per
pound. The governor, on being made acquainted with this circumstance,
intimated an intention of prohibiting the growth of tobacco, judging it
to be more for the true interest of the people to cultivate the
necessaries than the luxuries of life.

The public works at Rose Hill consisted in building the officers
barracks; a small guardhouse near the governor's hut; a small house for
the judge-advocate (whose occasional presence there as a magistrate was
considered necessary by the governor), and for the clergyman; and in
getting in the Indian corn.

At Sydney, the house for the surveyor-general was covered in; and the
carpenters were employed in finishing that for the clergyman. Bricks were
also brought in for a house for the principal surgeon, to be built near
the hospital on the west side.

Many thefts, and some of money, were committed during the month at both
settlements. A hut belonging to James Davis, employed as a coxswain to
the public boats, was broken into; but nothing was stolen, Davis having
taken his money with him, and nothing else appearing to have been the
object of their search. His hut was situated out of the view of any