was burnt down in the night a few hours after his decease, by the
carelessness of the people, who were Irish and were sitting up with the
corpse, which was with much difficulty saved from the flames, and not
until it was much scorched.

August.] On Monday, the 1st of August, the _Matilda_, the first of the
expected fleet of transports, arrived, after an extraordinary passage of
four months and five days, from Portsmouth; having sailed from thence on
the 27th day of March last, with four sail of transports for this place,
with whom she parted company that night off Dunnoze. Another division of
transports had sailed a week before from Plymouth Sound. On board the
_Matilda_ were two hundred and five male convicts, one ensign, one.
sergeant, one corporal, one drummer, and nineteen privates, of the New
South Wales corps; and some stores and provisions calculated as a supply
for the above number for nine months after their arrival.

The master of this ship anchored for two days in a bay of one of
Schoeten's Islands, distant from the main land about twelve miles, in the
latitude of 42 degrees 15 minutes S.: where, according to his report,
five or six ships might find shelter. Those who were on shore saw the
footsteps of different kinds of animals, and traces of natives, such as
huts, fires, broken spears, and the instrument which they use for
throwing the spear. They spoke of the soil as sandy, and observed that
the ground was covered with shrubs such as were to be found here.

The convicts in this ship, on their landing, appeared to be aged and
infirm, the state in which they were said to have been embarked. It was
not therefore to be wondered at, that they had buried twenty-five on the
passage. One soldier also died. Twenty were brought in sick, and were
immediately landed at the hospital.