Primary tabs
Transcription
[Page 4]
5 feet 10 inches, & very stout made The other natives told me that they eat human flesh, but whether they are Cannibals or not I shall not take upon me to say, however I should not like meet such as they were without being well armed. There were 3 men & 1 woman, the woman had had a kind of cloak on, made out of different skins of animals. I could not have believed that there were such large beings as these in such a barren rocky country had not I seen them in person. I held out great offers to induce them to come to Parramatta, and I am apt to think that the other natives will persuade them to venture. I had strict orders from the natives who knew me, to acquaint the Parramatta natives of it, & for them to come that way & meet them. Those strange natives were on a visit. The place where I saw them was near Poppy Brook, for which I refer to a sketch I sent you by the Glatton. I am now pretty certain that the colony has been upon the whole pretty well explored in the Botanic department. What now remains may be called gleanings. If ever the Colony is extended more inward, there we may expect a new field. Early in the Spring I mean to go to the Derwent River. Mr. Brown has been gone some time to the southward, but I am afraid he will not be able to collect so much as may be done more early in the season, as the country is always burned in a dry season. I have lost a deal of seeds by the country being burned. I mean to make a journey some time or other into the interior, mainly on a geographical pursuit.
I am sorry to say that I could not send you so many things by the Calcutta as I expected, but to tell you the truth at once, I have been prevented by the country having been in a rebellion, and at the present moment it is supposed that many of the rebels are in the woods. I shall not enter into a detail of the affair, or to say what has been the cause of such proceedings. There are matters that cannot be smothered, & I make no doubt but what you will hear of it, but it is probable that facts will not be stated to you in their rude origin, as in the general conversation here. The Colony has sustained of late three soils, the first a blight in the wheat, the second a great drought, whereby the country has been almost burned up, & the last a rebellion, this last appears to some, will damp the colony for a long time & be a very serious injury.
I remain as usual your your faithful
and humble sert.
[signature of] George Caley