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[Page 14]
they have given a specimen quite to the contrary. Had it been a temporary one made upon a small scale, there would not have been room for censure. The causes that I have heard against the non-erecting a water mill, has been that it would be swept away by floods, and at other times there would not be sufficient water to turn it. But these are fallacious conjectures, for nature has furnished not only a good situation but plenty of stone and timber upon it, and the wood being so hard and heavy, must be well calculated in constructing water works. A good millwright would would erect a mill at a moderate expence, with either a breast or overshot water-wheel. When I consider what expence Government have been at for to erect mills, and to see that they are almost as backward as at first, has made me to think, that had they sent out by the first fleet, a steam engine and the machinery of a mill, with a man to work it, they would have saved a great deal, and the colony been benefitted. And I am far from thinking, but what it would be one of the most valuable acquisitions to the colony at present.
The general mode of living is very mean and wretched. Many having nothing but the store allowance; and those that are free, or of the stores, live nearly in the same manner. Vegetables upon an average are very scarce. Tea seems to be the greatest indulgence, but it is not in every ones power to get