Of the nine convicts who had been received into the Investigator, one had died; another had behaved himself so improperly, that I could not recommend him to the governor; and the remaining seven were fully emancipated by His Excellency from their sentence of transportation, their conduct having been such throughout, as to receive my approbation.  Four of these were entered into the complement of the Porpoise; but I am sorry to add, that the subsequent behaviour of two was different to what it had been when their liberty was at stake, and that a third was condemned to the hulks not very long after he reached England.

Being about to take leave of Port Jackson, it might be expected that I should give some account of our colony there, and could this voyage have appeared in due time, a chapter would have been devoted to it; but a much later account being now before the public, dispenses me from speaking of it in other than a few general terms.  In 1803, it was progressively advancing towards a state of independence on the mother country for food and clothing; both the wild and tame cattle had augmented in a proportion to make it probable that they would, before many years, be very abundant; and manufactures of woollen, linen, cordage, and leather, with breweries and a pottery, were commenced.  The number of inhabitants was increasing rapidly; and that energetic spirit of enterprize which characterises Britain’s children, seemed to be throwing out vigorous shoots in this new world.  The seal fishery in Bass’ Strait was carried on with ardour—­many boats were employed in catching and preparing fish along the coast—­sloops and schooners were upon the stocks—­various detached settlements were in a course of establishment, and more in project.  And all this, with the commerce carried on from Sydney to Parramatta and the villages at the head of the port, and to those on the rivers falling into Broken and Botany Bays, made the fine harbour of Port Jackson a lively scene of business, highly interesting to the contemplator of the rise of nations.

In Sydney and Parramatta, houses of stone or brick were taking place of wood and plaster; a neat church was built in the latter, and one commenced in the former place; wharfs were constructing or repairing—­a stone bridge over the stream which runs through the town of Sydney was nearly finished—­and the whiskey, chariot, and heavy-laden waggon were seen moving on commodious roads to different parts of the colony.  In the interior the forests were giving way before the axe, and their places becoming every year more extensively occupied by wheat, barley, oats, maize, and the vegetables and fruits of southern Europe; but the following extract from the official returns in 1803, the fifteenth year after the establishment of the colony, will show its progress in a more ostensible manner.

Lands employed by government,
or granted to individuals 125,476 acres. 
Quantity cleared of wood, 16,624
Ditto, sown with wheat, 7,118 Last ann. increase 2,165
Ditto, sown with barley, maize, etc. 5,279
Average produce of wheat lands
throughout the colony, 18 bushels/acre.