Page:History of Australia, Rusden 1897.djvu/482

rangers under Geary. The robber fell mortally^[1] wounded. Two of his companions were wounded and captured. Colonel Davey was a witness of these events. He dwelt in the island for some time as a settler before he retired to England. Sorell instituted "musters," similar to those in New South Wales. Convicts were thus kept under watch, and a check was established upon the issue of passes to them. But Colonel Sorell was not successful in raising the moral tone of the community. Mr. Bigge reported that it was lower in Van Diemen's Land than in New South Wales.

Exploration of the interior and of the coast of the little island was prosecuted during Macquarie's control. Flocks and herds increased. Wheat and even meat were exported to Sydney (1816-20), and in 1821 the muster showed a population of 7400; 15,000 cultivated acres; 35,000 cattle; 170,000 sheep; 550 horses; and 5000 pigs. Macquarie visited his dependency in 1821. He made a vice-regal progress, conferred names on places and pardons on convicts, and published a glowing account of the island and of his proceedings.

On the gloomy picture of the condition of the natives he did not descant. It was in keeping with the events of 1804. When the settlement was reduced to straits for food, kangaroo hunting led many whites into the bush, and more than one isolated hunter fell a victim to the revenge of the blacks for the massacre of 1904. The number of natives killed is not recorded in any human annals. Yet between 1805 and 1810, we learn that one huntsman, Germain, was continually with them in safety, and that he declared that till they were excited by ill-treatment "there was no harm in them." In vain Lord Hobart urged the Governor to use them kindly. Convicts let loose to forage for themselves, and armed with muskets, cared little for the Governor when roaming out of sight in the primæval forest. Collins endeavoured to imitate Phillip by securing a native. The prisoner escaped with his fetters. Collins notified that those who fired on the natives wantonly, or murdered them "in cold blood," should suffer the last penalties of the law.