[*He Had It Seems Visited The Governor About Noon, After Having Gained
Information From Nanbaree Of Our March, And For
What purpose it was undertaken.
This he did not scruple to tell to the governor; proclaiming at the same time,
A resolution of going to Botany Bay, which his excellency endeavoured
to dissuade him from by every argument he could devise: a blanket, a hatchet,
a jacket, or aught else he would ask for, was offered to him in vain,
if he would not go. At last it was determined to try to eat him down,
by setting before him his favourite food, of which it was hoped he would feed
so voraciously, as to render him incapable of executing his intention.
A large dish of fish was accordingly set before him. But after devouring
a light horseman, and at least five pounds of beef and bread, even until
the sight of food became disgusting to him, he set out on his journey
with such lightness and gaiety, as plainly shewed him to be a stranger
to the horrors of indigestion.]
At one o'clock we renewed our march, and at three halted near a freshwater
swamp, where we resolved to remain until morning: that is, after a day
of severe fatigue, to pass a night of restless inquietude, when weariness
is denied repose by swarms of mosquitoes and sandflies, which in the summer
months bite and sting the traveller, without measure or intermission.
Next morning we bent our steps homeward; and, after wading breast-high
through two arms of the sea, as broad as the Thames at Westminster, were glad
to find ourselves at Sydney, between one and two o'clock in the afternoon.
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