Sequestered and cut off as we were from the rest
of civilized nature, their absence carried the effect of
Desolation.
About this time a convict, of the name of Daly, was hanged, for a burglary:
this culprit, who was a notorious thief and impostor, was the author
of a discovery of a gold mine, a few months before: a composition resembling
ore mingled with earth, which he pretended to have brought from it,
he produced. After a number of attendant circumstances, too ludicrous
and contemptible to relate, which befell a party, who were sent
under his guidance to explore this second Peru, he at last confessed,
that he had broken up an old pair of buckles, and mixed the pieces with sand
and stone; and on assaying the composition, the brass was detected.
The fate of this fellow I should not deem worth recording, did it not lead
to the following observation, that the utmost circumspection is necessary
to prevent imposition, in those who give accounts of what they see
in unknown countries. We found the convicts particularly happy in fertility
of invention, and exaggerated descriptions. Hence large fresh water rivers,
valuable ores, and quarries of limestone, chalk, and marble, were daily
proclaimed soon after we had landed. At first we hearkened with avidity
to such accounts; but perpetual disappointments taught us to listen
with caution, and to believe from demonstration only.
Unabated animosity continued to prevail between the natives and us:
n addition to former losses, a soldier and several convicts suddenly
disappeared, and were never afterwards heard of.
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