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FIRST FLEET & BOTANY BAY: THE LONDON CHRONICLE

July 21-23, 1789: Features an "Extract of a Letter from Sydney Cove, Port Jackson, county of Cumberland, New South Wales, to Mrs. Dinah Cable, at Laxfield.....dated November 17, 1788." A rare letter from a female convict written only a few months after the arrival of the Fleet. "....this country is the most barren that I ever heard of;....as for any sort of fruit, it is as scarce as on the barren mountains of Wales. There is an animal called cancuro, likewise an opossum and a flying squirrel, which together with a species of rats called cancuro rats....are all this country is stocked with...." ....some officers have been so pleased with my conduct, that they continue me in the office of an overseer over the women..." "It is day here when it is night with you."

There is also a notable "letter from a Gentleman in Jamaica" "....Our slaves here are fed, clothed, and in every respect provided for, and are allowed a piece of land for themselves. In short, their situations are to be envied by the poor of most Powers in Europe, and were the abolition of the slave trade to take place, the island would become totally neglected.....for it is an impossibility for Europeans to till this country."