not give you, my dear brother, any particulars of my voyage to this place, but refer you to my other letters of this date, which —— and —— will receive, for a description of it.
I have by no means been idle since my arrival here, but have "beat the bush" up both the Swan and Canning Rivers with two more settlers like myself, and now know what it is to sleep, for several nights together, upon a piece of bark for a feather bed and the sky for a covering. We, however, always contrived to keep a rousing fire a-head of us, and have reason to be thankful to Providence that our health has not been injured either by fatigue or exposure to the night air. This will give you some idea of the healthiness of the climate—the nights and mornings are very cold, but a good fire is every thing. I have already found out that, if you will join me, and add your small fortune to our combined exertions, we shall in a few years acquire a handsome independence, and the longer we apply ourselves to business, so much more valuable our property will become. I fear, however, that I am writing in fruitless expectation of your following me; and that you have been smitten with some fascinating young damsel or other; and, if so, pray take my advice—marry at once, and let your wife accompany you hither, for, to say nothing of the pleasure of female society, you know not how we male settlers miss the assistance of a woman to wash, cook, and sew for us. Provisions are plentiful here at present, but considerably dearer than in England; as, for example, beef is fifteen-pence per pound—brown sugar, 1s. per pound—potatoes, 1l. 1s. per cwt., and soap and starch enormously high. But this is not to be wondered at, for the Colony at present has produced nothing for the market. Many of the settlers, either from ignorance or want of money, did not bring out many of the necessaries they require, and of those that did, there are few who purchased more than they require for their own use.
If you take the trip, which, for your own sake as well as mine, I entreat you to do, by all means endeavour to bring as many young and respectable labourers as your finances will allow. But on no account take out one person whose character is blemished, or whom you think will either be inclined to insolence or laziness, for otherwise they will be of more trouble than profit. You can have no notion of the work necessary to be done upon an allotment, on which there is no hut to shelter you, no yard to confine stock of a night, no ground levelled for the plough—for if one labourer is required all the year upon a small farm in England, the whole of which is in an improved state, how much more is one wanted here, where every thing is in a state of nature. If you are acquainted with any industrious persons, who have the means only of paying their passage out, and providing themselves with bedding and clothes for two or three years, and a double stock of the tools they are accustomed to use: advise them to come here, and they may rely upon obtaining constant work; and if they save, as they ought to do upon 5s. a day, in two or three years may obtain an allotment for themselves, and, if they persevere in industry, will acquire a handsome property; for as the Colony rises, their prosperity will increase.
I must earnestly recommend all those who come out as steerage passengers, to have a list of every thing that they may be entitled to during the voyage, signed by the Captain and those that charter the vessel, for that may keep you from many an unpleasant difficulty and dispute when on board. I can assure you that, owing to this having been neglected by those who came out in the same ship with myself, there was frequently very disagreeable work during the voyage. We had not been out two months, when the ship's steward stopped the allowance of vinegar, as contained in the list given us by the ship's broker in London; then followed a non-supply of sugar; after this, oatmeal was refused to us, and instead of the halfounce of tea we received only a quarter of an ounce. And all these dishonest breaches of covenant we were obliged to put up with, without the possibility of redress, even when we landed, but were told that, if we were going on to Sydney, we might have obtained it there. Let me, then, most earnestly advise you to be upon your guard; trust no man's word, however plausible he may be, not even of the Owner or Broker, but have it down in black and white, and then there can be no disputes. But, if possible, come out in a vessel which is not permitted to land passengers, &c. at Swan River in her way to Sydney or Van Dieman's Land, but bound for the Swan River alone.