Note 16 — INTRODUCTION. (continued 2)

I cannot vouch for the following fact, but it was related at the time with every appearance of authenticity. A few years ago the male convicts suffered very severely during their passage to New South Wales, and if I mistake not, for I speak from memory, several of them at length died from the hardships which they endured. On inquiring into the cause, it was stated to be, that the person whose province it was to provide necessaries for the voyage, had, by mistake, purchased such fetters as were used on board Slave ships, instead of the common fetters for convicts.