ultimately be granted them." The substitution
of two ounces of pork for two pounds of
potatoes was an exasperating mockery, which
the men bore with patience until the sudden
seizure of all their pots and cooking utensils,
when an outbreak ensued, resulting in a fearful
loss of life.

Fourteen men, in all, were tried by special
commission for the Jacky-Jacky massacre.
An eye-witness of the proceedings on the trial
states that the majority manifested no
contrition for their offence. Some laughed and
jested; others browbeat witnesses in a style
quite professional, and, I presume, acquired
in a long experience of courts of justice in
England. One addressed the Court at
considerable length, after having cleverly
examined the witnesses, speaking fluently and
well, enumerating all the weak points in the
evidence against him, and noting every
discrepancy in the facts. This man was more
deeply implicated than any, except Westwood.
Another, an Irish lad of scarce twenty years
of age, began his defence by calling a witness,
whom, after a careful personal scrutiny, he
dismissed without a question, professing "not
to like the look of the fellow." Having called
another witness, who described himself as a
"scourger or flagellator," much merriment
ensued among the prisoners, and the Irish lad
finally joked him out of the witness-box, and
called another, with whom the following
dialogue took place:—

Prisoner. You're Darker, I believe?
Witness. I am.
Prisoner. You've an extensive acquaintance
on the island?
Witness. I know the men on the settlement
mostly.
Prisoner. Divil doubt ye! It's the big
rogues is best known. Now, Darker, tell me.
Didn't ye some months ago say to a man on
this island, that you had so much villainy in
yir head, that it was a-busting out at yir ears?

Here the judge's patience was exhausted,
although such scenes are common on such
occasions, and the witness was ordered to
stand down. Twelve were found guilty. On
hearing their sentences they became extremely
violent, cursing the prosecutor and all
connected with the trial. Westwood alone was
calm and orderly. At the conclusion of the
sentence he rose, and in a calm, unbroken
voice addressed the Court. He seemed
contrite, but had lost none of that coolness and
air of resolution, which had characterised
him throughout. He expressed deep sorrow
for his share in the massacre, sensible that he
could say but little in extenuation of it. He
expected to suffer, and was content to die,
but regretted that innocent men should be
involved in the punishment. It was observed,
however, that he did not mention any names.
He went on to say that he entered life
with a kindly feeling towards his fellow-men,
which had been changed into misanthropy by
harsh treatment, fraud, and cruelty. "Since
childhood," he exclaimed, "I have never
known what kindness was. I have struggled
for liberty, and have robbed, when in the bush,
to supply the cravings of nature but I never
raised my hand against a fellow-creature till
the present time." He complained bitterly
of the harsh treatment he had received, not
at Norfolk Island, but previously in Van
Dieman's Land. It was said by an officer on
the Island that, in his case, there was some
ground for the complaint; for he had heard
that an act of brutality on the part of an
overseer was the occasion of Westwood's
absconding and taking to those courses, which
now, at the age of twenty-six, brought him to
an ignominious end.

The twelve were hanged, with five others, a
few days afterwards; the office of executioner
being filled by two convicts who volunteered
their services. There were upwards of twenty
candidates for the appointment. One of the
two men selected stated, in his written
application, that having been a notorious
offender and now deeply penitent for his past
misconduct, he "hoped to be permitted to
retrieve his character by serving the Government
on the present occasion."

I continued at my disgusting employment
of wardsman for sixteen mouths, only
interrupted by the frequent illnesses and returns
to the hospital which it produced. It was not
until the good chaplain, who was at my pallet-
side every day, believed me to be dying, that the
doctor's recommendation was partially
complied with. I was removed to the Cascades
—a more salubrious part of the Island;
though even there I was ordered to perform
the very duties which had so repeatedly
brought me to the brink of the grave. The
change of air, however, had a beneficial effect,
but, I had no sooner recovered my strength,
than I was ordered back, and sent to field
labour in a heavy gang, with a doubly
convicted felon, for my overseer—notorious for his
severity, and for the irritating and frivolous
accusations he constantly made against the
twenty-four men committed to his control;
either of whom he could at any moment get
flogged or imprisoned upon his unsupported
testimony. Fortunately I did not incur his
displeasure.

Covered with dirt, weakened from insufficient
food; sometimes drenched with rain, at
others, standing up to my knees in slush, and
under a broiling sun that made the mud steam
around me, I continued at this horrible labour
for three months, when a vacancy occurred in
a writership, which it was found difficult to
fill up, and the commandant was at length
compelled to yield to a pressing application
for my services. I was, therefore, at length
permitted to lay aside the hoe for the pen;
but even in this improved condition, I had the
same rations, and was at the desk from five
in the morning until nine at night; and
when my appetite for the coarse food which I
had been able to eat while toiling in the open