growth, but of an entirely different description from the timber of Europe. It is, however, very durable, and well adapted to all the purposes of human industry.

The only metal yet discovered is iron. It abounds in every part of the country, and in some places the ore is remarkably rich. Coals are found in many situations of the best quality. There is also abundance of slate, limestone, and granite, though not in the immediate vicinity of Port Jackson. Sand-stone, quartz, and free-stone are found every where.

ABORIGINES.

The aborigines of this country occupy the lowest place in the gradatory scale of the human species. They have neither houses nor clothing; they are entirely unacquainted with the arts of agriculture; and even the arms, which the several tribes have, to protect them selves from the aggressions of their neighbours, and the hunting and fishing implements, with which they administer to their support, are of the rudest contrivance and workmanship.

Thirty years intercourse with Europeans has not effected the slightest change in their habits; and even those who have most intermixed with the colonists have never been prevailed upon to practise one of the arts of civilized life. Disdaining all restraint, their happiness is still centered in their original pursuits; and they seem to consider the superior enjoyments to be derived from civilization, (for they are very far from being insensible to them) but a poor compensation for the sacrifice of any portion of their natural liberty. The colour of these people is a dark chocolate; their features bear a strong resemblance to the African negro; they have the same flat nose, large nostrils, wide mouth, and thick lips: but their hair is not woolly, except in Van Diemen's Land, where they have this further characteristic of the negro. SYDNEY.

Sydney, the capital of New South Wales, is situated in 33° 55' of south latitude, and 151° 25' of east longitude. It is about seven miles distant from the heads of Port Jackson, and stands principally on two hilly necks of land and the intervening valley, which together form Sydney Cove. The western side of the town extends to the water's edge, and occupies, with the exception of the small space reserved around Dawe's Battery, the whole of

the neck of land which separates Sydney Cove from Lane Cove, and extends a considerable distance back into the country besides.

This part of the town, it may, therefore, be perceived, forms a little peninsula; and what is of still greater importance, the water is in general of sufficient depth in both these coves to allow the approach of vessels of the largest burden to the very sides of the rock.

The appearance of the town is rude and irregular. Until the administration of Governor Macquarie, little or no attention had been paid to the laying out of the streets, and each proprietor was left to build on his lease, where and how his caprice inclined him. He, however, has at length succeeded in establishing a perfect regularity in most of the streets, and has reduced to a degree of uniformity, what would have been deemed absolutely impracticable, even the most confused portion of that chaos of building, which is still known by the name of "The Rocks ;" and which, from the ruggedness of its surface, the difficulty of access to it, and the total absence of order in its houses, was for many years more like the abode of a horde of savages than the residence of a civilized community.

There are in the whole upwards of a thousand houses; and, although they are for the most part small, and of mean appearance, there are many public buildings, as well as houses of individuals, which would not disgrace this great metropolis. Of the former class the public stores, the general hospital, and the barracks, are perhaps the more conspicuous; of the latter the houses of Messrs. Lord, Riley, Howe, Underwood, and Nichols.

Land in this town is in many places worth at the rate of £1000 per acre, and is daily increasing in value. Rents are in consequence exorbitantly high. It is very far from being a commodious house that can be had for £100 a year unfurnished.

Here is a very good market, although it is of very recent date. It was established by Governor Macquarie, in the year 1813, and is very well supplied with grain, vegetables, poultry, butter, eggs and fruit.

Here also is a Bank, called "The Bank of New South Wales," which was established in the year 1817, and promises to be of great and permanent

benefit

benefit to the colony in general. Its capital is £20,000, divided into two hundred shares. It has a regular charter of incorporation, and is under the controul of a president and six directors, who are annually chosen by the proprietors. The paper of this bank is now the principal circulating medium of the colony. They discount bills of a short date, and also advance money on mortgage securities. They are allowed to receive in return an interest of ten per cent. per annum.

This town also contains two very good public schools, for the education of children of both sexes. One is a day school for boys, and is, of course, only intended to impart gratuitous instruction;-the other is designed both for the education and support of poor and helpless female orphans. This institution was founded by Governor King, as long back as the year 1800, and contains about sixty children, who are taught reading, writing, arithmetic, sewing, and the various arts of domestic economy.

Besides these two public schools in the town of Sydney, which together contained, by the last accounts received from the colony, two hundred and twenty-four children, there are establishments for the gratuitous diffusion of education in every populous district throughout the colony.

Independently of these laudable institutions thus supported at the expense of the government, there are two private ones intended for the dissemination of religious knowledge, which are wholly maintained by voluntary contribution. One is termed " The Auxiliary Bible Society of New South Wales," and its object is to co-operate with the British and Foreign Bible Society, and to distribute the holy Scriptures either at prime cost, or gratis, to needy and deserving applicants. The other is called "The New South Wales Sunday School Institution," and was established with a view to teach well-disposed persons of all ages how to read the sacred volume. These societies were instituted in the year 1817, and are under the direction of a general committee, aided by a secretary and treasurer.

There are in this town, and other parts of the colony, several good private seminaries for the board and education of the children of opulent parents. The best is in the district of Castlereagh,

which is about forty miles distant, and is kept by the clergyman of that district, the Rev. Henry Fulton, a gentleman peculiarly qualified both from his character and acquirements for conducting so responsible and important an undertaking. The boys in this seminary receive a regular classical education, and the terms are as reasonable as those of similar establishments in this country.

HARBOUR AND SCENERY.

The harbour of Port Jackson is perhaps exceeded by none in the world except the Derwent in point of size and safety; and in this latter particular I rather think it has the advantage. It is navigable for vessels of any burden for about seven miles above the town, i. e. about fifteen from the entrance. It possesses the best anchorage the whole way, and is perfectly sheltered from every wind that can blow. It is said, and I believe with truth, to have a hundred coves, and is capable of containing all the shipping in the world. There can be no doubt, therefore, that in the course of a few years, the town of Sydney, from the excellence of its situation alone, must become a place of considerable importance.

The views from the heights of the town are bold, varied, and beautiful. The strange irregular appearance of the town itself, the numerous coves and islets both above and below it, the towering forests and projecting rocks, combined with the infinite diversity of hill and dale on each side of the harbour, form altogether a coup d'œil, of which it may be safely asserted that few towns can boast a parallel.

PARRAMATTA.

The town of Parramatta is situated at the head of Port Jackson Harbour, at the distance of about eighteen miles by water, and fifteen by land, from Sydney.

The town itself is far behind Sydney in respect of its buildings; but it nevertheless contains many of a good and substantial construction. These, with the church, the government house, the new Orphan House, and some gentlemen's seats, which are situated on the surrounding eminences, give it, upon the whole, a very respectable appearance.

The population is principally composed of inferior traders, publicans, artificers, and labourers, and may be estimated, inclusive of a company

which is always stationed there, on a rough calculation, at about twelve hundred souls.

WINDSOR.

The town of Windsor, (or, as it was formerly called, the Green Hills,) is thirty-five miles distant from Sydney, and is situated near the confluence of the South Creek with the river Hawksbury. It stands on a hill, whose elevation is about one hundred feet above the level of the river at low water. The buildings here are of much the same cast as at Parramatta, being in general weather boarded without, and lathed and plastered within.

The bulk of the population is composed of settlers, who have farms in the neighbourhood, and of their servants. There are besides a few inferior traders, publicans, and artificers, The town contains in the whole about six hundred souls.

Following the windings of the river, the distance of Windsor from the sea is about one hundred and forty miles; whereas in a straight line it is not more than thirty-five. The rise of the tide is about four feet, and the water is fresh for forty miles below the town.

LIVERPOOL.

The town of Liverpool is situated on the banks of George's river, at the distance of eighteen miles from Sydney. It was founded by Governor Macquarie, and is now of about six years standing. Its population may amount to about two hundred souls, and is composed of a small detachment of military, of cultivators, and a few artificers, traders, publicans, and labourers.

SOCIETY.

There are at present no public amusements in this colony. Many years since there was a theatre, and more latterly annual races; but it was found that the society was not sufficiently mature for such establishments. Dinner and supper parties are very frequent in Sydney; and it generally happens that a few subscription balls take place in the course of the year. Upon the whole it may be safely asserted, that the natural disposition of the people to sociality has not only been in no wise impaired by their change of scene, but that all classes of the colonists are more hospitable than persons of similar means in this country.

CLIMATE.

The climate of the colony, particularly in the inland districts, is highly salubrious, although the heats in sum

mer are sometimes excessive, the thermometer frequently rising in the shade to ninety, and even to a hundred degrees and upwards of Fahrenheit. This, however, happens only during the hot winds; and these do not prevail upon an average, more than three or four days in the year. The mean heat during the three summer months, December, January, and February, is about 80° at noon. This, it must be admitted, is a degree of heat that would be highly oppressive to Englishmen, were it not that the sea breeze sets in regularly about nine o'clock in the morning, and blows with considerable force from the N.E. till about six or seven o'clock in the evening. It is succeeded during the night by the land breeze from the mountains, which varies from W.S.W. to W. In very hot days the sea breeze often veers round to the north and blows a gale. In this case it continues with great violence, frequently for a day or two, and is then succeeded not by the regular land breeze, but by a cold southerly squall. The hot winds blow from the N.W. and doubtless imbibe their heat from the immense tract of country which they traverse.

During these three months violent storms of thunder and lightning are very frequent, and the heavy falls of rain which take place on these occasions, tend considerably to refresh the country, of which the verdure in all but low moist situations entirely disappears. At this season the most unpleasant part of the day is the interval which elapses between the cessation of the land breeze and the setting in of the sea. This happens generally between six and eight o'clock in the morning, when the thermometer is upon an average at about 720. During this interval the sea is as smooth as glass, and not a zephyr is found to disport even among the topmost boughs of the loftiest trees.

The three autumn months are March, April, and May. The weather in March is generally very unsettled. This month, in fact, may be considered the rainy season, and has been more fertile in floods than any other of the year. The thermometer varies during the day about 15o, being at day-light as low as from 550 to 60°, and at noon as high as from 700 to 75o. The sea and land breezes at this time become very feeble, although they occasionally prevail during the whole year. The usual winds

from

the end of March to the beginning of September, are from S. to W.

The three winter months are June, July, and August. During this interval the mornings and evenings are very chilly, and the nights excessively cold. Hoar frosts are frequent, and become more severe the further you advance into the interior. Ice half an inch thick is found at the distance of twenty miles from the coast. Very little rain falls at this season, but the dews are very heavy when it does not freeze, and tend considerably to preserve the young crops from the effects of drought. Fogs too are frequent and dense in low damp situations, and on the banks of the rivers. The mean temperature at day-light is from 40° to 45o, and at noon from 55° to 60o.

The spring months are September, October, and November. In the beginning of September the fogs still continue, the nights are cold, but the days clear and pleasant. Towards the close of this month the cold begins very sensibly to moderate. Light showers occasionally prevail, accompanied with thunder and lightning. The thermometer at the beginning of the month is seldom above 60o at noon, but towards the end frequently rises to 70o.

Such is the temperature throughout the year at Port Jackson. In the inland districts to the eastward of the mountains, the thermometer is upon an average 5o lower in the morning, and the same number of degrees higher at noon throughout the winter season, but during the summer months it is 5o higher at all hours of the day. On the mountains themselves, and in the country to the westward of them, the climate, in consequence of their superior elevation, is much more temperate. Heavy falls of snow take place during the winter, and remain sometimes for many days on the summits of the loftiest hills; but in the valleys the snow immediately dissolves. The frosts too are much more severe, and the winters are of longer duration. All the seasons indeed are more distinctly marked to the westward of the mountains, and bear a much stronger resemblance to the corresponding ones in this country.

DISEASES.

Abdominal and pulmonic complaints are the two prevalent diseases. The abdominal complaints are confined principally to dysentery. This disorder is most common among the poorer classes

and new-comers. In these it is generally intimately connected with scurvy, and in both cases it is for the most part greatly aggravated by the excessive use of spirituous liquors, to which the mass of the colonists are unfortunately addicted.

There are no infantile diseases whatever. The measles, hooping cough, and small pox, are entirely unknown. Some few years, indeed, before the foundation of the colony, the small pox committed the most dreadful ravages among the aborigines. This exterminating scourge is said to have been introduced by Captain Cook, and many of the contemporaries of those who fell victims to it are still living; and the deep furrows which remain in some of the countenances shew how narrowly they escaped the same premature destiny.

SOIL.

The colony of New South Wales possesses every variety of soil, from the sandy heath and the cold hungry clay, to the fertile loam and the deep vegetable mould. For the distance of five or six miles from the coast the land is in general extremely barren, being a poor hungry sand, thickly studded with rocks. A few miserable stunted gums, and a dwarf underwood, are the richest productions of the best parts of it; whilst the rest never gives birth to a tree at all, and is only covered with low flowering shrubs, whose infinite diversity, however, and extraordinary beauty render this wild heath the most interesting part of the country for the botanist, and make even the less scientific beholder forget the nakedness and sterility of the scene.

Beyond this barren waste, which thus forms a girdle to the coast, the country suddenly begins to improve. The soil changes to a thin layer of vegetable mould, resting on a stratum of yellow clay, which is again supported by a deep bed of schistus. The trees of the forest are here of the most stately dimensions. Full sized gums and iron barks, along side of which the loftiest trees in this country would appear as pigmies, with the beefwood tree, or, as it is generally termed, the forest oak, which is of much humbler growth, are the usual timber. forest is extremely thick, but there is little or no underwood. A poor sour grass, which is too effectually shaded from the rays of the sun to be possessed of any nutritive and fattening proper

The

ties, shoots up in the intervals. This description of country, with a few exceptions, however, which deserve not to be particularly noticed, forms another girdle of about ten miles in breadth: so that, generally speaking, the colony for about sixteen miles into the interior, may be said to possess a soil, which has naturally no claim to fertility, and will require all the skill and industry of its owners to render it even tolerably productive.

COUNTRY WEST OF THE BLUE
MOUNTAINS.

The country to the westward of the Blue Mountains ranks next in contiguity to Sydney, and claims pre-eminence not so much from any superiority of soil in those parts of it which have been explored, as from its amazing extent, and great diversity of climate. These mountains, where the road has been made over them, are fifty-eight miles in breadth; and as the distance from Sydney to Emu Ford, at which place this road may be said to commence, is about forty miles, the beginning of the vast tract of country to the westward of them, it will be seen, is ninety-eight miles distant from the capital.

The road which thus traverses these mountains is by no means difficult for waggons, until you arrive at the pass which forms the descent into the low country. There it is excessively steep and dangerous; yet carts and waggons go up and down it continually nor do I believe that any serious accident has yet occurred in performing this very formidable undertaking.

By the last advices from the colony, which contain information up to the 13th of June, 1819, it appears that a better pass has at last been effected, and that a communication has been opened to the delightful country beyond the Blue Mountains, of easy access, running through lands of the very best description. The colonists are indebted for this acquisition to their resources to the exertions of Charles Throsby, Esq. a large land and stockholder, many years resident in New South Wales. Mr. Throsby was on the whole occupied fifteen days on the expedition: his progress being retarded from several of his party falling sick, and from the badness of the weather; but by the delay he had a better opportunity of examining the country on each side of his route, and in a letter to one of his friends, he says: "I have no hesitation in stating we have a country

fit for any and every purpose: where fine wooled sheep may be increased to any extent, in a climate peculiarly congenial to them. Ere long you will hear of a route being continued to the southward as far as Twofold Bay, and so on further in succession through a country as much superior to the cow pastures as that now enviable district is to the land contiguous to Sydney; and where our herds, our flocks, and our cultivation may unlimitedly increase at an inconsiderable distance from the great and grand essential in a young colony-water carriage!"

The elevation of Mount York, the highest of the mountains above the level of the sea, has been found to be only 3200 feet, and I should imagine that their general height cannot exceed 2000 feet. For the first ten or twelve miles they are tolerably well clothed with timber, and produce occasionally some middling pasture; but beyond this they are excessively barren, and are covered with a thick brush, interspersed here and there with a few miserable stunted gums. They bear, in fact, a striking similarity, in respect both to their soil and productions, to the barren wastes on the coast of Port Jackson. They are very rocky, but they want granite, the distinguishing characteristic of primitive mountains. Sandstone thickly studded with quartz and a little freestone, are the only varieties which they offer; a circumstance the more singular, as the moment you descend into the low country beyond them, granite is the only sort of stone that is to be met with for upwards of 200 miles.

This

For the whole of this distance to the westward of these mountains, the country abounds with the richest herbage, and is, upon the whole, tolerably well supplied with running water. large and fertile tract of country is in general perfectly free from underwood; and in many places is without any timber at all. Bathurst Plains, for instance, where there is a commandant, a military depôt, and some few settlers established, have been found by actual admeasurement, to contain upwards of 60,000 acres, upon which there is scarcely a tree. The whole of this western country, indeed, is much more open and free from timber than the best districts to the eastward of the Blue Mountains.

PROBABLE RIVER.

The discovery of this vast and as yet imperfectly known tract of country,

was