Plain Truths, Told by a Traveller [New Zealand sections]

J. Pitts Johnson

First published by Smith, Elder and Co. in 1840

Digitised and made available online by the University of Auckland Libraries and Learning Services and Auckland War Memorial Museum.

Epub © 2014 Early New Zealand Books Collection

ISBN 978-1-927289-89-1

[TITLE PAGES]

PLAIN TRUTHS,
TOLD BY A TRAVELLER, REGARDING OUR VARIOUS
SETTLEMENTS
IN
AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND;

SHEWING THINGS AS THEY ARE,
AND
AS THEY OUGHT TO BE;
PARTICULARLY IN
SYDNEY – PARRAMATTA – PERTH – FREMANTLE – THE SWAN RIVER – THE CANNING – THE MURRAY – THE DARLING – KING GEORGE'S SOUND – AND IN VAN DIEMAN'S LAND.
THE WHOLE DRAWN UP
For the guidance of Emigrants to these Settlements.

BY J. PITTS JOHNSON , Esq.

"Nothing extenuate, nor aught set down in malice."

LONDON:
SMITH, ELDER AND CO. CORNHILL.
1840.
Price Eighteen-pence.

LONDON:

STEWART AND MURRAY, PRINTERS,

OLD BAILEY.

[PREFACE]

PREFACE.

THE author of the following pages has told his readers, in his title-page, that he has shown things as they really are, and also endeavoured, as far as in his power, to represent them as they ought to be; setting down naught in malice, but on all occasions strictly adhering to the truth, – his one great desire in writing the work being to guide intending Emigrants in their selection of the most eligible locality for their future residence, without a single bias, in his own mind, in favour of any particular spot, as may at once be gleaned from a perusal of its contents.

London, January 1, 1840.

[Page iv is blank]

[Cape Town]

PLAIN TRUTHS.

WE quitted the Downs on the 6th of May, and arrived in Table Bay, Cape of Good Hope, on the morning of the 8th of August, after a passage of three months of as beautiful weather, and as favourable breezes, as commonly fall to a man's lot: but owing to the vessel (a merchant brig) being very deeply laden, the voyage, which is often performed in two months, occupied us ninety-two days. At a distance of from forty to sixty miles, in fine clear weather, may be distinguished, in approaching the Cape of Good Hope, a remarkable eminence called the Table Mountain; so termed from its summit being a flat horizontal surface, from which its side descends in an almost perpendicular manner. When the top of the mountain is covered with a white fog, it is the certain indicator, during the winter months, of a strong northwest wind, which, blowing immediately into the teeth of the bay, prevents any vessels getting out, sometimes drives them on shore at the head of the bay, and, often lasts from eight to ten days at a time. We suffered from one of the gales for six days; during which period it was impossible for any boat to quit the shore, except with imminent danger to the lives of the men, and the loss of the boats; or for any boat, to quit a ship to proceed on shore. As much as eighty guineas was offered by the captain of the Vine brig, to take him off to his vessel with an anchor and cable, which did not lie above two hundred yards from the jetty,

TABLE MOUNTAIN.

but without effect. One vessel, the Amelia barque, went on shore; but was luckily got off, without any serious damage, in the course of a week after the cessation of the gale. On the first appearance of the cloud, the signal is hoisted at the harbour-master's office, to strike lower yards and topmasts, and make everything snug for a breeze. Most of the vessels in the harbour drifted more or less; we ourselves parted two anchors and cables.

Table Mountain is 3657 feet above the level of the sea. On the top is a basin of most beautifully cool water. To the westward of Table Mountain, and separated from it only by a valley, is another eminence called the Sugar loaf, or, more commonly, the Lion's Head; and contiguous to it another termed the Lion's Rump. They are so denominated from their resemblance, (when you take a general view of the whole,) to that animal, with its head erect. On the Lion's Rump is a flag-staff, which signals to the town the approach of all vessels coming to, and passing the port, together with their numbers, from whence they come, &c. To the eastward of Table Mountain, separated from it only by a chasm, is another hill denominated the Devil's Head; from a superstitious supposition of the sailors, that when it partakes of the fog which, de temps en temps, envelopes the Table Mount, violent gusts of wind issue from it; whereas the violence of the breeze is attributable to the confined space of the chasm, which separates the Devil's Head from Table Mountain, through which the wind rushes. In the immediate neighbourhood of the Lion's Head, are the celebrated vineyards of Constantia, now the property of an Englishman.

At the base of these hills, which form a kind of amphitheatre around it, in Table valley, is situated Cape Town. There is only one landing-place; a wooden jetty extending some feet into the bay, on which are some cranes for the hoisting up of goods brought alongside in the boats.

CAPE TOWN.

Very good water is here conducted by pipes, by which means the shipping is easily supplied with water. Close to the jetty, at the east end of the town, stands the castle and principal fortress which defends the whole of this side of the town: it accommodates a great number of the military. About half a mile from thence, in the south part of the town, are the new barracks; a very commodious building. At the west end of the town stands another, but smaller fort, which commands the entrance to the harbour. The appearance of the town from the shipping is exceedingly pleasing. The town itself is kept very clean; the streets are mostly broad and well paved, and intersect each other at right angles. The houses, which are mostly built of stone, and in the Dutch fashion, are spacious and convenient; but, from the proximity of the stables to the domicile, added to the dirt of the slaves, have not, in general, the most agreeable effluvia. They seldom exceed two stories, owing to the prevalence of the south-east winds in the summer season, as it should have been mentioned before, that the fog enveloping Table Mountain during the summer months, is the same indicator of a south-east wind, as it is of a north-wester in the winter, or quaade mousson. The roofs are in general covered with shingles or tiles. The Governor's residence is a commodious building; but much cannot be said for its elegance, as it was built by the English prior to its being ceded to the Dutch, 1801. It is situated towards the south part of the town, and nearly in the centre of a most beautiful garden, in which the English and Dutch floral taste are both combined to heighten its charms. This is a public lounge; and the band of one of the regiments stationed in Cape Town plays there every Sunday afternoon. Near the top of the principal walk is a small menagerie, containing some two or three lions, a tiger, and some jackalls; on the opposite side are three or four very fine ostriches.

CAPE TOWN.

The coloured inhabitants of the Cape are mostly strong, stout, and athletic; but from the trifling cost of both wine and spirits, their minds and bodies are totally enervated. It is no uncommon thing to see these unfortunate beings almost destitute of clothing, rolling about the streets.

The descendants of the Dutch and English are hospitable, sober, intelligent, and friendly people, willing to assist a stranger with their advice and influence. In Cape Town there are churches of nearly all denominations. The farmers, in visiting Cape Town with their produce, come in large covered waggons, drawn by sixteen, eighteen, and sometimes, when the roads are very heavy, as many as twenty oxen to each waggon. They are generally driven by some slave sitting on the forepart of the waggon, and with a very long whip, which, from its size, he is obliged to hold in two hands, guiding them with admirable dexterity; but, on entering Cape Town, they are obliged to have a boy to lead the first pair of oxen, as several accidents happened through their being alarmed by the noise that everywhere assailed their ears on entering a crowded thoroughfare, after quitting the almost death-like silent bush.

The oxen are well formed, and large boned animals, capable of undergoing a great deal of fatigue; and, from the sandy nature of the country, I should say, much more serviceable than horses on a journey. They are generally first broke in to work at the age of two and a half years, and continue fit for burden until they are eight years old; after which time they are fattened up to kill. Horses are active, hardy, serviceable, and capable, like the oxen, of undergoing great fatigue. A horse may be bought as low as five pounds. I had a most excellent one for one hundred and fifty-six dollars (11l. 5s.). The sheep have much improved within the last ten years; as large quantities of rams and ewes have been taken there from England

CAPE MERCHANDISE.

and Australia, by which means the wool, that a short time since would only sell for about eight pence per lb. in the English market, will now realize two shillings; consequently rendering the farmer, by his wool alone, 200 per cent, richer than he formerly was; and, inasmuch as the wool, instead of being of a less value than the carcase, is so much improved, his wether, instead of being sent to the butcher at eighteen months or two years old, will be kept till it is seven; thereby improving the quality, and increasing the weight of his sheep.

There are but few of the Cape farmers of the present day continue breeding what is generally termed the Cape sheep, I mean the sheep with the enormous tail; one of which was shown to me by a butcher there which weighed twenty-eight pounds. The mutton in the Cape is generally very good; but from the necessity, owing to the warmth of the climate, of killing the animals on the morning of the day on which it is to be eaten, the meat is generally tough. As to the beef, I find, of course, the same fault. Prime joints of both are sold by the butchers at twopence per lb. 1 Bread at five pence the quartern loaf: sugar, tea, vegetables, and fruit extremely reasonable. They export to the Mauritius horses, corn, flour, salt-beef, and wine. To England, wine, dried fruits, hides, tallow, horns, hoofs, skins of wild beasts, tobacco, and whale-oil. To the Australian Colonies brandy, wine, dried fruits, tobacco, corn, flour, salt beef, candles, and soap. Its imports are sugar and rum from the Mauritius. From India, various Oriental goods, sugar, tea, and segars. From England,

SIMON'S TOWN.

large portions of manufactured goods; but being a free port, it is open for its supplies to all nations. It manufactures for export both soap and candles. 2

There are races twice a year on Green Point; a large plain at the west end of the town, on the extremity of which stands the light-house. They are well attended; and many of the horses that run are imported from England. There is a theatre; but, of course, the performances are very ordinary. The spectators seemed to me to be principally composed of military officers, sailors, and nymphs of the pave.

Before quitting these notes on the Cape, I must notice the gardens belonging to private individuals, which certainly surpass all I have ever seen before. There is one in particular belonging to a German baron, who has made a large fortune by manufacturing snuffs and segars, which does the owner infinite credit. The plumage of the birds is very magnificent; but they have no song! The wild flowers have most gorgeous colours; but they have no scent! or rather, to use the words of a gentleman who holds a high situation there, "the birds are beautiful, but songless; the flowers lovely, but scentless; the women proud and senseless; the men ignorant and moneyless." The chameleon, so long noted in fable, is very frequently found on the Lion's Rump.

At a distance of about twenty miles from Cape Town, is situated Simon's Town, on the border of False Bay, which is now made into a naval station, the importance of which is very great. There is a naval and victualling yard here. In closing, it may not be amiss to give the resolution passed by the ministry on the re-capture of the Cape in

SWAN RIVER.

1806, – "That no foreign power, directly or indirectly, should obtain possession of the Cape of Good Hope, for that it was the physical guarantee of the British possessions in India."

We quitted Table Bay on the 6th of October, to proceed to Swan River, on the western coast of New Holland. Vessels proceeding from the Cape to New Holland, generally run down in the parallel of about 40° south latitude, as they catch the south-east winds, which are immediately in their favour. On the 8th of November, at 8 A.M., we anchored off the town of Fremantle, in Gage's Roads.

1 The shipping is supplied with good beef and mutton at three-halfpence per lb. Rents in Cape Town are very high, as is also clothing. To any person emigrating there, I should recommend a good stock, particularly of linen. Good carpenters, bricklayers, stonemasons, painters, blacksmiths, &c, may meet with constant employment at 5 rix-dollars a day, equal to 7s. 6d. sterling.

2 A whale-fishery has been established some eight or ten years in Table Bay, which has been attended with great success; during our stay there, they killed three or four within the bay, even within Robbin Island, a small island situated in the mouth of the bay.

Swan River.

SWAN RIVER.

The anchorage in Gage's Roads is very insecure, being open to every breeze, and those from the northward and eastward blow very strong. The land breeze sets in every morning, and what is termed the sea-breeze (half a gale of wind) in the afternoon. The appearance of Fremantle, the seaport of Western Australia, is most disheartening to any person, especially those who go there with the prospect of settling for life. A dark heavy sand, which in many places the wind has blown into heaps, is the only soil, except in the centre of this would-be town, where there is a very large pond, or rather swamp, which during the summer season forms excellent garden ground: – during the winter every description of vegetables flourish with the greatest luxuriance in this dirty sand. Fleas seem to be generated in the sand, for though we were only on shore the first day about an hour, when we returned on board the vessel, we were literally swarming with them. The colony has been only established five years. On our arrival, several persons came alongside eager to learn the latest news from that country which they would, in the common course of events, never see again; decoyed

FREMANTLE.

out, either by Mr. Peel's bubble, or allured by Captain Stirling's boasted circular, that there were only two trees to the acre, whereas it is next to impossible to put a plough into any acre before first felling twelve or fourteen trees, and in addition, in the low lands, or to use a Colonial phrase, the flats, grubbing up an almost innumerable number of the shrubs of the wattle (mimosa). The harbour having a bar, prevents any vessel entering the Swan River. Could this difficulty be removed, it would but little improve the anchorage, unless the river was considerably deepened for the first four or five miles, when vessels would enter perhaps the most beautiful piece of water that eyes could behold, Melville Water. On the whole, the town of Fremantle, which was but little improved during my residence of two years and a quarter in the colony, is only comparable, in my opinion, to Goldsmith's description of the Deserted Village, except in regard to the public houses, whither every person seemed to resort. Business! there was none; and, instead of pleasure, every person seemed to have the cares of a great commercial nation pending over his head.

The road to the capital, Perth, is the same dead heavy sand that marks the seaport. Three miles on the road you cross the ferry of the Swan, and the remaining eight miles of your ride to the metropolis is still pursued through a similar soil.

The boasted accounts given by the inhabitants of Fremantle of the beauty of Perth, led me to believe that in this would-be Paradise I should, at any rate, have some firm ground to walk over; but no – -toujours le meme. The residence of his Excellency, who was at this time in England, was certainly any thing but elegant, useful, or ornamental. It was simply one of Manning's weather-boarded houses with a canvass roof, not impervious to rain, there being

FREMANTLE AND PERTH.

a great many places through which daylight could very clearly be seen. They have built small barracks, capable of containing from three to four hundred men. A most excellent government store has also been erected, a very strong and substantial building. The only church in the colony is here; it is also used as the civil court. It is a rush building, about eighty feet long and twenty feet wide, in which divine service is performed every Sunday by the colonial chaplain, the Rev. Mr. Wittenoom. The criminal court is held at the jail at Fremantle. Both Perth and Fremantle are tolerably well supplied with water, but firewood in both places is scarce, and consequently expensive. In Fremantle they generally burn a curious shrub, called the black-bog, which emits any thing but a pleasant savour. Every necessary is to be procured in Fremantle and Perth. Fresh meat in 1834, was as high as 1s. 6d. per lb. Her Majesty's ship Rattlesnake was supplied at 2s. 6d. per lb., the highest price government allows for fresh meat to her soldiers and seamen. Butter 1s. 6d. to 3s. Fowls 5s. to 6s. per couple. Kangaroo, which is most excellent eating, 10d. per lb. Salt beef 6d. Salt pork 8d. and 9d. per lb. In September 1834, there was no flour to be procured for love or money. Four pounds ten shillings sterling was offered in my presence for four 4 lb. loaves, but was refused. There are some very good houses in Perth; Dr. Collie's, Mr. Leake's, D. A. C. G. Drake's, and Mr. Helms's are amongst the best: they are built of brick, as indeed all the houses are in Perth, except the present government residence, which is a stone building, for the beauty of which I cannot speak in very high terms. On the whole the town of Perth is considerably preferable to that of Fremantle.

About ten miles beyond Perth is another township called Guildford, also on the Swan River. On arriving at this

GUILDFORD.

height up the Swan, you meet with fine firm soil, generally black and red loams; this is by far the prettiest place in the colony, and, moreover, the land being so good, would, I should think, be a great inducement to the gentleman who has now succeeded Sir James Stirling, to make Guildford the capital. The land in Guildford is mostly in the occupation of small farmers, as the allotments are three acres and three quarters each, which enables them to grow sufficient garden stuff and wheat for their own consumption, and by going out the greater portion of the year to work for the large farmers in the neighbourhood, enables them, as the land is freehold, to maintain their families in comfort and respectability. The farms in the immediate neighbourhood of Guildford (I allude to the large ones,) seem to exhibit that carelessness which is any thing but the proof of an improving estate, with the exception of one, the property of a gentleman on the Helena River, which runs into the Swan. The land about Guildford is not at all calculated for the feeding of sheep, inasmuch as sheep prefer a short, sweet, wiry grass, on which they improve very much, whereas the pasturage in the vicinity, and indeed every where on the western side of Darling Range, is more calculated from its description to afford nutriment to cattle and horses than to sheep. Many places, even on the Swan and Canning Rivers, are not calculated even for cattle, as the loss of Mr. Phillips' stock on the Canning will fully demonstrate. This gentleman, from a fine herd of about thirty head of cattle, lost nearly twenty within six months. The reason assigned was, that the cattle being left to roam by themselves in search of food during the winter days, naturally quitted the banks of the rivers which were flooded, and fed on the young upland grass, which is very watery, and consequently of no sustenance, and moreover, the plains being in many places, under water, the animals caught violent colds, which caused

STATE OF SWAN RIVER.

them to lose the use of their limbs, while their watery food prevented their bearing up under the malady, under which the whole of them gradually sunk in the course of a very short period. Sheep-feeding on the western side of the Darling Range has proved a complete failure.

The distressing accounts which have been transmitted to England, of the deplorably helpless condition of many of the settlers of this colony, I am truly sorry to be obliged to confirm; but at the same time, think it my duty to the colony, to inform my readers, that it was not solely from the unfruitful nature of the land allotted to these several persons, but, generally speaking, from their improvident commencement, – by remaining in Fremantle, exhausting their capital in rioting and drunkenness, instead of at once proceeding to their locations; or, on arrival at their places of abode, instead of contenting themselves with remaining in their tents or rush huts until they had sown some wheat to provide for the coming year, devoting their time to the erection of a house until too late to sow their crops; or should their land, by good luck to them, be apportioned to them over the Darling Range of mountains, have made some ridiculous purchase of one of the officers' grants of Her Majesty's ship Sulphur. So high a notion had his Honour Capt. Stirling (he being then only Lieutenant Governor) of the incalculable advantages that would accrue to the colony, by giving the best portions of land in the neighbourhood of the seaport to officers in the navy, that I believe there was scarcely a midshipman, or even a volunteer of the first class of Her Majesty's ship Success, as well as the preceding vessel, who had not a grant of some sort in the colony. The Success was commanded by Captain Stirling, when he happened, more by good luck than good management, to pitch upon the Swan River.

Proceeding higher up the Swan River there are on both sides some excellent farms: those belonging to Messrs.

NATIVES AT SWAN RIVER.

Yule, Brockman, Lennard, Burgess, Bull, and Tanner, Captains Shaw and Burn are all in a high state of cultivation, and have more the appearance of English farms; those of Mr. J. R. Phillips, Mr. Davis, and Major Nairne on the Canning are the same.

The natives of Swan River are certainly the most miserable in appearance that any person can possibly imagine; they are generally about five feet seven inches high, very meagre and emaciated in appearance, but possessing a great deal of strength and activity. They are very cunning, and invariably resent any injuries, always taking two white men's lives for one black man's. They are very great thieves, purloining whatever they can possibly lay their hands upon. They seldom wear anything on their persons except a kangaroo skin, appearing constantly in the towns and at the various farms in almost a state of nudity; they never wash themselves, and the only time their flesh undergoes any degree of purification, is when they are obliged to ford a river in their journeys through the bush. In catching the kangaroos, they set fire to the bush for a circumference Of about three miles, leaving two apertures by which the animals may escape: at these apertures they stand, and as the kangaroos, bandicoots, and opossums come out they are in readiness to spear them. Their spears are generally about seven feet long and an inch in circumference at the thickest part. They are mostly barbed, and have teeth of quartz, extending about six inches down two sides; they are thrown from a board or wambara, a piece of the gum tree, about eighteen inches long, and an eighth of an inch thick, and three inches in breadth. They will sometimes throw them as far as two hundred yards at a time, with the wind. The bodies of the natives are generally besmeared with grease, and then covered with a red earth that has been burnt in the fire. The females carry their children on their backs in bag

NATIVES AT SWAN RIVER.

made of kangaroo skin. They live principally on fish, kangaroo, roots, opossum, bandicoot, and various slugs that they get out of old trees. Their huts are formed in a half-circle of twigs stuck in the ground, and covered with the paper-tree bark; they are not above three feet and a half high, the fronts are open towards a fire, and the backs towards the wind; they are built in a style of architecture which does not a little contribute to keep envy from insinuating itself under their roofs. The mothers are so very careless of their offspring, that it is not an uncommon thing to see children without either toes or fingers, from their mothers having dropped them into the fire when asleep. When any of their tribe are so ill or so old that they cannot travel, they generally leave them in hollow trees to perish for want. They travel with wonderful expedition. Their breasts are generally cut when about sixteen years old, and kept open some time to enable the wound when healed to protrude a little from the remainder of the skin. Many persons admire some of the men when walking through the sun with their breasts cut and well greased – they certainly have a warlike appearance. They are excessively superstitious, believing that the Europeans who are there are the spirits of departed blacks who have been down to the bottom of the big water and come up white: they so fully believe this, that if a person has a mark near any place of his body where a deceased native has been speared, they call him by his name, and treat him with more distinction than any other white person. They are very fond of mutton, beef, and horse, whenever they can by any possibility spear them. Their method of catching fish is by going to the rivers in the dusk of the evening with a lighted brand, and as the fish come up to the water's edge they spear them; in which exercise they are uncommonly skilful. Cockatoos they procure by throwing a heavy

TREATMENT OF NATIVES.

piece of wood about a foot long amongst a quantity, and seldom fail to bring down one out of the number. They eat several descriptions of snake, and the guana, which they call very good eating. In their cooking they are not very particular, inasmuch, when it is only done on the outside, they take it up, gnaw it a little, and put it on the fire again. The men have generally two and three wives, and adultery is punished by them with death. In their eating, the males serve themselves first; they then throw it on the ground, when the female helps herself, and it is again committed to the dirt for the children. They are very expert in tracking, and will see footmarks where no European possibly can. They can tell one another by their footmark. A child belonging to Mr. Hall was lost in the bush three days, and a native having been put on its tracks from home, discovered it, although it had wandered above three miles. Towards the latter end of 1836, they had committed so many depredations and murders in the Murray district, that the Governor, Sir James Stirling, found it necessary to bring down the mounted police, a most efficient force, about half a dozen soldiers, determined to quell, if possible, amongst these savages, their propensities for thieving and murder. They found them a little after daylight in the morning, and after a smart skirmish destroyed thirty-four of them; but unfortunately with the loss of Captain Ellis, who commanded the corps, by a spear-wound which entered his temple, of which he died about ten days afterwards. One of the soldiers who accompanied the Governor having shot a woman expressly against the Governor's orders, (who gave directions that they should spare the women and children,) on being asked why he did it, his calm reply was: "Because, your excellency, they breed." This seemed not much to intimidate them, for shortly after they speared two of Mr. Peel's horses, part of which, when the carcases were found, it

ROBBERIES OF NATIVES.

appears they had eaten. Early in the year 1833, there was a large quantity of potatoes on sale at Fremantle, and the above-mentioned Mr. J. R. Phillips having bought them for seed, intended taking them up the Canning on the following day. The evening of the day on which he purchased the potatoes, some natives endeavoured to enter Mr. Samson's stores where these potatoes were deposited; they effected an entrance, and were decamping with their booty when Mr. Samson's man fired, and killed one of the natives. On the following morning, little dreaming of the fearful result, the potatoes were put into a boat and conveyed to the mouth of the Canning in Melville Water, where Mr. Phillips' teams met them to convey them up to the farm, from which the mouth of the Canning is distant about ten miles; the carts being loaded, started on their return to the road, but had not proceeded above four miles on their way, when the first cart drawn by bullocks and in the charge of two brothers, named Velvicks, was attacked by the natives, and both the brothers speared. The other carters, who were about fifty yards behind with the other teams, stopped their carts on hearing the war-whoop of the natives, and proceeded to the spot where the other team waited; one man was lying dead, with at least twenty spears in his body, the other man had apparently crawled away, but was discovered shortly afterwards behind a tree dead. Mr. Phillips at this time came up, and taking his pistols from his holster attempted to shoot the chiefs Yagan and Medgegooroo, but unfortunately the caps were off his pistols, and not having any others with him, which these villains noticed, they laughed at him and quietly retired, telling him they had taken two white fellows' lives for one black gentleman's. In consequence of this outrage, the Government offered 50l. reward for Yagan's head – this man boasted of having speared nine Europeans. The reward offered by the Go-

OUTRAGES OF NATIVES.

vernment tempted the cupidity of two boys, aged fourteen and fifteen, brothers, who were minding Mr. Bull's cattle at the head of Swan River; and on Yagan and Medgegooroo meeting as usual, the boys who had previously laid their plans, the youngest, who was walking by the side of Yagan, snapped his fowling piece, which was laying over his arm, but it unfortunately flashed in the pan. Yagan would have instantly despatched them, but through their knowledge of the language they calmed his suspicions. The second attempt proved effectual, and the much-dreaded chief lay lifeless at their feet. They then placed themselves back to back and shot one more of the natives. The elder brother then persuaded the younger one to run and swim the river, which after many entreaties he consented to do, but unfortunately in crossing the river, the water got into the barrels of his gun and wetted his powder; the elder brother swam the river after the younger one had arrived in safety on the opposite bank, and had also reached the other side, when a but too true spear hit him on the head, and he fell back a lifeless corpse. The younger hastened home as quickly as possible and told the news, but was obliged to quit the colony directly, having obtained the reward offered, as his life would certainly have been taken to revenge the deaths of their chief and comrade.

Such is an outline of the atrocities committed by these wretches on the lives of Europeans, from whom they are continually receiving food and blankets. It appears to me that they certainly have some religion of their own, as they will never move about after dusk by any chance without a piece of lighted brand in their hands. Mr. Bull mentioned to me one circumstance of which he was certain. He was travelling in the bush in search of land, and took a native with him, whom he sent one evening to fetch a bucket of water from the river, which was

CANNING RIVER. – RATE OF WAGES.

not above twenty yards distant. He dropped the bucket and firebrand, and came running back in a terrible fright, declaring that he had seen Junga or the devil. Their depredations have been so great that they have driven off thirty sheep and goats at a time, not only from Mr. Phillips, but also from Mr. Bull. The greatest punishment it appears you can inflict upon them, is to give them the cat-o'-nine tails, which not only makes them suffer, but shames them. Cattle, horses, and sheep, all appear particularly to dread them, and the dogs will not if possible allow them to come near the houses. About midway on the road to King George's Sound, whither I went with the governor, the natives appeared equally afraid of the horses and bullocks, which they called big dogs.

The land on the Canning River is certainly equal, if not superior to the land on the Swan. The only town-site on the Canning is nearly at the head, and called Kelmscot: there are, however, only a few soldiers living there. In the neighbourhood of this place there is most excellent cattle pasturage, sufficient even about the town-site itself to support at least one hundred head of cattle the year round on every fifteen hundred acres; a very great thing where there is nothing but the native grasses for the cattle to feed upon, which of course are not by any means so nutritious as the English grasses. Wheat yields about an average of twenty bushels to the acre where the ground is properly tilled, but many of the early settlers have continued sowing wheat upon wheat, thereby impoverishing their land so much that it will not yield ten bushels to the acre. This system will of course find its own level, and must in time alter. Shepherds earn as much as 2l. 10s. to 3l. per month with their board and lodging, and two glasses of rum per day. Farm labourers 30s. to 2l. and the same living, &c. as the shepherds. Ploughmen 2l. and 2l. 10s. Most of the work is here done by

MURRAY RIVER.

oxen, which are more economical to the farmer to keep, and considerably more serviceable on the dead, heavy, sandy roads, which it is necessary to travel before reaching the interior from the various towns: – a pair of good oxen is here worth 50l.

The country about the Murray River, is most excellent grazing land for cattle and horses, the grass in many places being as high as the horses' bellies. About twelve miles from the mouth of the Murray, and about sixteen from the town site of Kelmscot on the Canning, on the banks of a stream that empties itself into the Murray, are about a hundred head of wild cattle. It would appear that some few animals got adrift from the early settlers on landing in the colony, and have thus propagated in their wild state; they are certainly the most beautiful animals in the settlement. A party of about six persons went out to endeavour to bring some in, headed by a man who had a great deal of wild-cattle hunting in the sister colony of New South Wales, and after an absence of a week through the most beautiful country, they said, for pasturage they ever saw, returned with eight bulls and cows, one heifer, and two calves. They were certainly the most delicate meat I had ever tasted. One of the calves was knocked up in driving them in, and they were consequently obliged to cut its throat to save its carcase: and although it was cooked two hours after its death, it was very tender and delicately white. After the first excursion, government saw the benefit of making all the unbranded ones government property, and offered to any person who brought any in, one-third of the value of all unbranded cattle. Those that were branded, they were compelled to keep a year and a day, and if not claimed by their owners within that period, they were then killed and sold. One-third going to the person who brought them, the residue after deducting 2l. 10s. per head for their keep, to go to the

THE DARLING RANGE. – WOOL.

crown, which was to be given up, should the lawful owner claim it. The party who first went out, essayed again, and brought in one cow. Two other parties went out, but did not succeed.

The land on the eastern side of the Darling range of mountains is particularly calculated for sheep-farming from the nature of its grasses which are short, sweet, and wiry. The sheep in the York district thrive remarkably well, – those belonging to Messrs. Bland and Trimmer, especially: they have some very fine flocks, amounting in 1835, to about one thousand ewes; and as sheep on an average double their number of ewes in two years and a half, they must have at present upwards of three thousand exclusive of their wethers, which are generally in greater proportion than their ewe lambs.

Wool, which is the staple commodity of the Australian farmer, is rapidly improving in the Australian colonies, both in fineness of texture and length of staple, as the climate seems so peculiarly adapted to the breeding and rearing of these valuable animals. It has been the interest of the sheep farmer of Swan River to look to the size of the carcase prior to the texture of his wool, on account of the high prices of animal food in the market; but now that meat is falling in price, he will of course turn his attention to the fineness of his fleece. Some of the wools sent from Sydney by the Messrs. M'Arthurs and Rileys, have realized as much as 4s. 6d. per lb. in the London market. So high an opinion, however, have the merchants of Perth and Fremantle, of their native wool, that they give as much as 1s. 10d. to 2s. per lb. for it on the spot for shipment to England. Prior, however, to its shipment, it has to be repacked and sorted; and from the time it is delivered into the merchant's hands by the farmer, to the time of its sale by auction in London or Liverpool, it costs on the average 3 1/2d. per lb. The Leicester ewes

THE YORK DISTRICT.

crossed with a Mexico ram, give both beauty of fleece, size of carcase, and strength of constitution, as the more pure bred they are, the less hardy are their constitutions. The Avon River, which is found to be the continuation of the Swan River, runs through the York district. The water here is fresh all the year round. There are several large limestone plains about here, which are the certain indicators of good land in New Holland.

The York district abounds in kangaroos, emus – a large bird about the size of the ostrich, and running amazingly fast, without any wings; the bustard or wild turkey, very delicate eating; various descriptions of wild duck, teal, black swans – "the rara avis in terris;" some beautiful bronze-winged pigeons, most excellent food; quails, bandicoots, opossums, cockatoos both black and white, and the various descriptions of paroquets. The Avon or Swan abounds in fish of various sorts. The only destructive animal of the colony, the native dog, is in great abundance: – like all others of the species in their wild state, the native dog cannot bark, but howls most dismally, generally during the night time, when it prowls about in search of food. It stands higher than the English fox, with prick ears and long bushy tail, and, like the fox, is a great robber of hen-roosts and sheep-pens: they have been seen going away with lambs in their mouths of four months old. They always commence their meal by sucking the blood and eating the paunch of the animal they have sacrificed. Their colours are various, but generally of a reddish brown, and the skins are very beautiful and much prized for making caps, on account of their scarcity.

The skin of the kangaroo, when tanned, makes beautiful boots, and every person prefers it during dry weather to calfskin, on account of its yielding like goat skin to the feet; but unfortunately it has the same fault as the

ROAD TO KING GEORGE'S SOUND.

mentioned skin, namely, it will not do to wear in wet weather, on account of its being porous. It should have been mentioned that the native dog, how great pains so ever may be taken, cannot be tamed. A gentleman took one of a litter he found, and put it to a spaniel slut, and although brought up with her puppies, endeavoured as soon as it could possibly crawl, to get hold of the chickens: he had it two or three years, and during the whole of that time was obliged to keep it chained up with a very short chain, as any fowls that came within its reach, however recently it might have been fed, it invariably killed. Strange to say, but very rare indeed is it, that a kangaroo-dog will catch them, or follow them, although their scent is as strong as a fox's. The duck-billed platibus of Linnaeus is sometimes, though rarely, found in Swan River.

There was an expedition formed for exploring the land, and marking the road between Swan River and King George's Sound, particularly a river seen by Captain Bannister, and called by him the William's River, on which and in the neighbourhood he stated there was some beautiful land. The expedition consisted of Messrs. Bull, Burgess, Phillips, and Harris, myself, a surveyor, a Mr. Hilman in the government employ, six soldiers, and a bugler, and three men. We started in the afternoon from Mr. Phillips' place on the Canning, and halted for that night at Kelmscot, only six miles. There were the two bullock teams of Messrs. Phillips and Harris, and the horse teams of Messrs. Bull and Phillips. The following morning we commenced our undertaking, accompanied by Commissary Lewis, and several gentlemen who wished to see an expedition fairly under weigh, which promised so much benefit to the colony in marking a road directly across. After proceeding over the first range of mountains, which, being our first trial, was a very difficult job, we halted to breakfast; where, after our friends had partaken of our bush fare –

EXPEDITION TO

a very frugal meal – and wished us every success, we again started forward on our journey, the bugle playing the lively air of "The girl I left behind me." We travelled every day for about three weeks over mountain after mountain, sometimes having to halt to make bridges, sometimes to cut through and blast pieces of rock, sometimes to turn back three or four miles on account of having suddenly come to a precipice; and during the whole of the time, to cut the bark of the trees as we went along, which did not leave any of our small party very much leisure time. We had a native with us during our journey that at times provided us with a fresh meal of a bandicoot, oppossum, or some ducks; Mr. Bull having lent him his gun, which he used with great adroitness.

Our cattle and horses fared but badly in crossing the various ranges of mountains, as indeed they did until we got upwards of one hundred miles on our road. The horses suffered considerably less than the bullocks; about twenty-five miles before we arrived at the William's River, an awful disaster overtook us. Our bullocks, which had fared very indifferently off the scrub that we met with on the mountains, as soon as they got into rich pasturage, gorged themselves without allowing sufficient time to chew the cud; the consequence was, that the passage was stopped, not only by the quantity of succulent grass that they had taken into their stomach, but the dry scrub had not left them: had they only been allowed a small quantity of this young grass at a time, and by that means have been obliged to chew the cud, the scrub would naturally have passed from them through the effects of the young grass, whereas the contrary was the effect. Eight of the animals, out of ten that we had with us, were all taken in the following manner: – weakness and incapacity to work, giddiness, and fits, which generally lasted about sixteen hours, and termi-

KING GEORGE'S SOUND.

nated in death. A bottle of castor oil was given to one, but without effect; a like quantity, with a pound of salts, to another, but still no effect. On opening them, we found that we could cut the honeycomb bag with the knife, the same as a piece of cheese, which was of course the cause of their death. On examination, this bag was found crammed with the scrub only partially masticated. We succeeded with the two horse-carts and one bullock-cart in conveying our own provisions, and the provisions we were taking down for the Governor, and the mounted police who were to join us at the William's River as far as this spot.

The land about this river is certainly the finest I have seen in any part of the colony, particularly calculated for sheep, but equally good for any description of stock; the land on the higher parts is a short sweet grass, mixed with species of wild lucerne and bastard clover; while that in the flats, or lower lands, is the kangaroo grass growing in great luxuriance. Our horses and two remaining bullocks here quite recovered themselves, and were in better order when we started to return, than on our quitting home. The Governor, Sir James Stirling, accompanied by Mr. Trimmer, Mr. Norcott, the Governor's nephew and private secretary, Mr. A. Stirling, and lady Stirling's nephew, Mr. Elliot, joined us the day after our arrival; and on the loss of the bullocks being mentioned, the Governor said he was sorry it had occurred, but added, "Gentlemen," addressing Messrs. Phillips and Harris, "never mind, the Government must consider them to have died in their service, and will consequently remunerate you in money, or at any rate in land, as the Home Government always make good any horse that dies in the conveyance of military stores, &c. in England." On his return, however, to Perth, after his visit to King George's Sound, he referred it to the Legislative Council,

EXPEDITION TO

with his opinion attached to it, that it could not be reasonably entertained, quite forgetful of his former promise. The Governor's party were accompanied by six Europeans of the mounted police, and two natives, named Migo and Molly Dobbin, also belonging to the corps, dressed in the uniform, and well mounted. Their uniform is green, similar to the Rifles, turned up with black and silver lace, Light Infantry caps, and black plumes; their weapons, a brace of pistols, a sabre, and double-barrelled rifle, were the most beautiful I ever saw. I can assure my readers, that the two black gentlemen, as they call themselves, are, in their own estimation, to use an expression not the most elegant, no small beer! We were twenty-four days travelling one hundred and fifty miles, – few days exceeding ten, and very often not making four miles. Two or three days after our arrival, Mr. Harris and a Captain M'Dermot, whom I omitted to mention, went with us, took a small excursion higher up the river than where we had pitched our encampment, accompanied by some soldiers, intending to remain out all night and return the following morning to ascertain if the land nearer the source of the river was of the same excellent description. After having pitched their encampment, and seen the fire lit for the night, the two above-mentioned gentlemen, Mr. Harris and Captain M'Dermot, sallied forth into the interior.

After rambling some considerable time, they turned to regain their encampment; but although they walked, and walked till dark, no encampment could they find. They lay down to sleep, but sleep, you may naturally suppose, had quite deserted them, at the miserable idea of dying of starvation, or probably being speared to death by the natives, for they had gone out even without their guns. After being absent until twelve o'clock next day, the soldiers became alarmed, naturally supposing that they had been killed by the natives, or if their lives had not been

KING GEORGE'S SOUND.

taken by these ruffians, that they had lost themselves in the bush, and would perish for want, and sent two of their party down to our encampment to bring us the intelligence. To the remaining party, orders were sent to stay where they were encamped, until the following morning, and then return to our encampment. This day passed over without any intelligence of them, although Messrs. Migo and Molly Dobbin got on their tracks and followed them until they found that they had, after a very circuitous route, fallen into the cart tracks, and were following them up. They found the cart tracks about twenty miles below where we were stationed. The third morning after their absence they returned, followed very closely by the two natives and the mounted police. This clearly proves what invaluable hunters the natives are in the bush; the two gentlemen who were lost had several times walked over places entirely covered with stones about the size of an egg, where no traces, to any European's eye, could possibly be left, and nearly the whole time over a green sward, until they came into the cart tracks.

We parted company with the Governor's party, – he to proceed to King George's Sound, and we to return to Swan River. Few of us had any legs left to our trowsers from the continual tramping through the brushwood; and had it not been for some empty flour bags we had with us, which we managed to manufacture into legs for our trowsers, we should have returned merely like bare-legged peasants of Madeira, than Englishmen from an exploring expedition. The Governor and his party pronounced the land, lying between the William's River and within fifty miles of King George's Sound, as most excellent, varying in description as sheep land, grazing land for cattle, and land for tillage; sometimes seeing a plain containing, at the very smallest calculation, ten thousand acres, and not requisite to fell a tree: they crossed several good fresh water

REMARKS ON THE

rivers, and saw large quantities of every description of game. About forty-five miles before entering King George's Sound, the land becomes swampy and marshy, and continues so nearly into the town of Albany. We were only a fortnight coming back to Swan River, although we brought the whole four carts to within fifty miles of home, where we were obliged to leave one, as we had not sufficient strength to take it over the mountains. Our journey, on the whole, was exceedingly pleasant, and promised to be highly advantageous to the colony at large, as it opened a new district of very valuable land for every species of farming and agriculture; whither several persons, – amongst them Mr. Phillips, Government resident with 100l. per annum, Mr. Harris, Mr. Bull, Capt. M'Dermot, &c. – have already removed their flocks, and part of their herds. On an excursion like this we found the bugle a great assistance in lightening the toils of our journey.

The greatest drawback to Swan River has been the high price of labour, and the necessity, to procure that labour, of giving men spirits; whereas in the sister colonies, whither convicts have been sent, labour, up to the present time, has been procured at a very trifling expence. Add to this the vast extent of grants given to persons on the only land that can be turned to any account on the banks of Swan, Canning and Murray, and many of these absentees, officers in the navy and army. Mr. Peel's grant is one instance of the immense tracts of land appropriated to private individuals. This gentleman had sixty thousand acres given him on the Murray; and had he arrived in the colony two or three months earlier than he did, would have had a like enormous quantity given him on the banks of the Swan, to the very serious detriment of other persons, who had quite as strong a claim to their proportion of land as this gentleman. Land, in the

SWAN RIVER SETTLEMENT.

early part of the colony, was appropriated to persons at the rate of one acre for every 1s. 6d. worth of goods they brought into the colony and the value of the stock they bought there. This was ascertained by the production of the accounts, many of which I can safely say, were what is generally known by the name of salt-water certificates, namely, bills made out and receipted at sea, with an addition of some ten or fifteen percent, to their value.

It may not be inappropriate here to say some little of the Peel bubble. This gentleman went out under the auspices of Mr. Levy, who was then in England, of the firm of Cooper and Levy of Sydney, an immensely rich house, who found the means of chartering two vessels to convey out the stores and labourers (300 in number, including men, women and children) of Mr. Peel who were to till that land, which would soon enable Mr. Peel to refund the money borrowed of Messrs. Cooper and Levy with interest, and in the course of a very short time, allow him to retire to England with a handsome independent property, increasing enormously every succeeding year. And how has this bubble burst? When he landed his deluded fellow-creatures on the wilds of Australia, there were many of them dying from the effects of the scurvy; and prior to their being in Swan River six months, many of them died from this disease and starvation. Died! Yes! he had not six months' provision for them on their landing in the colony, and many of them have been seen, at that time running down to the beach nearly starved to death, craving of the persons who landed, a morsel of bread, to give to their suffering offspring. And what was the result of this misjudged speculation, I might almost say, in human flesh? Why, as soon as the men could procure labour from any other person, by which they could support their famishing children, they naturally left the service of a man who had neither the means nor inclination

REMARKS, ON THE

to assist them except with his notes on Sydney, which very few persons would take, and those who were foolish enough to cash them, found on their arrival in Sydney that Mr. Levy was dead, and Mr. Cooper not at all inclined to proceed in an affair in which he had already lost so much money, and which had always been carried on expressly against his will.

Notwithstanding the awful sufferings of these poor creatures, Mr. Peel was endeavouring, during the time I was in the colony, to wrench from them the little money they had earned, under the excuse that they had quitted and neglected his service. And why did they neglect it? I answer; because the agreement was first broken on the part of the person to whom they expected to look for aid and assistance, in all their troubles and distresses, at a distance of some fifteen thousand miles from their native homes. I leave my readers to judge for themselves, what has been the conduct of Mr. Peel. I should mention that he offered to take out one hundred and fifty Spitalfields weavers, but he could not agree with the parish as to the price they would give per head – miserable dictu! And pray, my readers may naturally ask, What good would a Spitalfields weaver do in the wilds of Australia? I answer; simply that he must have turned a day-labourer, and from being unaccustomed to such arduous work, and the warm climate, would gradually have sunk under it.

Amongst Mr. Peel's cargo was half a ton of horse-shoes – a carriage – and some twenty very handsome steel polished grates, which I believe are to this day lying on Garden Island, rusted into pieces. Had this money been expended in providing food for his servants, instead of being laid out in this improvident manner, what an alteration! I should mention of this gentleman, that his son was a private in the mounted police, and afterwards went

SWAN RIVER SETTLEMENT.

to Sydney, where he was made constable in the police, and the last time I heard of him, he was a sawyer up at Illawarra. Mr. Peel was without any servant in the years 1834, and part of 1835, even to cook his dinner or wash his clothes, or dig in his garden – the general fate of all unjust and improvident men.

When Sir James Stirling returned to Swan River in 1834, the late Earl of Egremont made him a present of two thorough-bred stallions, and some well-bred mares, for the use of the colony; one of these stallions was sold to a person named Marrs, for Charles Smith, a butcher of Sydney. The animal was shipped, and three days after he left the port, in a vessel called the Sir David Ogilby, he died. The other stallion (Napoleon) was sold to Mr. Brockman. The carriage of his Excellency, from his not being able to use it, was sent to Sydney for sale.

To the industrious mechanic, Swan River opens a very fine field; wages being good, – for a very small sum you may buy a town allotment, and build your own house, by which means you would be quit of rent, which so much distresses the mechanic, with a family, in England. There is certainty, to the steady, industrious, and clever workman, of constant employment; to the bricklayer, carpenter, plasterer, painter, stonemason, cabinet-maker, &c, the prospect is very good; but this only if he be sober; to a man addicted to drinking, Swan River would very soon be his grave, as it has already been to many intemperate men, as the burial-ground will fully corroborate.

The gardens in Perth and the immediate vicinity are very productive, supplying the town with vegetables, and some few fruits, at a very reasonable rate. The colony now grows plenty of wheat for its own consumption: in 1833, wheat, immediately after the harvest in December, was as high as fifteen shillings a bushel, while

ALBANY.

in January, 1836, it was down to eight shillings a bushel. The Swan River timber is very handsome, and durable, especially the mahogany or cedar; it is the only wood into which the white ant, a very small and destructive animal, will not get. They get into deal, and entirely destroy it in the course of a very short time; paint will preserve the wood from their ravages, provided you leave no spot on the wood, whether under-ground or above-ground, by which these things can possibly gain admission; they are more destructive to clothes and linen than the moth. The thermometer, in the height of summer, ranges as high as 92° in the shade.

The coast of New Holland is frequently visited, during the summer months, with violent storms, accompanied with a great deal of thunder and lightning. The natives report the existence of a very large inland sea, which, if report speaks true, empties itself on the south side of New Holland, between King George's Sound and South Australia. Gentlemen have gone to ascertain if such a thing really does exist or not. A very fine harbour has been found on Mr. Peel's land, within the last two years, which will of course be the great sea-port for vessels, on account of the insecurity of Gage's Roads, and raise his land in value very much in proportion. It has been surveyed by some officers in the navy and merchant service, also by the Surveyor-general, a Lieut. Roe, of the Navy, and all join in their commendations of the beauty and security of the anchorage, combined with a very eligible site for a town. The land in the neighbourhood of Albany, King George's Sound, is certainly better than that in the neighbourhood of Fremantle and Perth; the town is very straggling. Sir Richard Spencer, who is the government resident there, has a tolerable house, but it was, in 1836, the only decent house in the place.

I met a Mr. Hawson in Sydney, who informed me

KING GEORGE'S SOUND.

that he left Newfoundland on account of some religious controversy between the Catholics and Protestants, where he must have declared his sentiments when the Executive Council sat again, of which he was a member, and not wishing to involve himself in any religious debates, he sold his property in Newfoundland, and bought the Abeona schooner, and embarked with his wife and eleven children for the Australian colonies, whither he was drawn on account of the splendid reports he heard of them. He called in first at Pernambuco, on the eastern coast of South America, where a single young gentleman joined him, intending to proceed with them to Sydney. They then touched at the Cape, where they heard such an awful account of Sydney as induced him to leave part of his furniture there, and proceed on to King George's Sound, which he described as the most lovely climate he was ever in, but he could not find anything to do of any description. A gentleman, who was well connected, came to him during his residence there, and begged, with tears standing in his eyes at the time of making the request, a little rice for his family, as, although he had money, he could not buy any in the colony. Mr. Hawson left his wife and nine children at King George's Sound, and, accompanied by his two sons, proceeded on to Sydney. I met him the first Sunday after his arrival, at the house of a relation of mine in Sydney; and, during dinner, he suddenly laid down his knife and fork, and commenced crying; and when questioned by the lady of the house what made him weep, he said, the thoughts that, perhaps, the remainder of his family, that he had left with his wife in King George's Sound, had nothing to eat except bread, and how thankful he should feel when he could see them all in Sydney, to partake of the comforts of civilized life. The colony of King George's Sound has, however, improved very much indeed within

ANECDOTE OF A NATIVE.

these last two or three years. The harbour of the Sound is very good, and the town is well supplied with both wood and water. There is plenty of food for cattle in the neighbourhood of Albany.

Before closing this slight sketch of the colony of Western Australia, I may mention one anecdote, which will give a very good illustration of the habits and manners of the aboriginal inhabitants. A native, named Mulligo, having made himself very useful in the family of Mr. Purkis, at Perth, that gentleman gave him a suit of clothes, consisting of hat, jacket, and trowsers, shirt and drawers. The day after Mulligo first put on the suit of clothes, he returned to Mr. Purkis's domicile in the morning without the hat; on being questioned what had become of it, he answered, that he had left it up in a tree. Every morning, when he called there, it was noticed that he had something less on his back than he had the day before, until, in the course of three or four days, he returned sans chemise et sans culottes, and with no other covering than his flannel drawers, and every morning made the same reply to the interrogatory of what had become of his jacket, &c. as he did to the first query respecting his hat, viz. that it was in a tree. After having worn the flannel drawers upwards of a month, and it was impossible for any person to say what had been the original colour, he had the impertinence to ask one of this gentleman's daughters to wash them, at the same time taking them off in the room where she was: and, on her refusing to comply with such a request, he said that if she did not obey his orders, she should no more be a woman of his!

The native women are very hardy in their constitutions. I have seen them walk upwards of eight miles, then be delivered of a child, and, within half-an-hour afterwards, start to walk back again, and accomplish the distance back again within an hour and-a-half.

WHALE FISHING. – BANKING.

The southern and western coasts of New Holland abound with the black whale, fishing stations for which have been established at Swan River and King George's Sound, which are, even in this their early stage, proving very lucrative. Vessels also sail out of the ports belonging to the colonists for the sperm whale fishery, on the northern coast of New Holland, and round by the Friendly, Society, and Fejees Islands, some of them even proceeding as far eastward as the Gallagos Islands, on the Line, but a short distance from the coast of South America. Small vessels also sail out of the ports in search of seals, many of which abound on the coast of New Holland, in the neighbourhood of Cape Leuwin, the south-west point of the Continent. The coast from the Swan River down to Cape Leuwin, is very bold and precipitous, and that from Cape Leuwin very nearly down to King George's Sound of the same craggy description. The bays and rivers of Western Australia abound in various descriptions of fish, some of which are remarkably fine eating. I have seen salmon weighing from ten to twelve pounds, sold in Perth at three for a shilling. The colonists, besides supplying themselves with oil from their own fisheries, ship large quantities of both sperm and black annually to England. A bank was established prior to my arrival in the colony, which failed in November, 1833, but, whether from defective management, ignorance, or the extravagance of the Colonial Secretary, Mr. Peter Brown, who established it, I am unable to say; but the general opinion of the colonists led me to ascribe the last reason; and shortly after my arrival, his notes were offered to me at 5s. each, originally valued at 1l., and at the sale of his stock and effects, which took place some short time afterwards at his farm on the Swan River, the persons who held his notes were so anxious to get some value for them, that they passed them away for 10s. each. Another cir-

HARBOUR OF SYDNEY.

culating medium was commissariat notes, which of course were good. Within the last two years another bank has been established there, under the direction of a Mr. Leake. This gentleman has made a tolerable sum in the colony by discounting settlers' bills at some 20 to 25 per cent., and advancing money on grants, and, for some paltry excuse, foreclosing the mortgage. He will, in my opinion, make a very safe manager for a bank in Swan River: he was formerly a London stock-broker, in partnership with his brother, but having failed, they both went out to Swan River to make fresh fortunes.

Sydney.

SYDNEY.

I quitted Swan River the latter end of January, to proceed to Sydney. I was accompanied by two gentlemen who had only been in the colony three weeks, and by three who had been there some years, one of whom was quitting it a beggar. Every person on board seemed to be loud in their complaints of the misery and wretchedness that every where prevailed in the colony. After a month's passage, we arrived in Sydney Harbour the latter end of February. The contrast is remarkably striking after quitting Swan River, where it is a very rare occurrence if you by any possibility see more than four vessels at any time in the roads; whereas on entering Sydney harbour, you may often see three or four coming out and as many going in at the same time. The harbour is allowed by all persons to be remarkably safe; you proceed up seven miles before you anchor off the town, and the whole way up, on both sides, are most excellent harbours, capable of anchoring vessels of almost any tonnage; and however heavy a gale may be, riding safely with a single anchor, entirely shut in from every breeze, and, however heavy the sea may be running in the stream or tideway up to Sydney, they are here as calm as in a mill-pond. The three principal bays, and the only places where

PROVISIONS FOR THE VOYAGE.

vessels unload, and are entirely surrounded by wharfs, &c., are, Sydney Cove, Darling Harbour, and Cockle Bay. The first bay you come to, and just inside the head of the harbour on the north shore, is used as a quarantine ground, where many vessels have been unfortunately sent, – generally Scotch emigrant ships, seldom Irish or English, nor any convict vessels. It is to be accounted for from the large quantity of heating food given to the passengers and crew daily. Instead of meat and bread, flour, &c, they issue to them oatmeal, which, even on shore, where persons get plenty of vegetables to assist in carrying off this heating food, is excessively pernicious; and how much more so where it is impossible to get any vegetables for any person in the ship after the first few days, except potatoes and preserved vegetables; which latter have generally lost all their virtue, and are even then only to be procured by the steerage passengers at a most exorbitant price. Therefore I should recommend all persons who are going to any part of the world in the steerage, as far as their means will allow them, to lay in a stock of comforts, that, in addition to their allowance, they will not so much feel the hardships persons endure on first going to sea, particularly in the steerage. You can of course land any where about Sydney Harbour, but the general place is either the Dockyard, which is situated at the bottom of George-street, or the Government Jetty, at the bottom of Macquarie-place, and close to Government House. It is at the latter place where all the men-of-war boats come to, and the former the merchant vessels' boats; at the former also lie all the watermen's boats. It is no uncommon thing to see as many as 150 to 180 vessels of various descriptions in Sydney Harbour at a time. Steam-boats are seen going up the river to Parramatta, one of which is an iron boat, the property of Messrs. John Lord and Co.; steamers running to the Hunter's River and Port Macquarie twice a week; and a steamer running as fast as it

COAL MINES. – CEDAR WOOD.

possibly can to Hobart Town and Launceston, Van Dieman's Land, Port Philip, and Twofold Bay, on the southern, and eastern, coasts of New Holland, and under the jurisdiction of the Governor of New South Wales, – and both going from and returning to Sydney: it is generally quite full of passengers and goods.

On the Hunter River is a place called Newcastle, from whence coals come in great abundance. They are of a very good description, and are delivered at your own house in Sydney, at from nineteen to twenty shillings per ton. Large quantities are annually shipped to the Indian market, it being the only article of export they have for that place, except old copper and a few horses; in exchange for which they receive sugar, rice, tea, silks, furniture, spices, wheat, molasses, preserves, &c. Cedar timber is a great article of export to England, and there are a great many small craft employed in nothing else than in running down to the MacLeay and bringing up large quantities of timber. These small craft are all colonial built, and are excessively handy and good sea-boats. It occupies a great many sawyers, who otherwise would have nothing to do, and would consequently be committing some crime to support themselves. I have heard from gentlemen who have been down there, that it is the most lawless place in the colony, and it is no uncommon thing to see timber which you have just rafted to go down the river, with another person's brand on it, and yours taken out, and this done while you were absent from it for a short time only, by some person who has been watching you. There is no magistrate there, and might gives right, consequently the strongest party generally comes off also the richest.

The town of Sydney is very well built, the houses are generally regular, especially those of late days, and the streets intersect each other at right angles. The roads

A LAND OF PLENTY.

are very good, and Macadamized. After the miserable dull spot of Swan River, any change must be for the better, especially such a town as Sydney, which appears to a person more like a large town in England, than a settlement in a bush, at a distance of 16,000 miles from Europe. At Swan River you never see any thing grander than a bullock or horse cart, whereas in Sydney, carriages, gigs, mail-coaches, and stages, rattle past you in almost endless variety, at every corner; the streets are crowded with well-dressed persons of both sexes, and the male part of the inhabitants have certainly the air of persons of business, at the same time their appearance denotes they are in a land of plenty. Some of the gentlemen's houses in the town and the outskirts of Sydney, are very elegant, and would not disgrace any part of England. They are generally handsomely furnished. Most of the merchants live a short distance out of town, many of them on the road toward Sydney Heads, at Wooloomooloo, or Rose Bay; others again on the road to Parramatta, Windsor, Liverpool, Newtown, &c. Rents in Sydney are very high; you pay as much as 12s. 6d. to 15s. per week, for a small house of three rooms and a kitchen. Your water you have to buy of men who carry it about the streets in carts, and sell it at a penny a bucket. Butchers' meat is generally about 5d. per lb.; tea, 2s.; sugar, 4d. to 6d.; potatoes, 1d. per lb. Vegetables are rather expensive; butter, 2s. 6d. per lb.; eggs, 2s. 6d. per doz.; cheese, colonial, 10d. per lb. The reason of vegetables, butter, and eggs, being so high priced in Sydney, is on account of the land in the neighbourhood of the town, being so much built over, and that which remains yet uncovered is not of a nature at all likely to sustain many head of cattle, and only suffices to support the milch cows that supply the town with milk and cream.

It may not here be inappropriate, while on the subject

CONVICT SERVANTS.

of New South Wales, to state some few particulars regarding the mode of punishment which has so much engrossed the attention of the legislature within the last few years. I allude to the defective system of the present transportation laws, which are, in my opinion, calculated to become an inducement rather than a preventive to further crime, in as much as the convicts are far better fed, and more comfortably clothed than the generality of the labouring classes in England or Ireland, the latter more especially. I would here remark that the word I have just made use of is unauthorised in general conversation in the penal colonies, and it is necessary to substitute that of government servants, or assigned servants, instead of convicts, so tenacious are these men of this degrading term, that should any of them hear it, the consequences are very often excessively unpleasant, as on account of, and in exchange for it, you not only receive the vilest abuse, but at times summary chastisement. By far the greater number of the convicts are distributed amongst the settlers as assigned servants. The masters, by their agreement with the government, are bound to supply these servants weekly with 10 1/2 pounds of meat, 10 1/2 pounds of flour, 7 ounces of sugar, (which is generally increased to a pound and a half a fortnight), and 2 ounces of salt, and a small quantity of soap: they also issue to them (but at their own option) a small quantity of tea and tobacco weekly – generally a quarter of a pound of each. They also are bound to find them in clothes, shoes and bedding. This is the most liberal allowance supplied in any part of the world. Refer to your parish allowances, and you will find their scale very much below that of the convict in the Australian colonies. This being the case, I ask my readers, whether the felon who has committed crimes of the blackest die is not better off than the honest man who struggles, in England and Ireland, in the coal

CONVICTS.

mines, factories, potteries, &c. and can, by that means only, gain an actual subsistence? – and what more has the honest man? Why, I answer, the liberty of going into (the greatest curse to England) the gin shops, and calling himself free – a subject which very few of our English peasantry seem to understand, or are likely to profit by.

The better a man conducts himself, and the more attentive he is to the interests of his employer, the more liberal is of course his allowance of tea and tobacco – and various other opportunities of benefiting himself – as a man who is transported for seven years is forced by the law to serve four out of the seven to a master, or else in the employ of government, either of which must be without punishment, before he can obtain his ticket-of-leave, which ticket renders him free of any part of the colony, he may wish to reside in. Sydney, however, within the last few years, has been excepted, on account of the great influx of emigrants, out of whose hands the ticket-of-leave men from their being known in the colony, would take all the work, and as labourers would execute it much faster, and consequently earn higher wages from their being better able to bear the heat of the climate. A man who has fourteen years' sentence, has six years to serve, and men who have twenty-one, or life, have ten years to serve. When for misdemeanours committed in the colony, they are subjected to the lash, or to work in irons on the roads at the point of the bayonet, or re-transportation to the ultra penal settlements of Norfolk Island, the time they have so worked on the roads, or been re-transported as above, or for every fifty lashes they have received, six months are added in addition to their sentences. Persons who are transported for twenty-one years or life, after having had their tickets-of-leave some years without any stain on their characters, which has brought them before a magistrate, are emancipated, or receive a

CONVICT SERVANTS

ticket which renders them perfectly free in the colony, but prevents them at the same time quitting it. This ticket of emancipation, like that of the leave, is tenable only so long as they conduct themselves with steadiness and respectability, but if they swerve only once from the right course, their detection is immediately followed by the loss of it. By the assignment laws, you must get the signatures of two magistrates as to capability of providing and finding employment for the servant for which you apply, and also a householder's signature as to your respectability. This is a mere pro-forma concern, but requisite to be done. For a man or woman who has just arrived in the colony, before they have been sent to a colonial person, should they be assigned to you, will cost you 1l.; otherwise a man may be procured for nothing, and a woman for 3s. 6d., the price of her passage from Parramatta by the steamer, to be paid to the constable who delivers her to you in Sydney. It is better, if you can, to get a servant from a ship prior to his or her visit to Hyde Park Barracks, or the Parramatta Factory, as, however depraved, and however so old offenders they may be, you have a better chance of keeping them in subjection than you have after their visiting these places, as they will dread the laws from their not knowing them; but should it on the contrary be the first crime a person has committed, and consequently the jail he or she was taken to on commitment, the only one they have entered, you have every chance of having procured a good servant, provided you treat them properly.

Samuel Terry, and many of the wealthy prisoners both in this and the sister colony of Van Dieman's Land, are emancipists, but the periods when the convicts realized such enormous properties have long since passed. At that time convicts were not under such great restraint as they are at present. Not very long ago a man could be

IN NEW SOUTH WALES, &c.

assigned to his wife, and the wife to the husband, which is now put a stop to, as it was discovered that many of the large defaulters handed the money they had illegally obtained, over to their wives, who preceded them in their voyage to the colonies, and on the husband's arrival, claimed him as their assigned servant; in which case the man was of course under no more control than he was in England, with the exception of being obliged to obtain a pass from his wife to allow him to walk about.

The male assigned convict is at the mercy of the most summary laws; namely, flogging, imprisonment, solitary confinement, labour in irons, and transportation to Norfolk Island, besides the last resort of hanging: this, however, is only resorted to in the most desperate cases, such as murder, bush-ranging, rape, &c. Magistrates were a short time ago authorized to order as many lashes as they thought the case deserved; but, thanks to a more enlightened era, they are not at present authorized to order more than 50 at one time, to any offender.

To prove that the laws are carried on with vigour, I extract the following statistical account from the evidence given before the Committee of the House of Commons, in November 1837, to enquire into the system of transportation, its efficacy as a punishment, "its influence on the moral state of the penal colonies, and how far it is susceptible of improvement." We there find that "New South Wales has received on an average for the last 5 years 3544 convicts annually, and in 1836, the whole convict population in the colony amounted to 25,254 men, and 2577 women, in all 27,831. The average number of convicts to Van Dieman's Land in the same period is 2078, and the convict population there amounted in 1835, to 16,968 persons, 2054 of whom were women. Norfolk Island, in 1837, contained upwards of 1200, most of them having been transported from New South Wales for

STATE OF CRIME.

offences committed there." "In Van Dieman's Land in 1836, there were about 50,000 lashes inflicted, and 15,000 summary convictions, though 15,000 was the whole number of convicts in the island. In New South Wales the number of summary convictions was 22,000, and the lashing of a frightful amount."

The convicts in the employ of government mostly work on the roads, and in the erection of public buildings. Those who are in irons always work on the roads: their condition is extremely wretched. Notwithstanding punishments are thus severe, and frequent, it does not appear that crime is at all on the decrease. Walk, of a morning, to the police office, and there see the awful number of cases daily for disposal before the magistrates. On Monday it is no uncommon thing to find upwards of two hundred cases of drunkenness for adjudication before the magistrates, and on ordinary days from fifty to sixty, independent of insolence to their masters and mistresses, by both male and female convicts, fighting, &c. besides the naturally frequent cases of burglary, pocket-picking, &c. which occur so frequently, that only a slight sketch of each is put into the papers. The criminal court is said to sit at the commencement of every three months, but it generally sits the greater portion of the year; and the session which commenced in April 1836, terminated only on the 30th June, in order that a fresh court might be summoned for the quarter commencing the first of July.

About two years ago, cattle-stealing was considered a capital punishment, but this law is happily put aside, the sentence being transportation for life, which in the case of an emigrant would be to Van Dieman's Land, and of a man who had been transported before, Norfolk Island.

This offence was carried some few years ago to so great an extent, that the larger proportion of salted meat sup-

CATTLE STEALING.

plied to the shipping, was procured by this means, and it was found necessary to make some severe examples. I was present at a trial for this offence, of a man and his five sons, named Deans, but commonly known by "The Lumpy Deans;" although this man (who was an emancipist) had a most beautiful farm on the Hawkesbury, and quite sufficient to keep his family in comfort and respectability, yet he encouraged his sons in the nefarious practice of robbing their neighbours: he was acquitted, but his sons were all sentenced to transportation for life; although the jury acquitted him, there cannot be a doubt on any person's mind, who heard the trial, that he himself was more guilty than his unfortunate sons.

From the vast number of cattle possessed by the various settlers, and the peculiar tenure under which the greatest portion of the grazing land is held, it is necessary for the settlers to allow their herds to spread themselves over a vast tract of country, and from its great extent and the large number of cattle, it is impossible that the herdsman, who ought to ride round them every day, can possibly say that he has seen the whole; and whereas from the great distance the cattle stations generally are from the residence of the proprietor, the cattle very often pass a week without being seen by the stock-keeper, and sometimes a month without being driven into the stock-yard; the cattle consequently become wild, and should any of them be stolen or lost, there is the greater difficulty of course in tracing them. This offence is now fast on the decrease.

I am happy to say, that bush-ranging is also declining. This offence was first brought on by the brutal conduct of many masters to their assigned servants; they having them flogged on every trifling occasion, and treating them much worse than the very dogs about the place. It seems to me a very great feature in favour of the convicts gene-

STATE OF CRIME IN SYDNEY.

rally, that there are not a considerably greater number of bushrangers than there really are; for from my own experience I can safely say, that I have seen the conduct of some of the masters so brutal, that were I placed in a similar situation to these unfortunates, I should feel myself very much inclined to have my revenge on some of the free brutes, and then fly to the bush, notwithstanding I knew it was certain death.

To prove the number of executions which take place annually in New South Wales, it is only necessary to refer to the statistical account above alluded to, wherein it appears that if the amount of crime and punishment were in the same ratio in England as in New South Wales, there would be 7,000 executions annually in the latter country, or 22 156/311 per day. According to the statement of the late attorney-general for Van Diemen's, who has thoroughly investigated the subject, not less than three-fourths are committed by offenders whose sentences of punishment have expired. I have myself seen seven men hung in one morning in Sydney, and have known as many as thirteen hung within one week.

The punishment to females who get intoxicated, rob, &c. is to send them to the factory, in which place they are separated into three classes: in the first are those who have arrived in the Colony, and have not been assigned, but who are returned to the Government not on account of any fault; in the second are those who are returned to Government or sentenced to a term of imprisonment for minor faults; and in the third are those who are returned to Government for desperate faults. The occupation of the first class is making convict clothing; that of the second cleaning the place, and the remainder of the time breaking stones; that of the third continued breaking stones; the last class have all their hair cut off, which I always thought a woman's greatest punishment; but

STATE OF CRIME IN SYDNEY.

having a female assigned servant, who had been some years in the colony, I threatened her, on account of her repeated drunkenness, to send her to the third class of the factory, (how or where she procured the spirits on which to get intoxicated I never could learn); she turned round to me very quietly, and said: "Well if you do! they can only cut my hair off, they can't pull it out by the roots, it will grow again." This anecdote will, I think, prove the inefficacy of the female convict laws.

In the factory is a nursery for the illegitimate offspring of these unfortunates, which is very often, nay, generally, tolerably well stocked with this rising generation, notwithstanding there is a penalty of 50l. on any person cohabiting with a female convict. Where there are young children, it is highly improper to have any convict servants about the premises, as they will indirectly, if not directly, which is sometimes the case, contaminate and corrupt the minds of young persons. Unfortunately, this has been but too often proved – they having caused the ruin of the young and virtuous daughters of respectable emigrants, and even been known, when not properly watched, to introduce young men at midnight into respectable boarding schools for young ladies!

These few remarks will, I think, prove most fully to my readers, the inefficacy of the present transportation laws, either as to the improvement of the morality of society in New South Wales, and par consequence Van Diemen's Land, or the reduction of crime. I will mention one instance, of many I could enumerate, of a person, who had committed a crime of the blackest dye, and who lay six weeks in an Irish jail, expecting every moment he would be hung on the following morning. I allude to a person who was transported from Dublin for administering cantharides to a female, who would not gratify his passion: he was tried and con-

CONVICT LABOUR.

demned to die. After lying six weeks under sentence of death, his punishment was commuted to transportation for life; he was transported, and through the instrumentality of his friends, for he was highly connected, as soon as he arrived in the colony, he received a ticket-of-leave, and within twelve months after his landing he received his emancipation, and is now one of the most dissolute young men in Sydney. Is this honesty? – is it justice? Had he been a poor man, and yet escaped the gallows in England, he would have shared the same fate as other convicts in New South Wales.

There has been for some time a rumour current both in England and the Australian Colonies, that Her Majesty's ministers did not intend to send anymore convicts to New South Wales or Van Diemen's Land, the discontinuance of which system would be very severely felt in these Colonies, as it would create a very great dearth of labour, and the consequences would prove very fatal to the interests of the colonists generally, not only in there being no supply to meet the current demand for labour, but there would be of course no greater increase in the consumption of food, &c, and, moreover, fewer vessels would come to the port at any rate, for some time. My readers may naturally say, why there would be great call and opportunity for emigration. I answer, yes, but subjoin the fact, that the sums derivable from the sale and lease of lands are at present very inadequate to meet the amount that would be required to send to the colonies a sufficient supply of free labourers, shepherds, &c. to prevent an almost general stoppage of all agricultural pursuits. The only monies that can be expended in emigration are those procured as above stated. I am very well convinced in my own mind, that many persons would prefer convict to free labour, and that the latter has very much lowered the former in general estimation, from their being

FEMALE EMIGRATION.

able to manage a prisoner much more summarily than they can a free man.

I wish to say a few words on another very important feature in the history of these Australian Colonies, namely emigration. I allude particularly to the system of female emigration, carried on some five or six years ago. The chief error, it appears to me, in sending out these unfortunate young women, was the very small exertions that were, comparatively speaking, used to ascertain their real characters; inasmuch as a great many very loose and immoral women were put on board these vessels to populate the Australian Colonies; and how have they populated them? A walk up George Street, Sydney, in the dusk of the evening, or a few minutes in the theatre, and its neighbourhood, will, I think, clearly demonstrate. Many of the young persons thus sent out, have been of highly respectable connexions, but through misfortunes in business have become reduced, and having given their daughters such educations as they expected would befit them for that station in life they anticipated them to hold, these young females were incapacitated to take menial situations in a family in England; and as the mother country was, and is, overwhelmed with every description of persons, they could not expect very readily to procure them situations as governesses, and from the highly-coloured accounts they had heard of the scarcity of the female sex in New Holland, and the opportunities there were for a young person of good education and moral habits settling comfortably, (I allude to marriage,) they, the parents, naturally anxious for their children's welfare, risked them on board an emigrant ship, nothing doubting that the character of every person who was sent out by the committee, would be fully and thoroughly investigated, and that, if it possibly could be helped, no impure or immoral person would be permitted on board the

FEMALE EMIGRANTS.

several ships. Let the conscience of the person who was paid by the committee to enquire into their characters answer how far this was thoroughly gone into.

As a specimen, I will name one ship that quitted England in May, 1834, and arrived in Van Diemen's Land; on board of which vessel were shipped two hundred and seventy-five females, several of them girls of loose habits, selected from the parishes, out of which number, upwards of fifty were decidedly bad characters! The boatswain of this vessel boasted of having slept with one hundred of them; and the superintendent has been obliged to get out of her own bed, and literally drag the girls from out of the sailors' beds, which were in the topgallant forecastle. And these women – these dregs of society – were classed and sent out in the same vessel, and had perhaps part of the same bed with, a virtuous, prudent, and moral girl, who, prior to this had perhaps never even heard of such awful scenes of depravity! Look at the vessels named Layton, David Scott, and Red Rover, which carried similar descriptions of cargoes to Sydney. It is a perfectly notorious thing, that the streets of Sydney are entirely stocked of an evening by women who came out in these vessels; and I myself have heard young men ask them, when they were accosted by them, "Are you a Layton ? – David Scott? – or Red Rover?"

Unless a superintendent be particularly careful, and devote his time and attention to the selection, it is quite impossible to prevent immorality creeping in amongst them, and when once in, it can never be eradicated, but keeps spreading as the most virulent disease.

I am not single in my opinion; it is admitted by every colonist, that the system of emigration pursued as above, was wrong in every respect. Dr. Lang, of the Scotch Kirk, Sydney, who has thoroughly investigated and devoted much of his time to this important subject, has severely

GENTLEMEN EMIGRANTS.

blamed it in a pamphlet which he published some time since.

The system at present pursued, if properly conducted, is fraught with a great deal of intrinsic good, both to the parent country and its offspring. They take out labourers and their families, and introduce only a few females, who are single (except those who have their parents on board), amongst each cargo. These it is necessary should be known to some family going in the ship, under whose controul they are during the passage, and with whom they can reside in the colony after their landing, until they can procure situations. I should remark, that a great many of the emigrants who went out are well married, some of them remarkably so.

There are a great many young men of liberal education whose friends have paid their passage-money out there, and given them numerous letters of introduction, expecting them to procure situations as clerks, &c. They arrive – present their letters of introduction – which are opened and glanced over – and the bearers may have the good luck of being asked to dinner, and on parting, told, "We shall be very happy to hear of your success when you procure a situation; but really we ourselves are quite full." Such is the general fate of letters of introduction. Letter after letter is presented; and still no situation even in perspective. The little money they took out with them is expended; their watch, &c, most probably sold; and if they have the good luck to get shopman to a grocer or linen-draper, they think themselves well off. And so they really are, considering the number of this highly useful class out of employment, and many of them glad to earn a trifle a-day, as labourers, on the wharfs. Clerks are so plentiful in Sydney, that in a letter I saw written by a gentleman there, in answer to an enquiry from a friend, if he wanted such assistance from England,

PRICES OF CLOTHING.

he stated, they might be procured by the hundred at about 50l. per annum – a sum not sufficient to pay for their board and lodging. But, to the engineer, printer, carpenter, stonemason, bricklayer, plumber, painter, jeweller, coach-smith, wheelwright, sawyer, and, indeed, every description of business and trade, provided they be sober, honest, and industrious men, Sydney holds out blooming prospects, – plenty of employment at very liberal wages, and constant work. One more word with regard to clerks. It is awful to see the number of young men of this class, who, notwithstanding the endless misery robbery entails upon them, defaulters to their employers, – even after the difficulty many of them have had in procuring situations, – lawyers' clerks, and linen-drapers' shopmen, form a very numerous class amongst the convicts from England.

One cause why so many clerks are out of employment is, that a great many of the minor government situations are filled by convicts, to the great injury generally of the emigrants.

I would recommend emigrants to take out a sufficient supply of clothing to last two or three years, and such clothing as they wear in England; for however warm the climate is in summer, they will feel the comfort of warm clothing in the month of June. Woollen clothing is not only very expensive, but very indifferent. The tailors charge 2l. 10s. for cloth trowsers; waistcoats, 1l. 5s.; and coats from 6l. to 7l. Under-clothing is also very expensive.

Land in the Australian Colonies is put up to auction at the minimum price of 12s. per acre, for a square mile, which contains 640 acres; and persons may bid as high as they like. For some favoured parts of the country I have known gentlemen bid as high as 2l. 10s. and 3l. per acre. A deposit is requisite to be paid down at the time of purchasing, and the residue within one month from

PURCHASE OF LAND.

the day of sale: if the amount be not paid within that time, the deposit is forfeited and the land is again put up at the next sale. These sales take place once in every month. Land is also put up to lease at the rate of 1l. for every square mile per annum. The leases only hold good twelve months; and in this case also the land is often run up very high by the proprietors of the land at the time. In your lease you are bound not to fell any more timber than is actually necessary for the erection of a hut for your men, and stockyard for your cattle. You are not allowed to break up ground for tillage; and only sufficient for a garden to supply your men with vegetables. It would not answer the purpose of any settler to break up the land for tillage, even supposing he were allowed by his agreement, inasmuch as the land may, the succeeding year, be leased to some other person, or perhaps sold: in either case, the labour he had bestowed upon it would go for nought.

In taking possession of a cattle-run, it is necessary that the cattle should at first be herded, every day, for a short time, then, every two or three days for some time longer, and after that, regularly every week; as without this precaution they are liable to be stolen, or to stray away: in either case great difficulty in tracing them would be the consequence. It is also the duty of the overseer to send the stock-keepers out every day on horseback, to sight as many of the cattle as they possibly can, and to take different routes every day. By this plan, should any cattle not be seen in three or four days, you may naturally conclude they are either stolen or strayed. At each cattle station it is customary to have an overseer, and two stock-keepers, with two horses for their use. These animals very soon get accustomed to the run, and also to cattle-hunting; which they seem to enjoy as much as the person who rides them: they will of their own

CATTLE AND SHEEP STATIONS.

accord head the cattle when they see they are going in a direction from the station. The stock-keepers are each armed with a stout whip, something of the appearance of a French postilion's, very short in the handle, and very long in the lash, which enables them to make sufficient noise to frighten the cattle. The sole amusement of these men in the bush, independent of their business, is hunting the kangaroo and native dog for their skins, which they barter away with the Jew hawkers, who periodically come round the country. In the choice of a cattle run, it is necessary to select some place where there is a river, on the banks of which the cattle will feed; – if possible, a piece of land on the banks of a river, where a brook or rivulet branches out from, and acts as a barrier on, one side, as the river does on the other; as long as there is any food to be procured, the cattle are sure not to leave such a spot as this.

A sheep station is managed in a somewhat similar manner. The number of persons employed about this is five, consisting of an overseer, a watchman, and three shepherds. The flocks are three generally; two ewe flocks and a wether flock; the two former containing about three hundred each, and the latter about four hundred. It is the duty of the watchman to shift the three sheepfolds every day, and to guard the sheep against the ravages of the native dog, which, unfortunately, abounds here. Most of the land let on lease to the various settlers, is out of the limits of the colony. Some time ago there was an agreement made by about six gentlemen, who wanted some land in a certain district, not to give more than a certain amount per acre, and after they had procured it, to divide it amongst them. They got the land at about the rate they had agreed to pay. The government discovered it some short time afterwards, made the purchase money already paid forfeited, and brought actions against the

SHEPHERDS IN DEMAND – WOOL.

whole of them, in which actions the government obtained a verdict with damages.

There is a very great lack of good shepherds in the colony, which are more particularly requisite here, as the settlers, if they do know any thing about the diseases of sheep, are many of them two or three hundred miles from their various stations, and, consequently, are unable to visit them above once or twice per annum, and in the interim their flocks may be reduced considerably in number from disease.

From the great distance many of the flocks are from the capital, it would incur so heavy an expence, and so great a loss in the weight of the sheep, that the settlers, instead of sending their wethers to market at two years old, keep them for the sake of the wool, and only kill them when there is actual necessity for it to supply the men with meat. Sheep vary very much in their price in New South Wales. In August 1836, when Mr. Potter Macqueen's sheep were sold, some of them realized as much as seventy shillings per head; and in the early part of last year, when the flocks of Mr. Samuel Terry were sold, few of them realized forty shillings. This is entirely owing to the depreciation in the price of wool.

In January 1836, wools realized in England the most enormous prices, particularly Australian wools; whereas when the cargoes arrived in England, which were shipped from Sydney in January 1837, the prices had so much fallen, that many of the shipments did not realize the amount paid for them by the merchant in Sydney, leaving them losers of the expences of repacking, shipping, charges, freight, and interest of money from the time of purchase to that of sale. When the high prices reigned, in 1836, many persons in Sydney thought they could not fail, and thus speculated considerably to their own detri-

PRICES OF CATTLE – RACE HORSES.

ment. Cattle average generally about 10l. Horses may be purchased very reasonably in the interior, but you cannot purchase a decent hack in the town under from 35l. to 70l. There are several races every year in various parts of the country; those of Sydney and Parramatta are the most celebrated.

The generality of horses that run at the races are either bred in the colony from thorough-bred imported horses, or are themselves thorough-bred imported horses. A person by the name of Charles Smith, a Sydney butcher and emancipist, owns by far the greatest number of thorough-bred animals of any man on the turf. He was banished England for being a highwayman on Hounslow Heath. He carries off nearly all the prizes at the Sydney and Parramatta Races, and wins most of the steeplechases. There are two or three packs of fox-hounds in the colony. One pack, belonging to the above-mentioned Charles Smith, throw off generally in the neighbourhood of Sydney three times per week during the season. The native dog is substituted for the fox, and generally proves most excellent sport. The old race-course was a most eligible piece of ground, but the new Sydney racecourse is, without exception, nearly the heaviest patch of land I have seen in the Australian colonies; it is distant about three miles from the town of Sydney, on the road to the far-famed Botany Bay. Apropos, there is at Botany Bay a very coarse cloth manufactory; it is termed Parramatta cloth, and is solely used for convicts' clothing; it is manufactured by a Mr. Simeon Lord, and is very cheap.

The natives of New South Wales are generally of the same emaciated appearance as the other natives I have met with on the various parts of the coast, but from their addiction to drinking, smoking, &c, they are far more squalid and wretched. They are not permitted to enter Sydney, or indeed any of the principal towns, without

ABORIGINAL INHABITANTS.

being in some degree clothed, consequently the sight of them in this respect is not so disgusting by any means as in Swan River, Albany, and King George's Sound. The natives, in Sydney, beg money and clothes during the whole of the morning and forenoon; early in the afternoon they club their money together to purchase grog and tobacco. Their grog, or bull, as it is termed, is a small quantity of boiling water put into a cask, out of which all the spirits have been drawn, or at any rate only leaving the dirt at the bottom. This, being left in some days, becomes, by being rolled about, equally strong as the spirit itself originally was; adding to this, the drainings of the various glasses of gin, rum, brandy, wine, beer, &c, when all are mixed together, they form any thing but an agreeable beverage, and such as would only be drunk by an aboriginal inhabitant of New South Wales.

This vile compound is sold by the publicans to these unfortunate beings at a very low price, and very often by the bucket-full, so that the miserable wretches, by night, are in a beastly state of intoxication; the consequence of which is, the black gentlemen begin thrashing the black ladies; the ladies, assisted by their offspring, return the compliment with interest, and a general melee ensues. The women and children are not a whit more abstemious than the men with regard to their use of bull and tobacco. The most riotous are then taken to the station-house, and in the morning before a magistrate, when they are either sent to the stocks or the treadmill, the latter of which they prefer, as they are there not exposed to the public gaze, particularly that of their brother dingies, which they do not at all like, as these fellows immediately commence jeering them for being so stupid as to commit themselves so far as to allow the police an opportunity of taking them; as they, the jeerers, were themselves quite as drunk, but had more savez than to run against a constable.

PUBLIC ROADS IN THE COLONY.

Some few years ago, a great many of these unfortunate beings were killed by the convicts in the interior, in order to enable these fellows to get hold of their gins or wives, but as the crime of shooting a native has been of late made a capital punishment, it is to be hoped that this awful crime will be, in some measure, if not entirely, put a stop to. By a recent Sydney paper, I perceive that four convicts had been hung one morning for killing the natives.

The roads in New South Wales, particularly those in the neighbourhood of Sydney, are extremely good. This is one advantage that a convict colony has over a free one – the beauty of the roads, from the supply they have of labour at a mere trifle of expense; whereas in a free country you have to pay your labourers high wages. The road from Sydney to Parramatta is very good indeed; this town is distant about fifteen miles from the capital; coaches run there several times a-day. You can also go by steam up the river; and I understand that a railroad is in contemplation between these two towns, which will of course be a vast improvement; and persons may go by that means from one town to the other in three quarters of an hour. The whole line of road, on both sides, is ornamented with gentlemen's houses.

The land on this road sells and lets at very high prices. The town of Parramatta is very pleasing, but the houses in general do not exceed one story. The governor has a residence here, and there are barracks. The town is rather straggling. The factory is situated here. Close to the quay where the steam-boats take in and discharge their passengers, is a barrack for prisoners, who are, for misconduct, working on the roads; they are commonly denominated "the canary-birds," so called from their dresses being yellow, as a mark of disgrace. To enter into a minute description of the whole of the

LAND AND CLIMATE OF AUSTRALIA.

colony of New South Wales, would be a work of some considerable time; I shall therefore on that head merely say to my reader that the land has answered, with very few exceptions, the most sanguine expectations that have been formed by those who have gone out to till it; and with the exception of its being liable to be visited, unfortunately, often by a drought, there is not perhaps in the world a climate by nature more adapted for the health of mankind in general, and the rearing of every description of domestic animals, than is the climate of the southern part of New Holland.

A few hints to emigrants who are going out to the Australian colonies to settle, may not be amiss before closing this sketch; and if my humble endeavours to point out with perspicuity the line they should adopt, should be of any avail, my time will be well repaid. I should by all means recommend persons going out, not to burthen themselves with household furniture, as bedsteads, &c; as they are to be procured at a very slight expense greater than in England, and moreover you are very likely in taking them out, to have many of the chairs, &c. broken, independent of the heavy amount of freight, which varies from 5l. to 6l. per ton; added to which, the possibility of no house being erected on the grant you are to occupy, and having either to pay store-rent in Sydney, or after taking your furniture into the interior, having to leave it in the open air under trees, until you have a place erected in which to stow it. Feather beds, horse-hair mattrasses and pillows, together with cooking utensils, clothing, linen, crockery, glass, and any plate you require, I should by all means recommend you to take out with you. Also take out a good fowling-piece or two, and two or three muskets, as you may perhaps, sooner or later,

HINTS TO EMIGRANTS.

have occasion for the use of them. Your carts you can procure in the colony, as also your cart-harness, but your own saddle by all means do not go without. Waste as little time and money in the town as possible, as you will find you will require as much of both as you can possibly scrape together; time is money, as soon as you have bought your sheep, whose wool, of course, must be your chief income, into which source all your other streams of wealth will run. To a young single man who will for a few years quit society and give up his life to the bush, the prospect is most brilliant, provided he can command about 1000l. Let him lay out, say 750l. in the purchase of some sheep, say at 40s. per head, by which means he would have a flock of about 375 sheep; and as sheep are allowed by general opinion to double their number, independent of ram lambs, in two years and a half, in the course of five years, he would have 1500 ewes, which at an average of 2l. each, would render a person worth 3000l., besides his wethers and annual crops of wool. Cattle take a much longer time in doubling their number, consequently sheep are by far the most profitable speculation. The only difficulty which presents itself is the insufficient supply of labour, but this hindrance may be obviated by having your shepherd sent you from England, and by treating him well, you might depend upon his remaining and attending thoroughly to your flocks. I would by all means recommend any person who has free shepherds, not to introduce them at all amongst convicts, as by keeping them away from these characters, you may consider that their intentions towards you will not be contaminated by any collision with these unfortunate men. Persons going out had better content themselves with a log-hut the first winter, than attempt to put up any house, as by that means they will have plenty of time to erect comfortable buildings for their stock, and

WHALING ESTABLISHMENTS.

to get sufficient grain in to meet the demands of the family for the next year. By all means do not forget your garden, as without it you will find yourselves very badly off. Hay cut in the morning, must be carried the same afternoon, or else early the following day, as soon as the dew is off, for, if left beyond that time, you will find it dried up and good for nothing. A great deal of the wheat is not put into the ground until June, and sometimes even as late as the first week in August, and reaped in December, generally about Christmas day.

I would mention a very pleasant walk and drive there is in Sydney, called the Government Domain; also the same in Parramatta. They were planned by Mrs. Macquarie, the wife of Governor Macquarie, and certainly do infinite credit to the taste and judgment of that amiable lady.

New Zealand.

NEW ZEALAND.

I quitted Sydney on the 15th of August, and intended to proceed on to Valparaiso direct, but the captain of the merchant vessel, in which I was a passenger, having some whale-boats on board which he wished to dispose of, resolved to run into the Bay of Islands, New Zealand, whither many of the whalers resort, and there endeavour to barter them away for oil; but the wind blowing very contrary, he made up his mind to run for Cook's Straits, and drop anchor between Entry Island and the large northern island. Here we anchored after a run of ten days. We found three Black Whalers here, that is to say, ships out in search of black whales, which are very plentiful on the coast of New Zealand, and about this part particularly so, as they always come into shoal water to calve, and the spermaceti whale never goes into soundings.

WHALING ESTABLISHMENTS.

Within a short distance of the spot where we anchored, is a place called Cloudy Bay, where an almost innumerable number of vessels remain annually during the calving season, particularly Americans. They make every thing snug, and send out their boats every morning in search of their prey. There was a whaling establishment belonging to the firm of Messrs. Wright and Long, of Sydney, within a cable's length of where we were lying. The three ships and this whaling establishment, took in all, about twenty whales during the time we were there, a space of about ten days. It was very amusing to see the whales taken, which we could distinctly with a telescope from our decks. They seem very plentiful in Cook's Straits, inasmuch as, during the short time we were passing across the Straits, from Entry Island to the great Northern Island, a distance not exceeding five miles, several came up and blew close to us; one rather disagreeably so, inasmuch as it thoroughly drenched the whole of us in the boat. Our captain purchased a large quantity of oil from one of the vessels at 22l. and 18l. per ton, whereas, had the man taken it to Sydney, (he was a Sydney whaler) he would have got 26l. and 28l. per ton. We were offered large quantities of whalebone at a very low price. After the ships had cut off the blubber sufficiently clean to answer their purpose, the carcase was towed on shore by a crew of men, who call themselves "tonguers." These men take off what little blubber the ship's crew have passed over, and also take out the tongue and try it all out; by this means they procure a tolerable quantity of oil, which they sell to the captain of the vessel from which they have taken the carcase. The effluvia from the carcase is very nauseous, as it is sometimes two or three days before the crews can cut in, owing to the roughness of the sea; whereas in the trying out, the smell is not, in my opinion, very disagreeable, but the ships are

NATIVES OF NEW ZEALAND.

in a most beastly state. In sperm whale fishing, it is customary to clean the ship after every trying out, but in the black whale fishery in port, it is impossible to do it, owing to the continued succession of lucky fishing. After the oil is boiled out of the blubber, the latter serves for fuel, and makes most brilliant fires, and the ashes which it produces, cleans the ship, rigging, &c. better than any thing else. A great portion is kept for this purpose. The whalers all sail upon the lay, or in clearer terms, every person on board receives according to a graduated scale, a portion of the oil, which is to be given up as per agreement, to the employers at a certain price, not above half of the amount they would obtain for it, were they to sell it themselves at Sydney. The natives of New Zealand are, in person tall and robust, equal in stature to most Europeans. They are a very manly, warlike race, and amongst themselves are continually quarrelling and bickering. Every petty quarrel proving the incentive to direful warfare. Their dress is very uncouth, consisting of mats of their own manufacture, wrapped round their persons. They are very filthy in their persons, which seem the feeding ground of vermin. The colour of the natives is in general brown; the features of both sexes are good. Tattooing is very prevalent amongst them, and few are seen without it. The women are tattooed with blue round the lips only: the men are tattooed over the whole of their face and posteriors, some of them very handsomely. They can draw their own tattooing; this I saw done while we were at anchor, by a native who was on board. I presume it is from the pain it gives them, that their scarification is thus indelibly impressed on their memories. They traffic with the ships for potatoes, Swede turnips, pigs, fire-wood, mats, models of canoes, and baked heads: in exchange for which they receive muskets, blankets, gunpowder, tobacco, tobacco-pipes, spirits, gun-flints,

TRAFFIC OF THE NATIVES.

shirts, prints, beads, axes, &c. Their three first articles of produce, above enumerated, namely, potatoes, turnips, and pigs, all grow wild. Fire-wood is found in great abundance. They make the mats and models of their canoes, some of which are most beautifully carved. The baked heads above alluded to, are those of their enemies which they have killed in battle, whose bodies they eat. Their heads, after having taken out the brains, &c. and washed the interior of the skull, and sewn the lips together to prevent their drawing up with the heat, they put into a native oven, and let it remain there three days. These heads they sell to visitors. But to prove that the heads are not always those of their enemies whom they have slain in battle, the following anecdote, for the truth of which I will vouch, will, I think, satisfactorily corroborate. One head was brought on board our ship for sale; I bid for it, but it was ultimately bought by the doctor of the vessel, for a blanket (a very small one) and an old dirty shirt. The natives perceiving I was anxious to purchase one if possible, told me, through an interpreter, (the master of the Caroline whaler, who spoke the language remarkably well,) that there were no more enemies' heads to be bought, but he, Ecoo, had a great many slaves, which he enumerated to the number of seventeen, by counting them on his fingers and toes, whom he ranged along the side of the vessel, and I might pick any one out whose tattooing I liked best, and in three days I was to have his head, on condition of my giving him a cask of gunpowder; this offer, however kindly meant to gratify my feelings, of curiosity, I unhesitatingly declined; and on expressing through the interpreter, my surprise and horror at such a proposal, he laughed with astonishment, and said, that many of the heads the White-skins had bought, were procured in this manner. This will, I think, sufficiently prove the awful

TATTOOING.

state in which these miserable, deluded, and unhappy creatures are placed, and how great ought to be the punishment on those inhuman and brutal whites, who thus encourage the crime of murder among an ignorant race of beings, who are, naturally of a blood-thirsty habit.

As a proof of the immorality of the New Zealanders, the following statement of the occurrences that took place on board our vessel, may, I am persuaded, be relied on. Immediately on our arrival, before we had dropped anchor, a great number of canoes came off to us, some of them containing only two or three, whilst other canoes brought as many as a dozen or fourteen of the natives – consisting of men, women, and children. We were obliged to keep a very sharp look out, or they would have cut off the ends of rope, or stolen any thing they could by any possibility lay hands upon; some of them endeavouring even to draw the nails of the ship's deck. When evening came on, I am certain that we had not less than two hundred and fifty of these persons on board. A man, accompanied by several females, came up to the chief officer, who was standing on the poop, and very quietly asked him, in about the following manner, if he wanted a wife during his stay: –

"White man, you wantee womanee, littlee one, big one, old one, young one?"

Three of the youngest women who were with him, two of whom were most decidedly very pretty, he told us, were his daughters, and that he only let those go to the captains; that is to say, to any person who dines in the cabin, all of whom they suppose bear this honourable distinction. They were not more than twelve to fourteen years of age, delicately formed, and well proportioned.

I was told by the second officer, the following morning, that there was not one of the sailors, from the carpenter and boatswain down to the cook and youngest apprentice, who had not a wife that night, and the ill state of the

NATIVES OF NEW ZEALAND.

healths of the crew fully proved that they had paid most dearly for their licentiousness. These girls remained on board during the whole of our stay in Cook's Straits, and the day previous to our sailing, the captain had some very heavy demands upon his slop chest, for articles of clothing, to remunerate these damsels, and during the whole time continual applications for tobacco from the sailors, to gratify the almost insatiable desire their wives had for the taste and perfume of this destructive weed. The men also parted with a portion of their grog every day to these ladies, who, in my opinion, took it more greedily than I ever saw a European. On board the whaling vessels, when they stay any length of time, these women are very useful to the sailors in washing their clothes.

The appetites of both sexes are remarkably keen, and they certainly look to quantity prior to their inspection of the quality of their food, or the cleanliness of the cooking. They are very fond of salt beef and pork, commonly known by the name of junk. I saw one female eat an eight pound piece of beef, large quantities of potatoes, and four pounds of ship biscuit in one day, and afterwards partake of some whale meat with another native, the very scent of which, when it came alongside, was sufficiently strong to take away any decent person's appetite for a week; yet she seemed to relish it with a great deal of gout – no doubt fancying it a most tempting morsel. The flesh of the calf of the whale they consider a most extraordinary delicacy; and having tasted it myself on board the Roslin Castle, I certainly did not consider it bad; and had I not known what it was, should have said it was rather old veal. Their principal food is pork and potatoes, varied at times by the above mentioned delicacy, some fresh fish, or a small steak of human flesh – but this latter delicacy, however, is only to be found when they receive visits of ceremony from neighbouring chiefs, on

PRICE OF NATIVE PROVISIONS.

which occasion a female slave girl is generally sacrificed to these monstrous appetites. Their pork is any thing but delicate, as many of the pigs, particularly those on the sea shore, are fattened, or rather say, reared, on whale carcase, that drift ashore during the season, and also upon fish, large quantities of which are caught by the natives with a very ingenious sort of hook they have; the back is wood, the face is mother-of-pearl, and the bend and barb are made of bone, strongly tied on to the wood. The pork in consequence of this mode of feeding always tastes fishy.

You can buy a pig weighing from five to seven and eight stone, of 14 lbs., for a pound of negrohead tobacco – a pound of tobacco is ten figs, be they large or small; and as some of the small fig tobacco runs as many as eighteen to the pound, it is of course best for any person to purchase. It costs about 1s. 6d. to 2s. per lb. generally in Sydney. A basket of potatoes or turnips, both of which are very good, for a fig of tobacco per basket of about forty pounds weight. Fire-wood may be purchased at about three New Zealand pounds of tobacco for about two tons weight. Many vessels trade continually from Sydney and Hobart Town to New Zealand in the purchase of pigs, potatoes, and firewood, which pays them remarkably well.

I had my wife with me during my stay in New Zealand, and their surprise at seeing a white woman was certainly prodigious. The cabin doors were literally crammed with visiters to pay their respects to her. They were very civil, and made her presents of two native birds, but unfortunately they died, from being confined, before we reached Valparaiso. I have not seen any of the description any where else; they were small birds, about the size of sparrows, perfectly black, except a white top-not, and white feathers under the bill, hanging down. The whalers call them parsons, from the two white feathers hanging out.

WAR CANOES – WILD CATTLE.

The native name is paaroo. My wife gave one of the dames a pair of gilt ear-rings, of which she was excessively proud, and immediately fastened them to her nose and neck. To another she gave a dress, and I can assure my readers, this lady was the envy of the whole of the dark race. Many of the females appeared in shirts, the gifts of various lovers, some red, some blue, and some had once been white, but from their continually wearing them, both day and night, it was next to impossible to describe their colour, something however between black and grey.

Their war-canoes, many of which will carry from twenty to forty men, are some of them very handsomely carved at the head and stern. All the men have a musket; and from enquiries made amongst them, we found there were few boys of thirteen or fourteen, who were not provided with their weapons of offence. They will not purchase a gun with a percussion lock; flint locks ranking highest in their estimation.

The land that we saw was generally of a light black nature, well supplied in every direction with fresh water, on which were a great many ducks; we also saw a great many wild dogs and pigs; we passed through large fields of both hemp and flax. On Entry Island there are about one hundred and twenty head of horned cattle, the offspring of a bull and cow left there by Captain Cook. They are of course excessively wild, and it is very difficult to get near them. We went out to shoot one if possible, but could not succeed. A gentleman who was with us wounded one, a young bull, but it got away. Had we succeeded in killing one, we should have had to give the natives a musket, as that is the only condition on which they will allow you to take a bullock on board.

They were in most luxuriant pasturage, and in most excellent condition.

In the neighbourhood of the Port of Hokianga, on the western side of the Northern Island, are immense forests

PRODUCTIONS OF NEW ZEALAND.

of trees, particularly adapted for spars for shipping, great quantities of which are annually brought to England for the use of Her Majesty's navy, as well as the merchant service. They are not sufficiently large for the lower masts of large vessels, but very well adapted for topmasts, yards, and bowsprits. Large quantities are also exported to New South Wales. It is the admitted opinion of all the naturalists that have visited New Zealand, that every kind of European fruits, grain, and plants, would flourish here with the greatest luxuriance. The winters are milder than in England, and the summers, though not much warmer, are more equal; and it has all along been supposed, that were this country settled by people from Europe, they would with moderate industry, be very soon supplied with not only the necessaries but the luxuries of life. Sheep breeding was tried here, by Richard Jones, Esq. of Sydney, but was not found to succeed.

The wild hemp and flax growing in New Zealand, has been tried by several, but has not been found to pay the expence of collecting; as, although it is a very good sort, and equal to any cultivated, and is to be found through both the islands, it grows very thinly. There is a sort of settlement at the Bay of Islands, but composed, unfortunately, of very bad characters, many of them being run-away prisoners from Sydney and Van Diemen's Land. There are several grog-shops, indeed nearly every house sells spirits. Many of the persons who keep these dens of infamy, for nothing better can they be called, go alongside the various whalers as they arrive, and offer the sailors, who are proverbially a discontented race, half-a-crown and three shillings a day, and their grub and grog. The unfortunate men, deluded by these seeming fair promises, quit the ship, leave their share in the cargo, to the amount perhaps of twenty pounds, behind them, and with their clothes, go to the house of these infernal harpies. As

COLONIZATION OF NEW ZEALAND.

soon as the vessel has left, and the seaman has no longer any clothes, and perhaps a few shillings in debt, they force him to supply the place, on board some other vessel, of some other sailor they have thus seduced. There are several whaling establishments about the coasts; that of Messrs. Weller's, however, at Otago, on the south-eastern point of the Southward Island, is, I believe, the most extensive, as well as the most lucrative.

People have been endeavouring to pass a bill through parliament for the colonization of New Zealand, but have not succeeded; and in consequence of the favorable reports given by Mr. Polack and another person, whose name I at present forget, some gentlemen have formed themselves into two companies for the colonization of these islands, and by their advertisement, I perceive, are offering land for sale. May I ask by what authority these lands are sold? Of whom are they purchased? If these gentlemen answer, the native chiefs, I would ask them one other question, – are they aware that if the British Government hereafter make up their minds to take possession of New Zealand, they will not recognise these purchases, but take possession of the whole and re-sell the land, which this company has already sold to the emigrant – upon which land he has most probably expended his all, and is at that moment just beginning to reap the sweets of all his labour, toil, and money?

I would by all means strenuously impress upon the minds of those who are contemplating purchasing land in this pretended company, to sift this bubble to the bottom, or he may perhaps find himself a beggar as he begins to think of enjoying the residue of his life in that otium cum dignitate, which we all of us hope one day to arrive at, and instead of leaving his offspring a property that will enable them to live in comfort so long as life remains, they will be worse off than he was on his arrival.

PURCHASE OF LAND.

I cannot help expressing my firm conviction, that to the enterprising emigrant of small capital, New Zealand opens a field for his exertions which is very seldom to be met with, whilst at the same time he will not have to undergo so many of those disastrous privations which the early settlers who went to Swan River experienced, who, although they had money, could not purchase any of the most common necessaries of life. At New Zealand a person is certain not to starve, as he can purchase pigs and potatoes of the natives, which, if not of the most delicate sort, will at any rate keep him and his family from want, and, moreover, his labour would not come by any means so expensive, as by kind treatment and very moderate remuneration, the natives, who are extremely intelligent and ingenious, would act as servants in any way in which their services can be made available. They are much accustomed to ship-board, and as far as the duties of an ordinary seaman go they act with a quickness, and attention to duty seldom surpassed by Europeans; and I am fully persuaded, that they might be equally serviceable in any other laborious capacity. In whale boats they pull very strongly and steadily, but through their not being so powerful as Englishmen, they cannot vie with them in that respect.

Their kykes or villages are more ship shape than any savage villages I ever saw. Their houses are very small, and used only to sleep in, and remain in during wet weather, as they never eat under cover; they have a small aperture not above two feet and a half, or three feet high, and two feet broad, on which it is necessary to go down on your hands and knees to pass through, which serves them as a doorway. There is another aperture above this, which serves the treble purpose of letting in light and air and letting out smoke, as it is the only chimney.

The cruelty they have shewn towards strangers has

MISSIONARIES IN

now worn off, and unless goaded on to commit murder by scoundrelly white men, who reside amongst them, I firmly believe they would not attempt it, as they find it is by far the better plan to get what they can by fair means only, except a little theft or so of any small trifle that might lie in their way; but this last trait is nothing more than the character of all savages. Any person may, by taking proper notice, however, have due warning of the intention of the New Zealanders to commit any crime, independent of petty thefts, as taking possession of a ship or murder; as they always send the women away from the ship, or wherever the place may be of the intended outbreak; so that as long as you see the women remain on board the vessel, you may be sure it is safe. I have heard many persons, who have been trading about the islands several years, declare that many of the crimes committed by the savages at various places, were at the instigation of the missionaries. That many of these men are most shamefully immoral there can be no question; and is it, I ask my readers, at all probable that an illiterate country cobbler is fit to direct the minds of these unfortunate beings? I will only adduce one instance of many I could mention of missionaries being the incentives to some of the crimes committed by savages.

The following circumstance took place in the early part of 1836, at one of the Feejee Islands, I think Vasou. It was related to me by a captain of a whaler who was there at the time: an Englishman, who was by trade a carpenter, had some years since run from his vessel when at this place, and lived with the natives, amongst whom he had two wives – a chief's two daughters. Shortly after the missionary's arrival, he became acquainted with this man, who made him many little things, as well as put up the frame-work for his house. The man grew tired of living amongst savages, and

NEW ZEALAND.

wished to leave the island, and a master of a whaler who was there agreed to take him. He mentioned it to the missionary, who as soon as he heard it, sent immediately for the chief, whose daughters this carpenter had married, and told him of his intention to quit the island, and recommended his detaining him by force; this, however, the chief refused to do; but before the man quitted the island inflicted summary punishment on him by flogging, of which the missionary was aware, but did not attempt to prevent. There were two highly respectable members of the Society of Friends, who had been round the world visiting the various countries and islands, and they also described the conduct of many of the missionaries as gross and immoral in the extreme, and calculated to set the unfortunate creatures, among whom they were placed, most awfully bad examples, instead of those of morality and integrity; countenancing, and in many instances strenuously encouraging, the continuance of that system of plurality of wives so common amongst savages of the South Sea Islands.

A gentleman whom I met at Valparaiso, who had recently resided as a missionary from the Church of England at Pitcairn's Island, where the mutineers of the Bounty took refuge, and whose descendants at present populate the Island to the number of about ninety, whose conduct and characters were most exemplary, perfectly coincided with the opinion of the two gentlemen above-mentioned, Messrs. James Walker and George Backhouse; and even went so far as to say, that the scenes of drunkenness amongst the missionaries at the Society Islands were very frequent, and, particularly disgusting to these simple-minded natives; he also told me of a man, who is at present a missionary at one of the Society Islands, who, instead of residing with his wife and family, lives with a native girl, not so old as his own youngest daughter!! Is it not horrifying to think

WESLEYAN MISSIONARIES.

that the pure religion of our Saviour should thus be corrupted and defiled! and by those very persons selected to spread its blessed influence to the heathen, and who are sent out and paid by the subscriptions of deluded English persons? These "unfruitful drones," who are an insult and disgrace to Christianity, are almost fed by the natives of the places where they go, and continually receiving presents of food, fruit, &c. The great rock, it appears, on which the Wesleyan Mission Society has split, is, in their sending persons whom they have taken from a low grade of society, instead of selecting them from a more respectable sphere of life.

After we quitted New Zealand, we bore down to about 45° south latitude, as the fresh breezes are more constant there than in the lower latitudes. After six weeks' sail, we made the land of South America on the morning of the 14th of October, and when mid-day came, we found ourselves about ninety miles to the southward of our destined port, Valparaiso, and drifting towards rocks that were considerably higher than our mast heads, and against which the sea was breaking with awful fury. These were discovered to be the rocks of Topocalmo. At one, it became a complete calm, and we continued, of course, drifting with the current, which ran about four and a half knots an hour. In this awful predicament we remained till about four, at which time, the rocks were not one hundred and fifty yards from us, and we expected in ten minutes to strike on them, when a fresh breeze sprung up from the southward, and carried us clear of the whole.

Our dinner had been on the cuddie table an hour, but, until the breeze came, it remained untouched by any of us; so great was our state of excitement in consequence of the proximity of this unfavourable land.

About eight o'clock the following morning, Sunday the 15th, we arrived in Valparaiso Bay; but the wind falling

VALPARAISO BAY.

suddenly, just as we entered, Commodore Sullivan, who was the senior British officer upon the station, sent a barge with eighteen men from his vessel, the Stag, to tow us in. Great thanks are generally due from masters of merchant vessels to the captains commanding Her Majesty's ships on foreign stations; but particularly to Commodore Sullivan for his uniform kindness and attention in assisting ships into harbour, and in every other way in which the services of his crew or his officers can be made available.

We found Her Majesty's ships, Stag, Rover, Imogene, Fly, and Basilisk; two American and two French men-of-war. There was also one Chilian war schooner called the Colocolo. Apropos des bottes, – this vessel, a short time before we quitted Sydney, brought there, from this port, a General Freyre, supposing he would be made to work on the roads, in irons, in consequence of his having caused a revolution in Chili; of which he was at one time President, and wished to be so again. He was a man of middle height, rather inclined to embonpoint; good looking, and of gentlemanly address. This vessel was formerly in the Peruvian service; but at the commencement of the war between Chili and Peru, was run away with from the Peruvian to the Chilian squadron, by her captain, a Frenchman; and it seems that the greater villain a man is in Chili, the more he is respected: this man is courted by every Chilian.

The bay is a very fine large one; and vessels may anchor in any depth of water. The town looks very pretty from the bay; particularly the residences of the foreigners, which are of a very tasty description, and situated on the side of a hill, called English Mount. There is but one jetty for landing throughout the whole of the bay; one side of which is kept for shore and merchant vessels' boats, the other for the boats belonging to the men-of-war.

VALPARAISO.

Landing, however, can be effected in any part of the bay; although you must not always count upon dry feet, as the water shallows very gradually. The town consists of but one principal street, which leads from the market place to the Almandral, or Almond Grove, which commences at Plaza das Auragas. From this street, narrow lanes strike out, in which the poorer classes reside; they are called Quebrados, and a small rivulet runs through them during the summer months, which, in winter, is increased to a mountain torrent. Quebrado signifies a valley; as these streets always lead up between two hills. The houses are generally built of bricks baked in the sun: some few, however, are built of stone. The floors are also brick, except in the houses of the English residents, where timber is substituted. The rooms are large, airy, and well proportioned, and in general, very comfortably furnished; except that they have no carpets, nor any stoves; the latter is remedied by brass pans containing charcoal, which are termed brasseros, and are placed in the centre of the room. On entering a Spaniard's house, they immediately offer you brandy, cherries, and a cigar (anchita), which are made of tobacco rolled up in the inner leaves of the Indian corn, and have a very sweet flavour. So common is smoking, that they smoke in the merchants' offices, and even in the native ball-rooms.

The Spaniards are excessively hospitable and kind to strangers; particularly to the English, for whom they profess great attachment: nor are the English at all backward in their acts of friendship and kind attention. In walking through the streets of Valparaiso of an evening, should you hear music and dancing, and enter the house, you are received in the Spanish families with great courtesy, and requested to join their festivities sans ceremonie. It is requisite, if you wish to continue the acquaintance, to call an evening or two afterwards.

VALPARAISO.

The only attractive building in the town is the Custom-house; which is a very prominent feature in the view of the town from the bay; it is a handsome stone building, and has more the appearance of a church than what it really is. The streets are very ill paved, and without footways. The vast quantities of prostitutes, in comparison with the size of the town, is surprising. In the Quebrados, nearly half the houses belong to these women. They are not licensed as in France; but when any of them die, there is a law which empowers the police to burn their clothes, and it is strictly adhered to. The women are, in general, remarkably fine, with handsome features, small hands and feet, and very beautiful hair. The men are not so fine in proportion; but like the women, have good heads of jet black hair, and fine black eyes. The females walk about the streets without bonnets, and their heads dressed with flowers. They are particularly fond of gaudy-coloured prints; such as scarlet, with large yellow, blue, or black flowers interspersed; their shawls also are of the same gaudy colours; many of them are worked in flowers, and look very neat and becoming.

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