and Geology of New South Wales 121 



have swallows all the season ; they resemble exactly those in 

 England ; and bats too, measuring between the extremities of 

 their outstretched wings from three to four feet. They are 

 called here flying foxes. Fishes are all different from those 

 in England. Between them notwithstanding the people here 

 trace resemblances, and give many of them very improperly 

 the same names. There are almost no shell-fish on the coast, 

 with the exception of oysters, which grow and adhere to the 

 rocks, and on such rocks only as are left uncovered by the 

 water at low tide. Mussels also adhere to the stones that are 

 always under water. Cockles are also plentiful in some places. 

 Shells are so numerous that all the houses are built with the 

 lime they produce. These shells are not just on the sea- 

 beach, but lying in heaps and ridges ten and twenty feet above 

 high water-mark ; and even at these places the sandy beach is 

 without a shell. They appear to be the shells of oysters and 

 cockles. The town of Sydney covers about two square miles; 

 but in many places the houses are not crowded. Thev are 

 mostly in the form of cottages, with flower-plots in front, and 

 garden ground behind. The freestone of which many of the 

 houses are built is as beautiful as that from Craigleith, near 

 Edinburgh, but softer. Brick is also in common use for build- 

 ing. The houses are covered with beefwood, split into oblong 

 boards about the same dimensions as a slate. They are light, 

 look well, and last about fifteen years. There is a great want 

 of architectural skill and taste in almost the whole of the build- 

 ings ; and many of them are barbarously ill planned with re- 

 spect to conveniency. Labour is no doubt high, but it is just 

 as ill directed. The numerous shrubs, and flowers, and fruits 

 that grow before and round the houses, particularly the peaches, 

 and lemon and orange trees, which nod their red and yellow 

 fruit over the cottage tops, and twine about the verandas 

 which keep off the heat of the sun, give the town in many places 

 a particularly agreeable appearance. All the fruits and vege- 

 tables which are raised in the gardens and under glass at home 

 grow and bear here in the open air, with the exception of pine- 

 apples. Melons, peaches, grapes, &c. are in great abundance, 

 but almost all of bad sorts. The harbour is the finest and 

 safest in the world. A ship which only ten minutes before 



