1839.] DWELLING-HOUSES. 203 



A most commendable interest is manifested in the estab- 

 lishment of schools, colleges, and literary and benevolent so- 

 cieties ; and government has liberally extended to them her 

 fostering care and patronage. As early as 1817, one eighth 

 of the revenue of the colony was set apart for educational 

 purposes. Large tracts of land were also given to female or- 

 phan schools, and a portion, consisting of fifty or a hundred 

 acres, allotted to each orphan. Schools were likewise founded 

 for the civilization and education of the natives, and funds 

 provided for sending missionaries among them. In 1838, 

 the number of scholars attending the public schools in New 

 South Wales', to the support of which government contributed 

 over twelve thousand pounds, was nearly four thousand ; and 

 there were upwards of eighteen hundred scholars attending 

 private schools. There were three collegiate institutions, at 

 the same time, which were well attended ; King's School at 

 Paramatta, and Sydney College, and Australian College, at 

 Sydney. 



In the towns, the mode of building is similar to that wit- 

 nessed in European and American cities, except that every- 

 thing looks much fresher and newer than in the antiquated 

 capitals of the old world. Some of the cottages, or country 

 "eats, are very neat and attractive, particularly when embo- 

 somed amid the luxuriant foliage with which they are ^ften 

 surrounded. They are usually of one story, constructed either 

 of stone or wood, and have high sloping roofs, attic rooms and 

 (Tormer windows, with a portico in front and sometimes in the 

 rear, and are flanked by wings whoso roofs descend at right an- 

 gles to those of the main building. The dwellings of the set- 

 tlers are rude buildings, consisting of slabs driven into the 

 ground, or attached to frames, with puncheon floors, roofs of 

 straw thatch or bark, glazed windows, perhaps, and chimneys 

 of stone or mud, erected on the outside, after the Dutch fashion. 

 Occasionally a little more taste will be exhibited, and balco- 

 nies may be seen running along the fronts of the houses, sup- 

 ported by rough trunks of trees, and decorated by vines and 

 creepers. In the adjoining gardens, too, there will most likely 



