144 NEW SOUTH WALES. [chap. xix. 



people cannot associate with them. There is much jealousy be- 

 tween the children of the rich emancipist and the free settlers, 

 the former being pleased to consider honest men as interlopers. 

 The whole population, poor and rich, are bent on acquiring 

 wealth : amongst the higher orders, wool and sheep-grazing 

 form the constant subject of conversation. There are many 

 serious drawbacks to the comforts of a family, the chief of 

 which, perhaps, is being surrounded by convict servants. How 

 thoroughly odious to every feeling, to be waited on by a man 

 who the day before, perhaps, was flogged, from your representa- 

 tion, for some trifling misdemeanour. The female servants are 

 of course much worse : hence children learn the vilest expressions, 

 and it is fortunate, if not equally vile ideas. 



On the other hand, the capital of a person, without any trouble 

 on his part, produces him treble interest to what it will in Eng- 

 land ; and with care he is sure to grow rich. The luxuries of 

 life are in abundance, and very little dearer than in England, 

 and most articles of food are cheaper. The climate is splendid, 

 and perfectly healthy ; but to my mind its charms are lost by 

 the uninviting aspect of the country. Settlers possess a great 

 advantage in finding their sons of service when very young. At 

 the age of from sixteen to twenty, they frequently take charge 

 of distant farming stations. This, however, must happen at the 

 expense of their boys associating entirely with convict servants. 

 I am not aware that the tone of society has assumed any peculiar 

 character ; but with such habits, and without intellectual pur- 

 suits, it can hardly fail to deteriorate. My opinion is such, that 

 nothing but rather sharp necessity should compel me to emi- 

 grate. 



The rapid prosperity and future prospects of this colony are to 

 me, not understanding these subjects, very puzzling. The two 

 main exports are wool and whale-oil, and to both of these pro- 

 ductions there is a limit. The country is totally unfit for canals, 

 therefore there is a not very distant point, beyond which the 

 land-carriage of wool will not repay the expense of shearing and 

 tending sheep. Pasture everywhere is so thin that settlers have 

 already pushed far into the interior : moreover, the country 

 further inland becomes extremely poor. Agriculture, on account 

 of the droughts, can never succeed on an extended scale: there- 



