AUSTRALIA. 



215 



River; and at Wollongong, in the district of Illa- 

 wurra. Three or four stage-coaches and two steam- 

 boats ply daily between Sydney and Paramatta, 

 and there are also two daily coaches between Syd- 

 ney and Liverpool a rising town about twenty 

 miles distant from the capital, forming a .thorough- 

 fare for the extensive country to the southwest- 

 ward. Respectable persons travelling to and from 

 the more distant settlements in the interior, gene- 

 rally travel on horseback, or in vehicles of their 

 own ; and goods and produce are conveyed to and 

 from Sydney on large drays drawn by oxen. Be- 

 tween Sydney and Maitland there are three steam- 

 boats the Sophia Jane, the Ceres, and the Tamar 

 that ply twice a-week each with goods and pas- 

 sengers; seventy miles of their course, or the dis- 

 tance between the Heads of Port Jackson and the 

 entrance of Hunter's River, being along the land 

 in the open Pacific Ocean. All the vessels, it is 

 generally understood, have done exceedingly well. 

 As a proof of this, there has been a company 

 formed lately, the object of which is to place a 

 vessel of much larger size on the course between 

 Sydney and Hobart Town, Van Dieman's Land, 

 to carry cattle as well as goods and passengers.' 



Camden county lies to the southward of Cumber- 

 land. It contains 2200 square miles, and embraces 

 within its limits the fertile region of Illawara, a 

 tract comprising 150,000 acres, entirely shut out 

 from inland communication by precipitous moun- 

 tains. It also embraces the cow-pastures, an area 

 of 60,000 acres, so called from large herds of cattle 

 being recently found there, all descended from one 

 bull and two cows which had escaped soon after 

 the founding of the colony. 



Argyle county is to the westward of Camden. 

 It is about sixty miles long and thirty broad. It 

 is thinly wooded, and the territory is crossed by 

 large tracts called brushes, which are altogether 

 unproductive. Lake Bathurst is in this county, 129 

 miles S. of Sydney. 



Westmoreland county lies to the north of Argyle, 

 and embraces part of the Blue Mountains. It is 

 about sixty miles in length, and forty in breadth. 



Cook's county is to the left of Cumberland. Its 

 length is fifty-six miles; its breadth, fifty. A 

 great part of it is occupied by the range of the 

 Blue Mountains, across which the fine road from 

 Sydney to Bathurst lies. A large portion is table- 

 land, from 2000 to 3000 feet high, abounding in 

 picturesque scenery. Emu plains and several fer- 

 tile valleys compensate in some measure for the 

 prevailing rocky soil in this county. 



Bathurst county is to the west of Cook's county. 

 Its extreme length is seventy-two miles; its 

 breadth sixty-eight. It consists in general of 

 broken table-land, in some places forming exten- 

 sive downs without a tree, such as Bathurst plains, 

 which include 50,000 acres. Although but of re- 

 cent discovery, being considered inaccessible until 

 1813, it is one of the most flourishing districts in 

 the colony, the climate being healthy, and the pas- 

 turage excellent for fing woolled sheep. The 

 town of Bathurst, which is thriving, is, by the road, 

 "121 miles distant from Sydney. 



Roxburgh county is to the north of Bathurst. 

 It is fifty-three miles in length, and forty-three in 

 breadth. The surface is hilly and broken, but it 

 contains, notwithstanding, some good pasturage. 



Wellington county (seventy miles long, by fifty- 

 one broad) is to the north-west of Roxburgh, and 

 jf a similar character. 



Philip county (sixty-two miles long, thirty-eight 

 broad) lies to the east of Wellington. It is thinly 

 peopled, and little is known of its topography. 



Of Bligh and Brisbane counties, lying in the 

 north-west, near the Liverpool range of mountains, 

 little also is known. 



Hunter county (length seventy-one miles, breadth 

 forty-seven) lies near the east coast adjoining Nor- 

 thumberland county, which intervenes between it 

 and the sea. 



Northumberland county (length sixty-one miles, 

 breadth fifty) is one of the finest in the colony. 

 Its general aspect is a series of undulations and 

 elevated plains, intersected by numerous creeks, 

 streams, and rivulets. The fine river, Hunter, 

 affords a water communication throughout its 

 northern boundary, and along its alluvial banks 

 some of the most interesting farms in the colony 

 are situated. Newcastle, the maritime town of 

 the county, is fast rising into eminence ; as is also 

 the town of Maitland, on the Hunter, distant from 

 Newcastle twenty-five miles. Coal is wrought at 

 the latter town, so that the name is no misnomer. 



Gloucester county possesses the fine harbour and 

 rising town of Port Stephens, and is well watered. 

 Its length is seventy-four miles, its breadth sixty- 

 nine; and it comprises the Australian Agricultural 

 Company's grant of a million acres. 



Durham county is west of Gloucester, and par- 

 takes of the same character. Its length is sixty, 

 and its breadth fifty miles. 



The remaining .counties Georgiana county, 

 King's county, Murray county, and St Vincent 

 county are situated to the south of Bathurst, and 

 are yet but imperfectly explored. They approach 

 the vicinity of Australia Felix, recently discovered 

 and described by Major Mitchell. 



Australia forms a contrast to other great terri- 

 torial portions of the globe, in the comparative 

 scarcity of large navigable rivers. A deficiency of 

 fresh water seems, indeed, to be the great draw- 

 back to the occupancy and prosperity of many of 

 its districts. New South Wales is better supplied 

 in this respect than any of the other settlements. 

 The Hawkesbury, with its tributaries, the Grose 

 and the Nepean, is most valuable to the colony, 

 but forms only a stream of secondary magnitude. 

 In the interior, beyond the Blue Mountains, have 

 been traced the Lachlan and the Macquarrie, run- 

 ning respectively courses of upwards of 200 and 

 300 miles. On the east coast also, are the rivers 

 Williams, Paterson, and Hunter, forming Port 

 Hunter; the Hastings, forming the fine port of 

 Macquarrie, about 220 miles N. E. of Port Jackson ; 

 and the still larger stream of the Brisbane, fulling 

 into Moreton Bay. The Morrumbidgee river has 

 its origin in the western ridge of the dividing range 

 of mountains in Murray county, about 200 miles 

 S. W. of Sydney. It pursues a tortuous course 

 for upwards of 300 miles, and expands itself in the 

 Lachlan. The combined rivers traverse a great 

 extent of fine country, until they join the Murray, 

 which forms the largest river yet discovered in 

 Australia, and falls into Lake Alexandria at En- 

 counter Bay, on the south coast. Of the Murray 

 and the Darling we shall have occasion to speak 

 when we come to the section South Australia. 



The climate of New South Wales, and indeed of 

 the whole island, so far as experience goes, has 

 been found to be salubrious, and extremely favour- 

 able to European constitutions. Occupying a posi- 

 tion considerably nearer to the south of the equa- 



