248 



AUSTRALIA 



an inch in length. Flies and mosquitoes are often 

 a great nuisance, but the latter are disappearing 

 from the cultivated parts of the colony. Spiders 

 are very large, and in some seasons caterpillars arc 

 HO numerous as to blight the finest crops. Rep- 

 tiles are fortunately not numerous. There are 

 several varieties of snakes, a few of which are poi- 

 sonous. Scorpions, centipedes, and tarantulas are 

 found, but not to such an extent as to occasion 

 any considerable inconvenience or discomfort to 

 the settler. Lizards and frogs are numerous. The 

 deaf adder is poisonous. It swells out in the mid- 

 dle, with a flat head, and a cleft tail, which latter 

 opens and shuts like a pair of forceps. When 

 teazed, it seizes a stick as tenaciously as a cur dog. 

 Cod and perch (as they are called) are found in 

 great quantities in the fresh water rivers, and 

 many varieties of other fish are found along the 

 coast. Whales and seals frequent the coves. 

 Oysters are extremely plentiful, and, though gen- 

 erally small, are of a delicate flavour. The shells 

 of the Southern ocean yield only, in attraction, to 

 those of the Indian sea.* 



The vegetable productions of Australia are, like 

 the animals, in many cases, very different in struc- 

 ture and appearance from those found in other 

 countries Acacias are extremely common, and up- 

 wards of a hundred different kinds have been found, 

 all of them possessing a family resemblance which 

 distinguishes them from the Acacias of the old and 

 new world. The Proteas and Banksias are almost 

 peculiar to New Holland ; the Eucalyptus Casu- 

 arna. and the Norfolk island pine, are remarkable 

 for their beauty, and afford valuable timber. The 

 bark of several trees abound in tanning matter, and 

 large quantities have been sent to Britain as a 

 substitute for oak bark. Several of the Acacias 

 afford a product possessing the properties of gum 

 arabic, which is obtained from an African species 

 of the same tribe of plants. A species of Eucalyp- 

 tus produces manna. Many of the trees of New 

 Holland attain to a great size : thus the Norfolk 

 island pine reaches the height of 130 feet, and 

 trees, whose .diameter amounted to 15 or 20 feet, 

 have been found in different parts of the coun- 

 try. 



Great as the resources of New South Wales are, 

 us an agricultural, fishing, and mining colony, it is 



* The following account of the sporting, &c., at Bathurst, 

 in New South Wales, is given by a recent traveller : ' Bream 

 is caught in all the rivers, bites very fast, and is nearly as large 

 a- the salt-water fish of tie same name caught on the coast. 

 'J he cod is the most remarkable fish at I3athurst and is not 

 unfrequently caught as heavy as fifty, sixty, and even ninety 

 pounds ; when caught in large quantities, they are generally 

 dried, and may be seen in this state hanging up inside the 

 roofs of the settler's houses. Game is plentiful ; ducks, snipes, 

 widgeon, teal, abounding near the rivers. I saw eight black 

 ducks brought down at one shot, weighing, as 1 guessed, four 

 pounds each. These are delicious eating. Sometimes the 

 settlers will throw up a breast-work of boughs, near some 

 favourite rendezvous ol the birds, close to the water, and 

 when they have collected near the spot, the sportman fires 

 from behind his battery, and does dreadful mischief among 

 them, forty ducks having been brought down in this manner 

 at one fire. '1 he plover and bronze-winged pigeon are very 

 numerous, and easily shot ; the latter, especially, is a beauti- 

 ful creature, and twice the si/- of tho dorm-tic pigeon, looks 

 well, and e:if well at table. But the best sport at Bathurst is 

 hooting f New South Wales 



nerally ; but the Bathurst settlers seem to enjoy it in per- 

 fection, having a much water scope of clear open country. 

 1 he cockatoo and magpie also abound at Bathurst, and are a 

 great nuisance to the cultivated fields In tho fon-t ,-ountrv 

 a ninety of parrots of tlu- mo-t. beautiful plumage flv about 

 in every direction. This abundance of the feathered tribe was 

 the more remarkable, m, in a late journey to Hunter's River 

 very few birds of any kind were soeu. There is a hunt at Ba- 

 thurst for th- ,iie pport after the kargaroo 

 and exterminating the iiUm 



on the rearing of sheep, and the production of 

 wool, that it at present mainly depends for its pros- 

 perity. No country in the world presents such an 

 illimitable extent of pasture land, or possesses a 

 more admirable climate for grazing, which, from its 

 dryness and mildness, improves tin- wool, and per- 

 mits the sheep to find sufficient food without shelter 

 during the whole year. America, as is well known, 

 is not a sheep-feeding or wool-growing country. 

 In Canada and other northern parts, sheep require 

 to be housed, and fed by artificial means, for 

 eral long winter months; while on the fine prairies 

 of the States, the sheep which are left at large 

 throughout the year do not yield wool of a valua- 

 ble quality. New South Wales, on the other 

 hand, resembles Spain in its qualities for pastur- 

 age in all seasons, and its climate produces equally 

 fine, if not superior wool. At the present mo- 

 ment, New South Wales wool enjo\s the highest 

 reputation in England and America it tak. 

 lead in the market and so readily and so profita- 

 bly is it disposed of, that the cost of transport of 

 sixteen thousand miles goes almost for nothing in 

 the grower's calculation of profits. Most of those 

 beautiful and soft woollen fabrics which go by the 

 names of Indianas, Merinos, and Schallis, and are 

 in such large request by ladies in the shops of our 

 haberdashers, are chiefly manufactured from this 

 fine New South Wales wool ; and it is obvious, 

 from the growing taste and demand for these arti- 

 cles, which are so well suited to our climate, that 

 (barring fiscal interference) the production and 

 sale of this species of wool must soon become one 

 of the first trades connected with British com- 

 merce. The introduction of this important branch 

 of industry is due to the talents and exertions of 

 ^the late John Macarthur, Esq., one of the earliest 

 'free settlers in the colony. As early as \'tQ3, this 

 gentleman obtained several Merino sheep from 

 the Cape of Good Hope, with which he improved 

 his Bengal flock; and subsequently, in 1803, he 

 visited England, and laid his schemes before the 

 privy council, who merely approved of them, ano 

 he accomplished the rest by his own enterprise. 

 The efforts of Mr Macarthur were completely suc- 

 cessful, and the rapid increase in the quantity of 

 wool, annually exported from Australia, proves this 

 branch of industry to be capable of indefinite ex- 

 tension. " During the ten years (says Dr Lang) 

 that had elapsed from the first muster after gover- 

 nor's Macquarie's arrival in the year 1810, to the 

 annual muster in 1820, the sheep of the colony had 

 increased from 25,888, to 99,428 ; Mr Macarthur's 

 flock being at the latter period 6800, of which 300 

 were pure Merinos. During the administrations 

 of Sir Thomas Brisbane and General' Darling, it 

 became a matter of controversy in the colony, whe- 

 ther the Merino or the Saxon breed, of which a 

 few sheep had been introduced into Van Dieman's 

 Land, direct from Germany, in the early part of the 

 year 1823, produced the finest wool, and was most 

 profitable for the sheep farmer. The preference, 

 however, is now generally given to the Saxon 

 breed, which, it is well known to persons acquaint- 

 ed with sheep-farming, was itself originally of Me- 

 rino extraction. Several cargoes of Saxon sheep 

 have at different times been imported into the co- 

 lony by different colonial proprietors, as well as on 

 speculation ; and sheep of that breed are now very 

 widely diffused over the territory, the colonial 

 flocks of inferior breed having from time to time 

 been gradually improved by crossing with the 



