CONTRAST WITH SOUTH AMERICA. 243 



of the sea-wearied voyager as he proceeds up the 

 harbour, is indeed well calculated to excite a feel- 

 ing of mingled admiration and delight — the security 

 and capacity of the port — its many snug coves and 

 quiet islets with their sloping shores, sleeping 

 upon the silver tide — pretty white cottages and 

 many English looking villas peeping out here and 

 there from their surroundinjr shrubberies, and the 

 whole canopied by a sky of ethereal blue, present a 

 picture which must at once enchant the most fas- 

 tidious observer. 



We found lying in the famous cove of Sydney, 

 H.M.S Alligator and Britomart, commanded by 

 Captain Sir Gordon Bremer, and Lieut, (now 

 Captain) Owen Stanley, going to form a settlement 

 at Port Essington on the North coast ; an expedition 

 of much interest, particularly to us, from having 

 some old shipmates engaged in it. 



On first arriving at Sydney from South America, 

 I was much struck with the strange contrast its 

 extensive and at the same time youthful appearance 

 presented to the decrepid and decaying aspect of 

 the cities on that continent. We had then been 

 visiting colonies and settlements founded centuries 

 ago, by a nation at that time almost supreme in 

 European influence, and planted with every cir- 

 cumstance of apparent advantage upon the shores of 

 a fertile and luxurious continent given by the 

 immortal Genoese to the crown of Spain. We 

 had found them distracted by internal commotions, 



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