54 HOUSE-RENT. 



interior usually corresponds. Many have neat 

 gardens attached to them, in which, during the 

 summer season, the blooming rose, as well as the 

 pink, the stock, and other European flowers, im- 

 part a beauty, and remind one of home ; or, in 

 lieu of these gay vegetable productions, the indus- 

 trious housekeeper has caused the plot of ground 

 to be planted with peas, beans, cabbages, and 

 other culinary vegetables. The tree cabbage, 

 common on the European continent, but rarely 

 seen in England, I observed introduced in the 

 gardens ; it thrives well in the colony. 



House-rent is excessively high in the colony, 

 being one of the greatest expenses to a resident 

 in Sydney ; it varies from sixty to two hundred 

 and fifty pounds annually. The streets being of 

 sandstone, the constant attrition of it by vehicles, 

 &c. produces, from its friability, much dust, 

 which occasions, during windy days, much an- 

 noyance ; from the same cause, the streets are 

 often out of repair, and the best material for 

 repairing them is a kind of flinty stone, brought 

 by ships from Hobart Town as ballast. 



Parrots are, perhaps, of all the feathered tribe, 

 the most numerous in the colony ; and diff'erent 

 species are lauded for speaking, whistling, and 

 other noisy accomplishments. No one can walk 

 the streets of Sydney or any of the villages of 



