312 WOOL. 



fitable occupation ; the packing, sorting, screw- 

 ing, and sewing in bales, occupying much time ; 

 wool being the staple article of the colony, and 

 forming the principal riches of the settler. It is 

 interesting for a stranger visiting the country at 

 this period to view the processes of washing and 

 shearing the animals — sorting, pressing, and 

 packing the wool ; — to often hear the terms 

 of short and long staple wool, and to see 

 the specimens of it arranged in small locks, 

 showing the different degrees of fineness. If 

 the shearing season is deferred, various grass 

 seeds get into the wool, particularly those of the 

 Anthisteria Aiistralis, or kangaroo grass, one of 

 the most abundant perhaps of the native grasses, 

 frequently not only injuring the fleece, but, aided 

 by its awns, penetrating even to the skin of the 

 sheep. The Australian climate is admirably cal- 

 culated for wQol growing ; the improvement of 

 the fleeces during the late years, and the assorting 

 of the wool by competent persons educated for 

 the purpose in Germany, have produced for it so 

 high a character in the London market, that the 

 quantity exported from the colony is now great, 

 and annually increasing : many of the settlers sell 

 their wool to buyers in the colony, who speculate 

 upon it, while others send it direct to agents 

 in England. 



