329 



CHAPTER XVII. 



Arrive at Wombat Brush — Animals called Wombat —Parched 

 country — Road-side houses — Colonial English — Column to 



. the memory of La Perouse — Death of Le Receveur — 

 Sydney police-office — The Bustard — Botanic garden — The 

 aborigines — King Bungaree — The castor-oil shrub— Dis- 

 eases of Australia — New Zealanders— Australian ladies — 

 Prejudice against travellers from Botany Bay — Anecdote — 

 A fishing excursion — Cephalopodous animals-— Conclusion 

 of the author's researches in this colony. 



On the 30th of December I left Goulburn Plains, 

 and arrived the same evening at Arthursleigh. 

 On the day following I crossed the " Uringalle," 

 (more commonly known by the name of ' ' Paddy's 

 river,") and arrived at "Wombat Brush." This 

 tract of forest land was so named from being 

 formerly frequented by a number of the animals 

 called " Wombat," but which are now rarely or 

 never seen in the vicinity of the settlement, the 

 whole having been nearly destroyed. About the 

 Tumat and Murrumbidgee country I witnessed 

 numerous burrows ; and certain marks of the 



