..JL:I 



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SYDNEY, 1835. 



CHAPTER XIX 



AUSTRALIA 



Sydney — Excursion to Bathurst — Aspect of the woods — Party of natives — Gradual 

 extinction of the aborigines — Infection generated by associated men in health — 

 Blue Mountains — View of the grand gulf-like valleys — Their origin and forma- 

 tion — Bathurst, general civility of the lower orders — State of society — Van 

 Diemen's Land — Hobart Town — Aborigines all banished — Mount Wellington 

 — King George's Sound — Cheerless aspect of the country — Bald Head, 

 calcareous casts of branches of trees — Party of natives — Leave Australia. 



/auuarj' 12///, I 836. — Early in the morning a light air carried 

 us towards the entrance of Port Jackson. Instead of beholding 

 a verdant country, interspersed with fine houses, a straight line 

 of yellowish cliff brought to our minds the coast of Patagonia. 

 A solitary lighthouse, built of white stone, alone told us that 

 we were near a great and populous cit}'. Having entered the 

 harbour, it appears fine and spacious, with cliff-formed shores 

 of horizontally stratified sandstone. The nearly level country 

 is covered with thin scrubby trees, bespeaking the curse of 

 sterility. Proceeding farther inland, the country improves : 

 beautiful villas and nice cottages are here and there scattered 



