214 NEW ZEALAND. 



one poor wretch, who, during hostilities, ran away 

 to the opposite party ; being met by two men, he 

 was immediately seized, but as they could not agree 

 to whom he should belong, each stood over him with 

 a stone hatchet, and seemed determined that the 

 other, at least, should not take him away alive. 

 The poor man, almost dead with fright, was only 

 saved by the address of a chief's wife. We after- 

 wards enjoyed a pleasant walk back to the boat, 

 but did not reach the ship till late in the evening. 



December 30th. — In the afternoon we stood out 

 of the Bay of Islands, on our course to Sydney. I 

 believe we were all glad to leave New Zealand. 

 It is not a pleasant place. Amongst the natives 

 there is absent that charming simplicity which is 

 found at Tahiti, and the greater part of the Eng- 

 lish are the very refuse of society. Neither is the 

 country itself attractive. I look back but to one 

 bright spot, and that is Waimate, with its Christian 

 inhabitants. 



CHAPTER VII. 



Sydney — Excursion to Bathurst— Aspect of the Woods — Party of 

 Natives — Gradual Extinction of the Aborigines — Infection gen- 

 erated by associated Men in Health — Blue Mountains — View 

 of the grand gulf-like Valleys— Their Origin and Formation— 

 Bathurst, general Civility of the lower Orders — State of Socie- 

 ty — Van Diemen's Land— Hobart Town — Aborigines all ban- 

 ished — Mount Wellington — King George's Sound — Cheerless 

 Aspect of the Country— Bald Head, calcareous Casts of Branch- 

 es of Trees — Party of Natives — Leave Australia. 



AUSTRALIA. 



January 12th, 1836. — Early in the moraing 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 



