4^4 AUSTRALIA. [chap. xix. 



December 2,0th. — 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 English 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 XIX. 



AUSTRALIA. 



dl 



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

 of Natives — Gradual extinction of the Aborigines — Infection 

 g-enerated 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 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. 



January \2th, 1836. — 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 city. 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 along 

 the beach. In the distance stone houses, two and three 

 storey high, and windmills standing on the edge of a 

 bank, pointed out to us the neighbourhood of the capital 

 of Australia. 



At last we anchored within Sydney Cove. Wc found the 

 little basin occupied by many large ships, and surrounded 

 by warehouses. In the evening I walked through 

 the town, and returned full of admiration at the whole 



