436 CHARACTER OF THE PEOPLE, [chap. 



respectable river, and it is the larg^est of those draining 

 this part of the watershed ; yet to mj' surprise I found 

 it a mere chain of ponds, separated from each other by 

 spaces almost dry. Generally a small stream is running ; 

 and sometimes there are high and impetuous floods. 

 Scanty as the supply of the water is throughout this 

 district, it becomes still scantier farther inland. 



January 22nd. — I commenced my return, and followed 

 a new road called Lockyer's Line, along which the country 

 is rather more hilly and picturesque. This was a long 

 day's ride ; and the house where I wished to sleep was 

 some way off the road, and not easily found. I met on 

 this occasion, and indeed on all others, a very general 

 and ready civility among the lower orders, which, when 

 one considers what they are, and what thf^y have been, 

 would scarcely have been expected. The farm where I 

 passed the night, was owned by two young men who had 

 only lately come out and were beginning a settler's life. 

 The total want of almost every comfort was not very 

 attractive ; but future and certain prosperity was before 

 their eyes, and that not far distant. 



The next day we passed through large tracts of country 

 in flames, volumes of smoke sweeping across the road. 

 Before noon we joined our former road, and ascended 

 Mount Victoria. 1 slept at the Weatherboard, and before 

 dark took another walk to the amphitheatre. On the 

 road to Sydney I spent a very pleasant evening with 

 Captain King at Dunheved : and thus ended my little 

 excursion in the colony of New South Wales. 



Before arriving here the three things which interested 

 me most w^ere — the state of society amongst the higher 

 classes, the condition of the convicts, and the degree of 

 attraction sufficient to induce persons to emigrate. Of 

 course, after so very short a visit, one's opinion is worth 

 scarcely anything ; but it is as difficult not to form some 

 opinion, as it is to form a correct judgment. On the 

 whole, from what I heard, more than from what 1 saw, 

 I was disappointed in the state of society. The whole 

 community is rancorously divided into parties on almost 

 every subject. Among those who, from their station in 

 life, ought to be the best, many live in such open 

 profligacy that respectable people cannot associate with 

 them. There is much jealousy between the children of 

 the rich emancipist and the free settlers, the former being 



