' 1836.] CHARACTER OF THE PEOPLE. 437 



1 pleased to consider honest men as interlopers. The whole 

 \ population, poor and rich, are bent on acquiring wealth : 

 ' amongst the higher orders, wool and sheep-grazing form 

 the constant subject of conversation. There are many 

 serious drawbacks to the comforts of a family, the chief 

 of which, perhaps, is being surrounded by convict servants. 

 How thoroughly odious to every feeling, to be waited on 

 by a man who the day before, perhaps, was flogged, from 

 your representation, for some trifling misdemeanour. The 

 female servants are, of course, much worse : hence children 

 learn the vilest expressions, and it is fortunate if not equally 

 vile ideas. 



On the other hand, the capital of a person, without any 

 trouble on his part, produces him treble interest to what 

 it will in England ; and with care he is sure to grow 

 rich. The luxuries of life are in abundance, and very 

 little dearer than in England, and most articles of food 

 are cheaper. The climate is splendid, and perfectly 

 healthy ; but to my mind its charms are lost by the un- 

 inviting aspect of the country. Settlers possess a great 

 advantage in finding their sons of service when very 

 young. At the age of from sixteen to twenty, they 

 frequently take charge of distant farming stations. This, 

 however, must happen at the expense of their boys 

 associating entirely with convict servants. I am not 

 aware that the tone of society has assumed any peculiar 

 character ; but with such habits, and without intellectual 

 pursuits, it can hardly fail to deteriorate. My opinion is 

 such, that nothing but rather sharp necessity should 

 compel me to emigrate. 



The rapid prosperity and future prospects of this colony 

 ;re to me, not understanding these subjects, very puzzling. 

 The two main exports are wool and whale-oil, and to both 

 of these productions there is a limit. The country is 

 totally unfit for canals, therefore there is a not very 

 distant point, beyond which the land-carriage of wool 

 will not repay the expense of shearing and tending 

 sheep. Pasture everywhere is so thin that settlers have 

 "Ircady pushed far into the interior: moreover, the 



mntry farther inland becomes extremely poor. Agri- 

 >,ulture, on account of the droughts, can never succeed 

 on an extended scale : therefore, so far as 1 can see, 

 Australia must ultimately depend upon being the centre 

 of commerce for the southern hemisphere, and, perhaps 



