152 THE SHEEP. 



sequence of the peculiar softness of these new wools, which 

 fitted them to amalgamate admirably with the harsher wools 

 of the country in certain manufactures. But although the 

 best of the Australian wools still sustain a high character, 

 they are not found to equal the Saxon, in fineness, and that 

 peculiar property which fits them for the manufacture of 

 cloth. This is indeed the consequence of the diiferent con- 

 ditions of the two countries. In Saxony labour is cheap, and 

 an attention can be devoted to the improvement of the Sheep 

 and their wool, which is impracticable in a thinly peopled 

 country, where the want of labourers cannot.be supplied at 

 any price. Under such circumstances, there must be a rude- 

 ness of management inconsistent with the minute attention 

 necessary to preserve and increase to the uttermost the valu- 

 able properties of the fleece. The matter of surprise is not, 

 that, under such circumstances, the Australian production 

 should be inferior to the Saxon, but that it should so nearly 

 equal it. 



The island of Van Diemen's Land, situated to the south 

 of New Holland, between the latitudes of nearly 41 and 44 

 south, enjoying a cooler temperature, and being more exempt 

 from the severe droughts of the sister country, was settled 

 by two ships which had proceeded from England with con- 

 victs. The first destination of these persons was Port Philip, 

 which they reached in the autumn of 1805 ; but it being con- 

 ceived that obstacles existed to the establishment of a per- 

 manent settlement at that port, they were carried to the river 

 Derwent, where, soon after, Hobart Town, the capital of the 

 new colony, was founded. Sheep of the defective Indian 

 breed were soon afterwards introduced into the colony ; but 

 it was not until the year 1820, that the cultivation of fine- 

 woolled Sheep was fully established. A flock of 300 Merino 

 lambs was imported from Sydney ; but, in consequence of a 

 distemper which broke out amongst them previous to sailing, 

 only 181 arrived at their destination in September 1820. 

 These were distributed amongst the colonists about Hobart 



