viii 



PREFACE. 



previous to the writer's departure, in February, 

 1831, left in his mind no doubt of ultimate 

 success. He himself had been the medium of dis- 

 tributing upw^ards of 20,000 vine cuttings among 

 upwards of fifty individuals, during the previous 

 season, and many others were disappointed in 

 their wishes to obtain a supply. The very fair 

 quality of the wine made by Mr. Sadleir, at the 

 Orphan School, near Liverpool, during two suc- 

 cessive seasons, had also proved, beyond a doubt, 

 that the colony was capable of yielding a very 

 superior produce, from vines of a greater age, and 

 on a more suitable soil, than that on which the 

 vineyard at the Orphan School is planted *. 



The writer was, however, aware that most of 

 the information which the colony possessed, upon 



* The writer having been favoured with ten gallons of this 

 wine, of the vintage 1829-30, he took one-half of it to Eng- 

 land in a small cask, and the other half in bottles. On his 

 arrival in London, he had the whole put into pint bottles, 

 and distributed among persons interested in the colony. Some 

 of that which was taken home in bottles had spoiled, owing, 

 as he is inclined to believe, to the bottles not having been 

 previously washed with sufficient care. The whole of what 

 was contained in the cask, although it had never been racked 

 off or clarified, was perfectly sound ; and was pronounced, by 

 every person who tasted it, including a very eminent Oporto 

 wine merchant, and a very respectable Bourdeaux wine mer- 

 chant, to be a very promising wine. The latter told the writer 



