1.789-] OF NEW SOUTH WALES. 7S 



The huts which were got up on the firft landing of the colonifls 

 were flight and temporary ; every fhower of rain warned a portion of 

 the clay from between the interfaces of the cabbage-tree of which they 

 were conftru&ed ; their covering was never tight ; their fize was ne-* 

 ceflarily fmall and inconvenient ; and although they had not hitherto 

 been fo fortunate as to difcover Rme-ftone any where near, yet to 

 occupy a brick houfe put together with mortar formed of the clay of 

 the country, and covered with tiles, became, in -point of comparative 

 comfort and convenience, an objecl: of fome importance. 



In the courfe of this month the harveft was got in ; the ground in 

 cultivation at Rofe Hill produced upwards of two hundred bumels of 

 wheat, about thirty-five bufhels of barley, and a fmall quantity of 

 oats and Indian corn ; all of which was intended to be referved for 

 feed. At Sydney, the fpet of ground called the Governor's farm, had 

 been fown only with barley, and produced about twenty-five bufhels. 



A knowledge of the interior parts of this extenfive country was 

 anxioufly defired by every one ; but the difficulty of attaining it, and 

 the various employments in which they had all been neceflarily en- 

 gaged, had hitherto prevented any material refearches being made. 

 The Governor had penetrated to the weftward as far as Richmond 

 Hill, perhaps between fifty and fixty miles inland ; but beyond that 

 diaance all was a blank. Early in this month Lieutenant Dawes, with 

 a fmall party, taking with them ju ft as much provifions as they could 

 conveniently carry, fet off on an attempt to reach the weftem moun- 

 tains by and from the banks of a frefh water xiver, firft fcen, fome 

 time fmce, by Captain Terfch, and fuppofed to be a branch of the 

 Hawkefbury. From this exeurfion he returned on the ninth day, 

 without accomplifhing his defign, meeting with nothing, after quit- 

 ting the river, but ravines that were nearly inacceflible." He had, not- 

 withftanding the danger and difficulty of getting on through fuch a 

 country, reached within eleven miles of the mountains, by compu- 

 tation. During his toilfome march he met with nothing very remark- 

 able, except the impreflions of the cloven feet of an animal differing 



