j 79 6,] ' OF NEW SOUTH WALES. 327 



The weather through the whole of May had proved very variable. 

 The cattle brought by Mr. Raven, though in Smithfield they would 

 not all together have been worth fifty pounds, were fold by auction at 

 enormous prices. The mares went at one hundred pounds, one of 

 the cows at eighty-four pounds, and the others at prices little in- 

 ferior. 



The practice of purchafing the crops of the fettlers for fpirits had 

 too long prevailed; and the Governor thought it abfolutely necefTary, 

 by all means in his power, to put an end to it \ for it was not pofiible 

 that a farmer who fhould be idle enough to throw away the labour of 

 twelve months, for the gratification of a few gallons of poifonous 

 fpirits, could expect to thrive, or enjoy thofe comforts which were 

 only to be procured by fobriety and induftry. From fuch characters 

 he determined to withdraw the affiftance of Government, fince when 

 left to themfelves they would have lefs time to wafte in drunkennefs- 

 and riot. 



On the 20th of June, the Governor, with a f mall party, undertook 

 a fecond excurfion to the retreat of the cattle. A few days previous 

 to the Governor's departure, Mr. Bafs, the furgeon of the Reliance, 

 and two companions, fet off in an attempt to round the mountains to : 

 the weftward ; but having foon attained the fummit of the higheft,, 

 they faw, at the diftance of forty or fifty miles,another range of moun- 

 tains, extending to thenorthward and fouthward. Mr. Bafs reported, 

 that he paffed over fome very fine land ; and he brought in fome fpe- 

 cimens of a light wood which he met with. 



The Governor was not long abfent. He faw the cattle ranging as 

 before, although not exactly in the fame fpot, in the fineft country yer 

 difcovered in New South Wales ; and afcended a hill which, from 

 every point of view, had appeared the higheft in the neighbourhood. 

 The height of this hill, which obtained the name of Mount Hunter, 

 was fuppofed to be near a mile from the bafe ; and the view from the 

 fummit was commanding and full of grand objects, wood, water, 

 plains, : and mountains. Every where on that fide of the Nepean the 



foil 



