SYDNEY HABBOUB. 
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available length of 3100 feet, where are numerous 
large vessels awaiting and unloading cargoes. 
I despair of being able to convey to the reader 
my own impression of the beauty of Sydney Harbour. 
I can call to mind no other place with such lovely 
glimpses of nature — nothing equal to it. Many 
beautiful scenes are to be met with in our own 
British Isles, but they dwarf into insignificance in 
comparison with this magnificent land-locked ex- 
panse of water and scenery spread out before 
us, extending in bays, coves, and rivers for some 
twenty miles inland, ramifying in every direction ; its 
bold and rocky shores presenting a succession of pic- 
turesque and beautiful landscapes, in which every 
nook and headland is studded with elegant villas 
and snug cottages, surrounded with park-like grounds 
and gardens, full of orange-trees, bananas, and num- 
berless semi-tropical plants, unfamiliar to the eye of 
the newly arrived stranger. 
Endless facilities are afforded for all kinds of 
yachting, boating, and fishing, which are in high 
favour. Capital regattas and races are frequently 
held. The two Yacht Clubs make a very good show 
as regards numbers, built, management, and speed, 
though in tonnage they rarely exceed 40 or 50 tons. 
The harbour is usually safe for boating parties, 
though southerly bursters and other sudden squalls 
are often fraught with risk to the inexperienced. 
The eastern shore of Darling Harbour, which skirts 
