X 
PURPOSE OF THIS PRELIMINARY CHAPTER. 
with a view of laying their results before the 
geographical world, and of correcting the opi- 
nions that prevailed with regard to the unex- 
plored country to the westward of the Blue 
Mountains. I did not feel myself equal either 
to the task or the responsibility of venturing 
any remarks on the Colony of New South Wales 
itself. I had had little time for inquiry, amidst 
the various duties that fell to my lot in the ordi- 
nary routine of the service to which I belonged, 
when unemployed by the Colonial Government 
in the prosecution of inland discoveries. My 
observations had been in a great measure con- 
fined to those points which curiosity, or a desire 
of personal information, had prompted me to in- 
vestigate. I did not, therefore, venture to flatter 
myself that I had collected materials of sufficient 
importance on general topics to enable me to write 
for the information of others. Since my return 
to England, however, I have been strenuously 
urged to give a short description of the colony, 
before entering upon my personal narrative ; 
and I have conversed with so many individuals, 
whose ideas of Australia are totally at variance 
with its actual state, that I am encouraged to 
indulge the hope that my observations, desultory 
