COMMERCIAL IMPORTANCE OF SYDNEY. XIX 
ever read or heard in England, that so extensive a 
town could have been reared in that remote re- 
gion, in so brief aperiod as that which had elapsed 
since its foundation. It is not, however, a distant 
or cursory glance that will give the observer a just 
idea of the mercantile importance of this busy 
capital. In order to form an accurate estimate of 
it, he should take a boat and proceed from Sydney 
Cove to Darling Harbour. He would then be 
satisfied, that it is not upon the first alone that 
Australian commerce has raised its storehouses 
and wharfs, but that the whole extent of the 
eastern shore of the last more capacious basin, 
is equally crowded with warehouses, stores, dock- 
yards, mills, and wharfs, the appearance and 
solidity of which would do credit even to Liver- 
pool. Where, thirty years ago, the people flock- 
ed to the beach to hail an arrival, it is not now 
unusual to see from thirty to forty vessels riding 
at anchor at one time, collected there from every 
quarter of the globe. In 1831, one hundred and 
fifty vessels entered the harbour of Port Jack- 
son, from foreign parts, the amount of their 
tonnage being 31,259 tons. 
The increasing importance of Sydney must 
