from 88. to 10s. per day. Great atten- | Bathurst, and that it must have received

tion has been paid to the improvement of wool; and it is becoming a very considerable article of export to this country.

The most interesting circumstance in the accounts lately received from Botany Bay, is the discovery of the magnificent river on the western side of the Blue Mountains. The public are aware, that a fine road has been made from Sydney to Bathurst, and a new town founded at the foot of the western side of these mountains, a distance of 140 miles. The country in the neighbourhood of Bathurst has been described as beautiful, fertile, open, and eminently fit for all the purposes of a settlement. The object was to find a river; and such an one has been found, the description of which it is impossible to read without the most lively interest. The intelligence is contained in a despatch from Mr. Oxley, SurveyorGeneral of the settlement to the Governor, dated 30th August, 1817.

"On the 19th, we were gratified by falling in with a river running through a most beautiful country, and which I would have been well contented to have believed the river we were in search of. Accident led us down this stream about a mile, when we were surprised by its junction with a river coming from the south, of such width and magnitude, as to dispel all doubts as to this last being the river we had so long anxiously looked for. Short as our resources were, we could nor resist the temptation this beautiful country offered us to remain two days on the junction of the river, for the purpose of examining the vicinity to as great an extent as possible.

"Our examination increased the satisfaction we had previously felt. As far as the eye could reach in every direction, a rich and picturesque country extended, abounding in limestone, slate, good timber, and every other requisite that could render an uncultivated country desirable. The soil cannot be excelled; whilst a noble river of the first magnitude affords the means of conveying its productions from one part to the other. Where I quitted it its course was northerly; and we were then north of the parallel of Port Stevens, being in lati

tude 32° 45′ south, and 148° 58′ cast longi

tude.

"It appeared to me that the Macquarrie had taken a north-north-west course from

immense accessions of water in its course best calculated to form an accurate judg. from that place. We viewed it at a period

ment of its importance, when it was nether swelled by floods beyond its natural and usual height, nor contracted within its limits by summer droughts. Of its magnitude when it should have received the streams we had crossed, independent of any it may receive from the east, which from the boldness and height of the country, I idea may be formed, when at this point it presume, must be at least as many, some exceeded, in breadth and apparent depth, the Hawkesbury at Windsor. Many of the branches were of grandeur and more ex tended proportion than the admired ene on the Nepean River from the Warragambia to

Emu Plains.

possible during the remainder of our course Resolving to keep as near the river as to Bathurst, and endeavour to ascertair, at least on the west side, what waters fell into it, on the 22nd we proceeded up the rive, and, between the point quitted and B thurst, crossed the sources of numberles streams, all running into the Macquarric Two of them were nearly as large as tha river itself at Bathurst. The country from whence all these streams derive their source was mountainous and irregular, and ap peared equally so on the east side of the Macquarrie. This description of country extended to the immediate vicinity of Ba thurst; but to the west of those lofty ranges the country was broken into low grassy hills, and fine valleys, watered by rivulets rising on the west side of the mountains, which, on their eastern side, pour their waters directly into the Macquarrie.

"These westerly streams appeared to me to join that which I had at first sight taken for the Macquarrie; and, when united, fall into it at the point at which it was first discovered on the 19th instant.

"We reached this place last evening without a single accident having occurred during the whole progress of the expedition, which from this point has encircled, with the parallels of 34° 0' south and 32° south, and between the meridians of 149° 45′ and 143° 40′ east, a space of nearly one thousand miles.' "— (Wentworth, pp. 72-75.)

The nearest distance from the point at which Mr. Oxley left off, to any part of the western coast, is very little short of 2000 miles. The Hawkesbury, at Windsor (to which he compares his new river in magnitude), is 250 yards in breadth, and of sufficient depth to float a 74-gun ship.

stream has often risen from 70 to 90 feet above its common level.

water, of which the eye cannot in many directions discover the limits, everywhere interspersed with growing timber, and crowded with poultry, pigs, horses, cattle, stacks, and houses, having frequently men, women, and children, clinging to them for protection, and shrieking out in an agony of despair for assistance:- -such are the principal objects by which these scenes of death and devastation are characterised.

"These inundations are not periodical, month of March. Within the last two years but they most generally happen in the there have been no fewer than four of them,

one of which was nearly as high as the great

At this point it has 2000 miles in a straight line to reach the ocean; and if it wind, as rivers commonly do wind, "These inundations often rise seventy or it has a space to flow over of between eighty feet above low-water mark; and in 5000 and 6000 miles. The course and the instance of what is still emphatically direction of the river has since become termed 'the great flood,' attained an elevathe object of two expeditions, one by confusion and distress that presents itself tion of ninety-three feet. The chaos of land under Mr. Oxley; the other by on these occasions, cannot be easily consea under Lieutenant King, to the ceived by any one who has not been a witresults of which we look forward withness of its horrors. An immense expanse of great interest. Enough of the country on the Western side of the Blue Mountains has been discovered to show that the settlement has been made on the wrong side. The space between the mountains and the Eastern Sea is not above 40 miles in breadth, and the five or six miles nearest the coast are of very barren land. The country on the other side is boundless, fertile, well watered, and of very great beauty. The importance of such a river as the Macquarrie is incalculable. We cannot help remarking here, the flood. In the six years preceding there courtly appellations in which geography had not been one. Since the establishment delights; the river Hawkesbury; the of the colony, they have happened, upon an town of Windsor on its banks; Ba-average, about once in three years. thurst Plains; Nepean River. Shall we never hear of the Gulf of Tierney; Brougham Point; or the straits of Mackintosh on the river Grey?

"The principal cause of them is the contiguity of this river to the Blue Mountains. which two sources it derives its principal The Grose and Warragambia rivers, from supply, issue direct from these mountains; and the Nepean river, the other principal branch of it, runs along the base of them for fifty or sixty miles, and receives in its progress, from the innumerable mountain torrents connected with it, the whole of the rain which these mountains collect in that great extent. That this is the principal cause of these calamitous inundations has

The mistakes which have been made in settling this fine colony are of conEderable importance, and such as must very seriously retard its progress to power and opulence. The first we shall mention is the settlement on the Hawkesbury. Every work of nature has its characteristic defects. Marshes should be suspected of engendering disease-a volcanic country of eruptions-rivers of overflowing. A very little portion of this kind of reflection would have induced the disposers of land in New South Wales to have bemountains. Another great cause of the inundations which take place in this and come a little better acquainted with the other rivers in the colony, is the small the Hawkesbury before they granted fall that is in them, and the consequent land on its banks, and gave that direc- slowness of their currents. The current in tion to the tide of settlement and culti- the Hawkesbury, even when the tide is in vation. It turns out that the Hawkes- full ebb, does not exceed two miles an hour. bury is the embouchure through which The water, therefore, which during the all the rain that falls on the eastern rains rushes in torrents from the mountains, side of the Blue Mountains makes its from its immense accumulation soon overcannot escape with sufficient rapidity; and way to the sea; and accordingly, tops the banks of the river, and covers the without any warning, or any fall of whole of the low country."-(Wentworth, rain on the settled part of the river, the | pp. 24-26.)

been fully proved; for shortly after the plantation of this colony, the Hawkesbury overflowed its banks (which are in general about thirty feet in height), in the midst of harvest, when not a single drop of rain had fallen on the Port Jackson side of the

It appears to have been a great over- merely to cover their bodies and fill sight not to have built the town of their bellies: the passage from one Sydney upon a regular plan. Ground settlement to another, necessary for was granted, in the first instance, with- common intercourse, is a great waste of out the least attention to this circum-strength: ten thousand men, within a stance; and a chaos of pigstyes and given compass, will do much more for houses was produced, which subsequent the improvement of a country than the governors have found it extremely dif- same number spread over three times ficult to reduce to a state of order and the space-will make more miles of regularity. road, clear more acres of wood, and build more bridges. The judge, the windmill, and the school, are more accessible; and one judge, one windmill, and one school, may do instead of two; - there is less waste of labour. We

Regularity is of consequence in planning a metropolis; but fine buildings are absurd in the infant state of any country. The various governors have, unfortunately, displayed rather too strong a taste for architecture-forget-do not, of course, object to the natural ting that the real Palladio for Botany Bay, in its present circumstances, is he who keeps out the sun, wind, and rain, with the smallest quantity of bricks and

mortar.

expansion of a colony over uncultivated lands-the more rapidly that takes place the greater is the prosperity of the settlement; but we reprobate the practice of breaking the first population of a The appointment of Governor Bligh colony, by the interposition of govern appears to have been a very serious ment, into small detached portions, misfortune to the colony-at such an placed at great intervals. It is a bad immense distance from the mother-economy of their resources; and as country, with such an uncertainty of such, is very properly objected to by the communication, and with a population Committee of the House of Commons so peculiarly circumstanced. In these extraordinary circumstances, the usual jobbing of the Treasury should really be laid aside, and some little attention paid to the selection of a proper person. It is common, we know, to send a person who is somebody's cousin; but when a to declare, order, and direct, that in con "His Excellency is also pleased further new empire is to be founded, the Trea-sideration of the premises, the under-mensury should send out into some other part of the town, for a man of sense and character.

Another very great absurdity which has been committed at Botany Bay, is the diminution of their strength and resources by the foundation of so many subordinate settlements. No sooner had the settlers unpacked their boxes at Port Jackson, than a fresh colony was settled in Norfolk Island under Lientenant King, which was afterwards abandoned after considerable labour and expense, from the want of a harbour: besides four or five settlements on the main land, two or three thousand persons, under a lieutenant-governor, and regular officers, are settled in Van Diemen's Land. The difficulties of a new colony are such, that the exertions of all the arms and legs is wanted

This colony appears to have suffered a good deal from the tyranny as well as the ignorance of its governors. On the 7th of December, 1816, Governor Macquarrie issued the following order :

tioned sums, amounts, and charges, and no more, with regard to and upon the various denominations of work, labour, and services, described and set forth, shall be allowed, claimed, or demandable within this territory and its dependencies in respect thereof."-(Wentworth, pp. 105, 106.)

And then follows a schedule of every species of labour, to each of which a maximum is affixed. We have only to observe, that a good stout inundation of the Hawkesbury would be far less pernicious to the industry of the colony than such gross ignorance and absurdity as this order evinces. Young surgeons are examined in Surgeons' Hall on the methods of cutting off legs and arms before they are allowed to practise surgery. An examination on the principles of Adam Smith, and a licence from Mr. Ricardo, seem to be

almost a necessary preliminary for the | spirits;-they were to pay a duty of five or appointment of governors. We must seven shillings a gallon on the quantity give another specimen of Governor they introduced, which duty was to be set Macquarrie's acquaintance with the apart for the erection of the hospital. To principles of political economy.

"General Orders.

"His Excellency has observed, with much concern, that, at the present time of scarcity, most of the garden ground attached to the allotments, whereon different descriptions of persons have been allowed to build huts, are totally neglected, and no vegetable growing thereon:-as such neg leet in the occupiers points them out as Laat to profit by such indulgence, those who do not put the garden ground attached to the allotments they occupy in cultivation, ca or before the 10th day of July next, will be dispossessed (except in cases wherein ground is held by lease), and more industrious persons put in possession of them, as the present necessities of the settlement require every exertion being used to supply the wants of families, by the ground attached to their dwellings being made as productive as possible.-By command of His Excellency. G. BLAXWELL, Sec. Government House, Sydney, June 21st, 1806,"-(O'Hara, p. 275.)

This compulsion to enjoy, this despotic benevolence, is something quite new in the science of government. The sale of spirits was first of all menopolised by the government, and then let out to individuals, for the purpose of building an hospital. Upon this subject Mr. Bennet observes

prevent any other spirits from being landed, a monopoly was given to these contractors. As soon as the agreement was signed, these gentlemen sent off to Rio Janeiro, the Mauritius, and the East Indies, for a large quantity of rum and arrack, which they could purchase at about the rate of 28. or 2s. 6d. per gallon, and disembarked it at Sydney. From there being but few houses that were before permitted to sell this poison, they abounded in every street; and such was the enormous consumption of spirits, that money was soon raised to build the hospital, which was finished in 1814. Mr. Marsden informs us, that in the small town of Paramatta thirteen houses were licensed to deal in spirits, though he should think five at the utmost would be amply sufficient for the accommodation of the public."-(Bennet, pp. 77-79.)

The whole coast of Botany Bay and Van Diemen's Land abounds with whales; and, accordingly, the duty levied upon train oil procured by the subjects in New South Wales, or imported there, is twenty times greater than that paid by the inhabitants of this country; the duty on spermaceti oil, imported, is sixty times greater. The duty levied on train oil, spermaceti, and head matter, procured by the inhabitants of Newfoundland is only three times the amount of that which is levied on the same substance procured by "Heretofore all ardent spirits brought to Kingdom. The duty levied on oil proBritish subjects residing in the United the colony were purchased by the Govern- cured by British subjects residing in ment, and served out at fixed prices to the officers, civil and military, according to their the Bahama or Bermuda islands, or in ranks; hence arose a discreditable and the plantations of North America, is gainful trade on the part of these officers, only eight times the amount on train their wives and mistresses. The price of oil, and twelve times the amount on spirits at times was so high, that one and spermaceti, of that which is levied on two guineas have been given for a single the same substances taken by British bottle. The thirst after ardent spirits subjects within the United Kingdom. became a mania among the settlers: all the writers on the state of the colony, and The duty, therefore, which is payable all who have resided there, and have on train oil, in vessels belonging to this given testimony concerning it, describe colony, is nearly seven times greater tis raze and passion for drunkenness as than that which is payable on the same valg in all classes, and as being the description of oil taken in vessels beprincipal foundation of all the crimes com-longing to the island of Newfoundland, mitted there. This extravagant propensity and considerably more than double of drunkenness was taken advantage of by that which is payable on the same the governor to aid him in the building of the hospital. Mr. Wentworth, the surgeon, commodity taken in vessels belonging Messrs. Riley and Blaxwell, obtained per- to the Bahama or Bermuda islands, or mission to enter a certain quantity of to the plantations in North America;