Doubtless the springs which arise
in Carmarthen mountains may be said to constitute its source.
To cultivate its banks within many miles of the bed of the stream
(except on some elevated detached spots) will be found impracticable,
unless some method be devised of erecting a mound, sufficient to repel
the encroachments of a torrent which sometimes rises fifty feet above
its ordinary level, inundating the surrounding country in every direction.
The country between the Hawkesbury and Rose Hill is that which I have hitherto
spoken of. When the river is crossed, this prospect soon gives place
to a very different one. The green vales and moderate hills disappear
at the distance of about three miles from the river side, and from Knight Hill,
and Mount Twiss,* the limits which terminate our researches,
nothing but precipices, wilds and deserts, are to be seen. Even these steeps
fail to produce streams. The difficulty of penetrating this country,
joined to the dread of a sudden rise of the Hawkesbury, forbidding all return,
has hitherto prevented our reaching Carmarthen mountains.
[*Look at the Map. (There is no map accompanying this etext)]
Let the reader now cast his eye on the relative situation of Port Jackson.
He will see it cut off from communication with the northward by Broken Bay,
and with the southward by Botany Bay; and what is worse, the whole space
of intervening country yet explored, (except a narrow strip called
the Kangaroo Ground) in both directions, is so bad as to preclude cultivation.
The course of the Hawkesbury will next attract his attention.
To the southward of every part of Botany Bay we have traced this river;
but how much farther in that line it extends we know not. Hence its channel
takes a northerly direction, and finishes its course in Broken Bay,
running at the back of Port Jackson in such a manner as to form
the latter into a peninsula.
The principal question then remaining is, what is the distance between
the head of Botany Bay and the part of the Hawkesbury nearest to it?
And is the intermediate country a good one, or does it lead to one
which appearances indicate to be good? To future adventurers who shall meet
with more encouragement to persevere and discover than I and my fellow
wanderer[s] did, I resign the answer. In the meantime the reader is desired
to look at the remarks on the map (there is no map accompanying this etext),
which were made in the beginning of August 1790, from Pyramid Hill,
which bounded our progress on the southern expedition; when, and when only,
this part of the country has been seen.
It then follows that from Rose Hill to within such a distance
of the Hawkesbury as is protected from its inundations, is the only tract
of land we yet know of, in which cultivation can be carried on
for many years to come. To aim at forming a computation of the distance
of time, of the labour and of the expense, which would attend
forming distinct convict settlements, beyond the bounds I have delineated;
or of the difficulty which would attend a system of communication
between such establishments and Port Jackson, is not intended here.
Until that period shall arrive, the progress of cultivation,
when it shall have once passed Prospect Hill, will probably steal along
to the southward, in preference to the northward, from the superior nature
of the country in that direction, as the remarks inserted in the map
will testify.
Such is my statement of a plan which I deem inevitably entailed on
the settlement at Port Jackson. In sketching this outline of it
let it not be objected that I suppose the reader as well acquainted with
the respective names and boundaries of the country as long residence
and unwearied journeying among them, have made the author. To have subjoined
perpetual explanations would have been tedious and disgusting. Familiarity
with the relative positions of a country can neither be imparted,
or acquired, but by constant recurrence to geographic delineations.
On the policy of settling, with convicts only, a country at once so remote
and extensive, I shall offer no remarks. Whenever I have heard this question
agitated, since my return to England, the cry of, "What can we do with them!
Where else can they be sent!" has always silenced me.
Of the soil, opinions have not differed widely. A spot eminently fruitful
has never been discovered. That there are many spots cursed with everlasting
and unconquerable sterility no one who has seen the country will deny.
At the same time I am decidedly of opinion that many large tracts of land
between Rose Hill and the Hawkesbury, even now, are of a nature
sufficiently favourable to produce moderate crops of whatever may be sown
in them. And provided a sufficient number of cattle* be imported
to afford manure for dressing the ground, no doubt can exist that subsistence
for a limited number of inhabitants may be drawn from it. To imperfect
husbandry, and dry seasons, must indubitably be attributed part
of the deficiency of former years. Hitherto all our endeavours to derive
advantage from mixing the different soils have proved fruitless,
though possibly only from want of skill on our side.
[*In my former narrative I have particularly noticed the sudden disappearance
of the cattle, which we had brought with us into the country. Not a trace
of them has ever since been observed. Their fate is a riddle, so difficult
of solution that I shall not attempt it. Surely had they strayed inland,
in some of our numerous excursions, marks of them must have been found.
It is equally impossible to believe that either the convicts or natives
killed and ate them, without some sign of detection ensuing.]
The spontaneous productions of the soil will be soon recounted.
Every part of the country is a forest:
