This gum
runs not always in a longitudinal direction in the body of the tree,
but is found in it in circles, like a scroll. There is however, a species
of light wood which is found excellent for boat building, but it is scarce
and hardly ever found of large size.
To find limestone many of our researches were directed. But after repeated
assays with fire and chemical preparations on all the different sorts of stone
to be picked up, it is still a desideratum. Nor did my experiments
with a magnet induce me to think that any of the stones I tried contained iron.
I have, however, heard other people report very differently on this head.
The list of esculent vegetables, and wild fruits is too contemptible
to deserve notice, if the 'sweet tea' whose virtues have been already recorded,
and the common orchis root be excepted. That species of palm tree
which produces the mountain cabbage is also found in most of the freshwater
swamps, within six or seven miles of the coast. But is rarely seen
farther inland. Even the banks of the Hawkesbury are unprovided with it.
The inner part of the trunk of this tree was greedily eaten by our hogs,
and formed their principal support. The grass, as has been remarked
in former publications, does not overspread the land in a continued sward,
but arises in small detached tufts, growing every way about three inches apart,
the intermediate space being bare; though the heads of the grass are often
so luxuriant as to hide all deficiency on the surface. The rare
and beautiful flowering shrubs, which abound in every part, deserve
the highest admiration and panegyric.
Of the vegetable productions transplanted from other climes, maize flourishes
beyond any other grain. And as it affords a strong and nutritive article
of food, its propagation will, I think, altogether supersede that
of wheat and barley.
Horticulture has been attended in some places with tolerable success.
At Rose Hill I have seen gardens which, without the assistance of manure,
have continued for a short time to produce well grown vegetables.
But at Sydney, without constantly dressing the ground, it was in vain
to expect them; and with it a supply of common vegetables might be procured
by diligence in all seasons. Vines of every sort seem to flourish.
Melons, cucumbers and pumpkins run with unbounded luxuriancy,
and I am convinced that the grapes of New South Wales will, in a few years,
equal those of any other country. 'That their juice will probably
hereafter furnish an indispensable article of luxury at European tables',
has already been predicted in the vehemence of speculation. Other fruits
are yet in their infancy; but oranges, lemons and figs, (of which last
indeed I have eaten very good ones) will, I dare believe, in a few years
become plentiful. Apples and the fruits of colder climes also promise
to gratify expectation. The banana-tree has been introduced
from Norfolk Island, where it grows spontaneously.
Nor will this surprise, if the genial influence of the climate be considered.
Placed in a latitude where the beams of the sun in the dreariest season
are sufficiently powerful for many hours of the day to dispense warmth
and nutrition, the progress of vegetation never is at a stand.
The different temperatures of Rose Hill and Sydney in winter, though only
twelve miles apart, afford, however, curious matter of speculation.
Of a well attested instance of ice being seen at the latter place,
I never heard. At the former place its production is common, and once
a few flakes of snow fell. The difference can be accounted for
only by supposing that the woods stop the warm vapours of the sea
from reaching Rose Hill, which is at the distance of sixteen miles inland;
whereas Sydney is but four.* Again, the heats of summer are more violent
at the former place than at the latter, and the variations
incomparably quicker. The thermometer has been known to alter at Rose Hill,
in the course of nine hours, more than 50 degrees; standing a little before
sunrise at 50 degrees, and between one and two at more than 100 degrees.
To convey an idea of the climate in summer, I shall transcribe
from my meteorological journal, accounts of two particular days
which were the hottest we ever suffered under at Sydney.
[*Look at the journal which describes the expedition in search of the river,
said to exist to the southward of Rose Hill. At the time we felt
that extraordinary degree of cold were not more than six miles south west
of Rose Hill, and about nineteen miles from the the sea coast.
When I mentioned this circumstance to colonel Gordon, at the Cape of Good Hope,
he wondered at it; and owned, that, in his excursions into the interior parts
of Africa, he had never experienced anything to match it: he attributed
its production to large beds of nitre, which he said must exist
in the neighbourhood.]
December 27th 1790. Wind NNW; it felt like the blast of a heated oven,
and in proportion as it increased the heat was found to be more intense,
the sky hazy, the sun gleaming through at intervals.
At 9 a.m. 85 degrees
At noon 104
Half past twelve 107 1/2
From one p.m. until 20
minutes past two 108 1/2
At 20 minutes past two 109
At Sunset 89
At 11 p.m. 78 1/2
[By a large Thermometer made by Ramsden, and graduated on Fahrenheit's scale.]
December 28th.
At 8 a.m. 86
10 a.m. 93
11 a.m. 101
At noon 103 1/2
Half an hour past noon 104 1/2
At one p.m. 102
At 5 p.m. 73
At sunset 69 1/2
[At a quarter past one, it stood at only 89 degrees, having,
from a sudden shift of wind, fallen 13 degrees in 15 minutes.]
My observations on this extreme heat, succeeded by so rapid a change,
were that of all animals, man seemed to bear it best.
