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.
