At The Distance Of 60 Miles Inland, A Prodigious Chain Of Lofty Mountains
Runs Nearly In A North And South Direction, Further Than The Eye Can
Trace Them.
Should nothing intervene to prevent it, the Governor intends,
shortly, to explore their summits:
And, I think there can be little doubt,
that his curiosity will not go unrewarded. If large rivers do exist
in the country, which some of us are almost sceptical enough to doubt,
their sources must arise amidst these hills; and the direction they run in,
for a considerable distance, must be either due north, or due south.
For it is strikingly singular that three such noble harbours as Botany Bay,
Port Jackson, and Broken Bay, alike end in shallows and swamps,
filled with mangroves.
The general face of the country is certainly pleasing, being diversified with
gentle ascents, and little winding vallies, covered for the most part with
large spreading trees, which afford a succession of leaves in all seasons.
In those places where trees are scarce, a variety of flowering shrubs abound,
most of them entirely new to an European, and surpassing in beauty, fragrance,
and number, all I ever saw in an uncultivated state: among these, a tall shrub,
bearing an elegant white flower, which smells like English May,
is particularly delightful, and perfumes the air around to a great distance.
The species of trees are few, and, I am concerned to add, the wood universally
of so bad a grain, as almost to preclude a possibility of using it:
the increase of labour occasioned by this in our buildings has been such,
as nearly to exceed belief. These trees yield a profusion of thick red gum
(not unlike the 'sanguis draconis') which is found serviceable in medicine,
particularly in dysenteric complaints, where it has sometimes succeeded,
when all other preparations have failed. To blunt its acrid qualities,
it is usual to combine it with opiates.
The nature of the soil is various. That immediately round Sydney Cove
is sandy, with here and there a stratum of clay. From the sand we have yet
been able to draw very little; but there seems no reason to doubt,
that many large tracts of land around us will bring to perfection whatever
shall be sown in them. To give this matter a fair trial, some practical
farmers capable of such an undertaking should be sent out; for the spots
we have chosen for experiments in agriculture, in which we can scarce be
supposed adepts, have hitherto but ill repaid our toil, which may be imputable
to our having chosen such as are unfavourable for our purpose.
Except from the size of the trees, the difficulties of clearing the land
are not numerous, underwood being rarely found, though the country is not
absolutely without it. Of the natural meadows which Mr. Cook mentions
near Botany Bay, we can give no account; none such exist about Port Jackson.
Grass, however, grows in every place but the swamps with the greatest vigour
and luxuriancy, though it is not of the finest quality, and is found to agree
better with horses and cows than sheep. A few wild fruits are sometimes
procured, among which is the small purple apple mentioned by Cook,
and a fruit which has the appearance of a grape, though in taste more like
a green gooseberry, being excessively sour: probably were it meliorated
by cultivation, it would become more palatable.
Fresh water, as I have said before, is found but in inconsiderable quantities.
For the common purposes of life there is generally enough; but we know
of no stream in the country capable of turning a mill: and the remark made
by Mr. Anderson, of the dryness of the country round Adventure Bay,
extends without exception to every part of it which we have penetrated.
Previous to leaving England I remember to have frequently heard it asserted,
that the discovery of mines was one of the secondary objects of the expedition.
Perhaps there are mines; but as no person competent to form a decision
is to be found among us, I wish no one to adopt an idea, that I mean to
impress him with such a belief, when I state, that individuals,
whose judgements are not despicable, are willing to think favourably
of this conjecture, from specimens of ore seen in many of the stones
picked up here. I cannot quit this subject without regretting, that some one
capable of throwing a better light on it, is not in the colony. Nor can I help
being equally concerned, that an experienced botanist was not sent out,
for the purpose of collecting and describing the rare and beautiful plants
with which the country abounds. Indeed, we flattered ourselves, when at
the Cape of Good Hope, that Mason, the King's botanical gardener,
who was employed there in collecting for the royal nursery at Kew,
would have joined us, but it seems his orders and engagements prevented him
from quitting that beaten track, to enter on this scene of novelty and variety.
To the naturalist this country holds out many invitations. Birds, though not
remarkably numerous, are in great variety, and of the most exquisite beauty
of plumage, among which are the cockatoo, lory, and parroquet; but the bird
which principally claims attention is, a species of ostrich, approaching nearer
to the emu of South America than any other we know of. One of them was shot,
at a considerable distance, with a single ball, by a convict employed
for that purpose by the Governor; its weight, when complete, was
seventy pounds, and its length from the end of the toe to the tip of the beak,
seven feet two inches, though there was reason to believe it had not attained
its full growth. On dissection many anatomical singularities were observed:
the gall-bladder was remarkably large, the liver not bigger than that
of a barn-door fowl, and after the strictest search no gizzard could be found;
the legs, which were of a vast length, were covered with thick, strong scales,
plainly indicating the animal to be formed for living amidst deserts;
and the foot differed from an ostrich's by forming a triangle,
instead of being cloven.
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