This Place Offers An Example Of One Of The Large
Farming, Or Rather Sheep-Grazing Establishments Of The
Colony.
Cattle and horses are, however, in this case rather
more numerous than usual, owing to some of the valleys
being swampy and producing a coarser pasture.
Two or
three flat pieces of ground near the house were cleared and
cultivated with corn, which the harvest-men were now reaping:
but no more wheat is sown than sufficient for the annual
support of the labourers employed on the establishment. The
usual number of assigned convict-servants here is about
forty, but at the present time there were rather more. Although
the farm was well stocked with every necessary,
there was an apparent absence of comfort; and not one
single woman resided here. The sunset of a fine day will
generally cast an air of happy contentment on any scene;
but here, at this retired farm-house, the brightest tints on
the surrounding woods could not make me forget that forty
hardened, profligate men were ceasing from their daily
labours, like the slaves from Africa, yet without their holy
claim for compassion.
Early on the next morning, Mr. Archer, the joint superintendent,
had the kindness to take me out kangaroo-hunting.
We continued riding the greater part of the day, but had
very bad sport, not seeing a kangaroo, or even a wild dog.
The greyhounds pursued a kangaroo rat into a hollow tree,
out of which we dragged it: it is an animal as large as a
rabbit, but with the figure of a kangaroo. A few years since
this country abounded with wild animals; but now the emu
is banished to a long distance, and the kangaroo is become
scarce; to both the English greyhound has been highly
destructive. It may be long before these animals are altogether
exterminated, but their doom is fixed. The aborigines are
always anxious to borrow the dogs from the farm-houses:
the use of them, the offal when an animal is killed, and some
milk from the cows, are the peace-offerings of the settlers,
who push farther and farther towards the interior. The
thoughtless aboriginal, blinded by these trifling advantages,
is delighted at the approach of the white man, who seems
predestined to inherit the country of his children.
Although having poor sport, we enjoyed a pleasant ride.
The woodland is generally so open that a person on horseback
can gallop through it. It is traversed by a few flat-
bottomed valleys, which are green and free from trees: in
such spots the scenery was pretty like that of a park. In the
whole country I scarcely saw a place without the marks of a
fire; whether these had been more or less recent - whether
the stumps were more or less black, was the greatest change
which varied the uniformity, so wearisome to the traveller's
eye. In these woods there are not many birds; I saw, however,
some large flocks of the white cockatoo feeding in a
corn-field, and a few most beautiful parrots; crows, like our
jackdaws were not uncommon, and another bird something
like the magpie.
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