December 30th. - In the afternoon we stood out of the
Bay of Islands, on our course to Sydney. I believe we were
all glad to leave New Zealand. It is not a pleasant place.
Amongst the natives there is absent that charming simplicity
which is found in Tahiti; and the greater part of the English
are the very refuse of society. Neither is the country itself
attractive. I look back but to one bright spot, and that is
Waimate, with its Christian inhabitants.
CHAPTER XIX
AUSTRALIA
Sydney - Excursion to Bathurst - Aspect of the Woods - Party
of Natives - Gradual Extinction of the Aborigines - Infection
generated by associated Men in health - Blue Mountains - View
of the grand gulf-like Valleys - Their origin and formation -
Bathurst, general civility of the Lower Orders - State of
Society - Van Diemen's Land - Hobart Town - Aborigines all
banished - Mount Wellington - King George's Sound -
Cheerless Aspect of the Country - Bald Head, calcareous casts
of branches of Trees - Party of Natives - Leave Australia.
JANUARY 12th, 1836. - Early in the morning a light air
carried us towards the entrance of Port Jackson. Instead
of beholding a verdant country, interspersed with
fine houses, a straight line of yellowish cliff brought to our
minds the coast of Patagonia. A solitary lighthouse, built of
white stone, alone told us that we were near a great and
populous city.
