The Number Of Large Houses And Other Buildings Just
Finished Was Truly Surprising; Nevertheless, Every One
Complained Of The High Rents And Difficulty In Procuring A
House.
Coming from South America, where in the towns every man
of property is known, no one thing surprised me more than
not being able to ascertain at once to whom this or that
carriage belonged.
I hired a man and two horses to take me to Bathurst, a
village about one hundred and twenty miles in the interior,
and the centre of a great pastoral district. By this means I
hoped to gain a general idea of the appearance of the country.
On the morning of the 16th (January) I set out on my excursion.
The first stage took us to Paramatta, a small country
town, next to Sydney in importance. The roads were excellent,
and made upon the MacAdam principle, whinstone having
been brought for the purpose from the distance of several
miles. In all respects there was a close resemblance to England:
perhaps the alehouses here were more numerous. The iron gangs,
or parties of convicts who have committed here some offense,
appeared the least like England: they were working in chains,
under the charge of sentries with loaded arms.
The power which the government possesses, by means
of forced labour, of at once opening good roads throughout
the country, has been, I believe, one main cause of the early
prosperity of this colony. I slept at night at a very
comfortable inn at Emu ferry, thirty-five miles from Sydney,
and near the ascent of the Blue Mountains. This line of
road is the most frequented, and has been the longest inhabited
of any in the colony. The whole land is enclosed
with high railings, for the farmers have not succeeded in
rearing hedges. There are many substantial houses and good
cottages scattered about; but although considerable pieces of
land are under cultivation, the greater part yet remains as
when first discovered.
The extreme uniformity of the vegetation is the most
remarkable feature in the landscape of the greater part of
New South Wales. Everywhere we have an open woodland,
the ground being partially covered with a very thin pasture,
with little appearance of verdure. The trees nearly all
belong to one family, and mostly have their leaves placed in
a vertical, instead of as in Europe, in a nearly horizontal
position: the foliage is scanty, and of a peculiar pale green
tint, without any gloss. Hence the woods appear light and
shadowless: this, although a loss of comfort to the traveller
under the scorching rays of summer, is of importance to the
farmer, as it allows grass to grow where it otherwise would
not. The leaves are not shed periodically: this character
appears common to the entire southern hemisphere, namely,
South America, Australia, and the Cape of Good Hope. The
inhabitants of this hemisphere, and of the intertropical
regions, thus lose perhaps one of the most glorious, though
to our eyes common, spectacles in the world - the first
bursting into full foliage of the leafless tree. They may,
however, say that we pay dearly for this by having the land
covered with mere naked skeletons for so many months. This is
too true but our senses thus acquire a keen relish for the
exquisite green of the spring, which the eyes of those living
within the tropics, sated during the long year with the gorgeous
productions of those glowing climates, can never experience.
The greater number of the trees, with the exception
of some of the Blue-gums, do not attain a large size;
but they grow tall and tolerably straight, and stand well
apart. The bark of some of the Eucalypti falls annually, or
hangs dead in long shreds which swing about with the wind,
and give to the woods a desolate and untidy appearance. I
cannot imagine a more complete contrast, in every respect,
than between the forests of Valdivia or Chiloe, and the
woods of Australia.
At sunset, a party of a score of the black aborigines passed
by, each carrying, in their accustomed manner, a bundle of
spears and other weapons. By giving a leading young man a
shilling, they were easily detained, and threw their spears for
my amusement. They were all partly clothed, and several
could speak a little English: their countenances were good-
humoured and pleasant, and they appeared far from being
such utterly degraded beings as they have usually been
represented. In their own arts they are admirable. A cap being
fixed at thirty yards distance, they transfixed it with a spear,
delivered by the throwing-stick with the rapidity of an arrow
from the bow of a practised archer. In tracking animals or
men they show most wonderful sagacity; and I heard of several
of their remarks which manifested considerable acuteness.
They will not, however, cultivate the ground, or build
houses and remain stationary, or even take the trouble of
tending a flock of sheep when given to them. On the whole
they appear to me to stand some few degrees higher in the
scale of civilization than the Fuegians.
It is very curious thus to see in the midst of a civilized
people, a set of harmless savages wandering about without
knowing where they shall sleep at night, and gaining their
livelihood by hunting in the woods. As the white man has
travelled onwards, he has spread over the country belonging
to several tribes. These, although thus enclosed by one common
people, keep up their ancient distinctions, and sometimes
go to war with each other. In an engagement which
took place lately, the two parties most singularly chose the
centre of the village of Bathurst for the field of battle. This
was of service to the defeated side, for the runaway warriors
took refuge in the barracks.
The number of aborigines is rapidly decreasing. In my
whole ride, with the exception of some boys brought up by
Englishmen, I saw only one other party.
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