CHAPTER III.
Sombre appearance of the Australian coast—Feelings of an emigrant on approaching it—Improvement of Sydney—Fruits produced in the colony—Extent of the town—Cultivation of flowers and culinary vegetables—House-rent—The streets—Parrots—Shops—Impolicy of continuing the colony as a penal settlement—The theatre—Aspect of the country in the vicinity of Sydney—The grass tree—Floral beauties—Larva of a curious insect—The colonial museum—Visit to Elizabeth Bay—Valuable botanical specimens in the garden of the Honourable Alexander Macleay—New Zealand flax—Articles manufactured from that vegetable—Leave Sydney—Residence of Mr. M’Arthur—Forest flowers—Acacias—Paramatta—Swallows.
As we sailed by the Australian coast, its barren aspect neither cheered or invited the stranger’s eye; even where vegetation grew upon its shores, it displayed so sombre an appearance as to impart no animation to the scenery of the coast. To an emigrant, one who has left the land of his fathers, to rear his family and lay his bones in a distant soil, the first view of this, his adopted country, cannot excite in his bosom any emotions of pleasurable gratification; despondency succeeds the bright rays of hope, and he compares with heartfelt regret the arid land before him with the fertile country he has forsaken, because it afforded not sustenance for himself and family, and thus reluctantly caused him to sever the affectionate ties that united him to dear friends in his native land—the place of his birth—the soil and habitation of his forefathers for centuries.
One does not behold the graceful waving of the cocoa palm, the broad and vivid green foliage of the plantain, nor the beautiful luxuriance of a tropical vegetation, which delight the vision of the wearied voyager on a first approach to a tropical region, where the soil teems with cultivation, or a profuse natural vegetation extending from the loftiest mountains even to the ocean’s brink. But on landing and viewing the interior of Australia, the wanderer, although seeing much to confirm his first impressions, will also view many parts of the country recalling to his memory features resembling the land he has left; and as industry gives him wealth and independence, and he finds his family easily maintained, he becomes reconciled to his choice, and remains comparatively if not entirely happy.
Sydney was much improved and enlarged since my last visit in 1829; provisions were abundant and exceedingly cheap, the shipping being supplied with fresh beef at one penny a pound, and even less; vegetables are also very abundant, except in the most arid of the summer months; and fruit is, during the summer months, plentiful, and a great portion of excellent quality, consisting of several varieties of peaches, apricots, apples, pears, water-melons, loquats, grapes, plums, and strawberries, &c. Fruit of a superior kind obtains a high price, but the common kinds are very cheap; peaches for preserves or tarts being hawked about the streets at a penny a dozen. Gooseberries will not succeed in the vicinity of Sydney, but this fruit has been produced in the Argyle and Bathurst districts. Grapes have lately been perfected in the colony in great abundance, both as to size and flavour; and much attention is now devoted by the colonists to the cultivation of the vine; for which, from its prolific and early bearing, the Australian soil seems to be exceedingly well calculated.
Several enterprising individuals have introduced the different species and varieties of vines from Spain, France, Portugal, &c. &c. producing grapes, valuable in the manufacture of wine, as also for the dessert; and we may hope that the time is not distant when grapes will abound in Australia as they at present do at the Cape, and that wine both for home-consumption and exportation will be made from them. The immense increase of grapes in the colony during the last two or three years, leads one to suppose that the above opinion will speedily be confirmed.
On making a circuit around the town of Sydney, the metropolis of the Australian colony, the extent of ground it occupies, the number of buildings completed, as well as those erecting for the increased and still increasing population, the variety and neatness of the shops, excite the surprise of a stranger, and still more of a person who revisits the town after a brief absence, at the rapid improvements that have taken place in this distant colony in so short a period of time. The humble wooden dwellings are fast giving place to neat houses and cottages constructed of brick or sandstone; but, as may be expected in all recently established towns, there is much want of symmetry in the construction of the buildings; and on perambulating the streets, specimens of several unknown orders of architecture are seen; the cottage style, with neat verandas, is one much adopted for private dwellings, and has a neatness of external appearance, with which the interior usually corresponds. Many have neat gardens attached to them, in which, during the summer season, the blooming rose, as well as the pink, the stock, and other European flowers, impart a beauty, and remind one of home; or, in lieu of these gay vegetable productions, the industrious housekeeper has caused the plot of ground to be planted with peas, beans, cabbages, and other culinary vegetables. The tree cabbage, common on the European continent, but rarely seen in England, I observed introduced in the gardens; it thrives well in the colony.
House-rent is excessively high in the colony, being one of the greatest expenses to a resident in Sydney; it varies from sixty to two hundred and fifty pounds annually. The streets being of sandstone, the constant attrition of it by vehicles, &c. produces, from its friability, much dust, which occasions, during windy days, much annoyance; from the same cause, the streets are often out of repair, and the best material for repairing them is a kind of flinty stone, brought by ships from Hobart Town as ballast.
Parrots are, perhaps, of all the feathered tribe, the most numerous in the colony; and different species are lauded for speaking, whistling, and other noisy accomplishments. No one can walk the streets of Sydney or any of the villages of the colony, or enter an inn or dwelling-house, without seeing this class of birds hung about in cages, and having his ears assailed by the screeching, babbling, and whistling noises which issue from their vocal organs: it is the street music of the colony, and “pretty polly,” “sweet polly,” are tender sounds which issue from the exterior as well as interior of every dwelling. These birds are evidently gifted with the bump of talkativeness. It was once asserted, that ladies kept the birds to converse with when alone, which served a double purpose—that of being to them both practice and amusement.
The best view of the town, shipping, and adjacent country is that seen from the “rocks,” and the prospect afforded from this elevated situation is very fine. Shops of all kinds are rapidly multiplying; and lately there have been extensive emigrations of artisans of all descriptions from every part of the united kingdom; butchers, bakers, pastrycooks, provision merchants, shoemakers, apothecaries, fancy-bread bakers, booksellers, &c. &c. are numerous, and have neat, and some even elegant shops; the press sends forth their cards and circulars, and large posting bills, printed in a neat and even superior manner, equal to any similar production in our country towns in England. Circulating libraries and literary reading rooms are now becoming numerous, for the Australians are desirous of being a reading as well as a thinking people, and are anxious to have the permission of legislating for themselves; but whilst the free and emancipist parties are each desirous of gaining an ascendancy in colonial affairs, it would certainly not be advisable to grant the boon; both have their interests at home, and the emancipists are a wealthy and powerful body; and although I am not anxious to enter into the political affairs of the colony, I would, while on this subject, merely wish to suggest the expediency, from the wealth and importance of this part of the Australian colony, to no longer use it as a penal settlement, but encourage free emigration of labourers, and send the convicts to a new colony, which might be founded at the northern portion of the extensive Australian territory; then there can be no doubt that party spirit will in some degree subside, and the colony will increase still more in prosperity, being undivided by any party feeling.
It is well known that free emigration is detested by most of the convict party, and a wealthy individual of this class once remarked, “What have the free emigrants to do here? the colony was founded for us, they have no right here;” and that individual, from his wealth, would probably be elected a member of a future House of Assembly. The emigration of wealthy settlers has been much retarded by the government order, that no grants of land are to be given, but only purchased; until that order is repealed, no great increase of settlers for agricultural purposes will take place; one grant—but one grant only—ought to be given to the emigrant on his arrival in the colony as before; and those who may be desirous of having an additional grant, may then be able to effect it by purchase; the land sold since the new order has been in operation, has been principally, if not entirely, purchased by those among the settlers who were desirous of increasing the extent of their property, and from the vicinity of the “selection” to their former grant, can afford to give a higher price for it, than the newly arrived settler, ignorant of the quality of the land, and the district in which it may be situated.
A theatre having been licensed by the governor, and lately opened by a select company of performers, I visited it one night to ascertain the actual state of the drama in the colony, as also to see the mingled society which would be brought together by such a novel place of amusement. On the night mentioned, I visited it with a party of friends; the evening’s entertainment was the “Heir at Law,” and “Bombastes Furioso.” The interior of the theatre (which was fitted up as a temporary measure, in a large room of the Royal Hotel[24]) is small, and is used only until one more complete can be erected: considering the disadvantages under which theatrical exhibitions must labour in so young a colony, the “tout ensemble” far exceeded what I had expected. The pit and boxes (for there was no gallery) might probably contain one hundred and fifty persons. To speak of the performance of Colman’s celebrated comedy, would be to say it was beneath criticism; and the actors seemed determined to “play the comedy” after a manner of their own, substituting passages of their own for those of the author, in defiance of all dramatic rules.
The greatest novelty of the evening was a young Australian actress, to whom the drama was as much a novelty as she became to us this evening; and consequently she had no medium of comparison by which her judgment could be directed. Her predominant fault was a want of feeling. In the very affecting scene, where poor Henry, long supposed to be lost, returns to his beloved and disconsolate Caroline—he was in ranting raptures, while she received him in the most hard-hearted manner that can be conceived, uttered the expressions placed by the author into her mouth as a mere matter of course; and, as the unfeeling creature evidently showed that she neither felt nor understood the sentiments uttered, it proved no affecting scene either to actors or auditors. However, “Advance Australia;” the lady and the colony, we thought, are both young. As for the rest of the corps, they too often mistook indecency for wit, and probably by so doing they pleased the majority of their audience; if so, both parties would be satisfied. The pit contained those usually seen in the galleries of the theatre at home; and squabbles, threats, and actual combats, served to amuse some, and discipline others; and the various scenes and expressions in both pit and boxes excited in our minds any thing but an idea of the sublime and beautiful. It may also be worthy of remark, as a proof of the increasing morality of the colony, that no one was stationed at the doors, as in our depraved metropolis, warning you to “take care of your pockets;” and that neither myself, or any gentlemen in company, either in our ingress or egress, had our pockets picked.
The domain and country in the immediate vicinity of Sydney was assuming (in September) a gay and brilliant aspect from the profusion of flowering shrubs and plants strewed over the arid soil; there was, however, a peculiar character in the vegetation, the foliage of the trees having a dry appearance, and being destitute of the lustre so observable in those of other countries. This want of lustre is attributed by that justly celebrated botanist, Dr. Brown, to the equal existence of cutaneous glands on both surfaces of the leaf;[25] and another peculiarity is the trees attaining a great elevation, with branches only at the summit, and shedding their bark; some of the trees being seen perfectly decorticated and appearing in a smooth new bark, whilst others have the outer bark not yet quite thrown off, but hanging in long strips from the trunk. These peculiarities, in combination with others, convey to us different ideas from those formed from the vegetation of other countries.
Among the beauties of the kingdom of Flora, which are lavished so profusely in this colony, the different species of the Banksia[26] genus (or honeysuckle, as all the species are indiscriminately termed by the colonists) would arrest the attention of the stranger, by its peculiar growth as well as remarkable flowers; the species Banksia ericifolia was most profusely in bloom, its erect tufts of orange-coloured flowers imparting to it a lively appearance. That curious and interesting tree the Xanthorrhœa,—yellow gum or grass tree of the colonists,—would attract observation from its peculiar growth, the trunk being surmounted by long grassy foliage, from the centre of which arises a long scape terminated by a cylindrical spike, either crowded with its small white flowers of sickly odour, or with dark coloured angulated capsules, containing small black seeds. The flowers of the several species secrete a honey, which exudes at first like dew-drops, and afterwards concretes into an albumen, attracting multitudes of insects, which soon deface the purity the flowers before presented. The natives readily produce fire by rubbing two pieces of the trunk of this tree together.
This tree is found abundantly in several parts of the colony, and there are already seven described species. It is named “grass tree” by the colonists from its long pendent grassy foliage, and “yellow gum tree” from secreting a quantity of yellowish gum.[27] It is a tree of curious growth, and I have seen the species called hastile from eight to ten feet high, and the trunk sometimes surmounted by from two to four heads; each bearing a flowering stem, which rises from the centre of the foliage to the length of six feet and upwards: it is round and very light, combining lightness with strength, and is used by the aborigines for making their spears, fish gigs, &c. The scape terminates in a cylindrical spike; the flowers are small, white, and numerous; an albumen is secreted from them of a sweet taste, which is eaten by the natives and birds, and is also a source of attraction to multitudes of ants and other insects; the capsules are triangular, and contain three flat black seeds in distinct cells.
It secretes a yellow gum, resembling very much in appearance, though not in quality, the gamboge; externally it has a dull yellow appearance, but breaks with a bright yellow fracture, and is often streaked internally with red. In its natural state it has no fragrant smell, but by the action of fire it diffuses an agreeable odour, resembling that produced by frankincense, instead of which, I believe, it has been used in the Roman Catholic churches on the continent. It exudes spontaneously from the trunk, in very small globules, and is found in very thin layers about the bases of the petioles of the leaves, but may be melted into large masses.
The resin (more commonly known as the gum acaroides) is slightly bitter, pungent and astringent, and has been used in dyspeptic, dysenteric, and other cases; but not with such success as to cause it to be admitted into our materia medica.
The floral beauties were profusely lavished, and the brilliancy and gaiety they impart to the otherwise arid country during the full flowering season, are to be equalled but by few countries. The present season was later than usual, from the coldness of the weather continuing for a more advanced period of the year than had been experienced for many years in New South Wales. On our arrival the thermometer was lower than we had experienced it in 41° south latitude, or when passing the Cape during the winter season. During the remainder of the month of August, the range of the thermometer was min. 45°, max. 58°.
Besides the Banksia,[28] or honeysuckles, the Boronias, Epacris grandiflora, with its elegant pendent blossoms, and two species of Kennedia,[29] one bearing red and the other small blue flowers entwined over the shrubs in their vicinity; the other golden and fragrant flowers of the Acacias (of which genus the colony possesses a large number of indigenous species) gave an additional beauty to the otherwise arid character of the vegetation; the Xylomelum pyriforme, or wooden pear-tree, so called from its exceedingly hard woody fruits, is seen abundant in the vicinity of Sydney, several are seen from thirty to thirty-five feet in elevation, and two feet in circumference. A splendid Bignonia overspread the rocks, decked with its pendulous clusters of tinted blossoms; and two large and parisitical Dendrobiums, in full flower, adorned the rough trunk of one of the eucalyptus tribe to which it had attached itself for sustenance; and the different species of Grevillea, Leptospermum, Pimelia, Lambertia, Crowea, and a number of others, added to the animated appearance of the soil. On the north shore the shrubs and plants, now in full flower, were more abundant; the arid soil was brilliant with the variety of tints emanating from them, combining to charm the eye with their beauty, but were destitute of that agreeable fragrance for which the flowers of European climes are so highly esteemed.
On the Leptospermum I remarked an insect, or rather the larva of some Coleopterous insect, pending from a sprig and enclosed in a case of a woven substance, strengthened externally by bits of twigs; the insect to which this larva belongs is unknown to me, nor have I been able to see it described in any entomological work; the only publication in which I have seen it mentioned, is in the catalogue of the museum of the Royal College of Surgeons in London, part 4, fasc. 1. “Preparations of Natural History in Spirit,” page 117, No. 438. “Larva of a Coleopterous Insect in its Case.”
It attaches itself to the sprigs of shrubs, and, like the caddis worms, protects itself by a habitation from which it can protrude the anterior part of its body, being attached internally to its case by the tail, and by that means can feed and change its locality at pleasure, bearing its case with it, and re-attaching itself to any other place that may suit its habits; thus I have had them moving about in my room, attaching themselves to one place, and then removing to another; at first much to my surprise at their power of mobility, until I saw it was effected by the protrusion of the larva from its habitation. The case is composed internally of a very tough web, and the exterior is covered by bits of twigs interwoven upon it in a perpendicular direction; it suspends itself from the twig by a strong cluster of filaments. I have found this larva enclosed in its case of various sizes from three to six inches; this has led me to conclude that, like the caddis worms, they increase in size in the larva state, enlarging their habitations as the former ones become too small for the increased size of their bodies. I found, by cutting one of the cases open, that they readily repair any injury their dwellings may have sustained, for a few hours only having elapsed after I had made the incision to view the contained larva, I found the case restored as firmly as before.
In company with my friend, Mr. Lauga, I visited the colonial museum, which is arranged for the present in a small room, assigned for the purpose, in the council-house, and which had been recently established at Sydney: it forms an excellent nucleus for a splendid collection, particularly in a country so prolific in rare, valuable, and beautiful specimens of natural productions. For the present, the ornithological collection is by far the best, both for the number, and being beautifully stuffed and “set up” in attitudes, from which it is evident that nature has been closely studied. Specimens of the families Columbæ, Psittaceæ,[30] Raptores, &c. are the most numerous. There are also several of the mammalia, and reptiles of the colony in the collection.
But, in a country where specimens could be procured in the majority of instances in almost any number, it would be of great interest to the lover of science, as well as to the admirer of nature, and also considerably increase the value of the collection and the advancement of scientific knowledge, if, besides among the birds, the male and female specimens being preserved, any showing the changes of plumage, which so frequently occur in the feathered tribe from the juvenile to the adult age; the nest and eggs, together with the skeletons, or any remarkable anatomical peculiarity, should also be preserved. The same system may be adopted with respect to other animals, reptiles, and insects, arranged each under the separate families and genera, so as, in a comparatively short period of time, to form as valuable a collection of Australian natural productions as has ever been collected in any part of the world. Native weapons, utensils, and other specimens of the arts, as existing among the Aborigines, as well as the skulls of the different tribes, and accurate drawings of their peculiar cast of features, would be a desirable addition. At the present time, such might be procured without much difficulty; but it is equally certain, as well as much to be regretted, that the tribes in the settled parts of the colony are fast decreasing, and many, if not all, will, at no distant period, be known but by name. Here, in a public museum, the remains of the arts, &c. as existing among them, may be preserved as lasting memorials of the former races inhabiting the lands, when they had ceased to exist.
The botanical productions of the colony may also be kept in a dried state for reference, together with specimens of the woods in different stages of growth. Peculiarities in the economy of any of the animals might be preserved as wet preparations, and to the whole collection, systematically arranged, as well as the scientific, (or hard names, as the ladies call them,) let also the popular, colonial and native names, be attached. The council has liberally granted the sum of two hundred pounds annually out of the colonial funds, for the support of the museum; a hundred and thirty pounds of which is a salary to the collector and staffers of specimens of natural history for the collection, and the remainder is expended for cases, &c.; but encouragement should be held out for donations, as is usual in other public collections.[31] At all events, the commencement of the public museum is excellent; and science, I believe, is indebted for its institution to the Honourable Alexander Macleay, colonial secretary; and may he see it attain an importance which no one can enjoy or appreciate more than himself, who has devoted the leisure moments of a long and arduous life engaged in other important occupations, to the study of the natural sciences.
In company with my friend, Lieutenant Breton, R. N., I visited Elizabeth Bay, about two miles distant from Sydney, and the property of the Honourable Alexander Macleay. The situation is beautiful, being in a retired bay or cove of Port Jackson, and the garden and farm is near the sea. This spot, naturally of the most sterile description, has been rendered, at a great expense and perseverance, in some degree productive as a nursery for rare trees, shrubs, and plants, from all parts of the world. We were much gratified with the valuable and rare specimens the garden contained, and surprised that a spot possessed of no natural advantages should have been rendered, comparatively, a little paradise.
In the garden, a species of cactus was pointed out to me by the gardener, Mr. Henderson, which Mr. Macleay had brought some years ago from Rio Janeiro: it had flowered at the usual time, and they had changed into what had the usual external form of the fruit. On making a section of one, it had the usual fructual character, although in an immature state. I was, however, informed that the fruit never attained maturity, but became as one of the branches, blossoms being produced from it, which would again produce fruit, and that fruit would not ripen, but again produce flowers, so continuing during the whole of the flowering season, without ripening any fruit, having consequently a curious anomaly of fruit producing flowers, instead of flowers producing fruit. It has always, during the time it has been planted in the garden, exhibited this phenomenon, which was never observed in the plant from which this was taken at Rio. It must therefore be considered as a curious anomaly in vegetation.
The greatest importer and manufacturer of New Zealand flax[32] in the colony is Mr. Maclaren. I visited his extensive establishment, which had just been completed on the north shore near Sydney, for the cleaning and manufacture of the flax into rope. He has also establishments at New Zealand, from whence he imports the flax, exporting some to England, and manufacturing the remainder into cordage for the use of the colonial vessels. He has also a powerful hydraulic press, for the purpose of compressing the flax into bales for exportation. He manufactures from this material a large quantity of whale lines for the colonial whalers, who speak in high terms of the quality of the rope, for that purpose. The rope manufactured from this flax, takes the tar readily, and the small lines are passed through it previous to their being made into rope of larger size.[33]
As I hope the time is not far distant when its value will be more appreciated, and the prejudice, at present so much against it, will have diminished, I may perhaps be excused in giving an account of this valuable plant from my own observations during a visit to New Zealand.
This valuable plant is regarded by the natives of New Zealand as sacred, but is probably an object of veneration for its value in manufactures, as it is neither employed in religious or other ceremonies. It grows principally in moist, marshy soil, but I have also observed it growing on the declivities of hills. The leaves are ensiform, of a bright green colour, with a rim of orange along the margin: the foliage attains the elevation of five to seven feet, and resembles in mode of growth our water flags: the flower stalk rises to the elevation of four or five feet beyond the foliage, and bears a profusion of liliaceous flowers of a reddish yellow colour, succeeded by triangular capsules, filled with numerous oblong, flattened, black seeds. The leaves grow perfectly erect, but are figured incorrectly in Cook’s first voyage, and other works, as they are delineated bending towards the ground, which from their rigidity they are, unless broken, unable to do. The flax procured from this plant is situated (unlike all other kinds with which we are acquainted) in the leaves, where the fibres run in a longitudinal direction, covered by the epidermis. There are several varieties of it indigenous to New Zealand, from some of which the flax is procured of much finer quality than others. I collected much finer specimens of the flax from the vicinity of the River Thames, New Zealand, than from the Bay of Islands.
The flax is used by the natives of New Zealand for a variety of purposes; from it they manufacture very strong fishing-lines, and also a variety of handsome and durable mats, which are used both by males and females for clothing. The method adopted by the natives of New Zealand, for the separation of the fibre from the other parts of the leaf, is as follows:—The leaves, when full grown, are cut down, the most perfect selected, and a lateral incision is made with a shell on each side of the leaf, so as simply to cut through the epidermis; the shell is then, with a gentle pressure, drawn from one of the incisions rapidly down the leaf, and is afterwards repeated on the other side; by this, the whole of the external epidermis is readily removed; the internal epidermis, which is of very thin texture, usually remains, but sometimes it is in the greatest part removed together with the external: the internal seems to unite the fibres of the leaf more intimately together, and if not cleaned from the flax when in a recent state, is removed afterwards with great difficulty; and when it is suffered to remain, renders the flax less valuable as an article of commerce.
In the preparation of the flax, as well as in the manufacture of it into matting, the females are employed, and custom renders them very expert. Before, however, the flax is manufactured into matting, it is previously soaked in water, and afterwards beaten, by which it becomes more pliable and soft. The plant is named koradi by the natives; and when the flax is prepared, it is named muka. This plant alone would render New Zealand a valuable colony to the British nation. At present the flax is used in England only in the manufacture of cordage, &c.; but if the best varieties, indigenous to New Zealand, were selected, (for they differ materially in the fineness of the fibre,) and proper care and attention bestowed on the cleaning, when in a recent state, it may, there can be no doubt, be employed in the manufacture of linen of very fine quality.
Previous to being used for cordage, Mr. Maclaren has the flax well hackled, which materially improves its quality and appearance: could it be exported in this improved state, it cannot be doubted that much of the prejudice now existing against its use would be removed; for the epidermis of the leaves being entirely removed when the flax is well cleaned, the fibres will, as a matter of course, unite closer together, affording a united and stronger resistance; but Mr. Maclaren informs me that the expense attending the hackling in this colony would not repay him at the price the material at present obtains in England, or even were it to advance to its former high price.
At present this gentleman cannot manufacture cordage at a less price than a ship from England could bring it out as stores, but still at a lower rate than the Europe cordage sent out on freight for sale; in the colony it is therefore cheaper to colonial vessels, and is found very durable. It has been used three years and upwards as running gear for shipping, and highly approved of; from the flax having been sent home in an uncleaned state, it has been rendered almost unsaleable, and gave an opportunity for those prejudiced to depreciate its value. From the natural indolence of the New Zealanders, it is difficult to procure the flax from them in a better dressed state, until some of them are taught the art of hackling it, which would be advisable to be done immediately. To attempt to clean the flax from the epidermis in any but during the recent state, is a labour of difficulty, from its close connexion with the fibres, by which a great loss in weight would necessarily be sustained.
Captain P. P. King, R. N. (who may be considered high authority,) when on the survey of the Australian coast, used rope manufactured from this flax, and he commends it highly for running rigging. I was also informed by a mercantile gentleman, that from its unclean state (as well as from bending the fibres in packing, by which the edges decaying, the length of staple is diminished one-half) it has become quite unsaleable at home, and the opposition to it by the Riga flax importers tends still more to crush it, the badly cleaned state of the flax giving them a strong ground for its condemnation.
On the 9th of September I left Sydney, with the intention of calling on my friends in the vicinity, and then proceeding into the interior of the colony. I passed an agreeable day with the amiable family of Major Lockyer, at his pretty residence at the Field of Mars, near Kissing[34] Point, and situated upon the banks of the Paramatta creek or river.[35]
After an agreeable day’s sojourn I left for Paramatta, calling at the “Vineyard,” the residence of Hannibal M’Arthur, Esq. The habitation was delightfully situated on the banks of the Paramatta creek, or river. His gardens, annexed to the house, were extensive, and richly stored with many valuable shrubs and plants, and a brilliant display of hyacinths, anemones, jonquils, and other annuals, usually the ornament of our gardens, brought forcibly to our minds the recollection of our spring and summer seasons at home. Salt provision becoming an article of colonial export, Major Lockyer, Mr. H. M’Arthur, and many other gentlemen, settled in, and possessing large estates in the colony, are profitably employed in salting provision, both for the commissariat department of the colony, as well as for exportation. The Liverpool is preferred by some to the salt of colonial manufacture, from its being of a stronger quality.
The woods in the vicinity of the “Vineyard” abounded with numerous plants of the Orchideæ family, growing in a very barren soil. One of these, that has received the colonial appellation of “native hyacinth,” was just developing its beautiful cærulean blossoms, and another its flowers of a bright yellow, spotted internally with brown. These latter Orchideæ are named “boyams,”[36] having their bulbous roots filled with a viscid mucilage, which renders them an article of food among the aborigines: they are also sought after by the colonial children, who are fond of collecting and eating them; the little creatures would readily recognize their favourite “boyams” among the specimens I had collected. The Emu flowers, (Richea glauca,) were now abundant, and in full blossom; the colonial appellation has been given from the emus feeding upon them, that is, when emus were to be seen, for they have been driven by encroaching settlements far into the interior of the colony, and before long an emu will be as great, if not a greater rarity, at Sydney than in England, for in the latter country I am happy to see they are endeavouring to, and I hope will, succeed in breeding them.
The acacias (of the species floribunda and fillifannilius) were abundant, and covered at this season with a profusion of delicate golden flowers, imparting to the otherwise sterile aspect of the woods, a gay and animated appearance, as well as diffusing a grateful fragrance around, wafted by the gentle breezes to a still greater distance; their drooping branches, thickly studded with pending clusters of blossoms, decorated the sides of the roads, gardens, barren plains, and banks of rivers, being the only trees that at one period of the season bestowed some life to the usual uninteresting character of the scenery, at some parts aided by other flowering shrubs in full blossom, among which those of the Epacridæ family were most profuse.
Paramatta is a pretty village situated in a vale, and has some well-constructed public buildings—as the government-house, orphan-school, commissariat stores, female factory, &c. The situation of the village renders it exceedingly sultry during the summer months. The government-house is well-situated, and the building is of neat construction; the grounds about it are well laid out, and it has become the favourite residence of the present governor; and when compared to the government-house at Sydney, well merits his choice.
Swallows were numerous at this season of the year, and were now busily engaged in constructing their nests under the eves of houses; the nests differ from those of the European species, in having a bottle-shaped neck.
I had no opportunity of ascertaining whether the species were the same; but from casual observation I should think they were different. When these little birds are not in the vicinity of the dwellings of man, they construct their nests in the hollow trunks of trees, or under overhanging rocks, but always seem to prefer the society or protection of the human race: many are seen busily engaged in the construction of a nest, forming a “co-operative society;” when the nests are constructed in a situation about the dwelling, where, being built of mud, the appearance is unsightly, they are frequently knocked down; but this will not deter the industrious little creatures from re-building in the same situations, until, being repeatedly destroyed, they are obliged to seek for another place of refuge.