CHAPTER IV.
Road from Paramatta to Liverpool—Dismal appearance of the uncleared land—Liverpool—Arrival at Raby Farm—The opossum—Prisoners and free men—Advantage of being sentenced to an iron gang—London pickpockets converted into shepherds—Suggestion with regard to the convicts—Leave Raby—Mr. Jones’s farm—Cultivation of the vine—Sameness of the forest scenery in Australia—Lose our way—Journey resumed—Gloomy appearance of the Australian vegetation—The tea tree—Colonial farms—Emu-ford—Blue Mountain range—The Pilgrim Inn—View from Lapstone Hill—Variety of flowering shrubs—A beautiful garden—Road over the Blue Mountains—Picturesque prospects—A mountain station—Bleak air of the place—Our supper.
On the 13th of September, I proceeded from Paramatta to Raby farm, near the cow pastures, (distant twenty-one miles from Paramatta,) at that time the residence of my friend Mr. Dutton. The road from Paramatta to Liverpool was in excellent condition, but the land on each side was for the most part uncleared; and, being covered by dense forest trees, had a very sombre character. A few trees of the “green wattle,” (acacia decurrens,) profusely covered by golden blossoms, and occasionally a cleared verdant space, alone gave anything like animation to the scenery.
The uncleared land has a dismal appearance; the huge blue gum, stringy bark, box, and iron bark trees, (all of the Eucalyptus genus,) rose from the thick bush which surrounded their bases, to a great elevation. On arriving at the small village of “Liverpool,” after a ride of nine miles, but little cultivation appeared; the forest-trees and brush still kept their place, except that a few “runs” were becoming cleared. “Liverpool” is only a scattered village, containing some neat houses; the colonial hospital is a very splendid building; and the church, which has a tower and clock, is a small but neat brick building.
After passing this neat little village, several farms, with cleared and cultivated land about them, were seen, affording some relief to the dismal character of the Australian jungle. The “green wattle” trees, loaded with blossoms, were abundant, attracting numbers of beautiful insects. This species of acacia is valued as well for its beauty as for the utility of the bark in tanning. It is of rapid growth, but seldom survives more than four or five years.
I arrived at Raby at noon. This farm is the property of W. Riley, Esq.; it is a large and very valuable estate, principally used as a sheep-run; and there are several fine breeds of these very valuable animals. The estate also possesses several acres of arable land, and much more capable of cultivation for grain, &c. but not yet used for that purpose.
Here I had an opportunity of seeing the common opossum of this country, (phalangista vulpina,) one a young female, and the other an old male specimen,[37] (the “young feller” and “old feller” of the blacks.) When the aborigines observe marks of the animal’s claws upon the bark of a tree, they ascend and search in the hollows of the trunk, drag the creature from its place of concealment, (where it remains during the day, feeding at night,) and killing it, convert its carcase into a meal to satisfy their appetites; indeed, even when the blacks have been well fed by the settlers, they seldom refrain from ascending after an opossum, if they observe recent tracks of one on the trunk of a tree, which their keen vision soon enables them to do. The stomachs of these animals were distended with clover, grass, and the young leaves of the eucalypti trees. The odour which emanated from their bodies during dissection was of that camphorated kind which might be expected to proceed from their feeding on the foliage of those trees which are well known to possess that peculiar smell. The fur of the opossum is used at Sydney by the hat-manufacturers, and may be likewise valuable for other purposes; the natives spin it, in their rude manner, into small cord, from which they manufacture their bags called netbuls.[38]
The opinion which appears generally to prevail, that prisoners of the crown are placed in the colony in a better situation than free men, there is too much reason for regarding as correct. They are well-fed and clothed, take good care to be never overworked, and have an hospital, with the best attendance, when sick. An assigned servant or convict may be correctly defined as an individual who is well fed and clothed—insolent and indolent—and takes care that the little work he has to perform is badly done. When sick, which often proceeds from lying idle too long in the sun, he walks to the hospital; and, from the exertion, together with the thoughts of “bleeding, blistering, and physic,” he soon recovers, and returns to his master, to again undergo the fatigue of doing little or nothing. One of these characters applied for his ticket of leave, but soon returned, wishing again to be employed by his former master, if only for his food; at the same time observing, that he was better off before, in bondage, than he was now, partially free—so his fellow servants persuaded him to send the ticket back, and say, “it was all a mistake.”
The following anecdote may serve to illustrate the misery an iron gang occasions to spirit drinkers. A convict was once weighed by his comrades, and the weight at that time marked with chalk upon the barn door. A short time after this took place, he was sentenced for an offence to an iron gang for six weeks. After the term of his punishment had expired, and he returned to his master, he was observed to be in a stouter and more robust condition than before; his comrades again weighed him, to see what he had gained in flesh, if not in any moral benefit, by his punishment; when it was ascertained he had gained twenty pounds. As this man had, when on the farm, been continually toping, and as, when with the iron gang, he had no opportunity of continuing his potations, that circumstance may have occasioned his increased good health and condition. This may be a hint, therefore, to send all the sick whose illness may arise principally from habitual drunkenness, instead of an hospital, to an iron gang for a short period.