[158] See “South Australia in 1842,” p. 19, published by Hailes, London.
[159] For the facts here noticed, see the Australian and New Zealand Magazine, No. 1. p. 53.
[160] See Report of the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel for 1842, p. 57.
[161] See Flinders’ Voyage, Introduction, vol. i. p. 60.
[162] There is a vine in the government garden (at Perth) which, planted as a cutting, sent out shoots 16½ feet long in the second year, and yielded more than 4 cwt. of grapes. Another, belonging to Mr. C. Brown of the same place, had a stem, which, in only five years’ growth, was 14½ feet in circumference. See “A Short Account of the Settlement in Swan River,” p. 15, published by Cross, Holborn, 1842.
[163] See “A Short Account of the Settlement of Swan River,” p. 33.
[164] See Australian and New Zealand Magazine, No. 1, p. 28.
[165] See Rev. ii. 15.
[166] Thus, as recently as the year 1838, two ships were sent from Christian England to found a colony; having on board upwards of 500 souls, but unprovided with any minister of religion! How strange a method, if we really believe God’s word, of gaining a blessing from Heaven, either for ourselves or our colonies!
[167] See Isaiah xxxii. 2. The following proverbial saying in India may serve to show how natural such comparisons are in the mouths of the inhabitants of hot climates: “Ah, that benevolent man, he has long been my shelter from the wind; he is a river to the dry country.“ See Roberts’ Oriental Illustrations of Scripture, ad. loc. p. 429. How different an idea do the words “shelter from the wind” convey to the inhabitant of England’s bleak shores, and Asia’s parching deserts!