Expeditions to South Australia | Page 5

country--The marsh of the
Macquarie merely a marsh of the ordinary character--Captain King's
observations-- Course of the Darling--Character of the low interior
plain--The convict Barber's report of rivers traversing the
interior--Surveyor-General Mitchell's Report of his recent expedition.

CHAPTER VI
.
Concluding Remarks--Obstacles that attend travelling into the interior
of Australia--Difficulty of carrying supplies--Importance of steady
intelligent subordinates--Danger from the natives--Number of men
requisite,--and of cattle and carriages--Provisions--Other
arrangements-- Treatment of the natives--Dimensions of the boat used
in the second expedition.
APPENDIX.
No. I. Letter of Instructions No. II. List of Stores supplied for the
Expedition No. III. Sheep-farming Returns No. IV. List of Geological
Specimens No. V. Official Report to the Colonial Government, (Jan.
1829.) No. VI. Ditto (April 1829.)
ILLUSTRATIONS TO THE FIRST VOLUME (Not included in this
etext)
Native Burial Place near Budda Vice Admiral Arthur Phillip Cataract
of the Macquarie A Selenite Chrystallized Sulphate of Lime

PRELIMINARY

CHAPTER

Purpose
of this Chapter--Name of Australia--Impressions of its early
Visitors--Character of the Australian rivers--Author's first view of Port
Jackson--Extent of the Colony of New South Wales--its rapid advances
in prosperity--Erroneous impressions--Commercial importance of
Sydney--Growth of fine wool--Mr. M'Arthur's meritorious
exertions--Whale-fishery--Other exports--Geographical
features--Causes of the large proportion of bad soil--Connection
between the geology and vegetation--Geological features-- Character of
the soil connected with the geological formation--County of
Cumberland--Country westward of the Blue Mountains--Disadvantages
of the remote settlers--Character of the Eastern coast--Rich tracts in the
interior--Periodical droughts--The seasons apparently affected by the

interior marshes--Temperature--Fruits--Emigrants: Causes of their
success or failure--Moral disadvantages--System of emigration
recommended--Hints to emigrants--Progress of inland
discovery--Expeditions across the Blue Mountains--Discoveries of Mr.
Evans, Mr. Oxley, and others--Conjectures respecting the interior.
PURPOSE OF THIS PRELIMINARY CHAPTER.
When I first determined on committing to the press a detailed account
of the two expeditions, which I conducted into the interior of the
Australian continent, pursuant to the orders of Lieutenant General
Darling, the late Governor of the Colony of New South Wales, it was
simply with a view of laying their results before the geographical world,
and of correcting the opinions that prevailed with regard to the
unexplored country to the westward of the Blue Mountains. I did not
feel myself equal either to the task or the responsibility of venturing
any remarks on the Colony of New South Wales itself. I had had little
time for inquiry, amidst the various duties that fell to my lot in the
ordinary routine of the service to which I belonged, when unemployed
by the Colonial Government in the prosecution of inland discoveries.
My observations had been in a great measure confined to those points
which curiosity, or a desire of personal information, had prompted me
to investigate. I did not, therefore, venture to flatter myself that I had
collected materials of sufficient importance on general topics to enable
me to write for the information of others. Since my return to England,
however, I have been strenuously urged to give a short description of
the colony before entering upon my personal narrative; and I have
conversed with so many individuals whose ideas of Australia are totally
at variance with its actual state, that I am encouraged to indulge the
hope that my observations, desultory as they are, may be of some
interest to the public. I am strengthened in this hope by the
consideration that some kind friends have enabled me to add much
valuable matter to that which I had myself collected. It is not my
intention, however, to enter at any length on the commercial or
agricultural interests of New South Wales. It may be necessary for me
to touch lightly on those important subjects, but it is my wish to
connect this preliminary chapter, as much as possible with the subjects
treated of in the body of the work, and chiefly to notice the physical
structure, the soil, climate, and productions of the colony, in order to

convey to the reader general information on these points, before I lead
him into the remote interior.
NAME OF AUSTRALIA.
It may be worthy of remark that the name "Australia," has of late years
been affixed to that extensive tract of land which Great Britain
possesses in the Southern Seas, and which, having been a discovery of
the early Dutch navigators, was previously termed "New Holland." The
change of name was, I believe, introduced by the celebrated French
geographer, Malte Brun, who, in his division of the globe, gave the
appellation of Austral Asia and Polynesia to the new discovered lands
in the southern ocean; in which division he meant to include the
numerous insular groups scattered over the Pacific.
IMPRESSIONS OF ITS EARLY VISITORS.
Australia is properly speaking an island, but it is so much larger than
every other island on the face of the globe, that it is classed as a
continent in order