Page:An account of the English colony in New South Wales.djvu/379

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1796.]
OF NEW SOUTH WALES
331

was not any church built, lifted up his eyes with aſtoniſhment, and declared, that had the place been ſettled by his nation, a houſe for God would have been erected before any houſe for man.

The invalids and paſſengers who were returning to England in the Britannia being embarked, that ſhip, the Reliance, and the Francis ſchooner, hauled out of the Cove preparatory to their departure. As a proof that ſtock was not at this time falling in its value, one of the gentlemen ſold two Cape cows and one ſteer for 189 pounds ſterling. The ſtock in the colony was of conſiderable extent and value, as will appear by the following account of it which was taken for the purpoſe of being tranſmitted to Government:

Account of live ſtock in the poſſeſſion of Government and the civil and military officers of the ſettlement, on the firſt of September, 1796.

Mares 57; cows and cow calves 101; bulls and bull calves 74; oxen 54; ſheep 1531; goats 1427; hogs 1869.

The wild cattle to the weſtward of the river Nepean, were not included in this account.

All kinds of poultry were numerous.

The number of acres at the ſame time in cultivation, were 5419.

It was ſatisfactory to thoſe gentlemen who were now on the point of quitting that country (among whom was the Author of this hiſtory, who had been in the ſettlement from its eſtabliſhment, and witneſſed many periods of diſtreſs and difficulty) to reflect, that they left it not only with a prospect of plenty before it, but with ſtores and granaries abundantly filled at the time. In the houſes of individuals were to be found moſt of the comforts, and not a few of the luxuries of life. For theſe the iſland was indebted to the communications that it had had with India, and other parts of the world; and the former years of famine, toll, and difficulty, were now exchanged for years of plenty, eaſe, and pleaſure.

The following ſtate of the ſettlement was made up to the 31ſt of Auguſt 1796:

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