Page:History of New South Wales from the records, Volume 1.djvu/628

504 LETTERS 1788 Birds. Trees. Planteand flowen. MlnenlB. The natives. Treachery defined. Kangaroo. The country will never kangaroo rat, which partakes of that animal ; the flying rat, which by the assistance of its bushy tail flies from tree to tree, which are numerous and very troublesome. These are all the quadrupeds -we have seen here yet except the native dogs, some of which are lai^ge, and seem to be of the fox kind. The birds are not so numerous as you would expect in a -wild country, but very beautiful in general, especially those of the parrot kind. The ostrich is here, and the black swan ; one of each has been killed and several seen, besides many other birds, large and small, which I cannot describe. Twelve miles from this settlement I have shot wild ducks, pigeons, and quail. The country produces five or six kinds of trees, two of which pro- duce the same sort of gum, viz., a red astringent gum well known in England. These gum-trees grow to an amazing size, bat are scarce worth cutting down. The only tree fit for building or any other use is the fir-tree, and even that is bad. There are here many shrubs, plants, and flowers totally unknown in Europe, some of which have been used medicinally with success by our surgeon, Mr. Considen, particularly the yellow gum, as a substitute for balsam of tolu. There is neither ore nor mineral as yet found, except iron, which is very common, and a small portion of copper. The natives do not appear numerous, but the most wretched of the hun^an race ; they are dressed in nature's garb, subsist chiefly on fish and roots we are unacquainted with ; they inhabit chiefly the cavities of rocks and trees; their miserable huts, which are few, are constructed of the bark of trees. They do not wish to cultivate our acquaintance or friendship ; they are treacherous, for they have murdered several of the convicts and one marine, besides wounding many more ; indeed, they attack every person they meet unarmed, and appear civil to all those they meet armed ; this is what induces me to call them treacherous. They have spears which they use in fishing and in assailing their enemies, besides stone hatchets and chisels. The kangaroo is a very timid animal, incredibly strong for its size, and can jump faster than a hare can run ; its flesh is not bad eating — something like coarse mutton. Having given you a sketch of the country, I shall leave you to form your own opinion of it; at the same time I beg to give mine, which is, that it will never answer the intentions of the Govan- ment, for two reasons : first, because it is at too great a distance from every trading country ; and secondly, it will never make any return to the mother country, nor can it support itself independent of the mother country these twenty years. I could adduce many other reasons beside thesa I shall now say a few words about the internal management of affiiirs in this country. About six weeks ago only, it was fortu- Digitized by Google