VOYAGE FOR THE DISCOVERY OF SOUTHERN HANDS. 9X1

Here is a well appointed hofpital, of which M. D’Arcy Wentworth is chief phyfician,a tolerably ftrong prifon, a work-houfe for female convi&s, a public fchool for girls, See.This town is moreover the refidence of ajuftice of the peace for the county of Cum-berland, and is intended to be the principal feat of the civil adminiftration of the colony,Sydney continuing to be that for what may relate to navigation, commerce, and war.

Towards the weftern extremity of the main ftreet of Paramatta is Rofe Hill, whencethe town firft received its name ; but that of Paramatta given by the natives to thispart of the country generally prevails, even among the Englifh themfelves. Thewhole eaftern part of Rofe Hill prefents an extremely gentle flope towards the town,on which is the garden of government. There interefting experiments for the natu-ralization of exotics are purfued with ardour; and there are collected the moft re-markable indigenous plants, intended to enrich the royal gardens at Kew ; thence alfohave been imported into England thofe which it has latterly acquired, and which haveproved fuch valuable acquisitions to the botanical works of that country. A well-informed botanift, M. Cayley, fent from Europe , has the fuperintendance of the gar-den ; and the learned Colonel Paterfon, to whom New South Wales is indebted forthis eftablilhment, has conftantly taken great intereft in its improvement.

The fide of Rofe Hill oppofite to Paramatta is fteep, and forms a large crefcent,which at firft fight might be taken for the effect of human labour. At the foot of thisAngular hill runs a ftream, of little confequence in general, but which, at the period ofinundations, fo frequent and fo terrible'in thefe climates, is fwollen fo as greatly todamage the neighbouring plantations.

On the fummit of Rofe Hill ftands the government-houfe of Paramatta * ; it isfimple, elegant, and well planned, but receives its chief recommendation from its fite,which commands the town, its meadows, the neighbouring woods, and the river. Thishoufe is commonly uninhabited ; but its apartments and furniture are fo contrived thatas often as the governor and lieutenant-governor came to Paramatta they can be com-modioufly accommodated, as well as their families and fuite.

To add an additional charm to fuch a beautiful fite, the Engliih governors plantedhere the firft vineyards formed in the colony : if the vine had fucceeded on the back ofthe crefcent which I have noticed, the government-houfe would then have been fur-rounded on this point by a rich amphitheatre of clufters of grape and verdure; butexperience unfortunately has proved that the fite was the leaft adapted of any thatcould have been chofen for this fpecies of culture, for a portion of the hill is expofedto the north-weft winds, the moft dreaded of any in this part of New Holland.

Hence, notwithftanding the promife of fuccefs held forth for plantations of thisdefeription by the temperature of the climate and nature of the foil, the refult of theexperiments, made at confiderable coft, have hitherto been of a very difcouraging nature.

In vain have the beft plants of the Cape of Good Hope , of the Canaries, Madeira,Xeres , and Bourdeaux, been introduced here; in vain the moft intelligent vine-dreffersof Europe been employed; the a&ivity and intelligence of thefe men have been renderedabortive by the terrible N. W. winds. On a fecond trip to Paramatta, in company withColonel Paterfon, I had frequent opportunities of interrogating the vine-dreffers, two ofwhomwere from Bourdeaux; all of them agreed that the climate and foil perfectly fuitedthe vine, but, in their opinion, as long as the government perfifted in continuing theplantation at Rofe Hill, it was impoffible they Ihould fucceed. “ In no part of theworld/’ obferved they, “ does the vine fhoot forth in greater ftrength and vigour than

* This houfe is called the Crefcent, from the Angular form of the hill on which it ftands.

here.