-930 VOYAGE FOR THE DISCOVERY OF SOUTHERN LANDS.
flows: bearing along in its courfe, from the fummit of the mountains, and from theinterior of the continent, all the vegetable earth it meets in its way, it precipitates thisearth into the vallies, depofits it into the fields it overflows, and accumulates it there ininvaluable beds, the depths of which, according to M. Marfden, is not lefs than from30 to 60 feet ; thus furnifhing inexhauftible aliment for the moll active and variedculture! Indeed, in no part of the world is the fecundity of the banks of this Auftralriver exceeded ; without much toil, and with fcarcely any tillage, the earth here pre-fents the molt grateful crops ; wheat has here been feen to yield, the firft year ofbreaking up the land, .95, barley 140, and maize 200 for one. This is the chief gra-nary of the Englilh colony, and hence does it draw the provifion of wheat necelfary forits lupport; it is another Delta, comparable in every refpedt for fertility to that ofEgypt. The Englifh, in fa£t, commonly defignate this river by the title of the Nile of New Holland *, nor are .many circumftances wanting to juftify the companion ; likethe Nile the Hawkefbury River hides its head in mountains which forbid accefs ; like thisAfrican river it is fubjett to overflow, and as does that brings from the mountains avegetable earth to depofe it in the valley through which it takes its courfe ; finally,like the Nile , it is the fource of abundance and happinefs in a country generally wildand barren.
The chief difference exifting between the two rivers is, in the circumftance of theoverflowing of the Nile being only Angular in the year and periodical at the fame fea-fon, fo that the time of its occurrence, its progrefs and effeds may be calculated ; whilenothing fimilar applies to the Hawkefbury River. Another difference may be pointedout: in Egypt the failure of the expeded inundation is a fource of dread to thefarmer; in New Holland the excels of the floods. Thus, even in its refemblance tothe mofl extraordinary phenomenon of the Old World, the fouthern continent appears-to mock all reafoning deduced from analogy.
The Angular pidure I have exhibited not only fuits the river Hawkefbury ; all theother rivers, and even all the rivulets of the county of Cumberland, are fubjed to fimi-lar increafe, an increafe apparently to be afcribed to copious rains falling on a connededfpace of greater or lefs extent.
The lady of Colonel Paterfon, who was anxious of accompanying us to Caftle Hill,had come in her carriage to Paramatta f. We immediately after fet out to join Mr.Cox and his family at the farm he occupies on the fide of the river, which I have beforedefcribed ; here we flept, and the next morning early our whole party, enlarged by theaddition of our hofts, departed for the fpot we were about to vifit.
In proportion as we proceeded farther from Paramatta, the elevation of the groundbecame greater : the vicinage of Caftle Hill confifts of a number of hills divided fromeach other ' by pleafing vallies, through which ferpentine occafional flender rivulets.The vegetable earth here feems, generally fpeaking, deeper and of fuperior quality tothat at Paramatta.
Of all the fettlements in New South Wales the moft recent is Caftle Hill; when Iwas there fcarcely three years had elapfed from the foundation of the eftablifhment,
* Collins, page 415.
f Here I cannot refrain a remark of importance: while I have feen colonies belonging to powerfulEuropean nations, and eftablifhed for centuries, in which not a fingle carriage is kept, as an objedt of luxury,and in which it would be impofllble to make ufe of them, owing to the badnefs of the roads, in the towaof Sydney alone no lefs than eight or ten carriages of great elegance and beauty are kept, independentof a number of whifkies and gigs, dillributed over the whole furface of the colony. In the fligbteltof thefe vehicles may the county of Cumberland be traverfed in every diredlion ' t Hill, not twenty yearshave elapfed fince the firft appearance of civilized men on thefe fhores !
i The