VOYAGE FOR THE DISCOVERY OF SOUTHERN LANDS.

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The growing town confifted then of no more than about a dozen boufes : but alreadylarge openings in the woods of the neighbouring hills were effe&ed, and feveralpretty farms were feen in the valleys. Six hundred convi&s were employed in cuttingnew roads through the foreft, and in twenty different places rofe immenfe clouds offmoak, arifing from the combuftion of the trees felled on the newly ceded lands.

For a long time the Engliffi government, in order to prevent thefe deftruftive con-flagrations, ordained that the lands Ihould be cleared merely by fellino- the trees : itwas hoped that the fahent part of the Item, and the roots of them, loon decompoled byheat and humidity, fo far from being injurious to the labours of the field, would becomea valuable compoft. This meafure is laid to be practifed with fuccefs in various partsof America ; but the refult was difficult in New Holland, as if experience Ihould inevery inftance on this continent, be found of no avail! The wood of the eucalyptus,which is fo rare a circumftance to meet with perfectly found, even in growing treesand which promifes to be liable fo foon to perilh, preferved doubtlefs by its refinousmatter from the deftru&ive adlion of the air, is proof againft all changes of weather:in every quarter are feen yet in found condition the remains of thofe trunks felledfifteen years before, as well as the roots, which, from their fpreading wide and nearthe furface, greatly impede the labourer in his toil. In order to remedy this inconve-nience, the cultivator is obliged to dig up thefe roots and Items, though foinetimes theyare confumed by fire, kept up for whole weeks together for this purpofe.

This difficulty, which was not forefeen by the Engliffi, obliged them to renounce thefirft mode adopted for clearing the lands, and to have recourfe to fire: the methodufed is: firft, to infulate the portion of the foreft to be cleared by creating large inter-vals; fire is lighted then at different places, and a few days fuffice to annihilate thegrowth of centuries. This laft method, befides it being the quickeft and mod eafy ofeffectuation, has the further advantage of extirpating, as I may fay, all heterogeneousplants; it likewife, at the fame time, imparts a beneficial warmth to the earth, whichdifpofes it to yield more abundant crops in the firft inftances; and the alhes of theburnt trees furnilh an excellent compoft.

After taking refrelhment at Caftle Hill, we went to vifit a neighbouring eftate :

“ I wilh,” faid M. Paterfon to me, “ to introduce you to a former countryman ofyours, whom I rank among my friends; it is M. de la Clampe, once a colonel in theFrench fervice, who acquitted himfelf in an honourable manner during the laft warsin India , and who, forced by the events of the revolution to feek an afylum in Enn-.land, conftantly refufed to take up arms againft his country. Tired, at length, of aninactivity fo little correfponding with his tafte and former habits, he entreated to beallowed to fettle in thefe diftant climates. Not only did the government comply withhis requeft, it, moreover, fhewed its liberality to this refpeCtable character in a mannerthat has infured him, if not a brilliant, yet an ample and comfortable fubfiftence for theremainder of his life. In the three years he has refided at Caftle Hill, he-has onlyonce been to Sydney Town ; he avoids fociety, and excufes himfelf from complyingwith the repeated invitations of his friends to dedicate his whole time to the purfuits ofagriculture ; of his knowledge and induftry in this occupation you will foon be enabledto form a judgment.”

We had now walked for the fpace of a quarter of an hour through a tufted wood,when the modeft abode and fields of the poor French colonel opened on our view.

At the head of fix convicts, furni/hed by the E nglilh government , we found him, fettingthem himfelf an example of labour, ana, like them, nearly ftripped to the flrin. Theunexpected arrival of fo numerous a party at firft difconcerted M. de la Clampe, who

6 c 2 feemed