VOYAGE FOR THE DISCOVERY OF SOUTHERN DANES. 933;

figures of plants, among which many fpecies of fern. The thicknefs of the ftrata offreeftone above the fchiftous layers is of feveral feet. The fchift is difpofed in horizon-tal beds, and is alternated with freeltone, and pudding-ltone, impregnated wirh a blackand bituminous matter. In midft of all thefe fubftances it is that the rivulet of Para-matta takes its courfe.

“ Were it allowable to judge from analogy, and from indices without numberprefented in the confcitution of the foil, one might conclude that a confiderable quan-tity of coal exifts beneath Paramatta ; and the difcovery of this article at Pert Stephenon the north, and at Hacking Port on the fouth of Port Jackfon, tends much to confirmthis conclufion. It may even be inferred that the feams of Paramatta lie but atlittle depth below the furface : this laft circumftance, the pofition of the town in thecentre of the country, and the facility afforded to tranfport, uniting in affixing impor-tance to a mine here ; Ihould it really exift, it may reafonably be conceived, thatthe Britifh government will not long- delay availing itfelf of the advantages it muft>afford.

At the diftance of four miles weft of Paramatta is the rifing town of Tongabee,whither our companions repaired : t: Part of the way thither,” continues M. Bailly,

“ is through woods, the refidue between fertile fields, in a ftate of cultivation, fpreadingover Conftitution Hill. As yet Tongabee is only a village of fcattered houfes ; it ftandson the margin of a rivulet in a fertile valley, furrounded by hills of flight elevation,all of them fubmitted to culture. Wheat forms the principal article here, and whenwe were at this place it was in flower and promifed a grateful harveft. Tongabee,-indeed, with good reafcn, is reckoned one of the granaries of the colony. The popu-lation did not to us appear confiderable, but a pretty large number of houfes built ofwood, and empty at the time, announced more occasional inhabitants than we had op-portunity of feeing. We indeed learnt that moft of the land at Tongabee being underculture on account of government, the convi&s employed on the works of the fieldrefide here only at thofe periods when their labor is required, after which they are re-moved to different points of the colony where public or private works exadt theirfervice.

“ The road leading from Paramatta to Tongabee, and from this laft fpot to the townof Hawkefbury is wide, and kept in excellent order; infpedtors appointed by govern-ment, looking to the prefervation of it in good condition, and directing the neceffaryrepairs.

“ To the diftance of three or four miles beyond Tongabee the land is almoft whollycultivated, and is covered with houfes and farms of lefs or greater extent and beauty.Beyond this diftance you reach a rivulet, which runs by the foot of a hill of littleelevation, but fteep, and over which a bridge is thrown. At this rivulet the clearageof the wood terminates towards the N. E. of Tongabee'. In this part of New SouthWales a great number of cattle is reared, which, fpread over the country, might effeftconfiderable injury to the fields in culture : to prevent this the proprietors have adopteda mode of enclofure practifed in North America , a mode which a great fuperfluity oftimber alone can juftify. Large trees are laid horizontally on the ground, one upon:another, and difpofed in a zig-zag manner, fo as to prefent alternately a falient and aninner angle.

“ The water of the rivulet of which I fpeak has a flightly faltilh tafte, a tafte not tobe attributed to any admixture of fea-water ; this indeed lefs on account of its diftance-from the ocean than the different level over which it runs. This brackifhnefs is therefult,. without any fiiadow of doubt, from its walhiog in part of its courfe fome mine

of.