VOYAGE FOR THE DISCOVERY OF SOUTHERN LANDS. 937,

wood is fo extremely abundant, the difcovery of a mine of this defcription could notfail of becoming on many accounts very valuable.

“This iron excepted, no metallic fubftance has hitherto been difcovered*; andamong the pebbles depofited by the river, nothing which I faw juftifies the prefumptionof the exiftence of any vein in the interior of thefe mountains.

“ Of all the mineral productions of the Englifh colony the molt abundant and ufefulis coal. At Port Hacking and Port Stephen immenfe beds of it are found, almoft atthe furface, and doping in almoft every direction, This coal is of excellent quality,its only fault being in its too greatly abounding in bitumen: it is ufed at Sydney Town for domeftic purpofes; and cargoes of it, freighted for Bengal and the Cape of GoodHope , have gone to very profitable markets.

“ Independent of coal, which I fufpect exifts under the foil of Paramatta, my col-league, M. Dupuch, and myfelf, difcovered at the foot of the mountains large malTesof bituminous fchiftus, which burns with a very lively flame, exhales a decidedly bitu-minous fmell, and yields a thick fmoke. The pieces of this fchift lofe nothing of theirpriftine figure by combuftion ; fire only renders them more brittle, and deprives themof their colour. In a country deftitute of coal, and in which wood fhould be fcarce,this fchiftus would be a valuable acquifition.

“ To the mineral fubftances I have previoufly noticed muft be added fal gemma(rock fait), of which I underftand very confiderable quantities have been found in dif-ferent parts of the colony; I myfelf faw a fpecimen of this article in poffeflion of thegovernor, more than a foot in diameter.

“ After having terminated our mineralogical obfervations at the foot of the BlueMountains , and in the vicinage of Hawkefbury, we refumed the road to Paramattawhich we entered the next day. During the Ihort ftay we made here, I went to vifit atannery, which yet, indeed, was of no great confequence, but which will annuallyancreafe in proportion to the augmenting number of cattle. I faw here fome feal-fkins,tanned into a leather applicable to many economical ufes.

“ I muft not conclude this narrative without noticing the liberal condud of thegovernor of the colony and of Mr. Amdell. The boats, rowers, guide, and inter-preter, all were provided for us by the Englifh government; our chief even refufed usthe provifions neceffary for the excurfion.”

Not only is it in its mountains and rivers, its winds and ftorms, that New SouthWales prefents a feries of grand phenomena ; in its vegetables and animals nature in afimilar manner has every where fhown herfelf extraordinary; the hiftory of its inhabi-tants likewife adduces many ftriking Angularities, nor muft be omitted that afforded bythe admirable fyftem of colonization introduced by England on thefe diftant fhores.But the too great length of this chapter already forbids ulterior details: to anotherfeafon muft I delay the expofition of the valuable confequences to be expe&ed from thelaft-mentioned circutnftanee, and firft terminate what concerns our ftay at PortJackfon.

I have already obferved that the Naturalifte, freighted with the collections and vali-tudinarians of both fhips, was about to return with Captain Iiamelin to France . Inconfequence of-this determination Meffrs. Lefchenault, Faure, and Bajlly, the onlyones of my colleagues who remained belonging to that veffel, were turned over to theGeographe, which, on the other hand, loft M. Depuch, too much exhaufted to be able

* Indices of copper and tin have however fince the period at which our author wrote, as is reported,been difcovered. Tr.

VOJL. XI. 6 D to