the country, I remember being much struck by the appearance which some gum-trees had in the moonlight. The trunks straight, and of a white, or pale-blue colour, looked like tall spectres in their shrouds, or grouped together as they were, they rather resembled monuments and gigantic tombstones; indeed, I at first thought that a churchyard was ahead, and I was only undeceived on a more close approach.

But I must hasten to Sydney, which I reached without any greater misfortune than being nearly devoured by vermin at the inns. These certainly are the curse of the colony. If a hut is deserted for a month, it becomes alive with vermin of all kinds. The very sand swarms with them. The sheep-stations supply you with sheep-ticks, and the farms furnish their quota of weevils which know how to bite as well as their neighbours. The trees in the bush are full of bugs; the brushes abound in ticks; the emu is covered with them, and so, I am told, is the kangaroo. I have seen huts in the bush crawling with cockroaches, like a hive of

bees at swarming time; and even in the most respectable and cleanly houses, I have been made ashamed and miserable by one of the most active of these varieties of vermin getting into my clothes; indeed, for the first six months after my arrival in the colony, I suffered so much in this way that I seriously contemplated leaving on that account alone; for I felt almost unable to support the fatigue of travelling by day, and of walking up and down my room all night, instead of sleeping. General Macquarie, who was fond of immortalizing his name, it is said, dignified with it one of the indigenous varieties. of bugs, and the "simax Macquariensis," along with the "Pulex irritans," (called, by the New Zealanders, on whom we have conferred it, "the little European,") were no strangers. But enough of this disagreeable subject.

CHAPTER IV.

Various advice received on the subject of Settling, &c.Journey to the southward-Campbelltown and Appin -Jordan's Creek-Sand Region-Flowers and Fruits -Illawarra Mountain-Forest Giants-The Brushes -Woolongong-The Cabbage Tree-Sporting Excursions-Dapto and Kyama-Extraordinary Cavern -Shoalhaven-Kangaroo ground-Return to Sydney.

DURING my last expedition, I had not gained much valuable information. I had come out with the intention of settling in the country as an agriculturist, or grazier, but what I had already seen was by no means encouraging. Catarrh was raging among the sheep, and carrying them off by thousands; the drought had left the cattle little either of grass or water, and consequently they were following the sheep;

and the agriculturist, as might be expected, was in as bad a plight as the grazier.

With advice I was furnished in abundance, but it was so various that it was difficult to judge of it. One person recommended me to buy sheep, and to form a squatting station beyond the bounds of the colony; another, to embark in cattle; and a third to purchase land within the bounds, and combine farming and grazing together as I best might. Land at this time. cost five shillings per acre, i. e., such was its minimum price; but, on applying for a section. it is put up to auction, and it may mount up to any sum people are foolish enough to bid for it. The principal advantage proposed by those who advised me to buy land was the obtaining convicts (or Government men as they are called), five or six of these being assigned with every section of six hundred and forty acres which are bought.

This certainly seemed a very fine thing to a new comer, and all who could, availed themselves of it. It was very well indeed for the large

capitalist, but I afterwards knew gentlemen who had been ruined in this way, and that not so much by laying out money on land (though that was folly) as by beginning on too large a scale, and maintaining prisoners for whom they had no use.

Under all these circumstances, I resolved to lie upon my oars for six (perhaps twelve) months, and to spend that time in travelling over the colony, and in gathering information and experience.

I had not been long in Sydney before I was invited by a very kind friend to accompany him on an expedition to the southward, in order to visit his stock and farm in the Kangaroo ground, which lies near the Shoalhaven River, and considerably beyond Illawarra. I of course gladly embraced the proposal, and having provided myself with saddle-bags to carry a few clothes, I proceeded to my friend's house seven miles from town (it being in the direction of our intended journey), in order to pass the night previously to starting. Our party consisted of