The Sun.
London, England, 1829-08-24 00:00:00

AUSTRALIA.

We are enabled to publish some valuable
correspondence respecting Australia. The fol-
lowing letter, which contains many interesting
details, will be followed by others :
Sydney, Feb. 4, 1829.
I will not pretend to answer all the questions
of your letter ; but will endeavour to give you,
in general terms, my opinion of this country, and
of the prospects which it affords to emigrants.
All that you read in the works of Wentworth
and Cunningham, as to the healthfulness and
beauty of the climate, is strictly true. There
are scarcely any diseases but what result imme-
diately from intemperance. Dropsy, palsy, and
the whole train of nervous complaints, are com-
mon enough ; but then drunkenness is the vice
par excellence of the lower orders ; and the
better class of settlers have not learned those
habits of temperance which are suited to the
climate of Naples. The two classes often re-
mind me of English 'Squires and their grooms,
as I used to see them at Florence, just after
the peace :—the masters drinking at dinner, be-
cause they were abroad—and after dinner, be-
cause they were Englishmen. The servants
drinking always, because wine and brandy were
cheap. Perhaps a generation must pass away
before the people here will accommodate their
habits to the climate, which is that of Italy, with-
out either malaria or the sirocco. What can I
say more on this head ?
The soil of New South Wales is not parti-
cularly fertile. The plains of the Ganges, and
of the great rivers of China, the lowlands of the
West India Islands, the swamps of the Gulph of
Mexico, and even the marshes of Essex, pro-
duce crops of which the people here have no
conception ; but then, as we are without great
masses of alluvial deposit, so are agues and in-
termittent fevers absolutely unknown. In point
of natural fertility, I am inclined to compare this
soil with that of France ; and I have no doubt
that, if the same quantity of labour employed in
agriculture in France were here bestowed upon
an area equal to that of France, the quantity of
produce would fully equal that of France. But
hundreds of years must elapse before land here
will be cultivated as well as in the most barbar-
ous countries of Europe. Flaying regard, how-
ever, only to the natural powers of the soil, this
account will probably satisfy you. Timber,
coal, iron, and other useful minerals, abound ;
the harbours and rivers teem with fish ; cattle
of all sorts thrive, and multiply with astonishing
rapidity ; every fruit that flourishes in Spain and
Italy comes to the highest. perfection ; and
nature performs fully her part in bestowing
upon man the necessaries, comforts, and luxuries
. of life.

In the above sketch, I have described my
own impressions of the country before I reached
it. They remain unaltered by some years of
close observation ; and I can soberly declare that
I believe this country to possess physical ad-
vantages over every other spot on the globe.
I cannot say that in other respects, not phy-
sical, I had been misled. I drew my informa-
tion from books, and the verbal-reports of sincere
men who had passed many years in the Colony.
The facts on which my opinions were formed
have turned out to be true ; bat my conclusions
were miserably erroneous. For example, I was
told that an estate of 10,000 acres might be ob-
tained for a mere trifle. This was true. I have
got near 14,000 acres, and they did not cost me
more than 2s. But I imagined that a domain
of that extent would be very valuable. In this
I was wholly mistaken—as my estate cost me
next to nothing, so it is worth next tp nothing.
For reasons which I shall mention presently, I
tried to sell it ; but I cannot find a purchaser,
without submitting to lose great part of what I
have expended in improvements. 'Yet there are
persons continually reaching the Colony on pur-
pbousteto whenl
investia v
e money
made i n
overtures t h e purchase se
them, of
forless
landt.they
have have grumbled at my price, saying that they
could obtain a grant from th© Crown