PARAMATTA, a town of New Holland, on the east coast, situated at the head of Port Jackson harbour, at the distance of about eighteen miles by water and fifteen by land from Sydney. The river is for the last seven or eight miles navigable only for boats of twelve or fifteen tons burden. The town is built on a level plain, cleared of trees to a considerable extent, but not very fertile, along a small fresh-water stream which falls into the river. The streets are regularly laid out, crossing at right angles, and the town, or rather the rudiments of a town, may be said to be extensive, the inhabitants being estimated at 3000, and there being space enough for thrice that number. The dwellings are generally poor structures or wretched hovels. There are, however, a few good brick houses, to which is attached a garden, in which British vegetables are cultivated. The government buildings are very large; the governor’s house is on the west side of the town, the factory for female convicts on the east, the orphan-school on the north, and the public granary on the south. An arm of the sea, about the breadth of a third-rate English river, stretches through the middle, and over it there is a bridge. There are two very good inns, with all necessary accommodations for travellers, such as are found in Great Britain. In the factory for female convicts, which is a large building, well adapted for the convenience and comfort of its inmates, there were above a hundred females when it was visited by the missionaries from the South Sea Islands, and about as many more were daily expected. They are employed in dressing and spinning flax and wool, to be woven into clothing materials by the men at their quarters. From this penitentiary the inhabitants of Sydney and Paramatta receive a supply of domestic servants, many of whom behave with perfect propriety. The orphan-school is an admirable establishment, where upwards of one hundred children of convicts are instructed in reading, writing, and arithmetic, and in moral habits. After being kept there till the age of fourteen or fifteen years, they are usually taken into families as servants or apprentices. There are also two schools for the education of the aborigines of the country, laudable institutions, but which have not yet been attended with much advantage, the natives being wedded to their native habits of ignorance and idleness, and having a rooted aversion to industry. There were in each seminary only seven boys and as many girls when it was visited by the South Sea missionaries. The schools are supported by government, an allowance of L.20 being made for each child [7:17:66]taught. The population is chiefly composed of inferior traders; publicans, artificers, and labourers. Two fairs, held half yearly, are numerously and respectably attended. The plain on which the town is situated is cleared of trees to a considerable extent, and there is an excellent road through Paramatta; but beyond this the uncleared soil is covered with prodigious forests. Many farms, having been insulated from this tract, are divided into fields, and well cultivated, though the stumps of trees about a yard high are still seen standing amidst the corn and grass. The houses of the colonists, who follow agriculture each in his little domain, are generally clean and comfortable abodes, and some even have claims to elegance.