Narrative of the surveying voyages of his majesty's ships Adventure and Beagle (vol.3)

51G NEW SOUTH WALES. Jan. 1836. was to congratulate myself that I was born an Englishman. Upon seeing more of the town afterwards, perhaps my admi- ration fell a little ; but yet it is a fine town ; the streets are regular^, broad, clean, and kept in excellent order ; the houses are of a good size, and the shops well furnished. It may be faithfully compared to the large suburbs, which stretch out from London and a few other great towns in England : but not even near London or Birmingham is there an appear- ance of such rapid growth. The number of large houses just finished and others building was truly surprising ; neverthe- less, every one complained of the high rents and difficulty in procuring a house. In the streets, gigs, phaetons, and carriages with livery servants, were driving about ; and of the latter, many were extremely well equipped. Coming from South America, where in the towns every man of property is known, no one thing surprised me more than not being able to ascertain readily to whom this or that carriage belonged. Many of the older residents say, that formerly they knew every face in the colony, but now that in a morning's ride it is a chance if they know one. Sydney has a population of twenty-three thousand, and is rapidly increasing : it must contain much wealth. It appears that a man of business can hardly fail to make a large fortune. I saw on aU sides fine houses, — one built from the profits of steam-vessels, another from building, and so on. An auctioneer, who was a convict, it is said, intends to return home, and will take with him 100,000 pounds. Another has an income so large that scarcely any body ventures to guess at it — the least sum assigned being fifteen thousand a year. But the two crowning facts are, — first, that the public revenue has in- creased 60,000/. during this last year; and secondly, that less than an acre of land within the town of Sydney sold for 8000/. sterling. I hired a man and two horses to take me to Bathurst ; a village about one hundred and twenty miles in the interior, and the centre of a great pastoral district. By this means I hoped to get a general idea of the appearance of the