Page:An account of a voyage to establish a colony at Port Philip in Bass's Strait.djvu/110

( 85 ) over the country in quest of game, without meeting the most distant interruption. Here, had any of us possessed, botanical knowledge, or taste, we might have been abundantly gratified by the examination of plants, "beyond the power of Botanist to number up their tribes."

The improvement of the district of Rio de Janeiro, though it certainly does not equal what it might have been, if colonized by a nation of more persevering industry, may be looked on as rapid, under the torpidity of Portuguese indolence. Portugal has, however, possessed great advantages above all other nations of Europe, who have colo-