Page:History of Australia, Rusden 1897.djvu/476

 448 l«10. IS2I. i June 181(>, as is told iii carving on the rock. The traveller at Athens gazes on the Pnyx aotl Mars Hill, rugged now arid natural as they were in the days of PericdeR, and feels vith a thrill of pleasure that the rascal Turks have in these instances committed no deKecration ; and it may be hoped that Nature's work may be left nnmarred in the public pleasure-ground in Sydney, ^ Macquarie desired to create a new order in society. KingB had said it was liard to make farmers out of pickpockets, ^ and Macquarie essayed the harder task of making gentle- men out of convicts. lie thought their society good enough for himself. His efforts were as futile as they were offensive to the gentlemen of the colony, and were the mahi cause of an inquiry into his government, and an un- favourable report. He governed, however, for nearly twelve years, and extended the hounds of occupation.^ largely. V It may he convenient to record, m juxtaposition to the census of 1810^ the last census made by Macqaarie (Oct. 1821), Though individualH had been ruined, the material progress of the colony had not been arrested by floods or by civil convulsions. An official statement made by , Governor Macquarie shows a census in March — M With V. D. Rej/i' Land^lSit Population (including tliG T3rtl anil 102n<l lueiita) 11,590 38J7H Horneil cattle... 12,442 102,93tl Sheep 2r),8HH 290,1.^ Pigs, 9,554 33,90« Hoi-ses 1,134 4,51^ Acres cleared and in tillage under various ciopj^.,. 7,6 irj 32,207 Agriciiltm-e had not been extended after King's departure,! bat the genial climate, and winters in which live stock reqnii'ed no housing, and browsed at theii* leisure on pastnres ignorant of snow, had largely increased the flocks and herds of the colonists. Scarcity was not miknown amidst the gradual increaset ] and the magistrates reguhirly held an *' assize of bread. In 1814 they lixed the price uf thirteen pence and a half- ' penny for the two-pound loaf. Macquarie commented in