Page:Narrative of a survey of the intertropical and western coasts of Australia, Volume 1.djvu/239

 (OA,ST9 01 AUSTRALIA. 177 A,very great advantage attending the settling sl__. of this part is its free communication with the May21. interior, and with that vast space of fine country situated between Lieutenant Oxley's 'Track on 'the parallel of 30 �nd Bathurst. This region has lately 0823) been travelled over by my in- defatigable friend Mr. Cunningham, and found to possess a large portion of excellent soil and rich pasturage; it contains altogether .at least twelve millions of acres, in which it-would be dlttlcult to discover a bad tract of country of any extent; but as one-fourth part is the general calculation in the colouy for waste land, nine millions' of the richest co..untry will be left for future colonization: many years, however, must elapse before it can be occupied. The description of the interior of New South Wal es is so foreig n to my object, and so irrele- vant to the subject before me, that I must entreat the indulgence of my reader for this digression; and return to the Mermaid, already described as having left the port and parted company with the Lady Nelson, conveying my friend Lieutenant Oxley to Port Jackson, and leaving us to resume our voyage. As soon as We had obtained an .offing, the wind-.freshened, up to a strong breeze from the westward, attended with squally and unfavour- Vo-. I. N , Digitized , Goog[e

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