The farm where I passed the night was owned by two young
men who had only lately come out, and were beginning a settler's
life. The total want of almost every comfort was not very
attractive; but future and certain prosperity was before their
eyes, and that not far distant.
The next day we passed through large tracts of country in flames,
volumes of smoke sweeping across the road. Before noon we joined
our former road and ascended Mount Victoria. I slept at the
Weatherboard, and before dark took another walk to the
amphitheatre. On the road to Sydney I spent a very pleasant evening
with Captain King at Dunheved; and thus ended my little excursion
in the colony of New South Wales.
Before arriving here the three things which interested me most
were--the state of society amongst the higher classes, the
condition of the convicts, and the degree of attraction sufficient
to induce persons to emigrate. Of course, after so very short a
visit, one's opinion is worth scarcely anything; but it is as
difficult not to form some opinion, as it is to form a correct
judgment. On the whole, from what I heard, more than from what I
saw, I was disappointed in the state of society.
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