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climate on the Clarence, as without any great degree of hyperbole, a perpetual spring may be said to prevail during the entire year; for so mild are the seasons, that vegetation remains unchecked even in the midst of the so-called winter. Rain is abundant, so much so as to give rise to the opinion that the district is unsuited for pastoral purposes, at least so far as sheep are concerned. Frost is very unfrequent, and never intense. As may be inferred from its geographical position, the heat in summer is considerable, but an excess of two or three days is almost invariably succeeded by thunder showers, which for a time, cool and render invigorating the air, occasionally causing an extraordinarily rapid change of temperature, the thermometer having been frequently known to vary not less than forty degrees in the space of twelve hours. This sudden caprice of temperature is, however, not in the least creative of unhealthiness; on the contrary, satisfied there is no part of New South Wales, however justly it may be famed for the salubrity of its climate, which is more conducive to the health of the human body than the district of Clarence River; indeed most others must be confessed to yield to it in this respect, inasmuch as the never fading mantle of green, in which it is perpetually clothed, shields its inhabitants from those ophthalmic diseases so prevalent in other parts of the Colony. Were it necessary to adduce any corroboration of this truth, I need only refer to the unsuccessful effort of a medical practitioner to establish himself in the district; who, though eminent both for professional talent and amenity of manner, was obliged to abandon the undertaking after a fruitless attempt, protracted for upwards of two years: his failure solely arising from the almost entire absence of disease; as it cannot be imagined, that a population amounting to nearly a thousand souls, and possessed of one hundred and fifty thousand sheep, and thirty thousand cattle, would be unable sufficiently to remunerate him, were his services required.

Your having recently visited Moreton Bay, and of course made yourself familiar with the productive capabilities of that district, renders unnecessary my entering into an enumeration of the possible productions of this, which is in every respect so similar to it. As, however, the ultimate prospects of the immigrant, (wherever he may be placed,) will be, in some measure, proportionate to the prosperity of the neighbourhood in which he is situated, it may not be irrelevant adding my conviction, that in the event of the land being thrown open for sale on the banks of the Clarence, that river must speedily attain a position of very considerable importance; as it will not be dependent alone upon the trade of the district with which it is connected, but all the northern part of New England will be obliged to have recourse to its waters, for the purpose of shipping their commodities and receiving their supplies. Even at present the wealth derivable from nearly three hundred thousand sheep, and forty thousand cattle, finds its way to Sydney through the medium of the Clarence; and if it

be borne in mind that this trade, considerable as it certainly is, has been the growth of the last six years, what may not be anticipated from the future, under a revised system of administering Crown Lands? On the whole, a four years' residence in the district has confirmed me in the opinion, that no country ever came from the hands of its Creator more eminently qualified to be the abode of a thriving and numerous population, than the one of which I have been speaking; and in forming this estimate I have been uninfluenced either by prejudice, or by interest, being no way connected with it, save in that arising from my official capacity.

The third of the three navigable rivers in the territory of Cooksland, to the southward of Moreton Bay, is the Tweed. It was discovered by Mr. Oxley, Surveyor-General of New South Wales, in the year 1823; and the following account of the discovery is from the pen of John Uniacke, Esq., one of Mr. Oxley's party on the occasion:

"While running down for this place, [a small island off Point Danger, to which they were steering for shelter from a storm,] we perceived the mouth of a large river about a mile and a half to the northward, and next morning the master was despatched in the whale boat to ascertain the possibility of taking the vessel into it. The master reported that he had examined the entrance, and found two fathoms on the bar at low water, with deep water and secure anchorage farther in. As the river appeared to run from the southward, and parallel with the shore for some distance, it was agreed that the mate should go after breakfast with a boat into the river, until opposite where the vessel lay, when we were to join him by land, and proceed to the examination of the upper part of the river. The part of it where we found the boat extended over a large flat, being in many places above a mile broad, interspersed with numerous low mangrove islands, and very shallow except in the channel, where we found from nine to two fathoms water.

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"The country on either side was very hilly and richly wooded, and the view altogether beautiful beyond description. Having wandered out of the channel, we with some difficulty proceeded about four miles, when the river assumed a different appearance, being contracted to a quarter of a mile in width, with five fathoms water all across; the banks also wore a different aspect, being free from mangroves; the soil seemed richer, and the timber evidently improved in size and quality. The scenery here exceeded anything I had previously seen in Australia-extending for miles along a deep rich valley, clothed with magnificent trees, the beautiful uniformity of which was only interrupted by

the turns and windings of the river, which here and there appeared like small lakes, while in the back ground Mount Warning (the highest land in New South Wales) rearedjits barren and singularly shaped peak, forming a striking contrast with the richness of the intermediate scenery.

"It was now agreed that the mate and crew should remain with the boat in the river, where we had joined them, all night, and that Mr. Oxley and I should return on board to sleep, and come back with Mr. Stirling at daylight. However, just as we were preparing to land, the wind suddenly shifted to the southwest, and as it seemed likely to continue steady in that point, Mr. Oxley thought it imprudent to lose the advantage of it, and therefore deferred exploring the river further till our return. The signal was accordingly made for the boat to return on board, and all hands were employed in getting the vessel under way. The little island under which we lay received the name of Turtle Island, in gratitude for the abundant supply of that fish we procured from it. We also gave the name of the "Tweed" to the river. The latitude of our anchorage is 28° 8' S., and its longitude 153° 31' 30" East."*

This river was visited and still further explored, in the year 1828, by the Honourable Captain Rous, R.N., whose account of it, published at the time in the late Australian Quarterly Journal, is as follows:

"The river Tweed, discovered by Mr. Oxley, but not explored, is in Lat. 28° 9' Long. 153° 34', bearing N. W. W. from Turtle Island, distant 24 miles. It is situated to the southward of a bluff-head, connected with the main by a flat sandy isthmus, 250 yards wide from high-water-mark, forming a boundary to the river on the one side, and to a capacious bay to the northward, affording good anchorage and shelter from east southerly to north. The entrance to the river is about 100 yards wide, ten feet on the bar at high water, the channel being the deepest on the north shore. Six feet rise of tide, 4 feet abreast the isthmus, decreasing gradually as you ascend the river. Having passed the bar you deepen to 15 feet, and the river branches off in two channels, one S.E. by S., the other, winding round two sand banks to the westward, rejoins the main body, where an arm strikes off to the W.S.W. about seven miles, terminating in mangrove

* Narrative of Mr. Oxley's Expedition to survey Port Curtis, &c., by John Uniacke, Esq., contained in Geographical Memoirs on New South Wales. By various hands. Edited by Barron Field, Esq., late Judge of the Supreme Court of New South Wales. London, 1825.

swamps and a shallow lagoon. The river then flowing from S.S.E. to W.S.W., is navigable for loaded boats about 30 miles, the average depth at high water being 9 feet. It then separates to N. W., where the navigation is stopped by a narrow gravel bank dry at low water; and 24 miles to the S. W. it is impeded by an island with a shallow passage on each side, choked with dead timber. In both arms the water again deepens, after passing these obstacles. The banks are generally very high on rocky foundations, covered with thick forest, Moreton pines, cedar, fig-trees, palms, and a variety of gum trees, in many places impenetrable from the thick foliage of the native vines. The adjacent country ranges of thickly wooded hills are backed to the west and S.W. by lofty mountains. Mount Warning is very conspicuous S. W. S. (compass bearing) at least 20 miles farther inland than the place allotted to it in the maps; under whose base, it is probable that this river derives its source.

The Clarence is 380 miles from Sydney; the Richmond 420; and the Tweed 465; while the Tweed is only 60 miles distant from the northern entrance of Moreton Bay, and the spot I have indicated for the future commercial capital of Cooksland; the Richmond 100, and the Clarence 140. It is evident, therefore, that it would be incomparably more conducive to the convenience, the comfort, and the benefit of the future population of these three rivers, which, there is every reason to believe, will at no distant period be very numerous, to be bound up, so to speak, in one volume with the community of Moreton Bay, than with that of Sydney. Small steam-boats, of 100 tons or thereby, could ply between the northern capital and each of these rivers, with the same facility as the passage is now made by such steam-boats between Sydney and Hunter's River; performing the ocean part of the voyage during the night, and running up and down the rivers during the day. But the voyage to Sydney would be a serious affair, and would not be thought of but on occasions of great emergency. There is another consideration, however, of still greater importance, in such a question, than mere distance. The coast, for nearly three hundred miles of the whole distance to Sydney from the Clarence River, is an iron-bound coast, presenting no place of refuge, no available harbour in

cases of distress, as from a violent gale blowing dead in upon the land. In such cases the unfortunate vessel must either keep the sea at all hazards, or be wrecked. But there is much less reason to apprehend being caught in such gales on the comparatively shorter voyages between these three rivers and the northern capital; besides, there is safe anchorage under Cape Byron, close to the entrance of the Richmond River, and also under Turtle Island, close to the entrance of the Tweed.

The reader may perhaps suppose that I have argued this point more minutely and at greater length than the case requires; but as the most determined opposition was shewn very recently in New South Wales, both in the Legislative Council of that colony and out of it, to the separation of Port Phillip, although every consideration both of reason and justice was strongly in favour of that measure, I deemed it advisable to set the case in its proper light from the first, as I anticipate precisely the same opposition in the same quarters to any attempt, however accordant with reason and justice, to separate the Clarence, the Richmond, and the Tweed Rivers from that colony, and to constitute the territory of Cooksland a separate and indepenent colony.