of those works, such as roads, mills, granaries, houses and places of public worship, were wholly new, and there were few of the former buildings which did not receive from him a complete repair. We have already noticed his attention to the important object of education. In this he was particularly successful, and put it on such a footing of progressive improvement, as ensured those advantages that have subsequently resulted from it. It may also be observed, that his government of the colony had been exempt from faction and cabal, a felicity of no small moment in a settlement so circumstanced.

The following statement of the live stock and lands in cultivation, at the departure of the governor, will put into a strong light the advancement of the colony in these particulars.

The above calculations are exclusive of Norfolk Island and the wild herds.

His Excellency's embarkation for England took place in October, on board the Buffalo. He was attended to the ship's boat with every mark of the most unfeigned attachment from all classes. The ship sailed on the 21st.

Captain King, whom we have already mentioned so often, in the course of this narrative, succeeded Governor Hunter in the adminis-' tration of the colony.

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CHAPTER XXII.

Prices.-Currency.—Sydney Gazette.

Ar the beginning of the year 1801, his Majesty's sloop Investigator was fitted out, for the express purpose of completing the discovery of the coasts of New Holland. She was of three hundred and thirty-four tons burthen, and built nearly in the manner recommended by Captain Cook for voyages of discovery. The command of her was given to Lieutenant Flinders, who was on the occasion promoted to the rank of commander. He was to be accompanied by a naturalist and a professed gardener, and had it particularly in his instructions to make a collection of the most curious plants, for the royal gardens in England; for which purpose he was ordered, as soon as he should arrive at Sydney, to construct a plant cabin on his deck, agreeably to a model of one that had already been used with success for similar purposes. He sailed in the month of July.

It is gratifying to have to relate, that prior to the departure of this vessel, a passport was

transmitted from the French minister of marine, by which the Investigator was secured from all hostile interruption, in her useful research.— This generous measure, calculated to moralize a state of war, and render it a contest of liberal sentiment and of benefits to mankind, met with the acknowledgments and return it merited. Immediate instructions were given by the British Admiralty to Captain Flinders, to act towards all French ships," as if no war "existed between the two nations."

On the 17th of January, a smart shock of an earthquake was felt in the colony. The affrighted inhabitants of Sydney fled from their houses into the streets and open grounds, in momentary expectation of universal destruction. There ensued however none of the terrible consequences apprehended.

On the 2nd of March there was a most destructive inundation of the Hawkesbury. The settlers on its banks, seemed as much at a loss as ever, to guard against the effects of such calamities. The river on this occasion rose seventy feet above its usual level. Flocks and herds and houses were carried away, and one settler lost his life. Yet it was not without some warning, that these distressing circumstances took place. It has been observed with

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respect to this river, that a change of colour and turbid state of the water, even before there is any perceptible swell, is always an indication of the coming mischief, and might serve to guard a settler against a surprise, and enable him to save his moveable property.

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The inquiries into the natural productions of the colony, had not up to this time, been as diligent and extensive as might have been expected, in a country in which all was absolutely new, even, as is observed by Captain Flinders, to the very grass under the foot of the settler. The acquisition as to timber, which seemed most valued, was a species of cedar, produced about Broken Bay and along many parts of the coast.-The bark of a tree was discovered, perfectly adapted to the purposes of tanning. Of native fruits, a cherry, insipid in comparison of the European sorts, was found true to the singularity which characterizes every New South Wales production, the stone being on the outside of the fruit.-A species of currant, green in its state of maturity, afforded an excellent jelly.—A white clay of a very fine sort, perfectly well adapted to pottery and probably to various other manufactures, also a black substance resembling that which is made use of for pencils, (and improperly