[Footnote 108: There is nothing new under the sun. The following description of a New England cottage, on the Penka-tang River, in 1704, is given in the journal of Madame Knight:--"It was supported with shores (posts), inclosed with clapboards laid on lengthways, and so much asunder that the light came thro every where; the doore tyed on with a cord in ye place of hinges; the floor the bare earth. No windows but such as the thin covering afforded, nor any furniture but a bedd with a glass bottle hanging at ye head on't. An earthen cupp, a small pewter bason, a bord with sticks to stand on instead of a table, and a block or too in ye corners insted of chairs."]
[Footnote 109: _Wentworth_, vol. ii. p. 93.]
[Footnote 110: The following is a list of exports from Van Diemen's Land to Sydney in six years:--
Year. Bushels Wheat. lbs. of Salt Meat. £
1815 1,770 -- 885 1816 13,135 10,000 6,817 1817 15,240 8,000 7,820 1818 7,990 64,640 5,611 1819 24,768 346,800 21,054 1820 47,131 386,000 33,225
Lands granted from 1818 to 1821, from 25,000 to 273,000 acres; population from 3,557 to 7,360; in cultivation, from 5,080 to 15,005 acres.]
The Australian colonies owe their pastoral wealth originally to Captain John Macarthur, of the 102nd regiment: he was assisted by the enterprise of Captain Waterhouse, of the royal navy, who, though a sailor and confessedly ignorant of pastoral affairs, conveyed to the colony the stock which laid the foundation of its fortunes. The sheep brought by the first fleet to New South Wales, were sacrificed to the necessities of the time: the cattle strayed, and were discovered long after grazing on the Nepean, increased to many hundreds. Several efforts were made by the New South Wales Corps to introduce a stock, chiefly for the knife; but the transmission was attended with considerable difficulty, and the greater portion died.
The basis of the New South Wales flocks was the Bengal: these, bearing hair, were mixed with sheep originally from Holland, and imported from the Cape. Mr. Macarthur having obtained some sheep from Ireland,[111] remarked the great, though accidental improvement in the fleece, which exhibited a mixture of wool, and gave the first hint of a great possible improvement. He then requested Captain Kent to procure sheep from the merino flocks of Colonel Gordon, at the Cape. These were forwarded by Captain Waterhouse (1797), who delivered to Macarthur three rams and five ewes, and retained a proportion himself.
