barracks, are perhaps the most conspicuous; of the latter the houses of Messrs. Lord, Riley, Howe, Underwood and Nichols.

The value of land in this town is in many places half as great as in the best situations in London, and is daily increasing. Rents are in consequence exorbitantly high. It is very far from a commodious house that can be had for a hundred a year, unfurnished.

Here is a very good market, although it is of very recent date. It was established by Governor Macquarie, in the year 1813, and is very well supplied with grain, vegetables, poultry, butter, eggs and fruit. It is, however, only held three times a week; viz. on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. It is a large oblong enclosure, and there are stores erected in it by the Governor, for the reception of all such provisions as remain unsold at the close of the market, which lasts from six o'clock in the morning in summer, and seven o'clock in winter, until three o'clock in the evening. The vender pays in return a small duty to the clerk of the market, who accounts quarterly for the amount to the treasurer of the police fund. The annual amount of these duties is about £130.*

[* Vide Market Duties in the Appendix.]

Here also is a Bank, called "The Bank of New South Wales," which was established in the year 1817, and promises to be of great and permanent benefit to the colony in general. Its capital is £20,000, divided into two hundred shares. It has a regular charter of incorporation, and is under the controul of a president* and six directors, who are annually chosen by the proprietors. The paper of this bank is now the principal circulating medium of this colony. They discount bills of a short date, and also advance money on mortgage securities. They are allowed to receive in return an interest of 10 per cent. per annum.

[* See Appendix.]

This town also contains two very good public schools, for the education of children of both sexes. One is a day school for boys, and is of course only intended to impart gratuitous instruction:--the other is designed both for the education and support of poor and helpless female orphans. This institution was founded by Governor King, as long back as the year 1800, and contains about sixty children, who are taught reading, writing, arithmetic, sewing, and the various arts of domestic economy. When their education is complete, they are either married to free persons of good character, or are assigned as servants to such respectable families as may apply for them. At the time of the establishment of this school there was a large tract of land (15,000 acres,) attached to it; and a considerable stock of horses, cattle, and sheep, were also transferred to it from the government herds. The profits of these stock go towards defraying the expences of this school, and a certain portion, fifty or a hundred acres of this land, with a proportionate number of them, are given in dower with each female who marries with the consent of the committee intrusted with the management of this institution.

Besides these two public schools in the town of Sydney, which together contained, by the last accounts received from the colony, two hundred and twenty-four children, there are establishments for the gratuitous diffusion of education in every populous district throughout the colony. The masters of these schools are allowed stipulated salaries from the Orphan Fund. Formerly particular duties, those on coals and timber, which still go by the name of "The Orphan Dues," were allotted for the support of these schools; but they were found to be insufficient, and afterwards one-fourth, and more recently one-eighth, of the whole revenue of the colony was appropriated to this purpose. This latter portion of the colonial revenue may be estimated at about £2500, which it must be admitted could not be devoted to the promotion of any object of equal public utility.

Independent of these laudable institutions thus supported at the expence of the government, there are two private ones intended for the dissemination of religious knowledge, which are wholly maintained by voluntary contribution. One is termed "The Auxiliary Bible Society of New South Wales," and its object is to cooperate with the British and Foreign Bible Society, and to distribute the holy Scriptures either at prime cost, or gratis, to needy and deserving applicants.

The other is called "The New South Wales Sunday School Institution," and was established with a view to teach well disposed persons of all ages how to read the sacred volume. These societies were instituted in the year 1817, and are under the direction of a general committee, aided by a secretary and treasurer.

There are in this town and other parts of the colony, several good private seminaries for the board and education of the children of opulent parents. The best is in the district of Castlereagh, which is about forty miles distant, and is kept by the clergyman of that district, the Rev. Henry Fulton, a gentleman peculiarly qualified both from his character and acquirements for conducting so responsible and important an undertaking. The boys in this seminary receive a regular classical education, and the terms are as reasonable as those of similar establishments in this country.

The harbour of Port Jackson is perhaps exceeded by none in the world except the Derwent in point of size and safety; and in this latter particular, I rather think it has the advantage. It is navigable for vessels of any burden for about seven miles above the town, i.e. about fifteen from the entrance. It possesses the best anchorage the whole way, and is perfectly sheltered from every wind that can blow. It is said, and I believe with truth, to have a hundred coves, and is capable of containing all the shipping in the world. There can be no doubt, therefore, that in the course of a few years, the town of Sydney, from the excellence of its situation alone, must become a place of considerable importance.

The views from the heights of the town are bold, varied and beautiful. The strange irregular appearance of the town itself, the numerous coves and islets both above and below it, the towering forests and projecting rocks, combined with the infinite diversity of hill and dale on each side of the harbour, form altogether a coup d'oeil, of which it may be safely asserted that few towns can boast a parallel.

The neighbouring scenery is still more diversified and romantic, particularly the different prospects which open upon you from the hills on the south head road, immediately contiguous to the town. Looking towards the coast you behold at one glance the greater part of the numerous bays and islands which lie between the town and the heads, with the succession of barren, but bold and commanding hills, that bound the harbour, and are abruptly terminated by the water. Further north, the eye ranges over the long chain of lofty rugged cliffs that stretch away in the direction of the coal river, and distinctly mark the bearing of the coast, until they are lost in the dimness of vision. Wheeling round to the south you behold at the distance of seven or eight miles, that spacious though less eligible harbour, called "Botany Bay," from the prodigious variety of new plants which Sir Joseph Banks found in its vicinity, when it was first discovered and surveyed by Captain Cook. To the southward again of this magnificent sheet of water, where it will be recollected it was the original intention, though afterwards judiciously abandoned, to found the capital of this colony, you behold the high bluff range of hills that stretch away towards the five islands, and likewise indicate the trending of the coast in that direction.

If you afterwards suddenly face about to the westward, you see before you one vast forest, uninterrupted except by the cultivated openings which have been made by the axe on the summits of some of the loftiest hills, and which tend considerably to diminish those melancholy sensations its gloomy monotony would