many places of considerable extent, are
of far greater fertility, being a rich vegetable mould, many feet
in depth, and have without doubt, been gradually formed by
depositions from it during the periods of its inundations. These
plains gradually enlarge themselves until you arrive at the
junction of the Nepean with the Hawkesbury, on each side of which
they are commonly from a mile to a mile and a half in breadth.
The banks of this latter river are of still greater fertility
than the banks of the former, and may vie in this respect with
the far-famed banks of the Nile. The same acre of land there has
been known to produce in the course of one year, fifty bushels of
wheat and a hundred of maize. The settlers have never any
occasion for manure, since the slimy depositions from the river,
effectually counteract the exhaustion that would otherwise be
produced by incessant crops. The timber on the banks of these
rivers is for the most part apple tree, which is very beautiful,
and bears in its foliage and shape a striking resemblance to the
oak of this country. Its wood, however, is of no value except for
firing, and for the immense quantity of pot-ash which might be
made from it. The blue gum and stringy bark are also very common
on these flooded lands, and of the best description. The banks of
the Hawkesbury formerly produced cedar, but it has long since
entirely disappeared.

The banks of these rivers, and indeed the whole tract of
country, (generally speaking) which I have described, with the
exception of the barren waste in the vicinity of the coast, are,
to use the colonial term, located, i. e. either granted away to
individuals, or attached as commons to the cultivated districts.
It may not, therefore, be unacceptable to many of my readers, to
learn the particulars of those unappropriated tracts of land
within the immediate precincts of Port Jackson, which are best
adapted to the purposes of colonization.

COW PASTURES.

Of these "the cow pastures" rank first in point of proximity.
This tract of land has hitherto been reserved for the use of the
wild cattle; although these animals have for some time past
disappeared, either from having found an outlet into the
interior, through the surrounding mountains, or what is a still
more probable conjecture, from the exterminating incursions of
the numerous poor settlers, who have farms in the neighbourhood,
and who, considering their general poverty, it is easy to
beli