eat
abundance.

The livestock at the settlements, consisted, by the last accounts, of an
English cow and a bull, two Indian heifers and two cows, above fifty
goats, six working oxen, thirty buffaloes, six pigs, a few fowls, five
ponies, and thirty half-greyhounds for catching kangaroos. Some of these
were private, others public property. Several cattle have been lost, on
hearing which, a plan that had before suggested itself, recurred vividly
to my mind. I once thought the herds of buffalo and other animals might
be prevented from straying, by a fence run across the Peninsula, between
Mount Norris Bay, and the north-east corner of Van Diemen's Gulf. The
width is only three miles, and the rude Micmac Indians of Newfoundland,
have carried fences for a similar purpose many times that extent. The
necessity of so doing became more apparent each time I visited the place,
especially when I heard of herds of buffaloes being seen upon the main.
Another advantage which occurred to me in connection with this subject,
was, that it would have rendered an out-station necessary, and have thus
led to a further communication with the natives, which would ultimately
tend to increase our knowledge of them and the interior; this after our
subsequent discovery of Adelaide river became of still greater moment.
The existence of the out-station would also form a change for the
settlers, and journeys thither would remove the dreary inactivity of a
new settlement at certain periods. The absence of this fence may account
for Captain Grey's party having seen signs of buffalo on the mainland; he
discovered the tracks of a cloven-footed animal, which one of his men who
had been much in South Africa, at once recognised as the spur of a
buffalo. But one advantage can arise from the want of this precaution.
Some of the finest lands in the neighbourhood of Sydney, now called Cow
Pastures, were discovered, by finding them to be the constant haunt of
wild cattle; a similar accident might prove equally advantageous in the
neighbourhood of Port Essington.

To return, however, to the period of the establishment of the colony: it
was of course deemed desirable to take an early opportunity of exploring
Cobourg Peninsula, on which Victoria is situated; and accordingly on May
1st, Lieutenant P.B. Stewart, with several well-armed companions, started
on an exploring expedition. They carried water and a week's provisions on
two ponies, but did not encumber themsel