following October.]

[**As all the trees on our cleared ground were cut down, and not grubbed
up, the roots and stumps remain, on which account a tenth part of surface
in every acre must be deducted. This is slovenly husbandry; but in a
country where immediate subsistence is wanted, it is perhaps necessary.
None of these stumps, when I left Port Jackson, showed any symptoms of
decay, though some of the trees had been cut down four years. To the
different qualities of the wood of Norfolk Island and New South Wales,
perhaps the difference of soil may in some measure be traced. That of
Norfolk Island is light and porous: it rots and turns into mould in two
years. Besides its hardness that of Port Jackson abounds with red corrosive
gum, which contributes its share of mischief.]

The main street of the new town is already begun. It is to be a mile long,
and of such breadth as will make Pall Mall and Portland Place "hide their
diminished heads." It contains at present thirty-two houses completed, of
twenty-four feet by twelve each, on a ground floor only, built of wattles
plastered with clay, and thatched. Each house is divided into two rooms, in
one of which is a fire place and a brick chimney. These houses are designed
for men only; and ten is the number of inhabitants allotted to each;
but some of them now contain twelve or fourteen, for want of better
accommodation. More are building. In a cross street stand nine houses for
unmarried women; and exclusive of all these are several small huts where
convict families of good character are allowed to reside. Of public
buildings, besides the old wooden barrack and store, there is a house of
lath and plaster, forty-four feet long by sixteen wide, for the governor,
on a ground floor only, with excellent out-houses and appurtenances
attached to it. A new brick store house, covered with tiles, 100 feet long
by twenty-four wide, is nearly completed, and a house for the store-keeper.
The first stone of a barrack, 100 feet long by twenty-four wide, to which
are intended to be added wings for the officers, was laid to-day. The
situation of the barrack is judicious, being close to the store-house, and
within a hundred and fifty yards of the wharf, where all boats from Sydney
unload. To what I have already enumerated, must be added an excellent barn,
a granary, an inclosed yard to rear stock in, a commodious blacksmith's
shop, and a most wretched hospital, totally destitute of every con