He who has never looked on any other than the well-cultured fields of
England, can have little idea of a country that Nature has covered with an
interminable forest. Still less can he estimate the feelings with which
the adventurer approaches a shore that has never (or perhaps only lately)
been trodden by civilized man.

FIRST VIEW OF PORT JACKSON.

It was with feelings peculiar to the occasion, that I gazed for the first
time on the bold cliffs at the entrance of Port Jackson, as our vessel
neared them, and speculated on the probable character of the landscape
they hid; and I am free to confess, that I did not anticipate anything
equal to the scene which presented itself both to my sight and my
judgment, as we sailed up the noble and extensive basin we had entered,
towards the seat of government. A single glance was sufficient to tell me
that the hills upon the southern shore of the port, the outlines of which
were broken by houses and spires, must once have been covered with the
same dense and gloomy wood which abounded every where else. The contrast
was indeed very great--the improvement singularly striking. The labour and
patience required, and the difficulties which the first settlers
encountered effecting these improvements, must have been incalculable. But
their success has been complete: it is the very triumph of human skill and
industry over Nature herself. The cornfield and the orchard have
supplanted the wild grass and the brush; a flourishing town stands over
the ruins of the forest; the lowing of herds has succeeded the wild whoop
of the savage; and the stillness of that once desert shore is now broken
by the sound of the bugle and the busy hum of commerce.

EXTENT OF NEW SOUTH WALES AND DIVISIONS OF THE COLONY.