opposite party; being met by two men, he was immediately seized; but as
they could not agree to whom he should belong, each stood over him with
a stone hatchet, and seemed determined that the other at least should
not take him away alive. The poor man, almost dead with fright, was
only saved by the address of a chief's wife. We afterwards enjoyed a
pleasant walk back to the boat, but did not reach the ship till late in
the evening.
December 30th.--In the afternoon we stood out of the Bay of Islands, on
our course to Sydney. I believe we were all glad to leave New Zealand.
It is not a pleasant place. Amongst the natives there is absent that
charming simplicity which is found in Tahiti; and the greater part of
the English are the very refuse of society. Neither is the country
itself attractive. I look back but to one bright spot, and that is
Waimate, with its Christian inhabitants.
CHAPTER XIX
AUSTRALIA
Sydney--Excursion to Bathurst--Aspect of the Woods--Party of
Natives--Gradual Extinction of the Aborigines--Infection generated by
associated Men in health--Blue Mountains--View of the grand gulf-like
Valleys--Their origin and formation--Bathurst, general civility of the
Lower Orders--State of Society--Van Diemen's Land--Hobart
Town--Aborigines all banished--Mount Wellington--King George's
Sound--Cheerless Aspect of the Country--Bald Head, calcareous casts of
branches of Trees--Party of Natives--Leave Australia.
JANUARY 12th, 1836.--Early in the morning a light air carried us
towards the entrance of Port Jackson. Instead of beholding a verdant
country, interspersed with fine houses, a straight line of yellowish
cliff brought to our minds the coast of Patagonia. A solitary
lighthouse, built of white stone, alone told us that we were near a
great and populous city. Having entered the harbour, it appears fine
and spacious, with cliff-formed shores of horizontally stratified
sandstone. The nearly level country is covered with thin scrubby
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