MR. WESTGARTICS AUSTRALIA FELIX.
Exenre exploring adventures beyond the colonial boundaries, such as Mitchell's and Eyre's, the best and freshest books on Australia are Mr. Hood's and Mrs. Meredith's. The reason is, that those writers con- fined themselves to what they saw; and even if people were not at- tracted in observation to that which they can best observe, the circum- stance of drawing direct from nature gives more character and life to the description than can possibly be imparted to arrangements of statistical tables or repetitions of other writers. A colonist, however, cannot be made to comprehend this truth. Instead of an actual account of his own feelings and experience during his colonial struggles and residence, which would contain. individuality and reality, he seems to consider himself an Atlas charged with even more than the state. Nature in the largest sense, science, art, history, government, commerce, polity, and society, are all handled in their turns. The exception is the disappointed adven- turer at odds with Fortune, or the Governor, or the Colonists, or Colonial writers at home, or all together ; and he writes a pamphlet in which him- self and his grievances are rather too predominant.
The author of the book before us seems an able and a sensible man ; but he has fallen into the prevailing error. His volume contains four- and-twenty chapters, embracing some sixteen or eighteen subjects, (ac- cording to the reckoning of subdivisions,) any one of which is sufficient for a man engaged in affairs to master, and not one of which has any generic novelty. The history of New South Wales and of Australia Fe- lix may be found in all shapes and sizes, from the mere sketch to the elaborated narrative. The geography, the topography, the climate, with the zoology, botany, and statistics, are perhaps still more common. We have had a good deal lately about the Squatting system, as well as the Trans- portation, the Colonial, and other kindred systems. Everybody who has written upon these colonies (except, perhaps, Mrs. Meredith) has had a say upon Australia as a field of emigration. In like manner, all the travel- lers, and from their materials every speculator upon the nature and his- tory of man, have treated of the Australian aborigines. It follows that Mr. Westgarth's Australia Felix is a compilation, and to some extent from previous compilations. The author, however, being a man of ability and sense, has executed his job in a workmanlike manner. He also animates many of his subjects by new facts, or more vivid delineations derived from his own experience; and he brings down his public information to the latest period. For those who wish a general account of Australia Felix, Mr. Westgarth's may be recommended as about the best that has appeared.
A few extracts will convey an idea of the variety and the style.
NATIVE GAME-TAKING.
The opossum, which usually selects for its domicile the hollow stem of a tree, is driven out and caught by a simple process. Having ascertained, by tapping on the trunk, where the animal is Placed, or where the hollow part terminates, the Native makes an incision at the proper spot, and smokes him out of his retreat by introducing a burning stick beneath. The wombat, another animal having the dimensions and somewhat of the appearance of a small hog, ensconces himself at the farther extremity of a long burrow underneath the ground, and the site of his dwelling is readily indicated by the pile of earth he has ejected in its formation. A small child is sent into the narrow habitation, who squeezes himself forward until he arrives at the object of his search. He then sagaciously taps on the roof, as a signal to those without, who with their ears to the ground are closely watching above him. When the place of the anirnarhas thus been ascertained, a hole is soon dug into the barrow, which is usually horizontal, and only a short depth from the service; and the little adventurer still occupying his place, and opposing his body to a retreat, the victim is quickly secured.
SITEEP-WASHING.
The fleece is generally washed before being shorn; and greater efforts are made in Australia Felix, and in the colony at large, to produce a snowy fleece, than the colonists have hitherto obtained credit for, or the appearance of the greater part of their wool would indicate. But many have no running water on their stations; with others the water-holes are muddy, or are shortly made so in the washing process; and the high price of wages operates variously against all improvements. The plan of spout-washing is now generally adopted where practicable, and consists in pouring down from the elevation of a few feet a jet of water upon the sheep, as they are successively brought under the stream for that purpose. Where the fleece has been moistened for several hours pre- viously, the spout-washing process is usually very effectual. • • • In the Sydney District, what are denominated the "crack lots' of wool are pro- duced by very careful washing. Some are said to make use of tepid water. In the rage for improvement, the use of soda has been tried to correct the hardness of the water; and I have heard of a settler even plunging a cask of that material into the ocean of a water-hole.
WHAT'S IN A NAME.
The wines of the Sydney District have usually been hitherto of a light or Rhenish character. We have still to learn the results of Port Phillip manu- facture. In the mean time, I am anxious to caution my fellow colonists against the common practice of applying to these new descriptions of wine the old and standard names of the produce of the other hemisphere. All the difference in flavour in the case of the former is ever liable to be judged as all inferiority. New South Wales port or Australian sherry will never pass muster at the festive boards of the Mother-country. Under a totally distinct nomenclature, our Australian manufacture will stand upon its own independent merits, instead of vainly struggling for a position under the adopted title of European wines.
AGRICULTURAL APPEARANCES IN AUSTRALIA FELIX.
The newly-arrived colonist must not expect to find in Australia Felix the same air of finish and neatness that characterizes a British farm. The well-trimmed hedge and the substantial wall are rarely met with, and are usually represented by Net-and-rail fences, and by walls of loose stones; both descriptions of enclosure being occasionally in bad repair. Instead of a well-tilled and well-drained field, the eye often rests upon a negligently-scratched surface, a self-sown harvest, and an alternation of stumps and stones scattered in dismal variety over the surface of the property.
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