engraving, as well as all our illustrations from natural history, are copied by permission from Mr. Gould's splendid work on Australia. In Port Stephens harbour, at certain times of the year, the aborigines may be seen fishing and disporting in their canoes. Their habits are as uncivilised as when their ancestors were seen by Cook and Dampier, but quite harmless.
The park-like scenery, the neatness of the cottages provided by the company for their servants, the richness of the vegetation, and the fertility of gardens full of the choicest fruits and flowers, render this one of the counties which the traveller who can afford the time should visit, as it affords a pleasing contrast to the dry, barren country round Sydney, in the county of Cumberland.
From Booral the Australian Company have an overland communica- tion with their stations on Liverpool Plains, but they ship most of their wool at the Hunter.
In the orchards of the Australian Agricultural Company at Port Stephens, Count Strzelecki mentions that he saw an example of the extensive range which the beautiful climate of New South Wales embraces in its isothermal lines the English oak flourishing by the side of the banana, which again was surrounded by vines, lemons, and orange-trees of luxurious growth. "To the southward of Port Stephens are a series of thriving farms spreading along the Goulburn, Pages, Hunter, Paterson, and Williams Rivers, which comprise an agricultural district of 2,000 square miles in extent. The excellent harbour of Newcastle, good water and tolerable roads, a coal-mine, a soil well adapted for wheat, barley, turnips, the vine, and European fruits, and a situation most favourable to the application of irrigation, render this district one of the richest and most important in the colony."
Captain Stokes, in "The Yoyage of the Beagle," says: "A change took place in the features of this portion of the eastern coast: a number of conical hills, from four to six hundred feet in height, presented themselves. Two very remarkable headlands, Wacaba and Tomare, constitute the entrance points of Port Stephens. The sea face of Tomare is a high line of cliffs.
"On the side of a hill, two miles and a half within the narrowest part of the harbour, is Tahlee, the residence of the superintendent. It stands on the crest of a steep grassy slope, over which are scattered numerous small bushy lemon-trees, the deep verdure of their foliage interspersed with golden fruit, contrasting charmingly with the light green carpet from which they spring. At the foot of this declivity a
