

Thus the British Government is multiplying its colonies round the shores of New Holland. Exclusive of Van Diemen's Land, which forms a separate island, we have first on the eastern shore the old settlement of Port Jackson ; a second recently formed at Port Philip, 500 miles south from Sidney ; a third just described, at St. Vincent's Gulf, 500 miles west from Port Philip ; a fourth at King George's Sound, 1100 miles west from St Vincent's Gulf ; a fifth at Swan River, 250 miles north from King George's South. All these colonies are in the temperate zone, between the latitudes of 30 and 38, and will have nearly the same climate. We had one at Melville Island, on the north coast, within the torried zone, in latitude 12 ; but it was found to be very unhealthy, and was abandoned, after a short trial, ten years ago.

Though the interior of New Holland, so far as hitherto explored, is one of the most barren and unpromising lands in the world, there is a margin of good soil round the greater part of its coasts, capabale [?] of supporting twenty or thirty or fifty millions of inhabitants; and there is little doubt that, in the course of three centuries, it will be the seat of a great and powerful nation, cultivating the arts, and speaking the language of Britain, and contributing powerfully to spread civilisation over the Southern Hemisphere.

