to the colonists, having been fired upon by them soon after their first settlement, by which numbers were killed. Fortunately, however, the natives seldom act on the offensive, and two persons with muskets may traverse the island from one end to the other in perfect safety.

1048. The agricultural facilities of Van Diemen's Land are still greater than those of New South Wales. Large tracts of land, perfectly free from timber or underwood, and covered with the most luxuriant herbage, are to be found in all directions, but more particularly in the environs of Port Dalrymple. These tracts of land are invariably of the very best description, and millions of acres, which are capable of being instantly converted to all the purposes of husbandry, still remain unappropriated. Here the colonist has no expense to incur in clearing his farm: he is not compelled to a great preliminary outlay of capital, before he can expect a considerable return. He has only to set fire to the grass to prepare his land for the immediate reception of the ploughshare; insomuch that, if he but possesses a good team of horses or oxen, with a set of harness and a couple of substantial ploughs, he has the main requisites for commencing an agricultural establishment, and for insuring a comfortable subsistence for himself and family.

1049. To this great superiority which these southern settlements may claim over the parent colony, may be superadded two advantages, which are perhaps of equal magnitude and importance. In the first place, the rivers here have a sufficient fall to prevent any excessive accumulation of water from violent or continued rains, and are, consequently, free from those awful and destructive inundations to which the rivers of New South Wales are perpetually subject. Here, therefore, the industrious colonist may settle on the bank of a navigable river, and enjoy all the advantages of sending his produce to market by water, without running the constant hazard of having the fruits of his labour, the golden promise of the year, swept away in an hour by a capricious and domineering element. Secondly, the seasons are more regular and defined, and those great droughts, which have been so frequent in Port Jackson, are altogether unknown. In the years 1813, 1814, and 1815, when the whole face of the country was there literally burnt up, and vegetation completely at a stand still from the want of rain, an abundant supply of it fell here, and the harvests, in consequence, were never more productive. Indeed, since these settlements were first established, the crops have never sustained any serious detriment from an insufficiency of rain; whereas, in the parent colony, there have been, since its foundation, I may venture to say, half a dozen dearths occasioned by droughts. and at least as many arising from floods.

1050. The system of farming in Van Diemen's Land consists principally of growing one crop year after year. There are a few enterprising individuals who grow the various descriptions of grain; but wheat is what the old settler grew first, and from that he cannot depart. It is not many years since, when the plough might be said to be unknown in the island, the ground was then broken up with a hoe, similar to those used in the West Indies, and the corn brushed in with thorns. This rude system is now abolished, a pair of bullocks and a plough being within the reach of the smallest landholder. New and old land are generally broken up at the same season of the year. Once ploughed, it is sown and harrowed, and never again interfered with until the crop is cut down. Wheat, barley, and oats may be sown at the same season, namely, about the beginning of August, although wheat is sometimes sown late in November, and a good crop reaped in the early part of March. There is no fear of injuring the grain by sowing early; I have seen seed sown in the beginning of winter, and flourish surprisingly. From ten to fifteen crops of wheat have been taken in succession, until the land has been completely exhausted. It is then abandoned, and a new piece broken up. The exhausted land generally becomes covered with young mimosas (acacias). (Widowson.)

1051. As a country to emigrate to, the circumstance of Van Diemen's Land being exempt from those calamitous consequences which are so frequent in New Holland, from a superabundance of rain on the one hand, and a deficiency of it on the other, is a most important point of consideration for all such as hesitate in their choice between the two countries. In the system of agriculture pursued in the two colonies there is not any difference, save that the Indian corn, or maize, is not cultivated here, because the climate is too cold to bring that grain to maturity. Barley and oats, however, arrive at much greater perfection, and afford the inhabitants a substitute, although by no means an equivalent, for this highly valuable product. The wheat, also, which is raised here is of a much superior description to the wheat grown in any of the districts of Port Jackson, and will always command, in the Sydney market, a difference of price sufficiently great to pay for the additional cost of transport. The average produce, also, of the land is greater, although it does not exceed, nor perhaps equal, that of the rich flooded lands on the banks of the Hawkesbury and Nepean. The produce of both colonies, it is stated, would be double what it is, if the operations of agriculture were as well performed as in Britain. At present, however, this can only be the case when a settler is so fortunate as to get what are called country convicts, that is, Irishmen who have been employed as

agricultural labourers at home. The system of rearing and fattening cattle is perfectly analogous to that which is pursued at Port Jackson. The natural grasses afford an abundance of pasturage at all seasons of the year, and no provision of winter provender, in the shape either of hay or artificial food, is made by the settler for his cattle; yet, notwithstanding this palpable omission, and the greater length and severity of the winters, all descriptions of stock attain here a much larger size than at Port Jackson. Wool has every promise of becoming a staple commodity of Van Diemen's Land. It was at first thought that the climate was more favourable for the production of carcass than of fleece; but it has been found since the introduction of merinos, that wool can be produced in every respect as good as that of New South Wales. In 1822, upwards of 300,000 lbs. of wool were consigned to London, which sold there at prices equal to those given for the wool of New South Wales and Saxony. Those who are desirous of more ample information respecting this colony, which certainly ranks as the first in the world for a British emigrant, may consult Kingdom's British Colonies, 1820; Evans's Van Diemen's Land, 1824; Godwin's Emigrant's Guide to Van Diemen's Land, 1823; Widowson's Van Diemen's Land, 1829.

1052. New Britain, New Ireland, the Solomon Isles, New Caledonia, and the New Hebrides, are little known. They are mountainous and woody, with fertile vales and beautiful streams. The nutmeg, cocoa, yam, ginger, pepper, plantains (g. 136.), sugar canes, and other fruit and spice trees, abound.

or nooses. The?

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1053. Papua, or New Guinea, partakes of the opulence of the Moluccas (1033.), and their singular varieties of plants and animals. The coasts are lofty, and abound with cocoa trees. In the interior, mountain rises above mountain, richly clothed, with woods of great variety of species, and abounding in wild swine. Birds of paradise and elegant parrots abound: they are shot with blunt arrows, or caught with birdlime or nooses. The bowels and breast being extracted, they are dried with smoke and sulphur, and sold for nails or bits of iron to such navigators as touch at the island. 1054. New Zealand has scarcely any agriculture, except plantations of yam, cocoa, and sweet potato. There is only one shrub or tree in this country which produces fruit, and that is a kind of a berry almost tasteless; but they have a plant (Phormium tènax) which answers all the uses of hemp and flax. There are two kinds of this plant, the kaves of one of which are yellow, those of the other deep red, and both resembling the leaves of flags. Of these leaves they make lines and cordage much stronger than any thing of the kind in Europe; they likewise split them into breadths, and tying the slips together form their fishing-nets. Their common apparel, by a simple process, is made from these leaves; and their finer, by another preparation, is made from the fibres. This plant is found both on high and low ground, in dry mould and deep bogs; but as it grows largest in the latter, that seems to be its proper soil. It has lately been found to prosper in the south of Ireland, but not to such an extent as to determine its value.

SECT. III. Of the present State of Agriculture in Polynesia.

1055. This sixth great division of the earth's surface consists of a number of islands in the northern and southern hemispheres, which, though at present chiefly inhabited by savages, are yet, from their climate and other circumstances, singularly adapted for culture and civilisation. The principal are the Pellew Isles, the Ladrone Isles, the Sandwich Isles, in the northern hemisphere; and the Friendly Isles, the Navigator's Isles, the Society Isles, the Georgian Isles, and the Marquesas, in the southern hemisphere.

1056. The Pellew Isles are covered with wood, and encircled by a coral reef. None of these islands has any sort of grain or quadruped; but they are rich in the most valuable fruit and spice trees, including the cabbage tree (Arèca oleracea) (fig. 137.), cocoa, plantain, and orange; and abound with wild cocks and hens, and many other birds. The culture of the natives only extends to yams and cocoa-nuts.

1057. The Ladrones are a numerous collection of rocky fragments, little adapted to agriculture. The isles of Guam and Tinian are exceptions. The latter abounds in cattle and fruits, the bread-fruit, and orange, but is without agriculture.

1058. The Marquesas are in general rocky and mountainous, and include very few spots fit for cultivation. The inhabitants are savages, but rudely cultivate the yam in some places. They have, however, the ava, or intoxicating pepper (1029.); and procure also a strong liquor from the root of ginger, for the same general purpose of accumulating enjoyment, forgetting care, and sinking into profound sleep.

1059. The Sandwich Isles resemble those of the West Indies in climate, and the rest

great perfection. Sugar canes grow to an unusual size, one being brought to Captain Cook eleven inches and a quarter in circumference, and having fourteen feet eatable. Dogs, hogs, and rats are the only native quadrupeds of these islands, in common with all others that have been discovered in the South Sea. The king of these islands visited England in the time of Geo. II., and again in 1824.

1060. The Friendly Islands are in most respects similar to Otaheite (1061.). Tongataboo appears to be a flat country, with a fine climate, and universally cultivated. The whole of this island is said to consist of enclosures, with reed fences about six feet high, intersected with innumerable roads. The articles cultivated are breadfruit, plantains, cocoa-nuts, and yams. In the other islands, plantains and yams engage most of their attention; the cocoa-nut and breadfruit trees are dispersed about in less order than the former, and seem to give them no trouble. Their implements of culture consist of pointed sticks of different lengths and degrees of strength.

1061. The island of Otaheite is the principal of the Georgian Islands. It is surrounded by a reef of coral rocks. The surface of the country, except that part of it which borders upon the sea, is very uneven; it rises in ridges that run up into the middle of the island, and there form mountains which may be seen at the distance of sixty miles. Between the foot of these ridges and the sea is a border of low land, surrounding the whole island, except in a few places where the ridges rise directly from the sea. This border is of different breadths in different parts, but no where more than a mile and a half.

1062. The soil of Otaheite, except on the very tops of the ridges, is extremely rich and fertile,

watered by a great number of rivulets of excellent water, and covered with fruit trees of various kinds. The low land that lies between the foot of the ridges and the sea, and some of the valleys, are the only parts of the island that are inhabited, and here it is populous: the houses do not form villages or towns, but are ranged along the whole border, at the distance of about fifty yards from each other, with little plantations of plantains, the tree which furnishes them with cloth.

1063. The produce of Otaheite is the bread-fruit (Artocárpus integrifolia), cocoa-nuts, bananas of thirteen sorts, plantains; a fruit not unlike an apple, which, when ripe, is very pleasant; sweet potatoes, yams, cocoas (Arum Colocàsia, and Caladium esculentum, both propagated by the leaves); a fruit known here by the name of jambu, and reckoned most delicious; sugar cane, which the inhabitants eat raw; a root of the saloop kind, which the inhabitants call pea; a plant called ethee, of which the root only is eaten; a fruit that grows in a pod, like that of a large kidneybean, which, when it is roasted, eats very much like a chestnut, by the natives called whee; a tree here called wharra, but in the East Indies pandanus, which produces fruit something like the pine-apple; a shrub called nono; the morinda, which also produces fruit; a species of fern, of which the root is eaten, and sometimes the leaves; and a plant called theve, of which the root also is eaten but the fruits of the nono, the fern, and the theve, are eaten only by the inferior people, and in times of scarcity. All these, which serve the inhabitants for food, the earth produces spontaneously, or with little culture. They had no European fruit, garden stuff, pulse, or legumes, nor grain of any kind, till some seeds of melons and other vegetables were given them by Captain Cook.

1064. Of tame animals, the Otaheitans have only hogs, dogs, and poultry; neither is there a wild animal on the island, except ducks, pigeons, parroquets, with a few other birds, and rats, there being no other quadruped, nor any serpent. But the sea supplies them with great variety of most excellent fish, to eat which is their chief luxury, and to catch it their principal labour.

1065. The remaining Polynesian Islands of the southern hemisphere are, for the most part, inhabited by savages, and are without agriculture.

SECT. IV. Of the present State of Agriculture in Africa.

1066. The continent of Africa, in point of agricultural as of political and ethical estimation, is the meanest of the great divisions of the earth; though in one corner of it (Egypt) agriculture is supposed to have originated. The climate is every where hot, and intensely so in the northern parts. The central parts, as far as known, consist of ridges of mountains and immense deserts of red sand. There are very few rivers, inland lakes, or seas, and indeed fully one half of this continent may be considered as either desert or unknown. Some of the African islands are fertile and important, especially Madagascar, Bourbon, Mauritius, &c. We shall take the countries of Africa in the order of Abyssinia, Egypt, Mohammedan states of the north, western coast, Cape of Good Hope, eastern coast, Madagascar and other isles.

SUBSECT. 1. Of the present State of Agriculture in Abyssinia.

1067. The climate of Abyssinia, though exceedingly various in different parts, is in general temperate and healthy. The surface of the country is generally rugged and mountainous; it abounds with forests and morasses; and it is also interspersed with many fertile valleys and plains adapted both to pasture and tillage. The rivers are numerous and large, and contribute much to general fertility. The soil is not naturally good, being in general thin and sandy; but it is rendered fertile and productive by irrigation and the periodical rains.

1068. The agricultural products are wheat, barley, millet, and other grains. They cultivate the vine, peach, pomegranate, sugar cane, almonds, lemons, citrons, and oranges; and they have many roots and herbs which grow spontaneously, and their soil, if properly managed, would produce many more. However, they make little wine, but content themselves with the liquor which they draw from the sugar cane, and their honey, which is excellent and abundant. They have the coffee tree, and a plant called ensete, which produces an eatable nourishing fruit. The country also produces many other plants and fruits adapted both for domestic and medicinal uses. Here is plenty of cotton, which grows on shrubs like that of India. The forests abound with trees of various descriptions, particularly the rock, baobob, cedar, sycamore, &c.

1069. The live stock of Abyssinia includes horses, some of which are of a very fine breed, mules, asses, camels, dromedaries, oxen of different kinds (fig. 138.), cows, sheep, and goats; and these constitute the

principal wealth of the inhabitants. Amongst the wild animals, we may reckon the antelope, the buffalo, the wild boar, the jackal, the elephant, the rhinoceros, the lion, the leopard, the hyæna, the lynx; the ape and baboon which, as well as the common rat, are very destructive to the fields of millet; the zecora, or wild mule, and the wild ass; the jerboa, the fennic, ashkoko, hare, &c. The hare, as well as the wild boar, is deemed unclean, and not used as food. Bruce saw no sparrows, magpies, nor bats; nor many water-fowl, nor any geese, except the golden goose, or goose of the Nile, which is com

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mon in every part of Africa; but there are snipes in the marshes. The locusts of this country are very destructive; they have also species of ants that are injurious; but from their bees they derive a rich supply.

1070. The agriculture of Abyssinia is of far less use to the inhabitants than it might be, for want of application and exertion. There are two, and often three, harvests in the year; and where they have a supply of water, they may sow in all seasons; many of their trees and plants retain their verdure, and yield fruit or flowers throughout the year; the west side of the tree blossoms first and bears fruit, then the south side, next the north side, and last of all the east side goes through the same process towards the beginning of the rainy seasons. Their pastures are covered with flocks and herds. They have grass in abundance, but they neglect to make hay of it; and therefore they are obliged to supply this defect by feeding their cattle with barley, or some other grain. Notwithstanding the plenty and frequent return of their crops, they are sometimes reduced almost to famine, either by the devastations of the locusts or grasshoppers which infest the country,

SUBSECT. 2. Of the present State of Agriculture in Egypt.

1071. The climate of Egypt has a peculiar character from the circumstance of rain being very uncommon. The heat is also extreme, particularly from March to November; while the cool season, or a kind of spring, extends through the other months.

1072. The surface of the country is varied in some regions, but is otherwise flat and uniform. Far the greater part presents a narrow fertile vale, pervaded by the Nile, and bounded on either side by barren rocks and mountains. The soil of Egypt has been variously described by different travellers, some representing it as barren sand, only rendered fertile by watering, and others as "a pure black mould, free from stones, of a very tenacious and unctuous nature, and so rich as to require no manure.' The latter appears to prevail only in the Delta.

1073. The fertility of Egypt has been generally ascribed to the inundations of the Nile, but this is applicable in a strict sense only to parts of the Delta; whereas, in other districts there are canals, and the adjacent lands are generally watered by machines. Gray's description of Egypt, as immersed under the influx of the Nile, though exquisitely poetical, is far from being just. In Upper Egypt the river is confined by high banks, which prevent any inundation into the adjacent country. This is also the case in Lower Egypt, except at the extremities of the Delta, where the Nile is never more than a few feet below the surface of the ground, and where of course inundation takes place. But the country, as we may imagine, is without habitations. The fertility of Egypt, according to Browne, an intelligent traveller, arises from human art. The lands near the river are watered by machines; and if they extend to any width, canals have been cut. The soil in general is so rich as to require no manure; it is a pure black mould, free from stones, and of a very tenacious unctuous nature. When left uncultivated, fissures have been observed, arising from extreme heat, of such depth that a spear of six feet could not reach the bottom.

1074. The limits of cultivated Egypt are encroached upon annually, and barren sand is accumulating from all parts. In 1517, the era of the Turkish conquest, Lake Mareotis was at no distance from the walls of Alexandria, and the canal which conveyed the waters into the city was still navigable. At this day, the lake has disappeared, and the lands watered by it, which, according to historians, produced abundance of corn, wine, and various fruits, are changed into deserts, in which are found neither shrub, nor plant, nor verdure. The canal itself, the work of Alexander, necessary to the subsistence of the inhabitants of the city which he built, is nearly choked up, and preserves the waters only when the inundation is at its greatest height, and for a short time. About half a century ago, part of the mud deposited by the river was cleared out of it, and it retained the water three months longer. Schemes have lately been adopted for opening and perfecting this canal. The Pelusiac branch, which discharges itself into the eastern part of the Lake of Tanais, or Menzalé, is utterly destroyed. With it perished the beautiful province which it fertilised, and the famous canal begun by Necos, and finished by Ptolemy Philadelphus. The famous works, executed by kings who sought their glory and happiness in the prosperity of the people, have not been able to resist the ravages of conquerors, and that despotism which destroys every thing, till it buries itself under the wreck of the kingdoms whose foundations it has sapped. The last of the great works of Egypt, the canal of Amrou, which formed a communication between Fostat and Colzoum, reaches at present no farther than about four leagues beyond Cairo, and loses itself in the Lake of Pilgrims. Upon the whole, it may be confidently affirmed that upwards of one third of the lands formerly in cultivation is metamorphosed into dreary deserts.

1075. Landed property in Egypt is for the most part to be considered as divided between the government and the religious bodies who perform the service of the mosques, and have obtained possession of what they hold by the munificence of princes and rich men, or by the measures taken by individuals for the benefit of their posterity. Hence, a large proportion of the tenants and cultivators hold either of the government or the procurators of the mosques. But there is one circumstance common to both, viz. that their lands, when they become unoccupied, are never let but upon terms ruinous to the tenants. Besides the property and influence of the beys, of the Mamelukes, and of the professors of the law, are so extensive, and so absolute, as to enable them to engross into their own hands a very considerable part: the number of the other proprietors is extremely small, and their property liable to a thousand impositions. Every moment some contribution is to be paid, or some damage repaired; there is no right of succession or inheritance for real property, except for that called "wakf," which is the property of the mosques; every thing returns to government, from which every thing must be repurchased. According to Volney, the peasants are hired labourers, to whom no more is left than what is barely sufficient to