re
improving in respectability. Formerly, nothing in the shape of either
article was too bad to send out to Australia. Things have changed,
however, and several speculators have been serious losers within the
last three years, by sending goods that would have suited admirably six
years ago. When I first went into the Bush, you might visit a dozen of
the most respectable houses without being able to get any thing better
than the most common hyson-skin tea and very dark moist sugar. A cup or
two of the liquid made from these, would poison an old Indian; and I
never ventured to drink it. A friend of mine, who absolutely dreaded
being compelled to drink this stuff, used always to carry a paper of
good black tea in his pocket, whenever he left his own house. He was in
the right, though often laughed at. Mauritius sugar used to be the
favourite at the time I speak of; but now, Manilla, Singapore, and
Batavia are looked to for the supply of a better and cheaper article.
From Manilla the Colonists import small supplies of coffee, chocolate,
reed hats, and cheroots. Singapore and Batavia send them, in addition to
sugar, quantities of rice, spices, Dutch gin, tea brought thither by
Chinese junks, planks, &c. &c. Singapore sends also a ship or two
annually to South Australia, Port Philip, and Van Diemen's Land.

CHAPTER XIV.

NEW SOUTH WALES.

CLASSES OF SOCIETY IN SYDNEY--DISAPPOINTMENT OF
EMIGRANTS--CHARACTERISTICS OF IRISH AND BRITISH
EMIGRANTS--AVAILABLENESS OF CHINESE
LABOURERS--AUSTRALIAN COAL MONOPOLY--TORRES'
STRAITS THE BEST PASSAGE FOR STEAMERS--BOTANY
BAY--PASSAGE FROM SYDNEY TO BATAVIA.

To obtain admission to good society in Sydney, when my family first
arrived there, was no easy matter. Not that there was any lack of it in
the place, but the residents were, very properly, shy of strangers,
unless provided with testimonials as to their respectability.
Fortunately for us, a kind friend in Singapore, who had been in New
South Wales, and knew the value of the favour he was conferring,
supplied us with a whole packet of introductory letters to the first
families in the place; while we were further aided in the matter by my
old friend, Thos. Macquoid, Esq., then Sheriff of the Colony. In a place
like Sydney, where society is formed of such varied and extraordinary
materials suspicion of strangers, on the part of the really respectable
portion of the community, is natural enough; and those who have