L

1815 1,770 -- 885
1816 13,135 10,000 6,817
1817 15,240 8,000 7,820
1818 7,990 64,640 5,611
1819 24,768 346,800 21,054
1820 47,131 386,000 33,225

_Wentworth_, vol. ii. p. 32.

Lands granted from 1818 to 1821, from 25,000 to 273,000 acres;
population from 3,557 to 7,360; in cultivation, from 5,080 to 15,005
acres.]

SECTION VI.

The Australian colonies owe their pastoral wealth originally to Captain
John Macarthur, of the 102nd regiment: he was assisted by the enterprise
of Captain Waterhouse, of the royal navy, who, though a sailor and
confessedly ignorant of pastoral affairs, conveyed to the colony the
stock which laid the foundation of its fortunes. The sheep brought by
the first fleet to New South Wales, were sacrificed to the necessities
of the time: the cattle strayed, and were discovered long after grazing
on the Nepean, increased to many hundreds. Several efforts were made by
the New South Wales Corps to introduce a stock, chiefly for the knife;
but the transmission was attended with considerable difficulty, and the
greater portion died.

The basis of the New South Wales flocks was the Bengal: these, bearing
hair, were mixed with sheep originally from Holland, and imported from
the Cape. Mr. Macarthur having obtained some sheep from Ireland,[111]
remarked the great, though accidental improvement in the fleece, which
exhibited a mixture of wool, and gave the first hint of a great possible
improvement. He then requested Captain Kent to procure sheep from the
merino flocks of Colonel Gordon, at the Cape. These were forwarded by
Captain Waterhouse (1797), who delivered to Macarthur three rams and
five ewes, and retained a proportion himself.

The results surpassed expectation. The flocks of Bengal yielded to three
or four crossings, and produced the finest wool. Thus the heaviest
fleece, in 1801, was 3-1/2 lbs.: the next season it improved to 5 lbs.
The ewe produced wool worth 9d., her lamb's wool was valued at 3s.; and
even the merino improved by the exchange of climate: its wool produced
at the Cape being worth 4s. 6d., and at New South Wales 6s. The rate of
increase was not less encouraging: the produce of fifty ewes, in seven
years, was two thousand.

In 1803, Captain Macarthur visited England, and presented a memorial to
the lords