of Governor Gipps in Council. Australian and New Zealand Magazine,
No. iii. p. 163. See also ROSS'S _Van Diemen's Land Almanac and Annual_,
1836, p. 177.

Another addition to the means, which the country was beginning to
possess of maintaining its inhabitants, was made by the regular,
though far from rapid, increase of live stock, which, in spite of all
obstacles, and notwithstanding great carelessness and ignorance on
the part of many of those that kept it, continued to thrive and
multiply.[109] But, besides the cattle to be seen upon the various farms
and allotments in the settlement, a considerable herd of wild cattle
were found, soon after Governor Hunter's arrival, on the banks of the
Nepean River, about thirty miles from Sydney, in a district still
bearing the name of the Cow Pastures. These animals were clearly
ascertained to have sprung from a few tame cattle which had strayed away
from the colony at its first foundation; and the governor, pleased at
this discovery, himself paid a visit to the Cow Pastures, where he found
a very fine herd, upwards of forty in number, grazing in a pleasant
and rich pasturage. The whole number of them was upwards of sixty,
but the governor's party were attacked by a furious bull, which, in
self-defence, they were obliged to kill. The country where these animals
were seen was remarkably pleasant to the eye; every where was thick and
luxuriant grass growing; the trees were thinly scattered, and free from
underwood, except in particular spots; in several beautiful flats large
ponds were found, covered with ducks and black swans, the margins of
which were fringed with beautiful shrubs, and the ground rose from these
levels into hills of easy ascent. The advantages of having an increasing
number of wild cattle within so short a distance of the settlement were
obvious enough, and the government resolved to protect them to the
utmost of its power. Accordingly, it was ordered that no part of the
fertile tract of which these animals were in possession should be
granted out to settlers; and at length the herds became too numerous
even for the 60,000 acres, which the district was supposed to contain.
But, in 1813 and the two following years, so severe a drought prevailed,
that vast numbers of them died; and afterwards the government consented
to grant away the land, and the remainder of the herds betook themselves
to the mountainous ranges beyond.

[109] About the time of Captain Hunt