appears to have been about a dozen families of Scotch
Presbyterians, who established themselves under similar conditions with
the first emigrants, and whose place of abode was near Portland Head, on
the banks of the Hawkesbury. These men seem to have been a quiet and
orderly, as well as a prudent, set of people; and their industry was
rewarded by success. The zeal and devotion which were exhibited by
them in religious matters were also very praiseworthy, and not less so
because, according to Captain Bligh, it was the only case of the kind
he had ever heard of, during his government of the colony. A building
for public worship was erected by them,[118] at a cost of upwards of
400_l._, and altogether the conduct of these Scotch emigrants reflected
credit upon the country and religious body to which they belonged. But,
while we award to these persons the praise which is their due, we are by
no means entitled to place to the account of their being Presbyterians
the good order and right feeling which they exhibited. Scotchmen are
proverbially more fond of colonization than Englishmen, and hence it
naturally occurred that almost the first respectable settlers were
Scotch farmers; but there is no reason to question,--nay, experience
has since proved,--that Englishmen of similar character, and placed
in the like circumstances, can conduct themselves not less piously and
properly, and will not yield to the disciples of John Calvin or John
Knox in their reverence and devotion for a more apostolical Church than
that of Scotland. However, it must be owned with sorrow that these
instances of religious feeling and zeal were by no means common among
the first settlers; nor is this a subject of surprise, when we recollect
that, even now, Australia is frequently looked upon as a last refuge for
those who can do well nowhere else; and if it be thought so now, much
more must this impression have prevailed in the days of its earlier
settlers. But, from whatever class, or with whatever failings, they
might come, a few fresh settlers continued from year to year to find
their way to the shores of New Holland; and, in due time, the tide of
emigration was destined to set full into that quarter, carrying with it
a portion of the population and wealth of the mother country, together
with all its luxuries, its arts, its vices, and its virtues.

[118] "The first religious edifice that was ever reared in the
great Terra Australis, by _voluntary_