o writer, or reader
either, possesses. But thus much may be stated, that all his
prejudices are in favour of those institutions with which it has
pleased God to bless his native land. In a volume that is intended to
form part of a series called "The Englishman's Library," it may be
permitted, surely, to acknowledge a strong and influencing attachment
to the Sovereign, the Church, and the Constitution of England.

The object and principles of the present volume being thus plainly
set forth, it remains only to mention some of the sources whence the
information contained in it is derived. To the Travels of Captain Grey
on the western coast of New Holland, and to those of Major Mitchell in
the interior, the first portion of this Work is deeply indebted, and
every person interested in the state of the natives, or fond of
perusing travels in a wild and unknown region, may be referred to
these four volumes,[1] where they will find that the extracts here
given are but a specimen of the stores of amusement and information
which they contain. Captain Sturt's "Expeditions" and Mr. Oxley's
"Journal" are both interesting works, but they point rather to the
progress of discovery in New Holland than to the actual state of our
local knowledge of it. Dr. Lang's two volumes upon New South Wales are
full of information from one who has lived there many years, and his
faults are sufficiently obvious for any intelligent reader to guard
against. Mr. Montgomery Martin's little book is a very useful
compendium, and those that desire to know more particulars concerning
the origin of the first English colony in New Holland may be referred
to Collins's account of it. Various interesting particulars respecting
the religious state of the colonies in Australia have been derived
from the correspondence in the possession of the Society for the
Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts, free access to which was
allowed through the kind introduction of the Rev. C. B. Dalton. Many
other sources of information have been consulted, among which the
Reports of the Parliamentary Committee upon Transportation, in 1837
and 1838; and that of the Committee upon South Australia, in 1841,
must not be left unnoticed. Neither may the work of Judge Burton upon
Religion and Education in New South Wales be passed over in silence;
for, whatever imperfections may be found in his book,[2] the
facts there set forth are valuable, and, for the most part,
incontrovertible, a