A convict, who had formerly been used to work in the Staffordshire lead mines, declared very positively, that the ground which they were now clearing, contains a large quantity of that ore: and copper is supposed to lie under some rocks which were blown up in sinking a cellar for the public stock of spirituous liquors.

It is the opinion of the Governor himself that several metals are actually contained in the earth hereabouts, and that mines may hereafter be worked to great advantage: but at present he strongly discourages any search of this kind, very judiciously discerning, that in the present situation of his people, which requires so many exertions of a very different nature, the discovering of a mine would be the greatest evil that could befal the settlement.

In some places where they dug, in making wells, they found a substance which at first was taken for a metal, but which proving perfectly refractory in a very strong and long continued heat, has since been concluded to be black lead.

The kind of pigment called by painters Spanish brown, is found in great abundance, and the white clay with which the natives paint themselves is still in greater plenty.

The Abbe le Receveur was of opinion, that this clay, if cleared from the sand, which might easily be separated, would make excellent porcelain.
The climate at Sydney Cove is considered, on the whole, as equal to the finest in Europe.