Sydney Cove lies on the South side of the harbour, between five and six miles from the entrance.

The necks of land that form the coves are mostly covered with timber, yet so rocky that it is not easy to comprehend how the trees could have found sufficient nourishment to bring them to so considerable a magnitude; but the soil between the rocks is very good, and into those spaces the principal roots have found their way.

The soil in other parts of the coast immediately about Port Jackson is of various qualities.

That neck of land which divides the south end of the harbour from the sea is chiefly sand.

Between Sydney Cove and Botany Bay the first space is occupied by a wood, in some parts a mile and a half, in others three miles across; beyond that, is a kind of heath, poor, sandy, and full of swamps.