My Dear Sir,

We are progressing here, upon the whole, very
satisfactorily ; the town acres have been deHverea



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now two months, and manj of the settlers are com-
fortahly ensconced upon them ; though perhaps the
majority are yet in the transition state, building, or

Sreparing to build, like myself. Building materials,
owever, are all excessively dear and scarce ; bricks
liare been made from the first — earth, for the pur*
pose, of a capital kind, abounding all over the
place; but as yet there is no mortar to be had,
which, along with the high price of the bricks
(£3 a thousand) and carriage,, very much retards
the erection of houses of that description; wood
ones are, therefore, chiefly seen : a few mud ones
have been put up, and more would be, but for the
season, which has lately been rather unfavourable
for that sort of stuff, heavy rains sometimes Mling
for three or four days together almost incessantly.
