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there. Lots were offered; the by-standers said they bad Lots; I did not imagine they were as bad as they turned out; I requested the Auctioneer to put them down to me at the lowest rent possible; this was the high fifth rate on the Lots after inspection of the ground.
On becoming their purchaser, I was betrayed as to their Rocky Nature, their base being covered by the loose Loam which had fallen from the bank's still. The dimensions of these Lots are one Hundred and seventy-six feet on the Queen's Road and fifty feet deep into Rocky Mountain - such was my infatuation that I commenced cutting the Brow of this hill, and not before three hundred Pounds of my own Money had been expended, did I feel my heart daunted; having thrown away this sum, other Losses followed in succession, one after the other, to redeem the other. It is impossible for me to describe the amount of Labour, Money, Time, and brief these Lots cost me; scarcely had fifteen feet of the Hill's summit been cut away, when
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Rocks of the worst possible description protuded themselves the whole length of the Lots and such was their condensed nature, positively they would not yield to steel. The Contractor fled, and one Hundred and fifty Pounds was expended for Firewood to burn the Rocks, and night and day this well-accomplished Public Nuisance continued; at length, the plans of the Buildings were altered, two wings, about thirty feet each, having been burnt to the level of the Queen's Road, the Centre remaining elevated ten feet above the Road; the back wall of the Buildings is very much in such a state that it is formed of the Rock itself; plans were of necessity discarded, and a new structure built according to circumstances; after getting as high as the first floor, another slice was cut out of the mountain, and a stone retaining wall, and a range of Cook Houses built therein, one hundred and seventy-six feet long.
This undertaking greatly impoverished me, and I now regret buying Lot 9, advancing six Thousand dollars to my Friend, the ...
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