culture, and would, if the country was more
generally cleared, be found to exist to a much greater extent than is
at present imagined. I have frequently observed the isolated patches of
better land, when wandering through the woods, both on the Parramatta
River, and at a greater distance from the coast. And I cannot but
think, that it would be highly advantageous to those who possess large
properties in the County of Cumberland to let Portions of them. The
concentration of people round their capital, promotes more than
anything else the prosperity of a colony, by creating a reciprocal
demand for the produce both of the country and the town, since the one
would necessarily stimulate the energy of the farmer, as the other
would rouse the enterprise of the merchant. The consideration, however,
of such a subject is foreign to my present purpose.

It must not be supposed, that because I have given a somewhat
particular description of the County of Cumberland, I have done so with
a view to bring it forward as a specimen of the other counties, or to
found upon it a general description of the colony. It is, in fact,
poorer in every respect than any tract of land of similar extent in the
interior, and is still covered with dense forests of heavy timber,
excepting when the trees have been felled by dint of manual labour, and
the ground cleared at an expense that nothing but its proximity to the
seat of government could have justified. But experience has proved,
that neither the labour nor the the expense have been thrown away. Many
valuable farms and extensive gardens chequer the face of the country,
from which the proprietors derive a very efficient income.

COUNTRY WEST OF BLUE MOUNTAINS.

To the westward of the Blue Mountains, the country differs in many
respects from that lying between those ranges and the coast; and
although, its aspect varies in different places, three principal
features appear more immediately to characterise it. These are, first,
plains of considerable extent wholly destitute of timber; secondly,
open undulating woodlands; and, thirdly, barren unprofitable tracts.
The first almost invariably occur in the immediate neighbourhood of
some river, as the Plains of Bathurst, which are divided by the
Macquarie; Goulburn Plains, through which the Wallandilly flows; and
Yass Plains, which are watered by a river of the same name. The open
forests, through which the horseman may gallop in perfect safety, seem
to