lar sound.

This creek is the most steep, rapid, and dangerous on the road, having
no bridge and no properly defined crossing-place or ford, except the
natural rocks about. The bottom is of red sand-stone and rocks of the
same description abut from the sides of the creek, and appear to abound
in the neighbourhood; and all along the plains here and there are
large fragments of sand and lime-stone rocks. Two hundred yards from
the creek is a neat inn after the English style, with a large
sitting-room, a tap, a bar, and a coffee-room. The bed-rooms are so
arranged as to separate nobs from snobs--an arrangement rather
inconsistent in a democratic colony. The inn also affords good stabling
and high charges. Up to this distance on our road there is a scarcity
of wood and springs of water.

We now pass two or three huts, and for twenty miles see nothing to
please the eye, for it is a dead, flat sheep-walk. About seven miles on
the Melbourne side of Geelong, the country assumes a more cheering
appearance--homesteads, gardens, and farms spring up--the roads improve,
and the timber is plentiful and large, consisting of shea-oaks, wattle,
stringy bark, and peppermints. Many of the houses are of a good
size, and chiefly built of stone, some are of wood, and very few of
brick.

Geelong, which is divided into north and south, is bounded by the
Barwin, a river navigable from the bay to the town, and might be
extended further; beautiful valleys well wooded lie beyond. Between the
two townships a park has been reserved, though not yet enclosed; the
timber in it, which is large--consisting principally of white gum and
stringy bark--is not allowed to be cut or injured. There are several
good inns, a court-house, police-station, and corporation offices.
There is also a neat church in the early pointed style, with a
parsonage and schools in the Elizabethan; all are of dark lime-stone,
having a very gloomy appearance, the stones being unworked, except near
the windows; the porches alone slightly ornamented. The road and
pavement are good in the chief streets; there is a large square with a
conduit, which is supplied by an engine from the Barwin. The shops are
large and well furnished, a great many houses are three stories high,
most are two, and very few one. The best part of town is about one
hundred feet above the river. A large timber bridge over the
Ballarat road was washed down last winter. The town is governed by a
mayor and corpor