similarity, both in respect to
their soil and productions, to the barren wastes on the coast of
Port Jackson. They are very rocky, but they want granite, the
distinguishing characteristic of primitive mountains. Sandstone
thickly studded with quartz and a little freestone, are the only
varieties which they offer; a circumstance the more singular, as
the moment you descend into the low country beyond them, granite
is the only sort of stone that is to be met with for upwards of
two hundred miles.

For the whole of this distance to the westward of these
mountains, the country abounds with the richest herbage, and is
upon the whole tolerably well supplied with running water. In the
immediate vicinity of them there is a profusion of rivulets,
which discharge themselves into the western river; or, as it is
termed by the natives, the Warragambia, the main branch, as I
have before observed, of the Hawkesbury. From the moment,
however, that the streams begin to take a western course, the
want of water becomes more perceptible, and increases as you
proceed into the interior, particularly in a south-west
direction.

This large and fertile tract of country, is in general
perfectly free from underwood; and in many places, is without any
timber at all. Bathurst Plains, for instance, where there is a
commandant, a military depot, and some few settlers established,
have been found by actual admeasurement, to contain upwards of
sixty thousand acres, upon which there is scarcely a tree. The
whole of this western country, indeed, is much more open and free
from timber than the best districts to the eastward of the Blue
Mountains.

The depot at Bathurst Plains, is 180 miles distant from
Sydney; and the road to it presents no impediment to waggons, but
the descent from the mountains into the low country; and even
this does not prevent the inhabitants from maintaining a regular
intercourse with that town, and receiving from it all the
supplies which they require. The difficulty, however, of thus
communicating with the capital, is such as to preclude this vast
tract of country from assuming an agricultural character; except
in as far as the raising of grain for a scanty population of
shepherds and herdsmen, may entitle it to this denomination;
since there are no navigable rivers, at all events for many
hundred miles into the interior, and the difficulty and expence
of a land-carriage across the Blue Mountains, will always prevent
the