for a moment. The very
floods which swell the rivers to overflowing, are followed by the most
beneficent effects; and, rude and violent as the means are by which she
accomplishes her purpose, they form, no doubt, a part of that process by
which she preserves the balance of good and evil. Vast quantities of the
best soil have been thus washed down from the mountains to accumulate in
more accessible places. From frequent depositions, a great extent of
country along the banks of every river and creek has risen high above the
influence of the floods, and constitutes the richest tracts in the colony.
The alluvial flats of the Nepean, the Hawkesbury, and the Hunter, are
striking instances of the truth of these observations; to which the plains
of O'Connell and Bathurst must be added. The only good soil upon the two
latter, is in the immediate neighbourhood of the Macquarie River: but,
even close to its banks, the depositions are of little depth, lying on a
coarse gravelly soil, the decomposition of the nearer ranges. The former
is found to diminish in thickness, according to the concavity of the
valley through which the Macquarie flows, and at length becomes mixed with
the coarser soil. This deposit is alone fit for agricultural purposes;
but it does not necessarily follow that the distant country is unavailable
since it is admitted, that the best grazing tracts are upon the secondary
ranges of granite and porphyry. These ranges generally have the appearance
of open forest, and are covered with several kinds of grasses, among which
the long oat-grass is the most abundant.

COUNTY OF CUMBERLAND.

If we except the valley of the Nepean, the banks of the South Creek, the
Pennant Hills near Parramatta, and a few other places, the general soil of
the county of Cumberland, is of the poorest description. It is superficial
in most places, resting either upon a cold clay, or upon sandstone; and
is, as I have already remarked, a ferruginous compound of the finest dust.
Yet there are many places upon its surface, (hollows for instance,) in
which vegetable decay has accumulated, or valleys, into which it has been
washed, that are well adapted for the usual purposes of agriculture, 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