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 prevail over the whole secondary ranges
of granite, and are generally considered as excellent grazing tracts. Such
is the country in Argyleshire on either side of the Lachlan, where that
river crosses the great southern road near Mr. Hume's station; such also
are many par