1827.] Terra Incognita. t 259 



vine is almost treated like an exotic where geraniums run wild, and whore 

 peaches are as plentiful as blackberries are in this country. In our garden 

 at Sydney, there were vines in the open air, under which I have seated 

 myself to devour clusters, which might have ripened in the vallies about 

 Etna so fine and luscious were they! But yet, they import ivinefrom 

 the Cape of Good Hope! Several individuals have, however, lately turned 

 .their attention to the culture of the vine ; and I know of one gentleman 

 who, three years ago, took some people from Madeira to assist him in it. 

 I think, too, that I have heard of some French vine-growers, who have 

 gone there to settle ; so that it may reasonably be expected, that, in a few 

 years more, they will not only have wine for their own consumption, 

 instead of vile Bengal and Mauritius rum but that they may be able to 

 send to England, Austral- Madeira and Burgundy! 



It may easily be imagined, that, with such a community, the road 

 between the two principal towns of the colony could not have been tra- 

 velled, for one-arid-twenty years, without frequent robberies and frequent 

 murders : indeed, there was hardly a turn or winding in the old line, of 

 which an old resident had riot someHale of horror to tell ; here, he him- 

 self had been robbed, and left for dead; and there, such-an-one had 

 been murdered. 



At a short distance beyond Dobryde, the road wound down the steep 

 banks of Iron Cove, or, rather, of the creek at the head of the Cove. Both 

 sides of the creek were covered with a thick scrub, affording an almost 

 impenetrable retreat to bush-rangers who found, too, the best possible 

 scene of depredation in the bottom of the glen, and even in the bed of the 

 creek itself, by the difficulty of escape for the traveller, arid the warning 

 that the thumping of wheels, or the clattering of hoofs on the iron rocks 

 above, would give of the approach of any one, who might be better armed ; 

 for they seldom consorted but in couples, and at that time were not 

 always furnished with fire-arms. 



Long rays were streaming from the east through the dense forests, and 

 the bell-birds were ringing their peals from the branches of the tall sap- 

 lings, which spring above the thick brushwood, when we sallied forth 

 from our hospitable covert, with renewed spirits, and little fearing, by 

 broad daylight, the dangers which darkness had aggravated. We reached 

 Powells (about three miles on our road) to breakfast, having passed Iron 

 Cove in safety ; and, though twitted by the mocking-bird (vulgo, 

 " laughing jackass "), we were cheered by the chirping of a thousand 

 other feathered minstrels, as they hopped from spray to spray ranging 

 from the loftiest gum to the lowliest honeysuckle and soothed by the 

 plaintive cooing of the wild pigeon, from the leafiest branch of the thickly- 

 foliated apple-tree. Now and then, a flight of screeching Rosehil I parrots, 

 coloured like the wings of Cupid, would rise from the road before us, 

 where they had been devouring the scattered grains of Indian corn, 

 which had fallen from the market carts followed by their more daring 

 rivals, a troop of magpies ; while a shrill sound in the upper regions 

 would call our eyes to the solitary flight of a black cockatoo or, per- 

 chance, of three or four in a line rushing swiftly along, at ten times the 

 height of the highest trees. 



About two miles on the other side of Powells (I could find the spot at 

 this moment, if I were there a four-railed fence runs along by it now), 

 there is a small round hole, about the size, of the back of a man's head, 

 under a little scrubby tea-tree : th,e grass grew around it, and hung over 



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