BY THE HON. A. NORTON, M.L.C. 73 



alluvial flat almost filling up the intervening space. At all 

 times the view of the hills, but especially at sunset, by moon- 

 light, and in the early morning, is very beautiful from the 

 front veranda. At the period I write of, the population of 

 Gloucester was extremely limited, for it, too, belonged to the 

 A. A. Company, and the directors did not part with their land 

 for a trifle. 



The next day's journey was more interesting in many re- 

 spects. Shortly after starting we crossed the Gloucester River, 

 a small stream except in time of flood. About 12 miles further 

 on we crossed the Barrington, which runs swiftly, and in flood 

 is a source of great danger. After crossing it we followed the 

 road through the paddocks, in which were then pastured the 

 pure-bred Durham cows, for the increase from which the 

 Company obtained very substantial prices. These were in 

 charge of Mr. Clarke, and his house was the only dwelling- 

 place between Gloucester and Giro, our next halting place. 

 Soon after leaving the pure-bred s' paddocks we crossed the 

 Manning River. From this point onwards high ranges closed 

 in upon the road, and these added largely to the beauty of 

 the otherwise picturesque scenery. In the 82 miles traversed 

 that day we had twenty-eight river crossings, and were not 

 sorry when, about sunset, we sighted the Giro accommodation 

 house — a lonely dwelling beside the Barnard River. The road 

 we had travelled was, comparatively speaking, a new one. A 

 few years later I had occasion to travel by the same route 

 from the Tableland to the coast. This was in 1857, the year 

 that was for a long time known as the "big flood" year 

 in the Hunter River ; the year in which the Dunbar was 

 wrecked on the rocks under the Gap, near the South Head 

 of Port Jackson. In the shady spots in the high land of New 

 England, patches of snow were still unmelted a fortnight after 

 the storm, this at an altitude of about 3,500 feet. Branches 

 of trets littered the roads everywhere ; branches broken oft" 

 by the weight of snow which had hung upon them. On that 

 occasion I found two friends at Giro who had been detained 

 by the floods. We waited another day there, and then took 

 the Company's old mule track along the sides and over the 

 spurs of the mountain ranges, thus avoiding the worst of the 

 river crossings. This track was exceedingly rough and stony, 

 but we were assured that it was smooth compared with the 

 track which was first in use. Along the streams there were 



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