100 FROM SYDNEY TO BATHURST JN 1822 



no roots as a substitute for bread, no fruit or vegetables on 

 which man could subsist ; but almost anything will grow which 

 is brought to it. We now began our ascent up the first Lapstone 

 Hill (so called from all the stones being like a cobbler's 

 lapstone) ; the horses got on very well, but the bullocks could 

 not. We were obliged to unload, have a cart from Emu Plains, 

 and send back some of our luggage ; even then the horses were 

 obliged when they reached the top to return and assist them. 

 We could proceed no further that night, having performed a 

 distance of only one mile and a-half that day. Our tent was 

 pitched for the first time. The fatigue to my mother and 

 myself was very great every night after the journey in preparing 

 the beds and giving the children their food, and the little ones 

 were generally very tired and cross. It was a lovely moonlight 

 night, and all was novelty and delight to the children ; immense 

 fires were made in all directions ; we gave them their supper, 

 and after putting the younger ones to bed, I came from the tent 

 in front of which was a large fire, our drays and carts close in 

 view. The men, nine in number, were busily employed in cook- 

 ing their supper at one place, our own man roasting a couple of 

 fowls for our next day's journey at another. The men, all 

 convicts, not the most prepossessing in their appearance, with 

 the glare of the fires and the reflection of the moon shining on 

 them in the midst of the trees, formed altogether such a scene as 

 I cannot describe ; it resembled more a horde of banditti such as 

 I have read of than anything else. I hurried from the view, 

 took the arm of my husband, who was seated at the 

 table with the storekeeper, and went to the back of 

 the tent. Here we saw Tom and the three eldest 

 girls trying who could make the largest fire, and as happy 

 as it was possible to be. Here I seemed to pause ; It was a 

 moment I shall never forget ; for the first time for many a long 

 month I seemed capable of enjoying and feeling the present 

 moment without a dread of the future. 'Tis true we had in a 

 manner bade adieu to the world, to our country and to our 

 friends, but in one country we could no longer provide for our 

 family, and the world from that cause had lost all its charms ; 

 you and all my friends and acquaintances I thought of with 

 regret ; but the dawn of independence was opening upon us, 

 my husband was once again an officer under Government, we 

 had a home to receive us, and the certainty, under any 

 circumstances, of never wanting the common necessaries of 

 life. 



