JOURNEY RESUMED. 



105 



evening', and the sun shone brilliantly. The 

 road we had passed, and the one we were still 

 upon, are excellent ; the new road is a great 

 improvement. From what I had an opportunity 

 of occasionally seeing of the old one it must 

 have been wretched, and the great surprise was 

 how vehicles could have passed it in safety ; 

 some parts, however, of a better character, were 

 incorporated with the new road. 



As we proceeded flowers again began to deck 

 the road-sides, and the " Warratah or Tulip- 

 tree'' (Telopea speciocissima) now made its ap- 

 pearance in great abundance : the buds with 

 which it was covered were not yet, however, suf- 

 ficiently expanded to display the splendid crim- 

 son hue of the blossoms, which make it, perhaps, 

 one of the most elegant and splendid flowering 

 shrubs indigenous to the colony. The Acacia 

 taxifolia was abundantly in flower, and diffused 

 a delightful fragrance. The scenery, as we 

 proceeded, increased rather than diminished 

 in its grand and romantic character. At one 

 place we passed a large quantity of a species of 

 Eucalyptus, called the " mountain ash" by the 

 colonists, and saw-pits had been erected near 

 the spot for the purpose of cutting it into 

 planks, it being much valued for shafts of gigs, 

 as well as for other purposes, in which the wood 



