106 



MOUNT VITTORIA. 



can be better applied than any other kinds of 

 the colonial timber. 



We passed an inn, erected on a spot not un- 

 appropriately called " Blackheath," and it was 

 truly a dismal, bleak-looking place. After 

 riding a distance of fourteen or fifteen miles, we 

 turned off to the new road, nearly completed, 

 but not yet thrown open to the public, passing 

 through Mount Vittoria, so as to avoid the steep 

 and stupendous pass of " Mount York."* It 

 would be well worth the trouble of the traveller to 

 view both passes, by which he will be enabled to 

 to judge of the value that must be attached to an • 

 undertaking that ought to confer immortality on 

 its projector and engineer, Major Mitchell, the 

 surveyor-general of the colony. He will then ap- 

 preciate the immense labour that must have at- 

 tended the formation of a road through " Mount 

 Vittoria," which was always considered impracti- 

 cable until the present highly-talented surveyor- 

 general, surmounting all the difficulties, against 

 both public and private opposition, showed what 

 talent and perseverance can attain, and how 

 superior minds can overcome the prejudices 

 of ignorant or self-interested individuals. He 

 has thus given to the colony a road, which, 



* Mount York, according to Oxley, is 3,292 feet above 

 the level of the sea. 



