IRON GANG. 107 



considering its peculiar situation, is not at pre- 

 sent, nor perhaps ever will be, equalled. 



Although not entirely completed, we were 

 enabled to pass over it on horseback ; (by lead- 

 ing our horses over one small unfinished portion 

 of it;) the descent is gradual, and the solid 

 rock of " Mount Vittoria" had been cut through 

 in the formation of the road, a most laborious 

 undertaking, as a great portion of it consisted 

 of a kind of freestone. A large iron gang was 

 still employed upon it, in order, as soon as pos- 

 sible, to throw it open to the public, as forming 

 a portion of the splendid new line of road over 

 the Blue Mountain range to Bathurst. 



The iron gang employed upon this pass was 

 just leaving for dinner when we passed, so we 

 availed ourselves of the opportunity to visit the 

 barracks, to see them mustered, and the messes 

 served out. The clothes of these men were in 

 bad condition, from the quarry work, in which 

 most of them were employed ; but as far as 

 their personal state was concerned, they ap- 

 peared plump and thriving. The barrack was a 

 temporary stockade, in which the bark huts 

 were situated, and around these a barricade was 

 erected, outside which sentinels were stationed. 

 It was miserable to see these men in so degraded 

 a state, who, banished for crimes from their 



