BUSH COUNTRY. 133 



colony, as the young grass shooting up soon after 

 affords fine feeding for cattle, &c. 



After riding about seven miles,* we arrived 

 at a stockade, inhabited by a road-gang, employed 

 upon the new Bathurst road, having a very distant 

 view of the descent at Mount Vittoria, from which 

 the road we were upon was a continuation, and 

 a splendid view of mountain ranges and forest 

 scenery was now before us. We only proceeded 

 a few miles upon this excellent road, when we 

 turned off into a dull bush-path through a por- 

 tion of country which, from its want of anima- 

 tion, became tiresome to man and beast ; there 

 was nothing to excite the attention of either, 

 and the horses always appear to participate, with 

 ourselves, in the want of a lively character in 

 the country. 



Emerging from this wild bushy track, we 

 came upon the old Bathurst road, and then the 

 country assumed a better appearance, being 

 thinly timbered, and herds of cattle gave some 

 animation to the scene, increasing the beauty of 



* Distance of miles in travelling in the interior of the 

 colony is nominal, and the time occupied in riding the 

 distance is usually taken into consideration; some stages 

 seem often to be over and others under-calculated. " Shep- 

 herd's miles," it is a saying in the colony, " are short, those of 

 stockmen long." 



