216 NEW SOUTH WALES. 



Coming from South America, where in the towns 

 every man of property is known, no one thing sur- 

 prised me more than not being able to ascertain at 

 once to whom this or that carriage belonged. , 



I hired a man and two horses to take me to Bath- 

 urst, a village about one hundred and twenty miles 

 in the interior, and the centre of a great pastoral 

 district. By this means I hoped to gain a general 

 idea of the appearance of the country. On the 

 morning of the 16th (.January) I set out on my ex- 

 cursion. The first stage took us to Paramatta, a 

 small country town, next to Sydney in importance. 

 The roads were excellent, and made upon the Mac- 

 Adam principle, whinstone having been brought 

 for the purpose from the distance of several miles. 

 In all respects there was a close resemblance to 

 England : perhaps the alehouses here were more 

 numerous. The iron gangs, or parties of convicts 

 who have committed here some offence, appeared 

 the least like England : they were working in 

 chains, under the charge of sentries with loaded 

 arms. The power which the government possess- 

 es, by means of forced laliour, of at once opening 

 good roads throughout the countiy, has been, I 

 believe, one main cause of the early prosperity of 

 this colony. I slept at night at a very comfortable 

 inn at Emu ferry, thirty-five miles from Sydney, and 

 near the ascent of the Blue Mountains. This line 

 of I'oad is the most frequented, and has been the 

 longest inhabited of any in the colony. The whole 

 land is enclosed with high railings, for the farmers 

 have not succeeded in rearing hedges. There are 

 many substantial houses and good cottages scatter- 

 ed about; but, although considerable pieces of land 

 are under cultivation, the greater part yet remains 

 as when first discovered. 



The extreme uniformity of the vegetation is the 



