1836.] ON THE WAY TO BATHURST. 425 



scene. It is a most magnificent testimony to the power of 

 the British nation. Here, in a less promising country, 

 scores of years have done many times more tlian an equal 

 number of centuries have effected in South America. My 

 first feeling was to congratulate myself tliat I was born art 

 Englishman. Upon seeing more of the town afterwards, 

 perhaps my admiration fell a little ; but yet it is a fine 

 town. The streets are regular, broad, clean, and kept in 

 excellent order ; the houses are of a good size, and the 

 shops well furnished. It may be faithfully compared to 

 the large suburbs which stretch out from London and a 

 few other great towns in England ; but not even near 

 London or Birmingham is there an appearance of such 

 rapid growth. The number of large houses and other 

 buildings just finished was truly surprising ; nevertheless, 

 every one complained of the high rents and difficulty in 

 procuring a house. Coming from South America, where 

 in the towns every man of property is known, no one thing 

 surprised 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 Bathurst, 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 i6th (January) I set out 

 on my excursion. The first stage took us to Paramatta, a 

 small country town next to Sydney in importance. The 



. roads were excellent, and made upon the MacAdam 

 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 ale- 

 houses 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 possesses, by means of 

 forced labour, of at once opening good roads throuj;hout 



, the country, has been, I believe, one main cause of the 



early prosperity of this colony. I slept at night at a very 



'oni.^ortable inn at Emu ferry, thirty-five miles from Sydney, 



1 near the ascent of the Blue Mountains. This line of 



1 ;id 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 



