1836.] GOVETT'S LEAP. 431 



January i^th. — Very early in the morning, 1 walked about 

 three miles to see Govett's Leap ; a view of a similar character 

 with that near the Weatherboard, but perhaps even more 

 stupendous. So early in the day the gulf was filled with a thin 

 blue haze, which, although destroying the general effect of 

 the view, added to the apparent depth at which the forest 

 was stretched out beneath our feet. These valleys, which so 

 long presented an insuperable barrier to the attempts of the 

 most enterprising of the colonists to reach the interior, 

 are most remarkable. Great arm-like bays, expanding at 

 their upper ends, often branch from the main valleys and 

 penetrate the sandstone platform ; on the other hand, the 

 platform often sends promontories into the valleys, and 

 even leaves in them great, almost insulated, masses. To 

 descend into some of these valleys, it is necessary to go 

 round twenty miles ; and into others, the surveyors have 

 only lately penetrated, and the colonists have not yet been 

 able to drive in their cattle. But the most remarkable 

 feature in their structure is, that although several miles 

 wide at their heads, they generally contract towards their 

 mouths to such a degree as to become impassable. The 

 Surveyor-General, Sir T. Mitchell,* endeavoured in vain, 

 first walking and then by crawling between the great 

 fallen fragments of sandstone, to ascend through the gorge 

 by which the river Grose joins the Nepean ; yet the valley 

 of the Grose in its upper part, as I saw, forms a magnificent 

 level basin some miles in width, and is on all sides 

 surrounded by cliffs, the summits of which are believed to 

 be nowhere less than 3000 feet above the level of the sea. 

 When cattle are driven into the valley of the Wolgan by 

 a path (which I descended), partly natural and partly 

 made by the owner of the land, they cannot escape ; for 

 this valley is in every other part surrounded by perpen- 

 dicular cliffs, and eight miles lower down, it contracts 

 from an average width of half a mile, to a mere chasm, 

 impassable to man or beast. Sir T. Mitchell states that 

 'le great valley of the Cox river with all its branches, 



jutracts, where it unites with the Nepean, into a gorge 

 ;i 200 yards in width, and about 1000 feet in depth. Other 

 similar cases might have been added. 



The first impression, on seeing ihe correspondence of tha 



* "Travel* in Australia," vol i. p. 154. I must express my obligation to 

 Sir T. Mitchell, tor several inli'icstirnf pcisonal conimuniculions, ou the 

 tiubjcct of tlieac great valleys of New South Wales. 



