432 NEW SOUTH WALES. [chap. xix. 



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

 lent 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 diffi- 

 culty in procuring a house. 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 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 16th (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 alehouses 

 here were more numerous. The iron gangs, or parties of con- 

 victs 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 throughout the country, 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 road is the most frequented, and has been the longest inhabited 

 of any in the colony. The whole land is enclosed with high 

 i-ailings, for the farmers have not succeeded in rearing hedges. 

 There are many substantial houses and good cottages scattered 

 about ; but although considerable pieces of land are under culti- 

 vation, the greater part yet remains as when first discovered. 



The exti^eme uniformity of the vegetation is the most remark- 

 able feature in the landscape of the greater part of New South 



