1836.] EXCUKSIOX TO BATHURST. 415 



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 IGth (January) I set out on my excursion. The first stage took 

 us to Paramatta, a small country town, next to Sydney in im- 

 portance. The roads were excellent, and made upon the MacAdam 

 principle, whiustone having been brought for the purpose from the 

 distance of several miles. In all respects there was a close re- 

 semblance 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 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 railings, 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 cultivation, the greater part yet remains as when first 

 discovered. 



The extreme iiniformity of the vegetation is the most remarkable 

 feature in the landscape of the greater part of New South Wales. 



