1836.] BLUE MOUNTAINS. 419 



remarkable is, that there might be no appearance of disease among 

 the crew of the ship which conveyed this destructive importation." 

 This statement is not quite so extraordinary as it at first appears ; 

 for several cases are on record of the most malignant fevers having 

 broken out, although the parties themselves, who were the cause, 

 were not affected. In the early part of the reign of George III., a 

 prisoner who had been confined in a dungeon, was taken in a coach 

 with four constables before a magistrate ; and, although the man 

 himself was not ill, the four constables died from a short putrid 

 fever ; but the contagion extended to no others. From these facts 

 it would almost appear as if the effluvium of one set of men shut 

 tip for some time together was poisonous when inhaled by others ; 

 and possibly more so, if the men be of different races. Mysterious 

 as this circumstance appears to be, it is not more surprising than 

 that the body of one's fellow-creature, directly after death, and 

 before putrefaction has commenced, should often be of so deleterious 

 a quality, that the mere puncture from an instrument used in its 

 dissection, should prove fatal. 



17th. Early in the morning we passed the Nepean in a ferry- 

 boat. The river, although at this spot both broad and deep, had a 

 very small body of running water. Having crossed a low piece of 

 land on the opposite side, we reached the slope of the Blue Moun- 

 tains. The ascent is not steep, the road having been cut with much 

 care on the side of a sandstone cliff. On the summit an almost 

 level plain extends, which, rising imperceptibly to the westward, at 

 last attains a height of more than 3000 feet. From so grand a title 

 as Blue Mountains, and from their absolute altitude, I expected to 

 have seen a bold chain of mountains crossing the country; but 

 instead of this, a sloping plain presents merely an inconsiderable 

 front to the low land near the coast. From this first slope, the 

 view of the extensive woodland to the east was striking, and the 

 surrounding trees grew bold and lofty. But when once on the sand- 

 stone platform, the scenery becomes exceedingly monotonous ; each 

 side of the road is bordered by scrubby trees of the never-failing 

 Eucalyptus family ; and with the exception of two or three small 

 inns, there are no hoTises or cultivated land : the road, moreover, is 

 solitary ; the most frequent object being a bullock-waggon, piled 

 np with bales of wool. 



In the middle of the day we baited our horses at a little inn, 

 called the Weatherboard. The country here is elevated 2800 feet 



