TOPOGRAPHY OF NEW SOUTH WALES. 



MOUNT PIDDINGTON. 



hundred feet over the edge of 

 the cliff ; but perhaps there is 

 more beauty in the lesser cas- 

 cades, of which there are many 

 within a mile of Katoomba, on 

 the northern edge of the Kanim- 

 bula Valley. Ten miles farther 

 on, and southward from Black- 

 heath, is a valley without a 

 waterfall, but with a beauty 

 peculiarly its own. It is called 

 the Mermaid's Cave a channel 

 or cranny in a great gray rock, 

 that almost divides the vale. 

 All above is a rugged, coarse, 

 common-place Australian gully, all below is soft, luxurious beauty. This is the rest and 

 the peace of the mountains. The grandeur, the profundity of gloom, the Titanic force 

 and passion must be sought in another place, and in none better, perhaps, than in the 

 Valley of the Grose, at Govett's Leap. 



A mile to the northward of Blackheath Station this greatest marvel of the moun- 

 tains is hidden, unperceived from the railway-track by reason of the mountainous gum- 



