THE VOYAGE OF THE BEAGLE 467 



I did not feel myself in the least danger of being preju- 

 diced. The season, it must be owned, had been one of great 

 drought, and the country did not wear a favourable aspect; 

 although I understand it was incomparably worse two or 

 three months before. The secret of the rapidly growing 

 prosperity of Bathurst is, that the brown pasture which 

 appears to the stranger's eye so wretched, is excellent for 

 sheep-grazing. The town stands, at the height of 2200 feet 

 above the sea, on the banks of the Macquarie. This is one of 

 the rivers flowing into the vast and scarcely known interior. 

 The line of watershed, which divides the inland streams from 

 those on the coast, has a height of about 3000 feet, and runs 

 in a north and south direction at the distance of from eighty 

 to a hundred miles from the sea-side. The Macquarie figures 

 in the map as a respectable river, and it is the largest of 

 those draining this part of the water-shed ; yet to my surprise 

 I found it a mere chain of ponds, separated from each other 

 by spaces almost dry. Generally a small stream is running; 

 and sometimes there are high and impetuous floods. Scanty 

 as the supply of the water is throughout this district, it 

 becomes still scantier further inland. 



22nd. I commenced my return, and followed a new road 

 called Lockyer's Line, along which the country is rather more 

 hilly and picturesque. This was a long day's ride; and the 

 house where I wished to sleep was some way off the road, 

 and not easily found. I met on this occasion, and indeed on 

 all others, a very general and ready civility among the lower 

 orders, which, when one considers what they are, and what 

 they have been, would scarcely have been expected. The 

 farm where I passed the night, was owned by two young 

 men who had only lately come out, and were beginning a 

 settler's life. The total want of almost every comfort was 

 not attractive; but future and certain prosperity was before 

 their eyes, and that not far distant. 



The next day we passed through large tracts of country in 

 flames, volumes of smoke sweeping across the road. Before 

 noon we joined our former road, and ascended Mount Vic- 

 toria. I slept at the Weatherboard, and before dark took 

 another walk to the amphitheatre. On the road to Sydney 

 I spent a very pleasant evening with Captain King at Dun- 



