THE RAMBLES OF AN AUSTRALIAN 



NATURALIST 



CHAPTER I 



IN THE BLUE MOUNTAINS 



The Blue Mountains are plainly visible from my birth- 

 place near Picton, New South Wales ; and their deep 

 azure outline is one of my earliest recollections. The 

 remarkable intensity of colour, and the equally remarkable 

 contour of these rocks, attracted my boyish curiosity when 

 I must have been very young : and I made several 

 attempts to get to them on foot long before I was old 

 enough and strong enough to perform so long a journey. 



In every country there are natural features which are 

 fondly thought of by the people of the land ; which are, 

 as it were, the sylvan gods of the country ; and the Blue 

 Mountains are precious in the sight of every true 

 Australian. One of his first enquiries of a stranger is 

 almost sure to be if he has seen the Blue Mountains? 

 And these fine rocks are worthy of the high place to which 

 the Australian exalts them. 



The Blue Mountains are now much frequented by 

 seekers after picturesque scenery and holiday makers, and 

 several railways afford facilities for reaching the most 

 accessible portions of them ; but during the days of my 

 youth and early manhood, they were but very imperfectly 

 known, even those parts which lie nearest to Sydney and 

 other great centres of population, being only reached by 

 a laborious journey, were seldom visited by any persons 

 of refined and cultured mind — persons capable of giving 

 an intelligent description of what they had seen. 



Three young men, Blaxland, a squatter, Lawson, an 



A 



