A BLUE MOUNTAIN ENCLOSED VALLEY 3 



valley is quite seven miles long by four or five broad, 

 forming a large bay, there is no descent into it. In one 

 place we found a ledge of rock about eighty feet below the 

 top of the cliff, sloping downwards, which seemed to promise 

 a pathway into the valley below, and one of our party 

 insisted on being lowered by a rope. At great risk to his 

 life, he succeeded in working his way down three or four 

 hundred feet, but could get no further, and had to return 

 without effecting his purpose. The height of the cliffs was 

 variously estimated at from a thousand to sixteen hundred 

 feet. The lowest estimate is possibly nearest the truth. 

 About the precipitous nature of the rocky wall there could 

 not be two opinions : for stones thrown down could be 

 seen to drop sheer into the valley below. 



We had provisions and water with us, the latter being 

 carried in collapsible skin bags with bone nozzles. By the 

 end of the fifth day, both food and water were exhausted : 

 and I had my first experiences of the suffering and hard- 

 ship of Australian travel. For three days we were almost 

 entirely without food. Water we found ; and our hunger 

 we attempted to satisfy with berries and leaves, the reason, 

 probably, that we all became very unwell, and reached 

 Penrith in a state of great exhaustion. 



On subsequent occasions I examined many others of 

 these cliff-enclosed valleys ; some larger and many smaller 

 than the one just described. The character of all is 

 similar. The cliffs are composed of sandstone of a light 

 grey colour in the lower strata, and of a dingy light 

 crimson in the upper. This band of reddish colour has a 

 very remarkable appearance ; and I could never discover 

 the cause of it. It does not seem to be owing to the 

 presence of iron in the strata ; and it is characteristic of 

 the rocks throughout the Blue Mountains. 



In most countries the valleys have been formed by the 

 erosion of water, and generally have a stream, large or 

 small, flowing through them. That is not the case here. 

 Some of the valleys have a small river or brook in them, 

 but not of sufficient size or force of current to affect the 

 form of the valley, and it is clear that there never has been 



