RIDE TO BATHURST. 369 



cable to me how the springs (for there were springs) could 

 endure such a tremendous tax upon their powers. 



In almost every civilized country in the world, and some 

 comparatively uncivilized ones, a traveller meets with some- 

 thing like attention and kindness; here, on the contrary, 

 every one he meets with, drivers, passengers, and servants, 

 seemed to take the greatest delight in rude and wanton in- 

 civility, so that by degrees I really became almost afraid to 

 address a question to any one, lest it should produce an 

 answer that would tempt me to quarrel with him. It was 

 really frightful to listen to the blasphemous and hideous ex- 

 pressions which the drivers addressed to their horses, and one 

 would hardly have supposed the English language capable of 

 furnishing such horrible epithets as issued from their mouths; 

 nor, indeed, could anything exceed the barbarity with which 

 the poor beasts were treated. I have travelled a good deal 

 in my life, but, for everything that can render a public con- 

 veyance disagreeable, insecure, and unpunctual, I never found 

 the mail from Sydney to Bathurst equalled. We did not 

 arrive there until four hours after the regular time. 



The distance from Sydney to Bathurst is about one hundred 

 and twenty miles, and we passed the celebrated Blue Moun- 

 tains, once the boundary of the colony, on our journey. I 

 was rather disappointed with the appearance of these hills, 

 with their eternal gum forests, and have witnessed infinitely 

 more picturesque scenery in the neighbouring colony of 

 Victoria. The little town of Bathurst comprises a population 

 of about three thousand, and has risen in consequence and 

 value owing to its vicinity to the Turon diggings, which are 

 about thirty miles distant from it. I found a tolerably com- 

 fortable inn, and hired a horse for ten shillings a day to take 

 me to Sofala, the principal gold diggings of New South 

 Wales. The road from Bathurst is tolerably good. The 

 country is composed of ranges of low hills, with fertile valleys 



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