8 COUNTRY BEYOND [CH. I. 



here soon discovers a practical proof of the advantages of 

 convict labour to the inhabitants of such a country, in the 

 facility with which he descends by a road cut in the rock, to 

 the comfortable inn near the ferry. 



Early next morning my ride was resumed, after crossing 

 the river in the ferry-boat, where the width is 280 yards. 

 The Hawkesbury is here the boundary between the counties 

 of Cumberland and Northumberland. The scenery is fine 

 on those broad and placid waters, sheltered by over-hanging 

 cliffs, 600 feet in height. The river appears smooth as a 

 mirror, and affords access by boats and small vessels, to the 

 little sheltered cots and farms, which now enliven the mar- 

 gin. These patches are of no great extent, and occur alter- 

 nately on each bank of this noble stream, comprising farms 

 of from thirty to a hundred acres. 



The necessity for a permanent land communication, be- 

 tween the seat of government and the northern part of the 

 colony was obvious, and, indeed, a road in that direction had 

 been the subject of petitions from the settlers to Sir Thomas 

 Brisbane, under whose auspices the track across the moun- 

 tain beyond the Hawkesbury, was first discovered and sur- 

 veyed by Mr. Finch. This track, with some slight altera- 

 tions, was found, on a more general survey, to be the most 

 favourable line for a cart-road in that direction, which the 

 country afforded ; and it had been opened but a short time, 

 when I thus proceeded along it, accompanied by Mr. Simp- 

 son, the assistant-surveyor, who, under my direction, had 

 accomplished the work. Just then, however, the first steam 

 vessel arrived in Australia, and afforded a regular coast- 

 communication between Sydney and the northern ])ortion of 

 the colonv. The land communication became, in conse- 

 quence, an object of less importance than before, to the 

 small handful of settlers at least, althougli it was not the less 

 essential to a respectable government, or wliere an armed 

 force had been organized, as in New South Wales, solely for 

 the suppression of bushrangers, a sub-genus iii tlie order 



