154 ROADS AND ROCKS. [CH. I. 



and grey porphyry, and like Warrawolong,* are crowned 

 with lofty trees. 



Some idea may be formed of the intricate character of the 

 mountain ravines in that neighbourhood, from the difficulties 

 experienced by the surveyors, in endeavouring to obtain 

 access to Mount Hay. Mr. Dixon, in an unsuccessful at- 

 tempt, penetrated to the valley of the Grose, until then un- 

 visited by any European ; and when he at length emerged 

 from ravines, in which he had been bewildered four days, 

 without reaching Mount Hay, he thanked God (to use his 

 own words in an official letter), that he had found his way 

 out of them. — (See the accompanying A'^iew of the Grose ; 

 also a general view of the sandstone territory, in Vol. 2. 

 PI. .38.) 



Mr. Govett was afterwards employed by me to make a de- 

 tailed survey of the various ramifications of these ravines, 

 by tracing each in succession, from the general line of road ; 

 and thus by a patient survey of the whole, he ascertained at 

 length, the ridge connected with Mount Hay, and was the 

 first to ascend it. Guided by Mr. Govett, I was thus 

 enabled to place my theodolite on that summit. I found 

 the scenery immediately around it very wikl, consisting of 

 stupendous, perpendicular cliffs, 3000 feet deep, at the 

 foot of which, the silvery line of the Grose, meanders through 

 a green valley, into which, neither the colonists nor their 

 cattle have yet penetrated. Having looked into this valley 

 from the summit of Toniah also in 1827, I was tempted, 

 soon after, to endeavour to explore it by ascending the river 

 from its junction with the Hawkesbury near Richmond ; but 

 1 had not proceeded far in this attempt, accompanied by 

 Major Lockyer and Mr. Dixon, when we were compelled to 

 leave our horses, and, soon after, to scramble on our hands 

 and feet, until, at length, even our quadrumanous progress 

 was arrested in the bed of the river, by round boulders, 

 which were as large as hoiises, and over, or between which, 

 we found it impossible to proceed. The object, which T lind 



* See papc f). 



