CH. I.] VALE OF CLYWD. 157 



good houses — than where uncertainty as to the permanent 

 direction of the one, or irregularity in the plan or line of the 

 other, discourage all such undertakings. 



It has been my duty to keep these objects in view, as sole 

 commissioner for the division and appropriation of the terri- 

 tory of New South Wales ; and as head also of the department 

 of roads and bridges, I have, as far as lay in ray power, ap- 

 plied the means at my disposal, only to works of a perma- 

 nently useful character, guided as I have been in my judg- 

 ment respecting them, by a general survey of the country. 



My ride along the mountain road, presented no object 

 worth describing ; but I have frequently found, that the most 

 dreary road ceases to appear monotonous or long, after we 

 have acquired a knowledge of the adjacent country. The 

 ideas of locality are no longer limited like our view, by the 

 trees on each side. The least turn reminds us, that we are 

 passing some " autre vast," or lateral ridge, occupying a place 

 in the map, which thus determines our position. In crossing 

 these mountains an extensive knowledge of the localities 

 relieved the monotony of the road to me, and being insepa- 

 rable from it in my mind, the digressions in this part of my 

 journal, will, after this explanation, perhaps appear less 

 objectionable. 



Twilight overtook me, as I was giving directions to Sub- 

 inspector Binning for the completion of the pass at Mount 

 Victoria ; and I halted for the night at a small inn at its foot. 



April 2. — Although some heavy rain had fallen at Sydney, 

 and yesterday during my ride across the mountains, yet the 

 grass in this valley, w^hich at other times had appeared green 

 and abundant, was now parched and scanty. A swampy 

 hollow, across which a long bridge had been erected, was 

 quite dry, and the whole surface bore a brown and dusty 

 aspect. 



This lower country, to which we had descended from 

 Mount Victoria, was named by Governor Macquarie "the 

 Vale of Clyvvd," from its supposed resemblance to the valley 



