XIX APPEARANCE OF THE FORESTS 461 



arms. The power which the Government possesses, by means 

 of forced labour, of at once opening good roads throughout the 

 country, has been, I believe, one main cause of the early 

 prosperity of this colony. I slept at night at a very comfort- 

 able inn at Emu ferry, thirty-five miles from Sydney, and near 

 the ascent of the Blue Mountains. This line of road is the 

 most frequented, and has been the longest inhabited of any in 

 the colony. The whole land is enclosed with high railings, 

 for the farmers have not succeeded in rearing hedges. There 

 are many substantial houses and good cottages scattered about ; 

 but although considerable pieces of land are under cultivation, 

 the greater part yet remains as when first discovered. 



The extreme uniformity of the vegetation is the most 

 remarkable feature in the landscape of the greater part of 

 New South Wales. Everywhere we have an open woodland, 

 the ground being partially covered with a very thin pasture, 

 with little appearance of verdure. The trees nearly all belong 

 to one family, and mostly have their leaves placed in a vertical, 

 instead of, as in Europe, in a nearly horizontal position : the 

 foliage is scanty, and of a peculiar pale green tint, without any 

 gloss. Hence the woods appear light and shadowless : this, 

 although a loss of comfort to the traveller under the scorching 

 rays of summer, is of importance to the farmer, as it allows 

 grass to grow where it otherwise would not. The leaves are 

 not shed periodically : this character appears common to the 

 entire southern hemisphere, namely. South America, Australia, 

 and the Cape of Good Hope. The inhabitants of this hemi- 

 sphere, and of the intertropical regions, thus lose perhaps one 

 of the most glorious, though to our eyes common, spectacles 

 in the world — the first bursting into full foliage of the leafless 

 tree. They may, however, say that we pay dearly for this by 

 having the land covered with mere naked skeletons for so 

 many months. This is too true ; but our senses thus acquire 

 a keen relish for the exquisite green of the spring, which the 

 eyes of those living within the tropics, sated during the long 

 year with the gorgeous productions of those glowing climates, 

 can never experience. The greater number of the trees, with 

 the exception of some of the Blue-gums, do not attain a large 

 size ; but they grow tall and tolerably straight, and stand well 

 apart. The bark of some of the Eucalypti falls annually, or 



