XIX GREAT CLIFF-BOUNDED VALLEY 465 



ferry-boat. The river, although at this spot both broad and 

 deep, had a very small body of running water. Having crossed 

 a low piece of land on the opposite side, we reached the slope 

 of the Blue Mountains. The ascent is not steep, the road 

 having been cut with much care on the side of a sandstone 

 cliff. On the summit an almost level plain extends, which, 

 rising imperceptibly to the westward, at last attains a height of 

 more than 3000 feet. From so grand a title as Blue Mountains, 

 and from their absolute altitude, I expected to have seen a 

 bold chain of mountains crossing the country ; but instead of 

 this, a sloping plain presents merely an inconsiderable front to 

 the low land near the coast. From this first slope the view of 

 the extensive woodland to the east was striking, and the 

 surrounding trees grew bold and lofty. But when once on the 

 sandstone platform, the scenery becomes exceedingly mono- 

 tonous ; each side of the road is bordered by scrubby trees of 

 the never-failing Eucalyptus family ; and with the exception 

 of two or three small inns, there are no houses or cultivated 

 land ; the road, moreover, is solitary ; the most frequent object 

 being a bullock-waggon, piled up with bales of wool. 



In the middle of the day we baited our horses at a little 

 inn, called the Weatherboard. The country here is elevated 

 2800 feet above the sea. About a mile and a half from this 

 place there is a view exceedingly well worth visiting. Following 

 down a little valley and its tiny rill of water, an immense gulf 

 unexpectedly opens through the trees which border the pathway, 

 at the depth of perhaps 1500 feet. Walking on a few yards, 

 one stands on the brink of a vast precipice, and below one sees 

 a grand bay or gulf, for I know not what other name to give 

 it, thickly covered with forest. The point of view is situated 

 as if at the head of a bay, the line of cliff diverging on each 

 side, and showing headland behind headland, as on a bold sea- 

 coast. These cliffs are composed of horizontal strata of whitish 

 sandstone ; and are so absolutely vertical, that in many places 

 a person standing on the edge and throwing down a stone, can 

 see it strike the trees in the abyss below. So unbroken is the 

 line of cliff, that in order to reach the foot of the waterfall 

 formed by this little stream, it is said to be necessary to go 

 sixteen miles round. About five miles distant in front another 

 line of cliff extends, which thus appears completely to encircle 



2 II 



