466 NEW SOUTH WALES chap. 



the valley ; and hence the name of bay is justified, as applied 

 to this grand amphitheatrical depression. If we imagine a 

 winding harbour, with its deep water surrounded by bold cliff- 

 like shores, to be laid dry, and a forest to spring up on its 

 sandy bottom, we should then have the appearance and 

 structure here exhibited. This kind of view was to me quite 

 novel, and extremely magnificent. 



In the evening we reached the Blackheath. The sandstone 

 plateau has here attained the height of 3400 feet; and is 

 covered, as before, with the same scrubby woods. From the 

 road there were occasional glimpses into a profound valley of 

 the same character as the one described ; but from the steepness 

 and depth of its sides, the bottom was scarcely ever to be seen. 

 The Blackheath is a very comfortable inn, kept by an old 

 soldier ; and it reminded me of the small inns in North Wales. 



i2>th. — Very early in the morning I walked about three 

 miles to see Govett's Leap : a view of a similar character with 

 that near the Weatherboard, but perhaps even more stupendous. 

 So early in the day the gulf was filled with a thin blue haze, 

 which, although destroying the general effect of the view, added 

 to the apparent depth at which the forest was stretched out 

 beneath our feet. These valleys, which so long presented an 

 insuperable barrier to the attempts of the most enterprising of 

 the colonists to reach the interior, are most remarkable. Great 

 armlike bays, expanding at their upper ends, often branch 

 from the main valleys and penetrate the sandstone platform ; 

 on the other hand, the platform often sends promontories into 

 the valleys, and even leaves in them great, almost insulated, 

 masses. To descend into some of these valleys, it is necessary 

 to go round twenty miles ; and into others, the surveyors have 

 only lately penetrated, and the colonists have not yet been able 

 to drive in their cattle. But the most remarkable feature in 

 their structure is, that although several miles wide at their 

 heads, they generally contract towards their mouths to such a 

 degree as to become impassable. The Surveyor-General, Sir 

 T. Mitchell,^ endeavoured in vain, first walking and then by 

 crawling between the great fallen fragments of sandstone, to 



^ Travels in Australia, vol. i. p. 154. I must express my obligation to Sir T. 

 Mitchell for several interesting personal communications on the subject of these 

 ^reat valleys of New South Wales. 



