442 NEW SOUTH WALKS. [CHAP. XIX. 
rats. Mr. Browne shot one: certainly it is a most extraordinary 
animal ; a stuffed specimen does not at all give a good idea of the 
appearance of the head and beak when fresh ; the latter becoming - 
hard and contracted.* 
20th.— A. long day’s ride to Bathurst. Before joining the 
high road we followed a mere path through the forest; and 
the country, with the exception of a few squatters’ huts, was 
very solitary. We experienced this day the sirocco-like wind of 
Australia, which comes from the parched deserts of the interior. 
Clouds of dust were travelling in every direction; and the wind 
felt as if it had passed over a fire. I afterwards heard that the 
thermometer out of doors had stood at 119°, and in a closed room 
at 96°. In the afternoon we came in view of the downs of Ba-. 
thurst. These undulating but nearly smooth plains are very 
remarkable in this country, from being absolutely destitute of 
trees. They support only a thin brown pasture. We rode some 
miles over this country, and then reached the township of Ba- 
thurst, seated in the middle of what may be called either a very 
broad valley, or narrow plain. I was told at Sydney not to 
form too bad an opinion of Australia by judging of the country 
from the road-side, nor too good aone from Bathurst; in this 
latter respect, I did not feel myself in the least danger of being 
prejudiced. The season, it must be owned, had been one of great 
drought, and the country did not wear a favourable aspect; 
although I understand it was incomparably worse two or three 
months before. The secret of the rapidly growing prosperity of 
Bathurst is, that the brown pasture which appears to the 
stranger’s eye so wretched, is excellent for sheep-grazing. ‘The 
town stands, at the height of 2200 feet above the sea, on the 
banks of the Macquarie: this is one of the rivers flowing into the 
vast and scarcely known interior, The line of watershed, which 
divides the inland streams from those on the coast, has a height 
* JT was interested by finding here the hollow conical pitfall of the lion- 
ant, or some other insect: first a fly fell down the treacherous slope and 
immediately disappeared ; then came a large but unwary ant; its struggles 
to escape being very violent, those curious little jets of sand, described by 
Kirby and Spence (Entomol., vol. i., p. 425) as being flirted by the insect’s 
tail, were promptly directed angers the expected victim. But the ant en- 
joyed_a better fate than the fly, and escaped the fatal jaws which lay con- 
cealed at the base of the conical hollow. This Australian pit-fall was only 
about half the size of that made by the European lion-ant. 
