178 NEW SOUTH WALES. 



character throughout the rest of the country, there are many con- 

 tinuous miles of waste lands, which by the inhabitants are called 

 " forests." These are very different from what we understand by 

 the term, and consist of gum trees (Eucalypti), so widely scattered 

 that a carriage may be driven rapidly through them without meeting 

 any obstruction, while the foliage of these trees is so thin and appa- 

 rently so dried up as scarcely to cast a shade. Thus miles may be 

 traversed in these forests without impediment. A few marshy 

 spots are occasionally seen, covered with thickets of brush ; and 

 in other places there are tracts so dry that even the gum tree will 

 not grow upon them, and which receive the direct and scorching 

 rays of the sun. 



The exceptions to this general character are found in the occa- 

 sional rising of basalt in conical peaks. The productions of the soil 

 where this rock prevails, are in striking contrast to those of the arid 

 lands of the sandstone formations, and the geological character of a 

 basaltic ridge can be detected at a distance by the luxuriant vegeta- 

 tion with which it is clothed. These ridges become more and more 

 frequent as the distance from the coast increases, and are occasionally 

 interspersed with granite. 



The latter rock is first seen in the Clywd Valley, near Mount 

 Victoria, and about eighty miles from Sydney. This valley lies in 

 the western mountain range, which separates the waters that flow 

 towards the east and west. The land falls gradually to the westward, 

 until, in the Darling Valley, at a distance of four hundred miles, it is 

 only about four hundred feet above the sea. 



For some distance beyond Mount Victoria, granite characterizes 

 some extensive ridges, and basaltic mountains are occasionally com- 

 bined with those of granite. 



Beyond Bathurst, about one hundred and twenty miles to the west 

 of Sydney, a compact limestone, in which there are many caverns, 

 occurs between ridges of granite and basalt ; but, according to Major 

 Mitchell, the sandstone reappears on proceeding further west, towards 

 the Darling Valley, and is accompanied by the same sterility as upon 

 the coast. 



Before reaching the western barrens there are many fine and 

 fertile valleys, among which, besides Bathurst, is that of Wellington, 

 distant about two hundred miles from Sydney. Both of these are 

 already settled. 



As to the more remote parts of the interior of New Holland, no 



