•274 NEW SOUTH WALES. 



highest eminence of the range, from whose summit the lighthouse of 

 Port Jackson is visible, at a distance of sixty miles. The road passes 

 within a few yards of this place, and it was here that Major Mitchell 

 encamped when he was employed in laying down his plans for 

 the construction of it across the whole range. This road will 

 compare advantageously with almost any work of the kind in any 

 country ; and this and other public improvements are frequently 

 adduced as the benefits conferred upon the colony by convict labour. 

 There can be but little doubt that the colonial government has many 

 facilities to carry forward improvements, but I very much question, 

 if all things were taken into the calculation, that it would be found to 

 result in so great a difference as is generally supposed. 



After leaving the mountains, the road leads for several miles 

 through an undulating country, covered with an open forest of stunted 

 gum trees, and then comes in sight of the plains of Bathurst. These are 

 of moderate extent, being little more than the valley through which 

 the river Macquarie finds a channel. In the month of December there 

 was no flowing stream, and the river, which at some seasons is a broad 

 and powerful current, consisted merely of a string of pools. 



The appearance of the town of Bathurst disappoints. It consists 

 of a few hundred houses, scattered in detached groups over the 

 plain. The absence of trees and cultivation serves to increase the 

 want of interest in the landscape. The town-plot was first laid out 

 on the eastern side of the river, but after several houses had been 

 erected, it was removed to the opposite bank, a circumstance which 

 accounts for the dispersed appearance of the village. Most of the 

 wealthy inhabitants have their dwellings two or three miles removed 

 from the town, among the low hills in the neighbourhood ; from 

 which circumstance, the importance of the place and the extent of 

 the settlement is not at first apparent. 



The low bottom-land in which Bathurst stands is believed from 

 various indications to have been at no distant period a lake. At 

 the time of its discovery it was little better than a marsh, and the 

 Macquarie was flowing in a deep and strong current nearly on a level 

 with its banks, and was navigable for large boats. The plain was 

 covered with long prairie grass, which led to the belief that it was of 

 inexhaustible fertility ; but the general opinion of the intelligent 

 residents is, that for the last twenty years the country west of the 

 Blue Mountains has been gradually drying up. Lakes which, when 

 first discovered, were extensive sheets of water, deep enough to float 



