NEW SOUTH WALES. 259 



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 

 ihe colonial government has many facilities to carry forward improve- 

 ments, but I very much question, if all things were taken into the cal- 

 culation, 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 

 w T as 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 in- 

 habitants have their dwellings two or three miles removed from the 

 town, among the low hills in the neighbourhood ; from which circum- 

 stance, 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 Mac- 

 quarie 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 resi- 

 dents 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 a 

 seventy-four, are now inconsiderable ponds ; swamps have been con- 

 verted into dry pasture-lands ; and there is hardly a river which now 

 continues running throughout the year. It is remarkable, that in these 

 lakes and ponds, which have become dry, there are found the stumps 



