452 NEW SOUTH WALES. 
rock ; and smaller plants formed an open network of green over the 
whole walls, dripping with dew-drops, though at mid-day. This 
shaded recess opened to the westward into a branch of the Kangaroo 
Valley. 
Some miles beyond this interesting spot, we left the mountain 
plain, to descend into the Kangaroo grounds, which we finally reached 
by a precipitous path like that on the ascent from Illawarra. The 
valley we found to be a narrow patch of land, as shown on the pre- 
ceding map, scarcely averaging three miles in breadth, lying between 
abrupt mountain walls, from one thousand to eighteen hundred feet in 
height. 
The features we have described are common through the sandstone 
region. ‘The valleys are profound gorges, often intricate and gloomy, 
occupied at bottom by a narrow plain, and the bed of a stream ; and 
although the minor elevations have often rounded summits, or they 
give rise to an undulating country, the higher declivities have steep 
sides, and usually terminate above in a mural front of rock, if not 
precipitous from their very bases. 
Going west from Sydney, vegetation somewhat improves, and there 
are extensive tracts producing a slender growth of grass, and affording 
profitable sheep pasturage. There are miles too of arid wastes within 
the circuit of sixty miles, which will long lie in a state of nature. Tall 
gum trees generally cover the plains ; but their thin and dry foliage is 
scarcely sufficient to cast a shadow below. The groves are called 
forests; but the trees are generally so sparsely scattered over this 
natural pasture-land that a horse and carriage may drive through 
with good speed, and rarely meet with an obstacle. I have travelled 
for miles on roads through these forests, in making which it was not 
found necessary to fell a single tree. Some lands, especially where 
wet or marshy, are covered with thick brush; but these form but a 
small portion of the country. 
Occasional summits of basalt appear through the sandstone, and 
these regions may usually be distinguished by their denser forests 
long before reaching them. They are in general remarkable for their 
fertility. 
Beyond the circuit of sixty miles, to which our remarks thus far 
particularly apply, there are similar features to a great extent, but 
modified in some degree by the appearance of other rocks, as lime- 
stone, clay slates, and granite, and also by a greater proportion of 
