522 



NEW SOUTH WALES. 



Jan. 1836. 



From these facts it would almost appear as if, the effluvium 

 of one set of men shut up for some time together, was poi- 

 sonous when inhaled by others (and perhaps more so, if the 

 men be of different races). Mysterious as this circum- 

 stance appears to be, it is not more surprising than that the 

 body of one^s fellow-creature, directly after death, and before 

 putrefaction has commenced, should often be of so deleterious 

 a quality, that the mere puncture from an instrument used in 

 its dissection should prove fatal. 



January 17th. — Early in the morning we passed the 

 Nepean in a ferry-boat. The river, although at this spot 

 both broad and deep, had a very small body of running 

 water. Having crossed a low piece of land on the opposite 

 side, we reached the slope of the Blue Mountains. The 

 a§cent is not steep, the road having been cut with much 

 care on the side of a sandstone cliff. At no great elevation 

 an almost level plain extends, which, rising imperceptibly 

 to the westward, at last attains a height of more than three 

 thousand feet. From so grand a title as Blue Mountains, 

 and from their absolute altitude, I expected to have seen 

 a bold chain of mountains crossing the country ; but instead 

 of this, a sloping plain presents merely an inconsiderable 

 front to the low land of the coast. From this first slope, the 

 view of the extensive woodland to the eastward, was striking, 

 and the surrounding trees grew bold and lofty. But when 

 once on the sandstone platform, the scenery becomes ex- 

 ceedingly monotonous ; each side of the road is bordered 

 by scrubby trees of the never-failing Eucalyptus family; and 

 with the exception of two or three small inns, there are no 

 houses, or cultivated land: the road, moreover, is solitary; 

 the most frequent object being a bullock- waggon, piled up 

 with bales of wool. 



In the middle of the day we baited our horses at a little 

 inn, called the Weatherboard. The country here is elevated 

 2800 feet above the sea. About a mile and a half from this 

 place, there is a view exceedingly well worth visiting. By 

 following down a little valley and its tiny rill of water, an 



