524 



NEW SOUTH WALES. 



Jan. 1836. 



the Weatherboard. So early in the day the gulf was filled 

 with a thin blue haze, which, although destroying the general 

 effect, added to the apparent depth at which the forest was 

 stretched below the country on which we were standing. 

 Soon after leaving the Blackheath, we descended from the 

 sandstone platform by the pass of Mount Victoria. To 

 effect this pass, an enormous quantity of. stone has been cut 

 through ; the design, and its manner of execution, would 

 have been worthy of any line of road in England, — even that 

 of Holyhead. We now entered upon a country less elevated 

 by nearly a thousand feet, and consisting of granite. With 

 the change of rock, the vegetation improved ; the trees were 

 both finer, and stood further apart; and the pasture between 

 them was a little greener, and more plentiful. 



At Hassan's Walls, I left the high road, and made a short 

 detour to a farm called Walerawang ; to the superintendent 

 of which, I had a letter of introduction from the owner in 

 Sydney. Mr. Browne had the kindness to ask me to stay 

 the ensuing day, which I had much pleasure in doing. This 

 place offers an example of one of the large farming, or 

 rather sheep-grazing, establishments of the colony. Cattle 

 and horses are, however, in this case, rather more numerous 

 than usual, owing to some of the valleys being swampy, and 

 producing a coarser pasture. The sheep were 15,000 in 

 numl)er, of which the greater part were feeding under the 

 care of different shepherds, on unoccupied ground, at the 

 distance of more than a hundred miles, and beyond the 

 limits of the colony. Mr. Browne had just finished, this 

 day, the last of the shearing of seven thousand sheep ; the 

 rest being sheared in another place. I believe the profit of 

 the average produce of wool from 15,000 sheep, would be 

 more than 5000/. sterling. Two or three flat pieces of 

 ground near the house were cleared and cultivated with 

 corn, which the harvest men were now reaping: but no 

 more wheat is sown than sufficient for the annual support 

 of the labourers employed on the establishment. The 

 usual number of assigned convict servants here is about 



