COUNTRY FROM UNDERALIGA TO MORUMBIDGEE. 19 
gives birth to these terrific phenomena. They have never 
occurred, so far as I know, in the located districts. 
Our guide deserted us in the early part of the day, with- 
out assigning any reason for doing so. He went off without 
being noticed, and thus lost the reward that would have 
been bestowed on him had he mentioned his wish to return 
to Yass. I the more regretted his having sneaked off, 
because he had had the kindness to put us on a track we 
could not well lose. 
Underaliga is said to be thirty miles from the Morum- 
bidgee. The country between the two has a sameness of 
character throughout. It is broken and irregular, yet no one 
hill rises conspicuously over the rest. We found ourselves 
at one time on their summits beside huge masses of gra- 
nite, at others crossing valleys of rich soil and green appear- 
ance. A country under cultivation is so widely different 
from one the sod of which has never been broken by the 
plough, that it is difficult and hazardous to form a decided 
opinion on the latter. If you ask a stockman what kind 
of a country lies, either to his right, or to his left, he is sure 
to condemn it, unless it will afford the most abundant pas- 
ture. Accustomed to roam about from one place to another, 
these men despise any but the richest tracts, and include the 
rest of the neighbourhood in one sweeping clause of con- 
demnation. Thus I was led to expect, that we should pass 
over a country of the very worst description, between 
Underaliga and the Morumbidgee. Had it been similar to 
that midway between Yass and Underaliga, we should, in 
c 2 
