16 
HILL OF POUNI. 
hillj, called Pouni, remarkable not so much on account of 
its height, as of its commanding position. It had, I be- 
lieve, already been ascended by one of the Surveyor-general's 
assistants. The impracticability of the country to the south 
of it, obliged us to pass under its opposite base, from which 
an open forest country extended to the northward. We had 
already recrossed the Yass River, and passed Mr. Barber’s 
station, to that of Mr. Hume’s father, at which we stopped 
for a short time. Both farms are w'ell situated, the latter I 
should say, romantically so, it being immediately under 
Pouni, the hill we have noticed. The country around 
both was open, and both pasture and water were abundant. 
Mr. O’Brien had been kind enough to send one of the 
natives who frequented his station to escort us to his more 
advanced station upon the Morumbidgee. Had it not 
been for the assistance we received from this man, I should 
have had but little leisure for other duties : as it was, 
however, there was no fear of the party going astray. 
This gave M'Leay and myself an opportunity of ascend- 
ing Pouni, for the purpose of taking bearings ; and how- 
ever warm the exertion of the ascent made us, the view 
from the summit of the hill sufficiently repaid us, and the 
cool breeze that struck it, although imperceptible in the 
forest below, soon dried the perspiration from our brows. 
The scenery around us was certainly varied, yet many 
parts of it put me forcibly in mind of the dark and gloomy 
tracks over which my eye had wandered from similar 
elevations on the former journey. This was especially the 
