COUNTRY WEST OF BLUE MOUNTAINS. xlvii 
other counties, or to found upon it a general 
description of the colony. It is, in fact, poorer 
in every respect than any tract of land of similar 
extent in the interior, and is still covered with 
dense forests of heavy timber, excepting where 
the trees have been felled by dint of manual 
labour, and the ground cleared at an expence 
that nothing but its proximity to the seat of 
government could have justified. But expe- 
rience has proved, that neither the labour nor 
the expence have been thrown away. Many va- 
luable farms and extensive gardens checquer 
the face of the country, from which the proprie- 
tors derive a very efficient income. 
To the westward of the Blue Mountains, the 
country differs in many respects from that lying 
between those ranges and the coast; and, al- 
though, its aspect varies in different places, 
three principal features appear more imme- 
diately to characterise it. These are, first, 
plains of considerable extent wholly destitute 
of timber; secondly, open undulating wood- 
lands ; and, thirdly, barren unprofitable tracts. 
The first almost invariably occur in the imme- 
diate neighbourhood of some river, as the Plains 
