XIX 
GREAT CLIFF-BOUNDED VALLEY 
465 
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 ascent is not steep, the road 
having been cut with much care on the side of a sandstone 
cliff. On the summit an almost level plain extends, which, 
rising imperceptibly to the westward, at last attains a height of 
more than 3000 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 near the coast. From this first slope the view of 
the extensive woodland to the east was striking, and the 
surrounding trees grew bold and lofty. But when once on the 
sandstone platform, the scenery becomes exceedingly mono¬ 
tonous ; 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. Following 
down a little valley and its tiny rill of water, an immense gulf 
unexpectedly opens through the trees which border the pathway, 
at the depth of perhaps 1500 feet. Walking on a few yards, 
one stands on the brink of a vast precipice, and below one sees 
a grand bay or gulf, for I know not what other name to give 
it, thickly covered with forest. The point of view is situated 
as if at the head of a bay, the line of cliff diverging on each 
side, and showing headland behind headland, as on a bold sea- 
coast. These cliffs are composed of horizontal strata of whitish 
sandstone ; and are so absolutely vertical, that in many places 
a person standing on the edge and throwing down a stone, can 
see it strike the trees in the abyss below. So unbroken is the 
line of cliff, that in order to reach the foot of the waterfall 
formed by this little stream, it is said to be necessary to go 
sixteen miles round. About five miles distant in front another 
line of cliff extends, which thus appears completely to encircle 
2 H 
