647 
Wentworth's hew South Wales . 
ties, shoots up in the intervals. This 
description of country, with a few ex¬ 
ceptions, however, which deserve not 
to be particularly noticed, forms ano¬ 
ther girdle of about ten miles in 
breadth : so that, generally speaking, 
the colony for about sixteen miles into 
the interior, may be said to possess a 
soil, which has naturally no claim to 
fertility, and will require all the skill 
and industry of its owners to render it 
even tolerably productive. 
COUNTRY* WEST OF THE BLUE 
MOUNTAINS. 
The country to the westward of the 
Blue Mountains ranks next in conti¬ 
guity to Sydney, and claims pre-emi¬ 
nence not so much from any superiority 
of soil in those parts of it which have 
been explored, as from its amazing ex¬ 
tent, and great diversity of climate. 
These mountains, where the road has 
been made over them, are fifty-eight 
miles in breadth ; and as the distance 
from Sydney to Emu Ford, at which 
place this road may be said to com¬ 
mence, is about forty miles, the be¬ 
ginning of the vast tract of country to 
the westward of them, it will be seen, 
is ninety-eight miles distant from the 
capital. 
r 14ie road which thus traverses these 
mountains is by no means difficult for 
waggons, until you arrive at the pass 
which forms the descent into the low 
country. There it is excessively steep 
and dangerous ; yet carts and waggons 
go up and down it continually : nor do 
I believe that any serious accident has 
yet occurred in performing this very 
formidable undertaking. 
By the last advices from the colony, 
which contain information up to the 
13th of June, 1S19, it appears that a 
better pass has at last been effected, 
and that a communication has been 
opened to the delightful country be¬ 
yond the Blue Mountains, of easy ac¬ 
cess, running through lands of the 
very best description. The colonists 
are indebted for this acquisition to their 
resources to the exertions of Charles 
Throsby, Esq. a large land and stock¬ 
holder, many years resident in New 
South Wales. Mr. Throsby was on 
the whole occupied fifteen days on the 
expedition: his progress being retarded 
from several of his party failing sick, 
and from the badness of the weather ; 
but by tlte delay lie had a better oppor¬ 
tunity of examining the country on each 
side of his route, and in a letter to one 
of his friends, he says: 44 I have no 
hesitation in stating we have a country 
fit for any and every purpose: where 
fine wooled sheep may be increased to 
any extent, in a climate peculiarly 
congenial to them. Ere long you will 
hear of a route being continued to the 
southward as far as Twofold Bay, and 
so on further in succession through a 
country as much superior to the cow 
pastures as that now enviable district is 
to the land contiguous to Sydney ; and 
where our herds, our flocks, and our 
cultivation may unlimitedly increase 
at an inconsiderable distance from /Oe 
great and grand essential in a you v 
colony—water carriage!” 
Tiie elevation of Mount York, the 
highest of the mountains above the 
level of the sea, has been found to be 
only 3200 feet, and I should imagine 
that their general height cannot ex¬ 
ceed 2000 feet. For the first ten or 
twelve miles they are tolerably well 
clothed with timber, and produce oc¬ 
casionally some middling pasture ; but 
beyond this they are excessively barren, 
and are covered with a thick brush, 
interspersed here and there with a few 
miserable stunted gums. They bear, 
in fact, a striking similarity, in res¬ 
pect both to their soil and productions, 
to the barren wastes on the coast of 
Port Jackson. They are very rocky, 
but they want granite, the distinguish¬ 
ing characteristic of primitive moun¬ 
tains. Sandstone thickly studded with 
quartz and a little freestone, are the 
only varieties which they offer ; a cir¬ 
cumstance the more singular, as the 
moment you descend info the low coun¬ 
try beyond them, granite is the only 
sort of stone that is to be met with 
for upwards of 200 miles. 
For the whole of this distance to the 
westward of these mountains, the coun¬ 
try abounds with the richest herbage, 
and is, upon the whole, tolerably well 
supplied with running water. This 
large and fertile tract of country is in 
general perfectly free from underwood ; 
and in many places is without any tim¬ 
ber at all. Bathurst Plains, for instance, 
where there is a commandant, a mili¬ 
tary depot, and some few settlers es¬ 
tablished, have been found by actual 
admeasurement, to contain upwards of 
60,000 acres, upon which there is 
scarcely a tree. The whole ot this 
western country, indeed, is much more 
open and free from timber than the 
best districts to the eastward ot the 
Blue Mountains. 
PROBABLE RIVER. 
The discovery of this vast and as yet 
imperfectlv known tract of country, 
was 
