The Town Of Windsor, The River Hawkesbury, Prospect
Hill, And Other Objects Within That Part Of The Colony Now Inhabited, Of
Equal Interest, Are Distinctly Seen From Hence.
The majestic grandeur of
the situation, combined with the various objects to be seen from this
place, induced the governor to give it the appellation of the King's
Table Land.
On the south-west side of the King's Table Land, the mountain
terminates in abrupt precipices of immense depth; at the bottom of which
is seen a glen, as romantically beautiful as can be imagined, bounded on
the farther side by mountains of great magnitude, terminating equally
abruptly as the others; and the whole whole thickly covered with timber.
The length of this picturesque and remarkable tract of country is
about twenty-four miles, to which the governor gave the name of
the Prince Regent's Glen. Proceeding hence to the thirty-third mile,
on the top of a hill an opening presents itself on the south-west
side of the Prince Regent's Glen, from whence a view obtained
particularly beautiful and grand: mountains rising beyond mountains,
with stupendous masses of rock in the fore ground, here strike
the eye with admiration and astonishment. The circular form in which the
whole is so wonderfully disposed, induced the governor to give the name
of Pitt's Amphitheatre to this offset or branch from the Prince Regent's
Glen. The road continues from hence for the space of seventeen miles, on
the ridge of the mountain which forms one side of the Prince Regent's
Glen, and there it suddenly terminates in nearly a perpendicular
precipice of six hundred and seventy-six feet high, as ascertained by
measurement. The road constructed by Mr. Cox down this rugged and
tremendous descent, through all its windings, is no less than three
fourths of a mile in length, and has been executed with such skill and
dexterity as reflects much credit to him: the labour here undergone, and
the difficulties surmounted can only be appreciated by those who view
this scene. In order to perpetuate the memory of Mr. Cox's services, the
governor deemed it a tribute justly due to him to give his name to this
grand and extraordinary pass, and he accordingly called it Cox's Pass.
Having descended into the valley at the bottom of this pass, the
retrospective view of the overhanging mountain is magnificently grand.
Although the present pass is the only practicable point yet discovered
for descending by, yet the mountain is much higher than those on either
side of it, from whence it is distinguished at a considerable distance:
when approaching it from the interior, and in this point of view, it has
the appearance of a very high distinct hill, although it is in fact only
the abrupt termination of a ridge. The governor gave the name of Mount
York to this termination of the ridge: on descending Cox's Pass, the
governor was much pleased by the appearance of good pasture land, and
soil fit for cultivation, which was the first he had met with since the
commencement of his tour.
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