They Were Working In Chains,
Under The Charge Of Sentries With Loaded Arms.
The power which the government possesses, by means
of forced labour, of at once opening good roads throughout
the country, has been, I believe, one main cause of the early
prosperity of this colony.
I slept at night at a very
comfortable inn at Emu ferry, thirty-five miles from Sydney,
and near the ascent of the Blue Mountains. This line of
road is the most frequented, and has been the longest inhabited
of any in the colony. The whole land is enclosed
with high railings, for the farmers have not succeeded in
rearing hedges. There are many substantial houses and good
cottages scattered about; but although considerable pieces of
land are under cultivation, the greater part yet remains as
when first discovered.
The extreme uniformity of the vegetation is the most
remarkable feature in the landscape of the greater part of
New South Wales. Everywhere we have an open woodland,
the ground being partially covered with a very thin pasture,
with little appearance of verdure. The trees nearly all
belong to one family, and mostly have their leaves placed in
a vertical, instead of as in Europe, in a nearly horizontal
position: the foliage is scanty, and of a peculiar pale green
tint, without any gloss. Hence the woods appear light and
shadowless: this, although a loss of comfort to the traveller
under the scorching rays of summer, is of importance to the
farmer, as it allows grass to grow where it otherwise would
not. The leaves are not shed periodically: this character
appears common to the entire southern hemisphere, namely,
South America, Australia, and the Cape of Good Hope. The
inhabitants of this hemisphere, and of the intertropical
regions, thus lose perhaps one of the most glorious, though
to our eyes common, spectacles in the world - the first
bursting into full foliage of the leafless tree. They may,
however, say that we pay dearly for this by having the land
covered with mere naked skeletons for so many months. This is
too true but our senses thus acquire a keen relish for the
exquisite green of the spring, which the eyes of those living
within the tropics, sated during the long year with the gorgeous
productions of those glowing climates, can never experience.
The greater number of the trees, with the exception
of some of the Blue-gums, do not attain a large size;
but they grow tall and tolerably straight, and stand well
apart. The bark of some of the Eucalypti falls annually, or
hangs dead in long shreds which swing about with the wind,
and give to the woods a desolate and untidy appearance. I
cannot imagine a more complete contrast, in every respect,
than between the forests of Valdivia or Chiloe, and the
woods of Australia.
At sunset, a party of a score of the black aborigines passed
by, each carrying, in their accustomed manner, a bundle of
spears and other weapons.
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