Soon After Leaving The Blackheath, We Descended From The
Sandstone Platform By The Pass Of Mount Victoria.
To effect
this pass, an enormous quantity of stone has been cut
through; the design, and its manner of execution, being
worthy of any line of road in England.
We now entered
upon a country less elevated by nearly a thousand feet, and
consisting of granite. With the change of rock, the vegetation
improved, the trees were both finer and stood farther
apart; and the pasture between them was a little greener and
more plentiful. At Hassan's Walls, I left the high road,
and made a short detour to a farm called Walerawang; to
the superintendent of which I had a letter of introduction
from the owner in Sydney. Mr. Browne had the kindness to
ask me to stay the ensuing day, which I had much pleasure
in doing. This place offers an example of one of the large
farming, or rather sheep-grazing establishments of the
colony. Cattle and horses are, however, in this case rather
more numerous than usual, owing to some of the valleys
being swampy and producing a coarser pasture. Two or
three flat pieces of ground near the house were cleared and
cultivated with corn, which the harvest-men were now reaping:
but no more wheat is sown than sufficient for the annual
support of the labourers employed on the establishment. The
usual number of assigned convict-servants here is about
forty, but at the present time there were rather more.
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