The Town Stands, At The Height Of 2200 Feet
Above The Sea, On The Banks Of The Macquarie.
This is one of
the rivers flowing into the vast and scarcely known interior.
The line of water-shed,
Which divides the inland streams from
those on the coast, has a height of about 3000 feet, and runs
in a north and south direction at the distance of from eighty
to a hundred miles from the sea-side. The Macquarie figures
in the map as a respectable river, and it is the largest of
those draining this part of the water-shed; yet to my surprise
I found it a mere chain of ponds, separated from each other
by spaces almost dry. Generally a small stream is running;
and sometimes there are high and impetuous floods. Scanty
as the supply of the water is throughout this district, it
becomes still scantier further inland.
22nd. - I commenced my return, and followed a new road
called Lockyer's Line, along which the country is rather more
hilly and picturesque. This was a long day's ride; and the
house where I wished to sleep was some way off the road,
and not easily found. I met on this occasion, and indeed on
all others, a very general and ready civility among the lower
orders, which, when one considers what they are, and what
they have been, would scarcely have been expected. The
farm where I passed the night, was owned by two young
men who had only lately come out, and were beginning a
settler's life.
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