surface of the water, but showed so little of their bodies, that they
might easily have been mistaken for water-rats. Mr. Browne shot one:
certainly it is a most extraordinary animal; a stuffed specimen does
not at all give a good idea of the appearance of the head and beak when
fresh; the latter becoming hard and contracted. [5]
20th.--A long day's ride to Bathurst. Before joining the highroad we
followed a mere path through the forest; and the country, with the
exception of a few squatters' huts, was very solitary. We experienced
this day the sirocco-like wind of Australia, which comes from the
parched deserts of the interior. Clouds of dust were travelling in
every direction; and the wind felt as if it had passed over a fire. I
afterwards heard that the thermometer out of doors had stood at 119
degs., and in a closed room at 96 degs. In the afternoon we came in
view of the downs of Bathurst. These undulating but nearly smooth
plains are very remarkable in this country, from being absolutely
destitute of trees. They support only a thin brown pasture. We rode
some miles over this country, and then reached the township of
Bathurst, seated in the middle of what may be called either a very
broad valley, or narrow plain. I was told at Sydney not to form too
bad an opinion of Australia by judging of the country from the
roadside, nor too good a one from Bathurst; in this latter respect, I
did not feel myself in the least danger of being prejudiced. The
season, it must be owned, had been one of great drought, and the
country did not wear a favourable aspect; although I understand it was
incomparably worse two or three months before. The secret of the
rapidly growing prosperity of Bathurst is, that the brown pasture which
appears to the stranger's eye so wretched, is excellent for
sheep-grazing. 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.
415