on at Buree, where I intended
to commence operations, was distant 170 miles from Sydney, and as it was
necessary that the party should travel slowly in crossing the mountains
with the boat-carriage, and equally indispensable that the cattle should
rest some days after arriving at Buree; I calculated that the expedition
could not be ready to advance from that point in less than three weeks
from the time at which it left Parramatta.

MY DEPARTURE FROM SYDNEY.

On the 31st of March I quitted Sydney on the important errand of
geographical discovery. My horse, which had been in training by Brown for
some weeks, seemed impatient of roads, and full of spirit, a pleasant
sensation at all times to the rider, and very congenial to the high
excitement of such an enterprise.

We soon arrived at Parramatta, where I obtained the loan of a good
chronometer from Mr. Dunlop at the observatory. Having noted various
important memoranda and suggestions, and partaken of an early dinner, I
bade my scientific and obliging friend farewell, and pursued my journey
along the western road.

WESTERN PART OF CUMBERLAND.

I arrived in a few hours at Emu ferry, on the river Hawkesbury, the
boundary there of the county of Cumberland. I had traversed the county in
its greatest width by this western route; and thus crossed by far the
best portion. Unlike the northern sandstone district, where the road
towards Wiseman's ferry could be made only by following one continuous
ridge, the surface being intersected by deep and precipitous ravines, we
were enabled here, the surface rock being trap, to travel along a
perfectly straight road over a gently undulating surface. The soil in
this district is good, consisting chiefly of decomposed trap. The land is
wholly in the hands of individuals, and, in a climate sufficiently moist,
would answer well for cultivation. The road passes near Prospect Hill,
which is the most conspicuous eminence in the county, and is cultivated
to the summit. The rich red soil derived from the subjacent trap-rock
produces crops as abundantly now as when it was first tilled, upwards of
thirty years ago.

Nearly the whole of the western portion of this county consists of soil
equally good; but it remains for the most part occupied by the original
wood. It is however very generally enclosed by substantial fencing, and
affords good pasturage. There is some rich alluvial land on both banks of
the Hawkesbury, and some of it, near this r