Narrative of a Visit to the Australian Colonies/Chapter 10
CHAPTER X.
The settlement of the Van Diemens Land Company, at the Hampshire Hills, consisted of a few houses for the officers and servants, built of weather-board, upon a gentle eminence, among grassy and ferny hills, interspersed with forest, and watered by clear brooks, bordered with beautiful shrubs.—Here we remained seven weeks, using such opportunities as occurred for communicating religious instruction to the people. While my companion enjoyed the society of his relations, I often made excursions into the surrounding country; in company with Joseph Milligan, the surgeon of the Company's establishment at this place.
12th mo. 15th. In the course of a walk, we met with the V. D. Land Tulip-tree, Telopea truncata, a laurel-like shrub, bearing heads four inches across, of brilliant, scarlet, wiry, flowers; we also saw by the side of a brook, a large upright Phebalium, a shrub with silvery leaves and small white blossoms, and a white flowered Wood Sorrel, Oxtalis Lactea, resembling the Wood Sorrel of England.
17th. When in the forest, a large Black Snake apprized me of its proximity by a loud hiss: I struck it, but my stick breaking, it escaped. We set fire to some dead grass and fern, which burnt rapidly, and ignited some of the dead logs with which the ground was encumbered. In this way, the land is often advantageously cleared of unproductive vegetable matter; but it requires many burnings to destroy the logs, many of which, either partially consumed, or entire, are scattered in all directions over this Island. In the afternoon we accompanied E. Curr and G. Robson to Chilton, a farm house on the Surrey Hills, 19 miles distant. Three miles of the road is through dark Myrtle-forest, the rest over grassy hills, on which Stringy Bark trees are thinly scattered. The numerous brooks of this part of the country are margined with Tea-tree, Sassafras, Blackwood, and Telopea; the flowers of the last abound in honey, which we found easy to extract by means of the slender tubular stems of grass.
19th. After visiting a pretty little opening in the forest, we returned to the Hampshire Hills, by a place called Long Lea, where there is a single hut.
20th. In company with E. Curr and G. Robson we visited an open place in the forest, called St. Marys Plain; not because of being level, but because it is clear of wood, except a few clumps of Silver Wattle, on the hills, and lines of Tea Tree, on the margins of the brooks by which it is intersected. It is bounded by a lofty forest, and is a spot of great beauty. One of the brooks tumbles over a basaltic rock, and forms a very pretty waterfall, about forty feet high, and thirty wide. It is decorated with Tea Tree, at the top and sides; and at the bottom, a shrubby Aster, with toothed leaves, is loaded so profusely with pure white blossoms as to bend gracefully in all directions. The grassy hills are besprinkled with Buttercups, Blue Speedwell, Flax, Stylidium, and little white flowers resembling English Daisies. Several Brush Kangaroos sprang from their hiding-places as we approached them.—The road to this place is through a succession of Myrtle and Stringy-bark forest. The track up an ascending portion of the former, may be compared to a staircase of wreathed roots.
21st. Edward Curr returning to Circular Head, J. Milligan and I accompanied him as far as Emu Bay.—On an old road called the Lopham-road, a few miles from the Bay, we measured some Stringy-bark trees, taking their circumference at about 5 feet from the ground. One of these, which was rather hollow at the bottom, and broken at the top, was 49 feet round; another that was solid, and supposed to be 200 feet high, was 41 feet round; and a third, supposed to be 250 feet high, was 55½ feet round. As this tree spread much at the base, it would be nearly 70 feet in circumference at the surface of the ground. My companions spoke to each other, when at the opposite side of this tree to myself, and their voices sounded so distant that I concluded they had inadvertantly left me, to see some other object, and Immediately called to them. They, in answer, remarked the distant sound of my voice, and inquired if I were behind the tree!—When the road through this forest was forming, a man who had only about 200 yards to go, from one company of the work-people to another, lost himself: he called, and was repeatedly answered; but getting further astray, his voice became more indistinct, till it ceased to be heard, and he perished. The largest trees do not always carry up their width in proportion to their height, but many that are mere spars, are 200 feet high.
The following measurement and enumeration of trees growing on two separate acres of ground in the Emu Bay forest, made by the late Henry Hellyer, the Surveyor to the V. D. Land Company, may give some idea of its density.
| 500 | Trees under | 12 | inches | in girth. | |
| 992 | do. .. | 1 to | 2 | feet | do. |
| 716 | do. .. | 2 to | 3 | do. | do. |
| 56 | do. .. | 3 to | 6 | do. | do. |
| 20 | do. .. | 6 to | 12 | do. | do. |
| 12 | do. .. | 12 to | 21 | do. | do. |
| 4 | do. .. | 30 | do. | do. | |
| 84 | Tree Ferns. | ||||
| ——— | |||||
| 2,384 | Total. |
| 704 | Trees under | 12 | inches | in girth. | |
| 880 | do. .. | 1 to | 2 | feet | do. |
| 148 | do. .. | 2 to | 3 | do. | do. |
| 56 | do. .. | 3 to | 6 | do. | do. |
| 32 | do. .. | 6 to | 12 | do. | do. |
| 28 | do. .. | 12 to | 21 | do. | do. |
| 8 | do. .. | 21 | 30 | do. | do. |
| 8 | do. .. | 30 | feet and upwards | ||
| 112 | Tree Ferns. | ||||
| ——— | |||||
| 1,976 | Total. | ||||
| ——— |
22nd. We spent the day with a young man who had charge of the Emu Bay Stores.—In walking on a hill in the forest, we fell in with the trunk of a White Gum, nearly 100 feet long, and of such even circumference that it was not easy to determine which end had grown uppermost: it was rather the thickest in the middle. It had been broken off at about 15 feet from its base, and precipitated upon its top, which had been broken to shivers, and the trunk making a somerset, and shooting forward down the hill, had made a vista through the scrub.—In the forest here, we found a curious epiphyte of the orchis tribe, afterwards named Gunnia australis. Epiphytes are so called because they grow upon other trees, without becoming incorporated with them. This was growing upon the branches of the larger shrubs, especially upon Coprosma spinosa, which last has small, red and rather insipid berries, that are sometimes preserved, under the name of Native Currants.
In the neighbourhood of Emu Bay, there are rocks of felspar, or of quartz, of a reddish colour, and there are traces of granite in this vicinity, as well as at the Hampshire Hills, but the country is chiefly basaltic.—Sometimes, when large trees are blown over, they bring up portions of slender, basaltic columns with their roots. Much of the earth in the forests is rich, red, basaltic loam.
23rd. We assembled the assigned servants, to whom J. Milligan read a portion of Scripture, after which I spoke to them on the importance of securing the salvation of their souls.—This proved an awakening time to a poor prisoner, who died some years after at Launceston, in a hopeful state of mind.
While here, we saw some fires, at a distance, to the eastward, along the coast, which were supposed to be those of lime-burners; but I felt no mental attraction toward them, at which I was surprised. On afterwards ascertaining that they were the fires of a few natives, who showed hostility, by spearing one of the servants of the Company, I could not but regard this as a mercy from Him, who can keep his dependent children out of danger, as well as preserve them when in it.
24th. We returned to the Hampshire Hills. On the way I ascended the trunk of a prostrate Stringy-bark, by climbing a small Black-wood tree. The Stringy-bark having laid long on the ground, was covered with moss and ferns: it measured 200 feet, to the first branches, where the trunk was about 12 feet in circumference. It was amusing to look down from the butt of this tree, upon my friend, who was on horseback below. We also measured some White Gums, supposed to be 180 feet high, which varied from 30 to 35 feet in circumference. While taking tea, our attention was arrested by a noise like a peal of thunder, which proved to have been occasioned by the fall of a lofty tree, at the distance of half a mile!
28th. We came to Chilton last night, and this morning ascended the mountain called St. Valentines Peak, which is probably 4,000 feet above the level of the sea, the Surrey Hills, from which it rises, being upwards of 2,000. It is of whitish, silicious conglomerate. The imbedded pebbles are small and rounded: some are translucent, and of various appearance, from that of semi-opal to flint; others are opaque, and white, red, or scarlet. The Myrtle forest extends part of the way up one side of the mountain, and is so thick and difficult to pass through, that though the distance is only six miles from the Hampshire Hills, the road taken to reach it, is sixteen. In the line between these places there are some scrubs, so tangled that to cross them, a person must travel among their branches at many feet above the ground. The sides of the Peak are clothed with shrubs, among which are, a low dense species of Richea and Cystanthe sprengelloides. The upper part is scantily covered with herbage, and is rocky: it commands a very extensive and remarkable view. The north coast is visible near Port Sorell. The Cradle Mountain, Barn Bluff, and lower parts of the Western Tier, bound the prospect on the east. Numerous mountains are visible to the south; and, on the west, the sea is seen, through a few openings among the hills. The whole, except the sea, the projecting rocks, and a few small, open tracts of land, such as the Hampshire Hills, Goderich Plains, &c. is one vast sombre forest; the open parts of which, having from 10 to 30 trees per acre, are not distinguishable from those that are denser, except in colour.—The dogs belonging to some of the company, killed a Black Opossum, and we destroyed two small snakes, with minute, venom-fangs. Two Wedge-tailed Eagles, called in the colony Eagle Hawks, shewed a disposition to carry off a little dog; but he kept close to us for safety. In approaching the Peak, we crossed some wet land, covered with Bog Moss, Sphagnum, of the same kind that occurs in England.
29th. Notwithstanding it is now midsummer, the weather is cold with hail and sleet. The climate here is much colder than that of the coast. We rode to a plain called, The Race Course; on which there is a hut, from whence one of the native Blacks was shot last year, by a young man who, when alone, observed one of them approaching slyly and beckoning to his fellows in the adjacent wood. A hut in the neighbourhood had been attacked by them a few days before, and a man killed; several others had also been speared. The young man that shot the Black became depressed, almost to derangement, at the idea of having prematurely terminated the existence of a fellow-creature.
30th. We remained at Chilton till to-day, for the purpose of having a meeting with the few servants of the Company. In the afternoon, we had also a religious interview with three men at a place named Wey-bridge; after which we returned to the Hampshire Hills.
1st mo. 1st. 1833. I measured a Tea Tree, Leptospermum lanigerum, 7 feet in circumference, and about 70 feet high. This is usually a shrub of about 10 feet in height. I afterwards met with one of these trees 80 feet high. A Silver Wattle, Acacia mollis? was 11 feet 2 inches round: the area of its branches and its height 60 feet. A Sasafras was 6 feet round and 140 feet high.—On a Myrtle, we met with a large fungus, such as is eaten by the natives in cases of extremity. It is known in the colony by the name of Punk, and is white and spongy; when dried it is commonly used instead of tinder. Another edible fungus grows upon the Myrtle, in these forests: it is produced in clusters, from swollen portions of the branches, and varies from the size of a marble to that of a walnut. When young, its colour is pale, and it is covered with a thin skin that is easily taken off. Its taste, in this state, is like cold cow-heel. When matured, the skin splits, and exhibits a net-work of a yellowish colour. It may be considered the best native esculent in V. D. Land.
A White Hawk, and some other birds of the Falcon tribe were observed here.—Among the few singing birds of this country there is one with a slender note, like that of a Red-breast; another has a protracted whistle, repeated at intervals.—The shrill chirp of the Mole-cricket has been heard during the two last days, and the harsh creaking note of a small Tetagonia ? a kind of fly, called the Croaker, is every where to be heard among the grass and bushes.
2nd. Showery with thunder. I dug up a Gastrodium sesamoides, a plant of the orchis tribe, which is brown, leafless, and 1½ feet high, with dingy, whitish, tubular flowers. It grows among decaying vegetable matter, and has a root like a series of kidney potatoes, terminating in a branched, thick mass of coral-like fibres. It is eaten by the Aborigines, and is sometimes called Native Potato; but the tubers are watery and insipid.
3rd. In company with J. Milligan and Henry Stephenson, a servant of the Company, from near Richmond in Yorkshire, we visited a place in the forest, remarkable for an assemblage of gigantic Stringy Barks, and not far from the junction of the Emu River with the Loudwater; the latter of which takes its name from three falls over basaltic rock, at short intervals, the highest of which is 17 feet.—Within half a mile we measured standing trees as follows, at 4 feet from the ground. Several of them had one large excrescence at the base, and one or more far up the trunk.
No. 1—45 feet in circumference, supposed height 180 feet, the top was broken, as is the case with most large-trunked trees; the trunk was a little injured by decay, but not hollow. This tree had an excresence at the base, 12 feet across, and 6 feet high, protruding about 3 feet.
No. 2—37½ feet in circumference, tubercled.
No. 3—35 feet in circumference; distant from No. 2 about 80 yards.[1]
No. 4—38 feet in circumference; distant from No. 3 about fifty yards.[1]
No. 5—28 feet in circumference.
No. 6—30 feet in circumference.
No. 7—32 feet in circumference.
No. 8—55 feet in circumference; supposed to be upwards of 200 feet high; very little injured by decay; it carried up its breadth much better than the large tree on the Lopham Road, and did not spread so much at the base.
No. 9—40½ feet in circumference; sound and tall.
No. 10—48 feet in circumference; tubercled, tall, with some cavities at the base, and much of the top gone. A prostrate tree near to No. 1, was 35 feet in circumference at the base, 22 feet, at 66 feet up, 19 feet, at 110 feet up; there were two large branches at 120 feet; the general head branched off at 150 feet; the elevation of the tree, traceable by the branches on the ground, was 213 feet. We ascended this tree on an inclined plane, formed by one of its limbs, and walked four a breast, with ease, upon its trunk! In its fall, it had overturned another, 168 feet high, which had brought up with its roots, a ball of earth, 20 feet across. It was so much imbedded in the earth that I could not get a string round it to measure its girth. This is often the case with fallen trees. On our return, I measured two Stringy-barks, near the houses at the Hampshire Hills, that had been felled for splitting into rails, each 180 feet long. Near to these, is a tree that has been felled, which is so large that it could not be cut into lengths for splitting, and a shed has been erected against it; the tree serving for the back!
7th. I accompanied J. Milligan in a visit to an open plain, previously unexplored, which we had seen from an eminence, and taken the bearing of, by the compass. We set out early and reached the place about noon. It was covered with long grass and tall fern, to which we set fire. As evening drew on, we made "a break-wind" of boughs, and thatched it with fern, &c, of which we also prepared a bed. Toward night, rain fell, but not so as to extinguish our tire, though it stopped the burning of the grass and fern. We were amused with the note of a little bird, in the wood near which we had formed our shelter, that in a shrill whistle, seemed to involve the words, "Who are you? who are you? Are you wet? are you?"—In passing through a woody hollow, we saw many of the tree-ferns, with the upper portion of the trunk split, and one half turned back. This had evidently been done by the Aborigines, to obtain the heart for food, but how the process was effected, I could not discover; it must certainly have required considerable skill. Many small branches of the bushes were broken and left hanging: by this means these people had marked their way through the untracked thicket.
8th. The morning being wet, we concluded to return to the Hampshire Hills, and having to pass over the burnt ground on which the charred stems of the fern were standing, we were blackened by them in a high degree; but afterwards, on coming among wet scrub, we were as effectually washed. We then passed 4½ hours in traversing a dreary Myrtle-forest, making frequent use of the compass, and sometimes losing sight of each other, by the intervention of tree-ferns. We were much impeded by roots of trees projecting above the grassless surface of the earth, and by fallen and decaying timber. In crossing some of the latter, of large dimensions, a crack would sometimes inspire the idea of danger of incarceration, in the trunk of a rotten tree. The silence of the forest was only disturbed by a solitary Black Cockatoo and a parrot, and by the occasional creaking of boughs rubbing one against another. Near the Guide River, I measured two Myrtles of 32 and 45 feet round: these and many others appeared to be about 150 feet high. Few Myrtles exceed 30 feet in circumference, and they often diminish suddenly at about 10 feet from the ground, losing nearly as much in circumference.
12th. Part of the day was occupied in Natural History observations.—In the borders of the forest, which has here several trees from 35 to 40 feet in circumference, there are tree-ferns of unusual vigour: some of them have 32 old, and 26 new fronds, of 9 feet long: the most common number is 8 old and 4 new, exclusive of the dead ones. In some of the denser parts of the forest, the Celery-topped Pine occurs, and attains a stature adapted for masts: its fruit is somewhat like that of the Yew.—A laurel-like shrub of great beauty, with clusters of white blossoms, half an inch across, Anopterus glandulosus, grows by the sides of the Emu River, in shady places.
The Brush Kangaroo is common here, as well as in other parts of the Island: it is easily domesticated: one at the Hampshire Hills that is half-grown, embraces the hand that rubs its breast; it rambles away and returns at pleasure, feeds chiefly in the evening, and has a voice like a deer, but more complaining.—Dogs that have become wild, have multiplied greatly in this part of the Island, and are very destructive to sheep. The animal, called in this country the Hyena and the Tiger, but which differs greatly from both, also kills sheep: it is the size of a large dog, has a wolf-like head, is striped across the back, and carries its young in a pouch. This animal is said sometimes to have carried off the children of the natives, when left alone by the fire. One is said to have faced a man on horseback, on the Emu Bay Road, probably having had its young ones in the bush, too large for its pouch. Another animal of the same tribe, but black, with a few irregular white spots, having short legs, and being about the size of a terrier, is commonly known by the name of, the Devil, or the Bush-Devil: it is very destructive to lambs. Smaller species of an allied genus, but more resembling the Pole-cat in form, are known by the names of Tiger-cat and Native-cat. These are destructive to poultry. The whole group eats insects, particularly Grass-hoppers, which are extremely abundant in some parts of the Island. Some of the Owls also eat insects: a number were taken from the stomach of a small round-headed species, shot a few evenings ago. There is likewise here a beautiful owl, nearly allied to the Barn-Owl of England. The Land-lobster, noticed at Port Davey, throws up its chimneys also in wet ground at the Hampshire Hills.
14th. I walked with J. Milligan to some wet plains, covered with rushy herbage, and passed through some forest where a dense, wiry scrub of a white flowered Bauera greatly impeded our progress. We got turned round in it, and the day being cloudy, we could not correct our course by the sun. On discovering that the compass pointed the contrary way to what we expected, we had to summon all our resolution, to follow its guidance, especially as we had heard many tales of its being attracted by ironstone, in this country; but we had cause for thankfulness in being enabled to resolve to prove it, for an error here might have placed our lives in imminent peril. Though the compass, in some instances, may possibly have been attracted, so as not to point accurately, I suspect, that in a majority of cases in which this is alleged to have taken place, it was not so, but that the parties who had become bewildered, having lost their confidence in this useful instrument, had wandered at random, till by some accident, they discovered where they were; and then, without proving whether the compass was wrong or not, laid the blame upon it, rather than acknowledge that themselves had missed the way.
G. W. Walker and two of his nephews, felled a Stringybark, that had been burnt hollow, and on this account had been left by the sawyers: it was 10 feet 9 inches in circumference, at 3 feet up, and 4 feet 3 inches round, at the first branch, which was 143 feet from the ground. The extreme height was 215 feet. They brought down another, that was 12 feet 6 inches, at 3 feet from the ground; 4 feet, at 116 feet up, where the first branch was inserted; at 164 feet from the ground, the line of the trunk branched off, and the highest portions of the head were 216 feet.
18th. I again accompanied J. Milligan on an exploratory excursion. We visited the remains of a bark hut, in which a man who had been a prisoner, and was employed by the Aborigines Committee, to capture the natives, fired upon a party of them as they sat around their fire, with the recklessness that characterizes cowardice. One woman was killed, and others were made prisoners. There is reason to believe that this outrage, for which the man was discharged from his employment, led to increased animosity toward the white population, that resulted in loss of life on both sides. The Aborigines had robbed a hut on Three-brook Plain, two miles from the settlement at the Hampshire Hills, a short time before.—We were annoyed by leeches, when stopping to take our meals: they seem to have the power of perceiving persons at a distance, and may be seen making their way through the grass toward them, two or three yards off; we took about a dozen from our clothes, but more than that number eluded our vigilance, and obtained firm hold before being discovered.
19th. We slept near a brook last night, having previously burnt off the grass, and swept the place to clear it of leeches; early this morning, we proceeded further into the forest, which became extremely thick. On the slope of a hill J. Milligan felled a small tree, to make an opening, to see through, and we climbed about 30 feet, up the trunk of a Musky Aster, which had here become arboreous; but nothing was visible except tree tops spreading over hills and valleys. We became perplexed by missing a river that we expected to have come upon, but having confidence in our map and compass, pursued our way with more comfort than our prisoner attendant, who looked downcast, and said, it would be a bad set, if we did not get out of the bush to-morrow. When greatly fatigued, we heard the sound of a cataract, and determined to visit it. The water of what proved to be the union of our lost river with another, rushed down a rugged, basaltic channel, falling at intervals for about 300 yards; the whole elevation being about 100.—We had had some wine with us, and had taken it mixed with water; but it was exhausted some time before reaching this spot; and I was greatly surprised, on eating a morsel of food and drinking a draught of unadulterated water, to find my strength restored, in such a degree as to enable me, with comparative ease, to ascend a hill covered with forest, so thick as to resemble hop-poles, which often required to be pushed aside, to make a passage. After sunset, we discovered some Black-wood trees, and soon a few blades of grass; these were cheering as indications of the margin of the forest; and shortly after, to our great satisfaction, we emerged upon Three-brook Plain. The Myrtle forest was excessively dark, and the road through it so miry, that we had to use sticks to support ourselves, while feeling with our feet for roots to step upon; but patience and perseverance brought us safely to the Hampshire Hills by bed time. Some dogs that accompanied us, killed a Kangaroo and a Wombat, both of which supplied us with food. The latter is sometimes met with in the deepest recesses of the forest.
20th. We assembled for religious purposes, with the Officers and Prisoner-servants of the establishment. G. W. Walker read the Epistle to the Colossians, and I made a few remarks on the efficacy of Divine grace, and of faith in the Son of God, as shown in the conversion of Onesimus, whom the Apostle commends to the Colossian church, and in another epistle, also to Philemon, his master, from whom he had run away. I pressed upon the audience the necessity of seeking to know the same transforming power to operate in themselves, and to bring them from under the dominion of Satan, and into communion with God.—Few of the free servants have chosen to be present on such occasions: several of them were at work this afternoon, contrary to orders. Many of them are very reckless, and have little command over themselves. One of them, a short time since, set out with the overseer of the establishment, for Launceston, to buy himself a saw, and obtain a work-mate, but he stopped at the first public-house he came to, spent £18 that he had saved, and ran into debt several pounds more. The overseer found him at this place, on his return, and brought him back without saw or mate; and from the effect of continued inebriation, he was in danger of perishing from cold which they had to endure on the way.—Cases similar to this are not uncommon in the Australian Colonies.
22nd. We took leave of our kind friends at the Hampshire Hills, and accompanied by G. Robson and J. Milligan, proceeded to Chilton.—Heavy rain fell, and the cold became so great, that we were glad to retire to bed early, for protection from the piercing wind.—By a register kept by my friend Joseph Milligan, of the quantity of rain that fell at the Hampshire Hills, from 1835, to 1839, the mean annual quantity appeared to be upwards of 67 inches. In 1837, it exceeded 80 inches. The greatest fall in one day in the five years, was upwards of 4 inches.
23rd. George Robson returned, and the rest of our company proceeded to Burleigh, another of the Company's stations. Notwithstanding it was summer, and large patches of ground were white with the blossoms of Diplarhoena Moroea—an Iris-like plant, common in the colony, the Barn Bluff and other mountains adjacent, were covered with fresh snow, and the tops of the potatoes at Chilton were touched with frost. The land here is high, with marshy flats and grassy forest. The trees of the open ground are chiefly Stringy-bark 20 to 30 feet in circumference, and 70 to 100 feet high. The country of the Hampshire and Surrey Hills, has proved unfavourable for sheep, but seems adapted for horned cattle.
24th. We crossed the Leven River, travelled through some open forest, and over the swampy Black Bluff Mountains, which are 3,381 feet high, and crossed a fine open country, called The Vale of Belvoir, in which there is a sheet of water named Patterdale-lake. This vale has numerous pits of water and streams, even with the grass, dividing and again uniting, so as to make travelling difficult. There are also deep fissures in the earth, destitute of water.—We proceeded over the Middlesex Plains, one of the grants of the V. D. Land Company, which is at present unoccupied, and crossed the Iris River three times: we then entered an open forest of White and Common Gum, that continued till we reached Epping Forest, which is of Stringy-bark, where, near a vacant stock yard, we encamped for the night.—When crossing one of the brooks on the Vale of Belvoir, a snake went into the water from the bank, and passed before my horse, which became so much alarmed, that he was very reluctant to leap over, or to cross any of the other brooks that we came to, in the course of the day. The route we travelled was upon what has been designated, The Great Western Road; but in many places in the plains it was quite lost, and could only be found again in the margins of the forest, by seeking for the marked trees.
25th. The track was more distinct. On the descent to the Forth, which, is about 2,000 feet, there are some beautiful views of woody and mountain scenery. The river is wide and rapid, and the sound of the great fall, called The Forths Gateway, is very distinguishable from the road. Gads Hill lies between this river and the Mersey: it is 2,588 feet high, very steep, and clothed with lofty forest, in which several of the larger shrubs become small trees.—In ascending this hill, a large Black Snake crossed the path, and I could not induce my horse to pass the place where it had been without leading him. On the top of the hill there are some pretty, grassy openings, called the Emu Plains; to which, after resting, we set fire, in order that the next travellers this way, might have fresh grass.—The descent of Gads Hill is almost too steep for horses: oxen have sometimes fallen over the side of the path, and have been lost in the forest below.
On arriving at the Mersey we found it considerably flooded. Here J. Milligan had some provisions deposited in a hollow tree, for himself and his prisoner attendant to return to.—After resting a little, we crossed this river, which is also wide, and so deep that three out of four of our horses, swam a short distance; but by keeping their heads a little up the stream, they got footing again before reaching the dangerous rapids, towards which the stream impelled them. Passing over a few more hills, we came to some small, limestone plains, called the Circular Pond Marshes, from a number of circular basons, that seem to have been formed by the draining off of the waters, with which the whole are sometimes covered, into subterraneous channels. Some of these ponds are full of water, the outlets below being choked with mud, others are empty, and grassy to the perforated bottoms. There are also some cavernous places.—We fixed our quarters for the night under the shelter of a wood, and by the side of a place resembling the bed of a deep river, that commenced and terminated abruptly: the water, which at some seasons flows through it, evidently finds ingress and egress through a bed of loose gravel.
After burning off the grass, and sweeping the place, a fire was kindled against a log, that proved to be rotten inside, and became ignited; the fire spread, and catching the grass, soon extended into the forest, which was full of brushwood, that did not appear to have been burnt for many years. The conflagration was exceedingly grand; it brought down some considerable trees that had been nearly burnt through by former fires: such as were hollow, burnt out at the top like furnaces. This magnificent spectacle cost us, however, some labour, in beating out the fire of the grass, which we burnt off before us, to keep the fire of the forest from igniting it and coming round upon us in the night. We had also some anxiety from the tottering state of a tree that burnt furiously, and was not far enough from our encampment to clear us, if it fell in that direction. From this we were relieved, by its fall, before going to sleep; but our rest was nevertheless disturbed by the crash of others falling during the night.
26th. We explored a few of the caverns, the entrances of some of which resemble doorways, and open into a grassy hollow. At the end of a long subteraneous passage, into which I descended with a torch of burning bark, there was a fine, clear stream of water, three feet wide and equally deep, emerging from one rock and passing away under another. The limestone was of a bluish colour, imbedding iron pyrites.—Between the Circular-pond Marshes and the Moleside Marshes, some elevated land occurs. The latter takes its name from the Moleside River, which also becomes subterraneous in some places.—When we had passed this place, we began to see herds of cattle, and a few houses of settlers.—After taking a meal by the Lobster Rivulet, so called from producing a fresh-water lobster, six to twelve inches long, we parted from our kind guide and companion J. Milligan, who had devoted much time and labour to promote our comfort and accommodation: he and his prisoner attendant returned with three horses to the Hampshire Hills, and we pursued our route to Westbury, with one belonging to the Government, which we had undertaken to convey to Launceston. At a location on the Meander, we met with Ronald Campbell Gunn, the most industrious botanist in Van Diemens Land, who wished us to join him in a botanical excursion. This we declined, not for want of inclination, but because the way was now open for us to proceed with more important business, and we were desirous of having a meeting with the people of Westbury on the morrow.—We crossed the Meander or Western River, at Deloraine Bridge, near the first public-house in this direction, to which allusion has already been made.—Some of the country, passed through to-day, is named Dairy Plains, and is open grassy forest. Toward Westbury, where we arrived in the evening, the trees were all dead from some natural cause, for an extent of several miles. In cases of this kind, the trees may possibly have died from drought; the long grass or scrub amongst which they grow, having been burnt off, and kept from growing again by the browsing of cattle, and the roots having thus become more than formerly exposed to the action of the sun. Had the trees died from frost or from fire, the roots would have pushed up fresh shoots, but this is not the case; and the surrounding trees, not absolutely on the level ground, and consequently, not having been originally accustomed to much moisture, are still living.
27th. Westbury consists of a small number of weatherboard houses, two of which are inns: the others belong to the military establishment. In one of these we found, as temporary residents, the family of George P. Ball, an officer lately returned from service in India, with whom we had previously become acquainted, and by whose assistance, several of the inhabitants were collected at the military barracks, where I preached to them the Gospel of peace through Jesus Christ, and pointed out the necessity of repentance, and the danger of impenitence.—Having been long in a part of the Island where there are no public-houses, and where the evils arising from strong drink are little seen, we were forcibly struck with their exhibition at Westbury, where intoxication, profane language, and depravity of countenance, bespoke in an appalling manner, man led captive of the devil at his will.
28th. Our kind friend G. P. Ball accompanied us as far as the settlement of P. Ashburner, a respectable magistrate, also returned from India, to whose family we paid a pleasant visit.—Some of the locations of settlers in this neighbourhood are upwards of 20,000 acres.—We crossed the South Esk at Entally Ford, and when it became dark, got involved among unfinished, post and rail fences, which perplexed us greatly. This is a trial of patience not unfrequent in a country in which enclosure is commencing, and one which we generally avoided by travelling on foot. It was late before we reached the town, notwithstanding we had been long in sight of it. We found comfortable accommodation for the night, at the Launceston Hotel.—The distance from the Hampshire Hills to Launceston is 113 miles.