Narrative of the surveying voyages of his majesty's ships Adventure and Beagle (vol.3)

522 NEW SOUTH WALES. Jan. 1836. From these facts it would almost appear as if, the effluvium of one set of men shut up for some time together, was poi- sonous when inhaled by others (and perhaps more so, if the men be of different races). Mysterious as this circum- stance appears to be, it is not more surprising than that the body of one's fellow-creature, directly after death, and before putrefaction has commenced, should often be of so deleterious a quahty, that the mere puncture from an instrument used in its dissection should prove fatal. January 17th. — Early in the morning we passed the Nepean in a ferry-boat. The river, although at this spot both broad and deep, had a very small body of running water. Having crossed a low piece of land on the opposite side, we reached the slope of the Blue Mountains. The ascent is not steep, the road having been cut with much care on the side of a sandstone cliff. At no great elevation an almost level plain extends, which, rising imperceptibly to the westward, at last attains a height of more than three thousand feet. From so grand a title as Blue Mountains, and from their absolute altitude, I expected to have seen a bold chain of mountains crossing the country ; but instead of this, a sloping plain presents merely an inconsiderable front to the low land of the coast. From this first slope, the view of the extensive woodland to the eastward, was striking, and the surrounding trees grew bold and lofty. But when once on the sandstone platform, the scenery becomes ex- ceedingly monotonous ; each side of the road is bordered by scrubby trees of the never-failing Eucalyptus family; and with the exception of two or three small inns, there are no houses, or cultivated land : the road, moreover, is solitary the most frequent object being a bullock-waggon, piled up with bales of wool. In the middle of the day we baited our horses at a Httle inn, called the Weatherboard. The country here is elevated 2800 feet above the sea. About a mile and a half from this place, there is a view exceedingly well worth visiting. By following down a little valley and its tiny rill of water, an