Page:Journal of the Royal Geographical Society of London, volume 2.djvu/129

 the country, is, probably, of greater elevation above the level of the ocean than any other range of mountains along the eastern coast, either within or beyond the tropic, since its summit is not simply covered with snow during the winter months, but has been seen perfectly white at other seasons of the year.

At the same time that these important geographical researches were carrying on in the southern parts of the colony, I was occupied with a party in the elevated country on the north of Bathurst, in which direction, at a distance of fifty miles from that settlement, the Cudgeegong, a tributary to the Macquarie, had been previously discovered, and stock stations erected on its banks.

In my excursion through that mountainous country, I succeeded not only in effecting a clear, well-defined route for the grazier to Liverpool Plains from Bathurst, but also in bringing the settlers of the latter district in direct communication with those farmers, who had taken their lands on Hunter's River.

The year 1824 had nearly passed away without the smallest addition being made to the knowledge already acquired of the interior country to the south of Port Jackson. Towards its close, however, Messrs. Hovell and Hume, two enterprising agriculturists (and the latter a native of the colony, possessing a considerable local knowledge), undertook a journey in a south-westerly direction from Argyle, with the design of reaching the sea-coast near Bass' Strait, and of ascertaining the nature of the intermediate country, of which the colonists, at that time, knew absolutely nothing. In their outfit for such an arduous excursion, the Colonial Government afforded but a partial assistance. Their more perfect equipment was derived from their own farms; and the results therefore of their tour claimed for them, very justly, the greater share of merit. Our travellers took their departure from a stock-station near Lake George, with the intention of pursuing a direct course to the south-west. This line of route, however, led them into great and insurmountable difficulties, for they soon found themselves entangled in a range of mountains connected with those of the Morrumbidgee, through which they could not possibly penetrate. They, however, soon perceived, that the only way by which they could extricate themselves and cattle from