Page:Rambles in Australia (IA ramblesinaustral00grewiala).pdf/245

 did duty for roads. We bumped up and down steep ascents and descents, swung round impossible corners with glimpses between the trees of range on range of misty blue mountains stretching away illimitable, mysterious, aloof, with no sign of life on their soft gum-clad slopes.

Occasionally the coach stopped, and we got down, while the guide who accompanied us pointed out some famous views or some especially beautiful fir-clad gully, with a little trickle of water falling from the rocks and tinkling away unseen. There seemed to be no birds or animals. The guide said that the foxes were killing off the small native animals in these gorges, and that of the koala bears, which were once numerous, there were very few left. A price is given for foxes' skins in the hope of exterminating them. We were told in Melbourne that they fetched 10s. On one of these occasions we heard a curious noise, something like the gobbling of a turkey, made by a large brown bird, which the guide affirmed to be a lyre bird.

The Katoomba Falls, which we visited last, were on a much more imposing scale. The water comes down from a great height in a succession of falls. As a matter of fact an extra supply of water was turned on for the benefit of ourselves and some other visitors, so that altogether our