Page:The Present State and Prospects of the Port Phillip District of New South Wales.djvu/20

 westward for forty miles. Near the Salt-water river are some beautiful situations, with just enough of timber on them for ornament and use. The distant mountains. Mount Macedon to the northward, the Snowy Alps and the Dandenong range to the eastward and southward, adding much to the effect on clear days. Along the Yarra river, the Moone ponds, and also on the shores of the bay are some very beautiful views. That which from my first arrival has always struck me as the main characteristic of the country is, its remarkably civilized appearance. It is difficult when you see trees intermixed with the most graceful flowering shrubs, grouped with all the effect which a landscape gardener could desire, and growing from a green sward, entirely free from overgrowing weeds or brushwood, not to fancy that the hand of man had been engaged in combining and arranging these elements of natural beauty. If to this be added a group of cattle resting in the shade, a rustic paling, or a winding road, you have a landscape such as our English artists delight to pourtray [sic]. I own that before leaving England I received descriptions of the same tenor with the foregoing with considerable distrust, making allowance for the language of enthusiasm excited by novelty, and anxious to find every charm in a country which the writer had adopted as his home. I cannot therefore expect that my descriptions should obtain more implicit credence. What I have stated is, nevertheless, perfectly true.

The land throughout the district may be divided into four classes. First—Rich alluvial plots of deep brown loam, formed of decomposed trap, generally free from