Expeditions to South Australia, vol 2 | Page 9

visit his several stations,
overtook us in the midst of our troubles. We had already passed each
other frequently on the road, but he now preceded me to his
establishment at Yass; at which I proposed remaining for a day. We
stopped about three miles short of the plains for the night, at the gorge
of the pass through which we had latterly been advancing, and had
gradually descended to a more open country. From the place at which
we were temporarily delayed, and which is not inappropriately called
the Devil's Pass, the road winds about between ranges, differing in
every respect from any we had as yet noticed. The sides of the hills
were steeper, and their summits sharper, than any we had crossed. They
were thickly covered with eucalypti and brush, and, though based upon
sandstone, were themselves of a schistose formation.
YASS PLAINS.
Yharr or Yass Plains were discovered by Mr. Hovel, and Mr. Hume,
the companion of my journey down the Macquarie, in 1828. They take
their name from the little river that flows along their north and
north-west boundaries. They are surrounded on every side by forests,
and excepting to the W.N.W., as a central point, by hill. Undulating,
but naked themselves, they have the appearance of open downs, and are
most admirably adapted for sheep-walks, not only in point of
vegetation, but also, because their inequalities prevent their becoming
swampy during the rainy season. They are from nine to twelve miles in
length, and from five to seven in breadth, and although large masses of

sandstone are scattered over them, a blue secondary limestone
composes the general bed of the river, that was darker in colour and
more compact than I had remarked the same kind of rock, either at
Wellington Valley, or in the Shoal Haven Gully. I have no doubt that
Yass Plains will ere long be wholly taken up as sheep-walks, and that
their value to the grazier will in a great measure counterbalance its
distance from the coast, or, more properly speaking, from the capital.
Sheep I should imagine would thrive uncommonly well upon these
plains, and would suffer less from distempers incidental to locality and
to climate, than in many parts of the colony over which they are now
wandering in thousands. And if the plains themselves do not afford
extensive arable tracts, there is, at least, sufficient good land near the
river to supply the wants of a numerous body of settlers.
HOSPITALITY OF MR. O'BRIEN.
We left Mr. O'Brien's station on the morning of the 21st, and, agreeably
to his advice, determined on gaining the Morumbidgee, by a circuit to
the N.W., rather than endanger the safety of the drays by entering the
mountain passes to the westward. Mr. O'Brien, however, would not
permit us to depart from his dwelling without taking away with us
some further proofs of his hospitality. The party had pushed forward
before I, or Mr. M'Leay, had mounted our horses; but on overtaking it,
we found that eight fine wethers had been added to our stock of
animals.
HILL OF POUNI; ASPECT OF THE COUNTRY.
To the W.N.W. of Yass Plains there is a remarkable hill, called Pouni,
remarkable not so much on account of its height, as of its commanding
position. It had, I believe, already been ascended by one of the
Surveyor-general's assistants. The impracticability of the country to the
south of it, obliged us to pass under its opposite base, from which an
open forest country extended to the northward. We had already
recrossed the Yass River, and passed Mr. Barber's station, to that of Mr.
Hume's father, at which we stopped for a short time. Both farms are
well situated, the latter I should say, romantically so, it being
immediately under Pouni, the hill we have noticed. The country around

both was open, and both pasture and water were abundant.
Mr. O'Brien had been kind enough to send one of the natives who
frequented his station to escort us to his more advanced station upon
the Morumbidgee. Had it not been for the assistance we received from
this man, I should have had but little leisure for other duties: as it was
however, there was no fear of the party going astray. This gave M'Leay
and myself an opportunity of ascending Pouni, for the purpose of
taking bearings; and how ever warm the exertion of the ascent made us,
the view from the summit of the hill sufficiently repaid us, and the cool
breeze that struck it, although imperceptible in the forest below, soon
dried the perspiration from our brows. The scenery around us was
certainly varied, yet many parts of it put me forcibly in mind of the
dark and gloomy tracks over which my eye had wandered from