to the height of fifteen or twenty feet, and then suddenly putting forth leaves in every direction, four or five feet in length, and exactly like the leaf of the common fern,--the different kinds of palms rising to the height of seventy or one hundred feet, and then forming large canopies of leaves; the cedars, the undergrowth of wild vines, creeping plants and shrubs, in rich abundance; all combine to remind the visitor of a tropical climate, of a more _northern_, or as Englishmen would naturally say, more _southern_, climate than that of Illawarra. Respecting the Cow Pastures, the rural district, which, next to Illawarra, is most deserving of notice in the county of Camden, little further need be added to what has been already stated in another place. Instead of _cow pastures_, however, nearly the whole of the 60,000 acres of good land, which form this district, have now become _sheep farms_; and the soil appears to be very suitable to the growth and perfection of the last-named animal. Towards the southern and eastern parts of the cow pastures are numerous streams, which retain water even in dry weather, and which communicate with the Nepean River. There do not appear to be any towns deserving of mention in the county of Camden, and its population is small and rural: it is crossed in every direction by steep ridges of hills, which almost always tower upwards like the roof of a house, and where the country is mountainous, meet so close as to leave only a narrow ravine betwixt them. The adjoining county, which may be next noticed, is that of Argyle, an inland district, not having any front whatever towards the ocean, and lying to the south-westward of the county last described. Argyle is about sixty miles in length, with an average breadth of thirty miles; it is a lofty and broken region, and abounds in small rivulets and ponds, containing water during the whole of the year. It is also well furnished with timber, although there are places where the trees are scattered sparingly, and likewise plains of considerable extent, entirely bare of trees. Of this description are Goulburn's Plains, which consist of open downs, affording good pasturage for sheep, and extending twenty miles southward from the township to which they owe their name, their breadth being about ten. There are some remarkable lakes in this county, or near its borders, the two largest of which are called Lake George and Lake Bathurst. Some of the old natives say that they can remember when these lakes did not exist; and dead trees are found in the bed of Lake George, the whole of which was, in October 1836, dried up, and like a grassy meadow.[131] [131] See Major Mitchell's Three Expeditions, vol. ii. p. 317.