[31] On one occasion the progress of the fire was _against the wind_. See this stated and explained by Major Mitchell, "Three Expeditions," vol. i. p. 19. It may have been observed, possibly, in what has been related of the country and scenery of New Holland in its natural state, that the descriptions of very beautiful or fertile spots have been comparatively few. Now, although it is true that a very large portion of the known surface of that island is occupied by the sandstone rock, which is in its very nature utterly barren, nevertheless, it is by no means to be supposed that there is any scarcity of most rich and beautiful land--some of it fit for immediate occupation--to be found in most parts of Australia. In attempting to draw a picture of a distant and remarkable region, we are almost sure to mark and bring distinctly out its most peculiar and striking features; the scenes resembling those of our own quiet and happy land are passed over as tame and familiar, while the dreariness of the desert, the horrors of a "barren and dry land where no water is,"--the boundless plains, or the bare mountain-tops, the lonely shore or the rocky isle--scenes like these, are commonly dwelt upon and described. In short, the very spots which are least enticing, _in reality_, for the colonist to settle in, are often most agreeable, _in description_, for the stranger to read of. But, since the reader must not be left with the erroneous and unpleasant impression that the country of which we have been treating is, for the most part, a mere wilderness, if not a desert, we may select two recently-discovered districts of it to serve for a favourable specimen of the beauty and fertility of many others, which cannot now be noticed.