The average height of these mountains is only from 2400 to 4700 feet above the level of the sea, and even Mount Kosciusko, the loftiest of the Australian Alps, is not more than 6500 feet high; yet its position is so favourable, that the view from its snowy and craggy top sweeps over an area of 7000 square miles. The rugged and savage character of these mountains far exceeds what might be expected from their height: in some places, it is true, their tops are rounded and covered with forests; but by far the greater part of the chain, though wooded along the flanks, is crowned by naked needles, tooth-formed peaks, and flat crests of granite or porphyry, mingled with patches of snow. The spurs give a terrific character to these mountains, and in many places render them altogether inaccessible, both in New South Wales and Van Diemen’s Land. These shoot right and left from the ridgy axis of the main range, equal to it in height, and separated from it, and from one another, by dark and almost subterraneous gullies, like rents in the bosom of the earth, iron-bound by impracticable precipices, and streams flowing through them in black silent eddies or foaming torrents. The intricate character of these ravines, the danger of descending into them, and the difficulty of getting out again, render this mountain-chain, in New South Wales at least, almost a complete barrier between the country on the coast and that in the interior—a circumstance very unfavourable to the latter.[72] In New South Wales the country slopes westward from these mountains to a low, flat, unbroken plain. On the east side, darkly verdant and round-topped hills and ridges are promiscuously grouped together, leading to a richly-wooded undulating country, which gradually descends to the coast, and forms the valuable lands of the British colony. Discovered by Cook in the year 1770, it was not colonized till 1788. It has become a prosperous country; and although new settlers in the more remote parts suffer the privations and difficulties incident to their position, yet there is educated society in the towns, with the comforts and luxuries of civilized life. The coast-belt on the western side of New Holland is generally of inferior land, with richer tracts interspersed near the rivers, and bounded on the east by a range of primary mountains from 3000 to 4000 feet high, in which granite occasionally appears. Beyond this the country is level, and the land better, though nowhere very productive except in grass.