The flats or plains near the stations are seen animated by immense droves of cattle, revelling in all the luxury furnished by a rich herbage. This part of the colony may be correctly termed a land flowing with milk, and even, we may say occasionally, with honey, as the latter is sometimes procured by the native blacks from the hollow trunk of a tree; by watching the direction in which the bees fly when proceeding homeward, and following them, they thus discover and rob the industrious insects of the “sweets of their life.”[96] I remarked with some degree of pleasure, that although most of the stations are solely under charge of assigned servants, (convict is an obsolete word in the colony,) yet the huts are clean and well arranged. The men in most instances take care of the property entrusted to their charge, and are surrounded by every comfort; many of them (particularly those from the sister kingdom) have frequently assured me they never were so happy and well off before; and regarded their transportation as a blessing from Providence; and it certainly appeared to be a delightful change to many of the poor fellows, from the previous wretched lives they must have passed, both from their “unvarnished tales,” as well as what we know to be too true in unhappy Ireland.[97] Proceeding on my journey, the Tumat was occasionally visible; the road often leading away from it, to avoid the extensive reedy swamps which abound close to its banks, in some places, whilst in others fine meadow land, with profuse and rich herbage, about which herds of cattle were feeding, was seen. The trees near the river, from being constantly refreshed by the water, had a vividness of foliage, which enlivened the prospect, and imparted a smiling appearance to the country: travelling was excellent; but the places now passed with so much facility, are, during the heavy rains in winter, overflown, and rendered nearly, if not totally impassable. After crossing several creeks, (emptying themselves into the stream of the Tumat,) and riding about eight or ten miles, I arrived at a mountainous range, called “Mejungbury,” upon which were growing large quantities of a species of Callitrys, called the “Murrumbidgee pine” by the colonists, from having been seen first on the hills in the vicinity of that river: it is named Kara by the aborigines. The timber is described as close-grained and durable: the native blacks use it for fish-spears, on account of its lightness, which occasions it to float on the surface of the water: the white and rather fragrant gum-resin which exudes spontaneously in tears or drops from the trunk, is also used by them for several purposes; and the largest tree I saw about this range was thirty-five feet in elevation, and one to one and a half feet in diameter.