So delirious do the people seem to have been that, regardless of consequences, they rushed
"flat, stale, unprofitable."
Although the journey is liable to grow wearisome by its monotony to those who have previously gone over the mountains, the Zig Zag, at Lithgow Valley, never fails to arouse the dormant energies of the travelling public, who peer out of the windows with an admiring gaze, which changes to one of partial disappointment at the rapid descent into the valley. Would it not be a decided improvement if the engine were to be stopped at the bottom of the Zig Zag, and the passengers invited out to see this noble triumph of engineering skill, and finally to"wire in"
to a champagne luncheon in that charming grotto at the head of the valley where Ministers of State have been wont to disclose to the gaze of hungry M. P.'s the contents of their well filled hampers? Let me make a present of the suggestion to some leading authority on the subject of railway management, who should patriotically demand, from his place in Parliament, why the public are debarred from the privileges of a free pass and champagne luncheon, so persistently thrust upon Russians, Prussians, Yankees, and every other description of foreigner. Travellers to Hill End have the option of three routes, one by way of Wallerawang and Mudgee, another by way of Rydal and Bathurst (the only road taken by the mail trains), and from Locke's platform to Bathurst, where there is ample coach and buggy accommodation. The line from Rydal to Locke's is very nearly level, and as substantial a piece of work as is anywhere to be found. The windings of Saltpan Creek are covered by numerous massive and handsome bridges, and there are one or two cuttings of enormous magnitude. It was from a peak overlooking this valley that the Bathurst Plains were first seen by their adventurous discoverers - Messrs. Wentworth, Blaxland, and Lawson. In the course of a week or two another length of line will be opened, and Bathurst will then be within an hour's drive of the railway terminus. I did not observe any marked change in Bathurst although signs of improvement are not wanting. Since my last visit a couple of years ago, a new market has been erected, another handsome church is being added to the goodly ecclesiastical edifices which adorn the central part of the town, and a small gasworks gives promise of more light in the thoroughfares at no distant date. The activity of the place appears to be somewhat quickened, and Bathurst especially ought to share the glorious anticipations of progress which are infusing new energy into the life of the colony. If intending visitors to Hill End by way of Bathurst take my advice, they will come by one of the day trains, and thus get a night's rest before encountering the fatigue of the journey between Bathurst and Hill End. Night travelling on the mountain line is now bitterly cold. The coach was late on Thursday morning, and the crowd of men, women, and children, to say nothing of carpet-bags and other"unconsidered trifles"
which were gathered round the Club House door, had a motley appearance as they tried to discover the approach of the Hill End coach along the fog beclouded street. When Jim actually came on to his stand, the scene which ensued was one which might well engage the pencil of the special artist of Sydney Punch. It is seldom that a heavy lumbering old coach is the object of such marked attentions; and the way in which we frantically scrambled for seats inside or out must have been laughable to an onlooker who did not care about being left behind. In less time than it takes to tell, about two dozen of us had precipitated ourselves into or upon the coach, but with such desperate expedition that portmanteaus, rugs, and other impediments were strewn about the street to be tossed up by bystanders who witnessed the fun. The passengers, however, proved to be as humane and good humoured as any average two dozen of her Majesty's subjects. One gentleman connected with the department of the Mint, who had obtained a snug seat inside, espied a poor woman with three very little girls standing on the steps of the hotel, crowded out. Before anybody else was aware of her presence, he had quietly ascertained that she had been on the road for a fortnight or three weeks, and was coming from beyond Adelaide to join her husband at Hill End. He instantly relinquished his seat in favour of the lady and mounted aloft. The Sarah Gamp specimen of the genus homo with her irrepressible umbrella and bundles, was not represented, nor had we the pleasure of the company of that venerable old tabby, between whom and your Sydney 'bus boy there has been such a protracted interchange of incivilities. The three rosy-cheeked babies (with "lollipops" and oranges to boot) were handed to different candidates for them, who had evidently never graduated at the nursing branch of the Infirmary, but we had hardly got shaken down, when, lo! there appeared another lady with three more children! I am not by any means clear that the philanthropic gentleman on top did not offer to relinquish his berth for lady No. 2; but this was too much for the good nature of that most good natured of drivers. An infinite succession of ladies with families of three must have loomed before Jim's vision, for without more ado he whipped up his team and we went away at a trot. No sooner had we got on to the rich alluvial lands outside the town than the pace was reduced to that of a funeral procession, and we had ample opportunity to watch the white fog banks curling up the mountain slopes to the left. That celebrated wheat field of Mr. Coombes (where Mr. Clements some years ago grew wheat which carried off the palm at one of the London Exhibitions) was duly pointed out and admired, and eventually, by dint of walking and riding, we had accomplished the magnificent feat of having done ten miles on the Queen's highway in something over three hours! I challenge Nemo to find anything like a parallel for that in the racing annals of Randwick. The pace, however, was altogether too desperate for the coach, if not for the horses. On turning smartly round a short steep bank at an acute angle of the road, the equilibrium of the coach was disturbed, and the body of the vehicle turned clean over on to its side. Happily the ring bolt, which fastens the fore carriage to the body of the coach, instantly slipped out, and the horses bolted off with the fore carriage at a gallop. As your correspondent was one of the inside passengers, all of whom unexpectedly found themselves standing on their heads, you will not expect him to go into particulars as to the cause of the capsize. I was about the first to get clear of the wreck, and I then saw the gentlemen who had been on the roof sprawling about among carpet bags and stones, several of whom in a most painful predicament. Some had jumped or been thrown to a surprising distance. A gentleman whom I understood to be an officer in the navy, sprained his ankle; a merchant from Ceylon made his first acquaintance with Australian quartz, by feeling its cutting power on his chin and his knee, while another gentleman, named Murray, who is travelling in the colonies for pleasure, had his kneecap so severely hurt, that he could not set his foot to the ground, the inflammation causing very rapid swelling of the knee. He and Mr. Biddell, of George-street (who appeared to be very much shaken), were shortly afterwards sent back to Bathurst in Mr. Chapman's buggy; Mr. Weekes, of Sydney, who was travelling with him, offering to go on by the mail. Mr. Edward Edwards, who suffered a good deal from a broad flesh wound near the buttock, was taken forwards to Wyagden in another buggy, which came up, and Mrs. Plummer, of Hill End, was left at the residence of Mr. J. B. Suttor; Mr. Lane, glassware dealer, of Sydney, was rather badly bruised; and Jim, the driver, was stunned for a few minutes by a wound on the side of his forehead, and one of his hands was a good deal lacerated. Most of the passengers were slightly hurt, but there is every reason to believe that in no case will the injury be more than of a temporary character. As I before said, the horses got clear away with the fore-carriage; the two shafters were found a quarter of a mile away"jacked up"
against a tree, and the leaders were caught further on. Had the horses remained attached they would probably have kicked some of us to death, or dragged us along with our heads on the ground, for we were so tightly jammed in that it would have been extremely difficult for us to have extricated ourselves. Those of us who were not hurt looked upon the process of emptying the coach with nervous anxiety; and as Mr. Rae handed out first the children and then the women, it was a grateful relief to find that the whole fifteen of us were alive, and sound in limb. How the passengers did numerous little acts of sympathetic kindness, and finally got the coach in trim for proceeding onwards, I need not stop to relate, for this communication is already sufficiently long.