"if they could manage the under-current and springs they had no fear about the gold."
The same answer would have applied with equal force to any portion of the Upper Meroo. Leaving the creek, you now pass over a beautiful swelling plainland, crossing a low ridge, arrive at the base of the main range, and commence an ascent both steep and toilsome. Having made your way over masses of trachytic and other trappean rocks, you next encounter tremendous masses of clay slate, intersected by veins and aglomorations of quartz, on the summit of which your further progress is impeded by a stupendous wall of mountain limestone, resting upon a coarse conglomerate of rolled quartz granite, and schistose pebbles, which itself, reposes upon the points of schistose rocks in vertical strata. The lime formation consists of a vast moss of calcareous deposit in horizontal strata, varying in colour from pure white to buff or orange, and rising in successive layers to a height ranging from 150 to 200 feet, each layer of fine alluvial deposit, separated by a band of pebble concrete, from 6 to 12 inches in thickness. These pebbles are, for the most part, quartz or siliceous or jasperiscd schists, and are similar in all respects to those usually found on a sea-shore. The whole is crowned with the wreck of a lofty superstrata of sandstone, impregnated with calcareous matter, and presenting the same appearances in its stratification as the inferior limestone. The face of these rocks is perforated with caves and caverns, containing stalactites and stalagmites in every possible shape, and many penetrate far into the mountains. This calcareous wall follows the trending of the range to the eastward, and in its course presents some of the wildest and grandest rock and mountain scenery in the world. These rocks, by the action of both wind and weather, have assumed fantastic shapes, representing spires, churches, towers, castles, and a thousand tilings, only limited by the powers of imagination. By the ceaseless disintegration of these rocks they have fertilised the adjacent valleys, and as they gradually retire be- fore the elemental warfare, and finally disappear, the gold bearing formations will become exposed, lower ranges, and new valleys, and new alluvial deposits will be formed. Many points of this formation jut out upon lofty spurs trending towards the Macquarie, and as they gradually melt away they may be traced to the last fragment found resting upon a clay-slate pinnacle. Turning to the westward I saw that all the ranges and table lands were lower than the range on which I stood, by the height of the limestone stratification, and I recollected that I had observed traces of the same formation on many of the highest summits that I had passed over. Ascending through, a narrow breach in the wall of rocks, you are now astonished to find yourself standing on a plain. A black sandy loam here produces the richest grasses, and a most luxuriant and varied vegetation. This plain is from half-a-mile to two miles in width, and is of an unknown length on whatever side you advance to the margin you find a precipice, and the gaps are few in number, difficult to approach from below, and more difficult to discover. From the vale you have no indication of the existence of this rich plain; there is nothing before you but the sharp outline of stupendous precipices. It should be named Macgregor's Paddock; at present it is known but to few. Descending from this plateau, you find many gorges and mountain streams falling into the valley; in one of which a narrow lead of gold has been followed up to the base of the limestone and worked out -- the others are in their primitive state. I have been thus particular in endeavouring to describe this splendid locality, in order to convey some idea of a belt of country of which it forms but a small portion, abounding in mineral and agricultural resources; and I have only to add that the sooner it is peopled by an honest and industrious yeomanry the more it will be to the interest of the proprietors of stock. Returning to the river, you now follow it up over flats and across low spurs for two miles, when it passes through the range. The auriferous indications continue up to this point, but the alluvial flats increase in depth, and the few old shafts which are occasionally to be met with prove that the diggers have never been able to reach the bed rock. Here the stream turns to the south-east; at this point, a party succeeded in reaching the bottom, and obtained 7 ozs. of gold in two square feet of wash dirt, when they were driven out of the shaft by water, and made no further attempt, The track now crosses the stream and passes a small farm, consisting of two paddocks, a hut, a family, and no cultivation, and soon ascends a gap in the main range, known as the Queen's Pinch. Descending, you find that the geo- logical formation of the country has undergone an entire change; you are surrounded by vast masses of rock of igneous origin, and the schistose or sedimentary rock has disappeared. At the base of the descent is a large creek, which has no auriferous indications, and which falls into the Cudgegong; and on the eastern side of this creek are steep ridges, consisting of a conglomerate, composed of large fragments of primitive limestone and a coarse red sand-stone. You have now passed the auriferous formations. Crossing these ridges an easterly course of about three miles brings you to limestone hills and undulating flats of unrivalled fertility, comprising several thousand acres, and beyond these you arrive at the property of W. Howman, Esq., on the waters of the Cudgegong. Retracing your route over the mountains, you descend again upon the Meroo where you left it, and, following the stream still towards its source, you find yourself in the centre of a district which was at one period the theatre of a tremendous convulsion. You pass a mountain capped with enormous masses of trap resting on the old schistose formation, the perpendicular strata of which has been rent into immense blocks, some of which lay at its base, others retain their up- right position, and seem ever in the act of tumbling over and threatening to crush all beneath them in their downward course; while more of these stupendous masses of stone retain their original place, and, crossing the mountain in a right line, recall the recollection of Stonehenge, but on a scale besides which the latter would dwindle into insignificance. Onward still, and you pass through richly grassed narrow flats, overhung by tremendous beetling precipices on the east bank; while the left slopes away to the summit of the parallel range that separates you from Redbank. Now the mountains approach each other, and you pass with difficulty through a dark chasm, towering rocks on either hand, and now the western bank opens out into lovely sloping flats of surpassing beauty, clothed with a bright green, and shaded by a majestic forest; but the eastern bank still retains its frightful precipices. Meanwhile two or three small streams send their tribute to the river, which still continues to be auriferous -- here filling long water holes to the brim, then disappearing under an accumulation of shingle, and again rippling along over sharp rocks in its journey towards the west, -- it is gradually becoming smaller. Onward yet, and it is still smaller; and now naked masses of clay-slate towering hundreds of feet upwards, are crowned with white limestone walls, illumined by the rays of a setting sun, piles of the coarse blackened conglomerate on which it rests have fallen to the base and obstruct your path. The stream now turns northward, you are rising to the top of the main range, and you begin to distinguish a large triangular flat; presently you reach it. This flat terminates in a valley, a sort of cul de sac; and, following the now diminished stream into that valley, it conducts you to a little spring at the foot of a gigantic gum, and then you are at the fountain of the Meroo.