Night wanes -- the vapours round the mountains curl'd Melt into morning, and light awakens the world.
We are again on the road, and find ourselves in the vicinity of Aaron's pass, where Tabrabucca swamp varying from a quarter to half a mile in width, and about seven miles in length, situated on the summit of the range, sweeps round in the form of a horseshoe and is the main source of the Crudine, which, falling through stupendous chasms in the sandstone formations, becomes auriferous when it descends to the level of the quartztferous schists, separating by its deep basin the great range of the Australian cordilleras from the schistose plateau to the westward: after a southerly course of about forty miles it disembogues into the Turon. It is to this deep watercourse receiving all the drainage, and following the western base of the mountains for nearly forty miles, that the auriferous table lands, stretching to the banks of the Macquarie, are indebted for their present elevation, and for their preservation from that disintegration which has taken place, both to the northward, in the basin of the Meroo, and to the southward in that of the Turon. It is to that disintegration, however, that those valleys or lower levels chiefly, owe the golden deposits which have gained for them a world-wide celebrity. Those clouds and vapours rising from the wilderness of waters, and wafted to the mountains by aerial currents, and eddies caused by their superior elevation, and their geographical position running parallel to the coast, furnish a perpetual supply of fertilizing streams, which, gushing from the springs, and descending from the heights, have formed a hundred channels, through which they reach the western plains, fulfilling their bounteous mission as they roll onward, until again reunited with the parent ocean. Gullies become ravines, and ravines deepen into valleys by the cease less abrasion of the rushing waters, which as the streams unite become the basins of rivers, increasing in volume as they progress -- mountain after mountain succumbs to their resistless power, leaving no other trace, of their existence than the golden treasures with which they were once enriched and which now mark their former site. He who standing on the summit of the main range looking to the eastward, sees the stupendous wrecks of a superior formation, towering upwards thousands of feet, with their white precipices crumbling under the action of the elements, must be convinced that the country is gradually lowering, that the sterile crust is being removed, and that it is becoming fitted for the habitation of man, and in this, must recognize the hand of Him to whom a thousand years is but as a day. And now, let us revert to matters more appertaining to the short scan of our own existence. Gold has been found in various parts of the lower Crudine in considerable quantities, but frequent overwhelming floods have rendered its working precarious, and prevented its being a favourite resort of diggers. Returning to the swamp we will note that the surface consists of a rich black loam; it is treeless, the greater part awaits the plough, and the remainder could be drained at an expense much below the cost of clearing forest land. Some portion is private property which has been but little improved, and a considerable extent is still at the disposal of the Government. Following the Sydney Road for five miles, along the summit of the range, over alternate corytomerate ridges, and rich flats covered with a deep black loam, susceptible of the highest cultivation, you reach a swampy plain, in which Cunningham's Creek has its source, from which it descends to the Crudine. In the limestone ridges bordering this flat to the northward and eastward, are immense masses of the purest white marble, and at no great distance some beautiful variegated varieties may be found these, at some future period, may prove of great value. A mile further brings you to a first-class roadside inn with convenient stockyards and paddocks; and three miles beyond this, passing over Kane's Flat, to the left of which there are some remarkable-looking limestone ranges and precipitous sandstone peaks, with two or three naked-looking homesteads at their base, you arrive at another caravansary, where the paddocks are extensive, and the accommodation for beasts particularly good. For the last few miles the summit of the range has assumed the character of a plateau, sloping slightly to the south-west. Rich declining flats were numerous, usually containing abundance of water. Timber good, and the country generally adapted for the growth of cereals was, sufficiently extensive to sustain a numerous population. The cultivation along the road was of the most trifling character, being confined to the produce of a few tons of hay and a few bushels of wheat, by publicans, for their own consumption. Up to the present moment, land near the line of road appears to be valued only in proportion to the facilities it offers for the establishment of public-houses, and the majority, if not the whole, of the residents for a distance of eighty or ninety miles are either innkeepers or persons expecting to arrive at that dignity. Corn being sold at about three times the price it realizes in Sydney, is the best criterion of the state of agriculture in the district. The traffic by this route has increased, and is increasing, and the time has arrived when it is probable that two or three agricultural villages on the line between Mudgee and Bowenfells would be self-supporting. The road presents no extraordinary engineering difficulties to be surmountcd; being on the top of a range, the water-courses are few and insignificant. On the conglomerate ridges nature has done nearly all that is requisite, and material is abundant throughout the districts; the chief difficulty will be where it crosses the numerous black soil flats, which will require much labour, and some skill, in its construction. Six inches thick of metal, spread upon the black soil, will not be very durable; but it is perhaps all we can afford to do at the present moment in the way of road-making. Roads under all forms of Government, and in all ages, have been considered of the first importance as a means of promoting civilisation, and developing the resources of a country. The ways of the Roman people survived their Empire, and even now may be traced across Europe from the Bay of Biscay, or the German Ocean, to the shores of the Euxine; and the roads of Napoleon will be an enduring monument to his greatness when his victories are forgotten. The sale of all the first class lands bordering on the great arteries of thoroughfare in the settled districts, to bona fide settlers, would conduce to the making of good roads and keeping them in repair; and it is possible that a poll-tax for the same purpose, of which history furnishes so many examples, would do more for the encouragement of agriculture than protective duties or any other species of legislation, Several road parties are to be noticed at work along the line, and as the remuneration under the contract system depends entirely upon the quantity and the quality of the work performed, the old Government stroke has fallen into disuse. The road overseer, however, will have to keep his eyes about him, otherwise soft sandstone may take the place of material more difficult to break, and which always can be had within a reasonable distance. On the other hand, the men employed should not be drawn within the influence of the rum cask more than absolutely necessary, and, above all, by the colonial servants. A receipt, or a contract signed in a tent is equally valid with one signed in a pot-house, and much more likely to be done with a cool head and a clear brain. Some of the publicans along the road seem to imagine that the late magnificent grant for repair of the highways was intended for the especial benefit of their fraternity, and have gratefully offered free quarters to overseers and others in connection therewith. What the object is cannot be mistaken. Of course, petty contractors will not seek interviews with the small officials. They will not have to wait, to dance attendance. Nor will they fancy in their stupidity that Boniface has any interest with the great man, and can help them to a favourable contract. If the heads of the department desire to have the public works efficiently performed they must nip this evil in the bud, they must not, through their servants, subject a rising class to temptations which few of them can withstand. It is part of the colonial education of a working man to drink whenever he enters a public house, if it is his last sixpence; one glass creates the necessity for another; he becomes habituated to the place. If he is a petty contractor his men are left to themselves, first for a few hours daily, then for days together: the contact at last falls through, the man is ruined, his little plant is sold to pay the publican's bill and the poor labourer is defrauded of his due; and the Government -- the Government stands up in its place and announces pompously to the world that the country is not yet sufficiently advanced to undertake public works by contract. And now another object draws our attention, it is the number of homeless, aimless men making their way to the capital, to swell the number of the unemployed. A servant no sooner completes his term of service, than he must go to Sydney, even if the costs of the journey absorb all his earnings, -- no matter what the dearth of labour in the interior, a crowd of idle men and women will be always concentrated in our chief city, until the labouring population are dispersed over the land in rural villages and homesteads, and the bonds of kindred and family property connect the humblest individual with some particular locality. The amount of capital, in the form of wasted labour, annually lost to the colony by this means is enormous; perhaps, more than sufficient to make all the roads in the settled districts. Excess of production would regulate the labour market; and, while some members of a family gathered round the humble hearth, made sacred as a home, others would seek pastoral service. Most of our social evils originate in the concentration of the people caused by their disgust of a wilderness that offers them no home, -- that is tabooed against all improvement, and where they only recognise servitude in its most uninviting aspect.