but he who can read the book of nature, spread out before him will recognise no chaos, no confusion. He will observe that every formation occupies the place assigned to it by immutable natural laws, -- that it is to these convulsions of a former system we are indebted for many of those minerals so essential to an advanced state of civilization. Beds of the richest iron ore are to be found stretching along the sides of these ranges, and traces of copper are abundant over a very extensive district. From one of the foothills I obtained specimens of a very rich copper ore and malachite, and amidst the mountains of the northern range there are mineral springs which possess the singular properties of acting as a strong emetic. Gold has also been obtained in many of the mountain streams but the upper district is nearly unknown, and has never been the scene of the gold diggers researches; two or three lodes of copper have been opened by companies but the high price of labour, and the difficulties attending the transit both of sup- plies and the ore over these rough mountain districts, have prevented the operations from being remunerative, they are therefore, at present, unworked. Lewis's Ponds Creek originates on the Ironstone Steppes, at the base of the Canobolas in the vicinity of Kyong, amidst swamps and marshes fed from the wreck of the limestone formations, which may be everywhere discovered on the plateau, from thence sweeping round to the north west, it descends to the head of the valley between the ranges, through which it flows until it unites with the Summerhill, draining a district containing a wealth of iron and copper that will afford employment to a large population when the golden treasures of the mountains have been exhausted. About the centre of this valley a tract of Government land was discovered which has been cut up into eight or nine small farms, which now form the homes of as many families, the remaining portion of the rich alluvial valleys and the forehills are unimproved private property. There may be still some fragments of public land unalienated, but under the present survey system, their whereabouts is a mystery, even to the oldest inhabitant, and that is Scotch Harry, who boasts of a residence of thirty years amongst these mountains. Through his praiseworthy exertions the inhabitants of the valley have an opportunity of attending divine service on the first Sunday in each month but the education of the children is yet unprovided for. Crossing the range to the sonthward, a journey of four miles conducts you to Emu Swamp, a wide alluvial valley of surpassing beauty, at an elevation of several hundred feet above Lewis's Ponds. The ranges here subside into open broad-based hills, and the country becomes open and undulating, twin ironstone knolls attract the attention and a rich calcarious ferruginous loam covers both hill and valley -- black in the flats, and a dark red blown on the slopes -- in some places to the depth of nine feet. You are now on the verge of a rich farming district, homesteads are scattered on the hill sides of every colonial form and shape, from the rude bark hut to the more pretending shingled cottage. Large tracts of arable land stretch up slopes, from which the forest has disappeared root and stump; and long lines of fence bewilder the traveller accustomed to wander at will over the ranges. The plough is at work in every direction -- and all the hawks and rooks, and magpies in the district seem to be gathered in the valley, and are busy after the ploughman, while flocks of white cockatoos sedately watch the proceedings from the highest branch of some withered gum as if conscious that their time of action had not yet arrived. With all this there is a something cold, and naked, and comfortless, about an Australian farm's use, it has no hold upon the affections -- it presents no image for memory to conjure up in distant lands -- it wants -- the heavy porch, the massive chimneys, the ponderous roof, the quaint little windows, the green hedgerows, the old fruit trees, the gardens, in short the cosy comfortable, paternal look of a good old English home. An Irish mud cabin with all its discomforts, looks more like a home, and has more affection gathered round it than one of our bark gunyah conveniences ."Home, Sweet Home," would certainly never have written by an Australian farmer, it is not improbable that much of the intemperance, that is the curse of the land, has originated in the neglect of all domestic comfort by the rural population, it has weakened the bonds of family affection, and brought a host of evils in its train that it will take a long series of years to eradicate. How it was introduced it is now needless to enquire -- love of country originates in love of home, and he who succeeds in inducing the people to improve the comfort of their dwellings, will be a public benefactor. Following one of the arms diverging from Emu Swamp to the southward and doubling round fences, and working through intricate dray tracks, and passing a wide expanse where the hills are deforested, and where fields of from 50 to 100 acres in extent are under cultivation, you at last reach a gap in the Limestone Hills, from the summit of which you look down upon Frederick's Valley, and the country stretching to the base of the Canobolas, which may be seen towering above the foothills, about twelve miles distant, as the plain from which they rise is more than 3000 feet above the sea, much of the grandeur that they exhibited at a distance here becomes lost. The summit of the Old Man Canobolas is itself said to be an ironstone flat; and ironstone and lime-stone, with an occasional denudation of trap, now forms the surface of the intervening country. Descending to the valley you find yourself in what looks very like an Irish black bog, through which a creek makes its way, until after a course of forty miles it falls into the Summerhill. The black bog soil found in these flats is precisely of the same formation, and presents the same appearance as that to be found on the broad treeless plains on the banks of the Condamine, on the Darling Downs, and in the valleys at the heads of the Richmond and Clarence Rivers. It is not fertile in its natural state, in winter it is saturated with water like a sponge and it becomes baked as hard as a brick, and is intersected by enormous fissures under the heat a summer sun. About half a mile lower down, crossing the creek, you enter an arm of the valley, which soon expands into a wide alluvial basin, between iron-stone ridges. This basin appears to have been the bed of an ancient lake, and its unbroken surface is a dead treeless level; in the centre is a small steam flour mill, and beyond it a fine inn and a store. It is a fearful affair to cross this flat, as after rain, the black tenacious mud is knee-deep, and cannot be avoided. On either side you ascend broad undulating plains covered with the soil formerly described but in some places the deep brown gives place to a light red, and the schists may be observed denuded in the deep water courses. There are here and there a few farms; but the surrounding country, lovely and fertile as it is, being the private property, is for the most part in a state of nature. Ascending the broad ridge to the right of the mill, auriferous indications become perceptible; the surface is composed of the debris of a calcarious ferruginous shist, and at a mile's distance, on the slopes falling into the basin of the creek, you find the works of the Wentworth Gold Mining Company. There is here a fine steam-engine of thirty-horse-power, with a complete crushing machine, and several huts for the accommodation of the workmen, and a neat shingled residence, which is occupied by the manager. The works are not now in operation, and I wandered over the premises in solitude. A partially decomposed quartz reef crosses the brow of the ridge, which has been opened for about 200 feet, and the investing schist appears to contain an unusual proportion of carbonate of lime, and are perishable in the extreme. Fragments of this rock that seems to have been exposed for two or three years exhibit some very beautiful examples of the net-work of silicious veins by which they are intersected, the softer rock having entirely disappeared. Immediately below the reef a large quantity of gold was obtained by ordinary diggers prior to the withdrawal of the licenses, and the establishment of the company. The sinking was through a quartose debris, to a depth varying from three to six feet, when a hard trappean rock was discovered presenting the appearance of having been abraded and waterworn, as if a powerful stream had passed over it at some remote period. All those who were fortunate enough to obtain claims here were eminently successful. The operations of the company appear to have been confined to three deep shafts now full of water, by which they seem to have penetrated the trap rock to a great depth, passing through veins of black iron flint, and under the trap they have come upon the schists, inter-mixed with carbonate of lime, that has probably filtered through fissures in the superstrata; their tunnels have been driven toward the creek, distant about a quarter of a mile; and these tunnels may have crossed many leaders similar in character to that at Burrendong, as I observed mullock attached to fragments of half de- composed quartz in some heaps of wash dirt. It is not probable that at the great depth to which they have penetrated large accumulations of drift gold will be found, as at Ballarat and other places. The overflow of trappean rocks which extended from the Canoblas to this valley was the result of a submarine eruption, as is evident from the superstrata of lime and ironstone which prevails in the district; those fluviatile accumulations that might reasonably be looked for in a country overwhelmed by a subaerial eruption cannot, therefore exist; but if the course of a subterranean current below the trap, and causing quartiferous schists from east to west, or west to east, could be discovered, it is pro- bable that gold would be obtained in abundance. Opposite to the Wentworth Company's works is a small round hill, on which a fine reef shows itself; the surface indications are auriferous. Gold has also been obtained on the northern bank of the creek, and as you proceed towards Orange spots have been exposed by denudation where the digger might set to work with advantage; but all this district is the property of individuals, who will naturally object to have their lands disfigured and rendered dangerous to their stock. To the eastward, about fourteen miles distant, are the King's Plains, a continuation of the same formations, where a few rich claims have recently been discovered. I was informed that the payable ground was limited, and fully occupied. I did not, however visit that locality, the season being unfavourable for the Abercrombie, which is almost a
'terra incognita',
where it is rumoured that a very rich reef has been discovered, which is not yet claimed. At Canowindra, or, the Belabula, a tiny reef is also attracting attention and has only been claimed to a small extent. Again, in the streams falling from the western side of the Canobolas gold has been found, and a few parties have been there for some time making good wages. Chinaman's Flat is spoken of as one of the most promising localities, but is difficult to find amongst the broken precipices, under the mountain. The Western will probably be connected with the Southern Gold-fields at some future period by a chain of discoveries tracing the auriferous formations from King's Plains through the wild and broken country that extends to Adelong, and even beyond to the Murray. The land stretching from Bathurst to the base of the Canobolas is said to be nearly all private property, although much of it is still unoccupied. The best quality and the most choice districts are held by free grants; the next best has been sold in large blocks at 5s. per acre; and such spots as were originally overlooked, or were thought to be unfavourably situated, have been subsequently sold by auction in small lots, at a price ranging between the upset price of £1 and £10 per acre. This district, too cold for stock, under proper cultivation, would be the granary of New South Wales. Here the crops have been never known to fail; water is plentiful, and irrigation practicable over vast areas. The produce ranges from eighteen to twenty-five bushels of wheat per acre; this is very far below the average of other wheat-growing countries, and it is not what the land here, with all its natural advantages, ought to produce.