Page:The Present State and Prospects of the Port Phillip District of New South Wales.djvu/76

more than a hundred yards in any direction; and the appearance of the ground and trees being in most places similar, there is nothing to direct you but the wind, the sun, and your compass. The last is the best to trust to, as in summer the sun is so near the zenith that it is not easy to steer by it in the middle of the day; and the wind is not to be depended on for anything of correct steering, and is always liable to change. If you know the course you are to steer, and use your compass properly, you go on very well at first, that is, if you escape being (what sailors call) brought up by some impassable marsh or gulley, not laid down in your instructions. And here I should advise all new comers, before venturing upon a journey through the bush, to ascertain the meaning of the words, a tier, a range, a creek, a gulley, a track, a river, and a road. He may probably imagine that he knows the meaning of the last three; but he may nevertheless find himself mistaken. It sounds rather Irish to say, that when you have arrived at a place, you are in the greatest danger of losing your way; but such is very nearly the case. When you think that you ought to be at the place of your destination, you find yourself suddenly, perhaps, on the edge of an impassable gulley or river, and there is nothing to inform you whether you ought to go to the right or left; and as it is impossible in a ride of ten or twelve miles through a forest, to be sure of steering by compass within less than half a mile of your point, you cannot tell whether you are too much to the north, or to the south, or to the east, or the west. You have then to look out for sheep tracks, or horse