came on a pile of stones, or cairn, evidently the work of some European,
which they attributed to Bass. They were much elated at the thought that
they had now passed beyond the limit of any previous attempt.*

*[Footnote.] This cairn was afterwards named Cayley's Repulse by Governor
Macquarie: but recent research goes to show that Cayley followed the
valley of the Grose, and was many miles to the north of where the cairn
was found. According to Flinders, Bass was not on the high ridge
traversed by Blaxland and party.

They could now look round with triumph on the panorama spread beneath
their view, and from the superior elevation which they had obtained, they
took the bearings of several noticeable landmarks that they had seen
before only from the flat country. The labour of cutting a path each day
for the horses for the next day's march had, however, still to be
continued; but the crest of the ridge was again wider, though the gullies
on each side were as steep as before. That night, in camp, the dogs were
uneasy throughout the night, and several times gave tongue and aroused
the sleepers, tired with their day's work. From what they found
afterwards, they had good reason to believe that the blacks had been
lurking around meditating an attack.

They then passed over the locality known in the present day as
Blackheath, and soon afterwards had their course diverted to the
northward by what Blaxland terms "a stone wall rising perpendicularly out
of the side of the mountain." This they tried to descend, but without
success, and so kept on along its brow. Undergrowth still delayed them,
and they still had to spend their energies in hewing a passage, until on
the 28th of the month, they camped on the edge of the steep descent that
had lately marched beside them. The decline was, however, not quite so