72 THE VICTORIAN NATURALIST. 



and was to be regretted, as the day had been selected for 

 a visit to the new falls on the Franklin River, far up in the hill 

 country, and everything had been got in readiness. However, 

 at a little before n a.m. it cleared up beautifully, and, 

 accompanied by Mr. Yeoman's two sons, a start was made 

 about ii. 15, the three of us being mounted on horseback. 

 The route taken was through very pretty scenery, especially 

 the portion of it which skirted the river, as the whole course 

 upwards is a fern gully, thickly interspersed with musk. We 

 crossed the river about five or six times on our way up, which 

 seemed to amuse the horses as much as ourselves, as they crawled 

 slowly down one bank, and rushed up the other like a shot, 

 evidently trying to leave the riders in the stream. Turning off 

 from the river too soon we struck straight up hill to find our- 

 selves fenced in completely, and some half-an-hour was spent in 

 removing a rail and getting the horses over, only to find the track 

 about ten yards away on the other side of the fence. However, 

 We soon reached the racecutters' camp, on Turner's track, and 

 were glad to alight and have refreshments, our watches indicating 

 2 p.m. Tea, bread, and butter despatched in bush fashion, we 

 left the horses, and accompanied by a new guide (Bob Vincent), 

 we proceeded along the race for perhaps a mile ; then, indicating 

 our desire to see both falls in the vicinity, we are led sharp to the 

 left, through the thickest piece of scrub it has ever been my lot 

 to penetrate. We go down the side of a huge ravine, and one of 

 the party suggested commencing by going down the stem of a 

 great dead tree, whose surface was like polished glass almost. It 

 would have been rather a rapid means of descent for my taste, 

 and "Boh " says to the proposer, "Just you try it." He is an 

 " old hand," and tells us some interesting yarns of the days when 

 he netted ^60 and ^"70 a ton for cartage from Geelong to 

 Ballarat. We left it to him to lead, which he did, converting 

 himself into something like an animated scrub-roller, for when he 

 could not creep under the scrub, lie rolled over it ; in some 

 places we scrambled for yards without touching terra Jirma. 

 Emerging from such hot work into the beautiful fern-clothed flat 

 at the bottom proved enjoyable, and here we found the tree 

 ferns bearing Fidelia australis in fruit, imparting to the scene a 

 singular appearence, being something akin to a host of bird's eggs 

 suspended all over the place. 



Thence we proceeded up the bed of the river — no easy task, 

 either, I and my camera narrowly escaping one or two duckings ; 

 needless to say, none of us arrived at the falls dry below the 

 knees. When we got there the beauty of the scene amply 

 repaid us for the toil experienced. I was obliged to photo- 

 graph the fall on the Franklin on two plates, as from its peculiar 

 shape, and the limited field of view, I could not get it all on one. 



