THE VICTORIAN NATUKALIST. 159 



goal, and it was a good hour's stiff walk and climb before we got 

 to the foot of it. When looking at these hills from a distance, 

 they, being all covered with scrub, look smooth and easy to travel 

 over, but in point of fact their surface is mostly covered with 

 masses of rock, especially in the bed of any mountain stream, 

 which washes the soil away to the depths of twenty feet or more, 

 and we had a good deal of difficulty in working our way up one 

 of these streams, having to crawl through holes, clamber along 

 edges, jump over deep crevices, &c, and were thankful at last to 

 reach the foot of the big rock which we had come so far to 

 ascend. Only one of our natives, Blucher, would attempt to 

 ascend with us, but when he had got half-way up the smaller 

 point he went down again to join the others, and they soon 

 shouted up to us that they were going back to the camp, which 

 they did, marking a track for us to follow. On our ascending a 

 scrub-covered rift we found ourselves between the two tops of the 

 mountain, and ascending the smaller (native name Ginpure, 

 meaning younger sister), up a crack in the rock, in which some 

 small tough shrubs were growing, we reached the top. My 

 half-plate camera was often a source of difficulty in climbing. 

 We were here well rewarded for our exertion by the magnificent 

 view we had of the large, solid, bell-shaped mass of grey granite 

 rock which constituted the top of Peter Botte (native name 

 Alpaboolal, meaning big top, or Barbar, meaning elder sister). 

 It was leaning well over towards us, and we saw within three feet 

 of the top and clinging to the bare rock an orchid growing, with 

 masses of white flowers and with white and yellow butterflies 

 flying about it. We had an extensive panorama of the 

 surrounding country, and very beautiful it was — green, soft- 

 looking, scrub-covered mountains and hills everywhere, in various 

 shades of colour, and passing clouds bathing parts in shadow 

 as they sailed along. 



On looking out towards the Barrier Reef, we could discern the 

 white sand patches of the exposed reefs and islands, the bright 

 sunlight making them appear very distinct, but the horizon was 

 so far off that we could not make out the difference between it 

 and the clouds, and the white reefs on first sight looked as if they 

 were themselves the clouds above the horizon. The Barrier Reef 

 was about thirty miles from where we were, but we could make 

 out the intricate channels and the various islands, but not the 

 edge of the reef itself, probably being obscured by mist from 

 breaking water. We could just discern "Wyalla" in the distance, 

 the place from which we had started, but a big bush fire inter- 

 vening prevented us from seeing it very clearly. We found a 

 little stunted vegetation growing in the shelter of the loose rocks 

 lying about, but there was practically no soil to sustain anything. 

 One shrub which grows into a tree on suitable soil was about two 



