Vol. XXVI n. 



IQI2 



1 a Trip to the Omeo District. 179 



but unfortunately there is not sufficient of thie lode to warrant 

 the opening up of a mine. 



From thence we begin the ascent of the Dividing Range, 

 and negotiate what is known as the " Cassilis Gap" — an un- 

 broken and precipitous climb of three miles — till we reach the 

 top of the Alps. This is the division of the watershed, all rivers 

 on the south running into the Gippsland Lakes, and those to 

 the north entering the River Murray. From here the view is 

 sublime, and well worth travelling so far to see. The undulating 

 peaks of the Alps, alternately bathed in sunlight or clouded by 

 shadow, seemed to lie like a carpet beneath the feet, with the 

 thin silver winding of the rivers tracing a pattern upon it, while 

 overhead the sun shone with just a genial warmth from a 

 coerulean sky, and the rarefied air of the altitude (3,000 feet 

 above sea level) inspired one's senses and made the position 

 truly delightful. 



From thence we descend a little and cross the Livingstone 

 River, from which the water supply for the township of Omeo 

 is drawn by a race leaving the river about a mile above the 

 crossing, and up, up again, still climbing round the side of 

 Mount Livingstone, and thence into Omeo, which, like Cassilis, 

 also shelters in a valley 800 feet below, and cannot be seen 

 until one is right upon it. It is a fair-sized town, and one of 

 the oldest in Victoria, having sprung into existence with the 

 discovery of gold at the same time as Ballarat, and is the com- 

 mercial centre of a very large district ; but one would scarcely 

 expect to see such well-stocked business places when one has 

 just travelled over the road on which the produce is trans- 

 ported. All goods must be carted from the wharf at Mossiface 

 either in waggons drawn by teams of eight or more horses or 

 by bullocks, the freight from Melbourne averaging £4 per ton. 



The hills are not densely wooded, but there are upon them 

 large quantities of White Gum, Eucalyptus viminalis, Snow 

 Gum, E. pauciflora, Black Sally, E. stellulata. Peppermint, E. 

 amygdalina, and Swamp Gum, E. Gunnii. I noted that the 

 leaves of many of the seedlings of the Snow Gum, Eucalyptus 

 pauciflora, bore a most striking resemblance to the phyllodes 

 of Acacia penninervis (known locally as hickory), and, growing 

 as they were side by side, could not be distinguished by a 

 casual observation. The latter was particularly plentiful 

 along the Cassilis Gap, and the bark yields material which can 

 be worked up into the coarser kinds of paper. The steepness 

 of the hills may be gathered from the fact that a company 

 endeavoured to transport timber by means of a shoot, but the 

 hillside was so steep that the logs jumped from the shoot when 

 half-way down, and the attempt failed. 



