THK VICTOKIAN NATUKALIST. 93 



following one of the many cattle tracks in the locality. The track 

 eventually disappeared, and while we wandered along the top of 

 the range between the Snowy and the Leatherjacket we suddenly 

 saw a fine shaggy Dingo, Canis dingo, sniffing round a hollow 

 tree. I gave a Dingo howl, which brought the animal at once to 

 attention. It located us on the howl being repeated, and gazed 

 at us curiously for a few seconds till a yell sent it bolting away. 

 Thinking the track wound round this range low down the slope, 

 we descended the spur to the Leatherjacket Creek in a deep 

 gorge, where we had much difficulty in getting the mare on to 

 a small patch of ruslies growing on an island in the stream. It 

 was now nearly dark, so, after cutting away the scrub and rolling 

 logs out of the way, we camped on the only available spot on a 



slope. 



2nd April. — After a hurried breakfast the mare was packed as 

 lightly as possible, and with many misgivings we set off back up the 

 slope, 1,400 feet, to the top of the ridge. The creek— or, rather, it 

 is a river — here runs through a gorge with a vertical cliff, fully 60 

 feet high, of slate. The cliff" was capped with loose rocks, form- 

 ing a bad foothold, and on account of this the mare and I narrowly 

 escaped going over the cliff into the stream below. She slipped, 

 sat down'^ and slid to within a yard of the edge, where, fortunately, 

 I was able to hold her till she recovered strength and was success- 

 fully rushed up the slope to a safe position. On reaching the 

 ridge we could, through a gap in the timber, see Kosciusko away 

 to the N.N.E., and we decided to follow the ridge, which here 

 turned sharply to the north. To the south, on the horizon, the 

 bare prominent peak of the Pilot (6,020 feet) stood out clearly 

 beyond the forested ridges and valleys of the basin of the Indi. 

 We soon found the almost obliterated blazes of the old Manaro 

 track, and pressed confidently on. The track, rarely more than 

 18 inches wide, was covered with dead leaves, while all the leaves 

 and grass on both sides had been burnt by a recent, bush fire. 

 This characteristic of some bush fires is well known to bushmen. 

 About 7 miles from Groggin the track leaves the dividing ridge 

 between the Snowy and Leatherjacket Creeks, and plunges 260 

 feet down into the leafy depths of the latter creek. This could 

 appropriately be called the Leatherjacket Wall, and is apparently 

 the spot called Woolayian by the late Rev. W. B. Clarke, and 

 described* by him as a nearly vertical wall of slate. The rocks 

 are blates similar to those forming the Gehi Wall. They strike 

 generally N.N.E., and run in a strip along the valley of the 

 Leatherjacket. The country between Groggin and here had 

 been devastated by a recent bush fire, and no animals but the 

 Dingo were seen. Birds also were scarce ; they were chiefly 

 Grey Magpies and Laughing Jackasses. The rocks in this area 



* " Researches in the Southern Goldfields of New South Wales," p. 121. 



