THK VICTORIAN NATURALIST. 



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ahead of us loomed mighty blufifs of granite, dotted with Snow 

 Gums in friendly niches and ledges. Their gnarled, knotted 

 boles, o'erhung with white spreading branches and dense, shming, 

 dark green foliage, showed sharply against the smooth, bare sur- 

 faces of the granite. Three Crows, Corvus coronoides, cawed 

 high overhead, trying to beat against the gale. In a few minutes 

 we reached the Manaro Pass, at an altitude of about 6,000 feet, 

 where glorious views were obtained from S.W. to N.W. across the 

 densely forested ranges and valleys of the Indi basin and 

 Benambra, and from S.E. to N.E. over the high ridges and bleak 

 plateaux of the Australian Alps and the wide, deep valley of the 

 Crackenback River, which, by its numerous smoothed and rounded 

 eminences seems to indicate a typical old glacial valley. How 

 bitterly I regretted, as after events proved, not takmg a series of 

 photographs of these magnificent views. Time was so precious 

 that we pushed on as fast as possible, hoping to get a good camp 

 before the storm broke. Near the pass we saw a limb of a Snow 

 Gum that had been ripped open by a Black Cockatoo to get one 

 of the large grubs that bore up the centres of these trees. We 

 struck along an indefinite track through the Snow Gums and long 

 coarse grass, and over lichen-covered granite blocks, to the 

 plateau. Heavy clouds were now dashing against the crags and 

 buttresses, and the wind was a howling gale as we slowly forged 

 our way towards Kosciusko Valley, into which we had great 

 difficulty to get the mare. The slopes of all these ridges are 

 seamed with narrow watercourses several feet deep. These are 

 filled with blocks of granite and covered with long grass and 

 low matted shrubs, which completely hide the cavities and 

 make progress painfully slow and dangerous for a pack-horse. 

 We reached the floor of the valley and crossed the Leather- 

 jacket, here a stream 4 or 5 paces wide, and wound round the 

 southern end of the ridge on which Mt. Kosciusko stands. Near 

 here we disturbed three Black Ducks, Anas superciliosa, that 

 were swimming about on a small marshy lagoon. On the 

 southern slope of the Mueller Range, to the north, lay a snow- 

 field shaped like a huge spirifer. The wind had now moderated, 

 but dense black clouds were quickly coming up from the 

 N.W., with frequent flashes of lightning and loud peals of 

 thunder. These hidden watercourses on the slope of the 

 ridge proved such serious hindrances that it was hopeless to 

 attempt to reach the sheltered slopes of the range across 

 Wilkinson Valley before the storm broke, so we hastily un- 

 packed and closely hobbled the mare. Then we tied one 

 end of the tent to tussocks of grass, pulled the other on to 

 the top of the rock, and, tying it to large stones, crawled inside. 

 The storm and darkness came upon us simultaneously, and for a 

 long time talking was impossible. The wind, rain, and hail were 



