THE VICTORIAN NATURALIST. Ill 



Zulu Creek. She was to be carried first up from that creek, 2,000 

 feet, to the main ridge, then along the ridge to where a wheeled 

 conveyance could be brought, thence to Corryong, 30 miles, for 

 medical attention. Such is the fellowship of the mountains ! 

 This Dart-Zulu divide consists largely of siliceous sandstones, 

 which weather into sharp points and litter the surface with jagged 

 fragments, making it a serious matter for unshod horses. Quartz 

 veins are numerous, but not auriferous. The ridge owes its shape 

 to these hard rocks, which have resisted weathering so much that 

 the soft slates of the Zulu valley have been worn away 2,000 feet 

 deeper than those of the ridge. This is a good example of the 

 influence of strata upon the sculpturing of a country ; also of 

 the occurrence of gold belts, for, while the main ridge is barren, 

 Zulu Creek has yielded a great deal of gold. 



We followed this ridge for about 4 miles past the Zulu Creek 

 turn-off to a point about 4,450 feet above sea level, then, leaving 

 the Omeo track, bore away S.S.E. Yz mile down a steep hill to a 

 saddle 350 feet lower. White, yellow, bluish-grey and olive 

 fissile slates were here seen, with a strike to E. and dip to S. 

 at 45°. Another mile over a high point brought us to the saddle 

 where a blazed track goes down to Zulu Creek. From here our 

 track steadily ascended the N.W. slope of Mt. Wild Boar for 

 about a mile, to an altitude of close on 5,000 feet. The strata 

 passed over were bluish-grey slates and sandstones, striking from 

 N. to N.N.W. and dipping to W. and E.N.E., at from 86° to 

 51°, indicating a syncline and an anticline. From the slope of 

 Wild Boar we had a most glorious picture of the sun near the 

 horizon peepii'g out from behind a lovely cloud before setting 

 behind Mt. Benainbra. The camera was hastily set up and a good 

 photograph taken. 



Fine views were also obtained from the summit of this peak of 

 the greater part of Benambra. From N.W. to N.E. could be 

 seen the deep valleys of tlie Mitta Mitta, Dart, Cudgewa, Wabba, 

 Zulu, Wheeler's, Corryong and Jeremal, with their high dividing 

 ridges. In the N.W. Mt. Benambra (4,840 feet) formed a 

 prominent figure against the bright light of the western sky; over 

 Pinnibar (4,100 feet) to the N.E. Kosciusko and the Snowy 

 Mountains north of it could be dimly seen in the light blue haze 

 of distance ; in the E. the bold Gibbo Range, with its highest 

 peak, Mt. Gibbo (5,764 feet), almost devoid of timber on its 

 summit, formed a barrier to anything beyond ; while to the S. 

 the ridges between the Mitta, Gibbo, Buenbah, Indi and 

 Benambra stood out clearly over the dull green of their dark 

 valleys. From N.E. to S.E. there lay a thousand square miles of 

 forested mountain and valley, with no resident save the stock- 

 man and one selector of the far back Groggin run, and the old 

 hermit of the Indi. Much of this country is still unexplored. 

 It has not yet been trodden by the foot of even the most enter- 



