THK VICTOKIAN NATUKALI8T. 115 



we had been mistaken for horse " duffers " the night we 

 brought our horses down to water from the Wild Boar camp. 

 Mr. Rowe, who lived in a hut near the mine, had heard us that 

 night, and naturally concluded something was wrong, for, he 

 thought, no sane and honest men, after descending such a spur at 

 such an hour, would climb it again the same night. On our 

 second visit, however, the sight of an umbrella, borne by one of 

 our party, dissipated the only lingering doubt as to our respect- 

 ability, for no horse duffer would be seen with such an article ! 



24th March. — We packed up and left about lo a.m., and some 

 5 miles below the Lady Loch mine crossed Sassafras Creek, just 

 above its junction with Saltpetre Creek. At this place the track 

 up the Sassafras to Zulu Creek, Dart River and Corryong meets 

 the Saltpetre track. An accoumiodation house, kept by a Mrs. 

 Lawrence, stands here. It is probably the most out-of-the-way 

 residence of a woman in Victoria. 



This Saltpetre valley affords a fine example of successive river 

 terraces of pebbly gravels extending to about 150 feet above the 

 present level of the stream. The higher portions had been 

 worked by adits, the lower by shafts and drives. The strata 

 forming the bed rock are slates and sandstones, similar in 

 character and general dip to those higher up the valley. One 

 place in this valley afforded a small but fine example of the 

 damage done by a waterspout. The bed rock had been denuded 

 of soil and loose rock, which had been left in heaps lower down 

 the valley. 



From the Saltpetre-Sassafras junction the Omeo track climbs 

 over a spur between the latter creek and the Gibbo River, 

 and about 2 miles further on it crosses the Gibbo on a bridge 

 at Mr. Peter Mason's sluicing claim. On this spur near the 

 bridge there is a large " buck " reef — i.e., one which does 

 not contain gold. The river gravels in Mason's claim were 

 about 50 feet thick, and were being ground-sluiced into the 

 river. The water was being brought by a race from the 

 Buenbah River. This river is apparently the main branch of the 

 Gibbo, and becomes known as the Gibbo below the junction of 

 Saltpetre Creek. Here we had another example of the energy 

 and indomitable spirit of the miner of the Victorian mountains. 

 This race, 6 miles long, with numerous flumes across the gullies, 

 had taken 18 months to construct. Much of the timber had to 

 be carried to the places where used, and all the work was done 

 solely by Mr. Mason. Just after the water had been turned into 

 the race a bush fire raged through the district and burnt a good 

 deal of the fluming. Repairs were effected, and when we passed 

 through Mr. Mason had the race again in working order, 

 bringing in a good stream of water, and was getting satisfactory 

 yields of gold. 



In this locality the strata are yellow slates, dip^iing to N.W. at 



