THE VICTORIAN NATURALIST. 119 



the hut a small gully runs into Dinner Creek, and this is about 

 the easterly limit of the metamorphic area, for on the opposite 

 slope normal sandstones appear, still with a W.S.W dip. This 

 Mt. Hope area is another example of the presence of a subjacent 

 boss of intrusive plutonic rock. In this case, judging by the 

 greater degree and extent of the metamorphism, this boss is 

 nearer the present surface than that at the source of the Saltpetre. 

 To the north of the main ridge Omeo Creek takes its rise, and we 

 followed the ridge in a N.E. direction, parallel with that creek. 

 The country between here and Groggin had to be traversed in 

 the moonlight, and this, and the absence of observed outcrops, 

 prevented the character of the strata from being ascertained. 

 Some dips taken, however, seem to point to another syncline 

 and anticline occurring there. The rocks seen were principally 

 slates, with a few beds of sandstone. Along this section of the 

 trip we had much difficulty in keeping the track. The long 

 shadows of the trees often lay parallel with the ridge, and the 

 intervening shafts of light, like tracks, were continually leading 

 us astray. This ridge has a special interest, inasmuch as it 

 furnished the original of the beautiful picture by Eugene von 

 Guerard, " Mt. Kosciusko, from the Mt. Hope Ranges in 

 Victoria," now in the National Gallery in Melbourne. We could 

 not, of course, identify the point of view of this picture, but 

 doubtless splendid glimpses could be obtained during daylight of 

 Mt. Kosciusko from this range. Near midnight we reached the 

 end of the range, crossed Boggy Creek in an almost flat area of 

 granite, and were on the flats near Groggin. We camped on the 

 side of the stream in a finely grassed patch, where the horses had 

 a good feed and rest. 



28th March. — Though rising early, it was not till near noon that 

 we set off across the low quartz-mica-diorite ridge that separates 

 Boggy Creek from the Indi. Two miles of open undulating 

 country, clothed chiefly with Peppermints and good grass, 

 brought us to the Indi at Groggin. Here we saw one of the only 

 two inhabitants of the place, Jack Riley, and renewed our 

 acquaintance of the previous year. The river was fortunately not 

 in flood, so we forded it easily, and pushed on past the old 

 Groggin hut, across Snowy Creek, and along Leatherjacket Range 

 to the ford on Leatherjacket Creek. At this place we had a late 

 lunch, and resumed our march about 6 p.m. to Manaro Pass. 

 As this part of the journey had already been travelled by me the 

 previous year, we had no difliculty in finding our way in the 

 moonlight. Save for the "mopokes" of several Boobook Owls 

 and the squawk of an occasional Mountain Opossum, Trichosurus 

 cmiinus, no sounds of animal life broke the silence of the forest, 

 and we reached the Pass, 7 miles from the ford, about 10 o'clock. 

 We camped on the north eastern fall of the range, near the 



