166 THE VICTORIAN NATURALIST. 



Strayed or was instinctively pursuing some course with an object 

 in view. 



After pouring half a flask of whisky into our boots to warm our 

 numbed feet, with successful results in about twenty minutes, we 

 continued, the walking becoming heavier at each mile, ploughed 

 our way through close on i8 inches of snow on the summit, and 

 descended, through deep drifts in places, till we reached Mr. 

 Lindt's well-known Hermitage, where wet clothes were soon 

 dried and good cheer obtained. We found Mr. Lindt busily 

 engaged in securing photographs of the snow scenes. Copies 

 of these pictures, and some taken expressly for us, are exhibited 

 to-night, and will convey an idea of the beauty of the scene 

 better than any word-painting. The summit of the spur is about 

 1,960 feet above sea level, and in the three miles from the 

 Maroondah Bridge we had ascended some 1,200 feet. 



During the ascent few species of birds were seen. These were 

 mostly robins ; but one young Kookaburra, which had curiously 

 watched us at lunch and refused the crumbs we offered it, 

 continued with us a considerable distance up the road, as it flew 

 from post top to post top, and fence to twig, often only a few feet 

 from us. 



From the Hermitage a fine view of the surrounding country 

 is obtained. To the south-east Mt. Dom Dom, about 2,600 feet, 

 appears like a blunt cone. Looking north-easterly, a great 

 expanse of undulating country is seen stretching across to the 

 Cerberean Range. In the valleys of these undulations run the 

 various streams from the Blacks' Spur and the foothills of the 

 Cerberean Range, which feed the Goulburn River with water, 

 that ultimately finds its way by a circuitous route via the 

 Murray to the sea. About twelve miles off, and between us and 

 the Cerberean Range, the Cathedral Mount is seen peeping above 

 the low hill of the foreground. A photograph on the table, by Mr. 

 N. J. Caire, taken from a more southerly point — Mt. Bismarck — 

 shows the Cathedral with Marysville in middle distance. 



About the Hermitage and along the road up and down the Spur 

 grow the Golden and Silver Wattles, Acacia pycnantha and 

 A. dealbata, and we do not remember having seen these wattles 

 anywhere to better advantage. One of the photographs shows 

 the two side by side in cultivation and snow-covered. It will be 

 noted that Baron von Mueller made no record of A. j)ycnantha 

 in the east or north-east portion of Victoria, but Mr. Lindt 

 assured us that these were selected from amongst self-sown plants 

 of the locality, and that they appeared, as acacias are known to 

 do in other parts, mysteriously, after a bush fire. 



For some miles our way had been over a porphyritic area, the 

 resulting soil supporting a growth . of timber trees for size un- 

 equalled in Australia, but the aspect of the vegetation changes 



