192 THE VICTORIAN NATURALIST. 



course through the dunes being as a rule well defined, and the 

 channels in places of considerable depth. Such are the morasses 

 of the Derby River, Tidal River, and that on the south side of 

 the Oberon Ridge. (See botanical report.) 



The highest point of the Promontory is probably Mt. Latrobe,. 

 with a recorded height of 2,434 feet. Other prominent heights 

 are Mt. Wilson (2,350), Mt. Vereker (2,092), Mt Oberon (1,965), 

 Mt. Leonard (1,860), Mt. Norgate (1,390), Mt. Hunter (1,136}, 

 Bishop Rock (1,057), Mt. Boulder (1,010), &c. These peaks, 

 some of which are masses of bare granite boulders, are the 

 culminations of ranges which in many cases bear a fair growth of 

 eucalyptus trees, but the timber is poor and of no commercial 

 value. 



The gullies of the west side are poorly vegetated. The botanical 

 members of our party made several side excursions in search of 

 anything like the typical gully vegetation of Gippsland or the 

 Otway Forest, but without success. With the exception of 

 Roaring Meg and a few other small streams in the far south, 

 luxuriant gullies appear to be confined to the eastern side of the 

 Promontory. 



In a few places there is good grass land, notably at the Derby 

 River and easterly from Oberon Bay ; the parts suitable for 

 kangaroo and emu amount to about 2,000 acres. The total 

 amount of grazing land of good and medium quality, such as 

 would support kangaroos, emus, and wallabies of several sorts, 

 would be perhaps 10,000 acres, but much of this country is of a 

 quality unsuitable for stock and useless from a commercial point 

 of view because of the difficulties in the way of access. 



Some of the sand dunes bear low " heathy " scrub, but others 

 support small trees of eucalyputus, sheoak, and banksia, with 

 grass-trees of over ten feet in height. Tea-tree predominates on 

 the sand dunes of the coastal belt at low elevations, but where 

 the dunes are high, this gives way to low " heathy " scrub. 



The shore is much incised in places with rocky tongues run- 

 ning far out to sea, some of which give shelter to sandy beaches 

 at the mouths of the valleys. The sand of many of the beaches, 

 such as those of Waterloo Bay, Oberon Bay, Leonard Bay, Sic, 

 has that peculiar quality which gives a metallic screeching sound 

 when it is struck or scratched with a stick or disturbed by the 

 feet when walking, and is known as " musical sand." This 

 peculiarity is to be found, however, on other parts of the Victorian 

 coast. The sandy beaches terminate usually at either end against 

 rocky projections of high ridges. The shore of Corner Basin, 

 however, is more regular and of a totally different character ; the 

 sands and mud of this shallow sea forming an extensive mud flat 

 round the margin, which is vegetated with Spurious Mangrove (see 

 botanical report), and has isolated granite rocks in places. 



