THE VICTORIAN NATURALIST, 23 



to be entitled to the great honour of being the first man who 

 ever reached these commanding summits of the Australian 

 Alps." 



He gives the following bearings of different peaks, &c., as 

 taken from his Mounts Hotham and Latrobe : — 



Bearings from Mt. Hotham. — Mt. Aberdeen (The Horn), 

 W. io° N. ; most northern peak of Buffalo Mts., W. 30° N. ; Mt. 

 BuUer, W. 35° S. ; Mt. M'Millan of Townsend, or Castle Hill of 

 Tyers, due S. ; the Cobberas, E. 12° N. ; Mt. Wellington, 

 S. 10" W. ; Mt. Latrobe (distant 8 miles), S. 25° E. ; Mt. 

 Leichardt, E. 30 ° N. ; Mitchell's Plateau (about the distance of 

 Mt. Buller). S. 40° W. ; Kennedy's Height (a rocky hill in the 

 Snowy table-land), E. 5° S. ; and Hooker's Plateau (15 miles 

 distant), N. 25° E. 



Bearings from Mt. Latrobe. — Mitchell's Plateau, S. 15° W. ; 

 Mt. Aberdeen, W. 5° S. ; Clarke's Peak, between Mitchell's 

 Plateau and Buffalo Ranges, S. 30° W. ; and Mt. Hotham, 

 N. 25° W. 



Bearings from Mt. Tambo (17th December, 1854). — Mt. 

 Hotham, due W. ; Mt. Latrobe, W. 4° S. 



On reading this, and comparing his data, a doubt arose in my 

 mind as to whether Dr. Mueller had really visited and named the 

 mountain we know as Hotham. He makes prominent mention 

 of two mounts, Hotham and Latrobe, in his report, evidently as 

 being the most prominent peaks in the district, liut the latter 

 name does not now appear on our maps, and in trying to fix its 

 identity I found his remarks would not fit in with the present 

 Hotham. He gives the bearings of these two peaks with regard 

 to others in the district, notably Mt. Aberdeen (now the Horn) 

 on the Buffaloes. In order to satisfy myself on the point I 

 recently communicated with Mr. Jas. Stirling, formerly Govern- 

 ment Geologist, who, when mining surveyor in charge of the 

 Omeo district, traversed the whole of the Alps, and constructed 

 ;Hn excellent map, full of detail, of his district, whicli also may be 

 consulted at the Public Library, while collecting both botanically 

 and geologically. He (Mr. Stirling) appears to have had some 

 doubts of a similar character years ago, and kindly forwarded to 

 me some original letters of the late Baron, from which I have 

 been permitted to make the following extracts. 



The first is dated 2/11/82. In this he acknowledges "excel- 

 lently coloured and clearly indicated geologically a geographic 

 map of the Alps," and goes on to say : — 



" It does you infinite credit to have worked out, with the help 

 of Mr. Howitt, the geology of your district so well. In one 

 respect I cannot help expressing regret when looking on this 

 map 5 it is the systematic manner in which all my early and 

 toilsome work for the geography of the Australian Alps has 



