Vol. XXVI I 



it^i^^^] AuDAS, Wanderings in East Clip [^stcuid. 17 r 



able to get over the distance quickly. The road, for nearly the 

 whole distance, was cut out high up on the sides of precipitous 

 hills, and, although recently made and regraded in parts, w^as 

 still very dangerous, so that it would be hard to conceive what 

 it must have been before these improvements : and one par- 

 ticular pinch, known as " Breakneck Bend," would try the 

 strongest of nerves. 



Although the scenery was magnificent, I was somewhat dis- 

 aj)pointed to find so little variety of vegetation, flowering plants 

 l^eing very scarce. Along the road were the following 

 eucalypts : — E. paucifioni, E. stellulatus, E. eiigenioides, E. 

 nielliodora, E. amygdalina, E. ohliqua, E. macrorrhyncha, E. 

 polyanthenios, and E. goniocalyx, the latter being particularly 

 fine. Near Kingsley, Cassinia aculeata, sifting bush or dog- 

 wood (as called in these parts) — a plant which, if handled, has 

 an irritating effect upon the skin, known as '' mountain itch " — 

 was very abundant. 



After fording the Murrindal River, I came upon the most 

 beautiful specimens of Acacia longifolia, var. floribunda, I have 

 ever seen. The leaves could scarcely be detected among the 

 dense masses of yellow^ flowers, which covered the ends of the 

 branches, and their peculiar pungent smell (which characterizes 

 this tree) was perceptible at a considerable distance. The 

 shrubby Salisbury Pea, or Native Laburnum, Goodia lotifolia, 

 was blooming on the slopes. I passed a band of rich red marble, 

 which, even in its rough state, would excite admiration. On 

 a point just where the Raymond River enters the Snowy, the 

 scenery is particularly grand. Huge grey, serrated cliffs stand 

 up abruptly some hundreds of feet, and the Snowy River dashes 

 its turbulent waters beneath them. Peeping from the edges 

 of these cliffs, in inaccessible places, were seen various plants 

 which delight in sheltered situations, such as AdianUnn 

 cBthiopiciim, or maiden-hair fern, a pretty, tender species of 

 one or two feet in height ; Asplenmm flabellifoliimi, or rat-tail 

 fern ; and the pretty little Lindsaya linearis. Growing snugly 

 between the rocks was the Native Elderberry, Sanihucits 

 Gaudichaiidiana, an herbaceous perennial plant with showy 

 heads of white flowers, also Lasiopetalum dasyphyUum, a 

 Sterculiaceous plant, the young leaves of this shrub having a 

 very rusty tomentum. The Orchidaceous plants on the top of 

 the cliffs were Ptetostylis nutans and Glossodia major, commonly 

 known as " parson in the pulpit," in two colours, purple and 

 white. Here, Eucalyptus aniygdalina was a mass of flower, 

 and on one specimen a flock of parrots perched, cliirping with 

 joy whfle robbing the blossoms of their nectar. 



Early on the morning of the 19th, while the township was 

 wrapped in slumber beneath its veil of river mist, I ascended 



