Vo!. XXVII. 

 191 1 



1 Barnard, A Day on Mount Disappointment. 231 



depression on our right, were the heads of a fern gully, so we 

 decided to make for it, as our climb, so far, had been a " dry " 

 one. A little stream of cold water trickled down amid King 

 and other ferns, and afforded a welcome drink. Then came 

 the struggle back through the bracken and burnt scrub to our 

 friendly fence. The bracken became taller, and, when separated 

 by only a few yards, it was only possible to see one another's 

 hats. Our coats became brown from the quantity of fern 

 spores shaken on to them. All through the bracken on the 

 dry hillside it was remarkable to notice a short growth of the 

 fern Lomavia discolor, usually associated with running streams. 

 At length the top of the range seemed to be in view, and soon 

 after mid-day we reached a granite-topped hill, which proved 

 to be the veritable Mount Disappointment. Our fence, which 

 we had not expected to last so long, now turned eastwards, 

 signifying that we were on the summit of that part of the 

 Dividing Range, 2,617 feet above sea level, and 1,815 ^e^t above 

 Whittlesea, our starting-point five hours before. 



Few signs of the trigonometrical station remain. The 

 wooden tower was burned down years ago ; but signs of where 

 the legs of it were built around with stones still remain. We 

 selected the centremost rock for our resting-place, and quietly 

 munched our luncheons, drinking in the pure mountain air, 

 with the whole country below us. Unfortunately, the haze 

 over Melbourne still persisted, so the city was invisible. The 

 dim outlines of the Dandenongs were visible, also the bold 

 front of Macedon in the other direction. Nearer at hand we 

 looked down on the little township of Wandong, with Mount 

 William at Lancefield beyond. More northerly was the curious 

 sugarloaf peak of ]\Iount Piper, near Broadford, with range 

 beyond range round towards Wallaby Creek. 



The locality was too rough for much rambling, and had it 

 not been for our friend and guide I feel sure we would not 

 have reached our goal. Whether we were on the spot trodden 

 by Hume and Hovell in 1824 matters not. It is more than 

 probable they did not penetrate to the highest portion of the 

 range, and it is quite probable that the portion to the east- 

 ward, sometimes known as " Yorktown," is not many feet 

 lower. However, as it is, the country is too rough for hurried 

 collecting, and so far we had little reward in that way for our 

 climb. 



In a slight hollow a few hundred yards eastward of the 

 trigonometrical station was a fine growth of Musk, Hedycarya, 

 Senecio Bedfordi, &c., and, if one were not afraid of getting 

 one's clothes torn to ribbons, it might be possible to find 

 something inteiesting : but I doubt it, and therefore advise 

 naturalists to give this part of the Plenty Ranges a wide berth. 



After about an hour on the top of the mountain we turned 



