BY L. F, GIBLIN, E. L. PIESSE, AND H. I\. HUTCHISON. 7 



1913, 



averted suspicion from the instrument, and no other 

 explanation could be imagined. The supply of food was 

 almost exhausted, but there was just enough for another 

 day's stay, so an early start was made with the theodolite 

 next morning, and the site of the previous camp reached 

 by eight o'clock. Then a cloud covered the summit, and 

 did not lift for eight hours. At last, at nearly five o'clock, 

 the fog lifted, and vertical angles were taken from the 

 trigonometrical station to the ends of the Nile base (which, 

 of course, had not been marked on the first day) and again 

 to Legge Peak. The angles to the base agreed closely with 

 the angles taken in the opposite direction from the ends 

 of the base to the trigonometrical station, and the angles 

 to Legge Peak w^ere also nearly the same as those taken 

 on the first day, and so the mystery of the discordant 

 results was still unsolved. However, it v/as not possible 

 to do any more, and next day the party had to go in to 

 Avoca. It was only after the return to Hobart that an 

 examination of the instrument showed that some parts of 

 it had w^orked slightly loose, so that it would sometimes 

 give a correct vertical angle and sometimes a quite 'incor- 

 rect one. Its vagaries had not been discovered in the field, 

 because on each test made of it the reading confirmed the 

 previous reading. 



It was tempting to disregard the results from the Nile 

 gorge base, and to treat the height, 5158 feet, obtained 

 from the Stacks Bluff base, agreeing so closely with the 

 height given by the aneroids in 1906 and 1907, as correct. 

 However, it was safer to wait for a confirmation, and the 

 result was therefore not published. 



At Christmas, 1912, the writers and Messrs. Butler and 

 Weber went again to Ben Lomond. Mr. Foster again made 

 all arrangements for us, and at some inconvenience 

 accompanied us as far as the Upper Camping Ground. 

 This time we decided to avoid the labour of carrying our 

 stores across the moor, and we made our camp at last 

 year's site on the flat below Wilmot Bluff, a position quite 

 convenient for our work. Relying on a little stream (the 

 head of the Ben Lomond Rivulet) which we had found 

 above this flat in 1911, we had no fears for a supply of 

 water; but the supply was much scantier than in the pre- 

 vious year, and this spot, otherwise a very pleasant camp 

 site, might be without water in a dry season. In spite of 

 the heavy rains during December, we found the moor 



