BY COLONEL W. V. LEGGE, F.R.G.S 11 



1913. 



The aspect-sketch of the eastern tors of the plateau 

 given with this note was taken from an altitude of about 

 2,700 feet on the northern side of the summit of Mt. 

 Nicholas, from which one of the most beautiful and com- 

 prehensive panoramic views of forest and mountain in all 

 Tasmania awaits any mountaineer or tourist, who chooses 

 to spend a day at St. Mary's. Saddleback isi here seen next 

 to the mountain Ben Nevis on the extreme left, with Mts. 

 Victoria and Albert (the true Saddleback) foreshortened on 

 the right. The remarkable table-like level of the plateau 

 is noticeable in the sketch ; but to view this to perfection 

 it must be seen on a frosty v/inter's evening before sunset 

 from the summit of the Blue Tier at Poimena, when it 

 stands out as level as the top of a wall fro-m Mt. Victoria to 

 Mt. Barrow. 



It may be remarked in passing that the existence of 

 this great orographical feature seems tO' be quit© unknown 

 to the general public, notwithstanding that it is, in con- 

 junction with Ben Lomond (itself a loftier but smaller 

 plateau), the main regulator of the climatic conditions in 

 N.E. Tasmania. The reason for this lies in its concealment 

 from view both north and south by the broken nature of 

 the country, and on the fact that the true topographical 

 features of the State have not yet been shown on our maps, 

 on which the chief mountains are all shown as isolated 

 heights, standing, as it were, on the sea-level. 



To return : We find that Mt. Albert, twin mountain 

 with Mt. Victoria, when seen from the Lottah district and 

 the George Biver Valley (Pyengana), from some points of 

 which latter it is hidden from Mt. Victoria, is called almost 

 universallv Mt. " Saddleback " by the country people. In 

 point of fact, if a titan-hand had done his best to cut a 

 mountain into that shape he could not have succeeded bet- 

 ter. An aspect-sketch is given of Mt. Albert to show its 

 claim to a local name of that sort. It is taken from a posi- 

 tion in the valley where its sister mountain, Victoria, can- 

 not be seen. The impression in the writer's mind when first 

 seeing the mountain from this position may be expressed : 

 "Why. that must be Mt. Saddleiback ; but surely it cannot 

 be. as that mountain rises above Mathinna a long way to 

 the westward from here!" Thus, it appears likely that 

 the misnomer, ''Saddleback," is the result of a cartographi- 

 cal error in the Survey Office, based, perhaps, on the infor- 

 mation of an official who was unacquainted with the true 

 aspect of the mountain near Mathinna now called by that 

 name. 



