,^'..'\ Excursion to Baw Baw. 201 



sighing in the tree-tops 150 to 200 feet above us, there was 

 very Uttle movement at the ground level. An occasional groan 

 from some bundle of rugs would indicate that the would-be 

 sleeper was finding his mattress rather springless. About 

 four o'clock signs of the coming day in the shape of a pink 

 glow was showing through the trees, and very soon all were 

 astir, having a wash at the stream close by, or making pre- 

 parations for breakfast. When daylight came we found that, 

 had we gone a few yards further, the ground would have been 

 more level, and the effort of trying to sleep with our heads 

 about two feet higher than our feet might have been avoided. 

 However, no one seemed the worse for the camp in the open. 

 By half-past six breakfast was over, and everything packed 

 ready for the march. In a few hundred yards we were out of 

 the tall timber and had left the bulk of the ferns behind, and 

 found ourselves in the vicinity of '* The Rocks," a somewhat 

 desolate region, on account of the vegetation having been 

 burned out by fires. There are some very grand and massive 

 rock scenes here, but not on so large a scale as at the Buffalos. 

 The track wound between huge masses of granite, ever tending 

 upwards, and presently we were able to get, through the haze, 

 glimpses of distant mountains. Just about here Dr. Sutton 

 had obtained specimens of the Baw Baw Berry, Wittsteinia 

 vacciniacea, F. v. M., one of Victoria's only two representatives 

 of the Ericaceae or true heaths, but we did not see it until the 

 return journey. "The Rocks" are about 4,000 feet above 

 sea-level, and reminders of a more alpine flora were soon met 

 with, a couple of Mountain Asters, Aster celmisia, F. v. M. 

 {Cehnisia longifolia, Cass.), large, daisy-like flowers, springing 

 from a tuft of narrow silvery leaves, were eagerly picked as 

 the greatest novelties up to the present. A specimen of the 

 handsome Papilio butterfly made its appearance, and was 

 promptly netted by our lepidopterist, who had secured several 

 species of Xenica lower down. That beautiful pea-flowered 

 shrub, Oxylohiwn alpestre, was just out of bloom, only an odd 

 flower or two remaining, but quantities of the little purple 

 Mountain Speedwell, ]^eromca nivea, and the deep magenta of 

 the Trigger-plant, added colour to the scene. We were now 

 among the Snow Gums, Eucalyptus coriacea, their white, 

 twisted stems, about 15 to 20 feet high, showing well against 

 the dark green, leathery leaves. The next sign of an alpine 

 character was the singular epacrid, Richea Gunnii, of which 

 only a few of the last white balloon-hke flowers remained. A 

 week or two earlier it must have been a lovely sight. A turn 

 between the belts of Snow Gums revealed the first alpine morass, 

 for the Baw Baw plateau consists of a series of morasses, or 

 swamps, in winter full of water or covered with snow, in 



