54 



NOTES OF AN EXCURSION TO CUALMINGS'S HEAD 

 AND THE FALLS OF THE MEANDER, ON THE 

 WESTERN MOUNTAINS, TASMANIA. 



By W. Archer, F.L.S. 



Accompauied by a friend and two servants I started on the 

 morning of May lOtli, 1818, for an excursion to Cummings's 

 Head, a spur of the Western Mountains near Cheshuiit, with 

 the intention of visiting the falls of the Meander River, which 

 I had seen before in the summer, when a mere silvery thread 

 of water was all of them that was visible. We hoped at this 

 season to find a large stream flowing over the dark basaltic 

 rocks of the mountain side. Our provisions consisted of 411j. 

 of cold meat, 1211). of bread, 31b. of rice, 5ib, of sugar, and 

 |lh. of tea ; and we took with us an opossum-skin rug, a pair 

 of blankets, and a light tent weighing 3fib. — besides the 

 usual accompaniments of matches, knives, tomahawk, &c. 



At the foot of the mountain we first passed through a gum- 

 tree forest, with a thick underwood of " native hop " or 

 "bitter leaf" (Daviesia latifolia), mixed with the "native 

 indigo plant (Indigofera tinctoria), the " clover tree " (Goodia 

 lotifolia), red and white Epacris (Epacris imjyressa) , "prickly 

 beauty " {Fiiltencea juniperina), the common " fern " {Pteris 

 aquilina, var. esculenta), and other less conspicuous plants, all 

 destitute of flowers at this season ; and then entered a dense 

 thicket composed for the most part of " musk- wood " {Euryhia 

 argopliylla), " dog- wood " {JPomadenns apetalci) " daisy-tree " 

 {Euri/Ua \lirata), "stink- wood" (Zieria laiiceolata), "fern- 

 trees " (^DicJcsonia antarciica), and the common " fern " 6 and 

 7 feet high — growing beneath gigantic trees of " stringy-bark " 

 {Eucalyptus rohastd), "white-gum" {Eucalyptus mminalis) 

 "blackwood" (Acacia melanoxyloii), and "silver wattle" 

 {Acacia deaThata) — and rendered almost impenetrable by 

 the huge trunks and branches of fallen gum-trees, and a 

 net-work of nettles (JJrtica incisa), with the rope-stemmed 

 Clematis {Glematis coriaceci) and Lyonsia {Lyonsia straminea), 

 here and there, stinging our hands and faces, or tripping us 

 up as we scrambled and cut our way through the entangled 

 mass of vegetation. To the right of our track were some 

 many-crowned fern-trees (Dicksonia antarctica), one with about 

 thirty crowns — a wonder of the vegetable world, — and some- 

 what further on we came to a white-gum tree of enormous 

 height, towering far above the surrounding forest, and rising 

 to an altitude of some 300 feet, with a trunk about 40 feet in 

 circumference at a height of 4 feet from the ground, tapering 



