55 



very gradually up to the first branches, fully 150 feet from the 



base. 



At the height of 500 feet from the plain — about 1,400 feet 

 above the level of the sea — plants which grow to a height of 

 30 feet on the low ground are dwarfed down to shrubs. 

 "Native box" {Bursaria spinosd), for example, is here a 

 thorny little shrub a foot to 18 inches high, and the small-leaved 

 Coprosma {Coj^rosma micropliylld), is reduced from 12 to 2 

 feet in height. At an elevation of 2,000 feet above the sea, 

 the character of the vegetation is altered considerably, and 

 the gum-trees lose the straightness and slenderness of their 

 branches, and their now spreading tops approach the ground 

 more closely. The " waratah " {Telopea truncatci), 3 feet 

 high, and *' wax-cluster plant " {Gaultheria liispidci), 2 feet 

 high, grow here among the rocks ; and a little higher up the 

 pretty little Tetracarpsea {T. Tasmanicd) makes its appear- 

 ance. Huge masses of rock, detached from the crags above, 

 are now met with, and the shrubs and trees have a somewhat 

 battered and straggling form, until the summit is reached, 

 when they are found to assume a dwarfed and more compact 

 appearance. 



On reaching the summit, we rested for awhile from our 

 labours, and ate our dinners, water being found in a little hole 

 which I had previously dug beneath a dripping rock. Before 

 starting again, my friend and I clambered to the very apex of 

 Cummings's Head, where there is a little plateau of a few 

 yards square. From this sj)ot, situated at the brink of a 

 terrific precipice, there is a wondrous view of the country 

 lying to the west, north, and east, including the towns of 

 Deloraine and Westbury in the middle distance, and the 

 northern line of coast as far as the eye could reach to the 

 eastward, and for a considerable distance to the westward, 

 until shut out by Mount Roland and other intervening 

 mountains. Wishing to get the bearings of some of the princi- 

 pal mountain peaks, and especially of Quamby Bluff", rising in 

 solitary grandeur on the east, I placed my compass on one of 

 the rocks of the plateau, — when, to my great surprise, the 

 bearing indicated was due west instead of due east; audit 

 turned out that the local attraction was so great that the 

 points of the compass were all reversed as long as the compass 

 remained in direct contact with the rock. On removing it 

 from the rock, and raising it to the height of three feet above 

 it, I found the bearings restored to their true position. This 

 fact shows how careful explorers should be in availing them- 

 selves of commanding points for the purpose of fixing the 

 positions of their camps of rest or observation ; or the routes 

 to be taken in order to reach other localities. AVe now 



