59 



be about 100 feet across. From thence lie let fall a 

 stone, attached to a ball of twine, until it reached the foot 

 of the lower fall. On measuring the length of this line after- 

 wards I found it to be 150 feet. Judging bj this ascertained 

 height, the upper fall must have been fully 200 feet high, — 

 making 350 feet in all. 



After refreshing ourselves, and dividing our provisions into 

 equal shares, in readiness for such emergencies as being lost, 

 or being the victim of hungry companions, we started on our 

 way homewards. 



A little way above the Meander on the left bank, to which 

 we had crossed immediately after leaving " The Falls," a fine 

 specimen of the mountain pine called Athrotaxis selaginoides 

 met our view. It was covered with its small cones just ripe, 

 and afforded a rich harvest to one of my companions, who was 

 on the look-out for such treasures. A little higher up the 

 pretty Pimelea sericea occurs, a small shrub, with very pale 

 green leaves, smooth above and covered beneath with long, 

 silky hairs, and bearing (in December) rather large heads of 

 flowers. Passing through a grove of small gum-trees, (?) 

 Eucalyptus coccifera, and leaving the eastern bluffs of Ironstone 

 Mountain on the left, we had to scramble across a plateau of 

 great rocks, like those near the summit of Mount Wellington, 

 with deep caverns beneath them into which there was much 

 risk of falling, and then found ourselves on a plain sloping 

 gently towards the river on our right, and dotted with small 

 gum-trees and various shrubs. Here we pitched our tent near 

 a bright lil tie rill, many of which flowed across the plain. 



Next morning, pursuing our way nortliwards,we found a large 

 patch of Coprosma oiitida, a kind of " native currant," — as it is 

 absurdly called, merely on account of the colour of its fruit, — 

 thickly covered with its shining, crimson berries. It occurs 

 also on the Bau-Bau Mountains of Victoria. On the plateau 

 of the mountain above us may be found another and much 

 smaller species, {G. pumild) which is found on the Bau-Bau 

 and Cobberas Mountains of Victoria. Two much larger species, 

 — G. liirtella with much larger berries and leaves, and G. Bil- 

 lardieri with berries and leaves smaller, — grow on the lower 

 ground, the latter being very common in some localities. The 

 berries of all the species named have a similar and by no means 

 pleasant flavour. 



By the side of a murmuring rivulet which we now crossed, 

 were growing some beautiful plants of Athrotaxis laxifolia with 

 its graceful pyramidal form, and delicate branches covered with 

 bright yellowish-green leaves, only long and spreading enough 

 to give the branchlets a somewhat serrated appearance, as they 

 waved in the breeze. The Athrotaxis previously mentioned 



