XXVI 



whose waters, iu the wonderful stillness of 

 the beautiful uigbt, we could hear rushing 

 ou a thousand feet belon% and. l-caving the 

 road, which zig-zags down the great depth, 

 we lead our horses down a "short cut,'^ 

 picking up the road again lower down, and 

 soon we reach the Mersey Bridge, across 

 which lies the incipient township of Liena. 

 The Mersey River here is small, somewhat 

 similar in size to the Meander at the 

 bridge, Deloraine, but differing widely in 

 feature, in that it flows tlirough steep, 

 "gorgy" country, the abrupt head of the 

 Barren Tier, north-westerly, being rather 

 imposing. There is a clear, grassy, flat 

 on the western side, with a couple of cot- 

 tages and a hut. comprising the township. 

 The latter building we took possession of, 

 stowing our luggage and fodder for the 

 night, we ourselves camping about three- 

 quarters of a mile further south in a house 

 belonging to a settler, who, at the time, 

 was absent. We arrived at the Mersey 

 at about 11 o'clock, and by the tirne we 

 got settled in our rugs for the night it was 

 cnsiderably after 12. As the orders 

 were to be up at 5 and miake an early 

 morning start direct for Pelion, we had 

 rather a small margin left for sleep, and 

 we, unfortunately, rather overdid it by 

 getting up at 5.30. Breakfast and packing 

 up take time, and it was 8.10 before we 

 got fairly on the road. This was the mis- 

 take of the day, which caused us so much 

 trouble and discomfort later on, and it is 

 one which all travellers in bush country 

 try to avoid — starting late on a long jour- 

 ney. It's bad policy, and generally ends 

 in trouble. Had we got away at 6 o'clock, 

 as we ought, we would have come out of 

 it with comfort all round. We started with 

 a smiling morning, nice sunshine,, and a 

 siouth-westerly breeze, but as we got up- 

 wards and onwards our evil genius met us, 

 and never left us during the whole of our 

 stay in the locality; the wind went round 

 to the nor'-west, and it blew and rained 

 dismally. Our track lay for a &hort dis- 

 tance along the banks of the Mersey, when 

 we strike southerly into a road running up 

 Gad's Hill a distance of four miles, with 

 a rise of something like 2,000ft., through 

 fine Land generally, heavily timbered, and 

 prettih^ clothed in fern, sassafras, and 

 myrtle. It is a long, weary pull up this 

 hill, well-graded as it is, much of it being 

 in wretched condition, and the wonder was 

 how, in some places, the patient pack 

 horses, heavily laden as they were ,came 

 through it without accident. 



The summit of this hill once gained, we 

 stand on the northern end of a gretat pla- 

 teau, a divide between the Mersey and 

 Forth Rivers, and the track runs souther- 

 ly along this elevation, ultimately bring- 



ing us to the head waters of both these 

 rivers, the distance being between 20 and 

 2') miles. Geologically considered, the 

 plateau has a belt of granite i)assing over 

 its northern end; then an overlay of 

 basalt, with about four miles of a fucoid 

 sandstone countrj', the balance of the dis- 

 tance having a capping of dolorite. 



At the top of the hill we pass through a 

 cattle station belonging to a member of 

 the Field family, known as "Gad's Hill 

 Station," nicely grassed, where we noted 

 numbers of horses and cattle enjoying 

 theniiselves amidst the plenty around. 

 Through the finely - grassed and wooded 

 plains of this station the track, made by 

 Mr. Surveyor Innes in 1896, really com- 

 mences, and runs in a more or less south- 

 erly direction right out to Pelion, and aa 

 the going here is good we make full pro- 

 gress towards our destination. 



About eight miles further we come to the 

 Berriedale Plain — another of Messrs. 

 Fields' possessions — a larg^e, open mixture 

 of button rush and grass, rather poor, and 

 very wet, and by the time we reached the 

 stockkeeper's house we were rather damp,^ 

 and feeling sorry for ourselves. However, 

 we m'ade a hialt here, under the spreading 

 shelter of a "gum top," slung the billy, 

 and gave the horses a rest and something 

 to eat, and, in an hour's time, we were off^ 

 again. The prevailing timber of the Gad's 

 Hill country seems to be swamp gum (E. 

 amygdalina), gum-top (E. sieberiama), and 

 stringy bark (E. obliqua), of good quality, 

 while further south no good timber of any 

 account is met with, a very stunted pep- 

 permint (E. amygdalina) chiefly prevail- 

 ing. I am told there are also extensive 

 patches of fine wattle country on Gad^s 

 Hill. 



Passing over to Berriedale Plain, keep- 

 ing southerly, and rising through dense 

 forest, we break out into what is known 

 as February or Mackenzie Plain. This is 

 a large extent of open button-rush coun- 

 try, broken up into timber patches, rises, 

 valleys, and tarns, and our route runs 

 through it for a distance of eight miles or 

 more, and it is one of the most trying and 

 dangerous parts of the journej^. Exposed 

 for the whole of the distance to the ca- 

 prices of va cruel climate, the traveller may 

 readily be caught in a dense fog or snow- 

 storm, and so be in peril of losing his way, 

 before he can get clear of the pluin ,as the 

 track is ill-defined, and the staking infre- 

 quent, and only those possessing a very in- 

 timate knowledge of the country would be 

 able to find their way out in safety. In 

 spite of. all the associated perils of this 

 great plain, however, it appears, in fine 

 weather, very beautiful, the clumps of 

 timber splashed and dotted over its ex- 



