BY SAMUEL MACGREGOR. 49 



hill ; the quantity of lava which has been ejected from this 

 mount is enormous. It covers an area of over a mile to the 

 north, three miles east, five miles west, and in irregular widths 

 to the sea coast at Port Fairy, forty miles distant. On the north- 

 west of the mount there is a strong-running spring of water and 

 on the south-east another equally strong. Some thirty years ago 

 the owner of the property (Mr. Twomeny) desired to have water 

 in another place suitable to the requirements of his cattle, and 

 determined upon sinking a well. After going through scoria, 

 about sixteen feet, a layer of grass and plants, with pieces of 

 wood and other materials, similar to those seen on the surface, 

 were gone through ; the sinking was continued, and at the depth 

 of another forty feet, or about fifty-six feet fi'om the surface, 

 another layer of vegetation, similar to the oiie described above, 

 was found, but no indications of water. The sinking was then 

 abandoned. These facts lead me to think that there must have 

 been a great lapse of time between the eruptions. 



Meningorott, or McArthur's Hill, situated about seven 

 miles north-west of Camperdown, is about 300 feet above the 

 level of the extensive plains by which it is surrounded. The 

 crater which is of considerable size, has evidently been filled up 

 greatly by the mouldering down of the walls. The present 

 bottom is very little, if any, below the level of the country 

 around it, and is entirely covered with vegetation, trees, &c. 

 There is no water in the crater, and on the country immediately 

 round the hills there are very few rocky parts — the lava seeming 

 to be almost entirely decomposed, leaving a great depth of fruit- 

 ful soil. On the top of the very highest part of the hill there 

 are the remains of a perfect tree, in a state of petrifaction ; 

 roots, trunk and branches still connected, though now very much 

 broken, as if by falling when it was in a perfect state. 



In addition to the hills named there are Mount Shadwell, 

 Flat-topped Hill, The Elephant, Ware's Hill, Pon Pon, Purrum- 

 bete, Leura, Basin, Banks, Noorat, The Sisters, Garvoc, Koroit, 

 Mount Taurus, and many others, varying in size, character, and 

 appearance, though apparently distinct from each other. They 

 may have been outbursts from the same immense body of molten 

 matter far below the surface of the earth. 



