BY SYDNEY B. J. SKERTCHLY. XI 



4,000 feet. From Atherton onwards, as far as Chillagoe, not 

 one trace of scrub occurs ; all is open forest. The siimmit of 

 the range is about midway — ^say six miles — between Atherton 

 and Herberton, which latter lies 3,000 feet above the sea. 



We have now fairly entered upon the mineral field, and for 

 100 miles west, and, say, 20 miles north and south of the main 

 route, or about 2,000 square miles, it is not too much to say that 

 it would be difficult to find half a square mile without some trace 

 of useful mineral. 



The climate of Herberton is superb. Of course, it is hot in 

 the noon of a summer day, but not hotter than Brisbane, and 

 the nights are so cool that blankets are seldom dispensed with. 

 Then, too, as summer is the rainy season, the heat is much 

 tempered by the overcast skies. In winter it is really cold, and 

 ice forms every season. Here we have no hot winds to parch 

 the skin, no Southerly Busters to enervate one into despair, and 

 the worst one can say is that in the early party of the year there 

 are plenty of those days which our Scottish brothers carefully 

 describe as "a wee bit saft." 



From Herberton we pass on to Watsonville, a distance of 

 seven miles, crossing the Watsonville Range at a height of about 

 4,000 feet, and descend to the township, whose height is 2,565 

 feet above the sea. We have now left the Pacific waters behind 

 us, and are upon the Gulf watershed, the creeks going to feed 

 the Walsh River. From Watsonville onwards to the limits of 

 our area the ground gradually falls to about 1,300 feet above 

 sea-level; but, as we shall see, there are many a steep slope to be 

 toiled over ere the limestone bastions of Chillagoe signal that rest 

 awaits the weary. 



I\nmediately at the back, or south, of Watsonville, the hills 

 begin to rise into mountain magnitude, and form range on range, 

 from which grand views of the country can be obtained, and the 

 winding valley of the Walsh River traced. 



Leaving Watsonville, the road takes us in 20 miles to 

 Montalbion, of silver fame, passing through the mining camps 

 of Bakerville and the Orient, now practically deserted, but soon 

 to rise again to assured prosperity. Montalbion is 2,000 feet 

 above sea-level, and the old silver mines have all been taken up 



