Section E.— GEOGRAPHY. 



1.— AN INVESTIGATION INTO THE PHYSIOGRAPHY OF 

 THE BEN LOMOND PLATEAU, TASMANIA. 



By COLONEL W. V. LEGGE, F.R.G.S., F.Z.S., dec. 



(This paper was withdrawn by the author owing to its length, and the difficulty 

 in getting all the illustrations published. He therefore submits the following 

 synopsis. — W. V.L.) 



[PEEFATORy Note.] 



The following treatise on the Ben Lomond Range, the summit of 

 which constitutes the loftiest tract of land in Tasmania, is the outcome 

 of five exploring trips made by the writer during 1905-6, and two small 

 expeditions for the purpose of examining the plateau, and ascertaining 

 the altitude of the northern division of it. This region has rarely been 

 visited, except by hunters and the inhabitants of the remote bush 

 districts lying to the north of the mountain. 



The first exploring party, consisting of Mr. Lyndhurst Giblin, 

 Mr. F. W. Ward (Government Analyst), and his brother. Mr. E. Ward, 

 and the writer, was organised in 1906. for the purpose of examining the 

 valleys in the plateau, taking the heights of the various fells and crags 

 in the escarpment or boundary which forms the entire margin of the 

 range ; but more especially to compare the altitude of the trigono- 

 metrical station, fixed in 1852, on the south-western point of the moun- 

 tain, with that of the lofty moorland ridges at the north end. It may 

 be mentioned here in passing that the latter division of the moorland 

 . has always been thought to be the highest point by the writer ; this 

 opinion being based on the climatological conditions obtaining there, 

 namely, earlier and greater fall of snow, frequent cloud-capping when 

 all other portions are clear : and also its general appearance when 

 viewed from various positions on the upland itself, in comparison with 

 the trig, station. 



Our party ascended the mountain by the new track formed by 

 the Fingal Road Trust from Mangana to the south-eastern corner, and 

 established a camp among the diabase tors, backing the mural cliffs, 

 and close to the meteorological station fixed by the writer the previous 

 year. The first two or three days were employed in exploration, 

 surveying two of the lakes, extending the base already fixed for a 

 compass survey of the plateau, collecting specimens of the alpine 

 flora, and comparing our aneroid altitudes with the height of the trig, 

 station (5,010ft.), as noted on the ordnance map of the colony. 



During this period we were favored with a steady barometer, 

 except on one foggy day, with easterly air-currents, when a slight fall 



L 



