settled. The northern summit, on the 

 other hand, even where 'it can be seen, is 

 not a -giwd object from these valleys, iind 

 would have been useful only for surveyH 

 of the country to the north ^uul .north- 

 east, which was then nn iilmost untro Idem 

 wilderness. 'JMie absence, therefore, of any 

 mention of this northern sunin)it from 

 the re'.ords of the trigoiUHiielrlcal stii-vey 

 is no evidoin'e against its being the high- 

 est point of the range. 



In making a more careful determiaatiun 

 of the height of this northern summit in 

 the way wo propose, some examinjiition is 

 requireid of the meaining and accuracy of 

 the statement cm the- map that the height 

 of the trigo'nometrical station on Ben 

 Lomond is o,OU)ft. Postponing for a mo- 

 ment the doubt as to the precise point in 

 space to which this .statement relates, it 

 may be sitvid tliat there is little doubt that 

 it represents the i-esults of observations 

 and calculatioms of very high accuiracy. 

 The general accuracy of the trigonometri- 

 cal survej- of Tasmania may be gauged 

 from the i'act (recorded in Major Cotton's 

 paper on tlie survey, read before this so- 

 ciety in 1854), (1) that when the base oi 

 veriilcation, about five miles in length, 

 near Longford, wa.s measured, it was 

 found that the difference between the 

 measured length and that oomputed 

 through thirteen triangles from the ori- 

 ginal base at Ealph's Bay, was only SJin. 

 — ^a result which so much astonished Sir 

 William DenisO'ii, then Governor of Tasi- 

 mania, that he checked the whole of the 

 computations for himself, a.nd found theotn 

 quite accurate. It is tr'ue that the accu- 

 racy of this survey was impugned by a 

 later Siirveyor-General, and the maps 

 drawn from it have been the sub- 

 ject of much criticism, but it seems 

 safe to adopt the view of Mr. T. 

 r. Furber, Director of the trigo- 

 .nometrical survey of New South 

 Wales, contained in his paper on trigo- 

 nometrical surveys, read before the Aus- 

 tralasian Association for the advance- 

 ment of Science in 1898 (2), that the ob- 

 servations and calculations were made 

 with accuracy. The same cannot be 

 said of the maps of Tasmania, for the 

 rude sketches issued by the Depart- 

 ment of Lands and Surveys are a di- 

 grace to the colony. No blame can 

 attach to this department for its in- 

 ability to map those parts of the coun- 

 try, which are still unsurveyed and 

 practically unexplored, but_ it is surely 

 an example of our proverbial sleepiness 

 that for so many years no improve- 

 ments have been made in the mapping 

 of districts which have been settled 

 for nearly a century. In the repre- 

 sentations of the mountain systems the 

 m,ap3 .are particularly defeotive. The 

 system of hatching used to represent 

 heights is not a good one, mountain 



ranges are frequently shown as rows of 

 isolated and unconnected peaks, risittg 

 out of plains, and no attempt is made 

 to depict plateaus and highlands. In 

 tlie preparation of the latest map of 

 Tasmania, published about 25 yoaru 

 ago, the use of contour lines was pro- 

 i:o.'5ed, but this intention was abandon- 

 ed, and the method of reipresonting 

 mountains actually used is inadequate 

 and misleading. The ignorance of the 

 topogi'aphy of the island which is so 

 tommon among us, is a direct result of 

 the defects of the maps. The new 

 map showing in oolours the height of 

 the different portions of Tasmania 

 which the DirectO'r of Education iis now 

 having prepared for use in the State 

 schools, may at last enable us to get a 

 clear view of the vertical relief of Tas- 

 mania, which, as one of the deter- 

 mining causes of the distribution of 

 human activities and of other pheno- 

 mena, is a central feature of the geo 

 graphy of this as of other countrieSj 



Eeturning to the trigonometrical sur- 

 vey, it appears that the system of 

 marking the stations was not an accu- 

 rate one, althoiTgh the observations fix- 

 ed the positions of the stations to a 

 few inches. Usually an irregular cairn 

 of stones was erected, presumably over 

 the spot where the instrument was set 

 up, and in this a wooden pole was in- 

 serted. It is usual in surveys of this 

 kind to mark the exact position over 

 which the instrument is set up iby "a. 

 metal phig set up in the solid rock, but 

 this does not seem to have been done 

 in Tasmania. (3) On Ben Lomond, a 

 four-sided yard (locally knowTi as the 

 "Stockade'O was built of logs carried 

 up by prison labour from the forests be- 

 low, and inside this there are remains 

 Of a small stone cairn. But in the 

 lapse of 50 years, both yard and cairn 

 have almost disappeared, and the hori- 

 zontal and vertical position of the point 

 of observation are now uncertain to 

 some feet. 



Whether or not the northern summit 

 of Ben Lomond be the higrhest point m 

 Tasmania, or the highest point of the 

 range, it should have a name. The 

 name Ben Lomond is commonly applied 

 to the whole range, but is particularly 

 associated with the south-western sum- 

 mit on which is the ti-igono metrical sta- 

 tion. Between this and the northern 

 summit there lies, as has already been 

 stated, a deep valley, and it is, there- 

 fore, in accordance with the usual prac- 

 tice in such matters that the summits 

 should be distinguished by separate 

 names. For the northern summit we 

 now in-\ 'te the Eoyal Society of Tas- 

 mania, )ue of the leading objects of 



which ij stated in its Constitution to 



be the investigation of "the Physical 



