VICTORIA. 



65 



and salt. Of five within gunshot of where we stand, three are salt and two 

 fresh, yet they are separated only by narrow isthmuses. They vary also 

 considerably in their height above sea-level. Corangamite is higher than 

 Colac — these crater-tarns higher than Corangamite. There is a very high 

 percentage of salt in some of these lakes. The saline properties are 

 caused by the drainage from the basalt rocks, "the water being kept down 

 by vaporisation, while the quantity of salt continually increases." In the 

 summer the lakes fall by evaporation considerably below winter level, leaving 

 on the banks large quantities of native salt in crystals, the gathering of which 

 forms a remunerative occupation to 

 many in the district. Cattle love this ... 



native salt, but Corangamite and its 

 fellows are avoided by mankind. None 

 bathe in their waters ; no boats sail 

 upon them. The large lake itself has 



A Victorian Lake. 



not even been surveyed or sounded. I am surprised that this has not been 

 used for navigation. In the United States there would be steamers towing 

 flat-bottomed barges ; live stock and fire and pit wood, as well as passengers, 

 would be conveyed from north to south and east to west ; for, although 

 shallow in places, there is ample depth for boats built on the American 

 model. There was a tradition amongst the blacks that Corangamite and 

 Colac were once dry, and again that at one time the lakes were all connected 

 in one running stream. But whether the water privileges are sufficiently 

 utilised or not, the lake scenery remains unequalled by anything I have yet seen. 



F 



