HUME AND HOVELL'S OVERLAND JOURNEY 53 



a continuous climbing of difficult ascents, only to find an equally 

 precipitous descent on the other side. At length, having crossed 

 the Tumut River, they arrived on the 8th of November at a mountain 

 barrier which seemed to forbid further progress. With much diffi- 

 culty Hume and Hovell, leaving the men in camp at foot, climbed 

 nearly to the summit of the opposing range, and then there broke 

 upon their astonished view a panorama of colossal snow-clad peaks, 

 such as dwarfed all the surroundings. Stretching across their route, 

 extending from south-east to south-west, the compact mountain 

 chain now called the Australian Alps, glittering in the sunshine, 

 barred all hope of successful exploration in that direction. And yet 

 the base line of their route, sketched on the skeleton chart, the 

 straight road to Western Port, lay right through the heart of them. 

 The practical sagacity of Hume convinced him at once that it 

 would be hopeless to find a path through those ranges, and he 

 promptly decided to make a detour of fifty or sixty miles to the 

 west in the expectation of finding more level country through 

 which to continue his southerly course. Hovell, more used to 

 travelling by chart, and knowing less of the obstacles before him, 

 persisted in going ahead. The dissensions which had been fre- 

 quent enough between the two explorers culminated here in a 

 violent quarrel. They agreed to separate, and as both laid claim 

 to the tent, it was proposed, after the manner of Solomon's judg- 

 ment, to cut it in two, but Hume gave way rather than consent to 

 its mutilation, and Captain Hovell walked off with it in triumph. 

 There was even a struggle for the possession of the only fry- 

 ing pan, Hovell having left his at the depot with his cart ; but 

 although the handle was broken off in the contest, neither party was 

 destined to be long without this culinary convenience. For the 

 wrathful mariner, though he sallied forth on his southern course 

 with apparent determination, soon repented him of his rashness. 

 One of his servants, Thomas Boyd, says : " After travelling some 

 distance, I represented to him that the course we were steering led 

 us right among the snowy mountains, and that if we once got 

 among them we could never get out, and must all be lost. He 

 agreed with me ; and at his desire I sought and found Mr. Hume's 

 track, ran it down, and we joined him and his party about dusk 



