56 A HISTORY OF THE COLONY OF VICTORIA 



camped on the 9th of December on the banks of the King Parrot 

 Creek to recruit. From here Hume and Hovell started alone to 

 make a reconnaissance, taking four days' provisions. Steering south- 

 west they literally scrambled much of the time on their hands and 

 knees to the summit of Mount Disappointment, the appropriate 

 name they bestowed upon it in memory of their repulse, and which 

 it still retains. The attempt to descend its south-western slope was 

 a failure. The density of the strong undergrowth, the height of 

 the ferns, the intermingled barriers of fallen timber, and the pre- 

 valence of the sharp cutting sword-grass, not only defied their 

 progress but prevented them obtaining any general view of the lay 

 of the country. Could they but have found a cleared summit they 

 would have been rewarded by a view of the verdant flats through 

 which the Plenty Eiver, within a few miles of them, was hastening 

 to join the Yarra in its placid course towards the sea. But as if 

 the ruggedness of nature was not a sufficient obstacle, another 

 difficulty met them here. Hume, while walking on the barrel of a 

 fallen tree intently scanning the prospect, caught his foot in a 

 tangled creeper and fell on a jagged spike, which inflicted a painful 

 wound in the groin. Baffled in the contest, jaded with their severe 

 exertions, bleeding from the smarting cuts of the sword-grass, and 

 Hume at least in doubt as to whether he was permanently dis- 

 abled, they passed a miserable night on the mountain, and got back 

 painfully to the camp next morning. To add to their discomfort 

 the country was now found to be on fire in all directions, the dense 

 smoke making it most difficult to select the best course. But they 

 could not afford to delay, and the same afternoon they struck off to 

 follow the creek down, but the fierce fire and the blinding smoke com- 

 pelled them to give it up before they had gone a couple of miles. 

 The next morning, the wind having died away, they made a fresh 

 start, and after travelling about eight miles to the west, they came 

 upon open, grassy country, and the same evening pitched their 

 camp at Sunday Creek, near Kilmore. Here, when all before them 

 was a mere promenade compared with what they had gone through, 

 the men for the first time displayed a mutinous spirit of discontent. 

 They thought they had done enough in the cause of exploration ; 

 they had lost most of their dogs, and could therefore no longer rely 



