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THE TOWNS 01- NEW SOUTH WALKS. 



301 



scenery being agreeably diversified by a range of hills, of which the castellated mount 

 known as Tabletop is the most lofty. In a south-westerly direction is the agricultural 

 settlement of Jindera, but the country for the greater part is used for sheep-gra/ing. A 

 few miles from the track, at Gerogery, several Germans settled upon small vineyards, 

 but it is not until Ettamogah, a point five miles north of the boundary, is in view 



that a fair idea of the agricultural wealth of the 

 Murray Valley can be formed. On both sides of 



. 



THE ORIGINAL SITE OF THE CLAIMANTS SHOI 



the line the hill-slopes are verdant with vine- 

 yards, regularly yielding heavy crops of lus- 

 cious grapes, which grow luxuriantly in the warm climate of a valley over five hundred 

 and thirty feet above sea-level. The soil in this locality is derived from the decom- 

 position of felspathic granite, which is scattered over the district, and occurs with 

 schist and other crystalline rocks, forming a soil peculiarly favourable to the grape, 

 which has been shewn to possess alcoholic properties scarcely approached, and seldom 

 surpassed, by the grape in other countries. 



This part of the colony was discovered by the brave and adventurous explorers, 

 Hume and Hovell, who were chosen to explore the country as far as Western Port. 

 They travelled through the Murray Valley, and on the north bank of the River there 

 still stands a red-gum tree which bears witness to the fact by the following inscription 

 skilfully carved on its trunk: "Hovell, Nov. 17 x 24." The spot whereon the explorers 

 were supposed to have camped was marked by a neat monument, which some vandals 

 so disfigured that it was thought advisable to remove it to a safer site in the local 



