TOPOGRAPHY OF VICTORIA. 



397 



which may be inferred from the fact that the first covers an area of eight hundred acres, 

 the second of nearly three hundred, and the third of no less than one thousand four 

 hundred and fifty. The district in which these lakes are situated divides with Gippsland 

 the claim to be considered the garden of Victoria. It is greatly favoured as regards 

 soil and climate. Much of the former is of volcanic origin, and is in consequence ex- 



LAKE CORANGAMITE, FROM MOUNT LEURA. 



tremely fertile ; and the annual rain-fall, which ranges from thirty to forty inches within 

 forty or fifty miles of the coast, is nowhere less than from twenty to thirty inches, a 

 higher average being reached in the valley of the Wannon. Hence the general verdure 

 of the landscape and the favourable conditions under which the pursuits of husbandry 

 are conducted. Amenity is the most striking characteristic of the scenery ; the hills 

 rarely attaining a greater altitude than fifteen hundred feet, except in the case of Mount 

 Emu, which reaches a height of three thousand feet ; and the lakes, faithfully reflecting 

 all the moods, the sailing clouds, and the glory or gloom of the heavens overhead, 

 confer a special charm upon the landscape. Corangamite and Colac, which are only six 

 or seven miles apart, are eminently picturesque, both in themselves and in their sur- 

 roundings, for above the fair champaign which girdles them tower the isolated hills of 

 Great Warrion, Leura, Porndon, Wiridgil and Myrtoon, to say nothing of the stony rises 

 to the south ; and the whole district, with the numerous flocks and herds browsing on 

 its pastures, its comfortable homesteads and substantial country mansions, girdled by clumps 

 of exotic trees and well-kept pleasure grounds, breathes an air of prosperity and comfort. 

 A very short distance from Lake Corangamite is a smaller but much deeper sheet 



