ASCEND WIZARD PEAK. 387 



crooked kind of drooping gum, besides a species of 

 wattle and tea- tree. Its course was about S. by W. 

 and appeared to come from the valleys, formed by 

 the ranges in the rear of Mount Fairfax, and north 

 of Wizard Peak. Continuing our journey, we 

 proceeded over an undulating plain, on the higher 

 parts of which a reddish sand and ironstone gravel 

 universally prevailed ; in the lower parts, and near 

 the water-courses, the soil approached alight mould, 

 and produced the warran, so much sought after by 

 the natives. In all this district the vegetation was 

 of the worst description — the trees, which grew 

 only in the valleys, were small kinds of banksia, 

 wattles, and drooping gums— not large enough to 

 furnish building materials. 



In the course of the afternoon we reached the 

 summit of that remarkable and almost solitary 

 pyramidal hill, Wizard Peak,* which we found 

 composed of large blocks of ironstone, having a 

 most powerful effect on the needle, and changing 

 its direction in different places ten degrees. Here 

 we noticed two or three stunted xanthorrheas 

 growing on the S. W. side of the hill ; and a few 

 small casuarinas, and wattles were thinly scattered 

 on its summit, which, by barometric measurement, 

 was found to be 715 feet above the level of the sea. 

 Part of the range lying immediately north was 

 absolutely a mass of bare ironstone. This view was 

 very commanding — to the N. N. W. and N. E. lay 

 * Distant eleve'n miles from Champion Bay. 

 2 c 2 



