LALLAL. 349 



About twelve miles from the diggings, and on the direct 

 road to Ballan, the first stage towards Melbourne, was 

 situated the homestead of a most hospitable and flourishing 



squatter, Mr. F . Nothing could be more beautiful 



than the position of the pretty cottage and farm-buildings of 

 Lallal. Built on a gentle eminence in a large and picturesque 

 glade of the forest, through which flowed a considerable 

 stream, never dry even in the li eight of summer, it was not 

 only a charming retreat in itself, but from its water re- 

 sources invaluable as a station. One of the greatest incon- 

 veniences to the owner was that his privacy was so much 

 invaded, and his hospitality so much taxed, by parties con- 

 tinually en route to and from Ballarat to Melbourne, and 

 who generally encamped close to his dwelling. 



Following the course of the stream downwards, which 

 was bordered on each side by wide swampy beds of reeds and 

 grass, the abode of snipe, wild-fowl, and many varieties of 

 the crane and plover genus, the tourist arrives, about three 

 miles distance from Lallal, at a series of waterfalls, perhaps 

 unsurpassed in beauty for their size and extent in Australia, 

 or any other part of the world. This was, of course, more 

 particularly the case when the creek was full. 



After traversing the marshy borders for some time this 

 rank vegetation altogether ceased, and the bright and silvery 

 stream flowed on between mossy banks of green and verdant 

 turf, through a flat and luxuriant plateau, overshadowed by 

 lofty arid wide-spreading trees, until it came to an abrupt 

 termination, and disappeared altogether, with no apparent 

 cause. But, upon approaching the spot where this pheno- 

 menon seemed to take place, a clear fall of more than one 

 hundred feet in depth, between granite ridges of rocks of 

 the most beautiful and fantastic shapes, met the eye. From 

 the deep pool beneath, the turbid waters rushed onwards in 

 rapid descent, and a series of waterfalls of the same descrip- 



