THE VICTORIAN NATURALIST. 13 



slopes and rocky spurs led up to the double top of the cliff- 

 walled summit. A rapid descent was made to the river, whose 

 bouldery bed was soon crossed. A flask was filled with water, 

 for though springs exist on the mountain they are not easy to 

 find. A stiff climb of 2,800 feet is necessary to reach the top, 

 and though arduous and fatiguing it is well worth the effort. 



Towards the top, between the rocky knolls and ridges of sand- 

 stone, gentler slopes and saddles are found, and though it was 

 the middle of January these were beautifully carpeted with green 

 kangaroo grass, brightened by a wealth of wild flowers. Most 

 abundant were the graceful blue bells of Wahlenbergia gracilis 

 and small yellow and white everlastings, Helichrysum leucopsidium, 

 Cand. The blue buttons of Brunonia australis, Smith, and the 

 deep pink flowers of the Trigger Plant, Candollea serrulata, Lab., 

 were also very conspicuous. A belt of Snow Gums with some 

 curious bare grassy patches interspersed, covers the last steep 

 face, and above this rise the bare rock ledges of the summit. 

 The top is small in area, and in this respect is a strong contrast 

 to nearly all the mountains of the region, which still preserve 

 considerable areas of the extensive table-land out of which they 

 have been carved. 



The top of the mountain is double, being divided by a great 

 vertical joint, so as to form a slightly higher northern point, 

 crowned with stunted Snow Gums, and a southern part consisting 

 of a flat table of bare rock of only a few square yards in extent. 

 Projecting ledges of almost horizontal sandstone, formed by the 

 weathering away of the softer intervening red shales, form 

 precipitous cliffs on either side, and make the outlook from the 

 summit a dizzy height indeed. Though the lowest of the 

 important mountains around, the position is a particularly com- 

 manding one. Two deep valleys, nearly 3,000 feet below, are 

 overlooked on either hand. 



To the west one looks right down to the bottom of the 

 Macallister valley, and it is possible to follow its southerly course 

 away down to the low country, more than 30 miles off. 



To the east, over the other edge of the small rock table, the 

 face of the mountain is even more precipitous, and the view 

 extends over a maze of overlapping spurs of the Wellington 

 valley, to the precipitous sides of Mt. Wellington, which forms 

 the most imposing mountain of the whole scene. 



Its flat top was just visible under the descending mists, which 

 soon hid it from view, and on the north-western face the 

 prominent outstanding knob which sentinels the hidden lake could 

 be clearly distinguished. A most striking cloud shadow effect 

 blended harmoniously with the blue haze of the valley and added 

 to the impressiveness of the scene. Mt. Tamboritha, 5,381 feet, 

 rises to the north-east, scarcely five miles away in a straight line. 



