THE VICTORIAN NATURALIST. 



spend the evening bathing and smoking. By the camp there is 

 a spot in which has lived for some time a large tiger snake. It 

 has been seen here by several persons, at considerable intervals ; 

 but, though anxious to secure it, we cannot get a glimpse of the 

 animal. 



Wednesday, 2Nd January. — Leaving camp, we take Bruce's 

 track, leading north-east. To the south-east rises Mount Ray- 

 mond, a granite peak which forms the southernmost point of the 

 central watershed of Western Croajingolong. Our way lies up a 

 long spur leading up to the M'Culloch Range. After walking for 

 four miles we come to a surveyor's camp at Raymond Creek, and 

 there we put up a tent, in which to leave the greater part of our 

 stores whilst we make a divergence so as to see the Cabbage Tree 

 Creek. Leaving the track, we pass southwards into the scrub in 

 the direction of Mount Raymond. The day is very hot, and the 

 horses, lightly laden, make rather too quick progress for those of 

 us who are on foot. The scrub is thick, and composed of 

 Persoonia (6 ft. to 15 ft. high), Bursaria spinosa, Acacia discolor 

 and linearis ; on the ground is a thick growth of star and coral 

 ferns and bracken, which, together with the fallen logs they 

 conceal from view, and patches of sword-grass, make travelling 

 very tedious and as uncomfortable as possible, more especially as 

 the sun is beating down upon us, and there is not a breath of 

 fresh air. Of flowers, we find the orchids Dipodium punctatum 

 and Caleana major, with Wahlenbergia and Lobelia simplicicaulis. 

 This kind of work goes on for some miles, until at last we pass 

 out on to a somewhat open stretch of ground where is an out- 

 crop of granite : we have hitherto been on silurian schists and 

 sandstones. Turning more to the east, and leaving Mount 

 Raymond to the right hand, we mount a recently fired ridge and 

 descend through jungle to a creek, which we call Todea Creek, 

 on account of the rich growth of the fern along its banks. 

 Here, unfortunately, we lost our only collecting umbrella : it is 

 lost in the jungle, and will doubtless, when found by some 

 selector, give rise to not a little conjecture concerning the ways 

 and manners of the previous inhabitants of the land. After 

 passing another stream, which from the nature of its immediate 

 surroundings we name Muddy Creek, we mount a ridge and pass 

 through scrub where the ground is covered with Lycopodium 

 densupi in fruit, together with the shrubs and flowers we have 

 seen before, and the same species of gums. The creek at the 

 base of the hill forms a good stream of water, and having been 

 first traced for some considerable distance by our guide, we call 

 it Crawford's Creek : along its banks Restio tetraphylhis is 

 growing beautifully, together with the usual ferns, and crossing 

 the stream by a small bridge made by Crawford, we find our- 

 selves on a flat piece of ground covered with Leptospermum 



