22 THE VICTORIAN NATURALIST. 



its foal running by its side, and driven by an individual who 

 combined in his own person the professions of architect, builder, 

 and coachman of the curious " greenhouse "-on-wheels which 

 served as a hearse, and the design of which revealed the Gothic 

 spirit latent in the architect — the recollection of these will remain 

 with us for long. Nor are we likely to soon forget the quaintness 

 of the scene as the funeral procession, with its long string of men 

 and women on horseback, and an intermingling of a strange 

 variety of vehicles, moved off down the wide street of Bendoc. 

 We seemed to be carried far away from the civilization of the 

 nineteenth century. 



As to Bendoc itself, it is purely a mining township, the total 

 population of which cannot number much more than sixty or 

 seventy souls in all. In times past the river beds in the neigh- 

 bourhood were worked for alluvial gold, and traces of the old 

 workings are to be seen everywhere. Then came a time of 

 depression, when the school-house and the police station were 

 almost, if not quite, the only inhabited houses. Now the town- 

 ship is livelier again, and promises to make progress. Various 

 mines, as the Eclipse and Morning Star, are being worked in the 

 neighbourhood, and gold obtained, of which the kindness of Mr. 

 Dudley, the hotelkeeper, enabled us to bring away specimens. 



In the creek behind the hotel Ranunculus aquaticus grows in 

 abundance, and the leaves of the young gums are covered with 

 various species of beetles of the genus Paropsis. 



We could not obtain all the stores we wanted in Bendoc, where 

 it was terribly hot, so after having looked around for some time, 

 written and obtained letters, telegraphed, and dined in a civilized 

 manner, we started again at 3 p.m., glad once more to get into 

 the woods. The country here is undulating, with rather fine 

 trees — white-gums, stringybarks, messmates, and a few pepper- 

 mints. Of others, one or two species of Aster, with now and then 

 waratahs, are seen, plenty of Banksia serrata and -aiish-alis, and 

 Acacia disco/or a.nd linearis. Every now and then we come to patches 

 of Leptospervuun myrsiiioides, with the usual accompaniment of 

 Buprestid and other beetles, and in the woods Stylidium is much 

 the most frequent flower, the white as well as the common red 

 variety being found. Bossioea and two or three Pulteneas are 

 also noticed, and many dwarf grass-trees. The country grows 

 very poor and monotonous, with nothing but low gums, until we 

 reach the river Delegate, on the west side of which lies our camp 

 for the night. The river runs north and south along a broad 

 valley with low-lying hills on either side, and with its sluggish 

 current and the green flats bordering its course forms a strong 

 contrast to the streams flowing to the south from the mountain 

 ranges through deep valleys. 



Our tents are pitched on stony ground, and are not by any 



