142 THE VICTORIAN NATURALIST. 



seldom gets the direct rays of the sun, consequently the vegetation 

 is much more luxuriant. The finest orchids I have were gathered 

 here. Curious sundews, mosses, rare ferns, and other plants are 

 to be found in abundance. I often wished the members of the 

 Field Naturalists' Club could visit this spot in the proper season. 

 After innumerable winds up the zig-zag path we at length reached 

 the top, and found ourselves on a very broad spur. A little 

 further on we arrived at a clearing of a hundred acres or so of very 

 rich land, belonging to an energetic man with a large family, who 

 evidently works hard, to judge from the various improvements. 

 Mr. Beardmore keeps an accommodation house, which is much 

 required, as it is the only house on the 25 miles of track from 

 Walhalla to Toombon. For many miles the path follows the broad 

 spur, and then makes a sudden dive down into another long 

 sideling, which finally led us again into the Aberfeldy. We forded 

 the river, and ascending the other side a few hundred feet found 

 ourselves on a fine broad road which joins Donnelly's Creek and 

 Toombon. This is certainly the best piece of road in the moun- 

 tains. It is almost level, and is cut out of the side of the hill 

 about 300 feet above the stream. A sharp canter soon brought 

 us in sight of the township, which has a very peculiar appearance ; 

 most of the houses being built in a gully running down the side of 

 the hill below the road. We were most hospitably entertained by 

 the manager, Mr. Staff. After dinner we accompanied him down 

 to the battery ; first along the main road and then down a very 

 steep, narrow path, which is indeed an apology for a street. The 

 night was exceedingly dark, and each of us carried a bush lantern. 

 This primitive article is manufactured from a brandy bottle, with 

 the bottom broken off, turned upside down, and a piece of lighted 

 candle cleverly dropped in so as to catch in the neck. I cannot 

 properly describe the wierd effect occasioned by the rocky steep- 

 ness of the path, the apparently illimitable depths at one side of 

 us, the bright glimmer of an iron roof or two just level with our 

 feet faintly shown by our lantern, and the dark gleams occasionally 

 thrown back from the shining leaf of some mountain bush. We 

 travelled in this way for nearly a mile, the path getting worse and 

 worse as we advanced. At length we reached the battery, and 

 superintended the smelting of the precious metal. Though a 

 common sight up here, I do not remember ever seeing a descrip- 

 tion of the process. When the golden quartz has been crushed 

 into such fine powder that the water can easily carry it away, the 

 muddy stream is allowed to pass over sheets of copper covered 

 with a quantity of quicksilver ; the tiny particles of gold unite with 

 the quicksilver and form an amalgam, which is caught, partly by 

 the sheets of copper and partly by a complicated arrangement of 

 sluice boxes and blankets. As it is necessary to separate the con- 

 stituents of the amalgam, it is placed in a semi-spherical iron pot, 



