THE VICTORIAN NATURALIST. 143 



a similar one being placed on top and securely fastened. The 

 whole forms an apparently solid globe, with a long iron tube pro- 

 ceeding from the top. This crucible is then placed on a furnace, 

 with the other end of the iron tube in a tub of water ; the great 

 heat vaporizes the quicksilver, and it escapes through the tube, 

 but liquefies again as soon as it touches the water, and is subse- 

 quently found at the bottom of the tub fit for further use. The 

 pot is then removed from the furnace, and being unfastened, the 

 gold is found in a solid lump. This mass of gold, which weighed 

 some 400 ozs., was then broken up ; plates of iron having been 

 placed crossways in the crucible before smelting, these plates 

 separating it into quarters made it handier for carriage. The next 

 morning I started for a ramble along the river, and after a stiff 

 climb down had a splendid scramble along the banks. The hills 

 start up abruptly on each side, leaving generally a very narrow, 

 rocky margin, but every crevice was teeming with vegetation. 

 Maidenhair ferns, Lomarias, mosses, lichens, and shrubs of all 

 kinds were scattered in profusion. Ti-tree of various species grew 

 by the water's edge. I found some shrubs of a very rare species 

 of Grevillea {G. miquelliand). This plant grows sometimes to 15 

 feet in height, and has soft-looking oval leaves and very large 

 scarlet blossoms. I think it is the prettiest native shrub we have. 

 I have known it to bloom for nine months in the year. When I 

 arrived at the junction of the mine creek, I chmbed up to the 

 battery and saw that it was worked by means of a large water 

 wheel turned by a fine sluice-head of water. 



I followed the race back for a couple of miles through some 

 exceedingly picturesque scenery, sometimes bold and rocky, and 

 again with hills rising in swelling curves, their wooded heights 

 peering over one another as they receded in the dim distance. The 

 race had been cut for some time, so its banks were covered with 

 ferns and other plants; in one place it passes under a magnificent 

 canopy of tree ferns. Victoria possesses but two common tree 

 ferns — the Dicksonias, which grow in shady valleys, and the 

 Alsophilas, which grow on the hillside. On examining their 

 leaves or fronds, brown spots may be observed on the under 

 surface; these are masses of spore-vessels, called sori. In the 

 valley species the sori are placed near the margin, and the 'edges 

 of the leaves turn back and cover them, but in the hillside species 

 they are dotted along each side of the midrib. 



I was so enchanted with the scenery that hitherto I had pushed 

 on in spite of the cold rain, but now it became so heavy that very 

 reluctantly I had to return. When I got back to the manager's I 

 was thankful to dry my clothes and get a good warm at the huge 

 wood fire which blazed cheerfully in the open fireplace. 



We now prepared to return to Walhalla. The gold had been 

 broken up and divided; I had about 200 ozs., fastened in small 



