THE VICTORIAN NATURALIST. 167 



After some six miles the country changes completely, and we 

 find ourselves in a great beech forest. The change from gums is 

 most refreshing, and the deep shade and flickering shadows, the 

 trunks all moss-covered, and the ground deep in ferns, call to 

 mind an old English wood. There is little or no scrub, and the 

 warm brown colour of the young shoots with which all the trees 

 are covered, mingled with the deep green of the older foliage, 

 give a depth and warmth of colour quite absent from the ordinary 

 Victorian forest, and resembling more than anything else an 

 English oak wood in spring time. It is curious to note that 

 everywhere the trunks and branches of the beeches are charac- 

 terized by a thick covering of mosses of various kinds, whilst the 

 silver wattles are equally remarkable for a covering of lichens, 

 even though the two trees grow next to one another, whilst a 

 gum tree close by will be comparatively bare. 



In the middle of the wood are the remnants of an old surveyors' 

 camp, occupied during the cutting of the track, and in the centre of 

 the camp is a tree marked " To Matlock." This is the termina- 

 tion of the clearing, and to the east runs a blazed track across the 

 Thompson River into the Tanjil district, while on the west 

 Whitelaw's track leads to the Yarra Valley and on to Reefton. 

 The track consists, for the most part, of blazes at considerable 

 intervals, and, starting from the camp in an unexpected direction, 

 is not easy to find at first. After some search, and by means of 

 the compass and the directions given to us by Professor Kernot and 

 Mr. Gregory, we strike the right one ; several lines of blazes run out 

 from the camp, passing up a high ridge to the south of the camp 

 and then turning to the south-west. It has taken us about four 

 hours to reach the spot, and before us there lie five more miles to 

 the Falls, with only blazes to guide us. On the ridge we find our- 

 selves in a forest of white gums. After a long, gradual ascent, 

 during which it was rather difficult to follow the blazes, owing to 

 the scrub and to the heavy timber having fallen across the line, we 

 pass down a steep descent, where the ground is one mass of 

 a species of Adiantum, and cross the first tributary of the Yarra. 

 Then comes a steep hillside covered with silver wattle, on which the 

 track is difficult to follow, and a gradual descent through a wood 

 with many sassafras trees to the small second tributary of the 

 Yarra. For the most part scrub is absent, and progress is only 

 difficult and tiring on account of the ferns. Another ridge is 

 crossed in a slanting direction, and then we come to the third 

 and largest tributary, which is already a considerable-sized stream, 

 though, doubtless, at the present time, swollen out by the recent 

 heavy rains. This stream, on which lie the Falls, can easily be 

 recognized, as close by it, where the track crosses over a log, are 

 three marked trees — one with the name of Professor Kernot, 

 another with F. N. C, and a third with the names of two others 



