44 THE VICTORIAN NATURALIST. 
holiday in search of health and recreation. Mr, Lucas, in addition, 
had definite intentions of making collections botanical, entomologieal, 
and conchological. As Mr. Robinson is not one of the joint authors 
of this paper, we may be excused from unfolding what his special 
aims may have been. Mr. Gregory, in addition to a liking for fresh 
air and exercise, has a fancy for natural scenery and perhaps a little 
for topography. 
We proposed to take train from Melbourne as far as Trafalgar on 
the main Gippsland line, and thence walk by the direct route through 
Mirboo and Forster to the end of Wilson’s Promontory, and to 
return by whatever route circumstances might suggest. Careful 
inquiries were made before starting as to the road, and many con- 
tradictory reports obtained. One man, for instance, said that there 
were seventeen miles of glue-pot between Trafalgar and Mirboo, but 
the road from Mirboo to Forster would be better. Another described 
the road to Mirboo as good. A third said that the difficulties of 
the journey would commence when we crossed the Derby, thirty 
miles the other side of Forster. There was one reason that operated 
in the choice of the route, and was sufficient to stifle the warnings 
as to swamps and glue-pots, and that was a desire to see the great 
forest of South Gippsland. It was now possible to see it in its 
primeval grandeur. But the passing of the new Land Act and 
commencement of the Great Southern Railway would soon be 
followed by a rush of selectors ; in another year even it might be no 
more. 
Mr. Lucas and Mr. Gregory, accordingly, on the Saturday in 
Christmas week, started by the early train for Trafalgar. It rained 
heavily during the journey and after their arrival at Trafalgar, where 
they had to wait a conple of hours for the luggage train which 
brought on their pack-horse. ‘Trafalgar is a small village at the 
foot of wooded ranges, which rise to the south of it say 1000 or 
1200 feet. The people said there had been much rain lately, and it 
was likely to continue so long as the wind was from the north. 
Ags soon as the horse arrived, we loaded up and started. Our 
pack consisted of a tent 6 feet by 8 feet with a fly, about ten days’ 
provisions, a change of clothes each, rugs, billies, &c., and Mr. 
Lueas’s collecting apparatus. 
The road at once began to ascend. As it got higher and steeper, 
the mud got deeper, being knee-deep in places. Most of the land 
had been taken up on each side of the road, and much of it had been 
cleared and the timber ringed, giving an extensive look-out. We 
passed a dray drawn by fourteen bullocks. It did not appear heavily 
loaded, but it sank in up to the axles. 
On reaching the top of the ridge, the road became drier, and 
about five miles from Trafalgar descended to Narracan Creek, a fine 
stream which crossed our path from left to right. There was a rich 
