BY COL. W. V. LEGGB, E.A., F.G.S. 115 



■obtained of Mount Olympus and tlie jagged Du Cane Ranges, 

 ■with the sharp peak of Byron in the centre ; and then looking 

 due west beyond the Derwent, the whole length of Mount 

 Hugel and its bold ridge, with the smoother outline of Mount 

 Eiufus, completes the panorama of the mountains in the 

 immediate vicinity of the Lake. I regret that my lamented 

 friend Mr. Sprent, under whose able leadership we made our 

 trip to the West at the time I write of, did not see this view, 

 for he was looking forward to it with considerable interest. 

 We had, however, trudged the whole way from the hospitable 

 homestead of Bronte in constant driving snow showers, which 

 effectually obscured the country, and though the weather 

 cleared up as we neared the lake, the mountains were still 

 clothed with mist. Every now and then the clouds would 

 lift and suddenly disclose some unknown crag or peak to our 

 eyes, and many were the conjectures among the party as to 

 what this mountain or that could be, for the study of our 

 ■charts did not assist us much so long as our observations 

 were limited to single mountains standing up here and there 

 among the clouds. In the afternoon the sun shone out and 

 the mountains cleared entirely, but by that time we had 

 crossed the Derwent, and under the guidance of Mr. Orr, of 

 Mount Charles, had reached the shores of the lake, the 

 storm-tossed beauties of which fully occupied our attention. 

 After crossing the Derwent, the coimtry lying between the 

 river and the King William Range is perfectly flat, and 

 consists, for the main part, of two large button-rush plains, 

 the first called the Derwent, and divided from the second, or 

 JSTavarre Plain, by a belt of bush. A forest-clad ridge starts 

 from the lake about three miles to the north and impinges 

 on these plains, an arm of which runs behind the ridge 

 through to the lake, and by Avhich there is a track from the 

 Navarre Plains to the Boat House. The western face of this 

 ridge is a picturesque precipice about 300 feet high, called 

 the " Bedlam Walls," and of which I am told an effective 

 painting was made by a lady traveller some years ago. On 

 emerging from the bush fringing the west bank of the Der- 

 went, and issuing on to the plains, a grand view is obtained 

 of the King William Mountain, which rises boldly up like a 

 solitary monarch from the surrounding country. From this 

 point of view the three peaks, which form the northern face 

 of the mountain, blend into a continuous basaltic ridge 

 standing out of a series of beautiful forest-clad slopes, which 

 unite at their base with the bush skirting the Navarre Plains. 

 To the south the Derwent Plain stretches away for miles like 

 a yellow sea of grass, fringed on all sides with forest, and 

 backed up by the Mount Hobhouse Range, between which 

 a,nd King William there is a wide gap in the landscape. 



