122 THE HIGHLANDS OF LAKE ST. CLAIE. 



shattered trig, station is built, but I could scarcely gatlier 

 from liis description to wbicL. species it belonged. 



Before quitting my notice of this locality, a few words 

 raust be said about the now tolerably well-known Mount 

 Arrowsmitb, which appears to have given its name to the 

 hut used as a provision depot, which useful edifice is, however, 

 more closely connected with King William than Arrowsmith. 

 When viewed from the top of King William, Arrowsmith is 

 no mountain at all, but merely the raised termination of the 

 lahe plateau lying between Mount Gell and King William, 

 and divided from the former by the magnificent myrtle-clad 

 gorge through which the Franklin River issues from Lake 

 Dison. The plateau rises gradually from the hut up to the 

 Arrowsmith moor, which is broken up into rocky eminences 

 and picturesque schistose torrs, standing up from the button- 

 grass wastes around them ; between these the path to the 

 West Coast winds till it reaches the edge of the moor, and 

 then, suddenly turning towards the south-west, drops about 

 2,000 feet into the valley of the Franklin. At the point 

 where the descent commences a sublime view of the" French- 

 man," with the Cap towering up in the centre, is suddenly 

 disclosed. Seen from this point on the highlands I cannot 

 call to mind any mountain of corresponding height which is 

 so grand in the character of its outline as the " Frenchman," 

 and a trip to Mount Arrowsmith from Hobart would be 

 worth taking, were it only to obtain one glance at the magni- 

 ficent range as seen from that point. I am told that the view 

 of the mountain is excessively grand from the south-west, but 

 from that elevation, when seen from among the valleys, it 

 cannot be so comprehensive as from the highlands to the 

 eastward. 



I now come to a closer notice of the beautiful lake and its 

 mountainous surroundings, the notable features of which are 

 Mounts Olympus and Ida. 



Lake St. Clair is about eleven miles long, and two wide at its 

 broadest part ; its shores are, on the whole, for the most part 

 uninclented, the "Lake Basin" at the south end being the- 

 only bay of consequence. Its eastern shore is flanked by a 

 long unbroken tier (the edge of the great lake jDlateau), 

 which descends steeply to the water's edge and is covered 

 beneath its cliffs with gum forest. Near the north of the lake a 

 bold, conical offshoot of this tier occurs, as Mount Ida, which 

 is divided from the main body by a deep gorge, and overlooks 

 on its northern side the pretty little Lake Laura. The 

 densest forest surrounds this lake and prevented Mr. 

 Piguenit from painting it when he penetrated to its shores 

 with Mr. J. E. Scott in 1874. Overlooking Lake Laura, the 

 tier assumes a loftier and bolder character, and running north 



