BY COL. W. V. LEGGE, R.A., F.G.S. 125 



and very steep slope of immense boulders, up which we clambered 

 ■with some difficulty, and gained the summit of the mountain 

 about half-past eleven. Included in this time were two 

 halts for sketching and making tea, so that for good walkers 

 the ascent by this route is no very difficult matter. The top 

 of the mountain is a level tract of boulders overgrown with 

 Alpine vegetation, and measures perhaps three-quarters of a 

 mile by one-third, narrowing at its northern end into the 

 ridge before mentioned. About the centre of this little 

 rugged plain is a large crevice descending into the heart of 

 the mountain. Its sides consist of basaltic columns, and at 

 the northern end there is a slope of detritus, down which 

 one could descend to the bottom. At first it gives the 

 impression of having been a rent in the basaltic formation, 

 but the fact of its being so short — about 50 yards — 

 and closed at both ends, would rather lead to the belief that 

 the cleft is the result of a subsidence in the rock forma- 

 tion. The altitude of the mountain taken a little distance 

 from the trig, station, was 4,680 feet. The panorama all 

 round was fine indeed, but to the westward it is simply sub- 

 lime. Immediately at one's feet the lake lies 2,000 feet 

 below with Mount Ida on its further shore, standing out like 

 a sugarloaf in front of the walled tier, which forms the edge 

 of the wild and rugged upland, stretching across to the sources 

 of the Pine River. At the foot of Mount Ida, Lake Laura 

 nestles in the forest, overlooked by the precipices of the 

 upland, which further north break up into an indescribable 

 jumbli of peaks and bluffs standing up at the head of the 

 Valley of the Narcissus ; to the west, the view is more exten- 

 sive. Directly beneath in the Vale of Cuvier is Lake Petrarch, 

 painted by Mr. Piguenit in 1874, and beyond are the 

 Coal Hill, Sugarloaf, and Hugel Mountains, forming a fore- 

 ground to the Western Wilds, which are bounded towards 

 the horizon by the lofty mountains, known as the" West 

 Coast Range," and near the centre of the mining industry in 

 that i^art of the Island. 



The features of the upland between Lake St. Clair and the 

 sources of the Pine and Mersey rivers are not sketched in 

 in our maj)s ; it is full of lakes and bold rocky hills with flat 

 summits, and fully merits the term " rugged " which I have 

 applied to it. Probably no one has ever crossed it, and if this 

 is so there is presumably no good land there ; but for the 

 sake of acquiring a knowledge of its topographical features 

 it is well worth while to explore it. About a mile from 

 the edge of the highland and to the south of Ida, 

 is a fine sheet of water, which is perhaps connected 

 with the Traveller Lakes lying a little to the south. 

 It was not marked on the map, and I named it Lake 



