Mountain Ranges of Gipps Land. SI 



action. Any indication of further continuance of such gradual 

 action would be most likely first made known to us by the 

 derangement of the instruments in the Melbourne Observa- 

 tor}^ in some sensible manner. 



The glacial action which has been so influential in abraid- 

 ing and scooping out the valleys of other countries, must 

 in our case be omitted from the list of causes, for I 

 have neither seen or heard of any indications of such action, 

 in the existence of moraines, or other evidence of the former 

 presence of glaciers. Nor do I thmk that the valleys 

 and river courses generally, could have their present 

 form and character, had such agencies been concerned in their 

 excavation. 



Having thus far touched upon the negative aspect of the 

 question, I must ask you to follow me during a brief descrip- 

 tion of the physical features of the country from Sale west- 

 wards and northwards towards the Dividing Kange, being a 

 distance of from seventy to eighty miles, having Mount 

 Wellington on the north-east, the Baw Baw on the south- 

 west. Mount Useful near the centre, and the Bald Hills on 

 the divide, being the extremity of the area proposed to be 

 described. 



From Sale westwards, for from twenty to thirty miles, 

 extend the plains, consisting of agricultural and pastoral 

 lands, watered by the rivers La Trobe, Thomson, and the 

 Macalister. The waters of the La Trobe flowing through 

 extensive morasses, reaching from the foot of Mount Baw 

 Baw down to the Coast Lakes, a distance of about seventy 

 miles. At from twenty to thirty miles distance 

 from Sale, the plains terminate and the hilly country 

 begins, the portion between the Thomson and the Maca- 

 lister being much more broken and irregular than that 

 between the Thomson and La Trobe. For a further distance 

 of about thirty miles to Mount Useful, a long and conti- 

 nuous spur has been explored, with branch, and sub- branch 

 spurs, to the right and left, interlacing to a considerable 

 extent, but preserving a general direction with the decreas- 

 ing elevation of the ground, from Mount Usefifl eastward. 



It is not until we begin the last ascent on the flank of 

 Mount Useful, that we are enabled to obtain a good view of 

 the valleys of the Macalister, and its dividing spurs in the 

 amphitheatre of the dividing range, of which Mounts Useful 

 and Wellington form the outer points of the crescent, 

 whilst from the summit of the former an extensive view is 



