Entrance to the Gipps Land Lakes. 87 



which divides them from the ocean, for a distance of nearly 

 sixty miles. The loss of water by percolation must of 

 necessity reduce the scouring power of the currents of river 

 waters passing through the lakes. 



16. Without some tangible cause, such as percolation, it 

 is difficult to account for the expenditure of the very large 

 bodies of water continually flowing into these lakes, from a 

 watershed of upwards of 5,600 square miles, by such rivers 

 as the Latrobe and its large tributaries, the Thompson and 

 Macalister, the Avon and its large tributaries, the Mitchell 

 and its large tributaries, the Nicholson, and the Tambo with 

 its large tributaries, for the outflow by the present entrance 

 is not nearly sufficient, even after making the most liberal 

 allowance for loss by evaporation and for absorption by 

 the vegetation of the lakes. The loss from absorption by 

 penetration of the substrata must be nil. From such 

 reasoning I am forced to the conclusion, that much water 

 passes away by percolation, and that being so lost, the re- 

 taining (sic) banks are not impervious. Such reasoning 

 may be the reductio ad absurdum, but the necessity for it 

 will be seen when referring to the project for impounding 

 water in this porous reservoir. 



17. With reference to the moot question, as to the prac- 

 ticability, or in other words the accessibility of the entrance, 

 I have always been of opinion that it is entirely a question 

 for a seaman to decide, and that such a question should be 

 decided affirmatively, before any works are undertaken to 

 improve the entrance. For, in the first place, there are nearly 

 200 miles of coast exposed to the fall fury of the Southern 

 Ocean, and to all the winds that blow from south, round by 

 south-east to east, and that for the greater portion of this 

 length, the coast would be a lee shore during the period for 

 which the winds blew from one-half the points of the above 

 quarter of the compass, without a single place for shelter or 

 refuge throughout its whole extent. In addition to the 

 above, the coast line being concave, any ordinary vessel 

 hugging the land, with a view to making the entrance, must 

 of necessity either enter or go ashore, in which latter case, 

 the result would be total loss of property, if not of life, on 

 such a coast. Even with what, under ordinary circumstances 

 would be a good offing, it would require first-class seaman- 

 ship and good weatherly qualities to enable any sailing- 

 vessel to escape (if caught in such a place by a gale from the 

 south-east or from other points near to that quarter), by 



