CHAPTER III 



THE LAKE DISTRICT 



Travelling to the Great Lake. Scenery and life of the shepherds. 

 The Great Lake. Account of its fauna. The wild animals 

 of the bush. Poisonous snakes. Journey to Lake St. Clair. 

 A shepherd's home. The Tiger and Devil. Lake St. Clair. 

 Lake Sorell. 



The Lake District of Tasmania, situated on 

 the central greenstone plateau of the island at 

 an elevation of about 3,000 feet above sea level, 

 may be approached from various points ; the 

 easiest approaches are from the east and south- 

 east, as here the so-called tiers or mountain 

 ridges rise gradually to the plateau with broad 

 plains in between them, while to the north and 

 north-west the Western Tier presents an almost 

 sheer precipitous face up which the track ascends 

 at an exceedingly steep grade. 



Travelling in the Lake District is not easy ; 

 there are a few metalled roads on the outskirts, 

 such as the road from Bothwell to the Great 

 Lake, and from Oatlands to Lake Sorell, but 

 once upon the plateau there are only the merest 

 tracks, used for bullock wagons and stock, but 

 hardly accessible to any ordinary vehicle. For 

 hundreds of square miles the only habitations are 

 shepherds' huts, separated from one another by 

 many miles of bleak and barren country produc- 



