104 



LOUD HOWE ISLAND. 



distributed along it. The latter marks also the inland track to the sonthern 

 high grounds, a continuous ascent taldng place until the divide at the head 

 of the Deep Creek Valley is reached, the traclv crossing it at a point called 

 the " Smoking-tree," 430 feet above sea-level. On the further side of this 

 ridge a descent takes place into a subsidiary valley, tho track gradually 

 ascending again on to a direct spur of Mount Ledgbird where the crossing 

 place is known as the "Half-way Eoot," or "Eed-clay Saddle," about 550 

 feet high. Beyond this point the traveller becomes committed to the rugged 

 and almost inaccessible spurs and gullies, with which the eastern flanks of 

 Mount Ledgbird are seamed. The latter are in many places deep, invariably 

 steep, as a rule well watered, and frequently interrupted by steep walls of 

 rock, over which the water-courses must run at certain seasons with great 

 rapidity and force. The sides are strewn with basaltic boulders, varying 

 from a hundredweight to many tons, masses of loose rock and general debris, 

 intermingled with fallen timlser, and dense and in many places impenetra- 

 table foliage. So much have the hill sides become covered with fallen 

 material that rock in situ is seldom seen except in the beds of the gullies, or 

 as steep and impassable walls in their courses, or on the spurs between them, 

 and which have to be invariably circumscribed before the travelling line can 

 be regained. To add to the difficulty of locomotion the slopes are in places 

 covered with large expanses of sheath-grass and palm scrub, but the gullies 

 are at times beautifully shaded with large tree-ferns. Such is the general 

 aspect of the eastern slopes of Mount Ledgbird, up to the foot of the immense 

 precipice known as " The "Wall," at an elevation of about 1,000 feet— a perpen- 

 dicular face of basaltic rock, above which the sides of the mount, both here 

 as well as on the west and north, rise in a series of high perpendicular step- 

 like terraces, to a height of 2,504 feet. A little north of the summit of 

 Mount Ledgbird, a line drawn east and west represents the broadest part 

 of the island— about one and a half miles as the crow flies. On the eastern 

 side this line would terminate on the peninsular of East Point, having three 

 well-marked indentations of the coast line. So far as I have been able 

 to ascertain, this is the least known portion of Lord Howe. Even Mount 

 Ledgbird is not as frequently ascended as Mount Grower, and its topography 

 is less known. On its western side, overlooking the Coral Eeef, the slope is 

 steeper than on the east, and practically inaccessible, rising in sheer vertical 

 precipices of great height one above the other. The mode of progression 

 along the eastern flanks of M^ount Ledgbird is graphically described by Mr. 

 E. D. Eitzgerald, then Deputy Surveyor-Greneral, who accompanied Cloete's 

 expedition to Lord Howe. He says : " The track gets worse and the faces 

 more frequent, with water pouring over them. The ferns grow thicker, and 

 the orchids are in flower, but the path is steeper, and often the roots of the 

 'forked trees,' that grow down like soldiers' piled muskets, have to be cut 

 through with a tomahawk, being too close for the traveller, though the 

 guides may writhe through them, and Ned stops now and then and declares 

 the ' face' to be impassable, when a descent has to be made with reluctance, 

 for an ascent has to be made to make up for it ; and so ' face' after ' face' — 

 which become very frequent towards the end — are passed, and at length 

 ' the saddle,' j>ar excellence,*' or backbone of the camel between its humps,t 

 is gained, and the day's work is ovev.'"X 



At its southern end Mount Ledgbird throws off' two spurs. That towards 

 the south-east descends to form the connecting saddle with Mount G-ower, 



* The divide between Mounts Ledgbird and Gower. 



t Mounts Ledgbird and Gower. 



J Hill's Lord Howe Island, loc. cU., p. 40. 



