118 Historical Notes on the 



to our left that the mountains assumed soft downlike outlines, 

 I refused to follow him any longer, and taking the lead, struck off 

 towards the east. I soon had the pleasure of seeing the clouds becoming 

 thinner, and of observing the mountains on the left side of the 

 "Wilberforce, with their brown vegetation, appear before me, and pre- 

 sently the valley itself wrft. the Government camp came in sight far 

 below us. The guide was leading us up the Twin Peaks, and the 

 ground I had reached was that lying west of Lake Browning and some 

 600 feet above it. Prom the form of the basin in which Lake Browning 

 lies, I could conclude that here the lake ought to be situated, although 

 the enormous snow masses which were here accumulated obliterated 

 all signs of it. After having crossed this snow plateau, we arrived at 

 the Gap, where we had to descend. Here a wall of snow and ice, not 

 only vertical but even overhanging, from 12 to 20 feet high, formed by 

 snow drifts, had to be descended before we could reach the snowfields 

 below it, for at least 200 to 300 feet, so steep that they could only 

 be descended by cutting steps. 



Having brought a rope and spade with us, we at once set to work 

 cutting a channel back through this vertical wall until we reached the 

 steep snow slope, and tying the first man who was working with the 

 spade to the rope, and following him upon the stair-like steps, keeping 

 the rope always tight, we descended slowly this steep upper part 

 of the snowfields. Shortly after we had begun to cut through this per- 

 pendicular wall, which owing to its soft state did not offer any difficulty, 

 we observed a large white flag hoisted up at Mr. Greenlaw's camp, and 

 soon after we observed this gentleman with some of his men carrying 

 spades, coming to our assistance, they appeared like tiny moving spots 

 on the lower part of the snowfield. "We were soon sitting on the 

 snow, sliding down in a few minutes to the foot of the field about 1200 

 feet from the summit, where we were surrounded by shrubs and herbs 

 in blossom, and breathing the soft spring air of the East Coast. A few 

 rocks on the summit of the Pass rising above the snowfields, showed 

 me, by the vegetation growing upon them, that we were in a truly 

 alpine region ; plants like the alpine spear grass Aciphylla Monroi, the 

 Veronica epacridea, found near the summit of Mount Torlesse, could 

 here be collected. The gorge-like character of all the valleys, and the 

 atmospheric conditions prevailing here account easily for the 

 enormous amount of snow which accumulates near this depression, so 

 as not only to cover deeply all the summits, but also to collect in such 

 masses on the declivities, as to give birth to such numerous 



