214 W. R. BROWNE. 
It is to be observed that two strikingly different types 
of topography are presented within the area described. If 
two lines:be drawn, one north and south through Cooma, 
and the other westwards from a point a few miles south 
of Cooma, the areas exhibiting these two types are roughly 
divided off from one another (Fig. 2). To the N.E. we have 
rugged country, intersected by deep V-shaped valleys, but. 
with some remnants of mature physiograpbhy still visible, 
as for example Dairyman’s Plain, the valley of Pilot Creek, 
and the upper part of Slack’s Creek. In other words, we 
have an area of mature topography with youthful features 
superimposed. This country is mainly schists and gneisses. 
The remainder of the area is generally speaking in strong 
contrast: itis of a gently undulating nature, characterized 
by wide shallow valleys running north and south, and bear- 
ing all the marks of old age. ‘These valleys are eroded out 
of the comparatively soft slates, the separating ridges 
being largely of the more resistant quartz-porphyries. 
The surface of the country is diversified by a number of 
elevations above the general level; such are the Blue Peak, 
Mount Gladstone, The Brothers (North, Middle and South), 
Coolringdon Hill,etc. A number of small lakes are scattered 
about, mostly in a belt extending for about four miles north 
of the Great Divide. 
The drainage of the country is effected by the river 
Murrumbidgee and its tributaries. The Murrumbidgee, in 
the earlier part of its course, as seen in this region follows 
an approximately E.S.H. direction; it then turns sharply 
to the east, and flows in this way as far as Mittagang 
Bridge, when it turns once more, this time sharply north- 
ward, or a little east of north. Before the eastward turn 
the river occupies a middle-aged valley, but from this on 
it pursues a tortuous course in a youthful valley, between 
high steep banks of phyllite and schist, which in parts 
