292 JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



idea of how to negotiate it, and was much ahiiined at its steepness 

 and puzzled as to how we sHd down so quickly and safely. At the 

 bottom we saw masses of a heatli-like blue-flowering shrub, which, on 

 examination, turned out to be a Conospermum, quite unlike any of the 

 other species we had previously seen. Not very far away we obtained 

 our first sight of Banksia coccinea, a truly beautiful little Banksia with 

 brilliant scarlet cones of flowers. We then wended our way through 

 the scrub gums to our camp, which we reached about 6 p.m. 



On the 17th we pressed specimens, cracked seeds, and rested, and 

 planned attacks on Mount Toolbrunup, 3400 feet high. 



On the 18th we moved on nine miles and surveyed the country 

 round our new camp. We found a large bushy Pimelea, Xanthosia 

 rotund'ifolia (the Southern Grass-flower), both white and very pretty, 

 as well as many Leucopogons and a very brilliant Chorizema, and also 

 the lovely blue Platytheca galioides, a heath-like plan£' about eighteen 

 inches high. We further speculated on the prospects of getting up 

 Toolbrunup, which is very rocky, terminating in a sharp cone for the 

 last 300 feet, and can only be ascended at certain points. We found 

 here fine specimens of the silvery-foliaged Kingia, which is by far 

 the most graceful of all the " Black-boy " tribe (fig. 101). 



The 19th broke thick and bad, with no hilltops to be seen, but 

 about 10 A.M. it cleared, and we rode our horses to the foot of Tool- 

 brunup, about three miles off, and tied them up. On the way we found 

 Banksia Brownii, remarkable for its pinnate lea.ves and the great size 

 of its flower; another Banksia, which we have not identified; a 

 Bossaea, and Aotus gracillima. We climbed to within 300 feet of 

 the top of the cone by a spur from the eastern side, had lunch, and 

 got ready for the final climb, when down came the clouds and deluges 

 of rain. We waited till 3 p.m. for it to clear, as we could not go 

 on in the mist, and then scrambled down again by a deep gully, found 

 the horses, and got into camp at 5.30 p.m. The flora on this hill was 

 good, but not to be compared with that on Warrungup. We found scrub- 

 gum at a height of over 3000 feet and a veritable jungle of a species of 

 Thomasia, an Acacia, the name of which I do not know, and a variety 

 of Acacia longijolia out of flower; also a Mirhelia, a mauve pea- 

 flowered prickly bush, which I am told makes a good hedge, but I 

 did not see it in cultivation. On the plain at the foot of the hill we 

 came across masses of the magnificent Banksia coccinea, which is a 

 small slender-growing plant, generally single- stemmed, sometimes 

 branched, with a maximum height of ten feet. 



On the 20th we reached Mount Barker, on the railway, distance 

 thirty-six miles, finding little that was new across this bit of sand-plain 

 country, mainly because it was completely devastated by fire as far 

 as the Kalgan Ei\Ter. On the south side of the river the country was 

 more settled, and we passed many fruit orchards, looking prosperous 

 and well-grown, and from what I saw^ of the fruit districts generally 

 I should say there was a great future before the industry. Wheat-grow- 

 ing is ever on the increase, and the crops looked well. Agriculturally 



