6 
the mountain. Dense jungle and heavy foliaged trees hang over the 
torrent. Ascending the sidewalk to the crest of the first fall, you 
stand facing a deep black pool between two pillars of smooth-faced 
perpendicular rocks. This pool receives the second fall, and beyond 
that rise the others in one silver-flashing sublime staircase of descending 
waters. 
Mr. Bailey went down with me to behold this scene, and supplied 
the following notes on the vegetation : Overhanging the lower fall 
is the umbrella-tree {Brassaia actinopJiylla) and the pine-tree {Callitris 
Farlatorei). Above the water near the next fall is a large specimen 
of a Northern water gum {Trisfania exilijiord) ^ the trunk covered by 
a dense mass of climbers and epiphytes, conspicuous among them 
being the lovely little fern Davallia pedata, Hoya atcstralis, Hoya 
Nicholsonia, Dioscorea transversa^ and Lygoclium reticulatum. There 
are numerous epiphytes and a fine specimen of the ribbon fern 
{Ophioglossiim pendulum) hanging from a horizoiital branch, besides 
Dendrobium speciosum fusiforme, Deiidrobium hispidum, and JBulho- 
pTiylliim nemafopodum. In the crevices of the rocks are tufts of 
Pogonatherum saccharoidewn, an Indian grass only lately known to 
inhabit Queensland, and on the perpendicular walls some splendid 
masses of Bulhoiohyllum Baileyi with unusually large leaves." 
The scene at this spot in the wet season must baffle the human 
imagination. Even in the dry weather it was a picture of fascinating 
loveliness, the future paradise of the artist and the lovers of the 
beautiful, the scenery-hunting tourists of years to come, when the 
lower ravines of the Bellenden-Ker are become familiar to the outside 
Avorld of amateur explorers. 
To this series of splendid cascades I have given the name of the 
"Morehead Cataracts," a deserved compliment to the Chief Secretary 
and Premier of a Government possessing the honourable distinction 
of being the first to send out in any part of Australia a purely 
scientific expedition. Below these, on the main creek, are the 
"Prancesca Falls." 
On the 19th Whelan and myself started up the mountain in the 
morning and cut a track through thick scrub up to 2,600 feet. At a 
height of 2,300 feet we again found the remarkable fruit which Mr. 
Bailey has named Oarcinia Mestoni, or " Meston's Mangosteen," seeds 
of which I brought down from my first visit to the mountain and gave 
to Mr. Soutter, of the Acclimatisation Glardens. On this occasion we 
found it the size of a small apple, apparently not half grown, as the 
one discovered last trip was as big as the largest orange. It never 
changes colour, being a bright olive green, whether half grown or fully 
ripe. It is the first of the Oarcinia family ever found in Australia, 
and promises to be a specially valuable addition to the fruits of the 
world. The taste, when ripe, is an exceedingly agreeable acid, a,nd 
even the half-grown fruit can be eaten with a sense of considerable 
satisfaction on a hot day ; Whelan and myself found it wonderfully 
refreshing. ' 
On the 20th, Thursday, Mr. Bailey, Wlielan, Harold, and myself 
started tlie ascent of the mountain, leaving all the blackboys with Mr. 
Broadbent at the Pools, the second base of supplies, the whole of them 
to follow us next day, except one boy left in charge of the camp. The 
ascent is through thick scrub the whole way to the summit, there 
being only one small open patch, covered by ferns, at 2,700 feet. 
