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my clothes, and placed tliem under a flat rock. Clad only in a pair of 
sandshoes, and carrying alight rifle and a score o£ cartridges, I started 
the ascent, on my third visit to the summit. This pyramid rises 
abruptly from the Mulgrave Plain to a height of 3,050 feet. There 
is no scrub on any part, light open forest clothing it all round from 
base to summit. This mountain could easily be ascended by ladies, 
being the most easily accessible of all the mountains in the Cairns 
district. Of course, a steep ascent of 3,050 feet, especially on a hot 
day, represents something more than amusement to people not accus- 
tomed to the mountains. The top commands a truly magnificent 
view in all directions. I arrived there about noon. The mountain 
terminates in a cone-shaped peak covered by masses of flat rocks. 
On three sides it falls off in very steep spurs, and on the western side 
you look over the edge of a frightful precipice, nearly 2,000 feet in 
depth. In the crevice of a flat rock on the highest point grew a row 
of the beautiful terrestrial orchid Bendrohium s^eciosum, bearing 
bunches of splendid flowers. They were quite inodorous, but a bunch 
I took down for Mr. Bailey developed a very agreeable perfume after 
being hung up for two or three days. During the expedition we got 
twenty-four different orchids and 112 varieties of ferns. Nine of the 
ferns and two of the orchids are new to science. Descended from the 
pyramid with a bundle of botanical specimens and bouquets of orchid 
flowers, recovered my wardrobe, and arrived in camp about 5 o'clock. 
On the 5th of August I started for the ranges on the head of the Little 
Mulgrave, accompanied by Harold and three blackboys, Jimmy, Charlie, 
and Toby, the latter a native of the Mulgrave R-iver. 
Ascending the valley of Wright's Creek through thick scrub we 
camped that night on a small bare hill 650 feet high, just under the 
Main Eange. Temperature at night, 56 degrees ; day, shade, 78 degrees. 
On the 6th we started up the range on a forest spur covered by long 
grass. It gradually became steeper until the last 200 feet had to be 
ascended on hands and feet. "When I reached the top and watched 
the boys and Harold coming up the slope, with precipices on each side, 
and knew that a single slip meant nearly certain destruction, it seemed 
to me that the risk was too great for the reward. And up that steep 
ascent I carried not only my own load of 20 lb., besides gun and car- 
tridges, but half the swag of Toby, who had knocked up, being soft 
from long residence in town. We camped at 2,450 feet in an open 
space on the edge of very thick scrub. JN'ight, 56 degrees ; shade, 74 
degrees. 
Next morning we started at sunrise, each one eating his breakfast 
as he walked along, to save time. All day we travelled along the 
narrow crest of the range through dense scrub, where I had to cut a 
track all the way for the loaded boys. With the exception of some 
assistance received from Whelan, I cut every foot of the tracks during 
the whole three months of the expedition. This work in unknown 
country cannot be done by a blackboy. The man. in the lead has not 
only to cut the track, but determine the proper route to take, and 
exercise reliable judgment in selecting the easiest path. Only a bush- 
man can realise the full meaning of that sentence. Conspicuous on 
this range was the vast quantity of splendid timber, many of the trees 
6 feet and 7 feet in diameter — a species unknown to me ; tall, straight 
trees, with rough, scaly bark, and no branches for 60 feet or 80 feet ; 
wood^hard, with a slightly golden tinge. 
H 
