154 
THE CALIFORNIAN SALMON. 
We stopped at the Nicholson, a fine stream, shaded over 
by wattles and gums, and running briskly over gravelly- 
fords, into long reaches of deep water. The temperature 
of the water was here 72 deg. After bringing up the 
water by degrees from 55 deg. to about 70 deg., to prevent 
too sudden a shock to the salmon, we liberated a few at a 
place, in sheltered parts of the current, and in shallow 
water. There were plenty of young fish in the stream, 
smaller than the salmon parrs, which proved that there 
was a good chance for them. The high temperature did 
not seem to inconvenience the salmon, which headed up- 
stream, and darted about, evidently enjoying the change. 
The roads became much more difficult to go over, being 
through a dense forest, and across deep gullies and high 
ranges, timbered with a number of different kinds of 
Eucalypti, a variety of Banksia, and a Casuarina new to 
me, and an undergrowth of wattles, dogwood, &c. We 
arrived at Bruthon about six o’clock. 
The Tambo runs past this place, which is most pic- 
turesquely situated, and is surrounded by an amphitheatre 
of mountain ranges, which seem quite near, and the river 
winds through alluvial flats, of moderate extent, but of 
magnificent soil, as the fine crops show very clearly. I 
expected to have found the water of this river much colder 
than that of the Mitchell, as we were so much nearer the 
mountains, but on reaching the stream, I found, to my 
surprise, that it was 75 deg. The water was running 
swiftly, with a murmuring sound, over a beautiful bed of 
clean gravel, and was clear, and pleasant to the taste, the 
stream being sixty yards wide. Two hundred were 
liberated in the fords here, and they found shelter amongst 
the gravel from the strong current, which carried them 
downwards. 
The road beyond Bruthen towards the Snowy River is 
bad to travel over by daylight, but much worse by night, 
