37 
From Bindi to Omeo station the road lies for one mile 
and a half over limestone, which, like that to the south, 
is generally bare of timber. There are a few honey¬ 
suckles on the rises, and white-gums on the lower slopes 
of the spurs. The grass is everywhere good. On 
touching the granite the change in the character of the 
soil and vegetation was at once apparent. Here we saw 
stringy-bark, apple-trees (a few), box, and binnak gum on 
the river. Beyond the Sheepwash the box has taken pos¬ 
session of the slopes, and the contrast between the pale- 
green foliage of the binnak (the white-gum of the rivers), 
and the bluish-grey of the box was marked and striking. 
Up to and beyond the summit of the Great Dividing 
Range, where along the ridges the bare rock is exposed, 
the prevailing tree is stringy-bark, with only a few 
mountain white-giuns. The quality of the timber im¬ 
proves as you ascend, and many of the trees are of good 
size ; but, on leaving the summit to descend, there is a 
rapid falling off both in size and quality. Indeed the 
good timber may be said to extend no more than half a 
mile from the summit level. On both sides of the 
porphyry slopes, towards Omeo station, there is an open 
well-grassed forest, with small white-gums and a kind of 
eucalyptus known here as Black Sally. 
There are numerous springs of water on the slopes 
towards the Morass Creek, a tributary of the Mitta-Mitta, 
increasing in number with the descent, and forming into 
streams about half a mile from the ridge. 
The area of well-grassed country in the vicinity of 
Omeo is not less than 80,000 acres. The plains—old 
lake beds—are destitute of timber. On the margin, and 
on the ridge dividing the plains there are a few small 
white-gums and saplings. On the banks on the western 
