2G 
those parts which in past times were again and again 
inundated. 
The La Trobe and its tributaries and the Avon drain a 
large extent of country, and at one period their waters 
must have overspread the country for some considerable 
distance above Lake Wellington. 
The country between Stratford on the Avon and 
Bairnsdale on the Mitchell consists of sandy ridges run¬ 
ning S.S.E. to N.N.W., with stringy-bark on the ridges 
and scrubby gums in the hollows. The soils are for the 
most part inferior with the exception of a strip, some 
sixteen miles in length and five miles in width, bordering 
the lower course of the Mitchell, which is good land ; but 
all this has been alienated. 
From the junction of the La Trobe and the Thomson to 
Lake Wellington, a distance of nine miles, the river is 
fringed with a narrow belt of timber, reduced in places to 
singletrees, standing some little distance apart, and has on 
each side a morass of an average width of a mile. The 
depth of the water in the river varies from fifteen to 
eighteen feet. This part of the La Trobe is not beautiful, 
but the rather dull green of the bordering morass con¬ 
trasting the occasional patches of rich foliage on the 
banks ; the flags and some flowering plants on the margin 
of the river, and the strong lights let fall suddenly where 
there were sharp bends, presented forms and colors not 
altogether unpleasing. 
Where the river extends its delta into Lake Wellington 
the water is shallow, and the steamer left a well marked 
streak of mud-colored water behind it for some distance 
after we entered the lake. 
The lake itself is shallow, there being not more than 
ten or twelve feet of water in the course pursued by us. 
