17 
The Bogong plains were sleeping in the thin folds of 
pearl-grey and pale-purple mists that encompassed them; 
a nd these mists hid from us Mount Kosciusko, Forest 
JJill, the Pilot, and the lofty ranges lying to the east¬ 
ward. Towards the south, Tabletop, with his capping 
of volcanic rock, stood in the centre of an amphitheatre, 
and -Mount St. Bernard and the Twins showed their peaks 
on the w-est. Rising to a greater height we beheld, on 
the north and north-east, all the lofty eminences whose 
springs feed the Murray, and we stopped here satisfied 
that nature could afford no grander spectacle. We 
took note of the character of the slopes, in many places 
precipitous, and falling in an even line three thousand 
feet into the stream-beds below. We observed the limits 
where the timber ceases to grow and where the shrubs 
give place to the snow-grasses. We examined through a 
field-glass the slopes on the mountains surrounding Table- 
top, where appeared to the naked eye huge land-slips. 
These were volcanic cappings that had slid down the 
mountain, and—black and bare—they contrasted the rich 
colors of the adjacent parts unpleasantly. They reminded 
one of the works of man, which are rarely so guided as 
to add to the beauties of Nature. 
We soon left the track and began to ascend a rounded 
smooth height, where beneath our feet there were small 
detached pieces of hard sandstone and slate, with snow- 
grasses growing up between. Before us appeared a small 
cairn or pyramid of stones—we reached it and knew it 
to be the summit of Mount Hotham. From this height 
even those familiar with the country expressed astonish¬ 
ment at the grandeur of the spectacle. The magnificent 
mountains, whose crests seemed to lift themselves as we 
ascended, appeared from this point, tier upon tier, far into 
n 
