14 
parts beautiful. The rocks, the trees, and the grasses, 
the contour of the lands, and the sharp contrasts as we 
passed from the creek-eaten hills, with their steep slopes, 
to the smoother unwatered tracts above, served to engage 
attention as we rode from point to point, measuring on 
the map as we went the miles of our progress. 
Parslow’s Iun is situated on the banks of the Victoria 
River. We arrived there at 7 p.ra. The weather was 
charming, and it was delightful to feel the cool breeze 
that met us at this altitude after the fierce heat of the day, 
and to carry with us as Ave rode the scent of clover, and of 
flowering shrubs that here make the air heavy at times. 
At 4 o’clock a.m. on the 6th the sky abo\ r e was clear, 
the stars were bright and scintillating, but all around on 
every side there Avas a mist, and along the river a thick 
Avhite shifting fog. Over a small waterfall, a short 
distance above the inn, the white fog rose as the smoke 
of a fire, straight upwards, and continued thus eA r eu after 
sun-rise. When the Avhite fog was driven away from the 
river this smoke-like spire was seen high above the 
waterfall. The frost during the night had been intense. 
The ground and the roof of the house were white, and 
Ave enjoyed at this early hour the crackling of logs and 
boughs on the fire in our breakfast room. 
Owing to the fog there was some delay in finding and 
bringing the horses to the house, but Ave Avere in the 
saddle by 6 a.m. 
During the previous evening Ave obtained information 
from Mr. Parslow respecting the several routes over the 
mountains, and the facts we elicited left us in doubt as to 
the possibility of traversing fifty miles over such country 
as he described without the necessity of camping out. 
Our intention to pass over Mount Feathertop was fixed, 
