416 
Account of the country between 
beneath its surface with great steepness, we may infer that, ere 
the base of the great heights which stretch along either shore 
meet, the lake has acquired an amazing depth. In an excursion 
I once made upon it in a boat, I took all the fishing lines I could 
collect, which enabled me to make a sounding-line of twenty-one 
fathoms, without reaching the bottom. In rowing along its 
western shore, (at the base of Mount Olympus), I found this line 
of no use at 40 yards from the margin, so rapidly did its depth 
increase. The lake is singularly situated amongst mountains and 
forests, so that from no point of approach is the traveller made 
aware of its existence, till he finds himself placed nearly on the 
beach ; and a person passing a little to the southward might 
easily miss it. Several handsome mountain streams flow into it, 
which escaping in one body from the lake, form the river 
Derwent. A few ducks and black corvorants, with now and 
then a pair or two of black swans, may be found here, but it is 
little resorted to by water fowl. The elevation of the lake is, 
according to Strzelecki, 3239 feet. Its length appeared to me 
about 8 miles, its breadth not more than one, except at the 
south end. Its distance from Hobart is about 106 miles. 
The track to Macquarie Harbour crosses the Derwent about a 
mile below the point where it issues from the lake; the bridge 
being a large tree lying across the first rapid of the river. During 
the next fourteen miles, the road is generally bad, and impassable 
to any but foot travellers; the first two or three miles of this 
distance being extremely stony. The following seven are traced 
across a marshy country, also impracticable to any but pedestrians. 
Strips or patches of dry forest land occur in the swamp in many 
places, amongst which I in vain attempted to wind the road to 
keep on firm ground. These patches are often mere islands as it 
were, in the midst of a vast morass. The forest ground is sterile, 
and produces but little grass. The marshes are free from trees, 
very wet, their soil apparently good, and frequently intersected by 
small runs of water flowing through deep channels. Very little 
grass is to be met with in the country westward of the lake; and 
I fear the prevailing herbage will be found unfitted for pasture. 
