Lake St. Clair and Macquarie Harbour. 417 
The plant* which predominates here, (as also on the vast plains of 
the south-western quarter of the island) grows in large tufts, and 
bears its seeds on a long thin stalk, in a small round head much 
resembling that of the onion, only not larger than a musket ball. 
This is mixed with rushes and low shrubs, common in fenny 
situations. Little that would afford sustenance to our domestic 
animals, is to be found here. Every thing is coarse and bitter. 
In travelling through the western and south-western districts, 
(especially the latter), if we are struck with the vast extent of open 
land we there discover, the level portion of which alone perhaps 
exceeds a million acres, our surprise is increased to find, that on 
so prodigious an extent of surface, there exists scarcely a blade of 
grass, or a particle of useful herbage. 
The first marshes west of Lake St. Clair, are not very inferior; 
and they have lately been rented from the government by some 
gentlemen who send large flocks of sheep during the summer 
months to depasture upon them. 
Leaving these swamps the track winds up to the summit of a 
very high hill, not difficult of ascent from Lake St. Clair, but 
excessively so as mounted from the Macquarie Harbour, or western 
side. Its height is stated by Strzelecki at more than 4,000 feet 
above the sea, while the liver which nearly touches it at its western 
base is given by him at about 2,100 feet, which proves the actual 
height of the hill, as ascended from the westward, to be nearly 
1,900 feet. Desirous of bestowing on it a name which might 
convey an idea of its steepness, and the difficulty of climbing to 
its summit, I called it Fatigue Hill; preferring a descriptive, to a 
mere complimentary style of nomenclature. I observe it has since 
received, from Count Strzelecki, the name of Mount Arrowsmith. 
The herbage here is the same, or nearly so, as that of the 
country already described, and its eastern slopes are destitute of 
timber. The view from this eminence is most extensive, and very 
fine; limited to the westward by the peaks of the Frenchman’s 
Cap, and to the northward by the Eldon range, and the black and 
boundless forest of that quarter. From this commanding site, 
* This plant is the Gymnoschtxnus adust us, N. ab E. —Ed. 
2 c 2 
