Lake St. Clair and Macquarie Harbour. 423 
Lachlan Plains, through a valley filled with heavy myrtle forests, 
and mixed with the closest jungles of sassafras,* blackwood,f fernj 
trees, &c., &c. So close is the underwood of the western forests 
that my party never on an average cut more than a third of a mile 
a day through it; and, even then, nothing but a mere foot track 
was opened; but it must be stated that we were greatly impeded 
by the difficult task of carrying forward provisions from our 
depot at Lake St. Clair, now 40 miles distant; a task which fell 
wholly on ourselves, the swampy and scrubby country west of the 
Lake rendering it unfit for horses. Another obstacle to our pro¬ 
gress, was the tempestuous weather we experienced in this 
quarter, even in the middle of summer, (December 1841, January 
1842). The first 6 miles of the track, after quitting Lachlan 
Plain, passes through a dark and densely wooded glen, to which 
my men gave the not inapt name of Glow-worm Forest, from the 
multitude of sparkling lights emitted, either from luminous fungi, 
or putrescent substances, an appearance I have frequently observed 
elsewhere in similar situations, and which was now mistaken for 
glow-worms. Nothing can be worse to the traveller than this 
part of the track. It is always unpleasant, sometimes precipitous, 
and the surface generally muddy—at least after rains, which in 
this stormy quarter are very frequent, the country appearing to 
enjoy something like an immunity from drought. After travelling 
for about a couple of miles through this forest, the steep and 
gigantic hills which hitherto encompassed Lachlan Plain, close in 
on either hand, and meet, leaving no level surface in the valley ; 
and the handsome stream which flows in this Tartarean hollow, 
which I called the Acheron, often occupies the entire bottom. 
At the point where the bases of these great eminences meet, the 
bed of the rivulet suddenly sinks, and the water pours over a 
precipice of some twenty feet, forming a beautiful cascade, to 
which Lady Franklin gave the name of Bagota. This is a very 
interesting spot, and the most apathetic traveller would scarce 
refrain from stopping here to gaze at the picturesque, but circum¬ 
scribed scenery. I was at first rather puzzled how to get the track 
Athcrospcrrna moschata. t Acacia mclanoxylon. + Dickson ia antarctica, Laljilh — E jd. 
