1 Ave., 1902.] QUEENSLAND AGRICULTURAL JOURNAL. 95 
Cunningham’s Gap, viewing the wide, wild prospect before him. Leslie was not a 
sentimental man. Mr. Bartley has, however, word-painted the picture from the same 
spot :— 
‘Glorious was the view to the south, over the peaked mountains which mark the 
heads of the Clarence and Richmond Rivers, from this 1,900 feet of elevation; while 
another 1,900 feet above me, or 3,800 feet in all, there appeared, sitting high as it 
were on a silvery bank of fog-cloud, a solitary stone pulpit in the sky, being the 
narrow, rocky, eastern ‘horn’ of ‘Mount Mitchell,’ that looks over to the sea and the 
savannahs of West Moreton; all the rest of the mountains between me and it being 
robed in the cloud over which peeped this apparently air-borne, spectral, stone pulpit; 
it might have been a balloon a mile in the air, so little seemed the connection between 
it and the earth below, and it was a sight of unearthly beauty rarely seen.” 
'. «A little later than Leslie’s journey, Messrs. Elliott and Hodgson descended the 
Gap and made their way through to Brisbane. No doubt they had permits. Elliott 
had been General Sir Geo. Gipps’ aide-de-camp. He must not, however, be con; 
founded with the first Speaker of the Queensland Legislative Assembly, whose 
portrait ornaments the Parliamentary library. On their return these two gentlemen, 
who, had occupied country on the Darling Downs, brought their bullock-drays down 
the Gap—a tremendous job. They had no hope of getting them up the same way, 
and, Commandant Gorman personally assisting, a better ascent, known on account of 
its merits as Gorman’s Hell-hole Pass, was discovered and made possible, reaching 
the top of the range near Drayton. However, this lies out of sight from Mount 
Coot-tha, so it is not necessary to pursue this matter further. pt 
. Turning slightly to the right, a group of white dots shows the situation of Ipswich. 
Only buildings on the higher ridges are thus visible. Further round the prospect is 
cut off by the southernmost points cf D’Aguilar Range. 
But. although the scope of the prospects from Mount Coot-tha is thus limited, 
the scenic resources of the reserve of which it is but one of many eminences are by 
no means exhausted. The visitor, quitting the Mount and leaving behind him the 
shade of the leafy fig-trees and the conveniences provided in the way of a plain 
pavilion and water-tanks supplied by the rainfall on its roof of iron, will find a 
cleared but unformed track leading along the saddle of a spur to other knolls whence dif- 
ferent and interesting, although less extensive, views present themselves. To the west 
and north-west the irregular banks of the D’ Aguilar Range rise, embaying a rugged 
valley, above which, on bluffs half-way towards the summit, are clearings, buildings 
of Brookfield, where, availing themselves of patches of volcanic soil, enterprising 
settlers cultivate sugar-cane, while enjoying lovely views towards the river. 
So far the views from Mount Coot-tha have chiefly suggested memories of past 
times. In imagination the eager Logan and the Commandants who succeeded him 
have been seen on this eminence scanning the far-extending landscape, observing the 
numerous threads of smoke which indicated to them where the abounding natives 
were grouped around their fires, and sponcenng on the mysterious possibilities of the 
unknown interior which lay beyond the distant mountains which closed in the 
prospect. 
‘The theme may now be varied, and conception be exercised to idealise the scene 
which will, a century or two hence, disclose itself from this standpoint to the 
observant visitor of those times to come. Perchance by then the garment of forest, 
which now covers the land with almost unbroken monotony, will, like the pines and 
brushes of the early days of white man’s intrusion, have been improved off the face of 
the land. Where now painted cottages of wood dot the scene along the river’s course, 
alaces may have been reared. ‘The cold and foggy valley of the Thames may then 
Have lost its present throng of inhabitants, and, under a kinder sky and in a more 
genial climate, there may here be that concentration of population which the beauty of 
the country appears as though created to attract and retain. 
Norr.—The distant peaks and monntains not coming within the range of a photographic 
landscape, the accompanying illustrations have been reproduced by photo-engraving from a fine 
water-colour picture, painted by Mr. A. Thomas, of the Survey Department, and kindly lent by. 
him for the purpose. f 
