BY S. H. WINTLE. MELBOURNE: H. THOMAS, 80 CHANCERY LANE. 1880. AUTHOR’S RIGHTS RESERVED. By S. H. Wintle....

Notwithstanding that Tasmania is noted for the salubrity of its climate, and the magnificence of its scenery from one end of the island to the other, still there are localities which may claim the preference, perhaps, in the eyes of the visitor who is in search of health and the picturesque. There is no part of the beautiful island that offers the same attractions as the North East Coast in the neighborhood of George’s Bay, for here there is a combination of majestic grandeur with Arcadian beaut

which the traveller saw after leaving the dismal Corners, stretching like a barrier in the dim distance, he is now fairly amongst. Grim, granite mountain heights, flanked and ribbed with the old world palæozoic slates and sandstones, that have been upheaved by the said granite from their originally horizontal position, into a nearly vertical one, rise on either hand before him. At the feet of those gracefully rounded heights, on the left hand, flows the South Esk, and now, and anon, the visitor

the highest mountain but one in Tasmania, and the fountain head of several rivers. Here is another instance of topographical mis-nomenclature in Tasmania. If the truth were known, it probably, in no particular, resembles the Ben Lomond of Scotland. Its bold broken and rugged outline at once arrests the visitor’s attention. It, in this particular, presenting such striking contrast to the smoothly rounded hills in the neighborhood. This feature is due to the fact, that its summit consists of diori

A quarter of a century ago this place was the scene of much stir and excitement, owing to it being the locale where payable gold was first found in Tasmania. But the excitement was of comparatively brief duration. Much money was lost, and the place sank into unimportance. There are two large, substantial hotels, a bank, two or three stores, a jail, surrounded by a high brick wall, and a church which has remained unfinished for years. Immediately behind the township is an immense precipice severa

celebrated for a very thick seam of coal and three or four smaller ones which make their appearance on the side of the range 500 feet above the valley. The large seam is 16 feet in thickness, but the coal, although bituminous, is of a quality that renders it unfit for steam, or gas making purposes. For one or two inches of good bright coal, there are on the average from 12 to 15 inches of inferior earthy matter—in fine bituminized clay. On the opposite side of the valley this seam again appears

It is a proverb, “See Venice and die,” I would say, See St. Mary’s Pass, and live to describe it if you can (for it will sorely tax your descriptive powers, be they ever so good) to your friends. It alone is worth travelling a thousand miles to behold where expense is not a consideration. From the time the last inn was left, the road gradually ascends a gentle acclivity, and when the top is gained the visitor is at the entrance of the Pass. An abrupt turn of the road, and lo! opening far beneath

is reached. This is a picturesque sheet of imprisoned sea water into which two or three streams disembogue. This lagoon is a favorite haunt of that strange bird the Musk Duck which on the near approach of man darts along the surface of the water with great speed, by using their rudimentary wings as paddles, with which they beat the water into foam, uttering at the same time a peculiarly discordant cry. The great dunes of blown sea sand shut out the ocean from view for a great part of the distanc

and one can well conceive the fair and fleet goddess selecting such a spot to bathe her limbs. Yonder dwelling, partly visible through the trees, which flourish to the water’s edge, is the Summer retreat of F. Groome, Esq. of “Harefield” at St. Mary’s. This lake is like the others which we have passed—an inlet of the sea enclosed by a large and high sandbank. Wild ducks, teal, and the never-absent cormorant, haunt it in vast numbers, for it abounds in fish. Here for the first time since leaving

opens to the view, with its numerous points, promontories, inlets and emerald flats. It is justly considered to be the most picturesque bay in the colony, and as a fishing ground is second to none. All the year round fine flounders can be had while crayfish are a drug. There are some very fine oyster beds which yield largely of these molluscs. The township of St. Helens consists of about twenty houses. There are three hotels which is just two too many. The Telegraph hotel is considered the princ

These Falls are situated on the Saxleby tin claim, seven miles from George’s Bay, and in the centre of the tin mining district. A stream which takes its rise in the high granite hills of the district after flowing through button-grass marshes, and dense thickets of banera, cutting-grass and ti-tree, suddenly plunges down a deep romantic rocky gorge. Here it is broken into numerous miniature falls—now eddying round the walls of a granite basin which it has carved out through untold ages, and anon

is distant about one mile from Leda Falls on the western bank of the same stream. It is a remarkable example of weathered granite about 40 feet high. Large gum-trees grow out of the joints of the rock 70 to 80 feet in height. This is also well worth a visit from the tourist....

The vallies intervening the granite hills are the scenes of the operations of the miners. These vallies are chiefly occupied by button-grass marshes through which creeks and smaller streamlets flow and which take their rise in the higher mountain ranges in the interior. This button-grass which may not be widely well-known grows in tussocks from one foot to three feet in height and detached. Its leaves are long and wiry, and its seed-vessels consist of spherical, hard rough knobs about the size o