Page:The Present State and Prospects of the Port Phillip District of New South Wales.djvu/22

Brisbane range; and from the ranges to the north of the Salt-water river, (towards Mount Macedon,) to Geelong, which is as great a distance in a north and south direction, interrupted, it is true, by a belt of forest on the banks of the Wearribbee, and by Station Peak, a mountain range which cuts them nearly across. It also comprises the Mount Elephant plains, which stretch from near Geelong to the river Hopkins. Over these latter plains the middle road from Geelong to Portland runs for three days' journey; and the northern road from Mount Emu to the Hopkins river, a distance of forty miles. From north to south they extend from near the Pyrennees on the north to the lakes on the southward, a distance of probably more than a hundred miles. Some of the best sheep runs in the country are on these plains. Similar tracts occur on the Campaspe, and in different parts of the country; but I have particularized these in order to give some idea of their extent. The third division occupies the far greater portion of the country, and includes every variety of woodland scenery from open lawns, with a few single trees, to that which deserves the name of forest, but the whole forming excellent pasture for sheep or cattle. Through districts of this kind are scattered many alluvial flats, some of them of great extent, which belong to the first division. The stringy bark and iron bark ranges, which form the fourth division, are but limited in extent, and are scattered through different parts of the wooded districts. They are chiefly valued as affording the best timber for fencing or building. The stringy bark, (which is a variety of the Eucalyptus,)