The effects of some violent hurricane from the north were visible under every tree, the earth being covered with broken branches, some of which were more than a foot in diameter; the withering leaves remained upon them, and I remarked that no whole trees had been blown down, although almost all had lost their principal limbs and not a few had been reduced to bare poles.  The havoc which the storm had made gave an unusual aspect to the whole of the forest land, so universally was it covered with withering branches.  Whether this region is subject to frequent visitations of a like nature I could not of course then ascertain; but I perceived that many of the trees had lost some of their top limbs at a much earlier period in a similar manner.  Neither had this been but a partial tempest, for to the very base of the mountain the same effects were visible.  The trees on its side were of a much grander character than those in the forest, and consisted principally of black-butt and bluegum eucalypti measuring from six to eight feet in diameter.  The rock was syenite, so weathered as to resemble sandstone.

ASCEND MOUNT MACEDON.

I ascended without having been obliged to alight from my horse, and I found that the summit was very spacious, being covered towards the south with tree-ferns, and the musk-plant grew in great luxuriance.  I saw also many other plants found at the Illawarra, on the eastern coast of the colony of New South Wales.  The summit was full of wombat holes and, unlike that side by which I had ascended, it was covered with the dead trunks of enormous trees in all stages of decay.

PORT PHILLIP DIMLY SEEN FROM IT.

I had two important objects in view in ascending this hill; one being to determine its position trigonometrically as a point likely to be seen from the country to which I was going, where it might be useful to me in fixing other points; the other being to obtain a view of Port Phillip, and thus to connect my survey with that harbour.  But the tree-fern, musk-plant, brush, and lofty timber together shut us up for a long time from any prospect of the low country to the southward, and it was not until I had nearly exhausted a fine sunny afternoon in wandering round the broad summit that I could distinguish and recognise some of the hills to the westward; and when I at length obtained a glimpse of the country towards the coast the features of the earth could scarcely be distinguished from the sky or sea, although one dark point looked more like a cape than a cloud and seemed to remain steady.  With my glass I perceived that water lay inside of that cape and that low plains extended northward from the water.  I next discovered a hilly point outside of the cape or towards the sea; and on descending the hill to where the trees grew less thickly I obtained an uninterrupted view of the whole piece of water.  As the sun went down the distant horizon became clearer towards the coast and I intersected at length the two capes; also one at