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 will get glimpses of it through the trees
that he is not likely to readily forget. He will observe that the
material of the road is of a very different character to that he has
been travelling over for some time past, since he took his seat in the
coach. He will observe that it consists of waterworn pebbles of quartz
and gravel. In a word, he is in an auriferous region, and that charming
river that flows so peacefully at the feet of the high hills far
below, is responsible for these pebbles. In the slates and sandstones
on these hillsides, there are quartz veins and lodes containing gold
more, or less, and these have been worn down ages ago, the result
being that deep down in the old river bed the precious metal lies, but
it is locked up, and the woolgrowers have the key. On the summits of
those granite hills which are table-topped there is tin ore in small
quantity. But we must not stay here too long to geologise, for we’ve
many a league to traverse yet. Now are we fairly in Saintdom, for we
have crossed St. Paul’s river, and two or three miles off the road to
our right, rises St. Paul’s Dome――a conspicuously rounded lofty hill,
while St. Mary’s, Mt. St. Nicholas and St. Patrick’s Head await us in
the distance. Some of the earlier colonists who conferred these names,
in most instances quite inappropriate, must have been deeply imbued
with Saint Worship. The road now for many miles will skirt the ancient
bed of the South Esk, which is perhaps the finest valley in the island;
much of it is devoted to agriculture, but more of it to grazing.