Page:Sea and River-side Rambles in Victoria.djvu/39

20 CHAPTER IV.

Now then having progressed so far that we have some knowledge of the shells with which we are likely to meet, let us again wander this bright morning to the Hopkins River, where we left our readers awhile since; but an hour ago as we peeped from our chamber window the rain mizzled thickly down, and we had well nigh given up all hope of a country ramble; but this was only what the Irish peasantry call the "pride of the morning," and any anxiety we might have felt was soon dispelled by the bright gleams of sunshine, pouting out at first, but soon bursting forth in full splendour; so having made a hasty toilet let us start before the heat becomes oppressive. Well supplied with all that is needful for any thing that may turn up, we are soon away, shaking the dewdrops off the grass, the pink flowering Convolvulus, and the pale blue Veronica, or Speedwell. The Hopkins River is about a mile and a-half to the eastward of the town, and the walk to it is full of interest, but as the day is young yet, we may even linger on our way. Let us visit the little spring exuding from the rock near the tunnel, and gather, "en passant," specimens of the Colobanthus Billardierii, which though an uncommon plant, abounds here, and then descend towards the Pertrobe Lagoon, noticing on the embankment of the hill cutting the shining-leaved Trachycaryon Klotschii. We stay on the water's edge for a time to note the elegant little