_Copyright._) (_See page 81._ MUNDARING WEIR.] [Illustration: _Copyright._) (_See page 82._ ALLUVIAL MINING.] [Illustration: _Copyright._) (_See page 83._ CLIFFS IN THE GREAT BIGHT.] The coach will take us through more orchards, towards Franklin 61 on the Huon River, where we touch the eastern side of the broken country from which we turned back at Macquarie Harbour. There are settlements all along the Huon Estuary, which runs into the channel of D’Entrecasteaux. Here we have come upon an important remnant of past history. The name is that of a French admiral who was sent out in 1791 to seek for a port in Southern Australia, so that France might gain a footing in these new islands. D’Entrecasteaux actually surveyed the Derwent River, and a later French expedition spent some time in the neighbourhood. Partly through fear of the designs of France we occupied Risdon in 1803, and in the following year, Colonel Collins, not content with the site at Port Phillip in Victoria, which he had occupied for a short time, came over and moved the settlement from Risdon to Hobart. The evidence of the activity of the French explorers in this region is still to be seen in the names of capes and bays all along the eastern coast of Tasmania. There are saw-mills at Hobart, and all around the Huon is a fine timber country, easily reached from the sea. Here we see the beginning of the end: the cutters have built a rough platform 62 above the undergrowth and up to the point where the trunk of the tree rises straight and even. They are using the saw, though sometimes the whole work is done with the axe. They are fond of the axe in this part of the world, and it enters even into their sports, since the chopping match is a favourite form of athletic contest among them. The trees in this district grow to a great size; here we have 63 a forest scene, with the huge logs scattered on the ground, or loaded on to trucks which will carry them to the mill. Geeveston is noted for its saw-mills, one of which we have before us. The 64 logs disappear inside the mill, and we meet them again as sawn timber on the little wharf, ready to be shipped to all parts of 65 the world.