BOTANY OF VAN DIEMEN’S LAND. 227 
bare heathy country. I noticed very few plants in blossom; two or 
three Orchidee ; the usual Leucopogons, of which there are species every- 
where, and always in blossom, but whose distinctions I can never keep 
in my eye; and I never know (unless it be a very remarkable one) whe- 
ther I have seen this or that Leucopogon before; Correa speciosa ?, a 
few straggling flowers open; and a pretty little blue Utricularia, are 
all I remember, Round the Bluff, by the margin of the sea, Alyaia 
buxifolia was abundant; I had seen it in similar situations previously 
by the shores of Port Phillip. Its wood has a remarkably sweet scent, 
and when burned perfumes the room like a pastile. 
` We took a tent with us and passed the night at the Bluff, and I 
made my début as a fisherman on the occasion. Mr. F. is an old hand, 
and brought with him a seine-net, with which we dragged a large, 
rather shallow tide-pool. I was sent into the water, to cross the pool 
with one end of the net; and thought it rather cold fun to have to 
stand up to the middle in the water, and then shivering on the rocks 
at the opposite side, while the net was being slowly hauled round. 
Had it been to enclose Claudee or Martensia I suppose I should not 
have felt the cold, but for the sake of merely founders and garfish I 
found it rather a martyrdom. However, our fish supper in the tent 
Was most excellent, and Mr. Fereday's cooking deserving of the highest 
praise. Next morning was very cold, and we did not renew the fish- 
ing; but after a fruitless exploration of the beach for Algze, we returned - 
to Georgetown. 
Many eommon English weeds are naturalized about Georgetown, and 
some are perfect pests. Horehound is everywhere by the roadsides, and 
Chamomile covers the fields and paddocks; in many places to the ex- 
clusion of Grasses. Thistles are fast going ahead, all through Van 
Diemen's Land, and no one seems to trouble himself with them, al- 
though I have seen, I suppose, hundreds of acres given over to them, 
and growing so thick in some places that I have walked over my shoes - 
in the bed of thistle-down which had blown from the withered stems. = 
Sweet-briar, originally introduced as a hedge plant, is completely na- = 
turalized, and in places forms impenetrable thickets. It annually pro- — 
duces millions of Aips, and, if let alone, will soon become as great a 
pest as the thistles. The common Furze is also spreading, but.niot e 
rapidly, in the western country. The Hawthorn grows prifortiy d : 
forms excellent hedges as at home, but keeps within bounds; though it, — 
