AN INDIAN NATURALIST'S TRTP TO AUSTRALIA. 223 



remark in his journal which struck me as an instauce of Darwin's 

 powers of observation. With reference to the vegetation of New 

 South Wales, he says " the trees mostly have their leaves placed in a 

 vertical instead of as in Europe" — and I may add as in India— 

 " in a nearly horizontal position. " Darwin further observes that 

 " the foliage is scanty and of a peculiar pale-green tint without 

 gloss." I do not know about the foliage being scanty as a rule, but 

 there is no doubt that in a majority of real Australian trees the 

 leaves are tough in texture, of a peculiar dull greyish hue, without 

 gloss and perpendicular. The trees are mostly small-leaved, and 

 if large, much dissected marginally, thus depriving them, however 

 large they may be, of all appearance of shade or shelter. The 

 result, as Dai'win justly observes, is that the woods appear light 

 and shadowless, and are no comfort to the traveller seeking 

 shelter from the rays of a scorching sun. This particular appear- 

 ance of the foliage of Australian plants, however, renders the 

 study far more interesting, and invests them with a charm which 

 would else be wanting. Compared with this often desolate looking 

 scrub, this pale-green small-leaved bush, an umbrageous Banyan 

 and peepul, or our mango and mowrah, or our sag and jack tree 

 shine at an advantage. But the chief vegetation of Australia 

 is essentially made up of hundreds of the blue gums and red 

 gums that go under the generic name of the Eucalypts. The genus 

 AcaciaB, of which Baron Sir Ferdinand von Mueller — the greatest 

 living authority on Australian Botany, and indeed one of the readiest 

 and most accomplished Botanic experts in the world — counts 

 three hundred well-marked species in Australia, is by far the 

 largest in the Flora of Victoria. Apart from its being cultivated 

 for ornamental purposes, it has its technological value. The 

 timber of many of the Acacias is worthy of forest-culture. The 

 Australian blackwood (Acacia melanoxi/lon) is well known among 

 timber merchants as one possessing great lateral strength. " It 

 is largely used," says Mr. J. E. Brown in his Forest Flora 

 of South Australia (Pt. VIII., page 37,) " in the construction of 

 furniture of all kinds, house decorations, railway carriages, boat- 

 building, casks, billiard tables, pianofortes, veneers and turnery." 

 The value of the Acacias for tanning purposes is very great. 

 Black wattle, for instance (Acacia decurrens, var. mollissima,) yields 

 from 30 to 54 per cent of tannin, which is said to go as far as three 

 and a half times its weight of oak-bark. (ILaldane.) Baron Sir Ferd. 



