1839.J AUSTRALIAN FORESTS. 239 



though, strangely enough, they are usually the most abund- 

 ant on inferior soils. Except in the tropical districts, how- 

 ever, there are few or no woody vines, or parasitic plants ; 

 but where they are found, their growth is most luxuriant. 

 Scandent pipers, wild bignonias and passion-flowers, and 

 vines whose foliage and blossoms are of various hues, are 

 trailed along the mangrove bushes, and cling to the tall 

 palms of northern Australia, whose fan-like branches seem 

 to incline downwards, as if rejoicing to lift them up into the 

 bright sunshine that smiles above them. Tree-ferns, of dif- 

 ferent varieties, are scattered all over the country ; and the 

 grass tree (xanthorrheea hastUis), presenting when in flower 

 a most gorgeous sight, is frequently seen. Flowering and 

 aromatic plants, of great beauty and powerful odor, are found 

 in abundance. On the sandy soils grow numerous prickly 

 shrubs, which bind them down, and prevent their drifting. 

 The lily, the tulip, and the honeysuckle exist here, but they 

 arc standard trees of enormous size, and incomparable beauty. 

 Of acacias there is no end, either in number or variety ; but 

 the palms are limited to the north and east of the continent. 

 Nearly all the timber is of the hard- wood kind. It is gen- 

 erally of greater specific gravity than water, but, is liable to 

 r »i at the heart, and is so contractile that it has been known 

 to shrink upwards of two inches within a week ; conse- 

 quently, its usefulness to the architect is very much im- 

 paired. Ail the varieties of eucalyptus and casuarina grow 

 here, together with different species of rose-wood, sandal- 

 wood, mountain ash, apple, sallow, turpentine wood, cedar, 

 and pine. Most of the eucalypti are called gum trees, — 

 there being the blue gum, gray gum, iron, flooded gum, and 

 black-batted gum ; but in some instances this is a misnomer ; 

 for the exudations of many of the trees are not properly 

 gums, but resins, and are insoluble in water. Some of them, 

 too, yield a fine and pure manna, and others the very best 

 gum Arabic. The foliage possesses powerful aromatic prop- 

 erties, and resembles that of the camphor tree in taste. 

 Boards and plank are made from these trees, and some of the 



