34 Barnard, Notes of a Visit to W.A. [vd'^xxxvi 



morning with anticipations of a delightful trip, but dis- 

 appointment soon came. After travelling about twenty miles 

 through timber country — jarrah and karri principally — 

 improving at every mile, at mid-day the motor struck, and 

 nothing would induce it to move again. With miles to the 

 nearest house, there was nothing to be done but admire the 

 wild-flowers till help came. Just at dusk our chauffeur 

 returned with a farmer's waggon and pair, and we made a 

 start for home, which was safely reached about 9 p.m. So 

 ended my visit to the Margaret River Caves ; but during my 

 enforced stay I walked on a couple of miles or so and saw many 

 interesting plants, especially a Hovea, a shrub of four feet or 

 so, bearing flowers of the deepest purple — in some cases so 

 abundant as to quite hide the stems and leaves. It was worth 

 while to be able to see it so closely and pick it, which I could 

 not have done had I motored past at twenty miles an hour. 

 Then there were two or three species of Anigozanthos (Kangaroo 

 Paws), with smaller flowers and of a tall, branching habit ; 

 one of these was flowering in our Botanical Gardens last month. 

 During my rambles around the Cave House I met with several 

 interesting plants — a pink Pimelea growing almost within 

 reach of the breakers ; a Thomasia (Sterculiaceae) very like one 

 I had seen at Wilson's Promontory, the eastern limit of the 

 genus. A fine leguminaceous flower was Templetonia retusa, 

 with crimson flowers an inch or more in length. I was charmed 

 with a very beautiful climber growing sparingly in the scrub 

 near the entrance to the Yallingup Cave, which may have been 

 another Kennedya. It would be an acquisition to any garden. 

 Among the rocks here was a fern closely resembling Lindsaya 

 linearis, of which I brought home plants. The list of Western 

 Austrahan ferns is very meagre — only fifteen or sixteen species, 

 only two of which are not found in Victoria. The paucity of 

 ferns is rather remarkable, for there are many localities in the 

 south-west where one would expect ferns to do well. 



The Yallingup Cave is entered from a sort of natural shaft 

 on the side of a hill not far from Cave House, and, like most 

 limestone caves, contains a number of beautiful formations 

 bearing names more or less appropriate. At Yallingup the 

 formations are remarkable for their very fine colourings. This 

 is well exemplified in the " Arab's Tent " ; but perhaps the 

 most noticeable formation of all is that called the " Folded 

 Shawl." This has been selected by Mr. E. J. Brady for illus- 

 tration in his great work, " Australia Unlimited." The shawl 

 formations here are said to be the finest in Australia, and why 

 the "Folded Shawl" took its present shape is a mystery. 

 There are about a mile of galleries, stairways, &c., lighted by 

 electricity. The two hours we spent there went all too quickly. 



