5 o 4 ZONES AND REGIONS [Pt. Ill, Sect. II 



'The so-called grass land 1 forms the principal part over the whole area of South 

 Australia, consisting in endless undulating plains, stretching from the coast towards 

 the north and east. Along the coast and hundreds of miles inland the grass plains 

 have mostly disappeared and now form agricultural districts producing the finest 

 cereals known— the soil varying from the best to some indifferently good.' 



The plains of the interior are chiefly desert-like, and their soil is often very rich in 

 salt. 



' The plains near the coast are of a different character, the soil mostty fertile, 

 extending often to the sea and constituting a great part of our arable land. . . . The 

 grasses consist of more nourishing kinds, viz. : — Poa, Panicum, Festuca, Agrostis, 

 Aira, Andropogon, Cynodon, Stipa, Pennisetum, Bromus, Eriachne, Anthistiria, 

 Hordeum, &c. Here appear also a great number of low-growing shrubs, such as 

 Bursera, Grevillea, and small ramified trees of peppermint, Myoporum, Pittosper- 

 mum, Casuarina, and Acacia, either single, or sometimes forming groves, without 

 underwood, like oases in the desert 2 . The banks of the rivers and creeks, which 

 mostly cease running during the summer, are lined with majestic gum-trees, often 

 of immense dimensions, and shrubs extending more or less upon the plains, 

 according to the nature of the soil. This vegetation, on both sides of the rivers, 

 appears like green ribbons, following their curves. . . . 



' The grass land, in fact the whole configuration of the plains, has a great simi- 

 larity to the Savannas of British Guiana— naturally there is a great discrepancy 

 with regard to the two vegetations ; but the Savannas have mostly the undulating 

 ground, the scattered ramified trees, the oases, the rivers lined with a green 

 belt ; and the appearance of the grasses and herbage covering the area has, 

 during the dry season, the same sunburnt yellow character, and is destitute of all 

 green herbage. After the setting in of the rainy season, there is the same magic 

 appearance of the grasses and herbage. 



' In the month of May the rainy season general!}' commences, which has a magical 

 effect upon the herbage of the plains ; a few heavy showers change the aspect of the 

 dried-up grasses and herbage into a green and beautiful carpet. 



' The rapidity with which especially the annual grasses spring up is such that in 

 a few days the plains appear clothed with luxuriant verdure, which only northern 

 countries ordinarily produce. With the grass are also recalled to new life the 

 yellow flowers of Ranunculus aquatilis, Linn. ; R. lappaceus, Sm. ; R. rivularis, 

 Banks; Oxalis cognata, Steud.; Hypoxis glabella, R. Br.; with the white flowers 

 of Drosera rosulata, Lehm.; the blue of Wahlenbergia gracilis, Schrad. ; Anguillaria 

 biglandulosa, R. Br. ; Stackhousia obtusa, Lindl., with its perfume-spreading 

 flowers. 



' Every week adds new colours to the beautiful carpet — the scarlet flowers of 

 Kennedya prostrata, the violet ones of Swainsona procumbens, F. Mull. ; and 

 S. lessertiaefolia, DC. ; the delicate flowers of Thysanotus Patersoni climbing up 

 the dry grass stalks or overrunning small shrubs. The flowers of the isolated trees 

 or copses of the wattles soon glitter in their yellow clothing. The Loranthus Exo- 

 carpi, Behr., and L. Miqueli, Lehm., growing parasitical on the Casuarinas and on 



1 Schomburgk includes in this deserts as well. 



2 Small savannah-forests, apparently in damp depressions, as in the campos of Brazil. 



