338 Professor Henry E. Armstrong [Feb. 19, 



buriung the undergrowth, even the long grass, between the trees, 

 in order to improve the pasturage ; by tiring the forests in the 

 hill ranges they are also recklessly destroying large areas of most 

 magnificent timber. To many of us the aspect of such land, 

 the sighb of an endless succession of charred forest giants destroyed 

 by fire, was heart-rending : we felt not seldom that there was urgent 

 need of a little shooting at sight to inhibit the practice. It is diffi- 

 cult to believe that some remunerative method of cutting up the 

 timber on the spot at the time of clearing cannot be developed, 

 whereby some part at least of the present awful waste could be 

 prevented. It is strange that in a country at one time covered with 

 trees complaint should already be made of the treeless character of 

 the cultivated areas and that much is now being done to popularize 

 tree-planting for shade and ornamental purposes on farms ; it is even 

 proposed to cultivate some of the species of Eucalyptus which yield 

 valuable products. 



Our expedition, some 300 strong, left England in sections late in 

 June or early in July last. I need say nothing of our transport. 

 The steamship companies who carried us doubtless did their duty 

 but they in no way treated us as strangers or granted us any special 

 privileges, though we came as a windfall to them at a slack season. 

 I was one of a party that journeyed via the Cape of Good Hope. 

 The one event of interest on the voyage happened on the afternoon 

 of the first day, as we were about to leave the English coast— we 

 were called by " wireless " to the help of a ship ashore on the Scilly 

 Islands. After three or four hours' cautious steaming through fog, 

 we suddenly came upon her high on the rocks — a striking spectacle — 

 only to learn that the passengers and crew were already landed, a 

 fact that might well have been notified to us some time previously ; 

 still, we acquired confidence in the skill of our captain and had 

 an interesting demonstration of the value of the wireless system. 

 Another was afforded us subsequently, when we were about half-way 

 between the Cape and Australia and were able to make arrangements 

 with Perth, 2100 miles away, in connexion with a severe accident to 

 one of our party requiring early surgical treatment. 



AVe had several delightful hours at Las Palmas, Grand Canary, a 

 volcanic district. Owing to the delay off Scilly we were a day late 

 in arriving at Cape Town and therefore could not avail ourselves of 

 the special arrangements made for our reception on the previous 

 Sunday. To our intense annoyance we were only allowed four hours 

 ashore. Even in this short time, however, thanks to the efficiency 

 and courtesy of our guides, those of us who had not been there 

 before were able to gain some idea of the beauties of the Cape 

 Peninsula and of the astounding wealth and individuality of its 

 vegetation ; we were just able also to pay personal homage to the 

 memory of the great man who had made it his home. But we were 

 an angry, almost mutinous, body as we left, realizing- as we did, for 



