8 INTRODUCTION. 



or countries as I may call them, which constitute the other por- 

 tions of Australia are very difFerentj indeed completely opposite in 

 character ; I mean the rich lands which surround nearly the whole 

 of the sterile centre. The mountain-ranges, of no very great 

 elevation it is true, exert much influence upon the face of nature, 

 constantly attracting rains, which, pouring down their sides, de- 

 ])Osit a rich alluvial soil, favourable to the growth of gigantic trees 

 and the most luxuriant vegetation. The forests of Pahns which 

 there occur are scarcely inferior to those of any other country, 

 while the stately native Cedars and Fig-trees are wonders to 

 every traveller. These giants of the forest are scarcely ever to be 

 found in the interior ; sterility is not suited to their existence ; 

 they do not occur in company with the Banksice, the Hakece, or 

 the Casuarince, most of which are characteristics of land wherein 

 the settler would not choose to risk his fortune. The great phy- 

 sical features of Australia then, as a whole, are the absence of 

 high mountains and navigable rivers, its heated interior, its 

 vast grassy plains, and its luxuriant brushes, particularly on its 

 southern and south-eastern coasts. Over the whole of this ex- 

 tensive country, with its ever-varying climate, certain groups 

 of animals are universally spread, while others, particularly the 

 more isolated forms, are strictly confined to their own districts, 

 each adapted for some special end and purpose, — as much as the 

 long bill of the Ilumming-bird [Docimastes ensiferus) is evidently 

 formed for exjdoring the lengthened tubular corollas of the 

 Brugniansia', or the greatly curved bill of two species of the same 

 faniily of birds (the Eutoxeres Aquila and E. Cundaminei) is for 

 insertion into the honey-cups of the Corijanihes speciosa and its 

 allies, — or, to take a more strikijig instance, as the brush-like 

 tongues of the numerous honey-feeding I'arrakeets and Honey- 

 eaters of Australia are constituted for obtaining the nectar from 

 the flowers of the universally spread and equally numerous 

 Eucalypti which form so prominent a feature in the flora of that 

 country. 



1 will now give, as far as my knowledge of the subject will 



