132 DoDD, A Collecting Trip to Herberton District, N.Q. [^%ov.^ 



not the least discomfort. Often, when hearing Herberton or 

 Evelyn residents complain of the heat, I would wonder how 

 they would relish living in Cairns or Townsville, if suddenly 

 transported there. One can quickly get used to any warm 

 climate if much out of doors. I dwelt for years at Townsville, 

 and preferred the summer to the cool season ; the same at 

 Kuranda, where I have resided for the past seven years, less a 

 year at Port Darwin. 



About 4 o'clock in the afternoon I started for the Evelyn 

 Scrub in a buggy drawn by tw'o smart ponies, driven by Mrs. 

 Hull, who has a knowledge of horses and driving any man 

 could well be proud of. After passing along and down a ridge, 

 we crossed Nigger Creek, two miles out, over which the railway 

 passes on its way to the scrub lands, but is not yet open for 

 traffic. Beyond, for several miles, the large and tall trees 

 showed we were passing through good agricultural country. 

 Leaving this, we commenced to ascend a range of hills — avoided 

 by the railway — one of which, with a precipitous face, is known 

 as " The Blul^." and is discernible for some distance. In places 

 mountain vegetation became apparent, such as stunted trees 

 of Bloodwood, Ironbark, librous-barked Casuarina, Tea-tree 

 (not Melaleuca), and heathy shrubs, a dwarf Acacia, leguminous 

 and other plants, and a few flowers. In some places Tristania 

 confcrta becomes a shrub, and forms almost impenetrable 

 thickets, acres in extent. Some of the flowering shrubs, 

 such as Hovea, I have seen near Brisbane ; others, again, 

 in the vicinity of Stawell, Victoria, taking me back to 

 days of long ago — rabbit-hunting, cranberry-picking, and 

 wild-flower gathering. The love of natural history had 

 not taken strong hold of me in those early days (though I 

 knew the bush and the birds well), which I regret, for the 

 Stawell district is both pretty and interesting, with great variety 

 of trees and shrubs, and doubtless producing many species of 

 insects. 



The highest point our road passed over was scarcely 3,600 feet, 

 the " Bluff " probably being 250 feet higher. We took measure- 

 ments by aneroid later of road and other hills, but not of " The 

 Bluff." Descending the hills, and crossing Mill Creek, which 

 possesses several fair waterfalls, and is the same upon which 

 Mrs. Hull lives higher up, our road for over a mile took an 

 easterly trend to her selection, known as " Cressbrook," still 

 close to the hills, where I had arranged to stay, the scrubs being 

 adjacent. Another road from Herberton runs much more to 

 the left, until it touches the scrub, finally junctioning with the 

 southern one I had travelled by. and, entering the scrub, 

 becomes the Geraldton road, which, lower down the range, 

 can only be negotiated on foot. For the last mile or so of 



