134 DoDD, A Collecting Trip to Herberton District, N.O. [ 



Vict. Nat. 

 Nov. 



of about 7 inches all the way down. This tree died. We 

 brought away a section showing the electric track through the 

 bark and wood, and another from a larger tree with a wider 

 lightning groove in the wood, the tree having been killed at 

 least a year before. Mrs. Hull and daughters told me of a 

 hollow tree near_ Evelyn cattle station, a few miles away, where 

 lightning had entered above and burst splintery holes through 

 the trunk in several places. Close by Mr. Stone's residence, in 

 the scrub, a large tree was shattered by lightning, which con- 

 tinued along a large horizontal root, tearing a trench in the 

 ground for some yards. 



The climate is a mild, pleasant, and extremely healthy one 

 — maybe at times too chilly for some, for in winter the tempera- 

 ture is often much below freezing-point, and frost and ice are 

 common. Ice has no attractions for a coastal man — unless in 

 a summer drink. 



Nearly all the fruits, vegetables, and flowers of the south 

 thrive in the district. Anywhere peaches and dahlias do 

 splendidly. An old, neglected orchard at " Cressbrook " con- 

 tained fairly well-laden apple, peach, plum, and pear trees ; 

 strawberries and grapes also take kindly to the district. In 

 the flower garden there were petunias, marigolds, violets, dahlias, 

 stocks, honeysuckle, &c. Citrus trees, too, were present, but 

 the winter is, at times, somewhat severe for them. In the 

 scrub, at Mr. Stonc^'s residence, a pale heliotrope plant deserves 

 notice ; it was fastened on to the side of the house, and was 

 about II feet high, and as wide, with a depth of about 3 feet. 

 It was loaded with blossoms, and doubtless could have been 

 trained much higher ; but, reaching the spouting, it was kept 

 clipped there. 



Always living in the coastal districts, I have never seen a 

 plague of caterpillars, but I was informed of one which occurred 

 m the district a few years ago. The insects came along in a 

 rolling, tumbling mass, and could distinctly be heard advancing. 

 Everything green was attacked. The creatures swarmed into 

 and crawled over the house, fell into and polluted the water 

 in tanks and creek, climbed up the legs of fowls, cows, and 

 other animals, and they and human beings too were depressed 

 and sick for several days from the pollution of the water and a 

 most unpleasant odour that arose from the myriads of crawling 

 things. Strange to say, as has before been noticed in cases 

 such as this, no extraordinary number of moths followed the 

 caterpillar visitation. 



In and adjacent to the scrub, the largest and highest trees 

 I have yet seen in Queensland came under my notice. Gigantic 

 White Gums fringe the scrub, and continue a little way along 

 the watercourses which start from it ; mighty Kauri Pines, 



