THE VICTORIAN NATURALIST. 109 



in the far north, and even then I could not see him if more than 

 twenty or thirty feet away. Our horses had to pick their way 

 along a narrow bridle track, well interrupted with roots, close 

 alongside the river, till we came to the crossing place, and when I 

 saw it afterwards in daylight I was not surprised at the darkness 

 of that evening, for the trees were so tall and close together as to 

 almost shut out daylight. 



My friend's house, built entirely of cedar, was situated on some 

 rising ground within sound of the rushing waters of the Mossman, 

 and had a lovely view of a peculiarly shaped peak, known as Mt. 

 Demi-Peak, 2,oco ft. high, about eight miles away as the crow 

 flies, part of the main dividing range, which north of Cairns 

 approaches rather close to the coast, but between was an almost 

 untraversed scrub. Here, perhaps I should explain that up 

 north the country known as " scrub " is where the vegetation is 

 densest, and is somewhat resembled by the forest country of the 

 Dandenong Ranges, while what is called "forest" is compara- 

 sively open grass country fairly well wooded. Mrs. Rowan, in 

 her interesting book, " A Flower Hunter in Queensland and New 

 Zealand," says in Eastern Australia the highest and biggest trees 

 are called " scrub," while in Western Australia the term is applied 

 only to low-growing trees and bushes. 



My friend's first cautions to me were to look out for the sting- 

 ing-tree, snakes, and ticks — tiie three disadvantages of North 

 Queensland. The banks of the river were lined with a variety 

 of trees, most of which were unknown to me. These were the 

 homes of numerous epiphytal ferns, such as the Bird's-nest, 

 Asplenium nidus ; Elk's-horn, Platycerium alcicorne ; and Deer's 

 Tongue, Acrostichum sorbi/olium. A belt of scrub in front 

 of the liouse contained numerous beautiful Fan Palms, Licuala 

 M'uelleri, with their circular fan-like leaves . four to six feet 

 across, also other palms, interspersed with various trees, and all 

 tangled together with the stems of the Lawyer Palm, Calamus, 

 of which I think two species are found in the district, the larger 

 C. Anstralis, and a smaller C. Mueller-i. Mr. Le Souef, in his 

 paper about the Bloomfield River, about 30 miles further north, 

 spoke of these palms as troublesome to travellers ; but seeing is 

 believing, and I can now quite understand all he said about 

 them. If they find no supporting bushes or trees close at hand 

 the young Lawyers trail on the ground, often forming snake-like 

 coils, but always bending up at the free end and sending up new 

 leaves and tendrils armed with hooks, with the hope of securing 

 an anchorage somewhere. The older parts of the stem after- 

 wards seem to lose their barbs. Some idea of the length of the 

 canes may be gained from two which my cousin cut down, and, 

 lieing surprised at their length, found them to measure 300 feet 

 each. A climbing aroid, Raphidophora piunala, Schott, with 



