180 THE VICTORIAN NATURALIST. [Vol. XXV. 



the waste places around the town a periwinkle, Vinca rosea (a 

 hot-house plant in our climate), grows in the greatest profusion. 



At Cape Grafton is situated the Yarrabah Mission Station, 

 where a population of some 300 aboriginals are in the charge of 

 the Rev. E. Gribble. The institution, with grounds of some 300 

 acres in extent, is almost self-supporting, but receives a small 

 Government subsidy. The work carried on is principally tree- 

 felling, gardening, and farming, and the products of these indus- 

 tries are disposed of at Cairns, being conveyed thither by a 

 motor launch (worked by two blackboys), which, laden with 

 dairy produce, vegetables, &c., may be seen journeying thither 

 twice weekly. The buildings, which the aboriginals erect them- 

 selves, are situated on the sloping ridges facing Trinity Bay. The 

 settlement boasts a gasworks, a steam saw-mill, an up-to-date 

 hospital, and a waterworks, while the literary taste of the natives 

 is catered for by a regular weekly paper printed in "pigeon" 

 English. 



On the morning of 6th August I made an early start by the 

 7 a.m. train, bound for Kuranda, which is situated 21 miles 

 inland from Cairns, and which was the most northerly point I 

 visited. £Jn route I alighted at Rediynch to inspect the 

 Kamerunga State Nursery, and, following a track along the 

 Freshwater Creek, on the banks of which grew some fine 

 specimens of the Paper-bark Tree, Melaleuca leucodendron, while 

 in the water were a great many showy water-lilies, probably 

 belonging to the genus Nymphsea. After a particularly trying 

 walk of two miles in the moist Queensland heat I reached the 

 nursery. 



The Inspector of Tropical Agriculture, Mr. H. Newport, was 

 absent in Brisbane, but Mr. Malcolm, the overseer, kindly 

 showed me round the grounds, which comprise an area of 30 

 acres. At this nursery no pretension is made at landscape 

 gardening or showy flower beds and lawns such as we are 

 accustomed to see in our Melbourne Botanical Gardens, but a 

 small conservatory is kept, and a few bright-coloured flowers 

 adorn the main walk. Along the front entrance is a nice 

 plantation of Alexandra Palms, and near by are other palms of 

 commercial value — viz., the Cocoanut Palm, Cocos nucifera, L., 

 the Sugar Palm, Arenga saccharifera, Labill., and the Oil Palm, 

 Mlaeis gui7ieensis, Jacq. On the better developed fruit spikes 

 of the latter were hundreds of fruits, about the size of a walnut, 

 clustering closely together. About five acres is set apart for the 

 propagation of rubber-producing trees, the one chiefly grown 

 being Ilevea hraziliensis, commonly known as Para, but other 

 kinds producing good rubber are Ficus elastica (Rambong or 

 Assam), Castilloa elastica (Central American), Mauihot Glaziovii 

 (Ceara rubber), and Tabernoonontana crassa (West African 

 rubber). The milky secretion or latex of these trees is of 



