160 FOREST CULTURE AND 
dium for regulating the climate. May we revert only 
to the circumstance, as elucidating the great physio- 
graphic characters of countries and their mutual re- 
lation, that notwithstanding the close proximity of 
New Zealand, none of its trees (though very many of 
its herbs) are positively identical with any observed 
in Australia; and yet, hundreds of ours can in no 
way be distinguished from Indian trees. Moreover, 
in a philosophical contemplation of the nature of any 
country and the history of its creation, our attention 
is likely to be in the first instance engaged in a survey 
of the constituents of its pristine forests, and greatly 
is it to be feared that in ages hence, when much of 
the woods will have sunk under ruthless axes, the 
deductions of advanced knowledge thereon will have 
to be based solely on evidence early placed on record. 
The marvellous height of some of the Australian, 
and especially Victorian trees, has become the subject 
of closer investigation since, of late, particularly 
through the miners’ tracks, easier access has been 
afforded to the back-gullies of our mountain system. 
Some astounding data, supported by actual measure- 
ments, are now on record. The highest tree previ- 
ously known was a Karri - Eucalyptus (Eucalyptus 
colossea), measured by Mr. Pemberton Walcott, in 
one of the delightful glens of the Warren River of 
western Australia, where it rises to approximately 
four hundred feet high. Into the hollow trunk of 
this Karri three riders, with an additional pack-horse, 
could enter and turn in it without dismounting. On 
the desire of the writer of these pages, Mr. D. Boyle 
measured a fallen tree of Eucalyptus amygdalina, in 
the deep recesses of Dandenong, and obtained for it 
