240 CHAPTER XXXII. 



ground is strewn with the rounded or oblong fruits of 

 these curious trees. I mean the larger ones, about the 

 size of a walnut, for there are two kinds. The carving 

 is plain enough, yet very neat and regular. How well 

 finished is the work turned out by Nature's lathe ! 

 And how simple are the materials : carbon and a little 

 water, that is all ! With these few elements she will 

 produce a thousand times ten thousand specimens of 

 any given pattern, and each one true to the original 

 design and faithful to the archetype. 



The Casuarina is an Australian tree which may 

 be known at once by its resemblance to an Equi- 

 setum. The Australians call it "Beef-wood" or 

 " Iron- wood " ; and still more absurd names are 

 applied to it, such as " She Oak "* and Botany Bay 

 oak." Two species are very common in the gardens 

 here. One has a drooping habit ; the long thin leaf- 

 less jointed striate twigs hang down like green whip- 

 cord ; or shall we liken them to the tresses of a 

 mermaid's hair ? The staminate tree, when it flowers 

 in Autumn, becomes tinged with gold or bronze ; the 

 minute inflorescence on the pistillate tree is bright red. 

 When the wind passes through the branches of this 

 Casuarina, it makes a strange melancholy sighing 

 sound. The other species (C. stricta) is a tall erect 

 tree with the habit and the aspect of a Conifer ; in 

 fact, it is commonly taken for some sort of Pine tree. 



The aborigines of Australia made forks of this 

 wood to eat human flesh with : these were handed 

 down from father to son. The precious heirloom was 

 reserved for cannibal rites, and might not be used for 



A corruption of sheok, the name given to this tree by the natives 

 of Australia. T. H. 



