96 AUSTRALIAN PICTURES. 



craft between low banks of rich deep soil, chocolate loam, decomposed trap 

 rock, spouted in remote ages from the mountains whose high wild crests 

 overlook the Queensland countiy, a hundred miles to the north. The dense 

 scrub growth covered all a half-century ago, and the huge cedar- trees towering 

 above the jungle overhung the river ; but now along many a mile the scrub 

 has been cleared away, and the cane-fields surround the settlers' houses. 

 Wonderfully delicate and fair look the canes beside the dark scrub, bright 

 green or pale yellow, as varied in tint as wheat-fields between the time of 

 the bloom and the harvest. They give grand evidence of the power of the 

 soil, and fully justify the wisdom of those bold speculators who built the great 

 mills lower down. 



Quickly changes the foliage as the ascent to the table-land is made ; vines 

 and flowers and orchids are left behind. Pine and cedar give place to gum, 

 box, and ironbark, while in the gullies are ferns of a hardier growth, and 

 trickling water that seems of near relationship to the mountain snows. Higher 

 and higher, and colder and fresher becomes the air ; and, turning now, the 

 panoramic view below spreads broad and fair, the half-dozen branches of the 

 Richmond seen flashing at times through the trees, the corn and cane patches 

 but bright green dots in the dense forest, and braids of a lighter green beside 

 the broader stream, a reflection of the ocean upon the farthest sky ; and last, 

 upon the heights the distant northern mountains are seen the giant warders 

 of the Great Divide. Mount Lindsay is the grandest of all, lifting crags and 

 ramparts more than 5,000 feet from the downs below, as rugged in appearance 

 as any escarpment of the Blue Mountains, and of a vaster height and bulk. 

 The rich pasture-lands about his feet are buried in haze, and occasional 

 lagoons sparkle like flakes of silver or eyes of a well-contented earth-spirit 

 looking up to the sky. Waiting there till evening, you may see Mount 

 Lindsay afire with the floods of light which catch his summit when all the 

 trees below are dark ; and farther south, where the Clarence River springs, 

 the tall gaunt peak of the Nightcap will only lose the light before the 

 mightier mountain. Both stand out above all neighbours, though joining 

 them is a mighty chain, with beauties innumerable, stretching right along the 

 line which' separates the tropic land of Queensland from the beautiful and 

 prosperous colony of New South Wales. 



