CHAPTER IX. 

 AMONG THE PALMS 



A NATURALIST'S education has scarcely begun 

 until he has been in the tropics. For, as Grant 

 Allen expressed it, the tropics are biological 

 headquarters, where the struggle for existence among 

 plants and animals is carried on fiercely. 



Though a Victorian, I freely admit that Queens- 

 land, from a naturalist's point of view, is the most 

 interesting State of the Commonwealth, chiefly be- 

 cause of its tropical fauna and flora. But the coastal 

 scrubs of Northern New South Wales are sub-tropical, 

 and one need not cross the Queensland border in order 

 to roam among palms and see the Rifle-Bird. In 

 November, 1907, in company with other naturalists, 

 I visited the Tweed River, Tumbulgum, a picturesque 

 township, being the base from which we worked. 

 Despite sugarcane culture and timber-cutting, we 

 found large areas of wild country to explore. The 

 Tweed rises in the Macpherson Range, and flows into 

 the Pacific Ocean ; it is not a great river, but one of the 

 most beautiful in Australia. 



We travelled by rail from Brisbane to Tweed 

 Heads, and there boarded a small steamer. The river 

 voyage to Tumbulgum was delightful. The steamer 

 moved slowly along a narrow channel, rounded a sand- 

 spit, and headed up stream. Mangroves bordered 

 the water; Terns and Curlews [Numenius cyanops] 

 were feeding on the mud flats. Further inland the 

 scenery was more like what we had expected. On 

 one side of the river were low cliffs, and verdant slopes 

 dotted with trees ; the other bank presented a wall of 



