1836.] APPEARANCE OF THE FORESTS. 315 



pieces of land are under cultivation, the greater part yet remains as 

 when first discovered. 



The extreme uniformity of the vegetation is the most remarkable 

 feature in the landscape of the greater part of New South Wales. 

 Everywhere we have an open woodland, the ground being partially 

 covered with a very thin pasture, with little appearance of verdure. 

 The trees nearly all belong to one family, and mostly have their leaves 

 placed in a vertical, instead of, as in Europe, in a nearly horizontal 

 position : the foliage is scanty, and of a peculiar pale green tint, without 

 any gloss. Hence the woods appear light and shadowless: this, 

 although a loss of comfort to the traveller under the scorching rays of 

 summer, is of importance to the farmer, as it allows grass to grow 

 where it otherwise would not. The leaves are not shed periodically : 

 this character appears common to the entire southern hemisphere, 

 namely, South America, Australia, and the Cape of Good Hope. 

 The inhabitants of this hemisphere, and of the intertropical regions, 

 thus lose perhaps one of the most glorious, though to our eyes common, 

 spectacles in the world the first bursting into full foliage of the leaf- 

 less tree. They may, however, say that we pay dearly for this by 

 having the land covered with mere naked skeletons for so many 

 months. This is too true ; but our senses thus acquire a keen relish 

 for the exquisite green of tfte spring, which the eyes of those living 

 within the tropics, sated during the long year with the gorgeous pro- 

 ductions of those glowing climates, can never experience. The greater 

 number of the trees, with the exception of some of the Blue-gums, 

 do not attain a large size ; but they grow tall and tolerably straight, 

 and stand well apart. The bark of some of the Eucalypti falls 

 annually, :or hangs dead in long shreds, which swing about with the 

 wind, and give to the woods a desolate and untidy appearance. I 

 cannot imagine a more complete contrast, in every respect, than 

 between the forests of Valdivia or Chiloe, and the woods of Australia. 



At sunset, a party of a score of the black aborigines passed by, each 

 carrying, in their accustomed manner, a bundle of spears and other 

 weapons. By giving a leading young man a shilling, they were easily 

 detained, and threw their spears for my amusement. They were all 

 partly clothed, and several could speak a little English : their coun- 

 tenances were good-humoured and pleasant, and they appeared far 

 from being such utterly degraded beings as they have usually been 

 represented. In their own arts they are admirable. A cap being 

 fixed at thirty yards distance, they transfixed it with a spear, delivered 

 by the throwing-stick with the rapidity of an arrow from the bow of 

 a practised archer. In tracking animals or men they show most 

 wonderful sagacity; and I heard of several of their remarks which 

 manifested considerable acuteness. They will not, however, cultivate 

 the ground, or build houses and remain stationary, or even take the 

 trouble of tending a flock of sheep when given to them. On the whole 

 they appear to me to stand some few degrees higher in the scale of 

 civilization than the Fuegians. 



ft is vq-y curious thus to see in the midst oi a civilized people, 3 



