60 VEGETATION. 



minds any thing but an idea of the sublime and 

 beautiful. It may also be worthy of remark, as 

 a proof of the increasing morality of the colony, 

 that no one was stationed at the doors, as in our 

 depraved metropolis, warning you to " take care 

 of your pockets ;" and that neither myself, or 

 any gentlemen in company, either in our ingress 

 or egress, had our pockets picked. 



The domain and country in the immediate 

 vicinity of Sydney was assuming (in September) 

 a gay and brilliant aspect from the profusion of 

 flowering shrubs and plants strewed over the 

 arid soil ; there was, however, a peculiar cha- 

 racter in the vegetation, the foliage of the trees 

 having a dry appearance, and being destitute of 

 the lustre so observable in those of other coun- 

 tries. This want of lustre is attributed by that 

 justly celebrated botanist, Dr. Brown, to the 

 equal existence of cutaneous glands on both sur- 

 faces of the leaf ;* and another peculiarity is the 

 trees attaining a great elevation, with branches 

 only at the summit, and shedding their bark ; 



* " It is at least certain that on this microscopic character 

 of the equal existence of cutaneous glands on both surfaces 

 of the leaf, depends that want of lustre which is so remark- 

 able in the forests of New Holland." — Sketch of the Botany of 

 the Vicinity of Swan River, by R. Brown, Esq. F.R.S., pub- 

 lished in the Journal of the Royal Geographical Society of 

 London, vol. i. 1830, 183L 



