94 



AUSTRALIAN FORESTS. 



Park," the property of Dr. Harris, we arrived, 

 late in the evening, at Clydesdale," the farm of 

 Mr. Tompson, where we remained for the night, 

 heartily tired, after a sultry ride across the country 

 of thirty-five miles. 



The great deficiency of animation in the Aus- 

 tralian vegetation, except when in flower, casts a 

 gloom over, rather than exhilarates the mind of 

 the traveller, producing none of those mental de- 

 lights which the liveliness of the vegetable king- 

 dom, combined with picturesque scenery, excites 

 in other countries. As the traveller journeys 

 through the Australian forests, there is a same- 

 ness, which creates a degree of melancholy feel- 

 ing, excepting when the Angophora lanceolata, 

 or apple-tree* of the colonists is seen, w^hen its 

 more verdant foliage and elegant growth imparts 

 some degree of animation and beauty, particu- 

 larly when contrasted with tlie other forest trees 

 about it. When we came upon a cultivated 

 spot, where the young wheat was springing up, 

 together with the lucerne fields, it formed a 

 smiling feature in the landscape, and a most 

 agreeable relief from the sameness of the bush of 

 New South Wales. 



* The box-tree of the colonists ( Etifalyptus, sp.J is used 

 in the colony for the spokes and fellies of wheels, and the 

 " apple-tree" (Angophora lanceolata) for the naves. 



