AUSTRALIA, OR NEW HOLLAND. 103 



At present but little is known of the internal parts of the 



island of New Holland. Exploration has been carried but to 



a small extent, owing principally to the difficulties attendant 



upon traveling. Water and food cannot always be procured, 



and the natives are hostile. The trifling knowledge that has 



been obtained of this region, shows it to be one of the most 



peculiar in the world — distinct from others, not only in its 



general character, but many individual features, producing 



trees, plants, &c, and several kinds of animated creatures 



which are totally unlike those found elsewhere ; for instance, 



we have cherries growing with their stones outside ; trees 



which shed their bark instead of their leaves ; black swans, 



white eagles, quadrupeds with birds' bills, and crabs of an 



ultra-marine color.* 



The human occupantsf of the land even are not without 



their singularities. There is, perhaps, no race of people 



*-0f the 70,000 or 80,000 species of plants described by botanists, 5,710 are already- 

 known to exist in Australia ; of these only 270 are common to it and to other countries, 

 while 5,440 are altogether peculiar to its extrordinary soil. Thus, this island contri- 

 butes to botany nearly a twelfth of the plants known ; but they are generally of a very 

 low order. Ferns, nettles, flowers, and grasses, having the form, bulk and habits of 

 trees, are abuudant. No dense woods have been found, and the groves, from a pecu- 

 liar arrangement of their foliage, present a strange appearance, many of the trees 

 having their leaves hanging with the edge downwards. Flowering plants of exces- 

 sive beauty are found ; and the lily, tulip and honeysuckle grow to the size of a 

 large standard tree. In the interior immense numbers of prickly plants cover the 

 ground, binding down the loose soil, and preventing the drift which distiuguishes the 

 deserts of Arabia and Africa from the Australian wastes. The zoology of this region 

 also presents extraordinary features. The number of known species of mamalia is 

 about one thousand ; fifty-eight are found in Australia, of which forty-six are pecu- 

 liar to it, leaving twelve only which it contains in common with other regions. 

 Even of these, five are whales and four seals ; another is the strong-winged bat of 

 Madagascar ; another, like the jerboa of America ; and the last, the dog — the animal 

 found always where man exists, and rarely, if ever, where he does not. Kangaroos, 

 however, are almost the only important animal. In the birds and reptiles similar 

 peculiarities exist. 



f The people who inhabit this extraordinary region belong to the Ethiopic, which is 

 the lowest family of the human race. Many writers with great ingenuity have 



