TASMANIA 191 



of southern Chile and southern New Zealand. The 

 central grassy plateau is naturally mainly pastoral, 

 while agriculture finds very favourable conditions in 

 the valleys, and lumbering on the slopes. 



New Guinea is completely equatorial in its climate. 

 The interior is as yet practically unknown, but it appears 

 to be entirely wooded. The northern portion, separated 

 from the south by a high mountain-range, supports the 

 densest type of tropical rain-forest, while in the south, 

 which is somewhat drier, the selva proper appears to be 

 confined to the river margins, a lighter forest or jungle 

 occupying the intervening lands. It is also known 

 that typical savanas, with eucalypti recalling those of 

 Australia, are found inland about 1,200 to 1,500 feet 

 on the southern side. 



New Caledonia, parallel to the coastal range of 

 Queensland, and situated on the margin of the tropical 

 belt, within the trade-wind belt, enjoys a healthy, 

 equable, and relatively dry climate. Broadly speaking, 

 it is divided by a long inland chain of mountains and 

 high plateaus into a moister eastern and a drier western 

 portion. The coastal strip of lowlands, up to 1,000 feet, 

 recalls the semi-arid belt of northern Australia, with a 

 vegetation of savanas and a peculiar kind of wood- 

 land, with scattered, stunted melaleucas, small trees 40 

 feet high, arising out of an entirely bare ground. Only 

 the river margins possess parallel bands of tropical 

 forest. The slopes from 1,000 to 3,000 feet are more 

 regularly timbered except on the ridges, and their 

 forests greatly resemble the rain-forests of south-eastern 

 Australia. The upper forest belt displays a great wealth 

 of conifers, including araucarias and ferns. The dry, 

 stony plateaus are covered with a short evergreen scrub. 

 The variety of the vegetation and of the resources in 



