CLIMATE, SOIL, AND FLORA. 279 



ferent kind of palms, Scitamineous plants, epiphytical 

 orchids, ferns, and pepperworts, fully accounting for 

 this fact. Whole districts, however, possess a strictly 

 South Australian look, owing to the presence of two 

 phyllodineous Acacias (A. laurifolia^ Willd., and A. 

 Richei, A. Gray), two Casuarinas, several kinds of Me- 

 trosideros, with either scarlet or yellow blossoms, a 

 climbing Eubus, Smilax, and Geitonoplesiwn * and Fla- 

 gellaria, as well as the peculiar habit of various other 

 species. There is little change in the nature of the 

 vegetation until one reaches about 2000 feet elevation, 

 where the plants peculiar to the coast region are re- 

 placed by mountain forms. Hollies, Myrtaceous, Mela- 

 stomaceous, and Laurinaceous trees, Epacridaceous and 

 Vacciniaceous bushes, forming the bulk ; scarlet orchids, 

 astelias, delicate ferns, mosses, and lichens, crowding 

 their branches. None of the explored peaks have as 

 yet disclosed any genuine alpine vegetation, perennial 

 herbs forming csespitose masses and prostrate shrubs, ge- 

 nerally bearing large and gay-coloured flowers. Should 

 it ever be met wdth, there would indeed be a rich bota- 

 nical harvest. 



Nature has been truly bountiful in distributing her 

 vegetable treasures to these islands ; but perhaps the 

 best proof of their extreme fertility and matchless re- 

 sources is less furnished by the fact that a country with 

 a population of at least 200,000 souls, constantly sup- 

 plying provisions to foreign vessels, having an immense 



* The natives term this plant Wa Dakua, from Wa, creeper, and 

 Dakua, Kowrie pine, because its leaves closely resemble those of the 

 Fijian Dammar a. 



