426 UNIFORMITY OF VEGETATION, [chap. xix. 



rearing hedges. There are many substantial houses and 

 good cottages scattered about; but although considerable 

 pieces of land are under cultivation, the greater part yet 

 remains as when first discovered. 



The extreme uniformity of the vegetation is the most 

 remarkable feature in the landscape of the greater part of 

 New Sou^h Wales. Everywhere we have an open wood- 

 land, the ground being partially covered with a very thin 

 pasture, tvith little appearance of verdure. The trees 

 nearly ati belong to one family, and mostly have their 

 leaves placed in a vertical, instead of, as in Europe, in 

 a nearly horizontal position : the foliage is scanty, and of 

 a peculiar pale green tint, without any gloss. Hence the 

 woods appear light and shadowless : this, although a loss of 

 comfort to the traveller under the scorching rays of summer, 

 is of importance to the farmer, as it allows grass to grow 

 where it otherwise would not. The leaves are not shed 

 periodically : this character appears common to the entire 

 -southern hemisphere, namely, South America, Australia, 

 and the Cape of Good Hope. The inhabitants of this 

 hemisphere, and of the intertropical regions, thus lose 

 perhaps one of the most glorious, though to our eyes 

 common, spectacles in the world — the .first bursting into 

 full foliage of the leafless tree. They may, however, say 

 that we pay dearly for this by having the land covered with 

 naked skeletons for so many months. This is too true ; 

 but our senses thus acquire a keen relish for the exquisite 

 green of the spring, which the eyes of those living within 

 the tropics, sated during the long year with the gorgeous 

 productions of those glowing climates, can never experi- 

 ence. The greater number of the trees, with the exception 

 of some of the Blue-gums, do not attain a large size ; but 

 they grow tall and tolerably straight, and stand well 

 apart. The bark of the Eucalypti falls annually, or hangs 

 dead in long shreds, which swing about with the wind, 

 and give to the woods a desolate and untidy appearance. 

 I cannot imagine a more complete contrast, in every 

 respect, than between the forests of Valdivia or Chiloe, 

 and the woods of Australia. 



At sunset, a party of a score of the black aborigines 

 passed by, each carrying, in their accustomed manner, 

 a bundle of spears and other weapons. By giving a lead- 

 ing young man a shilling, they were easily detained, and 

 threw their spears for my amusement. They were all 



