TYPICAL ANIMALS AND PLANTS 149 



English houses, English gardens with apples and pears, 

 and other eminently British fruits, and brave old British 

 oaks abounding and prospering all over the district as 

 they abound and prosper in South Australia and Victoria. 

 Nor are these the only English trees, by very many species, 

 which abound in and about all the townships on the Sound, 

 quite altering the natural features of the land. 



But when we get out into the wilds, beyond the settle- 

 ments, we are better able to note the native species of 

 trees and plants, and compare them with those of the other 

 side of the country. Perhaps the hills, and broken char- 

 acter of the country, afford some shelter to the vegetation of 

 this district. Certain it is that the country for many miles 

 inland on all sides of the Sound, though rather barren in 

 general appearance, has a variety and beauty of scenery 

 which is not found further north on this part of the coast. 

 The hills are typical Australian hills ; they are remarkable 

 for strangeness of form, or peculiarity of stratification, and 

 the two elevations between which Albany lies, Mounts 

 Clarence and Melville, are the most Australian-like features 

 of the place. 



Another important influence on the vegetation of the 

 Sound must be exercised by the climate of the district, 

 which is cool and moist. Rains are frequent, and often 

 heavy ; and fogs from the sea sometimes drift inland, 

 enveloping vegetation and everything else in a thick, 

 clammy deposit of moisture, which is trying to animal life, 

 but seems to be peculiarly beneficial to vegetation of most 

 kinds. 



On the plains there is a thick growth of rank herbage, 

 with several species of plants which are common in Europe, 

 yet, strange to say, seem to be indigenous to the country. 

 This is the case if the accounts of the first settlers are to 

 be relied upon, and I see no reason for rejecting them. 

 Among these plants are the common dandelion, and a 

 species of orach {A triplex halimus). The latter I have 

 found in situations to which it could scarcely have 

 travelled, if introduced, in the few years since the establish- 

 ment of the colony. The "native parsley" (Apium pro- 



