TOWOMBA 135 



In my rambles I, one day, came across the home of 

 an early settler. The house and surroundings were 

 so picturesque, I made a painting of them to take 

 home. The proprietor took a great interest in the 

 work, and wanted to buy the picture when it was fin- 

 ished. His daughter stood in the doorway while I 

 sketched her in ; and she seemed to consider it a com- 

 pliment to her beauty, that I should wish to put her 

 on canvas. 



We made a stop of a few days at Towomba, a 

 small town on a low plateau, several miles inland 

 from Brisbane, and spent the time in a most enjoy- 

 able manner at Mr. Hartman's residence. He had 

 a splendid garden and fruit orchard, and we almost 

 lived on fruit while there. It was here we tasted for 

 the first time the jack-fruit, a large fruit, the size of 

 a child's head, with a rough skin, a peculiar smell, and 

 a deliciously flavored pulp. One is sufficient for 

 several persons. The strawberry guava, also very 

 delicious, we first ate there. 



Mr. Hartman was much interested in geology, 

 and had collected some fine remains of extinct mam- 

 malia. He found on one of his expeditions almost 

 the entire skull of a Thilico leo, a gigantic pouched 

 lion, which once roamed over Australia. Miss Hart- 

 man, a bright, intelligent girl of sixteen, learned to 

 skin and stuff birds under Shelley's instruction, and 

 by the time we left was getting on very well. 



